The only 'vice' I truly have (well, other than shopping & constant redecorating) is drinking coffee.
Not just any coffee, but GOOD COFFEE.
I don't drink a lot of it, 1-3 daily is good for me, but I do like it to taste real good.
So with the new kitchen coming soon, we wanted to invest too on a good coffee machine.
Thanks to our friends, the Deloso's and their excellent home-brewed coffee, we were convinced to get a nicer coffee machine.
Initially we wanted to get this...
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| Breville Barista Express |
It looks great, smaller size and a Semi-automatic espresso machine.
For the record, I am no coffee connoisseur and so what I'm about to tell you about this & other coffee machines, comes from an ordinary layman's perspective.
Warning, a lot of 'new' terms here for those unfamiliar with the coffee lingo!
Warning, a lot of 'new' terms here for those unfamiliar with the coffee lingo!
Semi-automatic means, the coffee machine will grind the beans for you, but you have to manually tamp (press) on the ground coffee yourself and then from that, you put it back and the machine then brews the coffee for you.
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| Tamping |
It has a steamer and frother or a steam wand on the side too -
the one the looks like a shotgun on the side.
The steamer of course, steams your milk piping hot and the frother, well, froths the milk to give you that bubbly, frothy feel you get form a good cup of cappuccino like this..
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| mmmmmm... |
It's like your regular coffee machine really, the only difference is that the Coffee Grinder comes built in to it.
However, we eventually decided against this machine since my hubby and I thought, we might get tired of the tamping process in the long run since our time in the morning is always a rush, so we have to have our coffee ready right away.
So we looked into the Superautomatic machines.
Automatic, as the term implies does everything for you - the grinding, tamping and brewing. You still have to steam on your own and froth on your own, but at least the coffee will be ready.
The down side to these superautomatic machines is that it's usually very bulky and can get really expensive, prices can range from the thousands to a couple of hundreds.
Automatic, as the term implies does everything for you - the grinding, tamping and brewing. You still have to steam on your own and froth on your own, but at least the coffee will be ready.
The down side to these superautomatic machines is that it's usually very bulky and can get really expensive, prices can range from the thousands to a couple of hundreds.
There are so many models out there. So we limited our choices with our budget and the one that can fit our counter space. Here were some of the models we looked at...
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| Delonghi ECAM 23210SB |
Perfect size, nice to look at, only thing against it was the short steam wand and the price, since this was closest to the upper limit of our budget.
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| Saeco Odea Capuccino Espresso Machine |
Nice size & price, but this one doesn't have a Bypass, the conduit you could use to pour ground or decaf coffee. And sometimes, you just want that kind right?! I need my Dunkin Donut Coffee grounds a lot and also my decaf for my night time cup ;-)
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| Jura ENA 4 Capresso |
This is the one we actually chose.
Perfect size & price, love the stream-lined look and our friends had experience with this machine already, so we knew it could brew great coffee and works excellent too.
The brand name as well is synonymous to excellent quality when it comes to Superautomatic espresso machines.
We've had it for about a month already (Yup, got it even while the kitchen was in progress) and I can just say, it is coffee heaven for us!
How about you? How do you like your coffee? Have you splurged on any kitchen gadget recently? Was it worth the money?
Happy Shopping & Have a Great Labor Day Weekend!
*VEL*
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