Possibly You Will Enjoy This Every Morning - Wouldn't That Be Great?
Written: Oct 12 '03 (Updated May 27 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: save money on coffee shops, prepare coffee as you like it not as it's sold
Cons: doubt if it builds up proper pressure, not sure if what I saw was crema
The Bottom Line: Purchase I did not come to regret. Great for beginners, easy to use, great tasting espresso. May want to switch to something more advanced next.
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| djork's Full Review: Krups Bravo 871-42 Espresso Machine |
I have purchased my Krups Espresso machine about a month ago, which is not too long a time to really evaluate this product, but I am happy to announce that at least so far I've had no problems with it. Previously, I had this cheap dripping machine, which was satisfactory for me for years (a fact now hard to believe). But the coffee simply was not as good as in sold in coffee shops - and this eventually brought me to search for another coffee machine. Buying this product was a major step upwards in my coffee quality. I have even discovered that it makes coffee even better than in coffee shops. Apparently, coffee in coffee shops gets diluted with water too much, always to same standard proportions - you can choose whether or not you want to do this at home, when you make your own coffee you can change its strength. This is one of the major pros of this machine - coffee can be made to your individual taste.
The procedure to use this machine is very simple.
- Use a 4-serving espresso cup to pour water into the opening at the top
- Screw the lid tightly over the opening so no steam escapes
- Put in coffee into a metal filter (supplied with the machine) which is meanwhile inserted into a handle. A special scoopula is provided for getting coffee out of the bag and into the filter.
- Attach this handle with inserted filter to machine just under the place where the 4-serving cup stands. Turn it 90 degrees into Lock position indicated on machine.
- Then turn the machine on and in 2 minutes at most the water will start bubbling and fizzing out of the opening, through the coffee, and into your 4-serving cup. After coffee, steam will start coming out with a hissing sound. At this point you can turn the mashine off. Unless...
- Unless you want to make foamed milk. While the coffee is brewing, you may also choose to use the the milk foamer conveniently attached to the machine's side. This foamer is directly attached to water gas chamber, so you might also use it to let excess pressure out, once you are done (or not, because all the steam still comes out from the opening of the handle with the metal filter) Best foam, of course, is made out of skim milk.
- Don't forget to turn off the machine! Although I have left it on for 3 hours at one time - surprisingly, it did not melt.
- Machine requires cleaning once a month with vinegar-ed water to get rid of hard deposits that may have formed after water inside has evaporated.
The 4-serving cup is conveniently placed onto a tray with holes. Beneath the tray is a concave space for any spills to congregate in - this makes cleaning much easier. Although I have found that with the black color it is sometimes hard to see where you might have spilled coffee onto the machine. The cup itself is marked at 1-cup, 2-cup, 3-cup, and 4-cup volumes. Note that this is espresso volumes, not regular cups. One such marking corresponds to about 70ml or almost 1/4 of regular cup. Espresso is generally stronger than coffee, and can be made in smaller quantities. But with decaf coffee, I usually make whole 4-cups and dilute it a bit with water and milk. It gives coffee more intense aroma. The metal filter on the inside is also marked with 2-cup and 4-cup marks, so you know how much ground coffee to put into it. Note that you cannot pour more than the indicated volumes of coffee. Neither put in more than 4-servings of water.
Still get coffee that tastes just horrible? Turn away from your machine for answers and evaluate the quality and freshness of the grains you use. The coffee quality definitely matters. Try a variety of coffees to pick out the best one. Try buying coffee in beans and grinding it yourself for maximum freshness and flavor. Since coffee is so hygroscopic, it will basically suck out droplets of H2O out of air. Thus do not let freshly ground coffee stand open - it will start tasting terrible). Try to use up ground coffee within a month. Good practice is to buy small amounts of coffee every once in a while. When buying, remember that arabica sorts of coffee are better quality than robusta ones.
UPDATE: from October'03 to January'04. Machine is still in great working condition. I have had absolutely no problems with it.
2ND UPDATE: June'04. I have finally ventured to buy one of those $14/lb coffees at Whole Foods. To my surprise, the machine has produced about 1/2 inch of white foam layer called "crema" off that coffee. So it wasn't the machine, it was the coffee I made - that mattered. Some people consider crema as a true quality of good coffee, though it is not the sole factor.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
djork
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Location: south CA, USA
Reviews written: 19
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
College student in sciences; traveled some; love coffee, cats, plants, trips, music, and the net
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