Fast & Easy Good Espresso - But Not Perfect
There's a lot to like about this machine. It is definitely a fast and fuss-free way to brew good espresso. Doubtless you'll increase your espresso intake, so stock up on some good beans before you buy the Vienna!
Brewing involves setting the desired grind (from a coarseness setting of 0 to 18, but more on this later), amount of water (1 to 5 oz.), and whether you'd like one or two cups (these are true cups -- if you select two, the machine fully cycles through twice). You then press a button to begin the wonderful process of delivering a good cup or two of espresso. After about 30 seconds of a variety of noises and internal happenings, you're ready to drink.
However, this process may disappoint those who like additional control over their brewing. If you like to change types of beans, you'll find it a frustrating endeavor to determine how many beans to pour into the hopper to deliver just one cup. For example, should you desire to switch to decaf espresso and you've left any...
Great product - UNTIL IT NEEDS SERVICE
I purchased this machine two years ago, after extensive research on espresso machines (which you are probably doing now, if you're reading this). I decided specifically on the vienna "superautomatica" and felt justified in when it ran strong for the first year. We're talking 2 cups a day for both my husband and myself, I drink mine with two shots and he drinks his with three, so 10 shots/day - IF we didn't have company! The machine makes great espresso, a nice crema, easy to clean, yada yada yada. All the stuff I thought was important.
Then one day the machine didn't heat up. I'm waiting... and waiting... and never again does that handy blinking light tell me my machine is heated up and ready to brew. No big deal, we were bound to break it with all our "espresso drinking". I was just glad I had sent in the special card that extended my warranty to 18 months. We're in the 16the month. Cutting it close. I'll just call the 1-800 # provided in my paperwork. And I'll call...
Still satisfied after 2-1/2 years but I have some survival tips
My Saeco is still working fine and producing good results for the price. I've learned a few things that may help your ownership experience:
1) If you're in North America call the Saeco main number and ask for support. They can give you some cleaning documents via email that will help you go through the cleaning procedure. You need to keep up with the cleaning or the small passage between the grinder and the "brew group" plugs up, particularly if you use dark roast coffee. The manual that comes with the machine is pretty close to useless.
2) Use filtered water and you can skip the descaling process. I've had a lot of problems trying to run the special formula through it and my local dealer claims it's unecessary since I've always used filtered water.
3) I would probably buy the deluxe model because it has a dual heater for steaming. For doing things a little quicker with this model I heat to steam first, do the steaming and then flip back to coffee...
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