Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Amazon Basics Espresso Machine and Milk Frother

Top positive review

it's okay for the price

Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2020

it's okay for the price. good taste.... good crema.....

but you need to know how to make espresso before using this machine. including how to grind coffee bean.... how to tamp.....

60 people found this helpful

Top critical review

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P. Adams Sitney

Cheap Junk

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2020

Amazon's inexpensive espresso machine is worthless. It cannot make espresso or froth milk properly. I would love to see Bezos drinking a cup of the slop from this gadget. Amazon ought to be ashamed to put its name on products tyhat reek of contempt for its customers.

227 people found this helpful

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From the United States

P. Adams Sitney

Cheap Junk

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2020

Verified Purchase

227 people found this helpful

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Nat

it's okay for the price

Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2020

Verified Purchase

it's okay for the price. good taste.... good crema.....

but you need to know how to make espresso before using this machine. including how to grind coffee bean.... how to tamp.....

60 people found this helpful

Helpful

Ashes

Great little machine!

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2020

Verified Purchase

I used to work at Starbucks and still often find myself spending too much time buying drinks there. I wanted a cheap machine that makes decent espresso. This machine is just that. I don’t understand the bad reviews on here. I think they just don’t know how to make it.
Watch some YouTube videos people! Learn how to dial in a shot. This machine is capable of making great shots.
The only con for me is the soupiness of the puck but that is to be expected on basically any machine under 500$. It only makes cleaning the pick out a bit more messy. The way to solve this is to let it dry out for a little while off the machine before knocking it out.
All in all a great little machine. People want instant and leave a bad review. To make real espresso at home takes time and knowledge.

38 people found this helpful

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Economical alternative, with excellent performance!

Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2020

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

Like all AmazonBasics products, this machine is more than affordable. “Restaurant quality” espresso machines can easily run into hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Of course, this item isn’t going to rank up there with those higher-priced models as far as materials and construction go. However, in my experience so far, the coffee it turns out is easily comparable!

The manual is very well written and easy to understand, although the controls are so intuitive you likely won’t even need it. But, be safe and read it thoroughly anyway.

Stepping through its main features:

- I haven’t measured the capacity, but the water tank is quite large. That’s great, as there’s no need to be filling it up every time the urge hits and you want a quick cup.

- A scoop/presser is provided to load the portafilter, in which there is an -extremely- fine sieve. You won’t wind up with a single speck of coffee grounds in your cup. Although this tool is made of plastic, it’s reasonably strong enough for its purpose, and easily replaced if it does happen to break.

- As another accessory, a cappuccino-sized cup is included. As for the espresso cups in my photo, you’ll have to seek them out elsewhere, ZOOM! ;^)

- Speaking of the portafilter, it’s the traditional type with two drain holes which can fill 2 side-by-side small espresso cups simultaneously, or a single larger cup for cappuccino.

- There are indicator lights built into the switches for power, espresso/cappuccino modes, and the pump itself.

- The frother makes a great cappuccino, just be sure to use whole milk and everything will come out silky-smooth. There’s a knob on the side of the unit to control the amount of steam output, to taste.

- The drip tray is a welcome touch, keeping your counter nice and clean. In fact, clean-up is very quick and easy for this entire affair... Really nothing to it at all.

Both my wife and I are totally delighted with this product. It’s got a very small counter-top footprint, is so simple to operate, and definitely takes care of your caffeine-Jones in a big hurry. Yep, another great AmazonBasics product, with the usual 5/5 star rating from myself.

70 people found this helpful

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Albert K.

Excellent value!

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2020

Verified Purchase

Looking at prices of lower quality espresso machines definitely had me looking at the amazon essentials machine. I am pleasantly surprised that this machine makes delicious espresso and lattes. It's easy to use, has a small counter footprint, and is really inexpensive in comparison to other machines. With 15 bars of pressure it seems to extract every gram of goodness from the espresso.

The only thing I would warn about is that the coffee brew process is manual, so you have to watch and turn off the brewer before the cup is full.

Definite buy recommendation from me!

33 people found this helpful

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ABN Assist Basketball Network

Lukewarm.. does NOT make water hot

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2020

Verified Purchase

The motor is not strong enough. It cannot get water or frother hot enough. I bought cheap thinking it might not last long, but never imagined lukewarm expresso and milk.
I have to rebuy.. money wasted.

37 people found this helpful

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Cjmforfun

Very nice little machine

Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2020

Verified Purchase

So.. I’m away from home for a couple months, more importantly away from my beloved Rancillio Silvia espresso machine. Then Covid shuts down coffee places, at least near me. Ugh, life sucks, right? Then I see this little beauty. 15 bars of pressure, $50 bucks? I could not hit buy fast enough, and I’m glad I did. This is a very credible little machine that makes a good cappucino and an OK espresso. (Yes, I know one makes the other, but milk hides some of the flaws in the espresso.). I got great crema just using pre ground Cafe Bustelo coffee, it’s fast to heat up, has simple controls, and a very nice sized water reservoir. Yes, there are a few things that could be improved, but for $50? Seriously, you cannot go wrong. For all you people who commented that you cannot get a mug underneath the wand? Guess what, you can’t get one under my $700 Rancillio either, and that’s a good thing. Coffee cools as it drops into your cup people. Shorter is better. No automatic stop button? All to the better, too. You can pull whatever size shot you want.
There is not really enough room in the brew basket to do a double shot, it only takes about a scoop and a half. After looking the machine over it doesn’t look like basic maintenance would be too easy. You have to replace the group head every two years or so and that looks difficult on this machine. But all in all? Great little machine, awesome price! For someone just starting at home this is a really good place to start! I’ve been making my own espresso at home for thirty years, wish this had been around when I started.

14 people found this helpful

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OmegasWeapon

Alright Espresso Machine For The Price

Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2020

Verified Purchase

The espresso is alright, although I don't think it is 15 bar like it says it is as the espresso isn't as strong, but the steamer isn't very good. The espresso maker I had before would steam the milk very well. This took steaming it twice as much to achieve something not quite as good as the other one.

14 people found this helpful

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Sue W.

Make your own cafe-quality espresso in mere seconds

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2020

Verified Purchase

This machine makes delicious espresso with a good head of crema in just a few seconds, at a fraction of the cost of other good quality espresso machines.

My 25-year-old $20 Melitta “espresso maker” (which actually just made stronger drip coffee, not real espresso) finally bit the dust. So I replaced it with this amazon basics machine. The first one they shipped didn’t work. It heated, but the pump didn’t operate. But amazon had a replacement to me before I even made it to UPS to return the first one. The new one works great!

If you like straight espresso or lattes, the amazon basics espresso maker will fulfill your cravings. If you want REAL cappuccinos (with thick foam and no liquid milk) instead of the modified lattes they serve in most American cafes, you will need a separate milk foamer.

The pros:
Fast — 95 seconds to preheat, then 25 seconds to fill my espresso cup
Real espresso, not just stronger coffee
Nice head of crema
Incredibly easy to use
Removable water tank holds enough water for several uses.
Make either one cup, or two cups at a time

The cons:
Incomplete, poorly-written, badly organized instruction booklet. Luckily, the machine is easy to figure out without it
Milk foamer — like every home espresso machine — makes good enough foam for lattes, but not for cappuccinos.
As another reviewer noted, the used grounds are a soggy mess, not the solid mass I was accustomed to.

Notes:
If you are making 2 cups from the same grounds, do them concurrently, not one after another. Or the second cup will be weaker.
I use Peet’s Espresso Forte with espresso grind. Can’t vouch for results with lesser quality coffee.
My milk foamer is Chef’s Star (available on amazon for $37). You pour in the milk, push a button and walk away. In a minute, you come back to hot, thick, cappuccino-worthy foam. So much simpler than my old hand blender and microwave method.
Another reviewer said that the portafilter would not twist into place. I also had a problem with that once, but since it had worked fine previously, I kept trying. It turned out I had not properly seated the sieve inside the portafilter. Once I fixed that, it was fine.

Bottom line — this espresso machine is a good as any pricier machine I have seen. And making it at home is so much faster and easier than getting in the car, driving to the cafe, searching for parking, standing in line, plopping down several dollars (plus tip), and waiting for the barista to make your drink. I am SO glad I bought this machine!

4 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

You get more than what you pay for

Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2020

Verified Purchase

You don't need and expensive machine and non-pressurized baskets to make good espresso. Hamilton Beach has been proving this for years. But this is currently the best value in espresso. This little plastic beast runs circles around my Breville Duo-temp which I paid $350 for a couple of years ago. Sure, it looks cheap, it feels cheap and it is cheap but it's also a champ. I pull excellent espresso shots every time. I haven't tried the milk steamer yet so I can't comment on that but if you like espresso, you'll love this machine and this price.

7 people found this helpful

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