De'Longhi EC330S 15-Bar Pump Espresso Maker

I decided to buy an Espresso machine after a friend at work bought one. I'm not an Espresso drinker but I love Cappuccino. I bought a £40 machine but found that the milk device was not a proper Pannarello system i.e. steam blowing through a pipe, but rather a heated plate with a daft spinning blade in the tube. Also the other parts seemed cheap. All my fault, I should have done some more research. I returned that item and bought the DeLonghi EC330. Now this is much more like it. Heavy and mostly stainless steel. The parts are much better quality and construction and the instructions are far more thorough. The whole thing is verging on the professional (from the point of view of a coffee novice anyway!)
Negatives - as listed below, the machine is quite noisey but I like that as it gives it a coffee shop atmosphere! The gap for the cups is quite small which is ok for espresso but you need low wide cups for Cappuccino. The steam spout is quite low so you need a small jug or have to place the machine at the edge of your work surface to get under it.
Positives - Clear and thorough instructions, professional quality feel to all the parts, easy to use (especially the included Illy pods). Makes lovely coffee and the milk steamer is so easy to use.
This machine looks impressive and gives great results and it feels like the real deal - don't be fooled by the cheaper imitations.

I got this for Christmas and have used it every day since. The first espresso and cappuccino I made were well nigh perfect. Then I got complacent and started to make mistakes which resulted in many disasters before I learned to follow the instructions to the letter and now both espressos and cappuccinos are consistently good and getting better all the time.

I chose this model (which my wife then bought me) due to it being top of the list of Best Buys in the recent Which? report which has been mentioned by another reviewer. I certainly do not regret the choice - espressos have a good stable crema and the frother works like a dream quickly heating the milk and producing lots of very stable froth. Sure the pump is a little noisy but so what as it's only on for a few seconds. The vibration is certainly there but not enough to to move either espresso or cappuccino cups as others have found. Also yes, the stainless parts of the machine do mark quite easily but a quick wipe with a damp cloth soon sort that out.

The manual is a little vague in places, especially for using pods and also refitting the steam nozzle after cleaning. When using pods it's essential that the paper border surrounding the pod is away from the filter seal - if not the filter holder will leak. When refitting the steam nozzle the offset portion of the nozzle should be toward the front or the nozzle shroud cannot be reseated properly. Despite these minor shortcomings I give this very good value machine 5 stars with no hesitation.

Having now used this machine for over 6 months I can still say it makes superb coffee but one niggle has become apparent which is a little annoying. When preparing frothed milk for only one (large) cappuccino it takes at least 2 if not 3 steam cycles to adequately heat up the milk in the frothing jug. In such a compact, and inexpensive, espresso machine you can't really expect a huge steam reservoir but a slightly larger steam capacity would have been appreciated. Still 5 stars though.

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).