Coffee machines - whaddaya know?

[Watchman]

Wifey wants one for Christmas. I've had a cursory look and it seems that you get small ones that can make one cappuccino or two espressos, or bigger ones that start at £100 and go up.

Details and reviews are limited. Any recommendations? It'd be good if a single "boil" could make at least two cups of cappuccino, and the machine didn't break down within a year.

Many thanks.

[Watchman]

Ooh I can already see I'm behind with the terminology. Bean-to-cup, or pod... what does this mean? Presumably a bean-to-cup has an inbuilt grinder and a pod is manufacturer's-only sachet or something? That right?

Is there not one where you can simply spoon your own pre-ground coffee into it? Although having said that, pouring beans in sounds pretty simple and would add to the aroma in the kitchen.

... and size-wise if they claim a water tank of 1-litre or more, does that ALL translate into useable hot water. In other words, will that give two full cappuccino cups and not just little espresso cups?

[Watchman]

Insanity Magnet said:

Here's a UK designed, engineered and manufactured alternative:

http://www.fracino4u.co.uk/featured.asp?featured_i...

The Piccino is essentially a scaled down commercial machine, based around two pressurised copper boilers - one for water delivery and one for steam (none of that thermoblock rubbish found in most domestics).

Not the cheapest but should be very good (their commercial machines are).


edit - copper boilers, not brass

Wow, that is a really elegant piece of functional furniture. I'll run it past Mrs W but I suspect the £600+ asking price might be a deal-breaker. That said, the engineering inside might sell it to her. We've had a small "one cup" device before which was more trouble that was worth. What we really want is a Costa/Starbucks in our house, with an eye on the cost. This seems to perfectly meet our requirements if I can get past the price.

Thanks for that. Best one yet..!!

[Watchman]

Paddy_N_Murphy said:

Roso said:

yeah bean to cup, you just put beans in one bit, water in another bit, then just press buttons.


And yeah with most bean to cups you can push another button to fill up the whole cup

This ^^^^^^^

Magic. That sounds like the type to aspire to. Thanks.

[Watchman]

andy_s said:

I've got one of these babies, good for making coffee at the table while you chat, everyone getting more and more nervous...then the gasp as it all gets sucked back into the bottom glass

That looks great. What is it? We had less interesting science experiments at school than that (although I was at school in the middle ages - seems a loooong time ago).

[Watchman]

Everyone, thanks a massive amount for all your advice. Your guidance has been invaluable. I presented the £680 option to my wife who asked me to basically run away from that one at warp 7.

Instead she thought she wanted a simple "pod" based machine but, thanks again to you all, I managed to steer her away from those.

In the end, we went for a recognised brand from Amazon (because they have a very no-nonsense returns policy) which gives her filter coffee as well as cappuccino facilities, and isn't bank-breaking.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003UMHO8G/ref=...

Thanks again.

[Watchman]

lepetitoeuf said:

Can I hijack this thread?

Fire away - I got my answer.