Krups 866 Espresso/Cappuccino Maker

Advantages: A very eye-catching, modern design producing great coffee
Disadvantages: Annoying technical problems

...When the little coffee maker my husband had had for many years finally died on us, we experienced unexpected difficulties in finding a suitable replacement. One machine, bought at the local supermarket, was so badly put together that the panel containing the controls was coming off before we even got to use it. Having returned this, we then proceeded to buy another from our local Woolworth's, their own brand. Well, that one was cheap... Cheap in price and unfortunately quality and the jug, made of very thin glass, smashed the first time we washed it. After this run of bad luck, when our new Hinari machine arrived (mail order), we were delighted when we took it out of the box. It looked great! This being an espresso/cappuccino and filter coffee maker, it was bigger than what we had previously (about 22cmx43cm). As worktop... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Good build quality, reasonably priced
Disadvantages: Still £130 for a coffee machine!!!!

...is poured out it doesn’t look like a lot of coffee, but if you’ve done it right, you will end up with a really potent brew, the perfect espresso and the perfect base for cappuccino, latte, americano and all manner of other coffees. As Krupsy is a manual espresso maker, so rahter than just pressing a button and having the right amount of coffee poured for you, you have to decide for yourself how much water you want to filter through your coffee grinds. The more water you filter through, the more espresso you get, but the weaker the brew. To help me get the measurement right I bought some espresso shot glasses from Starbucks, they look great with Krupsy, and ensure I don’t over-dilute my espresso. Now I’m going to get a bit technical here. Good espresso coffee is made by forcing hot water under pressure though your ground coffee. I... Read review

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Advantages: Simple easy to clean system, seperate water resevoir
Disadvantages: None

...After a lot of time and energy spent researching different Espresso / Cappuccino machines, I came to two options: Get a all in one wonder which does everythign automatically, U put in the coffee and the milk and it froths the milk and produces the espresso, but means a hell to clean... OR a simple good quality Espresso machine which require you to fiddle knobs and hold the milk jug but which is smaller and easier to clean... Guess which one I went for? Yes, the second.. First, Since it is simpler, it costs less meaning that for the same amount of money I could buy a better quality machine, second, I it much easier to maintain and I do hate making a nice cup of somethign and then having to spend 10 minutes cleanign everything up before enjoying it. Thirdly, because I am going to University soon, I haven't got much room and specially... Read review

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