Review is for IMUSA USA GAU-18202 4 Cup Espresso/Cappuccino Maker I am on the fence on this one. If you are looking for an espresso maker at this price, this isn't it. Realize what it is. Its sort of like a small coffee maker. This uses high pressure steam that goes through the grounds and out comes coffee. That isn't a bad thing. But you will get very little crema, if at all. I have another more expensive espresso maker that works well, but wanted to try this little machine to see if it was good or not. After cleaning it out, washing everything and running several runs with just water and no coffee to get rid of that "just made in China plastic smell" it was ready for coffee. Used the included small coffee pot - lol, and added 4 "shots" of water. Since I already have a more expensive espresso machine, I filled the "portafilter" up to the 4 cup line, and tamped it down just a bit. (Reading other reviews helped with this...note that I just tamped it a bit), and I used Cafe Bustelo espresso grind coffee. Turned on the machine and the coffee barely started coming out. Used a technique from another reviewer and turned the knob to make steam come out of the frother....when you do this once the coffee starts coming out, the water inside the unit gets super heated. Once the steam was going pretty good, I switched back to the coffee setting, and waited. And waited. Coffee came out barely to the 2 shot mark. Stem was coming out, but not coffee. Oh great I thought. Must be either I tamped it too much, or it can't handle the actual espresso grind of coffee. I ended up dumping that coffee out. Cleaned out the machine, added more water and tried again with another coffee I grind myself, not quite as fine as the Cafe Bustelo espresso coffee. Again I added 4 shots of coffee, and just leveled the coffee off with the included, scoop. Turned on, used the same method as before to try and keep the experiment even, and this time the coffee came out much faster. Nice. Some crema, but not as much as a "normal" espresso machine costing several times what this does. TASTE: I find the taste is slightly "burned" in taste. This means that the shot is taking too long to come out of the machine. I can take the same coffee grounds and put it in my other machine and it comes out fine...but then again keep in mind that I like lattes, so I add vanilla creamer and whole milk and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Is this a deal breaker? I don't think so...it is what it is. I don't have any regular coffee grounds to try, but I bet you could use normal brew coffee grounds in this and it would come out fine. Without getting into the whole "coffee snobbery" type of talk, this maker should work just fine for you. I will continue to experiment and post back results. I have also made some coffee without turning the knob to froth and the same slightly burned taste is the result. The frothing wand should work great....loads of steam comes out, but I have a separate milk frother that I use that works great. The coffee that comes out is very dark, almost like concentrated coffee....I don't mean thick, just dark, with strong coffee flavor. Not bad for the price paid. Clean up is easy, coffee is made quickly....just follow the directions to let out the pressure before trying to unscrew the top, and of course make sure it is tightly on before you turn on the machine. The porta filter connects very easily, but also make sure it is on tight. You will need to hold the maker when you install the porta filter so you can turn it. Just be aware of tamping your grounds....do it just slightly, or not at all and you will be fine. Small unit, that won't break the bank, or take up lots of counter space. Don't expect the best coffee out of this thing, so know what you are buying before doing so. Just for a second opinion, I asked my daughter how the coffee is....I make her 2 espresso shots from the more expensive machine in the morning, and she makes iced coffee with it...she said that the coffee out of this machine is stronger in taste, doesn't taste burned to her, just stronger. She likes it, so go figure. She also adds flavoring to her cup as well. Keep that in mind. One more thing...the coffee coming out of this is super hot, which is a good thing. *UPDATE* I am finding that this "Espresso/Cappucino maker" works best with using drip grind coffee. NOT espresso grind coffee. The espresso grind is too fine and the coffee will come out, but not nearly as fast or completely as the drip grind coffee. Not worth the hassle. This is not a bad thing in my opinion. I don't even tamp the grounds anymore, but have added this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KC4WF6Y You want the 51mm one, since the porta filter is 51mm in size for this machine. The 100μm is fine, and also use this type filter on my more expensive machine. Do you need one? Not really, but maybe it helps even out the steam/water. I just add coffee to the 4 shot mark, tap the side of the porta filter to even out the grounds, then drop this on top. Good coffee every time. I am finding this type machine is great at making a single cup of good coffee, pretty quickly. No pod waste, no filter waste. Simple.
