Better pulling out the drip tray than pulling out a 60# machine sitting under a cabinet or on the counter. So the front water reservoir is actually a major plus. You can put a alternate steam wand. Comparing it to the Breville....wow, I am not sure how to take that. Highly agree on the tamper to be more accurate, BTW, Clive Coffee has PLENTY 53-54 accessories, and from I someone said, the Breville 54mm parts work. Breville manufactures with a life expectation based on profit max, vs this is manufactured to last as long as possible based on available materials.

This is the best machine ever! Ease of use for under cabinets. I traded a plumbed with drain rotary pump heat exchanger and am so glad! Get a tamper! This machine heats up so fast and easy to use. Excellent expresso, Accurately doses shots, gives you fast dry steam, NSF commercial rating. 53 mm portafilter makes better expresso, (no channeling, and dumps easier than the 58 mm. It’s the only machine at this price point that rivals the high dollars machines with the front tank access. Chris coffee/La Spaziale nailed this one! It’s been an E61 killer (so outdated, takes forever to heat and reheat.) E 61 has too many parts and made horrible expresso for me (10years!). And if you want it to look even better, buy wood side panels, wood portafilter for an amazingly beautiful machine.

Thanks a lot for the review. Although some don't like the reservoir placement and look, if you have low cabinets and don't want to move a 50+ lb. machine around to load water, this is the pretty much the only high quality option you can find around the price range.

There are plenty of accessories you can get for those machines, I believe Normcore has a lot of different sized and nice accessories. For Steam wands with different machines, I found the size and amount of holes in the tip make a huge difference, you might have better results with a smaller hole 2 hole tip, it might take longer to steam but shouldn't run out of steam. 53 or 54mm portafilter sizes have advantages and disadvantages, the less wide but deeper basket might give you a different quality of drink, I heard it might give you less clarity, but you're less likely to get channeling or channeling doesn't ruin the shot quality as much as on a wider but more shallow coffee bed.

there is no way you can compare this machine to the breville, the power the heat on this machine is incredible. i know i have owned both.

Would love to win this lovely machine:)

For Volumetric brewing, if the grind size is too fine, is it smart enough to still end up with the right amount out, lets say 36g in the cup, or did you pull a shorter shot that time because it was trying to put 36g of water through but couldn't in the 45ish seconds the shot was pulled for.

My Rocket Cellini machine of 7 years died pump failed and looking for another machine to replace it. This looks great since I do not have to manually time the pull as this has shot does feature which is fantastic. How reliable is it?

How dare you ignore your guests and not listen to the conversation as you start making the drinks, and part way in make a thoughtful comment while pulling shots? Come ON!! LOL. I wonder how accurate the dosing is? And...does it pull a Goolden Shot?

does this machine have to be plumbed in ?

Wow that stinks no real metal tamper for an expensive over 2k machine! Hell my Rocket Cellini machine came with a real metal aluminum tamper! Anyways looks solid machine. I rather get a La Mazorcco mini but that machine costs over 5k!

Please get a better mic. Thanks for the content!

"Valvidi"