Breville ESP8XL Cafe Roma Stainless Espresso Maker

Here is the review I wrote when I purchased this in February, 2005:

This review is based on a latte a day for about a month now.

-Customer service was great: one part got jammed during shipment (despite how extraordinarily well the manufacturer had it packed inside the box!). I called and a person answered the phone right away who helped me figure out the problem.

-Thus far, the espresso comes out hot with a great crema, and my milk is also nice and hot (from 120-160 Fahrenheit depending on how you want it) and well-frothed (meaning microfoam(!) not seafoam). With the frother it's essential to keep the full rubber head (meaning the fat part) submerged in the milk to get it hot (including the intake air vents on the side).

Bottom line: I am very impressed that this quality comes at such a great price.

And my current thoughts in January, 2012: this machine is still going strong. At one point it began to leak due to a clog in the espresso filter but unscrewing it and cleaning it solved that problem easily. This machine is one of my best purchases!

All I can say is WOW! My teenage daughters and I love espresso & designer lattes, This machine made it a BREEZE for us to give up all the overpriced designer cafes in our area. My brother is a coffee snob and spent literally thousands on a fully automated Capresso machine. You could buy a couple dozen of these Breville machines for the price of his.. and you know what? It's a few seconds more work but the coffee is JUST AS GOOD!

One of my daughters is visually impaired and she can work the machine and clean it with no problems.

Assembly was easy, cleanup is easy, and making three different beverages in seconds is a breeze, too. We have three completely different tastes so we've managed quite a few different drinks. I make sugar free soy lattes using Soy Slender and sugar free DaVinci flavors. We've frothed skim, 2%, whole and soy milks of every type. Even heavy whipping cream and half & half froth perfectly.

The only issue we had was that one time we tamped the espresso a little too firmly and nothing would come out. If you tamp lightly, you'll have no problem at all and the crema is absolutely superb!

As for the reviewer that said their espresso was watery, if you use a fine ground espresso, that definately won't be a problem. The two-serving filter makes a great double shot, but if you try to make more than that, I can see how you could end up with something watery. The drip tray does need emptying once in a while, but that's the same with every espresso maker I've ever used.

I DEFINATELY recommend this machine!!

Buy Breville ESP8XL Cafe Roma Stainless Espresso Maker Now

I know about coffee, espresso, steam machines, pump machines and all. This machine makes almost perfect espressos. This is due not to the quality of the machine but to the double wall filters that come with it. That being said, people who are thinking of buying this unit have to know that the same filters that produce the great crema they love will get clogged after 2 or three uses, and cleaning them will require a lot of work (unclogging the tiny holes with a pin, soaking the filters overnight in vinegar and/or running a lot of pressurizedboiling water through the empty filter), wasting a lot of unused coffee, and worst of all...wasting a lot of time to do all this (which hardly anyone has these days). I guess this problem would be solved if the pump was strong enough to push through the clogged filter, but that is not the case. When the pressurized water builds up, instead of going through the filter and coffee, it will go backwards and down to the reservoir in the bottom of the machine (picture trying fo inflate a balloon with a hole in it.) wasting tons of water in the process. Also, do not think that you can clean the filter after each use.....you cannot, because as I said earlier, the filter has two walls, the first one with a lot of tiny holes and the second one with a very small one. Whatever gets trapped within the two walls will likely stay, clogging the tiny holes and rendering the machine useless. Nothing will come out of the machine even with an empty filter!!!!!!!

In the end, the price seems good and the machine looks great but, and this is a huge BUT... you will end up drinking the most expensive cups of coffe (about $25/cup, not including all the wasted coffee, water and time) in your life after the machine stops producing coffee after 10 cups.

I read all the reviews here before buying, but since I really wanted this handsome machine, I ignored all the bad ones. Something most consumers do...they want something so bad their brain will soak up on all the good opinions and filter out the bad and dismiss them as "exceptions" Well, the exceptions are too many and the reason is always the same. Clogged filter...clogged machine....no coffee...big frustration.

I will try to return the machine and if I can't, I guess I will be another disatisfied customer whose only option is to write reviews like this.

Read Best Reviews of Breville ESP8XL Cafe Roma Stainless Espresso Maker Here

This is the second espresso machine I have owned, the first one was a professional one in my restaurant and made perfect coffee quickly!

This machine for a home espresso machine lacks nothing in it's ability to produce a great espresso other than the time required to do so. The crema it produces is thick and the steamer produces a reasonable, constant flow of steam making it possible to make perfect foam with your milk. The water storage allows space for more than enough water to make several cups and steam a large amount of milk. The drip tray is large enough to collect a good amount of dripage and the design is sleek and compact. The only thing I think that Breville could do to improve on this unit would be to include a timer to turn the machine on so that I can have espresso in the morning before I leave for work!

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I've owned several machines over the last ten years, from the $49.00 'wait for the steam', a $4000 Venezia VAE-22, an 'all-in-one' $1000.00 Starbuck machine along with my current (broken) Starbuck Barista. None of the machines I've owned come close to the Cafe Roma ESP8XL for quality and design. From the water feed systems removable, cleanable, replaceable, easy to access water tank to the three tang filter holder, precision and functionality was first for the designers. The frothing system, the drip tray, the simple controls are all top notch and the cup warming plate is over the top! The pop-up button that shows you the level of the water in the drip tray is a really nice feature. By adding the stainless demitasse cups and saucers Breville created the best machine on the earth. For those that have problems with getting the grounds out of the filter I found a stainless steel Knockout tray with 49mm Tamper that matches the machine and is easy to clean. The first espresso I made was perfect, it took several cups in our stores Venezia VAE-22 to get everything right. Some of the other reviewers seem to have issues with the 'taste', part of learning how each machine functions is the issue. The filter on the ESP8XL is one of the easiest to maintain I've ever used and one of the reasons for the perfect Espresso.

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