LaCafetiere Stovetop Espresso, Classic Polished, 3C

Love the quality of material

In many coffeemakers of this kind a handle melts due to overheading this one is not prone to this issue.

One has to pour the coffee slowly though, in order to avoid spills.

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Nespresso Essenza C101 Espresso Maker, Black

This is my third Nespresso machine, following an old trio of D150s and a more newly deceased D290.

In use now for a couple weeks, the C101 continues the streak of winning machines. This is the bare-bones Essenza, without cappuccino wand, cup warmer, etc.. After a decade of looking at the milk warming wands, I realized they had never been used, and cost money. I'd rather not maintain a supply of cream in my office, nor cart in water as often as brewing "Americanos" would require.

Use is simple drop in a Nespresso pod (50-70 cents each), push the button, then the machine makes the espresso in about 30 seconds when it has sufficiently heated up. Trivial, even before injecting the morning caffeine. Every time very good espresso with a thick crema. An advantage over some older models is that making the coffee can be programmed in even before the machine has warmed up.

One can save more money buying the C91, but that one is manual in the sense that AFTER it is warmed up, one must start AND STOP the water for the cup, and a too-late stop is the gaffe for which I buy an automatic machine in the first place. One can pay more for the Pixie, but the only difference I could decipher is a smaller footprint and perhaps a faster warm-up, and worse aesthetics IMO.

I've synchronized watering the Nespresso machine with watering my plants each is once a week, i.e., about every ten cups of espresso, which is about how often the empty pods need to be dumped from the internal trash can, as well.

It looks seriously industrial on my filing cabinet no plastic Mr. Coffee. Which brings up another selling point, abandoned machines such as my old D290 still can serve as conversation pieces on the coffee table, although a friend partially revived it after a month as a paperweight .

[5-12-11 update a couple of times now the darn thing has stopped working when I accidentally tried to make an espresso without water, which wasn't problem with the old D290, and then no water was drawn into the machine, apparently sort of a vapor lock problem. After thrashing around for quite a while, I discovered that running it for a while without a pod inside draws enough water through to re-prime the tubes.]

[7-12-12 update no problems whatsoever since last update.]

[8-5-12 update got another for my aging mom to replace her D150, which she likes.]

[8-26-12 update got another for home.]

I've had this machine with the separate frother for around 3 years now. It still delivers a great espresso with a perfect crema. It's not as good as what I can do with my Rancilio with Peet's. But it's close enough without all the drama. I got it for my office, where I didn't want the mess, but took it home for the holidays and found it so convenient, it never went back.

The only problems have been:

1) sometimes it doesn't open the capsules correctly, so you have to open and close the bar a couple of times to make it work without wasting a capsule. This happens most with dented capsules.

2) The packaging of the capsules leaves a lot to be desired. Around 20-30% of them arrive with small dents and 5-10% have major ones. I've talked to Nestle and their only solution is to offer to take them back. I'd rather they fix the problem. Especially since one of the things that really attracted me to this system was the fact that the anodized aluminum capsules look so cool, like little jewels, when they are perfect. But when they are dented, it's like your new Ferrari after a fender bender. It may drive the same, but it's embarrassing to let anyone see you with it.

3) Frother's pretty useless because it's difficult to clean, has to be handwashed, takes to long to heat up the milk, and produces very little (just enough for a single). I'd be better to save your money, heat your milk in the microwave and use one of those $5 hand frothers.

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I have had this machine for over a year and I am pleased with the perfect cup of coffee each time. Each of the color cubes are selected for the taste at that moment. Whenever I have people over for dinner, this coffee is served after the meal with rave responses. I have gotten 14 people this year to purchase this machine. Now that I have started drinking this coffee, I have not been able to drink the regular drip coffee.

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I felt a little guilty buying this machine. You have to buy the coffee capsules from Nespresso. I suppose you could empty them out, compost the grounds and recycle the aluminum, but that's way too much work. On the other hand, it makes a great cup of coffee. A couple of Lungos to start the day and a quick short or long shot any time your caffeine load wanes ... just perfect.

The instructions are not entirely clear. I'm not sure if it's French graphic conventions or just my bias toward textual explanations, but I was confused for about five minutes. My confusion was easily cured by loading the thing up and pushing buttons to see what happens.

I think I'll have some coffee.

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Bought this machine when we arrived here, and the machine works perfectly fine. Although other offers are now coming through for 149 $, Amazon's product is slightly priced. The delivery was fast and on time. No complaints about the product.

Gaggia 90800 Platinum Vogue Automatic Espresso Machine, Silver

This machine is aesthetically pleasing and pulls great espresso shots. With good quality beans I am able to make as good a latte as I can find in places like Peets with pleasing frothing and nice crema. But the machine is falling apart! After just 4 months the ball joint of the frothing wand is broken and to have it repaired I was told by the US distributor that I must send it back to NY (at my expense) and be without it for 3 weeks.

Bottom line the best machine imaginable if you are ok replacing it reliability and good customer service is not a concern to you. Maurigo

My Gaggia machine works perfectly now,but it wasn't easy to get good one.I had to replace 3 brand new machines because they were broken out of box.I had great support from amazon staff but Gaggia tech support(IMPORTIKA) WAS USELESS AND NOT FRIENDLY AT ALL.

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I agree. Nice looking machine with great tasting espresso but questionable durability. The worst part is that once you send it to New York, Importika the distributor/importer is unresponsive and unreliable. My machine arrived at Importika for service on March 23rd and I am still waiting for an ETA. Gaggia has always stood for the highest quality. I am afraid that this awesome machine may fail in the last mile: durability and service from its importer.

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We've had this Gaggia for almost three years now (updated from our original review -still very happy with it). We use it every day to make probably 10 cups a day. This is one VERY nice machine and it has been completely dependable. Excellent espresso and coffee, and of course it pays for itself compared to buying by the cup. It has a fairly quiet grinder, and if you want to make coffee while kids are sleeping just put your hand over the single-dose hopper and the sound level drops by about 80%, making it really quiet. It takes about a minute to heat up from standby mode. After that, it produces espresso in 50 sec., regular coffee in 90 sec. We bought the milk island and it works, but isn't worth the effort: Cleaning it is a major hassle, and it's easier and faster just to foam the milk manually with the steam spout, which you can rinse off in a few seconds while the coffee is brewing. The steam spout has a sleeve so it isn't too hot to touch.

There is a much more expensive version of this machine that has more electronics -save your money and get this one. The coffee produced is exactly the same.

The Gaggia is incredibly versatile. You can use the presets, you can adjust the presents to suit you, you can program the machine to brew just the way you want for each type of coffee using "learning" mode, or you can just press the start button again to stop the brewing. You can adjust the amount of coffee. You can bypass the grinder and use single doses of ground coffee -for example to make a cup of decaf. You can make hot water for tea or steam for cappuccino using the steam/hot water spout.

The tank has a water filter that is optional to use and the machine has a descaling cycle that we don't need because we use only distilled water, which I highly recommend. (If you can afford this Gaggia, you can afford a distiller too!) It also has an automatic cleaning cycle for everything but the brew group, which itself is very easy to clean by rinsing it off.

The four minor but irritating downsides: (1) A stupid design flaw for such an expensive machine is that the "fill the water tank" message is useless. It OUGHT to display the message when there's not enough water to make the type of coffee you select. Instead, if there's not enough water, the machine doesn't warn you. It will go ahead and start the brewing, abort it in mid-cycle when the water runs out, and THEN display the message (which might as well say "you should have filled the water tank"). The result is wasted time and coffee beans. To prevent this from happening, each time before you make coffee, you have to pull the water container to see whether there is enough water. There's not even a visual water-level indicator. This got to be so annoying that I made my own water-level indicator by drilling a hole through the plastic exterior and into the bottom of the tank, inserting a transparent tube and silicone-gluing it in, and inserting the top (open) end of the tube into another drilled hole in the plastic just above the top of the tank. I marked low and high water levels. Problem solved! See photo. With that one irritating problem solved, the machine is just about perfect. The other downsides listed below are minor by comparison.

(2) There is no optional water-feed option similar to a refrigerator icemaker water line connection. The tank has to be refilled a LOT, in part because the coffee is so good that you tend to drink a lot of it. When I was solving problem #1, I added another plastic tube that runs from our water distiller, so that we can manually fill the tank when our homemade water-level indicator shows that the level is low. The photo shows that too.

(3) The single-dose unit is very picky; use just a tad more than the standard amount of coffee and it will reject the whole thing, abort the brewing, and dump the wet but unused ground coffee in the dump bin.

(3) Even if you use only distilled water, this machine insists on descaling its boiler every month or so, even when the water-hardness scale is set to minimum. There is no "0" or "distilled water" setting. So you have to let it run the descaling cycle, which takes about 10 min. and half a gallon of water, and it's happy.

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have used many super automatic machines and this makes by far the best espresso that I have ever had. The espresso comes out nice and slow and is dark and rich. The milk island makes a very creamy froth and is easy to clean but I normally use the steam wand, which also works great. The grinder is very quiet so I can use it and not wake up my wife (I get up early). I very highly recommend this beautiful machine!!!!!

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Breville BCG800XL Smart Grinder

This was my husband's "BIG" gift for the holiday (2010), and he hasn't liked a gift this much in a very long time! He likes to think he is a coffee buff, but never had a burr coffee grinder before, and after comparing model after model, name brand after name brand, I chose the Breville BCG800XL Smart Grinder for his gift.

We used to have a nice $50 Cuisinart grinder for years, and it still works well, but the noise it produced was horrifying (and I am NOT exaggerating, the NEIGHBORS even knew we were up when they heard the grinder, we live in a 2 story single family home), and the coffee grounds my husband left all around the machine when he removed the grounds bin was a daily annoyance. That coffee grinder has been cleaned & now happily residing at his office, where they can enjoy the mess and the noise, and a pretty good cup of coffee.

Now you wouldn't think that switching grinders would have an overall impact in the coffee quality, but did it ever! The coffee tastes so much richer, fuller and more aromatic than before! Even our 23 year old son said "Wow mom, this coffee is good, did you switch beans?" Was he surprised to find out all we did was switch grinders!

NOISE: Minimal, I can't even hear it when I'm sleeping. Our old grinder running used to be my wake up call upstairs, on the second floor, in the opposite corner of the house! The Breville's noise is semi~pleasant, like another reviewer stated, and not annoying at all, almost comforting. Happily, the noise just stays in the kitchen now, so only the smell of great coffee wakes me up on the opposite end of the house, YUM!

MESS: Zip, ziltch, nada. I am very pleased that the coffee grounds are housed safely & neatly in the attractive container. No issues with grind mess everywhere.

COST: OK.. can't find it anywhere below $199. I compared a lot of models out there, the two I ALMOST went with were the Kitchenaid $160~ish dollar model (Kitchenaid reviews weren't as good, and there was mention all over the internet about bulk and footprint of the machine), and the cheaper Breville around $95 or so, but the grindings all over the place by a couple of reviewers was enough to turn me off of that model. I opted for spending a more, and got a great machine my husband absolutely loves.

SIZE: Smaller than I thought it was going to be, packs a big BIG tower of conical burrs for massive grinding power. Just takes up the same small footprint of our old Cuisinart model, but a bit taller, so no issues there.

LOOKS: Stylish and elegant. It looks like a sophisticated appliance that can take a lot of wear & built to last. We display it proudly next to our old faithful "BUNN" coffee maker.

QUALITY: No flimsy hardware here, it all performs & appears like it will last for years. Backlit display seems very durable as well, and is very nice to aide pinpointing the perfect grind. The conical burrs are super sharp, super tough, and plentiful. My husband was impressed.

CLEANUP: Not difficult. They provide a nice brush that does a good job, esp since we enjoy a dark french roast with some beans being quite oily. Have to clean it more often with those types of beans anyway. No issues here.

GRIND CHOICES: OK.. WOW is all I can say. The description says it all, pick your grind, pick the strength, pick the amounts, whatever. Tons of ways to tweak the grind out to your liking.

HOPPER: (Amended 1/5/2011) Know now, that this hopper is NOT completely 100% AIRTIGHT. Our old Cuisinart hopper lid was very loose, just sat there and if bumped could fall off, but Breville's hopper lid is tight, and holds a whole 1 pound bag of beans with ease. No need to constantly refill! As per a commentor's statement, this is NOT airtight, and they were disappointed. It has a tight lid on top, but the bottom I did not take into consideration (as the bottom of the hopper is open to the bur wheels and exit, thus not 100% airtight. Even though it can hold up to 1 pound of beans, the guide states it does not recommend storing the beans in the hopper. I must mention that since we've been using this for over a year now, & we go through a full hopper of beans about every 4 5 days, we've detected no loss in coffee quality as per our tastes. Even though we keep the beans in the hopper, and we use it 1 2 times per day, the coffee still tastes phenomenal in our opinion, from day #1 to day #5. I also agree that finding a completely sealed air tight bean storage on a grinder will probably be next to impossible to find.

There are a lot of other attachments & things to do with this, but I hit the highlights for what we use it for. Our morning cup of YUM, and boy did this ever deliver.

CONS: Haven't found any yet, other than the $199 cost. Only time will tell if this machine is as durable as we think it can be. But since it only had a few reviews, and I always go to Amazon first, I needed to write this to add it to the happy family of 5 star ratings for this grinder.

Hopefully, this will be the last grinder we will ever need for quite a L O N G time. We are amazed at everything about this machine & the coffee it makes.

Thanks Amazon members for putting the reviews out there, this helped us make a great decision.

UPDATE: (03/20/2012): I must also state that finding a similar priced grinder that matches this one, (in finished grind, features, performance and taste of the coffee), will be difficult to duplicate. We have had no disappointments in regards to this grinder.

I owned a coffee house in the mountains above Santa Cruz California and we tested and sold a number of different grinders over the years. When I sold that shop, I continued to buy and sell espresso equipment on Craigslist and eBay, mostly higher-end and commercial units. Many purchases were to test and evaluate, then sell, the equipment I bought.

Until recently, I was using a Pasquini Livia espresso machine paired with a Nemox Lux doserless grinder. The Lux was OK but it was a mess to use. Coffee grounds all over the place. I have since replaced the Livia with a commercial Nuevo Simonelli Mac Digit.

When I came accross the new Breville and read that it had an insert for a 58mm commercial portafilter, I was very interested. I had been looking at more expensive commercial grinders in the $400-$600 range but just wasn't ready to spend that kind of money so I bought the Breville.

This is simply one amazing grinder. Evenly ground beans with no clumping, a fine enough grind to use with my commercial Nuevo Simonelli rotary-vane pump machine and not one stray coffee ground after grinding directly into the portafilter. Another nice feature is being able to remove the bean hopper without having to empty the beans. This way I can have another hopper filled with decaf and can switch from regular to decaf beans in a few seconds. No more having to empty a bean hopper and replacing the regular beans with decaf beans. Very nice!!

I would recommend this grinder for the most hard-core coffee afficianados out there. You will not be dissappointed!

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This is my 2nd conical burr grinder. I used the earlier Breville grinder BCG450XL for a year, and while it gave me reliable daily service, it sure made a mess when removing the grinds container. Breville appears to have listened to its customers and totally redesigned this grinder. The grinds container is a sturdier translucent plastic with a stainless steel lid that seems to have solved the grinds sticking to the lid. There is absolutely no grinds scattering! The bean hopper holds 1 pound which is the size of freshly roasted beans I purchase at the local coffee shop. The ability to choose the size grinds and the amount is just outstanding. As you adjust the grind size to the finer grind, it asks you how many shots? As you adjust to medium or more coarse grinds, it asks you for how many cups? In addition to grinding into the well-designed grinds container, it claims it will also grind directly into your coffee filter. So I put that to the test using my Technivorm mochamaster cone filter holder, but that cone filter holder was too large. However, my Swiss Gold cone filter I use with it fit perfectly by itself, and the grinds poured nicely in it without grind scatter. It also comes with several size portafilter cradle holders to grind directly into your portafilter for espresso drinkers, but I don't have an espresso machine to test it out.

Breville includes a special brush to easily brush clean the conical burrs every now and then, with easy instructions.

Without need to measure out the coffee beans or the coffee grinds, I no longer need to have coffee scoops laying around. The grinder looks very attractive on my kitchen counter, better looking than the tiny picture reveals. And the grinds themselves? Even, consistent-sized grounds, just what you'd expect from a well made conical burr grinder. All in all, it was well worth the extra expense.

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> UPDATE == I was lucky enough to get a Baratza Vario as a gift, and have posted my impressions in a review of the Vario. While I still love the Breville and it scores much higher in terms of ease/convenience of use, the Vario does produce a more consistent grind. Best value = Breville. Best grind = Vario

>>Original review

I've spent the last three months looking for a decent burr grinder that didn't break the bank in terms of cost. To jump to the end of the story for those who want the bottom line, the Breville wins out as providing the best mix of convenience features and performance of any of the several I've tried (both less and more expensive). Highly, highly recommend.

I started out by going cheap the Cuisinart DBM-8. This packs a lot for the price, especially if you can find one for about 20 bucks at a warehouse club. Even at the regular price (under $50) it gives you a lot for your money. It worked very well for the medium-fine grind I need for my Senseo, and was passable for other tasks (espresso and a french press). But, it's also loud, messy and does not give a consistent grind you get a fair amount of dust. But, for the price, I have no qualms about recommending it for a drip application, and will be keeping the one I bought.

The next stop was also a Cuisinart, their CBM-18N. A definite step up, but it had some quirks that I found really irritating, such as a display that never turned off unless you unplugged it. The grind was better than the DBM-8 in terms of consistency, but still not good enough for my needs. This went back.

I then tried a Bodum Bistro. Nice to look at, but it lacked the convenience features that I liked (such as automatic grind amount based on number of cups), plus it states you can only use it for 20 seconds before letting it rest for 5 min to cool down. To me that's a sign of an undersized motor. But it did have a glass bin to cut down on static, and the fine grind level was very nice and more consistent than the Cuisinart. The coarse grind, however, was not as coarse as I wanted for a french press. Good choice to give as a present for someone who prefers style over function and is mostly a drip brewer. For me, it was another return.

The next two were borrowed from a friend: the Baratza Vario and the Virtuoso. I absolutely loved the Vario perfect grind for everything from my espresso maker to my french press. Real workhorse, and solid construction. The catch is the price about $450. Not in my price range, but if you're willing to spend the money, it's a very nice grinder. The Virtuoso is more what I was looking to spend, and that also is a nice grinder. I had zero problems producing a grind fine enough for espresso; my french press grind was excellent as well. The burrs on the Virtuoso are not as high quality as the Vario, but certainly up to the task of a typical consumer user.

I was set on the Virtuoso until I tried out the Breville. I had no problems getting it fine enough for espresso (although I should note that I use a pressurized portafilter which is not as fussy in terms of the grind as a non-pressurized). French press grind was spot on, and everything in between came out nearly as consistent as the Vario and just as consistent as the Virtuoso.

What really sold me on the Breville was the convenience features. You can dial in the number of cups (or shots) you want, and the grinder puts out the needed amount. You can fine tune the amount up or down as well. The hopper is big, has a very nice lid, and can be removed without dumping out all of the beans. Nice looking overall, with lots of stainless and high quality plastics.

Best of all is the fact that you can grind right into a portafilter or filter basket. I do my drip brewing using a My-k cup attachment on a Cuisinart k-cup brewer. I grind right into the basket with zero and I mean ZERO over spray of ground coffee. Just hold it by hand under the spout and the coffee shoots right in nice and fluffy. It goes into sleep mode after a few minutes, and wakes up with a push of any button (retaining your last grind setting). Easy to clean the burrs. Pretty quiet.

I could go on for pages as to the positive features, but I'll save you the trouble of reading my ramblings by summing it up as thus: if you're looking to spend less than $200 on a grinder, this is the one to get.

Tips:

1. (Apologies to Amazon). You can get this at the bed bath store using their 20% coupon. You have to put in the order at the store to use the coupon, and if you ask nicely, the store manager will waive the shipping charges. That brings the price to $160 plus tax. They only seem to carry it online.

2. You can get a shim kit that will allow you to go even finer. It's free from Breville I got mine four days after emailing them about it. I haven't used it since it already goes fine enough as it is, but wanted to have it in case I upgrade to a better espresso machine down the road that needs a finer grind. There's a video on the Seattle Coffee Gear site on how to install it.

3. You can buy extra hoppers from Breville so you can keep different coffees ready to go in different hoppers. There is a small amount of beans left in the machine when you remove the hopper that you have to shake out between changes, but having multiple hoppers makes it quick to switch between types of beans.

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Had mine for almost a year now, still going strong.

Pros:

Grind size and amount adjustment range is great

Not too loud

Fast

Daily user

Cons:

Cleaning

Coarsest grinds generate a decent bit of coffee dust

Cleaning is the biggest con with this machine. The hopper will collect water internally, so you're limited to wipe-downs lest that water get loose on your beans. The O-ring part of the grinding mechanism comes out easily and is fairly easy to clean with the supplied brush and a paper towel. However, the inner conical part of the grinding mechanism is not removable, and wiping it down requires some finger dexterity. Not the end of the world, but annoying.

Additionally, one thing I did find recently was that the grinds chute internally collects a ton of grinds with static charge over time, quite deep in the recesses of the grinder on the bottom side of the grinding mechanism. Ensue pipe cleaners, etc and out poured an avalanche of musty grinds.

I use dark fresh-roast coffees, I find I need to clean the grinder at least every pound. Not sure if this is typical for this range, but I at least expected disassembling the machine for cleaning to be much simpler.

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Aerolatte Deluxe Edition Milk Frother with Stand, Stainless Steel

** below is my original review but I just wanted to add a quick note that I'm still using this exact same milk frother today. It's been 5 years since I bought it **

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1st time, I didn't even know what I was doing but I was able to make high volume of nice foam (very fine and creamy) from Aerolatte. I own a Briel cappuccino maker with milk frother/steam wand. It steams milk well but require Barista level skill to make good froth! I also own a Bodum pump which requires way too much energy. Aerolatte is my most favorite tool to froth milk now. It works well with both cold or hot skim milk and very fast (10-15 seconds). Sorry about the video, that was my 1st time using it without prior practice. I can master it in less time now. Milk froth tastes a little airy (not as good as using steam wand) but still better than using hand-pump.

I must admit, when I first heard of these immersion frothers, I was very skeptical. I had tried many frothers, cappuccino machines with built in frothers (work great first 2 times, then they always clog) and plunger frothers (can you say carpal tunnel syndrome??) etc. After much time AND much effort, there was very little reward, almost no froth and much frustration, not to mention cleanup. I tried the plunger types repeatedly to the point where I was sure I'd have blisters. Did I mention having to disassemble & clean all the frother parts after? :o)

So began my quest for an easy, effective way to obtain cappuccino style froth for my morning java. I searched java junkie message boards and decided to give the Aerolatte a try. I couldn't have been more amazed and pleased.

This little gadget runs on 2 AA batteries (included) and comes with a metal counter stand so it's easily accessible. I unboxed it and gave it a whirl, seemed sturdy and surprisingly fast. Now for the coffee test. Hmmm. So I brewed a pot (french press) of strong coffee and poured a little half & half in my mug and let 'er rip. All I can say is AWESOME!! I was totally shocked at how quick and easy the Aerolatte whipped it into froth. Seriously, comparable to the froth from Starbucks. I couldn't believe it.

The instructions recommend skim or low fat milk, which also frothed up just as thick and rich. Wow!!!! When you are finished, run the unit under under the faucet or in a cup of water to clean. Incredibly cool that you create the froth right in your coffee mug. Simple as that, no extra equipment to clean.

Be brave, experiment a little. I prefer heating my mug with sugar & half & half in the microwave for 30 seconds, froth for about 30 seconds & pour in coffee. Voila Coffee house quality cappuccino and no pots or tubes to clean. Pretty spectacular!

Details: Gotta admit, the stand that arrived with mine is cool to look at, very high-tech, but poorly designed & a tad annoying as you need 2 hands to remove the frother or put it back in. Ok, but not ideal. Luckily, Aerolatte must have realized this, as they have since redesigned the stand & replaced with an even cooler (hopefully more functional) design.

The battery life is excellent (at least 4 weeks of daily use), however I would recommend investing in rechargeable batteries and charger, as the unit is much more efficient and faster with strong batteries.

My first Aerolatte burned out after a little over a year of heavy usage. I loved it so much I purchased another. The price is reasonable as my unit was packaged with the unit, stand and matching shaker for toppings (cinnamon, cocoa, etc)

Highly recommended. You will not be disappointed! Bravo Aerolatte

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I bought this item in a store in Austin two years ago. I was regretting the purchase the moment I paid (I thought that $20 was too much for a milk frother, because all those cappuccino and espresso machines include a frother, but it never works as you expected, so, why this little thing was going to work better than those machines?). But then I tried it. I made a mess the first times but I loved it. Some weeks later, I went to a store to buy an old fashioned-Spanish style coffee maker. A perfect combination for my Aerolatte! I forgot about machines.

One sad day I found that the battery compartment was damaged. I thought that perhaps some water came in. I looked for another Aerolatte, which was difficult because I have not seen it in Mexico and I was not planning to visit USA soon. I found this item in Amazon, and I placed my order in October last year, when the cold and misty days make you desire a good cup of coffee or a well shaken hot chocolate... When I requested it I did not care about the problem with the batteries (I thought: "Well, I will keep it without the batteries"), so until I received it I noticed that this problem was corrected by placing the battery compartment at the top of the item (instead of on one side), and it also included a few extra technical features in order to avoid the water gets in, so I can keep it with the batteries inside all the time. The item was successfully redesigned. The stand is a plus (in my first purchase it did not come with a stand).

Recommendations:

a) Trust the instructions inside (very well written, not only grammatically speaking, but for a non expert coffee maker, like me);

b) Believe in the recipes included: yes, you will be able to make multicolor layered coffees;

c) It works better with non "low-fat" or "light" milks or products;

d) The hotter the milk, the better froth; and,

e) Change the batteries that come with the product, those are a nice courtesy, but don't have enough energy, and the Aerolatte works with strength. Low batteries cause that your froth goes away too soon.

I blindly recommend this product, I love it.

Read Best Reviews of Aerolatte Deluxe Edition Milk Frother with Stand, Stainless Steel Here

This is the third Aerolatte frother I have owned; the first two performed well, but eventually the switch gave out and the machine became unusable.

This version seems to be built out of heavier-duty metal, and it comes with a stand which looks nice on your counter. It would be even better if there were a way for the stand to be mounted on a wall, to get the frother off the counter.

I use rechargeable NiMH batteries in the frother, and they perform well for quite a few weeks, based on using the machine about 6 times a day to froth skim milk in a mug.

I have tried and bought other brands of frothers; in particular, I own two types of "Bonjour" brand products. They are much inferior, and the one that uses 4 AA batteries is useless for foaming milk in a mug, since it spatters milk all over your front. Nice when you're dressed up in shirt and tie, ready for the office!

Want Aerolatte Deluxe Edition Milk Frother with Stand, Stainless Steel Discount?

Our aerolatte was pressed into domestic service to make froth for about 6 cups of coffee daily and it stopped working after only three months. The email address on the aerolatte 5-year guarantee policy is no longer in use and their web site doesn't accept product complaints once the boxes have been filled in. Their fax number listed on the aerolatte web site didn't connect despite many attempts. We bought a product with a 5-year guarantee only to discover that the company CAN'T BE REACHED, except when placing an order!?! In light of such poor customer care, I advise against buying an aerolatte product. As a byline, in 2007 we had bought three no-name China frothers at a very low pricethey only lasted about 2 months each which is why we bought the "superior-original" aerolatte, which too, is JUNK.

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