LOVE this product after 2.5 years!
I hardly ever write reviews but feel that this product needs one. We purchased this in July 2018 and use it EVERY SINGLE DAY to make 2-4 mugs of (Americano) coffee. It makes the best espresso (it even has the crema on top!) for such a simple unit. We've taken it camping, backpacking, to friends' houses (who don't drink coffee), etc. With this we bought the Baristo Kit so we make a double shot of espresso and top it off with hot water. The unit is easy to clean and easy to operate (& builds muscle as it gives you a little bit of a workout!). I held off on reviewing this for some time because about a year ago I contacted the company to get a replacement gasket (the larger orange one) to have as a back-up in case the one that came with it failed. At that time they said that they did not sell this gasket separately. I was not happy as without this gasket, this product would not work (it would not be able to build up the pressure necessary), and this gasket is custom to this product so it would be probably impossible to find it elsewhere. Well, sure enough about 3 months ago, the gasket got a little horizontal split in it. It still worked but coffee grounds would get underneath it and you had to take the gasket off after each shot to clean it. Because we were taking it on/off repeatedly I didn't think the gasket would last too much longer. So I contacted the company again, though their website and lo and behold, they were now selling this gasket for $1 each. I ordered 2 of them (just in case!) and the shipping was $7. But it was coming from China so it took about 6 weeks to get here. However, it was worth the wait because it works just as it did when it was new, no having to clean under the gasket each time we make a shot of espresso. We are very, very happy with this little device and have put away or set aside our regular coffee makers & Keurig. One last comment... occasionally, the device for some reason does not build up pressure when pumping it (the pump handle just goes in & out without resistance). Not sure why this happens as it happens so infrequently and we haven't figured out a pattern. When this has happened (maybe 5 times in 2.5 years) I just unscrew all of the pieces, pump out any excess water from the main unit and repack the ground coffee in the pod. Doing all that has always fixed it in the past. But as I mentioned, this has rarely happened. Also, if the pump is REALLY hard to press, then either the coffee is ground too fine &/or you have packed it too tightly in the pod. If you decide to buy this little bit of heaven...Enjoy! ;-) UPDATE (4/27/21): Alas, it did finally die not long after I wrote the above review. I think a spring-loaded connector came loose and without a way to open the device, there was no way to see the problem, let alone fix it. However, we have loved it so much we bought another one when it was on sale at Costco.com. The first replacement we bought squeaked loudly with each press (totally unacceptable) so we returned that one and purchased another which seems to be working fine. It came with the Nespresso adapter which was a nice added feature as the espresso roast Nespresso pods make very good coffee. However, we still use the Barista double shot kit daily and our own ground coffee so it was still worth it to us to purchase another one of these. I guess when you look at it buying this vs. visiting Starbuck's 16 times for a $5 coffee (which both cost about the same price!), we definitely would choose this! Read more