Solved: Getting a Decent Cappuccino

[RJM62]

It's always good to see how many coffee lovers there are here.

By the way, my machine is used daily and is holding up just fine. I'd say I certainly have gotten my money's worth out of it. The most important maintenance item, other than ordinary cleaning, is to decalcify it on a regular basis.

-Rich

 

[Alexb2000]

I bought a Miele in about 2005, I still have it. It works fairly well, requires some cleaning, maintenance, and the steamer never really put out enough volume to really work well. The coffee brew is good, certainly better than most machines.

I paid about $3K for it, which seems high until you consider a $10 a day habit at Starbucks. Then it seems like the bargain of the century and I didn't miss waiting in line everyday either.

The problem with the Miele or machines like them is that the beans are loaded in a hopper and that means for all practical purposes that whatever bean is in the machine is what everyone has to drink.

This is what lead me to buy a K-Cup Green Mountain machine recently. I love it because there isn't any waste or cleanup. Its fast. All the picky people can have whatever they want, coffee, decaf, tea, chocolate, whatever, much less bitching. Especially from that friend that brings their own bag of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee to your house, thinks its gold, doesn't want to share, is concerned about cross contamination with lesser coffees, can make one cup in a Green Mountain machine, done.

Would I like another newer cappuccino machine? Sure, I'll probably pick up the one the OP recommended and use it to augment my Green Mountain machine.

 

[Armageddon Aviator]

I see them advertised here in the US all the time. They Look Convenient but I drink too much coffee to pay $1 per cup for those plugs. If I am going to have an investment in a machine to make great coffee I should be able to use any whole bean coffee I like and which works out to about 15-20 cents per coffee.

Secondly, I have some concerns about running 190 d F water through a plastic cup. With BPA and plasticizes leaching into foods and waters I just prefer avoid plastic food delivery systems. I avoided the whole Green Mountain coffees for the same two reasons. I guess I would tolerate one in a hotel occasionally but that is about the extent that I would use them.

Still I can see the attraction for some. They are pretty and simple and you say good.

We pay around 50 cents per capsule - it's probably the ONLY item that is actually cheaper here...

The capsules are made of aluminum - not plastic ( Indeed, the combination of hot water and plastic would be a very bad idea...)

At first I was skeptical about the tiny Nespresso machines...can such a toy make decent Espresso ?
But many of my friends bought them and I had to admit that the coffee was excellent.

One of my neighbors purchased a very fancy Italian espresso machine some time ago - he paid a small fortune for it.
But IMHO my little Nespresso makes a much better coffee

I totally agree with what's been said by the other coffee lovers:

1. Tap water and chlorine will ruin any coffee...( horrible taste )

2. Decaf is NOT coffee as far as I'm concerned...

 

[RJM62]

Well, the machine gave up the ghost. No worries, though. I brought it back to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and walked out with two new machines -- plus a penny change!

Gotta' love BB&B.

-Rich

 

[DaleB]

Funny you should mention that.

A year or so ago, our local Sam's Club had a bunch of the same model De Longhi machines we have (ESAM3300) for a pretty good price. I told my wife they wouldn't sell, and we'd pick one up on clearance. And we did -- for $200. Woo-hoo! Our old one was leaking again, so we switched to the new one and kept the old one in the box.

Fast forward to January... one morning the grinder self destructs. No sweat. One phone call to De Longhi, they send a FedEx box, we ship it off to a shop in Chicago. We pull the old one out and use it, leaks and all. And when I call the shop, I ask how much they will charge to overhaul our first one once the second comes back to us -- it's pretty reasonable.

I keep threatening to sell one of the machines. The prospect of living without one working, though, it pretty tough to accept. You get spoiled in a big hurry with these things.

 

[spiderweb]

It is a great machine.

One of the very few things I don't like about living in the boonies is the difficulty in obtaining a decent cup of cappuccino. When I lived in the city, there was a late-night cappuccino bar within walking distance. Here, not so much.

Gas station cappuccino is, of course, basically undrinkable (aside from being too sugary for my DM-II). The the nearest real cappuccino bar I know of is about 37 miles away, but they close at 9:00 p.m., and a 74-mile round trip for a cappuccino is a bit excessive.

There's a pizzeria about 11 miles away that has passable cappuccino (and will even sweeten it with Stevia as long as I bring it with me); but again, like everything else around here, they close early. So if I want a late-night cappuccino while burning the midnight oil updating a server or banging away at some site or another, I'm out of luck.

Of course, cappuccino machines are easy enough to get, but the problem is that I'm your basic tightwad thrifty person.

Yesterday, I finally broke down. I'd been lusting in my heart for the DeLonghi BCO330T combination machine for months because of the highly positive reviews and my brother's recommendation; and in a moment of weakness, I tracked one down at a store a bit over 50 miles away, and rushed out to buy it before the temptation passed.

I'm glad to report that the machine exceeded my expectations. After only minimal reading of the manual, I was able to produce an excellent cappuccino last night on my first try, as well as a wonderful half-pot of drip coffee this morning.

Life is good.

-Rich

 

[RJM62]

It got a lot of use. I drink a lot of coffee, as do my guests. I probably could have fixed it, but BB&B makes returning / exchanging things so easy that it's hard to not take them up on it. They're a good outfit.

-Rich