Capresso 117 05 Stainless Steel Pump Espresso and Cappuccino Machine EC50 Black Stainless

I received this machine on 10-30-2020. I had an excellent drip coffee maker - and still do - but it's just collecting dust. I have had a few espresso makers over the years, but I usually just reverted back to the good old Mr. Coffee or whatever. So when I bought this, I had in mind that it would be a special occasion thing or an extra to supplement the drip stuff. The adults in my household drink three or four cups a day on average. So I thought this would be nice to also have. Well...things have changed. Pretty much since I first fired it up. It's simple, approachable, looks good, and it just sits there, waiting to flex its muscles and provide a cup of the creamiest coffee I'll ever have. And it takes no time. It's not one of these new fangled plastic one-time use things. It's pretty ancient in its method. It has muscle. It's solid. It's steel. It works and makes me happy, for about 3 1/2 months so far... Do I recommend it to friends? Yes. Do I love it? Yes. Is the coffee awesome and fast? A thousand times yes. It's good. And as I type this, I still wonder if it will one day explode. Explode coffee grounds all over me and the other small appliances. Just burst. Blow a fuse. Be silent. Whatever. Place a frown upon my face. As my dad would say crap out. That's why my Mr. Coffee still lives beside it I think. But so far, my gosh is this a great thing. I like the name too. Capresso. It's almost like cappuccino and espresso blended together. Right? So the thing looks good, works fabulously, and I am actually sitting here AT NIGHT writing this. Crazy. You only need a little passion for details and a little obsessiveness to live with it. Here's the routine: Wake up. Go to the kitchen. Turn on the high quality rocker switch. Wait about 30 seconds. Put coffee in the filter wand cup thingy and press it down. Slide it in and crank it over. Turn the huge lever. Wait 30 seconds and watch the crema accumulate. Turn it off. Pull out your cup. Take a sip. Be the envy of everyone you know. Rinse used, spent, packed grounds down the drain. Sit on the couch and check stocks or Facebook or news as you enjoy a hot cup of frothy, roasty deliciousness. It's pretty much stupid easy and stupid good. I feel as if I could sponsor a snooty European coffee snob for a few weeks and act like a dumb American, know-nothing, football watching nincompoop. And he would secretly buy one of these when he got back to Paris. Is it a $1,100 Breville? Nah. It's a hundred bucks of game-changing perfection. It's the underdog. The frother works very well also, but for me, it's just straight Joe, whenever I want it. No silly plastic throw-away things to mention. No BS whatsoever. Just grounds all over the place and on demand, excellent espresso on the cheap. UPDATE I have had the unit for just over two years and have not gone back to the drip. In fact, about six months ago, my neighbor’s coffee maker broke down. So I gave my old dripper to him for an emergency remedy and he still has it. I am pretty sure I use less coffee grounds per month with the Capresso than with the drip. I buy Starbucks French Roast whole bean at Costco in 2.5lb bags. When they are on sale for $13.99, it’s a smashing deal, and in my opinion the best coffee there is. I grind the beans fresh each morning in a big grinder I have and although it’s a lot of work, the coffee is superb. Also the frother gets quite a bit of use. My office is right near Starbucks and so my wife used to ask me for a latte on my way home for lunch. At around $7 per cup, this was outrageous. That’s half as much as the bag of beans! So now I come home and put some cream and sugar in a cup and froth it up and it’s awesome and more like twenty five cents. The frother is good. It’s very simple. It’s also pretty loud, so you know it’s working hard. The good part for me anyway is that sometimes I do like a little cream in the coffee, like on a Saturday morning, and the frother not only froths the milk, but it heats everything up, so the milk is not cooling down your coffee too much. Here’s the routine: Turn on the unit. Pack some coffee Slide it in and crank it over Pull out the frothing wand Put some heavy cream or other milk substance in your cup When the light turns blue, crank it to froth Froth the crap outta your milk for about 10 seconds Turn it off Put your cup under the nozzles Turn it to brew Pull off the plastic frother wand cover and rinse under water Wipe the milk off the stainless wand Put plastic cover back on and swing it back out of the way Turn coffee off and enjoy that creamy goodness Like I said, it’s awesome. If it weren’t I would probably not use it much. So this unit has been perfect for over two years. SOME CONS I wish it had more vertical cup clearance. I keep the stainless drip grate permanently out so I can put a full size cup under there, and even so, not every cup fits. With my usual cup, it’s a careful tilting affair to get it out without spilling. And of course this means your cup is sitting in brownish water each time (The mechanism releases about an ounce of water from the heat block each time you brew, and without the grate, your cup sits in it). I wish the water reservoir was bigger. It’s good for about 3 ½ full cups of joe, then it must be filled up again. We have some really hard water here, so we have water delivered to the house. This means I have to take a pitcher over to the water dispenser etc. each time I fill the tank, which seems to be twice a day or more. Other than that, this thing is killer. It could crap out tomorrow and I would gladly buy another. Read more

Review of the new 117 My first 117 died. Fortunately I had the extended warranty. I knew it would likely die and sure enough, in the 3rd year it died. All the Capresso machines die. None of them have lasted 4 years. This was the first to die from electronics. It just quit powering on. The previous ones all died from some tramatic rupture of the water/pump system, spewing water all over the counter, which is why we always run it sitting in the drainboard leading to the sink. So I went to buy another 117. Why? Because we tried a De'Longhi ECP3420 and it was weak thin espresso by comparison. So we returned the De'Longhi ECP3420 and got another Capresso 117. Bad news --- these 117 machines break so often now Assurion won't even offer an extended warranty for them. You have to buy a monthly warranty on Everything you bought on Amazon. Expensive warranty. But we bought one anyway. The new 117 is even better than the old one. The pump is quieter. The extraction is better -- more crema. The electronics are slightly different. It shuts off after being in Standby for about a half hour. It also will shut off an extraction at about the 8oz mark. Fine for me, but my SO wants a bigger cup of coffee. Oh well. I know it'll probably break but it's just amazing how even with pre-ground Seattles Best I get such a good double-espresso. Tons of crema. Original review of the 117 I went through three Capresso 119.05 espresso machines in about 8 years. The 119 got discontinued so I bought one of these 117's after the last one died. (Yes, Capresso machines die. Always get the extended warranty. The fatal flaw of the 119.05 was the water line out of the pump always sprang a leak.) Anyway the 117.05 seems to have more power and a better extraction. I get more crema. I'm using Seattles Best 4 and it's a pretty good cup of espresso. Yes most coffee shops could do better but for a home machine this is a pretty good pull. Another thing about the pull is it's nice and slow. Takes about 30-40 seconds to get a double. So I don't have to flip it on and off to keep it strong like I did with the 119. Cons. It's louder than the 119. That might matter to some people. You can't buy extra portafilters. They're not sold separately, and Capresso portafilters do break -- they're cheap plastic handles painted to look like metal. Pros. There's more room for cups to fit under it than the 119. Conclusion: I'll keep buying these when they break, and build up a new collection of portafilters like I did with the 119. Read more

I've had probably 15 different espresso machines over the past 25 years. I like the ones that are pump driven, can steam milk, and I like to pack my own coffee. No pods! The prices have ranged from $1500 to $200. All of them, even the expensive ones, failed or broke within two years, even though I followed the cleaning and maintenance recommendations. To be fair, I use my espresso machine a lot every day. I used to try to fix them. In all of them, even the expensive ones, there was always a little plastic float valve, or a spring, or electrical switch, or cheap plastic tubing that had simply worn out with use. The point is, they're all the same on the inside: cheap plastic parts in a very hostile environment of steam and water and heat. About six years ago someone bought me this model as a gift. I'll be honest. I was kind of disappointed because this is one of the least expensive models you can find. But . . . surprise! This thing makes the best espresso of any home machine I've owned. Nice cremera, heats up fast, lots of steam, nice big water tank. I'm buying my third one of these now. Yes, this one, just like all the others, breaks down after two years of use. But for under $100, I have no problem throwing it away and ordering a new one. Read more