I bought the Europiccola after several weeks of web research because most reports said what wonderful espresso it made in spite of the steep learning curve. It certainly looks great in your kitchen, and the core parts are satisfyingly chunky apart from the cheap switch. After a few hundred grams of wasted beans, you will be able to pull espresso to your taste, thick as molasses or thin'n'cheerful lungo. And you *will* need a burr grinder.
That's only half the story, folks. Just don't attempt to make frothy milk with it, because the steamer is for boiling water and the supplied froth attachment is an Italian designer's Rube Goldberg afterthought that doesn't work properly. Anything placed under the steam nozzle will be boiling in no time, but as we all know (apart from a number of Starb*cks employees), that's not the way to make froth. The froth attachment is ingenious, but inconvenient, very messy, cheaply made, and worst of all, boils the milk just the same. (Maybe others haven't found this, but I've tried all ways and the manual is no help. Might be the thermostat, in which case mark it down even more to the poor quality control.)
Nor is this machine designed to be cleaned; the pressure relief drips onto the pedestal, the whole thing has to be inverted to empty it, and as others have mentioned, the mechanism is top heavy and the plastic parts are plain nasty. It *looks* great, pukka, the business, and if you never, ever want to make frothy milk it's perfect. But if you want cappuccino and the rest, it's a high maintenance lemon.
It's also only any good for making one or two (small) cups at a time, which is fine unless you like a quick second espresso hit occasionally, because setting up the Europiccola properly is the Italian version of the Japanese tea ceremony. |
