Most helpful client reviews
247 of 249 humans found the following review helpful.
Great Machine – positives and negatives
By N.H.
I purchased this machine at a Kohl’s for roughly $220. I think it’s of an special quality for the price.
Positives: #1 Well built (it’s in truth rather heavy)
#2 easy to use, filters concede for a single or double shot to be made – also comes with a pod filter but I’ve never employed it
#3 big water reservoir that has permitted me to make 4 or 5 espressos and steam milk too
#4 comes with a DVD that teaches you how to use it (much requiring little effort than reading the booklet) – this is in particular helpeful if you’re new at making your own drinks
#5 easy to clean
#6 has a warming plate on top (good if you need to make more than one double shot cups or two single shot cups
#7 espresso has a good taste (although I think this has as much to do with the quality of the coffee you’re using) The machine genuinely does invent a good amount of crema for the price you pay
#8 Stainless steel frothing picture is just the right size for one latte or two cappucinos
#9 15 bar pump allows for more than sufficient pressure and for outstanding taste.
#10 has a feature that allows you to get plain old hot water too if someone isn’t fascinated in the espresso and wants tea/cocoa/whatever
Negatives: #1 the steam nozzle is too long – you kind of have to tilt the pitcher to get the nozzle out – this isn’t a problem so long as you know so you may use less milk or you may place the machine so the nozzle may be used on a non-countered space. The nozzle has a good range of motion so this does aid counteract.
#2 the distance amid the portafilter (where the coffee comes out) and the drip tray is not very tall – I’ve found that I have to use a littler cup to brew and then dump it into a more spectacular cup if I’m going to make a latte and want to fit in a decent amount of frothed milk.
#3 you have to be genuinely careful to not overtamp your grounds or you’ll end out with coffee everyplace – this machine is a little pickier than I expected (and pickier than the in truth cheap machine this replaced). But, with that said, the taste is 100x better. You may catch it if you overtamp too so long as you almost monitor and make sure the water is coming out of the portafilter at a decent rate. If you overtamp, scarcely anything drips out. After a while you figure out how much is too much.
#4 – my greatest complaint, and this one is rather dangerous – There’s not a great way of knowing that pressure has been freed – this means that once your espresso is made and you’re ready to clean out the coffee grounds you have to be actually genuinely careful or it’ll explode the hot coffee grinds all over you and your kitchen. I’ve been seriously burned a couple of times. It might not be a problem if you’re applied to espresso machines (I wasn’t when I basi purchased this one) or you learn to be super extra careful always.
80 of 82 persons found the following review helpful.
Easy, Yummy, Great Design
By Spiralina
We had a Krups combo coffee pot/espresso machine and after assorted espresso calamities in a row, I gave up and got this Cuisinart. So far it has been great! It seems that there applied to be only basic espresso makers or exceedingly highpriced ones on the market, with not one thing in between. But the Cuisinart satisfies the coffee connoisseur on a budget by making veritably fantasti espresso and more.
One of my foilings with our last model was the “perfect froth” tip, which was disastrous to say the least. I just need a basic steam wand and I may take it from there, and the Cuisinart fits the bill – it steamed and frothed my milk without apparent effort and quickly. Just be careful to use less milk than you might think, because the volume doubles in no time. I’ll in all probability switch to a more spectacular pitcher than the one that comes with the Cuisinart, even though it’s fine to begin out.
A couple tips to get started: the instructions say the heating light ought to come on right away, but it didn’t for me until I swopped the little knob to the droplet icon (as opposed to the middle neutral position). I figured this out by watching the video, which I commend as the instruction manual is beauteous bare. It’s also good to see how much pressure one will have to use to tamp the grounds.
The only negative thing I may say is that the warming tray doesn’t seem to get very warm, but I do like being competent to store my cups on top anyway (more space in the cabinets now, plus a sure café aesthetic is always nice), so I don’t mind. Positives are that it’s fast, it’s quiet, everything is sturdy and well designed (and clicks or locks solidly in place so you recognise things are seated correctly), and the espresso is veritably café quality – an enormous divergence from the more basic espresso machines on the market.
UPDATE: Since this review I have had a heap of experiences with clogging. Cuisinart client service was exclusively unhelpful, but here’s what I do to remedy the situation:
1. As soon as you observe espresso isn’t coming out, turn off the machine, take off the basket (you may have to wait for the pressure to subside), rinse it out well, and fill the machine with water.
2. Scrub the undersurface of the metal grid that the filter basket attaches to with a damp cloth.
3. Reattach just the basket with no filter. Heat water and run that through to get any clogs in the upper percentage of the machine. I fill up a milk pitcher. Then turn the huge black dial to neutral, add the empty filter to the basket, and repeat. As long as water starts running through that ok it must be all right. I hope it works for you!
98 of 105 persons found the following review helpful.
Great Coffee, but Have a Backup Plan Too!
By Rasmus Rasmussen
I like my coffee. In fact, I freely confess to being a coffee addict. And before I say anything else, let me say that this machine makes great coffee. With the right beans and a bit of practice, you may beat the taste of any coffee shop with this.
That said, I am glad, I still have my french press, because once in a while this machine decides to be difficult. It normally starts if you tamp your coffee too hard. The coffee maker is then unable to pass water through and ceases up completely. Make sure you watch what you are doing, so you may stop it from attempting if necessary. Now, the real problem with this is, that you will have a very hard time removing the basket, as long as there is still pressure inside. It takes someplace amidst 5-10 minutes at least, before the pressure has gone down enough, that you may pry the basket off (watch for exploding coffeegrounds, if you didn’t wait long enough).
To make matters worse, the machine seems to have a hard time recovering after an incident such as this. It seems to get even pickier, with what it will accept, and it will be posing no difficulty to resort to the backup plan, and let the espresso machine recover.
I would rate the EM-100 a 5/5, if it weren’t for this problem. I hardly employ any strength, when I tamp my coffee, and I still run into trouble from time to time. In fact, the firstborn one I had got so picky, that I took it back to the store and counterchanged it.
To minimize my risk, I take great care to clean each bit of the coffee maker after each use. If you may live with this issue, the coffee that comes out of this machine genuinely is to die for.
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