Spaced-OoooO-Out ::

I’ve been thoroughly testing a Dualit espresso machine (84009) for the last year. Yes it’s a little expensive, but it makes fantastic coffee. I really can’t fault the brewing of an espresso, which produces a great crema on top. It comes with a capacious 2 litre water container and a 15 bar pump. As a result the milk frother is first rate.

Beware that making good espresso is a very messy business. Be prepared for alot of coffee and water getting thrown around. And if you live in a hard water area, the machine will need very regular (monthly) cleaning; this means running a vinegar solution through the machine and then flushing it.

OK that’s good news. Reliability wise its been a bit hit and miss. I returned the first one after 4 months as the pump blocked. The second one has been fine so far, however I have been through six (yes six!) brewheads. The plastic “splitter” that diverts the brewed coffee in to two cups repeatedly snapped off after limited use. Would appear to be a manufacturing fault; to Dualit’s credit they simply sent out a new one, but they can’t just replace the plastic splitter. It’s got to be the whole brewhead.

That said I couldn’t live without a pumped espresso maker now and the Dualit certainly makes good coffee!