you get what you pay for and you don’t get much for this price.
[QUOTE=cphy, post:2, topic:367361]
you get what you pay for and you don’t get much for this price.
[/quote]
espresso makers go like this: spend $30 or spend $300
for $30 you get a good italian bialetti kettle boiler (obviously no milk frother but still fine for making mocha, latte, etc)
for $300+ you get into the Breville or Nespresso range that provides a pump (not steam) based delivery system that wont scorch your grind. some machines in this range have a self calibrated (~30lb) tamper, and if you don’t plan on buying a tamper for your grinds i’d recommend one of these because a good tamp means everything for proper extraction and strength
obviously nobody is looking for La Marzochi quality in any home machine but if you’re looking for a cheap automatic machine, you can do better than this krups by $20 on a Imusa for <$30 bucks.
Before the “Ya gotta spend a grand on a machine to get a decent espresso” crowd pipes up, speaking as a former member of that crowd let me share a few things about inexpensive pump machines in general and this machine in particular.
First, most any consumer pump-based espresso machine regardless of whether it’s under a hundred bucks or pushing a grand or more will use what is called a vibratory pump to supply pressure. These pumps all make noise but they all work the same way and surprisingly may even be the same brand and/or model of pump in both the low priced and higher end machines. The key thing is that the machine uses a pump system (as this Krups does) rather than just a boiler water-pressure system for extraction. Boiler pressure systems simply don’t supply enough pressure to extract a proper espresso.
Second, the fact is that most people (at least here in the USA) won’t be drinking straight espresso but will instead be using espresso in milk-based coffee drinks like cappucinos and lattes. The importance of this is that even a low priced machine like this Krups can deliver a shot of espresso that is perfectly suited for use in these milk-based coffee drinks. If you want the absolute best espresso shots for sipping straight, you might want to invest in a higher end machine. But even this Krups machine can deliver a perfectly passable shot if straight espresso is your thing.
Third, these low end machines all use what is called a pressurized portafilter. The portafilter is what holds the coffee grounds in the brew head. You could just call it the ground coffee holder if you want…'cause that’s what it is. Anyway, a pressurized portafilter will get sour looks from espresso geeks. That’s OK. Let them look sour. The advantages for the casual home espresso/cappucino/latte drinker are many, not the least of which is that a pressurized portafilter is much more forgiving in terms of the type and grind of coffee you use (which means you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on a grinder) and just general ease of use (which means you don’t need to spend months learning to tamp your coffee with precise pressure into the portafilter in order to pull a decent shot.)
The short version of the above is this: There is nothing wrong with having an inexpensive pump-based espresso machine in your home, office or RV so you can have your cappucinos or lattes without the big by-the-cup coffee shop bill.
On this Krups machine in particular, I happen to own one. It lives in our (very small) RV and gets a workout when we tailgate for Auburn University football home games or go on vacation. We’ve had the machine for about two years now and have had no issues. Oddly enough, this little Krups replaced a much higher end machine for those purposes when the higher end machine went belly-up and was away for service. We needed a machine and figured for the price this Krups would be essentially a throw away, but we wound up sticking with it because my wife absolutely did not like the finicky nature (grind, tamping and so on) of espresso making with our high end machine.
Bottom line? Fine little machine that even a coffee geek (with an open mind) can learn to love, or at least like. It isn’t a high end machine, but it gets the job done and the results are as good or better than what you’ll get at the vast majority of coffee shop chains across the nation.
Note: 3.5 stars at Amazon. See http://www.amazon.com/KRUPS-XP3200-Boiler-Espresso-Machine/product-reviews/B0052WJ2SC/ Reviews are all over the place. (The leak issue that some reviews mention has not shown up in our machine in the two years or so that we have owned it.)
[QUOTE=cphy, post:2, topic:367361]
you get what you pay for and you don’t get much for this price.
[/quote]
You get the ability to extract a proper espresso and make the milk-based coffee drinks that are so popular in the US. As I said in my other comment, this isn’t a high-end machine and most coffee geeks (or coffee snobs) will look askance at it, especially if they haven’t used it. I know I did. But in practice, I’ve found that I had my coffee snob nose in the air and that the reality is that for the money spent, I quite like this machine.
Thanks for the great review, unless Cam’s father bribed you to write it.
Wow, great review pooka! I will now add this maker to my short list (even though I am a straight espresso drinker) for next kitchen related purchase. However, since I’m moving across the country in 8 months and this particular woot is only $10 off what amazon charges w/ shipping, I’m going to pass for now. Woot gods: a refurbed unit for $20-$30 wouldn’t be so easy to resist…
I have to ask pooka: what espresso maker do you use at home?
I’m from that farm with the free range 1k espresso machines but I wasn’t always a coffee snob.
My last machine was a Krups that I bought from Bed, Bath and Beyond and that little machine gave me 10 solid years of good use. It took a long time to make 4 lattes for guests but it always got the job done and made what I considered at the time to be a good cup of coffee.
That machine is no longer with us (RIP) and my current machine is a Rocket Espresso Celinni Evolutione. Awesome machine but costs about 2 grand more than this one. The two don’t compare and I won’t attempt to do so but there is a real reason why people from my farm spend that kind of coin on machines. There is no going back, that’s for sure.
Even though I’m a coffee snob now, I would still not laugh if I saw me of these on a friends counter. There’s room in this world for all coffee machines that don’t suck and although I have no experience with this exact model, my old Krups did not suck.
[QUOTE=MyPooka, post:4, topic:367361]
Before the “Ya gotta spend a grand on a machine to get a decent espresso” crowd pipes up, speaking as a former member of that crowd let me share a few things about inexpensive pump machines in general and this machine in particular
First, most any consumer pump-based espresso machine regardless of whether it’s under a hundred bucks or pushing a grand or more will use what is called a vibratory pump to supply pressure. These pumps all make noise but they all work the same way and surprisingly may even be the same brand and/or model of pump in both the low priced and higher end machines. The key thing is that the machine uses a pump system (as this Krups does) rather than just a boiler water-pressure system for extraction. Boiler pressure systems simply don’t supply enough pressure to extract a proper espresso.
Second, the fact is that most people (at least here in the USA) won’t be drinking straight espresso but will instead be using espresso in milk-based coffee drinks like cappuccinos and lattes. The importance of this is that even a low priced machine like this Krups can deliver a shot of espresso that is perfectly suited for use in these milk-based coffee drinks. If you want the absolute best espresso shots for sipping straight, you might want to invest in a higher end machine. But even this Krups machine can deliver a perfectly passable shot if straight espresso is your thing.
Third, these low end machines all use what is called a pressurized portafilter. The portafilter is what holds the coffee grounds in the brew head. You could just call it the ground coffee holder if you want…'cause that’s what it is. Anyway, a pressurized portafilter will get sour looks from espresso geeks. That’s OK. Let them look sour. The advantages for the casual home espresso/cappucino/latte drinker are many, not the least of which is that a pressurized portafilter is much more forgiving in terms of the type and grind of coffee you use (which means you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on a grinder) and just general ease of use (which means you don’t need to spend months learning to tamp your coffee with precise pressure into the portafilter in order to pull a decent shot.)
The short version of the above is this: There is nothing wrong with having an inexpensive pump-based espresso machine in your home, office or RV so you can have your cappucinos or lattes without the big by-the-cup coffee shop bill.
On this Krups machine in particular, I happen to own one. It lives in our (very small) RV and gets a workout when we tailgate for Auburn University football home games or go on vacation. We’ve had the machine for about two years now and have had no issues. Oddly enough, this little Krups replaced a much higher end machine for those purposes when the higher end machine went belly-up and was away for service. We needed a machine and figured for the price this Krups would be essentially a throw away, but we wound up sticking with it because my wife absolutely did not like the finicky nature (grind, tamping and so on) of espresso making with our high end machine.
Bottom line? Fine little machine that even a coffee geek (with an open mind) can learn to love, or at least like. It isn’t a high end machine, but it gets the job done and the results are as good or better than what you’ll get at the vast majority of coffee shop chains across the nation.
Note: 3.5 stars at Amazon. See http://www.amazon.com/KRUPS-XP3200-Boiler-Espresso-Machine/product-reviews/B0052WJ2SC/ Reviews are all over the place. (The leak issue that some reviews mention has not shown up in our machine in the two years or so that we have owned it.)
[/quote]
Bravo on explaining the situation as well as any one could.
I’ve always questioned the snobs who sniff at the “false crema” from pressurized portafilters vs creating the same back-pressure resistance by very careful grinding and packing of the grounds in a straight unit.
I have an expensive La Pavoni hand pump unit and a lesser machine-pump unit, and the difference is marginal between the $900 unit and the lesser one.
But, if one wants to make a hobby out of espresso, that’s fine. OTOH, if you just want a nice shot in the morning, that’s fine too. But avoid the steam powered units as the blast of steam releases undesirable components.
I am curious to know where these are made. Almost all the sub-$100 units are from China and all seem to have the same basic “innards” with a variety of cosmetic exteriors. The pumps have improved, after copying Italian pumps that were once used before the Chinese made good ones.
[QUOTE=Holysin, post:8, topic:367361]
I have to ask pooka: what espresso maker do you use at home?
[/quote]
Ms. Rancilio Silvia, temperamental beast that she is, now lives in our kitchen, next to a Rocky doserless grinder. Both were bought during my days of espresso madness. At one point it got so bad that I almost spent several grand on a commercial two group La Marzocco after nearly convincing myself that having it was absolutely necessary for true espresso goodness. My wife thankfully disagreed on the La Marzocco. (She was none too happy about my longing for Ms. Silvia either.)
The little Krups isn’t on a level with the Silvia, but the results in the cup for milk based coffee drinks are also not that far apart.
Very helpful & insightful review. Know virtually nothing about expresso machines, high or low end, and I really, really appreciate your explanation & experience with this machine & all the way up to high end machines. And you’re spot on, we simply want a cappuccino or latte on a Saturday morning. Very helpful.
Thank you!
One thing that you should be aware of no matter what espresso maker you buy is this. Used filtered water and DESCALE, DESCALE, DESCALE!!!
Nothing will shorten the life of your machine like not descaling. Over a few short months mineral deposits will build up in the boiler and eventually kill the machine if you don’t periodically clean it out. The good news is it isn’t hard.
I might consider this machine if I hadn’t just picked up a Gaggia machine for $4 at a garage sale.
Be aware that these machines have no real boiler but use a thermoblock to heat the water. These are made of aluminum through which water passes to be heated. Because they are aluminum, standard descalers can harm them. Make sure that the chemicals used to clean and descale are approved by the manufacturer.
While the ESE pods can be costly in a per-cup cost analysis, if you do not have a good coffee grinder capable of grinding for espresso, and a source of freshly-roasted coffee beans, the pods will make the best espresso.
[mod: please feel free to share as much information as you like, but not advertise websites/blogs]
Although it isn’t mentioned in the headline, the coffee snobs at Gizmodo gave this a nice writeup in their Dealzmodo post today.
This is actually a nice deal for a bar-bones pump machine. If it were only a capsule machine instead, I would buy one and take it to the office.
Never mind. My original comment was that this doesn’t have a steam wand. I still can’t see one in the pictures but it’s mentioned in the specs.
If you’re having to descale more than a few times a year, it probably IS hard.
Your water, I mean.
hee.