Morphy Richards 47490 Combi

Well at last I have a new coffee maker and so far I love this one. It’s another combination job; you can make filter, espresso and cappuccino coffee with this machine. The great difference with this machine is that it hasn’t got a reservoir for the milk, which I find so much better.

It’s a very nice looking machine; they (Morphy Richards) call the colour for this model Graphite. Its actually grey on the front of the water reservoirs and the rest of the machine is brown with a sort of metallic paint effect look to both colours of plastic, but it does look rather nice sitting on the work top just the same. I suppose graphite just sort of sounds a bit grander.

It comes with a seven-page instruction and care booklet and has a two-year guarantee.

You get one large, heat resistant glass jug (holds up to ten cups for filter coffee) and one smaller one (holds up to four cups of cappuccino or espresso coffee) both of them have hinged plastic lids to help keep your coffee nice and hot. Both jugs also have rubberised grips on the handles to make sure that you are less likely to let them slip out of your hands and smash into a million pieces.

The filters for this machine are permanent ones, so there’s no mucking about with those irritating paper ones, not to mention the added expense. You can just wash and re-use them over and over again.

What else do you get? Oh yes, you get a hotplate for the filter jug to sit on and a lift out (for easy cleaning) drip tray for the espresso/cappuccino side. The espresso maker uses a little saucepan thingy as its filter holder, and this has a rubberised grip on the handle too. You also get a measuring spoon to measure your coffee with.

There was no free pack of coffee to test this machine with either; alas companies just don’t seem to do that anymore.

Both the filter and the espresso maker have a strength selector (both at the front of each water reservoir) so you can select the strength of your coffee before you brew it, from very light to very strong or somewhere in between. All this really means is that the water you pour into the reservoir (or boiler for espresso) will come through as different speeds but it does makes a difference to the way your coffee tastes. Its something you just have to try out for yourself until you find your own preference really.

queenofsheba's quick and most probably very boring guide

Starting off with the filter coffee making, lift the lid of the reservoir; the place where you pour the water in is at the back and is quite small so be careful to pour the water in to the correct bit and just use the glass jug to fill it to the level you need with cold water, just don't overfill it there is a minimum and maximum line to guide you on the outside left of the machine anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem. Then put your coffee in to the filter and close the reservoir lid, be sure you have put the jug on the hotplate in line with the spout, it’s a tight fit but necessary for the anti-drip valve system to work correctly, your coffee will start to flow through almost immediately. It takes just about seven minutes to brew a full jug (10 cups) of coffee.

Next the espresso bit which is in the middle of the machine. Right then, open the water boiler at the top of the espresso side. Get your smaller glass jug and fill to the level required indicated on the side of the jug (2 or 4cups) with cold water. Unscrew the cap from the boiler and pour in the water, again the its quite a small reservoir so be careful when pouring in your water or it will splash all over the place, then screw the cap back on tightly. Get hold of your espresso thing, (which looks like a teeny little saucepan with a wee hole in the bottom) put the filter in and add the coffee. Now here comes the tricky bit, you have to fit the little pan under the waterspout with a kind of push and twist action. It will only go on one way, (on at the left and twist to the right to lock it on) but it is a bit of a fiddle to begin with. You can see where to fit it, as it is marked clearly on the front of the water boiler with the words ‘remove’ and ‘lock’. Once you have got this in place, select the required strength on the strength selector slider. You must also make sure that the steam release switch; on the right hand side of the machine is fully closed before you start so to check this, turn it clockwise until it is completely closed. Put the little jug directly beneath the espresso pan so that the coffee pours directly into it. Then switch it on and after about two or three minutes your coffee will begin to flow into the glass jug below Warm your cups before pouring the coffee into them as it will cool down very quickly and you will have cold coffee, so warming them will make all the difference. I usually fill then with hot water from the kettle and then just pour it away just before the coffee is ready.

Finally the cappuccino maker.

This machine has a steam pipe with a frothing nozzle attached to the end. So no more messy milk tanks for me! It’s located on the far right of the machine next to the espresso pan.

Look at the indication levels on the little glass jug; it has a little mark like a shot of steam as the level indicator for the cappuccino making. Fill the water boiler using these levels as your guide. Brew the espresso as before but as soon as the coffee reaches level two on the jug turn the strength selector switch to the cappuccino setting. If you don't do this you won't have enough water left in the boiler to froth the milk. Then get some cold milk from the fridge and put it in a heat resistant jug. (I’m using a metal one that came with an old teapot set I’ve had for years) Hold your jug of milk underneath the steam pipe and turn the steam control anti-clockwise. Move the jug up and down so that the milk heats up and froths. Close the steam control and serve your lovely hot frothy milk over the top of your prepared espresso.

After you’ve finished with the cappuccino side make sure you clear the steam pipe of milk and excess steam by fully opening the steam control. Then close it again ready for its next use.

The measurements of this little baby are as follows:

Height: 36cm

Width: 32cm

Depth: 22 cm

So you can see that it doesn’t take up very much work top space at all. It looks good, is simple to use and clean and makes very good coffee.

I bought this fantastic little machine from www.currys.co.uk priced at £57.70 and at the time it was on free delivery. I’ve just checked their website and it’s now charging £3.25 to deliver that item. Even if you don’t order it from them, go and have a look at it on the site as you can click on 'interact with this image' below the picture and it opens a new window with the coffee machine in it, so that you can have a good look at it. You can zoom in and out and turn the whole image round full circle so that you can see all its features close up. I think that being able to have a good look like this definitely persuaded us to buy this particular model and we haven’t been disappointed.

Another plus point is that this machine was almost £27 cheaper than the Delonghi model I previously owned and yet it is a much sturdier model altogether.

The money we saved on this went towards paying for a sandwich toaster, opinion coming soon!