Francis Francis X7.1 Expresso Coffee Maker, Black

Bit of background, as everyone had their own levels of coffee needs. I drink coffee every morning. Usually espresso, sometimes a cappuccino/flat white. I've been in the hunt for a new coffee machine since my Krups one died a few months ago. I used to buy illy coffee for it but the pump was never quite strong enough for the finer ground illy. I was also tired of messing around with ground coffee first thing in the morning so was tempted by these new pod systems, but skeptical they would deliver the quality espresso I'm after. A couple of friends have Nespresso machines, and while the coffee is ok, its not what I'd call quality compared to a decent fresh ground brew. I was, however impressed by the cleanness and simplicity of the pod system so when I saw illy were offering their own coffee pods, i was ecsatatic. So, without wanting to spend hundreds of pounds on a machine capable of doing my beloved fresh-ground illy coffee justice, I decided iperespresso (illy's pod system) might be worth a go. Onto the X7.1; So with excitement and trepidation, I took the plunge and ordered the black X7.1 and a few cans of Standard (Red) and Lungo (Blue) pods. Set up: Machine is easy to set up. Instructions are simple. Fill the tank, Plug in, cycle some water through (just to flush out the dust!) and you're off. Use: Takes around 15 seconds to warm up and lets you know its ready with a blue light and a charming little chime. Load a pod, put you cup in place and press go. Tada! Espresso has never been easier. To steam milk, push the steamer button and once again when its ready, the steam icon wil flash blue and greet you with a friendly chime. Steamer is nice and powerful for such a small/cheap machine, produces the desired consistency from a velvety microfoam to a dry foam. All simple and fast to acheive. The froth wand does drip afterwards, so careful if you dont want to make a mess... you can then perform an express cool down and have the machine back at coffee temperature in about 15 secdonds instead of waiting 7-10 minutes for it to naturally cool! Coffee: The most important part: can illy coffee in a pod live up to fresh ground illy? *drumroll*....Yep it certainly can. Wow, this thing produces excellent espresso. Perfect amount of crema every time, perfect temperature, length, taste all at the touch of a button. As someone who seeks out illy wherever I go and can tell a burnt espresso or an out of date espresso from a good one - I promise you this is the real deal. As far as I'm concerned, this is the only alternative to a real fresh ground cup, and for the price and convenience - it's a fantastic solution to your quality coffee needs. I'd still rather have a fresh ground brew, but thats just because i'm a snob. Verdict: Awesome. 10/10 for build quality and value and 11/10 for convenience and taste. Pros: -Amazing Coffee -Speedy to heat up/cool down (thanks to the express cooling function) -Great build quality -Good steamer -Genuine quality illy coffee - in seconds! -Free pods in the box!* Cons: -*Free pods in the box were out of date - and therefore not very nice. -Pods from Amazon are a bit more expensive than rivals (~42p per pod versus 30p per pod for a half decent Nespresso) Worth it if you're a coffee lover, but still annoying as it's so much cheaper from the US if you can import. -Needs a matt or somthing for the cup warmer. They shake a bit when you use the machine and they rattle eround up there a bit too much. **Update: I have now had the machine a couple of months and it has been performing beautifully. I have however discovered one small problem: When making an espresso (red capsule), towards the end of the cycle a little bit of water starts to drip out of the dispenser and into the cup, along with the coffee. Its almost as if there's too much pressure and its forcing water past the capsule. Doesnt really happen witht he Lungo (blue pods) which are more loosley packed to allow more water through. I can;t tell if its the batch of pods I have it at fault or the machine. Its been descaled and still seems to happen. **Update 2: Sent it off to be fixed (I paid £17 for special delivery - I was that keen to get it back!) And it came back within a week fully fixed :) Must've been a problem with the pressure as it now seems to pump out the coffee slightly more smoothly and with no leaks. **Update 3: Uh-oh. The same problem has reared its ugly head again. Leaks quite alot of water from the outside of the capsule holder when pouring an espresso. Sent pictures and video to customer services and will probably have to send it back. They've offered to cover the delivery costs etc so thats somthing. I've asked for a replacement instead as its obviously a fault with this machine. Down to 4 star until I receive a working machine which lasts more than a couple months without issue. ***Update 4: Fixed! Been working great for months now. Great service from the help centre (plus free coffee for my troubles!)

I bought this earlier in the year after seeing that Illy did a coffee pod system on a TV programme as this is my favourite coffee, rather than the planned purchase of a Nespresso system. I have to say that I have not been dissapointed, the Frances Frances built machine makes perfect italian coffee everytime. It also is well made, nice to touch and looks great on the kitchen counter. I bought this to replace an existing coffee machine which used loose coffee as I found this gave inconsistent results, depended heavily on the brand and ground size of the coffee, and it's worst feature was a milk system with a plastic nozzle that cross threaded easily making cleaning a nightmare. The Illy system is better in everyway, the machine is fast to heat up, creates the right amount of coffee at a single press of a button, the milk frother creates nice foam and there is no cleaning to talk of. For example the Illy nozzle simply pulls off, comes apart in to two pieces, and then you rinse through with warm soapy water. The whole system is so fast and so easy to use that I haven't drunk instant coffee at home in months now. The machine came with test pods for the Dark (Black) and normal (Red) blends, however after testing a few we found that the Longo (Blue) pods give probably the nicest coffee for a latte. We found the best deal for the coffee was to buy online from the local illy distributor as many of the other sources whilst looking cheaper charge a huge amount for postage making the price per pod overall higher. I recommend the purchase of a small milk jug of less then 500ml, as the 500ml one I bought is a bit too deep for the nozzle, and a thermometer as judging milk heating by time gave patchy results where as the thermometer means the right temperature everytime. I hope more and more people find and buy these machines, they are superb.

I bought an X7.1 for my office direct from Illy ages ago (2011-12, irrc), and was very very happy with it. I chose it for two main reasons: I wanted a machine which would avoid me having to use the communal kitchen (bleurch!), & I preferred Illy coffee to the other capsules then available. I bought the replacement machine here when the first one finally gave up the ghost in 2019 (fair enough - it had survived one office and two house moves), because the Illy site didn't have one in stock for immediate delivery and I didn't want to be lungo-less for longer than absolutely necessary. I'm not sure whether there's been a general tweak to the manufacture between 2011 & 2019, or whether the machines here are (ahem) made somewhere else, but this one isn't quite as good as my first. It drips quite a lot more after each coffee, which means I need to clean out the under-tray Cesspool of Mankiness more often. Eh. Not the end of the world. More problematically, I had problems getting the descaling cycle to start, despite following the instructions to the letter. I eventually managed it - via luck rather than judgement - but when I resorted again to Professor Google today, I found a similar question on the US Amazon site, which had an answer from Canadian Amazon which has just worked for me. I note that others have had the same problem here, so assuming it's not uncommon, I've added a link to the US Q&A in a "question" on the UK site here in case others also find it does the trick. I couldn't thank NDS there, so a hat-tip here instead. In a belt and braces vibe, I'll paste the instructions below. NB. YMMV, of course. All I can say is that it worked for me. tl;dr: Good, but not quite as good as my first X7.1. Will I buy another when this one dies? Absolutely - I only use it for espresso/lungo (so can't comment on the frothing action), and it does exactly what I want. Will I buy the next one here? Possibly not, but I may be being unfairly suspicious, and whatever - the machine from here is now doing exactly what I want it to do. From US Q&A: You will know the machine wants to be descaled when the red alert triangle is blinking (lower right part of control pad) 1) Machine must be OFF and cool in order to descale the machine! 2) Fill the water container to MAX with very warm faucet water. 3) Add a packet of Illy / Urnex Dezcal or similar citric acid based descaler to the water, stirring it in until dissolved. 4) Replace the water container into your Illy Francis Francis X7.1 Iperespresso machine. 5) Place a 1L (minimum) plastic catch bowl (or other suitable container) under the brew head AND frothing wand, which should be pointed toward the center of the stage under the brew head (as in video above). 6) Power the machine ON. 7) IMMEDIATELY depress and hold only the BREW (coffee cup symbol) until the machine emits THREE SHORT BEEPS, followed by ONE LONG BEEP. Release the BREW button after the long beep. 8) Press the BREW button again, as you would when brewing a cup of espresso. 9) The machine will begin to PULSE, and the STEAM BUTTON will blink. The machine will alternate between pulsing water through the brew head opening and the frothing wand. This will continue until the water container is EMPTY. Be ready to remove the water container, and IMMEDIATELY refill it with cool (Brita filtered or distilled is best) water, and replace it as quickly as possible. The machine WILL NOT STOP THE DESCALING CYCLE, so replace the water container as quickly as you can. You will probably need to empty the catch bowl at least once or twice during this procedure, and the water will be VERY HOT, so use caution! 10) The machine will continue to pulse between the brew head opening and the frothing wand. 11) The machine will stop pulsing at some point during this second tankful, and the BREW button will begin to BLINK, with an alternating BEEP between blinking. If there is very little water left in the water container, fill it up with cool water again. Empty your catch bowl if it is full and you haven't already done so! Once everything is back in place, press the blinking / beeping BREW button, which will begin to rinse the machine through. 12) The machine may repeat Step 11 more than once! 13) The machine should now come out of DESCALING CYCLE on its own, with the red POWER button illuminated, along with the blue BREW button being on and solid. 14) Run one or two BREW cycles, with cool, filtered water. 15) Run the STEAM cycle for a few moments, as you would when frothing for a beverage, to ensure no descaler remains in the frothing wand. • Your Illy Francis Francis X7.1 Iperespresso machine is now descaled!

I purchased this as a secondary coffee machine for my office. I have a spare table to put this on but no sink, so it was vital that the machine produced great tasting coffee with minimal mess. I have to say I am hugely impressed with this machine. The coffee is of excellent quality and the espresso has a good depth of flavour with a thick cream. It is at least as good as what you get in most high street coffee shops and in my opinion far exceeds the quality of Nespresso, which I always found pleasant enough but slightly lacking in flavour. I've also been very impressed with the milk wand, which is a "panarello" type. If you're not sure what this is, do a little Googling. It's essentially a small device which takes some of the guess worth out of steaming milk. Some technique is still involved, but you should be able to get good results for a cappuccino or latte very quickly and easily. Overall evaluation: Is this as good as the top end machines on the market or those where beans are freshly ground? A simple no, for the obvious reason that it's a capsule machine and comes in at a fraction of the price. But does it stand up to a number of pod/capsule machines that may cost quite a lot more and provide a very good quality espresso with almost no cleanup? Yes. Therefore I wholeheartedly recommend it at this price point.

Initially we were very pleased with this machine, it produced excellent coffee. However after a few months it stopped producing any 'froth' from the steamer. We had to replace the plastic/rubber fitting at the end of the metal steam rod at a cost of £23. Since then the fitting has failed again two more times, always failing at about 3-4 months, at a replacement cost of £23 each time. We have always followed the cleaning instructions to the letter but it seems that the fitment is not fit for purpose.

This was a straight replacement for an identical machine that has now given up after 12 years daily use. These are fantastic machines (and now £100 less than their original price) - coupled with the Illy coffee we have never faulted it and only ever been disappointed with coffee drunk elsewhere. Easy to use with built in steamer and (for us) a statement in design also. UPDATE: Still love the machine. I am updating the review because of the de-scaling problem. It appears that the de-scaling process has changed and the old method does not work on newer machines. Many, many thanks to the reviewer Inelegantly Wasted who found this out and took the time to post the correct instructions. Very much appreciated.

It's a lovely coffee machine. However, on some occassions it does not work. It makes a loud sound and no coffee is coming out. After a few trials it works again. I dont know whether it depends on how you insert the capsule holder.

This is a great capsule machine. Steady, easy to use and great looking. Quality of esspresso produced is high. Only negative is the cost of illy capsules.

I ordered it and was so excited to try it, but it doesn’t work and the coffee doesn’t come out — it seems to have a defect. I’m very disappointed. I couldn’t find any way to contact the seller, so I will be returning it.

Makes great coffee. Simple to use, heats up quickly and just works.

Prima levering, aantal dagen onderweg maar volgens planning geleverd. Oude apparaat was defect, daarom nieuwe gekocht

Tolles Produkt, schnell geliefert, einfach zu handhaben. Kapseln ist zwar nicht ganz der richtige Umweltansatz aber mit dem richtigen Kaffee und den refill Kapseln lässt sich mit ein wenig Übung der richtige Umweltgedanke wiederfinden

The machine makes good small cups of coffee. Illy pod coffee. Sometimes the process just stalls, and you have to turn it off and start again. It’s a cool looking unit. It does tend to get too hot, the machine itself, but I do like it. Would I buy it again? Um, yes, as I don’t expect perfection, and it is kind of quirky looking, and I do like it in that way. Italian design is good design, to look at. Every pod machine I’ve had (about 4 different brands) have failed at some point within a year. I expect the same life-span of this one. We live in hope.