Getting steamed up about good coffee!

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...

weetoon 04.01.2006 (10.05.2006) · Read review
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Review of Hinari CC905 Cafe Continental 2 in 1 Espresso/Cappuccino and Filter Coffee Maker Black

/mister Maker!

Advantages: Jack likes it
Disadvantages: i am not too keen

...Mister Maker - Cbeebies.... Mister Maker is a programme that is shown on the Cbeebies channel (614 sky or 71 digibox). It is repeated twice a day and is shown pretty much 7 days a week, meaning we have seen this show a lot. The show, as with all programmes shown on the Cbeebies channel, is aimed at small children of pre-school age and just over meaning it is watched by children from 0 to 4. The show is, as its name would suggest, about a man who makes different things and a lot of it is very simple to make using things that one would have around the home. Mister Maker himself is a 20 something year old man who is a little bit wacky and slightly annoying. The set of the show is all very brightly coloured and appealing to the younger child for this reason. I have made a couple of the things shown on the programme with Jack...

newby2 27.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Mister Maker

The Witch Maker

Advantages: Good story with interesting support characters
Disadvantages: Lack of firm evidence

...Hallerton. It is a small and extremely close knit community who dislike and distrust all outsiders. It is a place controlled by the head of the community 'the Witch Maker'. But one morning he is found dead at the stake where the witch was burnt. DCI Woodend and his glamorous assistant Monika Paniatowski must unravel 350 years of history to discover the truth. They must do this within the next three days as that is when the next witch burning is due to happen. He has already been told by his boss that this event cannot be cancelled at any cost. As the villagers every 20 years celebrate the burning of the supposed witch Meg Ramsden at the stake in front of them. What DCI Woodend soon discovers is that several of the wives in Hallerton in the past 20 years have committed suicide. Is this related to the other murder? And is it just...

CPTDANIELS 29.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Witch Maker - Sally Spencer

Not quite the Gold Blend.

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...

rickyshah 24.10.2004 · Read review
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Review of Kenwood ES547 Espresso/Cappuccino Maker

Philips Senseo Coffee Maker - a coffee lovers heaven

Advantages: Perfect coffee at the press of a button
Disadvantages: Pods can be hard to find at times

...I am a complete coffee addict, I admit it. I can't function until I have had my caffine fix of the day. I drink my coffee stong,black and unweetened - because of this I like good coffee and it is one product that I will not economise on. Over my married life ( 38 years of it) I have had all sorts of coffee machines in my quest for a good cup of coffee, not just one that smells good when you walk in the kitchen but also tastes as good as it smells. I have had caffetieres, traditional expressom makers that you heat on the hob, an all singing and dancing cappuchino and espresso maker and umpteen different filter coffee machines. But I never did find the Holy Grail of coffee machines - the tatse wasn't quite right, or they were very difficult to clean or I ended up with a jug of stewed, bitter coffee. That was until six years ago...

oldchem 30.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of Philips Senseo Coffee maker

Senseo Coffee Maker

Advantages: Quick, easy to use, price
Disadvantages: None

...My husband bought me the Senseo coffee maker for a Christmas present 2006, I must say it was one of the best things he has ever bought me.I love my coffee and have used it most days and more than once a day since. It is still going strong! The Senseo doesn't have all the fancy bits to it that other coffee machines do, but it makes a nice cup of coffee and is very easy to use. The coffee comes out hot, but not boiling (my mum was never impressed with it when she came over as she likes her coffees scolding). I have occasionally had trouble with leaks, but not very often. All in all, I like it. Its a good price and makes nice coffee, itt is also easy to clean, which is another bonus for me. You can buy the pods easily in supermarkets or online, where you get quite a wide selection. Although, the pods can be quite expensive in...

ashton08 08.08.2008 · Read review
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Review of Philips Senseo Coffee maker

Arcsoft Panorama Maker 4

Advantages: Easy to use, Affordable, High picture quality
Disadvantages: None identified

...Although I'm a fan of Photoshop for all of my post production work as a wedding photographer, nothing compares to the excellent Panorama Maker from Arcsoft when it comes to stitching sequential images together in a panorama. It's so simple to use and I would challenge anyone to see the join in the final image. My daughter was 7 when she took a series of pictures overlooking Akaroa bay in New Zealand on a small compact digital camera. We used Panorama Maker to stitch them together and I got the resultant image produced on canvas. The picture now hangs by our front door and visitors comment every time they come about the quality of the shot (taken from 5 originals). The intro version can be downloaded freely so effectively you can try before you buy. I did this with version 3 a couple of years ago and now have full versions of 3...

Sidthemanager 21.03.2008 · Read review
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Review of Arcsoft Panorama Maker

Great Coffee Maker

Advantages: Good Coffee, Stylish, Very Easy to Use
Disadvantages: Very little

...We won tickets to the BBC Good Homes exhibition at the NEC in May, we ended up buying a Staffordshire Garden Furniture Pagoda and a Phillips Senseo Coffee Maker. Unlike the Pagoda we took the coffee maker home! My wife is the coffee lover - I personally do not like coffee at all. We got it for the show price with free coffee pods and mugs for £40. It is blue and stylish and just over 1 foot high. It uses coffee pods rather than granuals, these if you like are coffee bags. Usage is very easy, the pods go in a holder under the lid, the reservoir at the back holds enough water for 5 or 6 cups. Normal usage is wait to boil with the correct pods, put the cups under the spout and press the correct button for the number of pods (one pod button and a two pod button) To make a mug of coffee my wife uses 1 decaf. pod...

MartinImber 23.08.2004 · Read review
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Review of Philips Senseo Coffee maker

The Famous Log Maker

Advantages: Ability to produce free fuel to burn on the fire or in a multifuel burner.
Disadvantages: Messy, takes quite some effort to prepare the paper and dry the logs after manufacture.

...'The Famous Log Maker' is a small manual device for making bricks of compressed newspaper to burn on a fire for heating. To use it, waste newspapers are collected, mulched with water until they are thoroughly soaked. This mulched newspaper is then placed in the 'maker' and the two handles are used o compress the paper to squeeze out much of the water, idealy leaving a damp brick of compressed paper. This brick is then left to dry out for a time and then once dry can be used as fuel for an open fire or a multifuel burner/stove, thus giving free fuel for space and/or water heating. After approximately 45 'logs', the item's inserts are deforming and showing fatigue cracks, this deformation is producing rounded logs and causing less water to be squeezed out. The 'logs' are very difficult to extract and the best way I've found is to...

sledgenoumea 20.11.2006 · Read review
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Review of The Famous Log Maker

Lakeland Bulk Yogurt/Yoghurt Maker

Advantages: reliable easy results
Disadvantages: no built-in timer, easy to use a plug in timer = less to go wrong

..., After reading this review, I was in two minds as to whether to buy the flask type yoghurt maker ( easi yo or similar) or the Lakeland electric Bulk Yoghurt maker. I didn't want to be stuck with having to buy sachets in order to create yoghurt, but I also wanted foolproof results. Initially you need about 3 teaspoons of live bought yoghurt - I used Tesco own bio yoghurt, once you have your yoghurt on the go you save a few teaspoons to start the next one, add longlife milk at room temperature ( and I add some dried milk - explained later), swith on - eight hours later switch off, cool then refridgerate - I'm told it will last for five days but it never stays that long! I went to Lakeland to ask their advice, and, my local store is new and they were unsure how to advise me. However, they explained that Lakeland has a policy that...

fatcatz123 23.11.2007 · Read review
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Review of Lakeland Bulk Yogurt Maker