.
I gave this one a chance after wasting $100 on the Krups Espremio, and I'm glad that I did. I was initially impressed by the weight of the Mr Coffee in the store; it seemed to be solidly constructed, so I tried it out even though I had learned that Mr Coffee is now a Sunbeam company. I'd had such terrible luck with Sunbeam products that I wouldn't buy anything from them. I guess that's not true anymore.
Others have complained about having to use demitasse cups with it, but I sometimes use regular coffee cups and just remove the drip tray--not an issue. My hands are a little unsteady (too much coffee?), so I use pods to make sure that I don't get grounds on the edge of the holder.
The pods that I get at Starbucks fit just fine, so the poster who had a problem with that might try buying them there.
It's a little noisy, but not a LOT noisy like my old Maxim and that Krups.
All in all, I'm very pleased with it.
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I wrote my original review back on 9/10/04 ("Great coffee machine"). I have had this machine for over 6 months now and wanted to put another 2 cents in after reading the recent reviews. I still stand by everything I wrote back in September. Also, I completely agree with 1/10/05 review ("fantastic value! so far...").
I use this machine frequently: 4-6 days/week since July. I am thrilled with the product. It works as well now as it did when I first purchased it. I have never had a single problem with the machine. For example, it doesn't shake, it hasn't lit on fire, it doesn't release steam in places it shouldn't, the frothing arm works fine and the water tube in the resevoir is as good as new. I don't even make an effort to take great care of it; I am lazy and clean it only once/week.
It took me a little time to pefect my coffee making routine, but I'm a pro now (please refer to my original review). However, out of extreme laziness and rush in the morning, I no longer use the frothing arm or preheat the carafe.
My routine is:
-pour Brita water into resevoir
-fill filter w/grinds & pack grinds
-put (unheated) carafe (still using my dessert bowl) under filter
-when machine's ready, run espresso
-pour espresso and cold milk into a paper cup and put it into the microwave for 60-90 seconds
-empty water resevoir
-remove filter from machine after 5 minutes (if you do it right after you turn off the drip, wet coffee grinds will spill all over your counter)
As a result of simplifying this routine, I make the espresso more frequently and have not purchased coffee in months.
I still have not mastered frothing. My friend bought this machine after my recommendation and she's able to froth well. I am mystified.
Lastly, the directions say to clean the machine with vinegar every 80 uses. I have (out of, again, laziness) not done this yet, but I don't see or taste a difference despite this.
I am very happy with this machine and it's paid for itself already. BTW, I tried many different grinds and I love Cafe Bustelo.
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Original review, written Sept 10, 2004:
I was baffled at all the problems people wrote about in previous reviews. I am a novice coffee machine user and work the machine with no problem. My suggestion to the people who gave this machine 1-star is to READ INSTRUCTIONS!!! (They obviously didn't, as per their reviews.)
General comments & replies to previous reviews:
-The machine is not loud (as per a recent review), but do expect the machine to make noise.. duh.
-Makes GREAT tasting coffee with lots of yummy crema.
-Steams milk well, although I'd like to be able to make more froth, but that maybe my fault b/c I'm a novice cappy maker.
-REALLY EASY clean-up, very very simple & quick.
-It does take time to reheat between making the coffee and steaming the milk, but if you read directions, the manual states you can continue using the machine even though the "ready" light isn't on.
-Someone wrote it doesn't have enough pressure to make good cappy: I don't agree. It has 13 bars of pressure, where old machines had 5 and professional machines have 15-20 bars. This person probaby didn't pack the coffee enough or didn't use enough coffee grinds.
My process of making coffee takes about 10 minutes total, so you can figure out if this is too much work for you:
-Take water from my Brita filter to fill the water reservoir.
-Run hot faucet water into the carafe to preheat b/c it keeps the coffee hotter longer.
-Fill the filter with 2 spoons of my cuban fine grinds & tap the top to pack it.
-Turn on the unit, wait until the ready light is lit (unit heats up water).
-Put carafe under the filter & press the coffee button so the cappy starts puring from filter.
-Wait until fluid gets almost see-through, then turn off cappy, turn on steam so until heats up water to a higher temperature.
-Fill my Stainless Frothing Pitcher with Thermometer from Crate & Barrel ($15) with milk.
-Run hot faucet water into the mug you'll use for the coffee to preheat it.
-Once unit is ready, dip the frothing arm into the milk & turn the steam knob all the way to get the max steam out to the milk. Usually takes about 3 mins to get the milk to 140 F (from 35 F). Having the thermometer is essential to this process. To make froth, lower the pitcher so that the tip of the frothing arm is just above the milk I think that the steam hittng the surface of the milk creates the froth.
-Turn the steaming knob back to 'off', combine cappy & milk & froth into a pre-heated mug (notice I left the carafe under the filter b/c the filter drips about 3-5 drops during the frothing process and those drops end up in the drip tray, that's annoying).
-Fill a cup with water & clean the steaming nozzle right away by steaming water (instead of milk) to prevent the milk from clogging the nozzle (this is all in the directions, if you just take the time to read them!).
-Leave the rest of the cleaning for later, enjoy the cappy now.
Shortcomings of the unit:
-Didn't come with a carafe, I've been using a small dessert bowl b/c I can't find a carafe I like.
-The frothing arm swivels about 90% and doesn't bend up/down. This was annoying, but I found a way to tilt the frothing pitcher to the side and got used to it & now it's fine.
-The coffee pods that come with the unit are horrible, don't even bother using them.
-If you're feeling lazy (or running late), you'll still end up going to Starbucks or ABP to pick up your morning coffee on the way to work.
Best parts about the unit:
-Easy to clean: dump excess water from reservoir, rinse off drip tray, dump out used grinds from filter & rinse, scrub dried milk off the frothing nozzle (most tedious tasttakes about 15 seconds).
-Small, doesn't take up a lot of space: on top of the unit there is an area where you can store all little accessories for the unit so clever!
-Produces hot, delicious, dark, flavorful coffee: yum!
-Cheap: $90 w/tax, frothing pitcher/thermometer, and carafe
-13 bars of pressure!
-Right at home no trips to & from Starbucks to get a cappy.
-Even though I'm a coffee-grinds-kind-of-person, having the pods will cut about 15 seconds from packing the grinds & about 5 seconds from the cleaning. I think the only drawback from the pods is that they make single servings where with grinds you can make 2 servings (or 1 really big one).
Buy Mr. Coffee ECMP40 Pod Pump Espresso & Cappuccino Maker Now
The good news is . . . We bought the first machine for Christmas and were more than pleased with it's operation and the espresso was fantastic!
The bad news is . . . .Since then we have had three of these machines. The first lasted 4 months before the steam valve would no longer shut off. It almost scalded my wife and now it is in the shop for repair, the other two which were bought within the last 2 days, both failed out of the box.
The last two, one returned for the next, both had the same problems in that right out of the box, during the initial internal rinse cycle, neither unit's ready light came on, both units started getting extremely hot to the touch, over 130 degrees and climbing, and steam started spewing from inside the unit. In all cases each unit failed to an unsafe condition that could have caused severe burns if we hadn't been paying close attention.
The out of box failure rate for the units we bought is 2 out of 3!
The only reason we tried buying the second two units was that we couldn't wait for our first unit because we loved the espresso they make so much!
I would highly recommend that Mr. Coffee, Amazon, and Target, or any other store selling these units, take these units off the market until Mr. Coffee can fix these problem or they may soon be looking at a law suit for personal injury from some not as cautious as we are!
DON'T BUY ONE, until they have been corrected!!!!
Read Best Reviews of Mr. Coffee ECMP40 Pod Pump Espresso & Cappuccino Maker Here
I was given this coffee maker as a gift, and it worked great for about nine months. Then progressively-larger amounts of water started leaking around the top of the basket that holds the coffee. I tried everything: more and less fine grounds, tighter and looser packing of grounds, tighter and looser locking of the basket, completely cleaning the area, etc. Nothing worked.
Finally I decided to do a search online. I found many other people with this problem. The only solution seems to be replacing the unit.
So I called Sunbeam (the owners of Mr. Coffee). They claimed they'd never heard of the problem and told me I shouldn't believe everything I read online. They told me my only option was to drive an hour from my home to a service center. I asked if the service center would charge me. They said, if the unit was purchased more than a year ago, even if I received it as a gift less than a year ago, the service center would see that in their records and charge me just to look at it. And they might not be able to fix it. Throughout this I stayed polite and the person I spoke with was quite defensive.
Chalk me up as very unhappy with the dismissive and unhelpful people at Mr. Coffee / Sunbeam.
Want Mr. Coffee ECMP40 Pod Pump Espresso & Cappuccino Maker Discount?
First off many of the complaints voiced here are inherent in cheaper expresso machines. Additionally many can be attibuted to not knowing how to the use the machine(this is not a coffee pot and it doesn't work like on either. I've owned 3 different brands over the years and unless your willing to pay in excess of 200.00 then this is what your dealing with. Breakdown as follows:1)not enough clearance beneath beneath brewer(a 2 oz shot glass or expresso cup fits nicely though and ultimately that is the proper way to brew expresso anyhow--not in a coffee cup/jumbo mug) 2)It does leak when brewer is turned off(from brewing head drips)--not really a problem as much as an annoyance(if you remove the brewing head once the expresso is done--no leakage-or leave a cup there for a few minutes to catch the excess). 3)Frother is much more powerful than simililarly priced machines that I've used and works well(note: generally when a frother quits working it's because the milk has hardened in the frothing tip and the steam cannot escape--it must be cleaned regularly!). A big plus is being able to brew 2 expressos at once, a feature that no other machine in this price range offers(most are single brews into one large glass cup which equlas no crema). It boils down to this--for it's price it's a decent value and if you learn how to use the machine it should work as intended and it outclasses any other machine in it's price range. And by the way the face plate is made of metal so I'm not quite sure how the other guys melted off twice from the steam.
Update(1 year later)---Pot still kicking strong after a year of heavy use(1-2 times a day)...Still brews excellent expresso with a nice crema on top(2.5 oz in about 25 secs). As for the frother-a bit on the weak side but good enough--keep it clean though, a dirty/clogged frothing tip will not work--get rid of the black plastic adapter though--it doesn't work. Overall--a real bang for your buck--no reason to blow 300-500 as long as this economy unit is out there....also--use the right grind(about the size of granulated sugar--do not use fine grind ala turkish it will not work properly)and learn how to tamp the coffee, very important to the end result.
Works as advertised. Makes excellent strong coffee/espresso (no crema). Easy to clean. Built like a tank (25 year warranty!), of solid 18/10 stainless. Looks good on the stove. Will yield 5 oz of excellent thick complex flavored coffee espresso if you run the heat medium-low and use 25gm of freshly ground-to-fine coffee beans. If you want less heaviness and more volume, move the heat to medium+ and the pot will deliver 8oz or so. About 7 minutes from heat to coffee. Be sure to pull off the heat at the first gurgle so you don't overdo the brew (bitter). As always good freshly roasted beans are a must. Don't tamp down the grind in the basket. Slightly overfill it and when you screw on the top section, that will do the tamping.
