The Coffee Maker Store
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FrancisFrancis! X1 Espresso Machine, Red |
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Your price: $799.95
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- Ideal for making coffee specialty drinks at home; hot water dispenser for tea
- Temperature gauge provides precise control; steam nozzle heats milk to make cappuccinos
- Circular wire holder on top warms inverted coffee cups
- For use with packaged coffee pods or ground coffee; powder-coated steel finish
- Measures 10 by 10-1/4 by 12 inches; 3-month product warranty; 1-year service warranty
Nice looking, makes great coffee
Rating: 
Makes great coffee, but it takes a bit of practice to perfect the technique. It took me a while to figure these things out:
*Espresso beans need to be freshly roasted, and ground in a burr grinder, not a blade grinder.
*The cup warmer rack on top of the machine looks good, but is basically useless. The best way to warm you cup is run a "blank shot" (sans filter basket) through the machine thus warming the filter holder and your cup as well. It is important to have these two pre warmed so you won't have to microwave your espresso as one of the earlier reviewers had to do.
*Always steam your milk prior to making the coffee- I thought the machine did an average, and not exceptional job doing this
*It takes a bit of trial and error but don't over tamp or under tamp the ground coffee in the filter basket. Overtamp and the coffee won't flow through the basket. Under tamp and you won't get any of the all important "crema".
*Skip the ESE pods- 1) its cheating and 2)they only can make single servings- putting together 2 capaccinos would be a logistical nightmare
*Wipe the filter holder gasket with a paper towel after every use to prevent clogging
*Decalcify the machine every 3 months
Seems like a bit of work, but once I followed these steps I had consistantly excellent coffee. The only other beef I had was that extra single filter baskets are not available for purchase separately (without filter holders).
