Café - Affetto Automatic Espresso Machine with 20 bars of pressure, Milk Frother, and Built-In Wi-Fi - Matte White

I've been searching for a HIGH QUALITY espresso machine that was RELIABLE, problem free and would last. THIS IS IT! I've owned this Café Affetto for two whole days. It's a quick learning curve. I followed the tips from the reviews on the Best Buy website, and everything worked like a charm the first time. I'm fine tuning it just a bit to increase the volume and brew time to my taste. As a newbie to this machine, I found the following tips helpful: 1) If the SMARTHQ app does not work at first, try it again the following day. At first I set the MYCUP to a 3 espresso in a row setting. Instead I got 1 espresso, and it stopped. So I added an Americano, and an espresso and I was happy with the delicious crema, and volume, and strength of the espresso. Today, I was able to SET the MYCUP to a Longo, with the pink SET button. Ah, hadn't seen that before! No wonder it didn't 'take'. I'm hopeful it will work tonight after dinner. 2) I also learned that if you want to adjust the grinder size, you need to turn the wheel WHILE the grinder is GRINDING. Who knew? 3) The steam button functions wonderfully, and after preheating it with the first push, I push it again to begin steaming. 4) I added more beans to the hopper, added more water to the container, and cleaned out the ground pods from the drawer in front just to familiarize myself with the process. 5) I found that by turning the machine to the side, out from under the counter, I was able to access the water container easily, and with a minimum of effort. HOW EXCITING to have a machine that so effortlessly prepares an excellent espresso with the push of a button or two. No mess, no fuss. HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!!! I don't mind the price for the convenience, beauty, and excellent results. If you're sitting on the fence, BUY IT! It matches all my other stainless steel appliances in the kitchen, and I can't wait to offer my guests an espresso after Thanksgiving dinner. Woo Hoo! This Café Affetto Espresso Machine is a definite winner. BIG SMILE!!!

The Cafe Affetto Espresso machine provides on-demand espresso without any of the hassle associated with traditional espresso machines. Setup was fairly easy - once out of the box, you fill the tank with water, and fill the hopper with your favorite whole espresso beans and you're ready to make espresso. When you power the machine on, it starts kind of a self-clean routine - water heats up and a small amount comes out of the espresso output as well as the milk frother - at this point, you know you're ready to brew espresso. After placing your cup under the espresso output nozzle, which is height adjustable to accommodate most cups/mugs you will dispense in to, you can press any one of the preset buttons on top for an espresso, Americano, steam, or simply hot water (Great for teas!). Shortly there after, the machine automatically grinds and brews your espresso, and then it dumps the used espresso grounds into a drawer on the front of the machine that only needs to be emptied periodically. It really is that easy. The espresso output tastes good, not too acrid, and has a nice crema on top. (See photo.) For a machine with this level of operational simplicity, there are a number of customizations you can adjust to get the machine dialed in to your liking. You can adjust the grind from coarse to fine, which totally changes the flavor and consistency of the final product. A finer grind I find gives a richer flavor and a better cream on top of the espresso. To get in to the rest of the customizations, you need to have the SmartHQ App. Once in there, it shows all SmartHQ compatible appliances you have, for me this is only this espresso machine. You can customize the grind time and output volume of the various program buttons on the top of the machine. You can adjust your single espresso and americano to grind anywhere from 4 seconds to 5.5 seconds, and adjust the output volume to be anywhere from .75 ounce all the way up to 1.5 ounces - so there's a lot of variability in the final product. The Americano will dispense up to 2.5 ounces of espresso followed by double the volume of hot water. There's also a "My Cup" button - that you can customize to brew a whole slew of different varieties of espresso (ristretto (short), lungo (long), doppio (double) or a triple espresso.) So if you like to have a morning double, you can set the "My Cup" button to dispense a doppio without having to wait for one single shot to dispense and then start the cycle all over again. The app also lets you know when the machine needs to be descaled which is a fantastic feature. As I said, for the simplicity this machine offers there's also a lot of customization you can do if you wish. As countertop kitchen appliances go, this thing looks good on my counters - it definitely does not look like a traditional espresso machine and does invite intrigue when people see it. The copper accents on the dark material provides a unique contrast not typically seen in other appliances. There's a couple of cons here, but none are show stoppers. When the machine first starts up, the rinse cycle runs, and when finished it always seems to get water on the top of the chrome drip tray, so I always keep a little towel near to wipe it down. I find that to fill the water reservoir requires me to move the machine out from under my cabinets, as it has to come up a little taller than being under the cabinets allow. Also, with convenience comes price - this machine is not cheap, but does an excellent job. It's definitely a luxury item, but if you enjoy espresso and you want to be able to get a brew in between Zoom calls and not have to worry about the hassles of grinding, measuring, and clean up - this thing excels.