Review on ☕ Mcilpoog Super-Automatic Espresso Coffee Machine WS-203 | Smart Touch Screen | Brews 16 Coffee Drinks by Michael Welborn

We love this espresso maker! I have thoroughly researched the market and I can say with confidence that for less than $1200 there is no better device you can buy. I first tried the Tchibo and while it was a good machine overall, I wanted to be able to make milk-based coffee drinks while spending over $300. More importantly, the Tchibo grinder clogs up in less than a week because I mainly use dark roast beans, which according to Tchibo support was a no-no. So I returned it. Of course I contacted Mccilpoog tech support to make sure the grinder wouldn't clog easily and I could clean it with a narrow brush and Grindz cleaning tablets. Yes, both. They also suggested that I fit the grinder in and leave it on the coarsest setting. We've made over 100 coffee drinks in three weeks so far (including over 30 just before Thanksgiving) and it just keeps purring. Mcilpoog (ridiculous name, but whatever. ;-) Well designed, easy to use. easy to clean and works perfectly. It makes a great cup of espresso and a perfect three-layer cappuccino (not to be noticed, the espresso technically has to be on the bottom, not on top). It can brew several other coffee specialties including ristretto (e.g. concentrated espresso), flat white, latte, classic coffee and Americana (the latter is actually a large espresso plus hot water, i.e. NOT drip coffee in the traditional sense). My wife prefers Mcilpoog's "watered down espresso" to dripping coffee, so life is great. The machine heats up and rinses quickly (takes about two minutes) and immediately starts preparing a drink as soon as you press the selection button on the pleasant touch screen. I really like that the milk container is outside the machine. You just dip the plastic tube from the frother into anything (we put it straight into the milk container). This simplifies cleanup and leaves no traces, which can be a nightmare on other machines that don't have this outer container feature. IMPORTANT NOTE! I ordered the RED model but was told by tech support that it does NOT support manual addition of coffee grounds (absolutely REQUIRED to make decaffeinated coffee) and they kindly offered to return the RED model and the newer BLACK model for the same price redeem. Instead of. i will soon WHAT WE LOVE - Espresso is about as good as anywhere else (rich crema and all). - ALL default drink settings can be customized. It's huge. For example, the default setting for cappuccino is 45ml espresso and 30 seconds milk + foam. I needed a big, strong mug, so I swapped it out for 100ml coffee and 40 seconds M+W. - ANY drink can also be customized on the fly. For example, my standard for Americana is 80ml espresso and 100ml water. Once you've made that choice, you can change this (and also the coffee strength!, from 1 to 3 beans) to say 110ml espresso and 90ml water if you want a stronger, larger result. The milk frother works great. and easy to clean - The technical support is excellent. We exchanged at least a dozen emails and they even made a few videos to demonstrate some of the technical issues I asked about (e.g. how the manually add base feature works on the newer/black model ). WHAT WE DON'T LIKE Not much. I'd rather have the machine make me confirm my drink choices before I start brewing, for two reasons: i) I'm (still) annoyed that the machine just "works" - once I touched the wrong selection and had to cancel it quickly; and ii) Since the drink is brewed right after you click your selection, the window for changing the default settings is tiny - you have to be VERY quick or it will be too late (especially if you're trying to change the espresso strength and quantity ). I would also like to be able to change the ORDER in which espresso, milk, water are added to the drink. As I mentioned earlier, the espresso should be below the cappuccino. Not much, but as long as it's customizable, why not add that level of control as well? After all, he has to be really "smart”. I want to be able to turn it on and adjust settings from my phone. More importantly, there is no way to update the machine when new programming/screen versions become available. I understand that this increases development and production costs, but most devices (especially in this price range) are moving in this direction and I believe that eventually it will be. CONCLUSION It would be hard to do better - and easy to do much worse - than this beautifully designed coffee maker. As long as it can stand up to normal use, which seems very likely so far, it could prove to be a better lifestyle investment. This is also our massage chair :-)