great espresso for dummies

Author's Rating:

Pros: perfect espresso, great for beginners, mistake proof, solidly built

Cons: frother could use a little more power

The Bottom Line: 
Get delicious espresso with perfect crema and professional results every single time. I recommend this to anybody.

Author's Review
Months after joining epinions, I finally have something to write about.

I did a lot of research on espresso makers and found the one I wanted at a starbucks coffee shop. the only problem was that the model was not available and I didnt want to take a demo model.

SO. A friend suggested to me that this Saeco was made by the same company as the model I'd seen at Starbucks and it does look exactly the same.

The first great benefit of the Saeco Classico is that it automatically adjusts the packing or tamping of the grounds. This is supposed to give you perfect crema and it works! I get 100% perfect crema every time. I have smarter friends with much more expensive makers who don't get the results I do.

Before you start the brewing you have to air out the system and you do this by opening up the frothing nozel for about 5-10 seconds.

Next, you froth the milk. This is the only weak point of the Saeco and it's not really that weak.

Before the milk get's to 120 degrees, the system slows down a lot. It does get a second wind though and begins picking up steam again. Then you can get the milk temperature up to about 130 or 140 or so. This happens when I'm frothing milk for 2 cups.

After frothing the milk, you turn off the steam button, wait for the green light and press the brew button. It gets noisy and that's how you know it's working.

When your coffee is filled to the level you want, shift the handle of the grounds cup and wait for the noise to stop.

A nice benefit is that the top of the unit is stainless steel and it heats up quite a bit. This doubles as a cup warmer. Put your serving cups on this area and by the time you are ready to serve, the cups are nice and warm.

The Saeco is very solid and very heavy. It looks like it will last fifty years or so.

The tank is pretty high capacity which is great because you need a lot of water to create the steam for frothing. I've been able to make 4-5 cups before refilling the water tank.

This is a heavy duty unit so if you can't plug it into a direct socket make sure to get an extension cord that is at least 14 gauge.

Overall I have to say that this is the best home espresso maker I've seen. All of my friends have espresso makers and I've been able to learn a lot from their experiences. Every single person I've made espresso for loves this maker of mine.

Did I mention taste? In my opinion the espresso I make with this machine is as good as you'll get in any professional coffee shop. Starbucks included. It really is.

I'm a non technical person who loves technical things. Maybe my lack of knowledge makes me a good judge or example because I feel that if I can use this thing, anybody can.

If you think $200 is too much to spend for good coffee, maybe this is the maker that will change your mind. I've made 120 cups in the 1st 2 months since I bought this. So I've already saved about $300 in what I would have spent for that if I'd gone to Starbucks for each of those cups.