Philips Saeco RI9822/47 Talea Giro Plus Automatic Espresso Machine, Silver and Titanium

Definitely worth 5 stars overall in my estimation having done lots of research and knowing its limitations before the purchase. Quality of the espresso produced surpasses almost all coffee shops including Charbucks and others by far. An expert barrista may be able to produce slightly better quality, but even their results are not consistent.

I previously returned a Jura-Capresso 13423 Impressa S9 One Touch Automatic Coffee-and-Espresso Center, Platinum because it produced inferior espresso and frothed milk with gigantic lukewarm bubbles. I would not have returned it (even at that price) if it had performed as well as the Talea. (THANK YOU AMAZON for a great return policy.) In fairness to the Jura, maybe it was faulty at the finest setting the grounds looked very coarse coarser than I would use for French-Press coffee.

The Talea cost 1/3 the price, produces far superior espresso, and very acceptable frothed milk BUT it is made of plastic and not stainless which might be a more important disadvantage for some. The ceramic grinder is quieter, producing very noticeably finer espresso-sized grounds at the factory middle setting (experimentation proved this setting to be the best) than the Jura set to the finest grind. Consequently the coffee is much stronger than the single scoop of coffee would suggest (as compared with the Jura's 2 smaller scoops).

Within 80 seconds after switching it on, it completes a warm-up procedure which includes passing some 2oz of hot water (I use it to pre-heat my cup) through the two dispensing nozzles and is ready to brew coffee. The relatively small size of the spent coffee-puck bin, dregs tray, 8oz bean hopper, and 57oz water reservoir can be annoying when you are making numerous coffees, but I see the positive here "The Nasties" do not build up. Rinsing the puck-bin and dregs tray under warm water each time I refill the water container takes much less than one minute usually only once per day. The steam wand also needs wiping down and flushing with steam after each use to prevent "The Nasties" and I pull off the stainless part and wash it and wipe the internal pipe after each session of multiple frothings.

I choese not to use the expensive water filters because my soft tap-water will require few descalings. Weekly rinsing of the easily removed brew-group (the plastic guts of the machine) is easily accomplished without using expensive chemicals. At the same time I soap and rinse the water reservoir, puck bin, and dregs-tray. Lubrication of moving parts of the brew-group (using the food-safe lubricant provided) is suggested after 500 brewing cycles. Every 2 months should do it for my usage.

A ½oz ristretto is too strong for me if more than "1 bean" (7gm of coffee grounds) coffee strength is selected. When making a long coffee (6oz of coffee in an 8oz cup) "1 bean" is fairly strong, "2 beans" is strong, and "3 beans" (10.5gm of coffee grounds) is too strong and I like strong coffee. The "Saeco Brewing System" is easily adjusted to produce espressos with lots of crema or long coffees with little crema and greatly improved taste. This is not the sales gimmick I had suspected it to be. Froth is of a fairly good quality easily matching most store-bought coffees, but a good barrista can always produce far superior frothed milk on a high-powered semi-automatic machine.

When I ran out of my regular, every-day coffee (Lavazza Super Crema) I used a local high-quality medium-roast coffee which was quite oily (must have been rather old tasted below par) but the ceramic grinder handled these with ease. Though I would never use them (their taste is so inferior to my palate) dark roasts always tend to be oily and are best-avoided in super-automatics where cleaning the grinder becomes a major issue. Medium and light roasts work best with all super-automatics. The by-pass doser is excellent for decaf. coffee and the single-origin beans I use occasionally, though I have to use my separate burr grinder for them. Even though I am making more coffee drinks per day because it is so quick and easy, I am using less coffee. Wasted/stewed coffee is effectively eliminated.

This machine will accommodate mugs of 5½" (6¼" if drip tray is removed). Even my Nissan Travel mugs can be filled directly from the machine using the double brew feature (2 quick presses of the brew button gives 2 complete, consecutive brew cycles) for 2 x 6½oz = 13oz of coffee again from fairly strong (1 bean/14gm coffee) through too strong (3 beans/21gm coffee).

I use several different styles and sizes of cup (for ristrettos, espressos, long coffees, lattes, macchiatos, and cappuccinos) so I PREFER the simple selection process this machine offers to that of the more-programmable and more-expensive Talea Touch model. For me it would be a pain to have to enter programming mode because the available 3 selections does not cover the range of drinks, sizes, and strengths I make. AND I only have to make 2 adjustments each time (size, strength) before pressing the brew button compared to 1 button on the Talea Touch.

The one big question I have about this machine (and all other "super-automatics") is long term reliability. They all have plastic "brew-groups" the working parts which do the tamping, brewing, and ejection of spent coffee pucks, and these may be this type of machine's weakest link BUT replacement brew-groups are available for $60. I quickly discovered that this was the culprit when the warning light came on when everything was OK (bean hopper and water reservoir full, puck-bin and dregs tray empty). During the weekly maintenance I now vacuum the machine all around the (removed) brew-group supports, and gently waggle the brew-group as I re-insert it to ensure that it is correctly and fully seated. No longer a problem and the weekly maintenance takes less than 5-minutes.

My 5 Stars would be less if a stainless body and larger capacities were more important to me. So far I am delighted with both the ease of use and quality of product. Though better coffees may be possible, this barrista (and most others) cannot produce them consistently.

I have owned this machine for only a month. In that time I have not used any of my numerous other coffee-makers. It is producing 5 to 15 good quality coffees per day without fuss or waste. Any change and I shall revisit this review.

I have had my saeco talea Giro for about two years now. It had to be serviced once during this time. The machine is a bit touchy and you really have to get to know how it works before you can judge it. First of all you have to keep it cleaned and de-scaled to keep it in good working order. If you have no time for this then do not buy it. Lights will come on before you start to brew to let you know you have to clean out the coffee grounds or empty the water well. This can be annoying if you are ready to have an espresso and you have to stop and clean things out. It will not work unless this is done first. So what I do after I brew is take the time and clean and empty grounds so the next time it is ready to go. With that said, I absolutely love making my latte it is of the highest quality that you would find at Starbucks or any other great coffee house. I even take it with me on vacation, if I can. I think for the money though, it should be made of stainless steel and not plastic on the outside. Also the drip tray should be make more sturdy to hold a large cup and not break off like mine did. If you have any problems with this machine after warranty you have to ship it off to a dealer that fixes these machines. That can me troublesome and you have to do without your espresso machine for weeks. I did give this a high rating because of the excellent quality of espresso and lattes. In the end that is why I bought the machine.

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I've had this machine almost a year and have used it at least once a day with no problems. It's my first expresso machine so it's really my testing machine. It makes great expresso and it's very quick and easy but as previous reviewer said, it's a bit touchy and I found the initial learning curve annoying.

Pros: I can make multiple cups easily.

It has the ability to select shot size, strength of expresso and the amount of water dispensed with the shot.

It has a pre-ground coffee bypass feature which I love for late night decaf and trying different brands for different family members tastes.

Because it warms quickly I can have a latte before work in the morning.

As semi automatic its convenient, consistent and makes great lattes.

No more costly Starbucks!

Cons :You have to stay on top of the maintenance and prep.

Lights will come on if the grounds aren't emptied and water tank filled.

It takes up a good bit of counter space.

It's plastic and the drip tray does not support a large coffee cup filled with milk for steaming. I have to prop it with another cup.

I gave it 4 stars because, as a semi automatic, it produces wonderfully consistent expresso and lattes, is very easy to use and it's fast. As a starter machine it's great and when I move on up I'll know what I want in my next machine.

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I purchased this machine after 12 years with the Athena from Starbucks. Granted the Athena was not automatic and would really have enjoyed an automatic machine. This one was pretty bad. I have only had this one for two weeks. I did have to get used to the warm up procedure every morning when I turned it on. It dispensed one shot of water through the espresso spout and another shot of water through the milk frother. It just konked out on me today. I used the machine with the bean grinder for espresso shots for my husband and the coffee bypass one for decaffinated grounds for myself. It had a tendency to trigger the warming up light. Today the water light kept coming on after I dispensed my one shot of espresso. The water tank was half full. I filled the water tank and shut it back. I was finding myself slamming the door to get the machine to register that I had done what it had asked. Frequently I had to pull the main espresso part out and slam it back in with all the doors to get it to register. I feel like I'm doing the same thing I had to do with an old copier in the office. Not a good sign for a high end machine. Well today after two weeks it just gave out. I tried turning the machine on and off. I took the water tank out filled it up with water, slammed it back in its spot and the dredges drawer and still it wouldnt turn off the maintenance light and the water light came off. I turned the water light off and still no espresso, I could still get water from the frother but no espresso.

I've had it, sending it back. Its not like it was a $50 machine. Maybe I should be expecting performance from a $2000 machine?

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This machine was a wedding gift from our uncle that he purchased on Amazon. So far we are very pleased with the coffee it makes. The espressos have a lovely crema every time, and the milk steamer practically works on its own, you can just place your milk container on the drip tray and let it do its work, you will always get really smooth foam. My husband calls this machine idiot proof, once you have set the dials to your preferred settings, you simply place your cup and push a button for a great espresso every time. One thing we should mention, however, is we did read the manual carefully and realized if you want optimum results on the long-term it's important to follow their suggestions regarding cleaning and maintenance of the machine. All in all we really love the machine and hope it maintains it's great performance for a long time.

UPDATE: We have had this machine now for more than two months and it continues to brew perfect coffee day after day with no problems whatsoever. We brew on average 6 to 8 cups of coffee each day with this machine. The more we use it, the more we love it. Cleaning and maintenance is very easy. Again, if you follow the regular cleaning and maintenance cycles for this unit you should have no problems with it. We have a local Saeco distributor close to us and were happy to find that regardless that we purchased the unit from Amazon, they were happy to advise on best coffee types and other information specific to this model along with replacement parts, descaler liquid and water filters for this unit when required. This is a very simple unit to use. It looks amazing we always get comments from guests about what an amazing coffee machine we have and it continues to work perfectly day after day. If I could say, if you have the extra money, the upgrade to the digital display model Philips Saeco RI9828/47 Talea Touch Plus Automatic Espresso Machine would be a nice touch for the extra hundred dollars.

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