What an Upgrade!
I have had, used, and loved my Breville Creatista Plus using Nespresso pods for about 7 years. The machine still functioned well, but it was just starting to slow down. I had been waiting for an excuse to upgrade, got a raise at work, and decided to treat myself to a new machine. Boy, am I glad I did. I was deciding between the regular Impress and the Touch Impress. The Touch seemed to have a few upgrade, grinder, milkIQ thing, ease of use, better heating system, that I decided to pay the higher price. I am sure the Impress is an awesome machine, based on my Touch. The Touch, however, it out of this world. It took two times to get dialed in, and in less than 10 minutes, I tasted a better flat white than anything I had ever had. Sure, a lot had to do with the beans, but this machine is AMAZING. Easy set up, like super easy. Put beans in, figure out your grind size, hit the button, tamp it, put the portofiler in, push. the button, put the pitcher with milk under the frother, and done. Next day, made my normal morning mocha. first time, used half the mocha I did with my Nespresso, and it was a top 5 mocha I have ever had. For context, any city I visit, I search for the best rated coffee house. Starbucks is a last resort. I have had great coffee in many places. This machine matches any of them. The only one I know was better was at Palo on a Disney Cruise. My daughter came home from college. Made her a vanilla latte. Said it was the best she has ever had. The level this machine produces espresso and other beverages is so far above most chain coffee shops, and equals the smaller mom and pop boutique coffee shops I love. Even now, I am sitter here drinking the best salted caramel mocha, it is fall after all, I have ever had. Made my wife an americano, her favorite drink. She LOVED it. Easy to use, makes you look like a coffee genius, and looks pretty good in the kitchen. Not even worth mentioning how much of an upgrade it is over my Nespresso, which was a great machine. This machine is everything I hoped and more. For context, I used Koffee Kult beans, which can be found on Amazon. Best beans you will find. Update-It has been 6 weeks and wanted to give a quick update. First, this machine only gets better. I have heard people downplay the milk technology. To me, this is a great feature. Who knew, I didn't, that oat milk gets bitter at 150 degrees? Well Breville did. As you learn more, like using the tap lever twice as some online reviews suggest, produces a cleaner puck. Their different temps make a difference in the quality of the milk, regardless of kind. The machine is pretty clean, but you will find grinds slipping out every now and then. Not a big deal, but trying to keep it real. Something that might frustrate people, but it is the result of fresh beans, not the machine, is dialing in the grind and length of the shot does fluctuate a little. A 12 grind produces 26 second pulls one time, and maybe 23 seconds the next day. Not a big deal to me, but to perfectionists, might be a worry. Again, not the machine, but I believe it is the natural variance of fresh beans. I read a lot of complaints about the grinder. I don't know act people are expecting, but it is a grinder. I think it is surprisingly quiet. Maybe it is because I saw people write about it, but I was quite pleased with the grinder. The machine heats up quickly. It takes about 25-30 seconds to pull a shot. The milk frothing is fairly quick. My daughter went to breakfast the other day. She got a dunkin with her friends. She came home and asked me to make her something, the dunkin didn't taste good. That is my one warning, you can make amazing espresso drinks with this machine. It will change your palette. When I have meetings at Starbucks now, instead of something I look forward to, it is more ok, I will deal with spending $6 on a very average cup of coffee. This machine is expensive, but much less than some. I am not sure you can produce a better espresso shot. I know I haven't found better in even the best coffee shops. Read more
