I worked in an office that had one of these and I just loved the coffee it made. So, I bit the bullet after spending five years making French Pressed coffee and purchased one of these sweet little coffee/espresso makers for my home. I will still make the French Press every once in a while, but this is so great for every day that I don't miss the French Press at all.To be helpful, the reasons I love this little machine are below:
1) The size is perfect for small counters. It takes up very little space and fits great in the corner where it's out of the way.
2) It comes assembled, so all you need to do is wash the water dispenser, run some plain water through the machine a couple of times and then add the coffee capsule
3) The milk frother is THE best thing ever! It's so simple to use. Add milk up to the minimum or maximum line, put on the lid and press the button and then let it do its thing. It makes the PERFECT milk for your espresso every single time!
4) Cleaning is a breeze to dispose of the capsules, easily slide the front panel off the machine and remove them. They are aluminum so they can be recycled. Rinse the apparatus and then slide it back into place. It's so simple and takes no time at all. For the milk frother, just add a little drop of dish soap, clean with a soft brush, and rinse don't immerse the container in water, just rinse it out, wipe it dry and put it back on its base ready for the next use.
5) It makes a cup of espresso or coffee with steamed milk in under 4 minutes with virtually no mess.
6) The Nestle coffee pods are the best I have tasted and I've had plenty of them to compare to. Once you own your machine, you can go to Nestle's Nepresso website to order all of your pods. The pods cost between .20 and .60 each and they come in boxes of ten. I buy three or four different kinds I prefer the ones with the highest intensity levels (7 or above) because I generally enjoy strong espresso. However, the natural flavors in this coffee, whether with hints of citrus, earth, rich cocoa, or spice, are all so subtle and incredibly sophisticated that any of their blends are lovely. I also appreciate their limited edition blends.
7) Regarding pricing of the pods each sleeve of ten costs about $6.20 I only use one pod a day for my first cup of coffee in the morning so I'm spending roughly 21.50 a month when including shipping fees and I am completely satisfied!
I hope this review has been helpful.
S~
The Aerocino frother is a beautifully made device. It has two "whips" for frothing. It is powered by an inductive coil, which the unit can be placed on. Thus, it can be removed as a pitcher. I find it froths best with any milk filled just above the level of the whip. The whips are held in place by magnetism, so you find no exposed moving parts within the device. It is teflon or non stick coated in the interior. One can whip and steam milk or whip cold milk. Holding the start button for a couple seconds changes the light color to green for cold milk. The thermostated heater is not engaged. The "cold frothing" whip can be used for hot milk, and it makes quite a stable micro foam. I find the blade for the hot frothing to be a bit weak for the job, and wish they would produce a blade or whip for an "in between" result.
My machine did drip. I called customer service, and was prompted to engage the machine in a pump priming sequence which forced hot water through the bottom of the machine rather than through the cannister holder. This seemed to increase the pressure at the diaphram, and reduced or eliminated the dripping. There is a one year warranty on the espresso unit, so if the problem persists, I'll swap one out.
There is NO WAY I would ever go without this machine or the Aerocino. The service behind the machine is excellent, and the coffee blends are superb. I can't get over the crema for the espresso shots. I find it hard to keep my habit below 3 shots a day. That is a real cost of $1.60 a day. I have read that the cost of a pound of coffee using this system is around $60 a pound. I find this cost to be worth it. I no longer brew a pot of coffee and waste beans doing so. I always have a consistent brew, and I find I don't crave another cup of coffee after having an espresso, cappuccino or latte.
Nespresso does recommend blends of their shots if you call the service number. Give them a try!
I would find myself buying 6 or 8 of their blends. I don't prefer the "weaker" more acidic blends, but I can appreciate their difference. Their patents are running out, and two competitors are beginning to introduce product in cups formulated for the nespresso machines. Nestle will push back, and I hope they'll push back with quality and service. That is what separates this machine and the brand from the bland and boring world of K-Cups.
I doubt anyone who buys this setup will be disappointed. It is amazing and gratifying.
Buy Nespresso Essenza C101 Espresso Maker with Aeroccino Milk Frother Now
The coffee tastes really good. Don't let snobs and wannabes tell you that Nespresso is nowhere comparable to espresso brewed with a Rancilio or a Gaggia. Nespresso makes excellent espressos, and the capsule system is very convenient and clean. However, the Nespresso machines made by Nestle feel cheap. They are made of low-quality plastic all around. Nespresso could charge a bit more and offer the same Essenza models in metallic casing, instead of cheap plastic.Read Best Reviews of Nespresso Essenza C101 Espresso Maker with Aeroccino Milk Frother Here
I live in Seattle and had worked at Starbucks when they had the authentic La Marzocco espresso machines and actually learned the craft of pulling a shot of espresso. So when I started shopping for an espresso machine, I thought that I wanted something similar. But after remembering what a cumbersome chore it was to disassemble the machine, wash the parts, and then reassemble, I decided to try out the Nespresso. And I freaking love it! No messy grounds to deal with or a finicky machine. Just consistently awesome espresso. It's so easy that my husband can run it by myself. And when I've got parties of people here, I can whip up drinks for all super fast. I love this thing and will never go back to the old classics. Progress happens for a reason!Want Nespresso Essenza C101 Espresso Maker with Aeroccino Milk Frother Discount?
I'm mostly a latte drinker, I'm not an expert on straight espresso, so keep that in mind. But a few newspaper write-ups I have read say even upscale restaurants are using this for their customers. Reviews from hard-core espresso drinker blogs have also said it has replaced their expensive machines.Here is what you need to know.
1. Simple operation. Lift the load arm, drop in a Nespresso espresso "cup", close it, then hit the button. Boom, you're done. There are 2 buttons to select, one is espresso, the other is lungo (more water). Espresso is the left button, lungo is the right button. And then it makes the espresso.
2. This espresso maker is tiny, the size of a toaster. I don't know why you would want the Pixie version. In fact, I don't know why anyone would pay more for any other version of the Nespresso makers, they all make the same quality espresso from what I have read. 19 bars of pressure in this one and the rest.
3. The cups are tiny too. They are the size of coffee creamers at a restaurant. Easy storage.
4. It buzzes as it makes the espresso. People say it is loud, not that loud though. It takes less than 30 seconds to make 1 espresso.
5. The amount of espresso that comes out is the size of a shot glass. That's the way espresso works. Buy a small espresso cup to catch the espresso, your coffee mug probably won't fit. Then pour the espresso into the larger cup you want to drink out of. If you only want espresso then an espresso cup will fit easily.
6. Clean up is a breeze. There isn't any clean up. Lift and close the load arm to drop the spent cup into the bin when you are done and then run it again with just water to clean the inside out. Not necessary, but that is what I do. The bin is inside the machine, you just pull it out from the front to get to the spent cups. The bin holds lots of cups so even that is not necessary.
7. The milk frother makes only enough for one small latte. Not enough for large drinks. I have to supplement it with microwave heated milk for a 16 oz latte. Not a big deal. I sometimes skip the frother altogether and just microwave the milk and dump in the espresso. Depends on how much you like froth.
8. The milk frother does not make the milk hot enough for some people, but it definitely makes it hot enough for the first couple sips. 10 degrees hotter and you would have to wait for it to cool down. Microwave it when your drink gets too cool or you go on the road.
9. The milk frother needs to be wiped down on the inside after each use or it may scorch the milk residue and the non-stick surface. it is so easy though, just a wet paper towel will work. Takes 2 seconds. The froth whisk is held in with magnets so it just lifts out, and the whisk is less than an inch wide. The milk frother isn't very deep so it's like wiping out the inside of a shallow coffee cup.
10. Espresso "cups" have to be ordered from Nespresso.com. Shipping is 2 business days. It's fast and well organized. Don't order the ones on Amazon. The one 10 pack I ordered was destroyed during shipping. It was a Prime item too. Nice job Amazon.
11. Cups are about .60 cents USD each. The website will only let you order in multiples of 50, so at least 50 cups must be ordered each time. I originally said the price needed to be $50 but that isn't true, sorry. And 2 day shipping for $6.95 extra is the cheapest option. Sounds bad, but you'll want to do that when you see how fast you start going through them. Load up and be done with it. See the comment section of this review for info on the different cups. My most recent order was under $40 USD with 2 day shipping.
The lattes I get from this machine are better than what I taste from Starbucks. And the milk frother is fun. With 2% milk straight from the refrigerator you get great foam if you use the heavy foam whisk (don't fill it past the max line or it will overflow). The other whisk creates less foam for lattes. Using skim milk, it still creates a nice dollop of foam with the heavy whisk. And it takes less than a minute to heat the milk and foam it, while being completely silent in the process.
The only bad things I can say about this combo offer from Amazon are that it is probably best for single people or couples and not for crowds of people that want frothed milk in their coffee. The espresso maker will make espressos as fast as you can load cups, the milk foamer will take much longer to run and clean and run again. Also, the Nespresso maker is plastic except for the metal load arm and drip pan cover. Doesn't matter though, it looks nice and shouldn't be an issue. The milk frother is shiny silver metal and nicely made, although I've read that you shouldn't store it on the power base as that may lead to failures in the future. I have no proof of this, but it is easy enough not to do. The frother also has it's own power cord so 2 open wall outlets or swapping is necessary if you keep them together on the kitchen counter.
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