Hi all,
My wife is wanting one of these - https://www.myer.com.au/p/smeg-smeg-ecf01pbau-manual-espress…
Does anyone have experience with them? We have the Smeg Kettle + Toaster and wanting to match it all up with a coffee machine.
A few mixed reviews online of good and bad experiences.
Thanks.
I got mine on sale for under $400 a couple years back and got a red one only to match the red splash back in my kitchen. That said the coffee is great. Better than my previous Breville which costed more. It even makes cheap grind tasty. Quiet too and quite small so it’s easy to hide. At the $400+ price point, it’s a good machine.
I was then going to go the whole hog and get a red smeg fridge, toaster and kettle. But the appalling reviews on the fridge were enough to stop me dead in my tracks. So the coffee machine is as far as I’m going. I’m happy with that.
It's essentially the same machine as this by the looks of it, which often goes down to around $200 or less.
For the price paid, I think they're great and use my Delonghi daily.
Agree with you about the Delonghi machine which I researched only after my daughter bought the Smeg one. Having said that, the machine is pretty good but the steamer is a bit short and you have to take the external silver spout off if you don't want too much froth (which makes it shorter still) .
If you have soft water, read the manual and find out how to change the water type otherwise it wants to descale often and that takes some time and is not really necessary. It must be set to hard water by default
The Delonghi dedica you linked seems to be the more update model.
The Smeg appears to be the older one.
https://www.delonghi.com/en-us/products/coffee-and-espresso/…
Smeg is German for breaks down
Smeg is actually an Italian brand …
It always reminds me of Red Dwarf.
In all honesty you are paying x2 for a delonghi machine.
Delonghis can produce passable coffee but you will find it hard to get cafe quality at home with this machine.
The baskets you get with it will be dual wall baskets.
Read some more here.
https://coffeesnobs.com.au/forum/equipment/brewing-equipment…
You're better off buying a decent coffee machine rather than trying to play matchy matchy with your kitchen. You'll just grow to hate it when you know in the back of your head your coffee could be better.
this one $206 https://www.amazon.com.au/Swan-SK22110GRN-Espresso-Machine-P…
plus this $20 https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Chrome-QUALITY-3D-Self-adhesive-…
=$226
probably just as good as this machine tbh
https://www.kmart.com.au/product/espresso-coffee-machine/218…
it looks the same
but it's not pastel blue
i'm guessing that is more important to her/them than saving money or making good coffee?
Looks like an overpriced el cheapo machine.
My partners mother has one of these. While its a good looking machine, I think it suffers a little from form over function. Its actually mostly plastic, so when you lock the portafilter in you have to hold the top of the machine as there isnt enough weight to keep it from tipping over. I find the coffee itself is pretty good, but the steam wand is difficult to use.
In my opinion, if you are going to spend this much money, you might as well go a bit further and get the Ozbargain Favourite, the Breville Barista Express.