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 ...
Advantages: Easy to use, makes great coffee Disadvantages: None
I had this coffee machine installed over a year ago with my new kitchen.
Looks
As you can see from the image it is sleek, stylish and smooth in stainless steel. The machine is integrated and looks fab.
How it works
The machine is plumbed in. To use it you simply switch it on and turn on the water switch having loaded the handle with coffee and compressed it with the built in damper. The pressure of water going through the machine makes quite a noise but the result is a great cup of coffee. It takes about a minute to heat up an then another minute or so to make the coffee. If you don't like it strong you can let water run through for an americano instead of an espresso.
It comes with a stainless steel jug for frothing milk to make cappuccinos. Personally, I'm an espresso fiend, so we don't use this very often. Though when ...
Advantages: Looks Good, Cheap.... Disadvantages: It is cheap!
gauge. The chrome switches are sturdy and finish off the look. It is a beautiful machine to look at.
Features and Benefits
The machine is a fairly standard Espresso machine. It has a 1000W boiler that heats up fairly fast (not quite as fast as Gaggia machines, but you do pay more), a steam nozzle for frothing milk and a 1 or 2 cup output. The 2 components of a good Espresso machine are the ability to keep water at a constant temperature and at a constant pressure. Being a pump operated machine, it easily manages the 15bar pressure, but what lets it down is the boiler. It struggles to maintain temperature, and making more than 1 cup in a row will lead to a decline in quality. So - it?s not a machine for dinner parties then! It has an easily-removable water tank, but unfortunately this is quite low capacity. After making 1 cup and steaming ...
