VillaWare V41006 Espresso Machine

Okay, to be completely honest I am a huge espresso, cappuccino, latte, tea drinker. I spend an average of $20 daily at Starbucks. My francisfrancis! X1 broke a couple of months ago and I was looking for something almost equal to replace it. I used to live in Europe and grew up on good coffee, espresso and cappuccino.

So I decided to give home espresso brewing another try with a pump driven machine. After many days of research I settled on the Villaware Moderno. I ordered this machine just because I used to own a pasta maker by Villaware. It was outstanding. Therefore I wanted to give this one a try. I received my box earlier this evening and prepared my first shot and it was excellent! The crema on the top was smooth enough to retain the sugar inside slowly..... Its heavy and solid and produces great foam. (15 bar)

All in all I a very happy with my purchase. The machine heats up fast, its easy to use and the foamer is fool proof. I steamed half and half for my cappucino and got mountains of very stable foam on the first try! For espresso I used the Illy pods that came with it and got very satisfactory results. The espresso was plenty hot and had a moderate amount of crema. But I understand that you get less crema anyway if you use pods. The hot water dispensing feature also works fine. I dispense the hot water into a large pyrex measuring cup for preheating the espresso cups.

It looks like my francis machine, but hopefully it will last longer than it did. This is a great deal, you will not regret buying this machine.

I did a fair amount of research on this expresso machine, including Amazon. VillaWare evidently no longer markets the V41006 expresso machine. I did find a very similar model now made by Electra-Craft called the Expressione 1385S Cafe Retro. Both machines normally retail for $380 - $500.

Having read the reviews of both products, I was really nervous about buying this machine. But, it just looks too cool to resist! The two big complaints from other buyers are:

1) Plastic portafilter handles. You get one portafilter for regular ground coffee and one for PODS. Both have plastic handles and are cheaply made. They could break if you knock out grounds with too much force. I use the included plastic spoon to clean and then rinse. Problem solved.

2) The machine continues to leak coffee after turning off the switch for expresso. True. Just turn the switch off earlier and the problem solved.

So, if you can get a good deal on the machine, go for it. It is the best looking machine I have ever seen. It works great so far. The creama is exceptional. Much better than my previous expresso machine. You also get an 18ct tin of illy PODs to get you going!