![]() That cuts the heat-up time, which is typically substantial on nicer espresso machines, quite a bit. It also has an adjustable eco mode that that puts the machine to sleep after a selected amount of time to save energy without turning it off. The Diletta has a digital PID that is easy to adjust, again, with simple button presses (the letters stand for proportional integral derivative, but what a PID controller does is precisely control the water temperature during brewing). Because it’s on its own circuit, we were able to use it immediately without waiting for the machine to shift from brew mode to steam mode as we did with the Breville. Speaking of the steam wand, it’s connected to its own heating circuit, which you can turn on or off-better to leave it off and save energy if you are just drinking espresso shots. It uses buttons for all of its functions instead of switches and dials, which not only looks sleeker, but offers a much better user experience of the steam wand-toggling on or off immediately instead of manually opening and closing a valve. ![]() ![]() Machine size: 7.7” x 12.6” x 11.8” Basket size: 54mm Cup clearance: 5” Finally, the wand auto-purges after use, which is nice, but it caused a small amount of milk to spray on to the counter. It also requires a little more milk than we typically use in our drinks to work correctly because the jug needs to have a certain volume in it to trigger a sensor. And while the automatic milk steaming is a really useful feature for beginners, it comes with a couple downsides: To accommodate the process, the steam wand doesn’t rotate the way it does on lots of machines in this price range, it just slides up and down like a lever. There is no hot water dispensing function, so you’ll need to use a kettle for an Americano. While it’s possible to get a sense of how the extraction is going by just watching the coffee come out, the information from the gauge is helpful. What we didn’t like about the Breville Bambino PlusĮven though it’s really not necessary with this machine, a pressure gauge would be nice. We cannot emphasize enough how big of a plus that is in a category filled with counter hogs. And it includes a hot water dispenser for Americanos. When it came to milk drinks, the steam wand on the Solis is powerful and made terrific flat whites. Shots were nicely extracted with a striped layer of crema on top. The espresso shots we pulled from the Solis were great and in line with the semi-automatic Breville Machines- the Infuser, the Barista Express, and the Barista Express Impress. Solis is the Swiss brand behind the beloved entry-level burr grinder, the Scala and their espresso maker is a terrific balance of simplicity and customizability. As a result we’re putting the Solis Barista Perfetta Plus back on top. ![]() We still think it is a good machine, but after more than six months of consistent use, we found an issue that made us reconsider: The built-in grinder would jam with lighter roasted coffee beans (more on this below). Our top pick for much of 2022 was the flashy Breville Barista Express Impress. This is an example of how longterm testing of a product can be valuable. ![]()
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