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I gave my wife this coffee maker two months ago, and I actually have never used this unit; my wife is the coffee drinker in the family, so I am only passing along what she has told me. On the other hand, I do not know if the system is being cleaned as it should be, or if there is any other regular maintenance that needs to be done to it. Until last week, the Mr Coffee performed well and my wife had no complaints. Unfortunately, in the last week, the coffee maker no longer provides the steam to foam up the milk, and my wife says that the coffee is coming out "differently". In any case, the unit has not had heavy use, and I would guess that my wife is representative of an average user, so for this system to fail after 2 months is likely not acceptable. To be honest, I was sceptical of how high the quality could be on an espresso machine for $60, so I am not surprised that it is already providing problems.
My first combo machine was the original Krups Cafepresso, which I managed to actually wear out over the course of four years in college. It's possible to mostly get the hang of over time, but takes a ridiculously long time to fill a cup.The espresso side of the operation is equally flimsy and too light, and seals badly. Sometimes no matter how much extra you allowed, steam comes out of everywhere and you're left with lukewarm milk at best. Coffee ECM21 to be its equal, but neither was I expecting the cheap, flimsy, poorly designed POS I got.The build quality is roughly equivalent to the $9.99 no-brand coffee makers you can buy in any grocery store, and in fact seems a little less sturdy than my last one of THOSE. For the price point, I wasn't expecting a Cadillac, but good functional design shouldn't add to a product's cost---it's just as easy to build a decent coffeemaker as a crappy one. It's poorly designed as well, with a pivoting shower head that has to be rotated to the side to remove the drip basket, and swung back into place to brew. At roughly a third of the price, I wasn't expecting the Mr. Sometimes an extra cupmark of water is enough to steam milk for a latte, sometimes it isn't.
Furthermore, to make it all fit in one package, Mr. Coffee chose to shrink the carafe to an 8-cup one, but made it so squatty and with such a tiny spout that any pour over a thin, tiny trickle sends coffee gushing down the side of the carafe and all over the counter. Also, the cup is so flimsy and its handle so light that I fully expect it to be the first part of the machine to break.Dreadful product. Save your money.
I called & reported this problem to Mr Coffee directly and am waiting for replacement they promised to send over a week ago. DUH).
It's poor design is almost a hazard waiting to happen. Mr Coffee used to be a reliable brand, but this model is/was a total "let-down".
Tried multiple attempts (how hard can it be to pour a cup of coffee. First - Performance: It's slow to brew, although expresso side works fairly well, the coffee side is slow brewing, leaks at reservoir and internal design is poor and cheaply made.Second - Safety; The expresso side is sturdy and has safety in mind, but the coffee side is hazardous at best.
It easily overflows, jams and the decanter leaks while pouring. yet it leaks from the pour spout lip down the face of coffee pot.
I'm extremely disappointed in this product and advise anyone considering to pass on this product.
Being compact,this is ideal for a small kitchen. Fine tuning the machine operation beyond the instructions in the booklet was key. Then immediately return dial to steam and let it hiss until its pure hot steam-almost invisible. Basic operation is straight forward and can be adapted as you learn the techniques. Appart from that, getting the right coffee is important and a matter of taste and getting the grind just right is a trick too(a wee bit more fine than salt I find). With proper care it should perform well for a long time. Though I have had slightly better coffee makers,this is a perfect unit for a beginner barista. First of all,I got rid of the rubber frothing aid tip cover-it was not helpfull.I fill the tank to a quarter inch below the bar that goes across the opening and seal, turn the dial to "steam" until water stops spitting out of the frothing tube (this gets the water temperature a bit higher for brewing and produces an espresso with a trace of caramel froth around the rim),turn the machine off, attach the brew basket with prepared grind, turn on and brew espresso.
As with any culinary undertaking it takes practice and good ingredients to make an excellent product. I've discovered a couple tricks that have improved the quality of my cappuccino a lot since I first gave it a go a month ago. With milk in a metal frothing pitcher(an essential accessory)held in the palm of your hand,emerse the tip just under the surface of the milk,turn the steam back on and inject steam until you hear the pitch change and the heat on the bottom of the pitcher begins to get uncomforable, insert the tip a bit deeper into the milk for a couple seconds then shut off. Most of all its fun.
I've had this machine for just over 3 months. It does fine making espresso and coffee, although brewing a pot of coffee takes longer then my previous coffee machine, but every month the steam wand seems to work less and less. In fact, the last 5 times I've tried using the steam wand this week it has not worked. Very frustrating.
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