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Morphy Richards 47008
by Biskey
~ A Chance Encounter ~
I saw this coffee maker in a box that one of my daughters had brought back from a car boot sale.
I said, "Have you just bought that?"
"No," she replied. "I tried to sell it, but there were no takers."
"I quite fancy a coffee maker like that," I ... thought, so I bought it from her for a tenner.
In any other situation this would have been the bargain of the millennium so far.
However, it was only after I'd handed over the dosh that she reminded me that I'D bought it for HER as a Christmas present the year before. Totally forgot.
Nevertheless, as I hope to explain, this was still a very, very good bargain and the reason I'm flagging it up is that there are opportunities around to pick up a bargain for yourself.
~ Availability ~
Although Morphy Richards are no longer making the Mister Cappuccino in this form, you can still pick them up - some still new, some re-furbished and others second hand. You could, of course, buy the new, combi version, but then you'd probably have to pay top whack for it. I've seen them second hand for as little as £12.99 and re-furbished for as much as £72.00
~ What You Get ~
The basic unit comes with a 1.37 litre filler tank and spout on one side and a frother on the other.
On both sides there is a hot plate, the left hand side taking a clear jug to catch the coffee and the other taking a metal jug (with non stick interior) for the milk. There is a coffee holder and filter that fits beneath the water tank and a removable attachment for the frother so that you can clean it.
There is also a plastic measuring spoon, and of course a manual. The lead is understandably modest in length and comes with a fitted plug.
~ How to Use It ~
The clear jug has cup measurements marked on it, so use this to pour the desired amount of water into the filler tank. Replace the screw top firmly.
Remove the coffee holder by turning its handle about a quarter turn to the left. The coffee holder has two parts: the very solid one-piece handle and outer holder and the thinner, but nonetheless sturdy inner filter into which you place the ground coffee of your choice. The inside of the inner filter is also graduated so that you can judge how much coffee you need. Once you've re-fitted the coffee holder, you can adjust the strength of the coffee by using a slider on the front of the unit that controls the rate at which the water will pass through the coffee grounds.
Switch on the unit at the socket and also on the unit itself, where there is an illuminated button at the bottom that will change from red to green when all the water has passed through. Make sure that you have put either your cup or the coffee jug underneath the spout, on the hot plate. I forgot once and that was the only time the machine made a mess (understandably). The hot plate has a removable drip tray that will easily cope with normal drips and drops.
While your coffee is brewing you could froth some milk, should you desire. Warm milk froths best, so you could either put some milk in the metal jug at the beginning of the process and switch on the right hand hotplate, which has an illuminated button similar to the one on the other side, or you could heat some milk separately and then pour it into the jug. Don't make the mistake of using the metal milk jug in the microwave.
Hold the jug under the frother with the frother blade just under the surface of the milk and press the frother once for on and then again to turn it off. A few seconds should do it.
By this time your coffee should be ready.
~ So What's So Good About This One? ~
It looks good and it's quite compact, considering that it includes two separate operations.
The build is solid. There's a genuine feeling of quality about it.
It's quick.
It's easy to judge how much water and coffee to use, although as with anything like this you will learn with experience to make coffee that suits you.
The coffee tastes good. This is the most important part of all, surely? The water tank has a filter that minimizes the chlorine content, so maybe that helps.
The strength control slider mechanism means that you can adjust the strength to suit your mood or your coffee.
If you forget you've put it on, the hotplate will keep the coffee warm.
It will make up to ten cups in one go, but remember that these are quite small cups. If I'm making a mug for myself, I use two cups' worth of water and coffee.
You can use it to make a range of styles of coffee. espresso, Americano, cappuccino, latte etc. You can make good coffee the way YOU like it.
~ Care and Maintenance ~
You will need to site it fairly close to a socket and clear of combustible items on a firm level surface, but actually it does seem to put the heat where you want it - into the coffee. There's little escape of steam.
The usual damp cloth will keep the outside of the unit looking good.
If you use the frother, remove the plastic guard soon afterwards and wash it under the tap before the milk has a chance to dry. The blade itself can be wiped with a cloth or kitchen towel.
The drip tray can be removed to wash every now and then.
If you are using the machine again while there might still be hot steam inside, it's a good idea to loosen the water tank cap, before you unfasten the coffee holder.
So there you go. 5/5.
Phew! Think I'll go and have a nice cup of coffee.
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Bosch TAS2002GB Tassimo
by EmilyWrites
I was one of a number of lucky Costa Coffee loyalty card holders to receive a special Tassimo promotional offer towards the start of the year. For £30 I was able to purchase the Bosch TAS2002GB Tassimo T20 instead of the usual retail price of between £65 and £95! On top of this, Tassimo were directly offering all new customers the ... opportunity to receive £20 credit towards a drinks order if they registered their new product with them. So basically I paid £30 for a Tassimo machine and £20 worth of drinks to go with it - bargain! Obviously I was very lucky but having had a good experience with the machine so far, I wouldn't put anyone off paying the full price for this.
Getting the machine set up only takes a few minutes, not much longer than if you were unpacking and setting up a new kettle. There's a small pocket at the base of the back of the machine and in this is the service disc, and a small quick start booklet too. I didn't need to read the whole manual to get started with this, the quick start booklet was enough to get me going. After following the initial set up steps, required to clean out the machine of any manufacturing residue, I was quickly able to make my first Tassimo coffee.
To use the machine you select a pod of the hot drink you want to make, from a wide selection available from Amazon, supermarkets (e.g. Tesco) or the Tassimo online store, place it in a slot at the top of the machine, and press a button. Within less than thirty seconds your drink is made! No more waiting around for the kettle to boil for me.
The pods that contain the drinks are understandably a fair bit more expensive than if you used a few spoonfuls out of a standard jar of instant coffee, but there is a way round this. I put the service disk in, press the button to activate a 'flush through', and just discard the first few teaspoons of cold water that come through using a second cup. This leaves me with a cupful of boiling water that I can stir my instant coffee into in much less than time than if I were to boil the kettle (and obviously you can use this hot water for tea or cocoa too). It saves electricity too of course.
Everyday maintenance is fairly straightforward. To refill the water tank, I just lift it off the back off the machine and hold it under the tap, then slot it back onto the machine which is quick and easy to do. It takes no more time than filling a kettle does. I don't find I need to clean out the area where the drinks pods sit, though I do occasionally wipe the nozzle that leads from the pod holder to the cup. There's a detachable drip tray underneath the machine that is easy to pull out and rinse off, and the surround that the drinks tray sits in can also be pulled out in case it needs a clean. I haven't needed to clean the machine too often in this manner, but there has been a couple of occasions when I haven't put the pods in properly and have ended up with a bit of a mess on my hands that's needed sorting out!
Maintaining this machine has also involved a twenty minute course of flushing descaling agents through after a few months of use, though I was only required to start this process off - I didn't have to stand there and watch the machine while it did this. A flashing light on the front of the machine alerted me that this was needed, then the instruction booklet told me what to do. The official descaling tablets are rather expensive if you buy them from the Tassimo shop, but the ones I picked up from Poundland worked perfectly well!
My personal recommendations as far as drinks go include the Costa Latte and the Carte Noir Americano pods. My local Tesco stocks both of these, and while they are a little expensive at around 50p per drink, they are well worth it as a little treat. The Costa Lattes come out tasting exactly the same as they do from a Costa shop (which would set me back around £2.50). My only gripe with these is that the volume of each drink is rather small. I always press the button to get extra hot water for every drink I make as the standard amount it gives me is not enough for me.
Another little tip for making your money go further, along with using the service disc to get instant hot water, is to use fresh milk to make lattes. Fill half a mug with milk, microwave it for 30 seconds, then top it using a cappucino pod. You'll get a great tasting latte for much less cost than if you buy latte packs containing milk powder pods.
This machine has made coffee time a little more expensive in my house, but much quicker and better tasting too. I love that I can enjoy a Costa Coffee with friends at home (I've even bought the Monin Caramel syrup to make caramel lattes like Costa do!). I love that I don't have to wait around in the mornings or when I'm in a rush too. I still have a kettle for times when I have lots of company round and I need to make quite a few drinks, but I would say I use my Tassimo machine nine times out of ten now.
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