Espresso Flow (Magimix Nespresso M200)

Member Name: DocDan3

Product:	Magimix Nespresso M200
Date:	26/06/09 (139 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Compact Beautiful Design, Easy To Use, Great Drinks Produced, Features

Disadvantages: Price, Pods Can Only Be Purchased Through Nespresso

A gadget that can give you such a lovely espresso is well worth buying, such as the Magimix Nespresso M200. It is designed to produce delicious espressos in all kinds of flavours with the huge variety of Nespresso pods for sale in all different flavours. The machine is very quick and easy to use, so is ideal for a lovely hot drink on a cold winter's morning. The hot drinks taste so great that I wouldn't be surprised if addiction caused you to have one every hot summer's morning too!


The Design
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The Nespresso Magimix machine is black and grey with a very modern and metallic look. The colour scheme is named as 'Satin' and described as 'Chrome'. The base of the machine is silver, on which the water despenser lies. You can simply lift this off to fill it with water at a sink or from a bottle. The silver part has the Nespresso logo to one side on the front face and 'Magimix' on the other side. The head of the machine arises from this silver base, which towers over the metal rack where you place your espresso cup. This rack is made of stainless steel and keeps in great condition if looked after. Below this rack is a compartment that acts like a drain to hold any excess water or coffee if some leaks or if there is an overflow - this is a great feature. A yellow plastic part is underneath the rack and will float on any excess liquids before it reaches the top and pokes through a hole in the metal rack to tell you that it must be emptied. The milk frother stick comes out the side of the machine and does its job through the use of hot steam.

The head and base of the metal rack are both black. The head has a silver handle round the edge, which is lifted up to insert your Nespresso pods. As you open this, the previous Nespresso pod cleverly falls down into a compartment in the machine as the platform it was sitting on lifts up. You can then lower it a bit and enter your new Nespresso pod, before closing it, which punches holes in the pod so it's ready to be used. The head also has a handle on it, which is used to control the coffee and milk frother alongside with two buttons beside the head. The whole design is very modern and compact, so it takes up very little space in your kitchen. It can simply sit on the surface but requires a power socket nearby to be plugged in to. The plastic container is designed to hold 1.8 litres of water, which is plenty for many espressos before it needs refilling.


Nespresso Pods
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These are the ingredients for your espresso. They can only be purchased directly through Nespresso, either online or through an offline store. The pods come in long elegant looking boxes with 10 pods in each. The unit price of each pod is usually 25p, so a box will cost around £2.50 excluding postage and packaging if you have bought online. Most of the pods are best enjoyed in 25-40ml cups. In the Nespresso stores and online, you can purchase suitable cups for use with the machine and other bits and bobs such as saucers and more.

Some of the flavours include: Roma, Capriccio, Cosi, Ristretto and Decaffeinato. If you are a club member, you can enjoy the limited editions such as Jinogalpa, which is one of the latest flavours. You must log in to purchase these. Some of my favourites out there include the chocolate orange flavour, which is delicious and really brings out many different flavours. There are also a variety of lungo blends, which are for larger cups such as 110ml if you do not prefer such strong drinks. The ingredients for the machine aren't very cheap but are well worth it for the quality drinks you get. The only drawback for me is the way you must buy coffee pods at Nespresso stores or online on their site (www.nespresso.com).


Using The Machine
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The machine is extremely simple to use and does a quick job. Unfortunately, it does not have a timer so you have to keep an eye on it when your espresso is being made. However, this can be seen as an advantage as you are in full control of your hot drink and don't have to worry about automatic timers and time restrictions. You simply pull down the handle down to get your coffee pouring. It pours out due to a pump with 10-bar pressure. The coffee comes out at a good rate if you are having just a small 25-40ml cup, but does take a considerable amount of time for lungo cups. The one drawback with this is that the coffee becomes lighter in colour and appears somewhat more watery if you are having lungos as it continues to pour out. This is because the coffee in the pods is running out so you almost have pure hot water running into your cup. However, with the short espresso drinks, this doesn't happen. You will have to manually put the handle back to the central position to stop the espresso flow.

Moving the handle up will initiate the milk frother. This causes hot steam to shoot out the stick, which is used to froth milk and heat it up, which can be applied onto coffees or espressos, or even used in cappuccinos. The milk frother works very well but ours seemed to break after a while and now no steam comes out anymore. The two buttons can be used to determine the cup size of coffee you would like.

The built in permanent 'swing filter' filters your water as it comes through. Initially, you must switch the machine on and a green light will flash on and off until it stays on, and the machine makes a sound rather like a kettle boiling, which tells you that it is ready to use. The water sits in the container but as it runs through to your cup, it is mysteriously heated up to a hot temperature and filtered, which is great technology and saves hot water boiling in the container. The machine makes a slight noise when in use, but it is barely noticeable and not annoying whatsoever. The black base with the metal rack where your cup is placed slides out so you can empty used pods, which can be poured out of the compartment. You can also do this to empty excess liquids in your coffee machine, which flow through another hole to save messiness when you are emptying both used pods and excess liquids. Overall, the machine is very easy to use and easy to maintain too.


Price & Availibility
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The actual machine currently costs £225.10 on amazon.co.uk. This is quite a hefty price, but for such a well-built, reliable and quality machine, it's not a bad price at all. We have had our machine for a long time and it still works perfectly apart from the milk froth function. The machine can be purchased online on a variety of sites that sell kitchen electronics, household appliances and it can also be purchased through Nespresso themselves. As I mentioned earlier, the coffee pods can only be purchased through Nespresso, which can be found at www.nespresso.com and they have stores worldwide including in London.

If you do become a Nespresso Club member, you are entitled to limited edition pods as well as many other gifts. We lately ordered a whole bunch of coffee pods online and they sent us two boxes of elegant Nespresso chocolates absolutely free of charge. If you are going to make great use of the product, I would highly recommend becoming a member of the Nespresso Club.


Final Words
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This machine was well worth the buy and we have made great use out of it with everyday use. It produces lovely coffee and works very well. The whole Nespresso range is very elegant and definitely the best quality you will find. Their drinks give you a real energetic boost in the mornings and are quick and easy to prepare. The use of the milk frother is excellent too in producing other drinks of frothed milk for other uses. The design is brilliant and very compact, weighing in at only 9kg, this appliance can comfortably bit on your kitchen surface taking up minimum space. I would definitely recommend you visit a Nespresso store to realise the full beauty of this product and the wonderful tastes of the espressos.


Please visit: www.nespresso.com for more information

Thanks for reading,

Dan ©

Summary: A superb machine, which produces delicious espressos and is quick and easy to use

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