Breville ESP8XL Cafe Roma Stainless Espresso Maker

Have been using this machine for just over 3 years now. I got it on sale here at 130$ and really, this is as good as it gets for this price. This is the machine you want to step up your coffee making game and stop going to your favorite coffee shop. Here's why :Get good beans, Grind them, make coffee. No fancy pressure gauge, buttons, lights or programs. Turn on, let the water heat, turn the knob, Enjoy coffee !The taste will definitely vary from the type of beans and the coarseness of your coffee grounds. Give yourself couple days to experiment then the whole neighbourhood will be lining up outside your house for more !Simple machine, simple and nice looking design. Great machine overall. I only have 2 downsides that are definitely not deal-breakers :1. Steam wand : great wand to use but since the machine only has 1 pump, you can only make either coffee, either frothed milk. It takes time if you'd like both. Obviously such a feature that allows to operate both will not be found at this price range. The fix : get a cheap milk frother on Amazon for 50$ and you saved yourself 600$+ for a machine with more bells and whistles than you need.2. Making multiple coffees : when you finish making a coffee, the machine will blow-through the lines to clean and this should dry the used grounds to make a "puck". However, when you make multiple coffees, there's a lot of water remaining that hasn't dried yet making the disposing of it inconvenient. Maybe an operator error but it doesn't bother me anymore.This machine has been making at least 8 coffees a day for the last 3 years and shows no wear or slowing down. This is a great coffee maker for this price point, even at full price.Stop looking, just get it already.

I use this machine primarily for long blacks and lattes. The low profile under the portafilter only allows shorter cups. Having been a barista, I prefer to use the steam wand without the froth assist tube. It allows me more control and makes for a much smoother foam. For the price, I highly recommend this product.

Got the item, used covered in coffee ground with a note that says “do not clean please”. Just eww! Definitely was expecting a brand new item!! Do not buy!

After almost daily use over almost a month, I still have to flush the entire system every time I want to make a coffee to prevent *most of* the plastic taste. I've had to throw coffee several times because of strong plastic taste that rendered it undrinkable. When the unit heats up, it emits a plastic smell. The water tank seems to be the worst part of all. Even after washing it several times, it still has a horrible volatile plastic smell and any water that stays in there for longer than 5 min ends up tasting plastic as well. Even the vapor that comes out of the frother tastes plastic, if I have it condense to water in a metal cup.

So my wife and I went to Cuba for the first time this summer. They had an espresso machine everywhere there was a bar and we got to start drinking espresso. The texture (creaminess) and the flavor seemed to be different so then I began looking up some details about it. We decided to invest into an espresso machine for our own use. First of all, this one does not ground beans, but that’s perfect for me cause I wake up super early for work and wouldn’t want to be grounding beans at that time in the morning waking up everyone at home. I settled with packaged ground beans for espresso (Lavazza Cafe Espresso) is our bean of choice at the moment. I’m still testing out other bean products to see which flavor we liked the most but the morning espresso is what I enjoy over a normal cup of Java.When you turn the machine on, it takes about 2 minutes for the system to warm up and be ready for use. That gives me just the right amount of time to get the grounds all ready into the holder and place it on the machine. I usually pop my vitamins during this time as well and all is ready for me to make that espresso.Price was, was great that I didn’t have to spend lots of money for a commercial machine.