Francis Francis 208003 X8 iperEspresso Machine, Black

Illy is having a promotion of these. You can get them from Illy's website for $175 until 12/31/2009.

This machine is for people who want convenience. This machine uses pre-packaged espresso servings. If you do not want to fuss or mess that comes with grinding your own beans, you have three options:

1. Nespresso. You have to buy the machine and the capsules from Nespresso. I tried this machine and didn't really like the espresso. Not enough rich crema.

2. E.S.E Pods. Made by lots of different companies. This is an industry standard format. It's basically like an individually packaged tea bag, with a compressed puck of finely ground coffee inside. You could use this in a convensional espresso machine with the appropriate adaptor. Widely available. But the quality of your espresso will depend highly on your machine.

3. Illy's iperEspresso capsules, used by this machine, the Francis Francis X8. Not much of a selection of coffee, but what they do offer is very good. The crema is excellent. I find the machine very easy to use. The multi-color LED tells me when the machine is ready. Switches quickly between brew and steam (< 30 seconds). The frothing wand works pretty well, but it tends to over froth a bit. That's great for cappuccinos, but not so great for lattes.

PROS:

1. Extremely easy and convenient.

2. It acually makes decent drinks.

3. Seems to be good quality construction.

4. Never really runs out of steam. The pump inject small amounts of water into the boiler while steaming.

5. Switches between steam and brew (and vice versa) in under 30 seconds.

6. Heats up very quickly (under 30 seconds).

CONS:

1. This is not for espresso connoisseurs. The espresso is acceptable, but not in the same league as a Rancillio or Gaggia. My other machine is a Silvia. I bought the X8 because I wanted a second machine for the office, where grinding beans and making a mess is not an option.

2. The Illy capsules are not individually wrapped. Once you open the tin (14 capsules), the shelf life is 14 days.

3. The construction quality is excellent, keeping in mind the whole thing is plastic. Again, not in the same league as something 100% stainless steel or polished chrome.

4. The steam power is very weak, however due the sophisticated design of the steam wand, it does a good job creating froth because it mixes lots of air into the milk. Nonetheless, you don't really have the power or flexibility that you'd find on a high-end machine.

5. It's mainly designed for single shot drinks. A tripple shot "venti" cappuccino will be rather tough to make with this machine (and expensive). Steaming a large enough portion of milk will be a slow process. Also, it would take you nearly two minutes to brew three capsules. By then, both your crema from the first shot and froth in the sitting milk would have started to collapse and your end result will not be great.

Overall, I love this machine.

I did a lot of research into espresso machines. I ultimately choose this one because I realized I did not have any interest in becoming a home barista. I wanted a machine that is easy to use, easy to clean-up, and produces good espresso with minimal effort. The Francis Francis X8 has been perfect! I've owned it about month now and have no major complaints. It heats up very quickly probably around 30 seconds. The steam wand works well for frothing milk. And there is no daily clean-up required. The only semi-regular maintenance that needs to be done is filling it with water (I used filtered water), emptying the used-pod bin, and wiping down the drip tray. It also needs to be descaled, which I haven't done yet. The only downside to this machine is that it only takes illy iper pods, and they only have 3 kinds dark roast, medium roast and decafff. Not much for variety. If I didn't need to froth milk, I may have gone with the nespresso C100 instead which not only has a much larger variety of pods, but the pods are also slightly less expensive (55 cents for nespresso versus 75 cents per pod for illy). Regardless, I am happy with the Francis Francis X8 and recommend it to people who are looking for an easy, quick way to enjoy daily espresso!

**Update 1/2012:

After using the machine for about 2.5 years, it stopped working. It began leaking cold water from the base of the machine, and did not pump water through the pods anymore. I had performed the regular descaling maintenance as required, and used only filtered water in the machine. Customer service informed me that it was only under warranty for 9 months, and my options were to pay to have the machine repaired myself or to purchase a new machine. The minimum cost of paying to have them look at it (not even the cost of the repairs) was almost the cost that I originally paid for the machine. So although I enjoyed the Francis Francis X8 while it worked, I cannot recommend it. For the price, I would expect an espresso machine to last longer than a few years. Given Illy's inability to stand by their product, I'm don't think I will purchase an espresso machine from them again. Does anyone have a pod espresso machine by another company that they recommend? I'm in the market again.

Buy Francis Francis 208003 X8 iperEspresso Machine, Black Now

Our family recieved our iperEspresso machine last week and we are still amazed. This is a very well built, thoughtout, quality machine for the money. It is very simple to use and makes excellent espresso in no time at all. I was very impressed at how fast the machine makes hot water and steam. Within a few minutes of plugging it in you're drinking espresso, and since it's Illy product, you know it rocks!

The only downside to the machine is it's exclusivity of capsules. You have to purchase the Illy pods, but they can be found on the web at a resonable price.

Definitely thumbs up for this one!

Read Best Reviews of Francis Francis 208003 X8 iperEspresso Machine, Black Here

I bought an X7 last year and I still absolutely love it, but since then, I've purchased 3 of the X8's for friends and I'll admit that I'm a little jealous. The only advantage the X7 has is it's style and colors but if that isn't important to you, get the X8. It's only $175 from . You can't beat that price. The machine is AWESOME and so easy to use. Just remember to descale every 2-3 months!

Want Francis Francis 208003 X8 iperEspresso Machine, Black Discount?

After long research and purchase of many low and high end espresso machines I decided on trying this one. I was going to buy the Napresso C100 but I changed my mind because unlike the Napresso capsules ( 80% arabica and 20% Robusta ) the iperespresso capsules are made with 100% Arabica coffee which as you might know is the ultimate coffee for espresso. This machine comes also with a steam wand for frothing which is not available in the C100. I received it last week and tried it couple dozen times. The result is outstanding. It is a very well made machine, makes espresso in 30 seconds. No maintenance, needs descaling every 3 months. The espresso quality is excellent and better than any one I tried. The crema is quite thick and rich and the whole experience is very rewarding. The froth mechanism is great, I made one Cappuccino comparable in quality to any you get in the best coffee shops. I do not care about the lack of varieties of the capsules. I want either espresso or cappuccino as this is the whole main idea behind the machine. You may like the lungo capsule if you like a bigger volume however I did not try this variety yet. So for 15 pennies more than the napresso you can get far better shot of espresso. The C100 has 19 bar pump which is not really important as some espresso machines costing a few thousand dollars come only with 15 pump pressure. I still wish one day the iperespresso capsules come down in price but until then I'll continue to enjoy my 100% arabica espresso coffee.