I have an uber expensive espresso machine, which I enjoy every morning (a Miele). However my daughter wanted one that would be her entry into Espresso, Cappuccino and Lattes at home. So we opted to get this one for her.
OUT OF THE BOX:
One thing that has struck me as of late is that everything seems triple boxed. This was no exception. There was the manufacturer on the shelf box, then the box with manufacturer information outside of this and then the shipping box. Ridiculous.
Once we got through all the boxes, there were a bunch of parts that we identified:
**** The coffeemaker base, with its water container and nozzle cover (with included pin)
**** The funnel with it’s two filter inserts: One cup, Two cups
**** The scoop and tamper
**** Cup plate & mat
**** Instructions
The controls consist of:
**** Frothing button
**** One cup of coffee button
**** Two cups of coffee button
**** Frothing knob with On and Off position
First we cleaned and untaped and filled the water container.
Following the instructions, we turned the unit on and ran water through the milk steamer.
You do this by pressing the steamer control and then turning it to on. At first we did not understand why nothing was happening, but we found we didn’t turn it far enough.
We then attempted to run water through the funnel with an attached filter. The lights kept blinking and looking in the manual after waiting quite a while, we realized the unit was overheating. We followed the procedure to cool it down and after a while that work.
MAKING COFFEE
Finally we were ready to make coffee.
You need to grind your own coffee, or buy it pre ground. We ground some I use for espresso. We made a cup of coffee and had an issue with overheating again. It is likely we are doing multiple things wrong that are leading to this. However we finally got it to work only to realize we were using the wrong size filter and then realized we had no idea how to change the filter in the funnel. My daughter and I both looked at it and finally she figured it out,. You have to align the dot inside the filter to the one on the funnel to release. This should have been in the instructions.
Onto the second cup of coffee. This time we used the right filter, amount of coffee and everything went well. She even steamed some milk. I helped her with this one as I knew how to do it from prior machines. Essentially you double the volume of milk with foam and that results in the right temperature. She used Oat Milk as she can’t drink milk and I had no idea how this would turn out. But, it worked well. I explained to her that you need to clean the frother regularly and the pin is essential to keep it working.
One thing this unit did not come with, was a frothing pitcher. As I knew her goal was to make lattes and cappuccinos, I gave her one of mine. I prefer one with a long handle so you can keep your distance from the frothing nozzle. Also a plastic handle makes it less likely to get burned.
SUBSEQUENT USAGE:
My daughter has been using this for her morning latte with no more issues of the overheating and successful results.
