De’Longhi EC680M Espresso, Stainless Steel, Silver

My first impression of this machine is wow. Years ago I had a small krups pump machine, which is long defunct. I mostly drink filter coffee {Peet’s Sumatra k-cups} or cold brewed “ass kicking” blend. I drink an average of four-six cups per day. When I wanted an espresso drink (iced plain espresso or iced Americano), or a cappuccino if I was in that mood, I’d stop and have one made.Every now and then I’d look at replacing the dead Krups but there were no machines that had a decent feature set and a reasonable cost. Besides, I could just get a coffee when I wanted one.But these days, I’m not going out. I started craving espresso, and finally decided to replace my old machine.This machine had some real advantages. One was the advertised width. Counter space was at a premium, this machine is narrow. Secondly, it takes the ESE pods. My wife is never going to tamp and measure a portafilter, but she will use a pod. A side benefit is that my 12 year old grandson can make himself an espresso with the ESE pods. {I got some decaf pods.}This machine is easy enough to use that he was making himself lattes after a single demonstration, using a pitcher I had from my old machine. He is a smart kid. I’m biased. But the pods are easy to use.I set my grinder (Oxo) to fine and put in my guess as to how much “Ass Kicking” coffee to use. It made a fluffy coffee which easily fit into the portafilter using the following procedure.Fill the scoop and level it. Put the coffee into the portafilter and lightly compress it. Repeat. Then put your thumbs onto the plate of the tamper and compress. I can easily grip enough to get a good tamp without stressing the plastic tamper.I disagree with people who claim that you can’t fit the coffee into the holder. This is exactly the same volume as my old machine.Anyway, I hit the two shot button and it produced an espresso with reasonable crema. After trying the regular holder and the ESE holder, it is clear that the ESE pods are a compromise.This is a noisy machine in operation. The pump is noisy. The water heating device works great, but it is noisy, since it is basically a long tube that will cavitate. And, of course, steaming the milk is inherently noisy.The pump could be quieter. But it is no noisier than the steaming process.What I did notice was that the machine needs about three times the static width in actual use. The handle has to swing left to attach the filter to the machine, and your hand adds to the space needed. Extra space is needed on the right to use the steaming wand, and to clean the steaming wand, and to hit the power button. It is still a very narrow easy to use machine.The amount of force needed to attach and detach the coffee filter holder requires that you hold the machine in place.But this is a coffee maker, and the real question is, “How is the coffee?”There are so many things that go into that question…do you have a decent grinder? Are you using a good coffee? Is it roasted the way you like it?Finally, there are all different levels of equipment. My equipment is inexpensive, but not the cheapest. I have a style of coffee that I like, typically an Indonesian that does not have that bitter bite which is exhibited by typical central American washed coffee.My understanding is that the espresso brewing style was developed to allow the use of less expensive robusta beans. The fast temperature controlled extraction, combined with the dark roast tends to not extract bitter notes and to hide bad tastes.Applying the same method to higher quality beans should produce an exceptionally smooth brew.I decided to make a six shot iced espresso, three double pulls. I saw a decent amount of crema, and I was really happy with the iced espresso. I thought it tasted better than a drink that I would have bought at a place like Starbucks. I credit this to two things. One is that my coffee is better, and the other is that the brewer doesn’t overextract.Good coffee, and a good brewing process will result in a good beverage. I used a coffee that I know I like and I got a beverage that I really liked. The brewer could have screwed up the coffee, but it didn’t. This is the source of my wow!I had bought some ESE pods as well. The resulting beverage was not bad, but it was not as good as the stuff I made from the coffee that was more to my taste.Finally, I remember the coffee produced by my old Krups machine. The coffee produced by this machine is better.On to the other important aspect of these machines, their ability to steam milk. I have a 24 ounce steaming pitcher that I used to use, and the wand was barely long enough. I felt like I didn’t have much control over the process. I think a 12 ounce pitcher might work better. (It does, or I can steam right into a duplo cap mug.)What I got was a good result for a latte, and perhaps less acceptable for a cappuccino. The thermometer I used reported a fast rise in temperature after the temperature went over 100F, while it took quite a while to get from refrigerator temperature to warm. The foam had many large bubbles mixed with the small ones. (Technique, in doing better.)The machine is really fast. It reports brewing temperature in seconds. I never felt like I was waiting for the machine.It reports steaming temperature almost as fast.All in all, I am really happy with this machine. I can’t speak to the durability of the machine, but I hope that it will continue to produce beverages of this quality for a long time.And I am happy to be able to get an espresso at home again.After a month, I found that I had to descale the machine. A light comes on to let you know that the machine has decided it needs to be descaled. The process takes a while. You rinse the reservoir and add the solution, then fill it with water. Then you put it in descale mode and it runs the solution through the machine, slowly. You let most of the solution come out through the steaming wand, but you are supposed to turn off the wand and run some of the solution through the filter outlet (with the filter off). When the reservoir is almost empty, the machine stops, you dump the bowls, rinse the reservoir, fill it with tap water, and start the machine again. It runs the rinse water through much faster then the descale, again stopping when the water is almost gone. You can make coffee immediately.This procedure is long, but completely automatic, and need not be watched full time if you have a large enough bowl. You just need to toggle the steam outlet off and on every few minutes. The machine will still make coffee when it is in descaling needed mode.I was favorably impressed. I have descaled machines that were more automated and didn’t work as well.I continue to like this machine.