Disappointed! (Caffe Nabucco - Caffe Otello)

Member Name: queenofsheba

Product:	Caffe Nabucco - Caffe Otello
Date:	20/09/01 (2435 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: makes nice coffee

Disadvantages: parts are easily broken

Well I thought it was about time for me to write about my new coffee machine, or rather what used to be my new coffee machine so here I go.

First off, let me tell you about what it is and what it has to offer.


Model

Delonghi BC90 Café Otello

This is a combination coffee maker, which basically means you can make three different types of coffee with the same unit, filter, espresso and cappuccino.

It comes with an instruction leaflet and video to guide you and two-year parts and labour guarantee. The video shows you all the parts very clearly and how the machine should be used and cleaned.

You get one large glass carafe (holds up to ten cups for filter coffee) and one smaller one (holds up to four cups of cappuccino or espresso coffee) both of them have plastic lids to help keep your coffee nice and hot.

Please note that from now on, the glass carafes will be known as jugs as I hate that carafe word, I'm sorry but I do.

The filters for this machine are permanent ones, so no mucking about with irritating paper ones, not to mention the added expense. With these you can wash and re-use them over and over again. The espresso one is very sturdy, but I do wonder about the one for the filter side, it does seem a little bit thin and flimsy to me. I'm not really sure how that would stand up to long-term use.

What else do you get? Oh yes, you get a hotplate for the filter jug to sit on and a lift out (for easy cleaning) drip tray for the espresso/cappuccino side. What else, oh the plastic two cup dispenser attachment thingy for the espresso maker, this clips onto the espresso filter thing so that you can pour two cups simultaneously if you want to and a measuring spoon to measure your coffee with.

A free pack of coffee would have been nice to try it out with after all the money laid on this machine, but it wasn't to be.


One of the features I like about this m
achine is, that by turning the Variflo switch you can select the strength of your coffee before you brew it, from very light to very strong or somewhere in between. All this really means is that the water you pour into the reservoir (or boiler for espresso) will come through as different speeds but it will make a difference to the way your coffee tastes. Its something you just have to try out for yourself until you find your own preference really.


queenofsheba's Rough Guide (instructions)


Starting off with the filter coffee making, which is on the left hand side of the machine. You get a lift out plastic water reservoir but you don't have to lift it out if you don't want to, just use the glass jug to fill it to the level you need with cold water, just don't overfill it there is a minimum and maximum line to guide you anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem. Anyway, close the lid and then put your coffee in to the filter, this just swings out to the side like a cupboard door. Close that bit as well and make sure you have put the jug on the hotplate in line with the spout. Your coffee should start to flow through almost immediately. I just want to mention another little feature here; as your coffee comes through you can lift off the jug, as the machine has an anti-drip valve which stops the coffee pouring through until you have the jug back on the hotplate, so you don't have to wait for the whole jug to brew, you can get a cup fairly quickly.



Next the espresso bit which is in the middle of the machine. Right then, the water boiler for this is at the top. Get your smaller glass jug and fill to the level required indicated on the side of the jug (2 or 4cups) with cold water. Unscrew the cap from the boiler and pour in the water, then screw the cap back on. Get hold of your espresso thing, (which looks like a teeny little saucepan with a wee hole in the bottom) put the filter in and add the coffee. Now h
ere comes the tricky bit, you have to fit the little pan under the waterspout with a kind of push and twist action. It will only go on one way, but it is a bit of a fiddle to begin with. Once you have got this in place, select the required strength and make sure you have espresso selected as well. You must also make sure that the steam release switch; on the right hand side of the machine is fully closed before you start so to check this, turn it clockwise until it is closed. Put the little jug directly beneath the espresso pan so that the coffee pours directly into it. Then switch it on and after about two minutes your coffee will begin to flow. Warm your cups before pouring the coffee into them as it will cool down very quickly and you will have cold coffee which is not nice. I can't tell you anything about the two cup attachment because I never got round to using it, more of that later.


Finally the cappuccino maker. Follow the instructions for the espresso maker, but you will have put more water into the boiler for this as it needs the extra to steam and froth the milk. Look at the indication levels on the little glass jug; it has a little mark like a shot of steam as the level indicator for the cappuccino making. Fill the water boiler using these levels as your guide. Brew the espresso as before but as soon as the coffee reaches level two on the jug turn the variflo switch to the cappuccino setting. If you don't do this you won't have enough water left in the boiler to froth the milk. Then you have to wait for the cappuccino light indicator to come on, so while you are waiting fill the milk tank (on the right hand side of your machine) with cold milk from the fridge to the max level and put the lid back on. When the light comes on it means that it's ready to froth the milk. Here you will be using the steam release switch on the right that I mentioned earlier. First though pour the coffee into your warmed cups and then place them on
e at a time underneath the frothing pipe. (I forgot to mention that you also get an anti-spray nozzle that just pushes onto the pipe so push that on first) turn the steam release button very slowly anti-clockwise (or towards you) and the milk will begin to sputter and froth and it will pour straight into your cup. Don't turn the steam release too far or too quickly, because if you do, your milk won't froth properly and it will also be cold. Top with a generous amount of chocolate powder and enjoy!



For me the best way to get a nice hot cappuccino was to turn on the hotplate on the left so that I could put the espresso on it to keep warm while I perfected my frothing technique (using a small milk jug instead of the cups) otherwise it would go cold anyway.


Right then that's all the uses out of the way, now let me tell you a bit more about my experience of using it.


All went well for a couple of days and one day when cleaning the milk frother (just washing in soapy water) a little piece of plastic snapped off. It looked like a fairly unimportant little square at the time but when we tried to use it again it wouldn't froth the milk at all. So I emailed Delonghi to tell them about it, and to ask for a replacement part instead of going to the trouble of sending it back for repair. About an hour later they got back to me to say that the part I needed was in the post and sure enough two days later it was in my hand. The only trouble was the part in question needs a little plastic seal to stop the milk from leaking into the machine and they hadn't sent that so I had to get the one from off the broken part. Again all went well for a couple of days and then while using the machine, the seal itself split and the milk wouldn't froth properly and was leaking into the machine once again.


I thought about sending them another email for another part and then thought again. Hamish had spent £84 on this
machine, why should we be phoning for extra parts after less than two weeks use and why are the parts so flimsy? It shouldn't have to be repaired at all at this stage.


So in the end Hamish emailed Argos where he got it from, who are giving us our money back (they wanted to give us another machine but that's another op) and they are coming to pick the machine up today.


I was so disappointed with this as it had started off so well but I do feel that the parts used were not strong enough for the amount of money we paid, even the jugs were made with very thin glass. Having said all that, Delonghi were very quick to act when we contacted them with the problem.


So its back to the drawing board where the coffee machines are concerned, paying more money for one doesn't necessarily mean you will get a better one does it?


The email address should you want it is, www.delonghi.com

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