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68 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good espresso at a price; not so great for cappuccino, 4 July 2009
This review is from: De'Longhi Magnifica ESAM4200 Bean To Cup Espresso/Cappuccino Maker, 15 Bar (Silver) (Kitchen & Home)
I bought the Delonghi ESAM 4200S (at a sale price) to replace a 5-year old manual Coffee Gaggia model which cost around £250 originally. The Gaggia (in conjunction with a Krups burr grinder) made great espresso and cappuccino, but was a little temperamental in operation and - having a single boiler for both espresso and steam - making cappuccino was a somewhat time-consuming process.
A number of my friends have capsule machines like the Tassimo, but I have personally never found the results to be as good as a manual espresso machine and didn't really consider this as an option.
I must confess to being something of a gadget freak, but had serious reservations about the quality and reliability of a domestic bean-to-cup machine. On the whole I'm pleasantly surprised at the quality and ease-of-use of the Delonghi. As an espresso machine it certainly lives up to its promise and is much more convenient than the manual Gaggia or - for that matter - a capsule machine. As a cappuccino maker it's somewhat less impressive.
Having owned it for a few months now, this is how the pros and cons stack up for me:
Pros:
* Makes consistently good espresso quickly and cleanly.
* Ready from power-on in about a minute (though milk frothing takes longer).
* Good crema for a domestic coffee maker (though nowhere near as good as a commercial machine).
* Good temperature (I find the coffee from capsule machines is invariably lukewarm).
* Intuitive design and operation.
* Surprisingly quiet in use after the initial rinsing and pre-heating cycle - my previous Coffee Gaggia and Krups burr grinder were a lot noisier.
* Accurate burr grinding - easy to adjust, though default setting worked fine for me.
* Accurate dosing (quantity) and strength, very easily controlled.
* Good coffee bean capacity - takes almost a whole 227g bag.
* Can also use ground coffee but only one spoonful at a time - intended for use where one of a large party takes decaffeinated, for example.
* Very easy to clean - drip tray and coffee grounds caddy slide out in one piece and can be emptied and rinsed very quickly. The grounds end up as solid pucks and there's very little mess. Cleaning the infuser is a little more involved but this only needs to be done once a month or so.
* Has a built-in, user-calibrated de-scaling mechanism which is useful for hard water areas.
Cons:
* Very expensive, though probably works out more cost-effective than a capsule machine in the medium term. I worked out at that, relative to a Tassimo capsule machine costing £90, and drinking 4 espressos a day, the Delonghi would pay for itself after 2 years - assuming of course it proves to be reliable.
* Takes around 3-4 minutes to return to brewing temperature after frothing milk, despite ostensibly having a dedicated steam boiler. Making several cappuccinos in a row would take a long time. The advertised `double boiler' system is rather oversold (though I've found this to be equally true of other domestic `twin-boiler' systems).
* Milk frothing not as effective as (for example) mid-range manual Gaggia machines - works best with a relatively small quantity of fresh, cold semi-skimmed milk.
* Frothing wand has a very short reach, so slightly awkward to get a larger jug under it.
* All-plastic construction; `chrome' knobs look a bit tacky up close, though machine feels fairly robust.
* Bulky and heavy - takes up fair amount of worktop space.
* Water reservoir needs to be removed for filling (though removal is very easy) - cannot be topped up in situ.
* Goes through brief but noisy rinsing and pre-heat cycle on power-on (though hot rinsing water can conveniently be used to warm cup).
* Not very `green' - e.g. cup warming tray takes a while to warm up but remains very hot (almost too hot to touch) for almost half an hour after the machine is turned off, representing a considerable waste of energy. Also seems to draw some power from the mains even when turned off (possibly to keep the pump primed?).
* I still have concerns about long term reliability - there are a lot of moving parts here - but only time will tell.
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69 of 70 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Is this thing reliable?, 15 July 2009
This review is from: De'Longhi Magnifica ESAM4200 Bean To Cup Espresso/Cappuccino Maker, 15 Bar (Silver) (Kitchen & Home)
I don't often write reviews, but this machine deserves every good word said about it. I have owned one for 3.5 years now, and it's still going strong. So if reliability is what has you sitting on the fence, jump off and buy one. On to the details.
We bought 3 of these in Germany; one as a wedding gift, one for us, and one for my office at work. Unfortunately, when I moved to the UK, I lost the one in the office (office personnel had "joint" purchased it). The one that was a wedding gift is used every day and is still running fine. The office one was used EXTENSIVELY and was still working at the 1.5 year point when I bid a tearful farewell to it. The one in my home... wow. I'm an espresso nut, having lived in Italy for four years. I work that thing to the bone; it has made at least 5 espressos ~every~ single day of those three years that I was home and is still running strong. The only "bad" cup of coffee that I've had from this thing is when I bought low-quality beans.
To address some specific things mentioned in other reviews, I'd just like to say that this thing makes crema so well that sugar will sit on top of it...if you know the trick. Use a properly-sized espresso cup and heat it before making your coffee. Rather than relying on the heater on top of the machine (the silver part in the picture), just boil some water in the kettle and dump it in the cup; it's a lot faster. Adjust the dispensing spout -- the part with two little silver spouts directly above the cups in the picture. That piece moves up and down. The closer you get it to your cup, the better the crema. Adjust your grind; regardless of what others may have experienced, I find the adjustable grind to be perfect. It is, however, VERY dependent on what type of beans you use. I've had to tweak it nearly every time I use a different type of beans to get it to the perfect grind. Also, if you find that the puck grounds get mouldy from sitting too long, my only comment is this -- you're not drinking enough coffee. ;-) Last note before pros/cons/tips -- this machine requires that ~you~ put milk in a container and froth it for cappucino; it's not "fully" automatic, but the frothing bit works great (when used with skill).
Pros
*Extremely reliable (3 machines monitored over 3.5 years with no flaws)
*Near-perfect espresso
*Capability to use pre-ground (separate compartment, one cup at a time) for the decaf crowd
*Great frothing tool for cappucino (see tips)
*Fully adjustable grind, strength (amount of coffee used) and water (for "long" coffees) with single or double cup buttons
*Auto shut-off after about 2hrs
Cons
*A touch on the noisy side during start up and when it grinds
*Can scramble your freeview signal (though this is the fault of house wiring/antenna, not the machine)
*Doesn't know when I'm going to wake up and automatically have an espresso ready for me when I get to the kitchen
Tips
*Read the manual. No, really. Read the manual.
*Use quality coffee. Always. (Lavazza Rosso or Espresso is good, Il Pascucci from southern Italy if you can find it)
*Pay attention to getting your grind set right
*Heat your cups with boiling water before making the coffee
*Make all of your espresso shots BEFORE switching to frothing mode for cappucino
*Use the descaler that comes with it, then switch to white vinegar for cleaning (has worked for me for 2 years)
*Go on vacation to Italy and learn how to make proper espresso and how to froth milk -- it really is an art
*Honestly -- it takes time to perfect the frothing. Don't give up until you've talked to someone that knows how.
So what am I doing on Amazon looking at these if mine is so reliable? Yep, you caught me ... I'm thinking of buying another one for the office here...
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buy this coffee maker, 9 Jun 2009
This review is from: De'Longhi Magnifica ESAM4200 Bean To Cup Espresso/Cappuccino Maker, 15 Bar (Silver) (Kitchen & Home)
Did all the research, this machine just kept coming out tops so I bought it, paid £274 and it arrived last friday. The reviews were right, the coffee is great, no grounds or 'sludge' in the bottom of the cup. It's quick and very easy to get going. So far Lavazza beans from Tesco are our favourite. The coffee is hot, the frother works really well and we are all hooked. The machine requires a reasonable amount of worktop space, you will not be getting it in and out of the cupboard every time you use it. It is quick so the noise it makes is very short lived. The self cleaning is great and it has a really good drip tray. The warmer heats up quickly and the coffee is good and hot. One thing to bear in mind, if you want to use the frother then make the number of cups you want first before frothing the milk as the machine takes a while to reset to make coffee again after the frother has been used.
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