Espresso, Cappuccino & Latte Machine, Fully Programmable, Single & Double Serve, EM-25

** 5 years update ** The machine is still going strong. I make at least one espresso per day, sometimes more. I must also say that I'm lazy with cleanup so this machine gets cleaned and descaled no more than 3-4 times a YEAR. Today I had my first problem with it when stinky smoke started to come out of the machine. I took it apart and found an electrical connection that came loose, probably due to the vibrations. It was getting hot and burning the plastic insulation. Tightened it up and it's back on track. My below review still stands. I must add that the machine is quite noisy. We moved, the kitchen is closer to bedrooms and this can definitely wake up someone. 5 years and counting for a machine of this price is very good. I replaced a Krups that died with the Cuisinart. I only drink espresso, never regular coffee and thus I use my espresso maker everyday. The Cuisinart makes good coffee, I'm happy with it. Compared to the Krups, there is more crema with the Cuisinart. Coffee tastes a little stronger as well. I'm skeptical with one point though (reason why I rated 4 starts only): this machine creates back-pressure using a double-bottom filter so the water is forced to stay in. Although this technology seems to work it is not the technology used in the 'real / traditional / professional' espresso maker. I anticipate a couple problems, some I experienced, some I just guess: - While in a normal espresso machine the used ground comes out dry and solid (the famous hockey puck). This machine yields a soupy ground more difficult to clean up. The more you tamper it, the dryer it gets though. Reason why some users report that they tamper the ground very hard. I however killed a previous espresso maker (an expensive Italian one) doing just this. If you tamper the ground too much, the pump will prematurely die from trying to get the water through. - Although I'm not expert enough to judge the quality of the coffee, since this technology is not used by the pros or more high-end machines, I would say it produces a less quality coffee. Again, I can't really say so I'm fine with the coffee it makes. - Some users reported that this tiny hole is prone to clogging sometimes leading to filter replacement since it can't be easily cleaned. - My Krups was tamping the ground through the motion of attaching the filter to the brewing head. This machine requires manual tamping - Since the filter technology creates significant back pressure, I'm wondering if this could wear the pump faster than usual. My Krups lasted 6 years with daily use. We'll see how far this goes. I didn't (and will never) use the milk frother so can't comment on this. I'm however finding it pretty cool that it provides hot water besides steam. Overall good coffee, easy to use, sturdy construction. Now need to wait I see how much maintenance it needs and how far it goes!

UPDATE June 24, 2010 I am not sure about this product even though it makes a good cup of coffee. I notice a small puddle of water underneath it everyday on my counter top! It collects on the grout between my tiles, which is not good. The puddle appears to come from a leak. ------- After using Cuisinart EM-100 for a month I can say that it can make delicious coffee comparable to that bought in a coffee shop. I continue to be happy with the purchase, after using the espresso maker and getting to know it well. * Ease of use The espresso maker has many nice and useful touches. It is simple and fool proof to operate, which helps when making coffee when one is not fully awake. The controls allow one to continue or to stop pouring coffee, water, or steam when one wants to. A regular 8 ounce cup fits easily under the portafilter. Other nice touches are that the water tank can easily be removed or put back, and the drip tray can be slipped out easily and washed off. The length of the steam/hot water nozzle is suited to the frothing pitcher included in the purchase and is not really a problem in my experience. The espresso maker is fairly quiet. It makes hot water and steam in an amazingly short time. I'd say in less than a minute; perhaps the solid 1000W specification has something to do with the internal boiler. * Preparation and clean up The preparation process for making espresso is very short: just pour water in the tank if there isn't enough left over from before, fill a clean portafilter with ground coffee and attach it in place, wait about a minute, turn the dial for coffee, and it pours out into the cup, presto! Clean up is simple: the screen above the portafilter, the steamer nozzle and the portafilter need to be cleaned, all of which are easy to do. * Coffee grind and clogging All that is needed to make good coffee with the coffee maker, is to use the right grind of coffee, since everything else has been made simple to do. Some suggest that a burr grinder is required to grind the beans for superior coffee. It takes a short learning process to find the correct fineness of grind to make good coffee. I found that the finer the grind the tastier the coffee. A word of caution, as with any espresso maker, too fine a grind (Turkish grind, but not Espresso grind) will clog the basket for the portafilter and coffee will not pour out. I have now learned how fine to grind my coffee so that particles do not get through the holes of the strainer in the basket and get trapped inside its double wall. When it is clogged, the pressure created by the pump can make it hard to remove the portafilter, but it must be removed in order to take steps to unclog it. This issue would be the same with any espresso maker. Instructions and a pin are sensibly provided. I was able to unclog the basket for the portafilter with the pin, so that one can make a mistake and recover from it. It has not been my experience, as a couple of other reviewers have claimed, that you cannot tell when the pressure is more than usual, and coffee explodes as you remove the portafilter. If the portafilter is not clogged, it requires little effort to remove it, and there is no explosion or mess involved. However, if it is clogged, you will find from the outset that you need to use much more force, enough to tell the difference, due to the pressure created by the clog. When I removed a badly clogged portafilter, the coffee grounds stayed in the portafilter, and there was no mess to clean up. The high pressure that is naturally developed due to clogging makes it a problem to remove the portafilter. I once turned the machine off and waited for 15 minutes, and still found that the pressure was high. I haven't tried this, but if the water from the tank is emptied by passing it through the nozzle for example using the hot water setting, perhaps the pressure in the portafilter could be reduced enough to make it easier to remove a clogged portafilter. * Tips on using hot water and steam for a hot cup of coffee If one uses a cold cup and cold cream directly from the refrigerator, one's espresso will naturally not be as hot as one might want. I use the hot water to heat up the cup first of all. I leave the hot water in to warm up the cup, until after I steam up the milk to heat it. I then move the dial to making espresso and proceed to pouring the coffee. Doing things in this order, heats up the boiler more and gets the water hotter. A good froth can be made with steam, with the normal amount of noise caused by bubbling steam through cream, otherwise the unit if fairly quiet. I use the steam more to heat up the cream which is cold from the refrigerator, than for making a froth. * Making more than one cup at a time For making several cups of espresso in a row, the portafilter can be safely and easily removed as soon as one is made, so that you can go on to making the next one, and so on. The water tank is large enough for making several cups. The protafilter is naturally hot for a while after making a cup of coffee, so be aware of it while handling.

miren esta cafetera hace muy buen cafe es facil de limpiar y no es cara tambien con un solo boton me da dos cafes o uno en automatico antes era cuisinart ahora es breville y mejoro muchisimo bien ustedes lo pidieron esta cafetera esta hecha para solo durar un mes si bien te va pero con ingenio se puede corregir, para los que la compran si no estan dispuestos a abrirla e investigarla mejor ni se metan cuesta trabajo yo ya le se y es tipico ejemplo de obsolescencia programada

It's a good machine, despite being a little slow while brewing. No fancy functionalities, works as it should, practical and straightforward, and offers some flexibility in how you dose your coffee.

I bought one of these used and thought it was great. After a year it died. I like it so much I bought a new one on Amazon. The new one is SO much better than the original one. I get a perfect crema every time. It has great pressure so frothing milk is super simple (my old one took a lot of effort and was rarely right) I have not used competitive home espresso machines so I can't compare, but I can say that this one is great. The one con I can think of is it is quite loud when first turned on. The pump or heater kicking in is loud. This was the same on my old one too.

Works for a while and then milk steamer breaks down. Had 3 of them . Every time same thing.

Très bon le café.