Erika Suzuki

Since last last year I decided to make my own espresso based coffees.

So I bought this Swift Espresso Cappuccino maker from Amazon. I chose this since this is the cheapest I’ve seen and it’s got good reviews and the other thing is, I’m just a beginner.

PROs

• A good powerful one-hole steam wand. It makes good quality microfroam.
• Lightweight and small.

CONs

• Small water tank
• Single walled steam wand. Burnt milk is hard to remove.
• Super fast brewing. The espresso tasted like drip coffee no matter how coarse or fine the grind is. It produces no crema at all.
• No cup warmer.

The second one is not mine. It belongs to a friend but she lets me use it. It’s a Briel First Class. It was hard to use at first because it had no manual and I don’t know how to dose it. Somehow, I figured it out soon after .

PROs

• A medium water tank.
• It makes rich crema.
• Compact size.

CONs

• Short and hard to clean nozzle.
• Unsealed water tank. Hard to reach because it’s located at the back.
• small drip tray

The third one, also from Amazon, Delonghi ECM300J-E. It’s featured at Starbucks Japan website and retail stores so it got my interest.

PROs

• A cup warmer.
• Wide and easy to clean drip tray.
• Supports coffee pods.
• A good and easy to refill water tank.

CONs

• Group head is super tight. I don’t know if it’s just my machine.
• It’s not so good on producing rich crema. I’m having a hard time adjusting the grinds for it. But it’s nice with coffee pods.
• Not so good steam wand. It’s just so hard to make microfoams with it.

Each one has it’s specialty. Sometimes when I make coffee, I use two machines . Right now I plan to try a semi-automatic Rancilio Silvia LE 2010 or just the Rancilio Silvia V3. Hope I get it next month.