Espressione Café Retro Espresso Machine, Red
by Espressione
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Our Price: $399.99
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Category: Kitchen
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Product Summary
Manufacturer: EspressioneBrand: Espressione
Model: 1385R
Color: Red
Product features:
- 1050-watt espresso machine with 18-bar pump and quick-recovery 24-ounce boiler
- Solid-steel body with thermo-painted metal finish; temperature gauge; pull-down lever for steam or froth
- ESE adapted; removable water tank; pull-out knock box; cup warmer; toggle switches with indicator lights
- Includes pod and pod porta filter, ground-coffee porta filter, spoon, tamper, and instructions
- Measures 12 by 12-1/2 by 13-4/5 inches
Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Espressione Café Retro Espresso Machine, Red
Customer Review: Was good for awhile....
Summary: 2 Stars
I wouldn't buy this machine again. When I first got it, I thought it was great, but over time, it's gone downhill while my skills matured. As a coffee enthusiast, I bought it to learn to make 'real' espresso, but quickly outgrew it. My shots began tasting bitter, (I finally realized that it wasn't me) and over time, it stopped working altogether because it can't be cleaned. I ended up hacking it apart to clean it, what a mess, and although it's now working again, all it gives are bitter shots, no matter what I do. (And yes, I know how to properly pull an espresso shot.)
The brewing temp has worked it's way upward and is now too high (105 - 110 c) with no way to adjust it, so I have to power it off and wait for it to cool, or catch it early to pull a shot. It just can't build the pressure at the group anymore, and it doesn't help that the screen in the group is hopelessly plugged and can't be cleaned. I've run it without the portafilter in place, just to see what's happening, and water sprays out of the group screen at high pressure and odd angles from some of the holes and slowly drips out with no pressure from others, and the seal leaks hopelessly. As a result, there's uneven pressure behind the portafilter and my puck is always mushy and uneven. I can imagine it spraying my coffee grounds all over inside the portafilter. Pulling a good shot under these conditions is inconsistent at best, if not near impossible; it's pure chance anymore when I can actually achieve a crema.
It comes with the cheapest, flimsiest plastic tamper I've ever seen, so I bought a good heavy one right away. Ironically, the portafilter basket narrows at a ridge about halfway down, and a standard tamper (even the one supplied) is of too large a diameter to go beyond that ridge. The result is that you CANNOT properly tamp a single shot, because you end up putting pressure on the ridge in the basket rather than on the coffee grounds themselves. This means that it's physically impossible to get a good tamp and pull a single shot with proper crema.
The plastic handle on the portafilter has broken pieces inside which rattle around. I'm waiting for it to snap off entirely.
I have no real complaints about the drip tray as others do, besides it being too shallow, so it's easy to make a mess. I agree that the cup warmer is useless.
The steamer wand is a joke - it's nearly impossible to achieve microfoam with it. It's way too easy to scald the milk, and it spits out hot water for the first 5 seconds or so, and continues to do so intermittently while you're steaming. I've learned to discharge it into a rag before I try to steam. It's externally threaded at the end (unconventional), so once you realize the limitations of the "air injecting tip" and how poorly it actually works when you want "real" foamed milk and not big, hot bubbles, you cannot replace it with a more professional tip. I don't think there would be enough steam pressure for a proper 4-hole tip anyway. The boiler is too small so by the time your milk has fattened, the steam pressure has dropped too low to properly fuse it to get that nice foamy froth.
The wait time between brew and steam temperature isn't too bad, but the wait for it to cool down before you can pull another shot is unbearable. I've learned to pull all my shots and then steam at the end. By that time, all the shots are cold. Not really a problem as you pour what is essentially hot bubbly milk into your latte.
Between the leaking group, the drip tray, the poorly designed portafilter and the steam (water) wand, I agree with others that it makes a pretty big mess. Making a latte with it turns into a project by the time you're finished with cleanup.
I've owned this machine for about 4 years, but stopped using it after about a year when I outgrew it and it finally stopped working altogether. It killed my enthusiasm for learning to make better espresso because it's now incapable of pulling a good shot. When it stopped working, I didn't touch it for another year, until I got it working again. I haven't been able to pull a shot that's not extremely bitter since, and I've nearly forgotten what crema looks like. I've all but given up on it and I'm planning on trying to sell it and getting a real machine.
For the naysayers, I learned how to pull a proper shot and steam milk using this machine before it hopelessly died, and as an enthusiast/amateur barista, it doesn't take long to come up against its shortcomings as you learn your skills. Making good espresso is an art, and with this machine, it's like trying to paint with crappy brushes, only you don't know any better until you learn. It'll take you so far, until you reach a point where you realize that it's a piece of crap and it's holding you back if you want real espresso. For those who say it's excellent, I say either give it time, or you haven't yet learned what GOOD espresso should be.
It would have given it only one star because:
It's grossly overpriced for what it is.
It realistically lasted less than a year.
But it got two stars because:
It was a good stepping-stone for my skills at the time, a step up from the sub $100 steam driven, single-temperature plastic things they sell at Walmart.
It looks damn good in my kitchen. I'll give it that.
It's time to take it to the next level and buy something that is capable of pulling a consistent shot and properly foaming milk. Ironically, for $50 - $100 more, I could have bought a machine that wasn't so limited by poor engineering and would probably still be giving me halfway decent espresso.
Description of Espressione Café Retro Espresso Machine, Red
Café Retro is Old World Design with New age features. Steel body with thermo painted metal finish, toggle switches with indicator lights, temperature gauge, sturdy pull down lever for providing commercial quality steaming/frothing, removable tank with water level visible, .7 liter boiler, pull out knock box and cup warmer. Adaptable for use with ground coffee or coffee servings (ESE).Espresso Machines
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