De'Longhi Bar 14 Café Treviso espresso cappuccino maker
from Delonghi
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Customer Rating: 
Category: Kitchen & Home
Model No: BAR14
Release Date: 15/10/2003
Minimum Age to Play: 16 years
Availability: dispatched within 1 to 2 months
Index: Kitchen & Housewares
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Kitchen Shopper Price: £42.08
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better than average Sent: 14 November 2008
I bought this from amazon this week arrived in 2 days free delivery and also got the grinder free, BARGAIN!!!!. Made latte first day and every day since and I am please with the results.
Upside - easy to use - follow easy instructions
Downside - you have to hold onto the cups or they shake and could fall off the machine - but as it is so cheap it doesnt take much to hold on to the cups for 30 seconds.
I would reccomend this if you want to make your own fresh coffee drinks and cannot afford the more expensive machines as it makes perfect drinks
Excellent!  Sent: 10 November 2008
I am a fully trained barista and have been for 3 years so deal with top of the range industrial machines all the time. For a domestic machine this is the best i have had or used! Steam pressure is great all the time and the espresso runs through great with lovely crema. It doesnt take long in comparison to others to fully heat up!I have had no problems with it in the year i have had it. Yes its a bit noisey when actually making the espresso but that is only between 20 and 30 seconds and so is every domestic machine.I would recommend this machine to anybody! there are cheaper ones out there but this is worth the extra money as i have had two other cheaper ones that did not satisfy me at all!
Punished for Two years and Four Months Sent: 04 November 2008
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.
A great first machine - Tips for those who are unsure Sent: 06 August 2008
For all of you who are unsure if this is a suitable machine and have read the negative reviews posted here let me assure you that this is a GREAT starting machine.
Having read all the negative reports I can safely say that their issues can all be avoided by, like all tools, learning how to use it properly.
It makes great coffee in about 5 minutes. Yes the machine's heat up mechanism takes 30 minutes but my making a 'blank' coffeeless shot (or two) first this heats up the whole machine faster and better as well as the cups and makes for a better and HOT coffee.
Crema is acheivable, even by an amateur, I managed within a week of use! The steamer makes hot and firm froth in no time.
The Key is to do the 'blank shots', tamp the coffee, use good ingredients and experiment with what you like best!
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Associated kitchen categories: Espresso & Cappuccino Machines Small Appliances, Cappuccino Machine, coffee tea espresso, Espresso, Coffee |
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