DeLonghi EC155 15 Bar Espresso and Cappuccino Machine, Black

This machine must be judged for what it is and for whom it's designed: it is an inexpensive, entry-level espresso/cappuccino maker made for beginners. If you want to control water temperature and pressure, and if you care about how long ago your beans were roasted and how the husk was removed, this is not your new machine. If you are like me--someone who enjoys the taste of cappuccino and likes making it for yourself and your spouse--then this machine is a darling. In my estimation, with this machine, and as a beginner, I make better cappuccino than any that I've had at an American coffee chain (that is not a grand claim if you include Starbucks, which in my estimation makes truly awful coffee), and on par with what I can get at my favorite mid-range restaurant. My wife and daughter agree, at least to my face. To see how to use it and some good (if somewhat goofy) explanations, see the "Crew Review: DeLonghi EC155" YouTube video. I have now owned the machine for four months or so, and this is what I have learned: 1. Keep the machine clean. 2. Before steaming your milk, run some steam through the steam arm to drive out the water that has condensed. If you do not, you will dilute your milk with water. 3. Contrary to other reviewers, I have found that the built-in tamper works just fine, since with this kind of machine you do not need to tamp with much pressure (see the video). 4. Twice I have ground my coffee too finely and the machine has "over-extracted" (I believe that is the correct term): the water spends too much time in contact with the grounds and the espresso drips out slowly, it is black with very little crema, and it tastes extremely strong and bitter. Both times I thought something was wrong with the machine, but it worked well when I changed how I ground. With my new burr grinder I find that I have to grind one or two notches coarser than the finest grind. 5. I make my espresso with Eight O'Clock Bean, whole bean, Colombian roast coffee, and I find it to be delicious. I have tried more expensive beans and others that are especially roasted for making espresso and cannot really tell the difference. If I were not adding the frothed milk, I probably could. 6. If you wish to use a tall mug or cup, you will need to remove the drip tray, which is easily done. 7. The steam arm is a bit low as well, but it works just fine if you have a low pitcher. Amazon sells one. 8. It may very well be that after some time will will begin desiring a more expensive and versatile machine as my taste begins to become more discerning. That will take some research, because DeLonghi makes more expensive machines than this one, but I have watched some YouTube videos about them, and as far as I can tell, they cost more because they are larger. Otherwise they operate nearly identically to the EC 155: they can brew one single or double shot at a time, and they brew in the same way, so I anticipate that the coffee would taste no differently. 9. I have nothing negative to say (that could change the longer I own the machine); I believe that many who have reviewed the machine negatively have not researched how to make espresso with this kind of machine and they have not followed directions (it is also possible that DeLonghi ships some lemons). Many who give the machine some cons are probably rating it in a classification in which it does not belong. I give the machine the highest recommendation, considering what you get for the money. Addendum 4/28/2013, five months after purchase. I still rate this machine with five stars. I add the following tips: 1. Allow the machine to heat for the full 15 minutes stated in the instructions. The green light will come on after just a minute or so, but the machine will produce much better steam when it is fully heated. I presume this also has an effect on the flavor of the coffee. 2. From some Youtube videos I have learned that high-end cappuccino makers produce what people call "dry" steam. This one does not. To get the steam as dry as possible, before frothing the milk I run the steam for awhile into a plastic cup, which I sometimes cover with a cloth, until the steam arm stops sputtering. 3. Different coffees behave differently in the machine. I noted earlier that I do not grind on the finest setting. That was because I was trying out a new coffee. I don't know what it is about that particular coffee, but I could not grind it as fine as I can others. 4. Skim milk froths just fine, but whole milk tastes much better. I have also learned that frothed milk should have the consistency of wet paint. To achieve this, I immerse the steam head about 1/4 inch into the milk and try to hold the milk pitcher at the same level as the volume of the milk increases, without allowing the plastic head to become completely immersed in the milk. It's possible to treble the volume of the milk, but you'll get better consistency if you double it or a little more. What you don't want is foam: large bubbles that you can make out with the naked eye. If you get them, swirl the milk around some and tap the pitcher on the counter top until they subside. You want milk with the same, thick consistency throughout 5. Froth the milk before you make the espresso. If it needs swirling, I swirl the milk while the espresso is brewing. If you allow the milk to sit, it will begin to separate with milk-consistency milk on the bottom and foam on the top. 6. I "pull" a double shot for about 20 seconds (I have yet to use the single shot filter that comes with the machine). A little more and the espresso is too weak to my taste, a little less and it's too strong. 7. The time you need for a good shot will also depend on the type of coffee you're using, how finely you grind it, and how firmly you tamp it. So you'll spend some time figuring out which variables you'll play with to get the coffee you like. 8. I'm about to purchase a coffee tamper that fits the filter. I believe it requires a 53 millimeter tamper. The tamper on the machine continues to work just fine, and I believe because of how the machine brews it does not require 30 pounds of pressure as some machines do.

We recently received this after quite a bit of anticipation. I recently have become addicted to cappuccino and toured coffee shops all over the Pacific Northwest refining my tastes. I take my cappuccino dry, sans sweetener, so the taste of the espresso is very important to me. My office bought a cheap steam driven espresso maker, which is nice for an occasional cup but it produces very bitter tasting espresso. I think that is because there is not enough pressure, so you are essentially getting very strong drip coffee instead of a true espresso. Anyway, after drinking espresso for the last few months, I can no longer stand the taste of drip coffee and I knew I needed an espresso maker for home in order to reduce the amount of money I would spend at coffee shops throughout the day. I turned to Amazon for some research and decided on this unit. The size is compact. A lot of reviewers have complained about it. I simply use a ceramic sake cup when pulling shots and then pour into my travel mug. I use a 1 cup Pyrex glass measuring cup to steam my milk. Problem solved. The built in tamp works fine. I know some people have purchased a separate tamp but I do not find that to be necessary. Pre-heat time generally does not take 15 minutes. I usually turn it on to heat, grind my coffee beans, load and tamp and when I am done its ready to go! The milk frother works okay. Its not amazing. Sometimes I get a really good froth and sometimes not so much. It doesn't bother me, I just use a hand whisk to froth up my milk if its not frothy enough. I only do this on the weekends when I have more time in the morning. When I am on my way to work, I just use the frother on the machine and its fine. I guess in that case, I get a latte instead of a cappuccino, but the point to be caffeinated, not be picky about milk froth. I am not and have never been a barista, so if there are better techniques to making a cappuccino, I don't know them. But I have spent a lot of money on cappuccinos at coffee shops and this tastes just as good as anything I can get where I live. It isn't quite as good some of the coffee shops in Portland, but since I only travel there occasionally, I'm very pleased with the quality I can achieve at home. If you buy espresso based drinks at a coffee shops once a day, this is worth it. I calculated that we will have to make 24-30 drinks with it to justify the price. I drink about 2 cappucinos a day and my hubs drinks an americano in the morning, so it won't take long for us to recoup the cost. UPDATE: My machine started to drip very slow and the last two shots I pulled tasted burnt. It was producing very strong espresso but with no crema, just black, burnt, high octane espresso. It gave me a stomach ache. I was slightly annoyed. I started by running just plain water through the system, didn't help. I then ran water through the grounds basket. Helped a little. Then I took the entire grounds basket apart, including unscrewing the gasket on the bottom. I washed and rinsed it all. Now its back to new! I just pulled another shot and it was wonderfully creamy, smooth taste and fast. It was a little annoying that it already got clogged so quickly but if you just rinse it all once in a while, it will probably be fine. I also think it might have been because my DH was not grinding the coffee fine enough.

Sehr gute und günstige Espressomaschine. Leicht zu reinigen. Kafe schmeckt sehr gut. Ich bin sehr mir Qualität und Geschmack der Kafe zufrieden.

Actualización: super confiable, solo hago espresso, siempre sale bueno. Lo único que realmente "no le gusta" es que se te olvide ponerle agua (obviamente), luego cuesta trabajo para que vuelva a funcionar: hay que limpiar con vinagre diluido. Solo nos tardamos en encontrar tazas chaparritas pero anchas que quepan para hacer espresso lungo con dos cargas. Reseña original: Después que la vieja cafetera Krups empezó a sacar agua por todas partes, ya era hora de cambiar; busqué una cafetera para espresso lo más sencillo posible, ésta hace espresso o espresso doble con las dos canastillas incluidas, y saca vapor para capuccino, punto. Como ventaja adicional, ocupa poco espacio. Cuando llegó no quería funcionar, dos sugerencias que lo resolvieron: 1. Verificar que el tanque de agua saque burbujas de aire al sentarlo; lo verifiqué varias veces la primera vez. 2. Sacar vapor con la perilla superior, aunque no vayas a hacer un capuccino. Después de esto, no ha vuelto a dar lata, usandolo 2 a 4 veces diario. La primera vez también tardó un poco en calentarse, después de pasar dos tanques completos de agua como se recomienda, se calienta mucho más rápido; un poco de paciencia puede hacer mucha diferencia.

I bought this machine here four years ago Boxing Week. I have used it twice every day, and overtime when I have a dinner party. It takes me three minutes to generate a large latte every morning. I have no complaints about this machine. It’s dependable and easy to operate. The frother works well, although I prefer to use a separate frothing device, as I don’t like the kind of over-watery cappuccino foam that you get from forcing steam through milk. I clean the machine every three or four months, using CLR, followed by the tablets you can purchase on Amazon – it’s easy and works well, if you rinse out the machine thoroughly after running the cleaners through it. It's just a matter of running 5 or 6 cups of fresh water through it. If you want excellent coffee, purchase good coffee beans and a good grinder that can grind the beans to fine powder. Super-freshly-ground coffee will give you excellent results. Don’t blame the machine for lousy coffee if you insist on grinding a supply of coffee days in advance of using it, or prefer to use bargain basement beans. I'm impressed to see that this machine is still under a hundred dollars in this Christmas bargain time. This is the first espresso machine I’ve owned, and it has paid for itself in full. After four years I’m curious about what a more sophisticated machine might be like. In other words, I’ve had such a good experience with this machine that I can ook forward to what’s next.

Es fácil de usar, la compré para hacerme café americano más concentrado y cremoso, queda súper rico, solo agrego la mitad de agua caliente. El espacio donde se coloca la taza es muy pequeño, así que necesitas tener taza para espresso o una jarrita. Es una cafetera pequeña y práctica, la recomiendo mucho :)

This is my first espresso machine. Before this I was using a stove-top espresso maker, which surprisingly was less labour intensive than the machine. Despite this, the machine works very well and I use it at least once a day. Depending on the quality of beans, it produces very good espresso. Notes on use: - Do not over-tamper or the pressure build-up when you release the handle the expansion with be violent (also, always release/twist handle slowly no matter what to release air pressure slowly) - for best results, make sure you allow the machine to heat up before use. Running hot water through a few times does not do the trick (according to my standards). I let it heat up for at least 10-15 min before use, unless you're not picky and don't care about decent crema and taste. - for quick and dirty americanos, use a wide-n-low mug and let it run water through spent grounds. you could just add boiled water separately, but this will destroy the crema layer. Buyer beware: - the drip on the handle is very low (<3") so make sure you have cups that will accommodate this limitation - built in tamper is useLESS. get a normal metal one. - milk frother is not as useful as hand-held. I do still use it to heat the milk, but I froth using my hand-held. Limitation of built-in is time and quality of froth.