Hamilton Beach Espresso Maker

This machine, with the proper grind of espresso (in other words not Folger's drip or something!) produces as good a cup as I have ever used. And I've had some fairly impressive Italian units. I especially like that the clearance from the portafilter to the base is longer and allows the use of a slightly taller cup for those times when I let it run longer for more of a cafe Americano. The pump inside is Italian, so that may be the reason for the better than average performance in this price range. Again, this is NOT a drip maker, and is NOT designed to make an 8 ounce cup of black coffee...it makes espresso!

I received this as a Christmas gift from my wife and kids. I will be the first to admit that I love a good cup of coffee and a good cappuccino, but as for the technical aspects of the art of being a barista, I am a complete novice. I knew nothing about expresso's or crema. I spent the next few days on Youtube looking at espressos being made and reading up on the subject. Afterwards, I figured I was ready to give it a try. My first attempt was embarrassing. It made a great cup of coffee but I couldn't pull an espresso for anything. I finally realized that I couldn't use my regular ground Maxwell House. I had some whole beans that were given to me so I ground them up into a very, very fine powder, like powdered sugar. Voila! I pulled 2 espressos with beautiful crema. I then steamed some milk and had one of the best cappuccinos I have ever had. This baby steams like all get out. There is a trick to pullling espressos though. The light will come on indicating that the water is hot enough, but it isn't. What I do is turn on the indicator for the steam wand. When the water is hot enough for that, I steam the milk first. Then I switch the mode to cup and wait about 30 seconds. Once I hit brew, a beautiful shot of espresso comes out with a nice head of crema. This machine is pretty good if you follow the instructions. The coffee needs to be ground to a very fine powder in order to work. One might want to get a better tamper and it would have been nice if they included a milk steaming container. For the beginner, this is a good machine to learn on. The key is that the water MUST be hot enough to build up enough pressure, don't rely on the light.

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I did not buy this from Amazon. It was cheaper at Wal Mart. It made a good brew after experimenting with the grind (The instructions say "grainy, like salt or sand"). It was too watery. A fine powder worked better.

I made a couple cappuccinos, cleaned the machine like recommended and retired for the evening. I had watched all the tutorial videos on Hamilton's website and noticed that they did a lot of "plugging in the machine" in each one. For some reason, I unplugged the machine and went to bed. Lucky for me because water leaked inside the machine overnight and ruined a cutting board and flooded my countertop. Had I left the machine plugged in, there certainly would have been an electrical short and a fire that may not have wakened me up!

I returned it the next day. I gave it three stars for the brew and the steam wand was very good. But the inherent danger was not worth any price.

Perhaps you will have better luck with this machine. If so, give it a good rating.

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Like the the person mentioned above my unit came from Walmart at a great price! It was gift from my girl friend. Excellent machine for the price. It replaced a Krups XP4025 which only lasted 2 years and cost $150 from Amazon of all places. That machine was o.k. but this machine produces a better shot with better crema. I've not experience the aforementioned leak but I will keep an eye out for that.

It should be noted that I generally only make cold drinks and use E.S.E Pods for the ease of use so I can't attest how well it steams milk or how well it froths milk.

*****UPDATE 27 August 2010*****

Still a decent machine but it's really picky about ESE Pods and the brew gasket is fragile and has had to be replaced. Hamilton Beach customer service is surprisingly prompt.

Looses one star for durability.

*****UPDATE 5 Sept 2010*****

Don't waste your money. The head group gasket blew after six weeks of use and its non-repairable. Thankfully it was gift or I would've really lost it.

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First, I work as a barista with a really good machine (rancilio). This is far from it. But it does the job as describe. You have to wait a bit for the steam and you have to wait for the machine to warm up between the shots a lot especially if you are doing a long espresso. But I've seen worse. I've had the machine for a couple of years but I don't use it much.

What I really don't like is the strong plastic smell from the reservoir! I don't trust it and it obliges me to change the water all the time and flush the machine before I use it. Lts say, i never let water over night in it.... I'll be looking for a better machine soon. But as I said, for the price, it works if you don't have high expectations.

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