I'm in Iran and I have the same machine, but under a different brand. Benn using it for over a year and still no problem. But boy it struggles with fine grounds(gives u black water, no coffee or crema. you need coarser coffee ) I maintain the temp with pouring and even pre-infusion. Been looking forward to see ur thoughts and I'm happy that you finally did such review.
@@Coffee_Kev over here, they sell it under the brand Mebashi ( looks Japanese). They have a dozen models. They even sell something exactly like dedica... Which works even better than dedica!!! (Consistency wise)
I use a naked portafilter on this machine with a non pressurised basket as it easily pulls 1:1 single or double ristrettos tasting magnificent. Have had my machine for about a year now. Still going super strong and I use it daily.
Great video, any idea if I can just add a single non pressurised basket to the existing wand and where I could get one, there are non many universal 51mm single baskets that I think could fit? Or would I have to get a complete new naked PF (although getting single baskets for these is also a challenge) thanks :-)
Ive done an experiment to hold temperature more steady.. Before pressing the cup button to pour watter i pressed also the steam button so it boils water and temperature showed to be stayd steady at 96 celcious. Is this legit or gimmick i did?? im very interested in other users tell me so!
Is the milk pitcher small sized? I tried to use normal sized but the end of the wand didn’t reach the half level of the pitcher. So I couldn’t make frosted milk properly with the normal sized milk pitcher.
Hi! I'd like to know how you steam milk with this for latte art. Once I start steaming the milk, the milk light goes off. Should I continue or should I wait until it heats up again. I usually get a milk too thin. Help please! Appreciate it!
Sorry for the delayed reply. Milk being too thin would indicate that you've not aerated it enough, unless there's some fault with the machine. If you have a look at the thermometre when you're steaming, when the light goes off is the temp continuing to drop or does it climb again? Cheers
Nice reviews. Just bought the Swan Retro and did not get a Guinness head but a proper crema. Maybe they improved it. My first Espresso machine so a bit to learn. Managed to make a proper Cappuccino - better than most in cafes! Maybe the the good coffee. As you say the advantage of a pressurised filter is that I used my preground Waitrose Ethiopian and it managed to work perfectly. Experiments with other coffees and the frother to come! Will try the Mod too eventually. The 2 year guarantee and 3 if you register is amazing.
If your local is serving you Guinness that looks like that you should consider changing 😋 I had one of these and it introduced me to proper espresso making. Not that the coffee it made was good (it wasn't I realise now). But the double basket stopped producing any crema at all, and my research trying to figure out why exposed me to the nuances of pressurised and non-pressurised baskets, and what goes into brewing good espresso. Though I'm very much still learning. Anyway, grateful as I am to it, I sold it and got a Bambino plus.
Sadly my local isn't serving me anything at the minute... Aggh I really want a pint of Guinness now 🤣. You make a good point, very inexpensive espresso machines like this do at least make a start into home espresso accessible. If the only entry into home espresso was an £800+ espresso machine and grinder pairing, then I would never have got into home espresso. Until you've caught the home barista bug, spending hundreds or more on home espresso gear seems ridiculous. Once you've made a start and you come to discover your gear is holding you back from honing your skills, investing a lot more on upgrading your set up doesnt seem as extreme. So for that, these really low cost machines probably deserve a bit more respect. I do think its amazing anyone can even make an espresso machine for around £60, let alone retail it for that. Cheers
Hi, I've just purchased one of the Swan Retro espresso machines; it says in the manual that "there may be noise when pumping the machine for the first time. This is normal, as the appliance is releasing the air in the system. After about 20 seconds the noise will disappear." Except that the noise hasn't disappear - it has not even got slightly quieter. Can you please advise? I've tried contacting Swan, but for any problems their online advice is to return it to the vendor (and there doesn't seem to be any means of actually speaking to anyone in what they humorously call their customer service department!) , and if there's a quick fix I'd rather do that myself. Thanks.
5:28 The crema with the original pressurized basket looks like a good German beer ;) . Will order a non pressurized one as soon as the machine arrives. In Germany, a SEMS1100B2 (same thing...) costs 49,99 Euro including shipping.
I have got really good results (eg. proper crema) after buying a cheapish standard filter basket from Amazon. Has anyone bought a bottomless portafilter that fits successfully? I have heard the Neouza 51mm doesn't fit properly.
Hi Richard, this is called a panarello or turbo frother, it's intended to make it easy to foam milk, but most of these kind of frothers only produce thick old-school cappuccino foam. If that's the kind of foam you like, then great :-). If not, just remove the sheath and use the pipe as a single hole steam tip. Cheers :-)
@@Coffee_Kev yup thanks for the advise .. now i feel the milk now much much better and almost close to cafe version.😁. just that without it abit noisy (high pitch sound)
The one touch machine has a milk carafe so it can froth the milk for you and dispense it into your cup. Personally, I usually really dislike milk steamed by these kinds of machines, usually far too much foam for me, I prefer the control over the texture that you get with a steam wand. Cheers
Hello sir, do you have any tips for frothing milk using this machine. I buy the machine base on your review, when come in steaming the milk, i always don’t get smooth and silky milk like you do in the video.
Hi :-). Practice, practice, practice. Most people under estimate what a skill properly texturing milk is - it's taken me almost 5 years to be able to produce decent milk texture, and I still regularly get it wrong. Don't forget, pro baristas get to practice over & over again day after day - as home baristas we don't have quite the same opportunity to hone the skill, so we should go easy on ourselves really and just expect it to take time - be happy when we occasionally "nail it" and don't be too annoyed the other 95% of the time (at first) when we mess it up. But with that being said - I'll do a milk steaming tutorial very soon with this particular machine, as this is something else to point out, it's slightly different with each machine. Cheers :-)
@@Coffee_Kev noted all tips you mention here, I will go easy on myself and keep practice and enjoy coffee as it. Appreciate your reply sir, will wait for your video soon. Thank you so much. 👍🏻
@@Coffee_Kev thanks for the tutorial. There’s a lot things I need to learn and practice. Even the basic and simple things can be tough for someone like me. Thank you sir.
You probably have done it but just to make sure. Run the steamer for about 5sec before putting in the milk. That gets the water/condensation out of the system. Once I started doing that the milk was much smoother.
Nice machine. I bought one. But i am still can't figure out the best ratio oz between aspresso and milk. Can u help me out of this? How many second it would take to get the best amount of aspresso and milk form as well?
In terms of shot time, using the pressured baskets this will be fast, you'll probably get a 1:2 extraction (i.e 28g of espresso from 14g of coffee) in around 10 seconds. Steaming time, I've not timed it but with a thermoblock it's probably going to be 50-60 seconds in total. Ratio of espresso to milk, completely down to you, experiment until you make your perfect coffee. Cheers
In regards to the crema, I recently bought one of these machines and also noticed how huge and weird looking the crema was with a few different pre-ground coffees. Then I tried one from a company called Italian Aroma Coffee that claims to be for home espresso machines. The first thing I noticed about it is how slowly, compared to the other coffees I'd tried, it came out of the portafilter (the pressurised one the machine comes with). It dripped slowly rather than the quick gush you show here. It also gave a much smaller and more normal looking crema. I make espresso to add milk to for various drinks, not a huge fan of it plain. Even when stuck in a latte the difference in flavour is noticeable, a much more intense and complex coffee flavour. Given how much longer it takes to pull the shot that's hardly surprising.
I've just bought this and want to buy a replacement stainless steel basket without the rubber this has. Boiling rubber/plastic with my coffee is not my idea of taste. Anyone know what I could buy?
@@dessalice are you talking about the coffee basket? Yes I found some on ebay for between £3 to £5 Was it single shot or double shot basket you needing? This is single shot... www.ebay.co.uk/itm/51mm-Single-Layer-Stainless-Steel-Coffee-Machine-Filter-Strainer-Bowl-Household-/114564693492?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286
I've been using one of these twice a day for about 15 months. a few thoughts: I've never experienced the dodgy looking crema thing that you did. I found that very bizarre to see. For me it always comes out pretty normal for an espresso. Sometimes even less crema than you'd expect. The milk steamer is really good and I've always had brilliant results from it After about a year of use I started getting some pretty bad channeling in the filter and the coffee became noticeably worse in taste. I've not been able to figure out why it now does this after so long. I cleaned the machine with vinegar (which definitely fixed some blockage it was getting) but it still channels. It may be a problem of needing to take it apart to clean the head properly. Anyway, ultimately to say, good machine for a bit until it stops working so well. I've actually gone back to using a moka pot until I consider my next move. Cheers
Cheers, this is with the basket as it came out of the box, no modding? Are you seeing more temperature spikes compared to when you were using it without the same issues with channelling?
@@Coffee_Kev hello. thanks for the response. well in the end it was as i thought - i gave the shower head a proper going-over and got a brush in there to open some of the clogged holes up again and it fixed the issue. I hadn't tried the basket mod but i went and checked your video then did it - unfortunately like others have reported the rubber seal just got sliced in half due to the disc being somehow too sharp? its really odd. anyway, i got a standard non-pressurised basket off amazon and it works perfectly. getting way way better shots than i ever did before! even using a single shot basket (using 8-9g and slightly finer grind to account for the smaller pucks). do you have any thoughts about single shot baskets and dialling in? anyway thanks for the inspiration. keep up the good vids.
If any ones bought a bottomless porta filter that's any good send me the link please! Or would the sage bambino portafilter work as it looks similar! 🤔
If it's not pumping water it could be a pump issue, or it could be a broken pipe inside the machine in which case water could be pumping internally (although you should know if it is as you'll have a wet kitchen counter) so be careful. If it's within warranty I'd take it up with the retailer. Cheers, Kev
i have a machine very close to this one... kinda more squared, but must be from same manufacturer or very close to it... and my handle broke so i had to buy a new one, cheap obviously, got a non pressurized basket, also cheap obviously, and i have a graef cm802 grinder... now i only need to find some decent coffee... the best i can do is supermarket whole beans... (i also have a cheap distribution tool/tamper to help me out, but sadly my lack of skill is the thing that shines xD)
Hi Alan, I did :-). Check out my last video. ruclips.net/video/zvw5NSNYk4Q/видео.html It wasn't just the mic, to be fair - it was mainly the fact that I've not got a scooby do what I'm doing - but improving the mic, and scratching my head a bit, and doing some experimenting, has improved the audio. I'm quite new to this video stuff! Cheers
I LOVE this! I have been trying to learn and my anxiety makes my mind so confused, your videos really help me understand and I appreciate it oodles!
I'm in Iran and I have the same machine, but under a different brand. Benn using it for over a year and still no problem. But boy it struggles with fine grounds(gives u black water, no coffee or crema. you need coarser coffee )
I maintain the temp with pouring and even pre-infusion. Been looking forward to see ur thoughts and I'm happy that you finally did such review.
Thanks Farzad, what brand name does it sell under in Iran, just out of interest?
@@Coffee_Kev over here, they sell it under the brand Mebashi ( looks Japanese). They have a dozen models. They even sell something exactly like dedica... Which works even better than dedica!!! (Consistency wise)
Interesting! Thanks 👍👍
I have the pretty same machine. (Mebashi) but i haven’t faced issue with fine grinding. But as @ukcoffeeblog mentioned, the creama is fake.
I use a naked portafilter on this machine with a non pressurised basket as it easily pulls 1:1 single or double ristrettos tasting magnificent. Have had my machine for about a year now. Still going super strong and I use it daily.
Cheers. Can you share a link to the naked pf you bought - or did you mod it?
@@Coffee_Kev any generic 51mm non pressurised basket off eBay for a few dollars will do :)
Great video, any idea if I can just add a single non pressurised basket to the existing wand and where I could get one, there are non many universal 51mm single baskets that I think could fit? Or would I have to get a complete new naked PF (although getting single baskets for these is also a challenge) thanks :-)
I just bought this. The fuck talking about? I have a lot to learn
Ive done an experiment to hold temperature more steady.. Before pressing the cup button to pour watter i pressed also the steam button so it boils water and temperature showed to be stayd steady at 96 celcious. Is this legit or gimmick i did?? im very interested in other users tell me so!
Hi sir! I just want to ask the size of the portafilter included in the coffee machine
Is the milk pitcher small sized? I tried to use normal sized but the end of the wand didn’t reach the half level of the pitcher. So I couldn’t make frosted milk properly with the normal sized milk pitcher.
When u say pressure basket, how hard should I push on my basket. I have one of these machines and always think the coffee is weak.
What's the quality of coffee crema? I am trying to make a choice between DeLongi EC685 and this one. Wets do you suggest? Can anyone advise please.
have u tried 16s-18s extraction for double shot(14g in, 28g out)
Hi! I'd like to know how you steam milk with this for latte art. Once I start steaming the milk, the milk light goes off. Should I continue or should I wait until it heats up again. I usually get a milk too thin. Help please! Appreciate it!
Sorry for the delayed reply. Milk being too thin would indicate that you've not aerated it enough, unless there's some fault with the machine. If you have a look at the thermometre when you're steaming, when the light goes off is the temp continuing to drop or does it climb again? Cheers
Nice reviews. Just bought the Swan Retro and did not get a Guinness head but a proper crema. Maybe they improved it. My first Espresso machine so a bit to learn. Managed to make a proper Cappuccino - better than most in cafes! Maybe the the good coffee. As you say the advantage of a pressurised filter is that I used my preground Waitrose Ethiopian and it managed to work perfectly. Experiments with other coffees and the frother to come! Will try the Mod too eventually. The 2 year guarantee and 3 if you register is amazing.
I've owned a Swan Retro for a while now and I've noticed that the single basket makes nicer looking crema, albeit less consistent.
What's extraction time for a single shot - 10s or less?
If your local is serving you Guinness that looks like that you should consider changing 😋
I had one of these and it introduced me to proper espresso making. Not that the coffee it made was good (it wasn't I realise now). But the double basket stopped producing any crema at all, and my research trying to figure out why exposed me to the nuances of pressurised and non-pressurised baskets, and what goes into brewing good espresso. Though I'm very much still learning.
Anyway, grateful as I am to it, I sold it and got a Bambino plus.
Sadly my local isn't serving me anything at the minute... Aggh I really want a pint of Guinness now 🤣. You make a good point, very inexpensive espresso machines like this do at least make a start into home espresso accessible. If the only entry into home espresso was an £800+ espresso machine and grinder pairing, then I would never have got into home espresso. Until you've caught the home barista bug, spending hundreds or more on home espresso gear seems ridiculous. Once you've made a start and you come to discover your gear is holding you back from honing your skills, investing a lot more on upgrading your set up doesnt seem as extreme. So for that, these really low cost machines probably deserve a bit more respect. I do think its amazing anyone can even make an espresso machine for around £60, let alone retail it for that. Cheers
What's the quality of coffee crema? I am trying to make a choice between DeLongi EC685 and this one. Wets do you suggest? Can anyone advise please.
5:20 the dramatic panning in and out of the camera in shock! 😂🤣😂
Hi, I've just purchased one of the Swan Retro espresso machines; it says in the manual that "there may be noise when pumping the machine for the first time. This is normal, as the appliance is releasing the air in the system. After about 20 seconds the noise will disappear." Except that the noise hasn't disappear - it has not even got slightly quieter.
Can you please advise? I've tried contacting Swan, but for any problems their online advice is to return it to the vendor (and there doesn't seem to be any means of actually speaking to anyone in what they humorously call their customer service department!) , and if there's a quick fix I'd rather do that myself.
Thanks.
Iv one of these and its a gem for the price😊
5:28 The crema with the original pressurized basket looks like a good German beer ;) . Will order a non pressurized one as soon as the machine arrives. In Germany, a SEMS1100B2 (same thing...) costs 49,99 Euro including shipping.
Haha, now I want a German beer!!
Thank you
I have got really good results (eg. proper crema) after buying a cheapish standard filter basket from Amazon. Has anyone bought a bottomless portafilter that fits successfully? I have heard the Neouza 51mm doesn't fit properly.
I also have this machine ... may i know during the frothing milk stage the steal cover need to remove before start froth the milk?
Hi Richard, this is called a panarello or turbo frother, it's intended to make it easy to foam milk, but most of these kind of frothers only produce thick old-school cappuccino foam. If that's the kind of foam you like, then great :-). If not, just remove the sheath and use the pipe as a single hole steam tip. Cheers :-)
@@Coffee_Kev yup thanks for the advise .. now i feel the milk now much much better and almost close to cafe version.😁. just that without it abit noisy (high pitch sound)
Nice review..
Thanks..
Thanks :-)
What are the major differences between this model and the Swan Retro One Touch Espresso Machine?
The one touch machine has a milk carafe so it can froth the milk for you and dispense it into your cup. Personally, I usually really dislike milk steamed by these kinds of machines, usually far too much foam for me, I prefer the control over the texture that you get with a steam wand. Cheers
How to clean this machine?
Hello sir, do you have any tips for frothing milk using this machine. I buy the machine base on your review, when come in steaming the milk, i always don’t get smooth and silky milk like you do in the video.
Hi :-). Practice, practice, practice. Most people under estimate what a skill properly texturing milk is - it's taken me almost 5 years to be able to produce decent milk texture, and I still regularly get it wrong. Don't forget, pro baristas get to practice over & over again day after day - as home baristas we don't have quite the same opportunity to hone the skill, so we should go easy on ourselves really and just expect it to take time - be happy when we occasionally "nail it" and don't be too annoyed the other 95% of the time (at first) when we mess it up.
But with that being said - I'll do a milk steaming tutorial very soon with this particular machine, as this is something else to point out, it's slightly different with each machine.
Cheers :-)
@@Coffee_Kev noted all tips you mention here, I will go easy on myself and keep practice and enjoy coffee as it. Appreciate your reply sir, will wait for your video soon. Thank you so much. 👍🏻
Here you go: ruclips.net/video/ls4KTxPR9GU/видео.html :-)
@@Coffee_Kev thanks for the tutorial. There’s a lot things I need to learn and practice. Even the basic and simple things can be tough for someone like me. Thank you sir.
You probably have done it but just to make sure. Run the steamer for about 5sec before putting in the milk. That gets the water/condensation out of the system. Once I started doing that the milk was much smoother.
Nice machine. I bought one. But i am still can't figure out the best ratio oz between aspresso and milk. Can u help me out of this? How many second it would take to get the best amount of aspresso and milk form as well?
In terms of shot time, using the pressured baskets this will be fast, you'll probably get a 1:2 extraction (i.e 28g of espresso from 14g of coffee) in around 10 seconds. Steaming time, I've not timed it but with a thermoblock it's probably going to be 50-60 seconds in total. Ratio of espresso to milk, completely down to you, experiment until you make your perfect coffee. Cheers
@@Coffee_Kev nice info bro👍😊
In regards to the crema, I recently bought one of these machines and also noticed how huge and weird looking the crema was with a few different pre-ground coffees. Then I tried one from a company called Italian Aroma Coffee that claims to be for home espresso machines. The first thing I noticed about it is how slowly, compared to the other coffees I'd tried, it came out of the portafilter (the pressurised one the machine comes with). It dripped slowly rather than the quick gush you show here. It also gave a much smaller and more normal looking crema. I make espresso to add milk to for various drinks, not a huge fan of it plain. Even when stuck in a latte the difference in flavour is noticeable, a much more intense and complex coffee flavour. Given how much longer it takes to pull the shot that's hardly surprising.
I got a proper crema from my new one. I think it might have something to do with the tampering. I'm learning!
I've just bought this and want to buy a replacement stainless steel basket without the rubber this has. Boiling rubber/plastic with my coffee is not my idea of taste. Anyone know what I could buy?
Have you found it? I was wondering the same. Thanks
@@dessalice are you talking about the coffee basket? Yes I found some on ebay for between £3 to £5 Was it single shot or double shot basket you needing? This is single shot... www.ebay.co.uk/itm/51mm-Single-Layer-Stainless-Steel-Coffee-Machine-Filter-Strainer-Bowl-Household-/114564693492?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286
I've been using one of these twice a day for about 15 months.
a few thoughts:
I've never experienced the dodgy looking crema thing that you did. I found that very bizarre to see. For me it always comes out pretty normal for an espresso. Sometimes even less crema than you'd expect.
The milk steamer is really good and I've always had brilliant results from it
After about a year of use I started getting some pretty bad channeling in the filter and the coffee became noticeably worse in taste. I've not been able to figure out why it now does this after so long. I cleaned the machine with vinegar (which definitely fixed some blockage it was getting) but it still channels. It may be a problem of needing to take it apart to clean the head properly.
Anyway, ultimately to say, good machine for a bit until it stops working so well. I've actually gone back to using a moka pot until I consider my next move.
Cheers
Cheers, this is with the basket as it came out of the box, no modding? Are you seeing more temperature spikes compared to when you were using it without the same issues with channelling?
@@Coffee_Kev hello. thanks for the response. well in the end it was as i thought - i gave the shower head a proper going-over and got a brush in there to open some of the clogged holes up again and it fixed the issue.
I hadn't tried the basket mod but i went and checked your video then did it - unfortunately like others have reported the rubber seal just got sliced in half due to the disc being somehow too sharp? its really odd. anyway, i got a standard non-pressurised basket off amazon and it works perfectly. getting way way better shots than i ever did before! even using a single shot basket (using 8-9g and slightly finer grind to account for the smaller pucks). do you have any thoughts about single shot baskets and dialling in?
anyway thanks for the inspiration. keep up the good vids.
What's the quality of coffee crema? I am trying to make a choice between DeLongi EC685 and this one. Wets do you suggest? Can anyone advise please.
whats the size of the portafilter?
51mm
If any ones bought a bottomless porta filter that's any good send me the link please!
Or would the sage bambino portafilter work as it looks similar! 🤔
What size is the portafilter used in this espresso machine sir?
51mm
First coffee machine, do i also need to buy a coffee grinder?
I always find the coffee tastes better with freshly ground coffee, but of course you can buy pre- ground if that is easier for you.
My machine isn't pumping any water, help... ☹
If it's not pumping water it could be a pump issue, or it could be a broken pipe inside the machine in which case water could be pumping internally (although you should know if it is as you'll have a wet kitchen counter) so be careful. If it's within warranty I'd take it up with the retailer. Cheers, Kev
i have a machine very close to this one... kinda more squared, but must be from same manufacturer or very close to it... and my handle broke so i had to buy a new one, cheap obviously, got a non pressurized basket, also cheap obviously, and i have a graef cm802 grinder... now i only need to find some decent coffee... the best i can do is supermarket whole beans... (i also have a cheap distribution tool/tamper to help me out, but sadly my lack of skill is the thing that shines xD)
As long as this works for you, That is all that matters.
Enjoy your coffee:-)
Cheers
Kev
@@Coffee_Kev sadly kinda didnt worked for me but i will give it another try to the non pressurized filter... and improve my skills... or get some 😅
It’s as good as any machine 4 times the price
YORKSHIRE!!
What kind of Guinness are you drinking???
Jesus christ 10:10 give us a headphone warning you blew my eardrums out with that beep lol
Sorry!! ;-)
You should’ve compared this to other £100 machines, not the more expensive ones you use
Please have a look at my blog post:
coffeeblog.co.uk/best-cheap-espresso-machines/
There is a section for machines under £100
Ta
Kev
the coffee machine is no as bas a your mic. Increase your sound. Get a proper mic
Hi Alan, I did :-). Check out my last video. ruclips.net/video/zvw5NSNYk4Q/видео.html It wasn't just the mic, to be fair - it was mainly the fact that I've not got a scooby do what I'm doing - but improving the mic, and scratching my head a bit, and doing some experimenting, has improved the audio. I'm quite new to this video stuff! Cheers