Hot Products > Kitchen > Coffee, Tea & Espresso

De'Longhi Bar 14 Café Treviso espresso cappuccino maker

• 15 Bar Pressure
• Swivel Steam Pipe
• 1 Litre Water reservoir
• Filter Storage Compartment
• Removable Drip Tray

Punished for Two years and Four Months, 2008-11-04
I surprise myself by writing a glowing review on the day the thing has broken.

I had only ever thought of it as my 'great new espresso machine'. Neither had I realized the time that had gone by.


Usage Statistics and Inadvertent Destruct-Testing

I have been making an average of 11 double espressos per week. Always when I have been tired and clumsy.
I have forgotten to top up the reservoir at least once every six weeks. and so have been rushing to give load back to a pump that was screaming as it raced with nothing but thin air.
3 days out of seven I have forgotten to turn it off and it has remained on for up to 8 hours.

It has worked perfectly until today when the pump just quietly hummed and only a few drops dribbled out.


Quality of Output and tips for use.

I achieved crema four days out of seven and have still not worked out what I need to do to make it predictable. This is a skills rather than hardware issue but I mention it for competeness' sake.

I achieve good coffee every day ... except when I do not 'pre-charge'. This has been mentioned before and I will reiterate: Switch on and wait until red light comes on. Do a 'blank' espresso ... filter bowl attached and pouring into the cup UNTIL the red light goes off. Everything gets fully warmed and the water is primed. Remove filter bowl and full with coffee. Tamp down. By this time the red light has gone on and you are ready to reapply filter bowl and pour your espresso.

I confirm that extra fine-ground coffee must be used or you are guaranteed RUBBISH. I have always used Lavazzaa. I once had nothing except medium-ground filter-coffee and in desperation tried it. The result was watery ... insipid, tasteless slop.

The milk frother is stable and effective. The frothing widget on the end of the pipe does its job. My previous three Espresso machines had standard pipe which, though effective, required some concentration and coordination. This one heats the milk quickly when dipped low and creates masses of thick froth when dipped shallowly. I use Skimmed Milk straight out of the fridge. I used to use semi-skimmed until one day I accidentally got skimmed and found it made a stiffer and thicker foam.

Some reviewers have mentioned the plastic reservoir imparted a slight taste to the coffee and recommend rinsing and refilling it often. I had not noticed this problem ... could it be because I was using it daily and thus my natural frequency of topping up bypassed this issue?


NEWS FLASH: It is working again. I remembered I had a sachet of liquid descaler and decided to apply a 'farewell' attempt before finishing this review and ordering a replacement.
Here follows a VERBOSE account of the descaling process I used including unexpected twists and surprises:

Since the 'evidence of breakage' was that the pump motor was hardly making any sound except a tiny hum, and only mini-dribbles of water were coming out, I emptied the respire and put the sachet and minimum about of extra water to top up to just above the opening of the intake tube which hangs just above the bottom. This tiny amount of concentrated descaler sucked up very slowly and due to the heat of the boiler, got into the pump mechanism and proceeded to froth and vaporize ... forcing through and creating a massive pour. Having achieved initial 'movement' I added more water to the reservoir and poured what had come out .. back in again. I kept this running cycle of pour, pour back into reservoir and repeat .. leaving to cool down a bit and cycle again for about half an hour, during which time the action became progressively easier.

I then went into rinsing procedure ... cycling fresh water through the system until it ran clear. I then put the steam switch on and opened the steam valve until that ran even steam .. no splats or blips.

THEN Surprise ... I went for a final normal rinse though the coffee pouring part of the system and it was again running dark brown and sedimented. So .. back to running clear and ..... Another Steam heat and opening of steam valve as above and back to normal operation with more brown water and sediment. Eventually that also ran constantly clear.


After all that I returned to this review to record the process and then made a test expresso. Crema .. yes. And tastes as good as before it broke.

Well .. I do hope this has been useful to you. I will come back in a couple of months to report the on the stability of its 'mended' condition.

La Cafetiere La Chocolatiere Hot Chocolate Make 1litre

Fantastically Frothy!, 2008-12-22
I've owned this for about 4 years. I love it. It makes fantastically frothy coffee and hot chocolate (just add hot milk to your coffee or real chocolate and pump up and down a few times). It is simple to use and turns an ordninary cup of coffee/chocolate into something really special. It cleans really well, and despite its title, I also use it as an ordinary cafetiere with filter coffee. Not forgetting how funky it looks on the shelf- this is definately not for storing away in the cupboard out of sight!

Steam Espresso and Cappuccino Coffee Machine With Temperature Indicator

• UKayed official product sold by internet-uk-shop ONLY
• 3 way select knob for espresso, steam and on/off
• Safety valve cap;Perfect for making espresso, cappucino, latte, mocha, hot chocolate and more
• Removable drip tray;Aluminium alloy cast boiler
• This product comes with the UKayed safe buy guarantee

Wahl James Martin Coffee Maker, Silver / Black

• "Wake up" to coffee function.
• 1.5ltr/12cup capacity. Removable dishwasher safe filter and serving jug.
• Anti drip valve. Water level gauge.
• LCD timer. FREE Frothee Maker

Unimpresserd, 2008-01-20
If this hadn't been a gift, it would have gone back. The lid of the machine is "floppy", the lid of the flask falls open when the coffee's poured and it's not easy to put the water in.

The temperature does appear spot-on however and, if you put a paper filter into the permanent plastic one, there's no problem with taint.

Braun Tassimo replacement cleaning disc

• Spare/replacement braun tassimo cleaning disc
• It is the small clear plastic disc that is used for cleaning your Tassimo machine.
• This is for a spare/replacement disc incase yours has become lost or you just want a spare one on hand.

Siemens Nespresso TK30 Automatic Coffee Maker (Aluminium)

Glen Candlish, 2007-12-25
Well,............for a long,long,time now i have been looking for a machine that could make "Starbucks" quality espresso's quickly, relatively cheaply, with no mess. That machine is now here.It is solidly built,pretty small,and not really that noisy at all.I got it for Christmas, and it was so good that by 4 o'clock I had drank 9 of the 12 free capsules that came with it. The coffee is as strong as you will ever need,I would know,I like it like treacle.It is also a breeze to adjust the amount that comes out for each of the preset button pushes.
The only problem is not really a problem. The capsules can only be bought online,which is a piece of piss really,or in a fancy shop in London Town.They are 23p each, compared to about 19p for the tassimo, senseo, dolce gusto etc. I don't think anyone will ever try all 4 of the types for a full comparison, but why does Nestle make 2 of these . Obviously one is an upmarket product methinks.If all one is after is a top notch hot Espresso in 15 second's look no further.

Aerolatte Chocolate Shaker

Morphy Richards Café Rico Combi Coffee Maker

great coffee maker and good price , 2008-11-08
Bought this on a whim as hubby and i love coffee and we have found it to be great ...coffee is perfect temperature not scalding hot and you can really taste the flavours ...the milk warmer does take a bit of time but as long as you remember to put it on first this isnt a problem ...its quick easy to clean stylish in desgn and great for the price would highly recco

We love it ..

Aerolatte Satin Edition

Great frother, 2008-10-11
Why spend a fortune on a cappuccino machine when you can get one of these for a few pounds? It makes great frothy milk which lasts for quite a long time, even when you sprinkle chocolate on it (froth made with my old machine collapsed when I sprinkled it with chocolate).

Braun KF550 Aroma Passion Filter Coffee maker

Excellent coffee maker, 2007-10-02
I have bought numerous filter coffee makers in the past, from the very cheap to very expensive, and the jug on the vast majority is always a disaster. You always seem to need to mop up the worktop as well as the cup because they always drip, no matter how carefully and slowly you pour the coffee, but the Braun KF550 Aroma Passion Filter Coffee maker is superb. It pours perfectly on every occasion and keeps the remaining coffee very hot. Highly recommended.