I enjoyed the taste of lattes having lived in San Francisco for many years and found myself in withdrawal when I had to return to St. Louis rather unexpectedly.I purchased the Capresso Ultima about the end of 2002 or early 2003 and was and have been fairly satisfied with this product from the get go.Here are a few things I've found in having brewed well in excess of a 1000+ cups and probably 75+ or more pounds of coffee in this machine:
1.Your coffee selection is key.If you like the Starbucks or Peet's or Border's latte taste, purchase a good dark roast.
2.Buy a burr grinder so you can get the right grind, not too fine and certainly not course. I use the DeLonghi. One word of caution, after using the finest turkish grind on my burr grinder for several cups, one day I discovered the coffe would not flow no matter how long I left the pump on.By the way, don't do this because your excess coffee simply flows into the overflow tray and gets wasted.To fix the problem I called the factory in New Jersey (I think) and was told to just return the central unit--nothing else.For $65, my charges, they sent back a new unit even though I had almost 2 years of use on it.It was returned within about 10 days.Excellent customer service.
3.If you like milky, thick foam then stick with 1 or 2 percent to get the best froth which you cannot get with whole milk or soy or rice milk for that matter.
4.DO NOT OVERHEAT THE MILK!!!This breaks down the fat molecules within the milk making it impossible to build a good froth.
5.Use a small colletor to gather the espresso and not the cup you used to steam the milk. I use this to collect the espresso and then pour it into the steamed milk.After a few cups you will quickly determine how much coffee to brew.Also, if you want an absolute great surprise, make a cappacino and let the machine brew the "crema" that seems to be the rage in espresso circles.The Ultima does an excellent job making crema.
For those who don't know, it's the tasty lighter coffee that is brewed at the end of the brewing cycle and has a wonderful milky-coffee taste.
6.The coffee is always HOT, HOT, HOT so please be careful when initially drinking it.
7.The hot water heater works wonders for the likes of hot chocolate mix.
8.I should add about the frother that you will experience a lot of steamiing water which probably shouldn't be there and disappears if you let the steamer run for a few minutes--do this in a separate container and dump the water, the steam will follow.Also the frothing wand is a two stage affair that generally heats the milk at first and then after a slight adjustment on the wand will produce a thick froth.Also, I move the cup with the milk around the wand to get good even heat to the milk.
9From a cold start, to finished cup takes about 3 minutes--the heating element works extremely fast.
10.Always use distilled water not tap.This will result in a calcium deposit which will destroy the unit.If you drink a lot of this coffee, I'd recommend buying your own countertop water distiller.
11.All in all, I could not be more happy with this machine.My son who lives in Brooklyn uses a much more expensive model, over $1,000, and it produces a great cup of espresso---the Capresso Ultima does the same at almost one-fourth the price.
12.It is because of the water wastege that I gave this unit a four star rating.
13.To ensure consistent coffee taste, do take offthe top, very easy procedure, and then rinse it under the faucet.The black, grounds container on the bottom tray should be emptied and rinsed daily after
each use.
14.If and when the time comes to replace, I'll go right back to the same unit--Love it, love it.
15.Finally, the plastic water container holds near perfect amounts of water to make approximately 7 cups of coffee.
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Capresso Ultima Coffee and Espresso / Cappuccino MachineProduct Description: Capresso "Ultima" eliminates all the inconvienent and sometimes difficult steps of conventional espresso machines: no more complications with filling, cleaning and rinsing baskets, tamping and hot filter holders. Just fill in pre-ground coffee to your liking (7 to 15 grams), pull the coffee lever down and turn the pump on. Within seconds the Capresso "Ultima" brews any size cup from one espresso to two six ounce cups of coffee always with wonderful crema on top. The double coffee spout even adjusts to accommodate different size cups.
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