Review on Mr Kitchen & Dining by Matt Ellis

I have had a semi-automatic espresso machine for five years. I made about 4600 cups of espresso with it. This gives me a rough idea of what a good espresso is. First of all, this machine needs to be thoroughly cleaned before use. Another person recommended cleaning it with vinegar and that seems to help. To prepare a good espresso, you need the right amount of coffee, the right pressure and finally the time to brew. it is not too long or too short. If you make a mistake on any of the variables, the quality suffers. Finally a high-quality coffee blend. I use a local roaster and the coffee is around $17 a pound. Avoid cheap groceries from the supermarket and go to your local roaster. If you use the included spoon you will get around 11 or 12 grams of coffee. Most sources I've read recommend between 14 and 18 grams, so using a round spoon is best. They also need about 30 pounds of pressure to stomp, and the included rammer they give you will buckle under that much pressure and likely result in uneven compression. (Tip - buy a steel rammer!). No professional uses plastic stoppers. If you can get 14-15g of coffee into a port filter then the brew time is around 25 seconds which is close to perfect. It makes good lather. I preheat the espresso machine by running a double shot through the port filter when it's empty, then wipe it dry and finally move on to brewing a cup of coffee. If you follow these steps, you can get a pretty decent shot. As for the milk frothing mechanism, I think that's a joke. I can make great froth with about 4 ounces of milk, and that takes way too much milk. I want to taste coffee, not milk. I think if you like lattes you might like foam. I use a stand alone foamer and find it much more economical and easier to clean. Letting it sit for about 30 seconds gives me the perfect blend of milk and cappuccino foam. With the built-in one that Mr. Coffee uses, there's less control. I can also say that this built-in appliance is very difficult to clean and left milk on the plastic if left on. Again, I'm much happier with the standalone foamer, and it's only around $30. I also have the Mr. his departure. The two seem to be a good match. I think a week in this whole system is foam. In my opinion, it does a great job as an espresso maker. Quality isn't as good as my semi-auto, but decent for the price. I paid about $147. Revain's price seems to be going up and down a lot. Right now it's $181. I'm not sure I would pay that much for it. Time will tell how valuable it is but the pump seems quite capable and I've been told you can order parts for it which I can't say. for many cars out there. The packaging was excellent. Probably something we all take for granted these days until you get something that comes to pieces. I admire a company that takes the time to develop a good packaging system and Mr. Kaffee got it right. The machine is well protected, even the end of the socket is protected. Good. Overall I think it's a good machine but again I would recommend a stand alone frother for the best results and savings. It's also worth noting that you can get this machine without the milk frother for about $70, which I would do. After several attempts at frothing, I found that my coffee tasted like milk and was warm, not hot. I see no reason to pay for something really bad quality so again if I needed to rebuild I would just buy a standalone machine without a frother. Update: Tried the milk frother a few more times and it overflows. 12 ounce mug each time and the foam is pretty fluffy. The foam should be dense. I now skip a double shot of water before brewing and that helps with the temperature, but the milk frothing is still sub par IMHO. I think I'll send it back and just pick up the $70 version. The standalone foamer works much better and provides a good, dense foam.