VillaWare V41006 Espresso Machine  Product Reviews

"I just received this machine and was excited when I felt how heavy it was. It is a good looking machine. The pump is nice and quite. It has strong steam....but the portafilter handle is the cheapest one I have seen in a long time. I have a krups machine and the handle is much much better than this. The other problem is that it has a filter basket which is pressurized. It doesnt help and from the espressos I have been making, it doesnt compare to less expensive machines. It doesnt even come with a single espresso basket. When you use ground coffee, you end up with a basket full of water at the end because it doesnt make contact with the brew head. I wanted to like this machine because of its looks, but it really disappointed in its performance. I cant recommend to anyone who knows what a good espresso is. I am not a coffee snob, I use starbucks pods in my krups and get what I consider good espresso with a very nice crema. This barely makes any crema at all."

"The machine is excellent in design and performance. However, the plastic handle on the grind holder broke, which I suspect happens often. VillaWare tells that they carry virtually no spare parts and that I must junk the $350 machine because this poorly designed and essential part broke."

"After getting poor results from a steam driven Krups 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. In addition to good reviews it was the only pump machine in this price range that did not have a boxy, or plastic look. 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. Some things worth mentioning. Cleaning: In addition to washing everything with soapy water, I ran 4 tanks of water through the system before I could get rid of that "metallic smell". Definately run water through the steam nozzle before using it. I noticed little particles of stuff coming out in the rinse water. Dripping: yes the portafilter does drip after you stop brewing but I shove a shot glass under the spout after I remove the cup and no problem."

"This machine is awesome! The thermostat is accurate and helpful, the crema is in abundance WITHOUT the "crema enhancer" piece. I read many reviews from others on different site's, some not so good; they are wrong. This machine makes superior espresso. I just returned from Italy in February, I've tasted espresso from the best machines, this one rivals them all! The tamper is fine, it's plastic but I noticed that in Italy, they didn't really use them the way you might think. It just compacts the coffee down and smooth's it. The steamer works perfectly. Yes, there is dripping afterwards, but rather than extra cleaning up, I just place a paper towel or cloth to absorb the drips, no problem. The cup warmer isn't much help, oh well, in Italy, they didn't warm the cups anyway. Follow the instructions, remove the crema enhancer, YOU DON'T NEED IT, and enjoy. Do get a conical bean grinder, it's best."