Saeco A-SP-SV Spidem Villa Super-Automatic Espresso Machine, Silver  Product Reviews

"I live in Florida and was in Italy this past summer. The company I worked for had one of these machines, except theirs was the $3K model with the refrigerated milk attached. I fell in love with Italian espresso after that. So far I have had no problems to report, but I've only had it 3 days; so far so good! I was a little nervous about being the first to review and comment. I am normally the one that does my DD and reads up before I make a purchase this large. Right out of the box I threw in some beans and water and just like magic I had espresso. The steam valve/frothing wand is great and very easy to use and clean. To prime the machine for the first time after having no water in it you have to open the steam valve and let some water come out (priming the pump). After that you are done priming. It took me 5 minutes of reading over the instructions to finally figure it out. Probably because I was excited to get going. I've made about 10 cups already. I would have stayed with the black model and saved the $50 now that I have the silver one. You will be amazed at how much of your $500 is plastic. Very much a thermoplastic exterior, but it is very easy to keep clean. I had to get the manual to finally see that this is a 15-bar pump, which works great. I was concerned because that detail was left off all the descriptions I could located on the web. The three plastic push-in buttons on the top left (on/off, brew, and steam) are simplistic in design, but for the price I would have expected more quality. Nevertheless it works very well and does exactly what it was designed to do. One last note, when I brew a cup of java and then froth my milk and then try to switch back to brew an immediate second cup I get a warning light (for overheating). The manual says to bleed some steam out through the steam valve, which only takes a couple of seconds. Then the unit allows me to brew the next cup by giving me a steady green light. That is odd, hope I do not have to do that every time. I am thinking it may be the new operator in me and it really is not that big of a deal. The unit comes with a safety thermostat, which obviously works and a boiler pressure safety switch. I am happy the unit rotates on its base because it makes it very convenient for cleaning. I get more excited every day that I use this. I hope everyone else enjoys their machine and I am sure I will read some awesome comments from others soon. They are emailing me with the brand of beans they used in that machine in Italy; can't wait to get some good beans. I will update this entry in the future and let you know how it is going. ASIN:B000VD3YFY Saeco Spidem Villa Silver Super Automatic Espresso Machine - A-SP-SV"