DeLonghi EC140B Espresso and Cappuccino Maker Review

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(More customer reviews)I owned the maker for a while. It's far better than many of the Krups and other models typically for sale at department stores. If you want an espresso, you'll need a pump machine. Many cheap machines will say "steam driven" or otherwise have "steam" in the title: what this means is that they lack a pump and merely use steam pressure to get now overly superheated water to flow through the fine espresso grinds. (By the way, "espresso" is, for all intents and purposes, a grind, not a roast. It is a very fine powdery grind, just shy of Turkish grind.) This results in charred burnt espresso, with little or no crema.
This DeLonghi, by contrast, does a fine little job of pumping. In addition, it uses a small stainless steel boiler -- not a superheated "thermoblock" [which means the water is run over a heating coil, not heated within a boiler].
That said, the only way to get an espresso, meaning a coffee drink in which properly heated water is compressed through a powdery grind of freshly roasted beans, and thus producing a chemical reaction which releases a frothy caramel colored liquid (called "crema"), is by using a very good grinder to produce a very fine, even grind. This machine, when coupled with a Gaggia MDF or Rancilio Rocky, or at the most economical, an Innova Lux or Solis Maestro Plus, and beans roasted within two weeks prior, can produce good espresso.
As to cappuccino, the machine does a fine job for the price in steaming milk. In order to do this, though, you must "temperature surf" the thermostat. What this means is that you steam while the boiler is heating. It's simple: start steaming your milk and you'll find that the steam power will run out in about 15 seconds. At that time the light for the boiler will come on, indicating the boiler is engaged. Instead of closing the steam valve and waiting for the light to go off, just close the steam valve for a few seconds, and then open it again, as you continue steaming the milk with the light still on (and hence the boiler still heating). This will give adequate steaming power.
I don't believe you can really get a better espresso or cappuccino maker for under $150. If you want to go for a huge step up, consider buying a Gaggia Carreza. It's worth the extra money.

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Delonghi Espresso/Cappuccino Maker with patented "sempre crema" filter holder. Used with ground espresso, this unique filter mixes air into the brewing process to produce a perfect crema. Distinguished by its caramel color, the crema is the seesnce of authentic espresso.

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Delonghi EC330-s Pump Espresso Maker Review

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(More customer reviews)I ordered this machine off amazon.com after reading the very positive reviews on-line about it. The best part was that amazon had it available for just $72 plus shipping (for a refurbished machine). Initially, I was going to order the EC155 (which is very similar), but then noticed that the EC330 was much nicer looking (more stainless) and only cost a few bucks more. Both the EC155, as well as the EC330, received very good reviews.
The basic consensus was that the EC330 was one of the best espresso pump machines around for under $200. This machine has a 15 BAR pump, just like much more costly machines. Pump machines are generally considered better, since they use a pump to produce their pressure. Not only do they provide more consistent pressure throughout the extraction process, but they don't burn the coffee (which produces a more bitter taste) as "steam only" machines do. Steam only machines rely on the pressure from stem in the boiler, which means the water has to be closer to 212 degrees. This is really above the ideal temperature (more like 200 to 203 degrees) for making espresso. Also, steam driven machines generally only produce 4 or 5 bar of pressure, while pump machines produce the full 15 bar needed to make true espresso (well, technically only 10 to 12 bar are needed I believe). In any case, a 15 bar pump machine is considered a much better machine for making espresso.
I ordered this machine in order to play around with making espresso vs. using a french press. With the french press, I brew the coffee on the stove for 5 or 6 minutes, then press it. I use a Bodum manual milk frother to froth the milk (see my review on the Bodum frother, btw) and this system produces a wonderful latte/mocha - easily blowing away anything you find at coffee chop shops like Starbucks, etc.
Anyway, prior to plunking down $1200 for a La Pavoni or something, I wanted to see if using a 15 bar pump type espresso machine would make any major differences over the French press method. I also liked the idea of being able to make an espresso vs. just strong black coffee as the foundation for my caffe latte or caffe mochas.
Anyway, the EC330 arrived today. If I'm not mistaken, this machine is mainly sold to the European market. However, it's available as a refurbished unit on amazon.com - which is great. As mentioned, it's much nicer than the EC155 and only a few dollars more. Our unit arrived in the factory box, with the factory manual. After taking it out and checking it over, you would be hard pressed to tell it wasn't brand new. It included a factory manual and also a printed sheet with some additional instructions. The sheet said the unit had been tested before leaving and I did see some water around the water tank fitting that tended to support this.
My first impression of the unit was very good. The machine is high quality and well made. While it's not all metal, it does have a nice stainless drip tray and some satin looking metal on the front, etc. The push buttons that control everything have a very nice and smooth feel. There is a warming tray on top and then a removable plastic water tank on the back with a little flip up lid. The overall design and layout of the machine is quite nice. I especially liked how you can take out (and take apart) the drip tray. It removes so you can wash it off quickly. Clean up on this machine is very easy.
There is a steam knob on top. The steam knob feels a little cheap (it's plastic), but certainly not enough to detract from the overall quality feel of the machine (especially given the cost). There is also a steam nozzle on the side for frothing milk. I've used it a few times and it seems to get the job done. I think I need some more practice on steaming milk however. I also need a pitcher like they use in the coffee shops. BTW, the unit does not come with any shot glasses, so you will need to supply your own. I ended up walking across the street and buying some from the brewing company around the corner.
The portafilter is aluminum and plastic. It's fine, but certainly not as heavy duty as a higher quality pro machine. It has two plastic drip spouts on the bottom. The filter basket (the machine comes with a 1 shot and 2 shot size, as well as a little coffee scoop) is nice and can be taken apart for cleaning. Construction seems pretty good. Again, for the money, you can't really complain - especially when you consider you can almost spend as much for just a naked portafilter as this entire machine costs :-)
The unit has a little plastic tamper on the under side. I am planning to get a separate tamper to use. The diameter of the filter basket (which inserts into the portafilter) is about 53 mm across from what I can see. I measured it and it's a little under 2 1/8th inches - so I'm guessing a 52 or 53 mm tamper would be just about right (don't quote me on that however).
I've pulled a couple of shots with this unit. I got some decent crema by using the finest setting on my coffee grinder and by tamping as hard as I could with the little plastic fitting on the underside of the machine. I'll upload some pictures showing my results in the user photos. As far as taste, the espresso seemed pretty decent (good flavor, a little bitter/sweet taste as you'd expect). I'm no espresso expert, but it seemed pretty good to me.
As far as operation, they directions suggest allowing the machine to warm up for 15 to 30 minutes. However, they say you can pre-heat things faster by running a couple of "water shots" through the unit. The functioning is pretty straight forward. You turn the unit on with the top button, then when it's ready, a light goes on. Each time you pull a shot, the light goes off. Then the unit warms back up and is ready to go again (just takes a few seconds). The machine is more or less manual as far as the time to run the shot goes. In other words, you push the button, the pump turns on, pressure builds up, the shot comes - then it's up to you to turn it off. If you don't turn it off, you can run water through the portafilter for pretty much as long as you wish. Also, when you turn the button off, the residual pressure keeps the water flowing for maybe 4 or 5 additional seconds. Clearly it will take a little fiddling around to get that perfect 25 to 30 seconds shot. With that said, I think I like the manual on/off approach over a preset time. I like having the control over how long the pump runs frankly. Kudos to Delonghi for not forcing me into some pre-programmed time limit.
As far as the steaming wand, it's all right. Again, I'm no expert when it comes to frothing milk, but I've seen it done a few times. With a little practice, I was able to get a pretty nice combo of steamed/frothed milk; made a couple of lattes in short order with no problem at all. One thing to note is that because this unit has only one boiler for both making both the espresso as well as making the steam, you do have to take into consideration the difference in temps that result. In other words, if you push the "steam" button, then the unit heats up the water a little more. When it's ready, the "ok" LED goes on and you can turn the knob on top to force steam out the wand. Once you are done, then you turn off the steam button and it takes a minute to cool back down to the proper temperature for making coffee. Of course, you could probably just pull a "water shot" (i.e. with no coffee in the basket) to drop the temp more quickly. The result is that if you heat up the boiler to make steam, then decide you want to quickly make more coffee, the water in the boiler is going to be a few degrees too hot (and this could cause you to burn the coffee during the subsequent extraction if you don't allow things to cool back down a bit). Myself, I didn't find this to be any problem however. And, as mentioned, running some water through to cool things down (and clean things up) is easy enough.
All in all, it's a great little machine. Maybe it doesn't produce the crema that a $2000 machine would, or a lever operated La Pavoni will, but I was actually pretty impressed with how the first couple of shots turned out. As mentioned, I plan to buy a separate hand tamper so I can press the coffee down a bit harder. I don't think Delonghi suggests that, but I'm still gonna do it :-) Also, I think using a slightly finer grind might increase the flavor a bit further as well.
I was happy to see that, after pulling the shot, the grinds in the filter basket are pretty dry. You aren't going to drop out a totally dry puck, but it's close. The grinds are certainly not floating around in a liquid or anything. Just be careful getting them out, because there is a rubber washer in the filter basket. Knocking the portafilter on the side of a trash can worked fine as far as getting the grounds out.
I rated the machine 5 stars. I think for $72 plus a few bucks for shipping, you just can't go wrong here. As far as appearance, I think it stacks up to some of the nearly $500 Breville machines I have seen in the stores. At the end of the day, 15 bar is 15 bar in my opinion. Can you spend more on an espresso machine? Of course... however, for under $100 including shipping, I think this machine will fit the bill for most people. It looks great on the counter and is obviously very well thought out. It produces quite a tasty little cup of espresso without any complaints.
What more can you ask for? I can't think of much.
I'm very pleased with my purchase - and I'm not always easy to please ;-) This machine really hits the mark.


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Krups Konstantin Grcic Programmable Espresso Machine Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a great home espresso machine. I have used it 4-5 times per week, every week for the last 15 months since I received it and I have never had a problem with it. It produces nice, hot, frothed milk with minimum effort. It does require regular cleaning, as any espresso machine does. It is much more user friendly than the two steam espresso machines I previously owned.

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Livia 90 Automatic Espresso Machine - HML90A Review

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(More customer reviews)At the time of this writing, I've owned my Livia 90 Semi-Automatic espresso machine for more than 10 years. I've used it pretty much every single day since it first arrived -- unless I'm away from home. Today, although my income would allow me to purchase one of the newer, more expensive prosumer machines, I haven't been able to justify doing so because this good ol' work horse just keeps on doing everything I ask of her.
The Livia 90 is attractive, but also extremely sturdy, well-built. Pretty much, I've replaced the group gasket three times and maybe a half dozen pressurestats. Of course, every espresso machine owner replaces group gaskets, and generally also pressurestats. To be honest, the frequency with which I have replaced my Livia 90's pressurestat is mostly a reflection on the inadequacy of my initial water treatment methods. I used to live in an area that had wonderful, very soft water, so I let myself become too lax about checking the hardness of the water supply in this new house. When I finally admitted to being inexcusably inattentive to water quality up to that point, I decided to install a heavy duty water softener on the water line I run to the Livia 90. also, I now monitor water hardness religiously at the start of each month. Since putting in that water treatment system, I haven't had a single stuck pressurestat episode (knock on wood).
About 5 years ago, the Livia "died" -- when I flipped the ON switch nothing happened. So after consulting other Livia 90 owner on the Internet, I induced the cause to be the "CPU," so I sent away for a new one -- for approximately $150. I figured that the original CPU had probably been allowed to get too hot, because of its enigmatic placement near the boiler. Now, clearly the Livia 90's engineers believed the heat given off by the boiler wouldn't be much of a problem for the CPU or they wouldn't have located it where they did. But I concluded that it couldn't be that much more robust than my notebook computer, which I am constantly protecting from overheating. Anyway, when I installed the new CPU unit I also built a double-wall insulating shield (using high-temp "cardboard" designed for use in engine muffler repairs, plus high-temp heat-reflective aluminum tape), and inserted it between the boiler and the CPU. The result was just what I hoped, viz., that side of the machine is much, much cooler than the other (unprotected) side.
To be sure, the Livia 90's water reservoir holds a really generous 1.5 liters of water, so for most users it wouldn't need to be refilled every day or two. Plus, when you do need to refill the reservoir, a large, stainless steel lid the width of the machine flips back to expose the entire reservoir, making it really easy to pour and also to see what you're doing. Furthermore, with that lid open, it's a simple matter to lift the reservoir all the way out for cleaning -- I do this twice a year, generally.
One more thing: everyone who has used a Livia 90 mentions its boundless supply of high-pressure steam. It's true. This thing really kicks out lots of steam through the steam wand (Note: I use a stainless, three-holed tip rather than the stock, 4-holed tip that ships with the Livia 90). With practice, anyone should be able to create beautiful microfoam for your own latte art. Also, because of its heat-exchanger design, you're able to use the steam wand simultaneously with pulling shots -- although you wouldn't ever want to do that -- without running out of either steam or brewing-temperature water. Yes, you could pull shots one after another for the whole afternoon if, for instance, you were entertaining a group of friends who have discovered that attractive semi-pro espresso machine right there on your counter.
You should, by now, be getting the idea that this machine is really simple to tinker with, if you want or need to. The shiny, stainless cover lifts completely off after loosening just two screws, exposing the elegant and robust interior, where all the *real*work gets done. If you're handy with everyday tools like phillips and slotted screwdrivers, adjustable wrenches, etc., and aren't intimidated by machinery, you'll really like this solidly built, elegantly designed machine.So go for it. Note that this is not the kind of machine that will brew perfect espresso drinks no matter how hard you work at it. It's not foolproof, but it will do just what you expect a serious, prosumer espresso machine to do. While you're practicing, getting ever better at dialing in your coffee grinder, properly dosing and distributing the grinds into the Livia 90's heavy portafilter and tamping it down just right, you'll find that some of your motivation to improve comes from the challenge of having a machine that will make wonderful microfoam and brew excellent espresso once you master all the steps. Meanwhile, you'll be proud of its polished, professional, heavy-duty appearance on your counter (yes, it fits under typical kitchen wall cabinets).

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