We bought almost 3 years ago for cappuccino or latte. In addition, the girlfriend wanted to learn how to do latte art, etc., and for this purpose it is the optimal machine. I' m not so sure about espresso - we don' t drink it much here, so we don' t have a fine-tuned grind, but it can' t handle a very fine grind anyway (see cons) from the pros - it' s cheap - it' s easy to control - it has ordinary filters - unlike pressure grinds, different grinds more you influence what kind of coffee comes out of it.
- it has a regular nozzle, again, if you don' t know how to whip, the machine won' t do it for you.
- totally simple maintenance. clean the nozzle, the lever and the strainer and the sieve on the machine where the water comes from. Descaling once in a while, that' s all. Of the cons:
- once we overdid it with the fineness (and probably also the volume) of ground coffee, the liquid flowed between the machine and the lever but not through the lever; ) and once the lever loosened itself due to water pressure; ) I don' t know if it' s the pump or a bad seal when the lever is in place. Nothing since then - with current grinding and a reasonable dose of ground coffee.
- the nozzle is slower, you will definitely have to wait a while, but on the other hand, it is not so easy for you to burn the milk.
-it' s really a machine for two. the manual talks about 6 coffees and let it rest, but if you make coffee and whisk milk into it 2 more times, all this somehow at a time when it' s already been a while since descaling, it doesn' t really want to; ) - the water container would like a lid. when the machine heats up, you make a few coffees, the water in the container will start to evaporate and condense due to the heat from the boiler. After every preparation, we leave the lid where the container is open (until it cools down), but once or twice it happened that there was a puddle under the machine. But considering the price, what would I want?: D In my opinion, it is a good coffee maker if you want to prepare the coffee yourself. If you don' t want to or don' t have the time, then you need an automatic machine. But he will only teach you how to press buttons and how to clean in a complicated way; ) So for basic learning how to use a classic lever, even if you are thinking about working in a cafe in the future, why not - you will still learn something and then exchange it for a significantly better machine. Or you' ll find out that it' s not for you - but the price won' t bother you so much; ) It' s not the best coffee maker on the market, but in its price category it won' t have much competition, if any at all - when I was looking for something with ordinary filters and a classic nozzle, it was this one or something for +-6k. This is then a simple selection to start with the lever: ) We are satisfied with good coffee (we buy it from the Coffeespot roaster) and you can usually make a cappuccino from it (there are high-quality exceptions) better than from coffee shops. And I' m not exaggerating, unfortunately what they are often able to offer in cafes.
