De'Longhi EC330S Pumped Espresso Maker, 15 Bar
from Delonghi
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Customer Rating: 
Category: Kitchen & Home
Model No: EC330S
Availability: dispatched within 24 hours
Index: Kitchen & Housewares
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Kitchen Shopper Price: £88.09
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Excellent budget espresso machine  Sent: 04 January 2009
I read a lot of good and bad reviews before deciding to purchase this product and I'm glad I bought it. You don't have to be a barista to get excellent crema, it isn't very noisy (the pump works with a purring hum) and I haven't experienced the vibration other users have described. The milk frother works well and consistently. It heats very quickly and produces lots of very hot water and steam, and it makes great coffee. It's simple to use and easy to keep clean, and the parts come apart for cleaning and go back together without any struggling.
Being new to espresso makers, I just follow the instructions for warming the machine up. Once it's reached temperature pour one or two cups through the filter before you put any coffee in and use this to warm your cup. This ensures it's hot enough to bring out the best from your coffee. Limit the pour to espresso measures (it won't automatically stop pouring and the coffee will therefore get weaker and weaker if you're trying to fill a mug). Always flush steam through the milk frother after use and wash it thoroughly to prevent the holes clogging. I use filtered water and empty the reservoir after use, using fresh water each time. The reservoir had quite a strong plastic smell when new and I'm sure it wouldn't improve the taste!
It is important to follow the maintenance routine (cleaning and descaling) for it to keep working well, but this is true of any appliance.
The main body of the machine is silver-coloured plastic, only the parts that matter are stainless steel. Overall it's a handsome machine which doesn't take up much space and is the best value for money product I've found. And if you don't want to mess around with ground coffee, it takes generic pods (ESE and Illy).
Recommended by Which magazine Sent: 01 November 2008
I brought this item from Argos (sorry Amazon!). I've used numerous espresso makers before, ranging from Krup machines costing over a thousand pounds to small Bialetti stove makers.
Quite simply this is not "the best ever" espresso maker I've used. But it is "the best for under £200"! If you dont believe me simply go to Which magazine online pay the £1 for the 30 day trial offer and look up the article in which they get the head buyer from Whittards to test these cheaper machines. Infact this machine is so good, its actually better than its more expensive bigger brother, the EC710, which makes rubbish espressos. Simply put, the other people who say this machine is crap are infact saying "I know more about decent machinary design than the worlds most prestigious consumer magazine, a magazine with more readers than any other consumer group! Not only that, I know more about coffee than the head honcho of one of the most exclusive coffee manaufacturers in the world!". But hey, if you're happy to believe those reviewers, who am I too call you a fool?
The good points:
1) Great tasting cofee.
2) Decent crema thats doesn't instantly disappear.
3) Relatively small footprint
4) Pretty looking machine
5) Takes ground coffee as well as ESE pods
The bad points:
1) Its not fully automated like the one grand machine we have in the office. With that machine you just put one scoop of ground coffee in the top and press a single button. The machine automatically preheats itself, tampers the granules into the right density, makes the coffee to the right volume and then cleans up after itself! Good luck trying to find something similar for less than £600!!
2) You need basic motor-neuron ability to use this machine, otherwise known as skill. You might screw up the first few cups, but dont be dishearted, I too messed up and I've used semi-automatic machines before.
3) It requires preheating for a decent cup. You dont actually +need+ to preheat the machine (letting some hot water run through it before making a cup), in the same way as you dont actually +need+ a decent cup of coffee. The machine still works without preheating, its just that the coffee tastes weaker and the crema isn't as thick.
4) It takes a bit of time to heat up before you can use it. But this isn't wasted time, you can be getting on with other things, like putting the grounds into the filter basket and tampering it down.
5) It wont clean up after itself >:( I have to say this is quite annoying. Cleaning up means getting a jay cloth and removing all the stuck ground bits from the machine (more hygenic than anything else), but it's still annoying. But unfortunately you're not going to find a self-cleaning espresso machine for anything close to this price, so live with it and keep that jay cloth handy!
6) Cup warmer is rubbish, but then again they all are, even on the expensive machines! Thats why you dont waste the hot water from the preheat, but use it to heat up your cup!
7) It make a lot of noise! Yes that is very true! There is no getting away from it, its noisy compared to other machines in the <£200 market.
8) The cup might vibrate when the machine is operating. This too, is very true! You'll have to resort to the motor-neuron skills you developed earlier.
9) Its not 100% made of steel, some sections are plastic and made to look like metal, but its still a very pretty looking machine!
10) It wont take big cups. But then again, I've never seen any espresso maker that does!! But thats why they're called frikkin' ESPRESSO makers and not coffee makers /percolators!!!! If you dont know what an espresso is then you should NOT be buying this machine! Let me repeat that: This is NOT A COFFEE MACHINE! Its for making 30ml shots of a highly caffeinated beverage as opposed to cup sized amounts of a weaker caffeinated drink. If you want a coffee machine/percolator then look out for something that comes with a kettle. Percolators have their uses, I'm not a snob, but this is not a percolator, mmm'kay?
Final words
Although there are many more bad points than good, its worth noting that you wont find a better machine in this price bracket! If you want a decent espresso and are willing to put the time into learning how to make one, then this is the machine for you. If you want to just put a scoop of ground coffee into the top of a machine a press a single button. Then get a better paid job!
Great coffee Sent: 03 October 2008
Just got the DeLonghi EC330S Espresso Maker today. Just followed the instructions (very simple)and made 2 superb lattes, just like that! Espresso is creamy and rich. The milk frother is exellent. This machine puts the high street coffee shops to shame. Its the third coffe maker I have had but its the best by a long way. It is a bit loud and vibrates slightly when the pump starts, but its well built and easy to clean.
If it is reliable....it will be the perfect home coffee maker.
Delonghi EC330S Espresso Machine  Sent: 20 August 2008
I bought this espresso machine 2 weeks ago from Argos ( I had some nectar points to use up) sorry Amazon. After opening the box and placing it on my kitchen work top, i was pleasently surprised by its solid looking build and attractive looks, it didn't look out of place in my modern kitchen. So I read the instructions and followed the primming of the pump and after a few mintues was ready to brew my first coffee. Now I enjoy my coffee and I do know how to make a damn good espresso using the traditional stove top moka style, I even order my coffee beans which are roasted to order, so I know my coffee. When I bought this machine I thought I was going to get a more superiror tasting coffee, but unfortunatley this is farther from the truth. For a start the pump is very noisy, but I would have put up with that if it resulted in a great tasting espresso, but the noise was acompanied by a vibration which when the espresso cups where in place began to move around for the coffee to go all over the drip tray. So I had to hold the cups while the coffee brew dripped out into them, then came the taste test. Well I have to be honest, the Bialetti stove top moka gave me the most flavorsome coffee, the delonghi I'm sorry to say is not worth the money, the time it takes to prepare for coffee is alot longer than before and then the end result is not as good as the moka. So if you want a coffee machine just to look good in your kitchen then buy it, but if you want great tasting coffee on a budget go for a Bialetti moka you cant go wrong.
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Associated kitchen categories: All Coffee Tea & Espresso Small Appliances, Espresso Machine, coffee tea expresso, Pump Espresso, Cappuccino Maker |
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