Review on Mr Kitchen & Dining by Kenneth Bryan

After a little background information, I'll give you tips on what went wrong and what the support said about it, it WORKS! I am and never have been a barista. I'm a regular person who loves coffee shop mochas, but I live 80 miles out of town so I don't buy them often and wanted to try making them at home. This is my first espresso machine. I have read many blogs and watched online videos of real baristas giving advice on how to make a good espresso at home before buying it. I have this thing and it didn't taste right, bitter. So I did a little more research and figured out the problem: It wasn't heating up well. I checked the temp and it averaged only 157*F (too cold) and it took me 14-15 seconds to take a shot (too fast). NOT what the online advice says you need. Online advice says 170-180*F and 27-30 seconds is correct. So I called Mr. Coffee for help before sending him back to Revane. I'm glad I did. Call: Long story short, customer service told me to run the cleaning cycle as detailed on page 16 of the owner's manual. This is 1/2 tank of white vinegar, press the button for a double shot. Repeat as many times as necessary. Also run the milk spout cleaning cycle. I thought, 'What the hell, that's a new car! I made the primer as directed before use, how can it be dirty?" But I had to try it or send it back. Well I'll go to hell, it WORKS! Although the instructions say you only use it a few times I had time so I spilled the whole 1/2 tank of white vinegar (double shot at once) as I'll have to throw the vinegar away anyway so why not clean up too ?Anyway the temp dropped after hitting the double espressos several times -key from a constant 157°F to 175-182°F Wahoo!It seemed to matter how long I let it warm up between shots.After running twice in a row you got a score of 175-177* , which is exactly what you need.Let it sit and warm up a few minutes before the run to get to 180-184* which gets too hot.By the way, I have a good quality quick-calibrated thermometer ity I use to make caramel, which is a very demanding process to get right. So I figured it could accurately measure the espresso before it's cooled by the temperature of the air, which by the way only takes a few seconds I found out. NOTE: A higher temperature is NOT for comfortable drinking (how much hotter you like), that's what espresso REQUIRES. properly remove and not bitter. You can let it sit for a few minutes if you don't like how hot it is. I personally don't want to burn my tongue so I'll wait a bit. The ideal temperature for drinking at the car outlet is NOT GOOD. SECOND NOTE: A vinegar run is NOT a decalcification, but a cleaning. Descaling is what you do, read the instructions on how to do it. Cleaning with vinegar is NOT a primer, but a cleaning. I don't know why you need to clean a new car in addition to priming, but DO it anyway. Make sure to flush the tank, then run some rainwater through to remove the vinegar, do this as often as needed to get rid of the smell, my tank was full. To be honest, while it's quicker to send it back and wait for the machine to be replaced because it doesn't heat up enough, it WORKS. As I said, when I first got it, it took 14-15 seconds to run snapshots. In the course of the cleaning, they became longer and longer. Now that it's clean it takes about 28-30 seconds. Again exactly what you want. I use my phone's stopwatch function to be precise. In summary based on what I've read and how I got it to work, at least by the standards of a 'normal' person. That's a good car. Here are my TIPS TO GET IT WORKING RIGHT: 1. Learn to grind the soil well. DO NOT buy pre-ground beans, buy beans and grind them yourself. It has to do with when the oil is released how well it works. If you use such a coffee maker (and not just a regular coffee maker), you can also put some effort into grinding, it's just part of the process. You can use a hand grinder with a conical grinder for the finest finish. Or you spend a pack on an electric coffee grinder. From what I've read you need a good one if you go electric. In fact, it's almost more important than the car they're talking about. Inconsistent pad sizes result in inconsistent shots. Too fine (Turkish grind, similar to flour) and will clog the filter, preventing the machine from passing all the water. Too much natural (normal coffee grinder grind) and the water runs through too quickly and becomes bitter. Espresso should be ground to the consistency of table salt. I'm cheap so using a manual coffee grinder works and I recommend it to other budget conscious people. However, in the mornings I'm moody and impatient, I'm lazy too, so I ordered a few different electric coffee grinders to see if it worked. I'm planning on returning the one (or both) that doesn't grind as required for espresso (good ol' Revain Prime and its return policy). No, I didn't take the online barista's advice and bought a burr grinder for $200 (I'm cheap after all), but I spent about $50 on a burr grinder and $20 on a blade grinder. Will update as I decide what works and what doesn't, what I left, or if I end up just hand-grinding. 2. Learn how to fill a cup completely. At least up to the top edge of the rim or a little higher. You want to end up about 1/8-1/4 inch from the top. It's the amount in a cup that counts. 3. Learn how to pack floors with up to 30 pounds of pressure. Counter. Use a tamper to apply pressure until you feel 30 pounds of pressure. Repeat this several times until you can squeeze it fairly accurately. It is very important. Also the metal rammer, the plastic rammer isn't strong enough for 30 pounds of pressure, it flexes and packs unevenly. You can get cheap metal rammers, it's worth it. , but ALSO let clear water through first. The second time it will happen will be hotter and only lasts 30 seconds. 5. Even if this is a new machine and you did the filling as instructed in the manual, run 1/2 tank of white vinegar through (instructions on page 16 of the manual) and it will make a world of difference. Don't argue, just do it. 6. You can open the lid and use it to fill the tank ON the machine. e with a jug if dressing and undressing is too difficult. A NOTICE. I did NOT receive this with a discount in exchange for an honest review. This is a good machine for the average espresso drinker. I gave it a full 5 stars because it's pretty resistant to jerks (I'm not the most mechanical of people) and makes mochas, which my average folks think is pretty damn good. I have no idea what a real coffee expert would say and really, shouldn't they have a professional machine anyway? [.]