Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1412 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Brand: Delonghi
• Model: EC330S

Manufacturer's Description
The Stainless Steel EC300S Pump Driven Espresso machine offers quality at an affordable price. With 15 Bar pressure you are sure to get the best tasting espresso and/or cappuccino with no limit to the number of cups produced. The machine can operate using Ground Coffee or easy serve espresso Pods. The in built cup warmer heats your cup gently so that it is always ready to use. Not only is the EC300S easy to clean, it is also easy to use with a simple 3 button operation.

Customer Reviews

Genuine Espresso Machine
I decided to buy an Espresso machine after a friend at work bought one. I'm not an Espresso drinker but I love Cappuccino. I bought a £40 machine but found that the milk device was not a proper Pannarello system i.e. steam blowing through a pipe, but rather a heated plate with a daft spinning blade in the tube. Also the other parts seemed cheap. All my fault, I should have done some more research. I returned that item and bought the DeLonghi EC330. Now this is much more like it. Heavy and mostly stainless steel. The parts are much better quality and construction and the instructions are far more thorough. The whole thing is verging on the professional (from the point of view of a coffee novice anyway!)
Negatives - as listed below, the machine is quite noisey but I like that as it gives it a coffee shop atmosphere! The gap for the cups is quite small which is ok for espresso but you need low wide cups for Cappuccino. The steam spout is quite low so you need a small jug or have to place the machine at the edge of your work surface to get under it.
Positives - Clear and thorough instructions, professional quality feel to all the parts, easy to use (especially the included Illy pods). Makes lovely coffee and the milk steamer is so easy to use.
This machine looks impressive and gives great results and it feels like the real deal - don't be fooled by the cheaper imitations.

makes a great coffee but not without its drawbacks
I have had this machine for a month now, on the plus side it makes a fantastic coffee and the milk frother is simple and easy to use and gives a good frothy top to the coffee. There are however a(more than a) couple of downsides to it, I am not sure if these are general problems or if I have a dodgy machine.

When switching the machine on, water tends to drip from the milk frother and even if the nozzle is positioned over the drip tray, it does drip on to the work top.

When switching from coffee to milk frother, water drips from the boiler outlet (I removed the filter holder and the water was coming from the outlet rather than being the remaining water in the filter holder)At the moment I have a pint of liqiud a day in the drip tray - using the machine about 6 times a day, and the amount in the tray is increasing.

The filter holder tends to retain a great deal of water making it difficult to clean if needing to make more coffee.

The filter holder leakes when using pods

I recently changed from coffee from shop bought and used an espresso coffee bought and ground in a specialist coffee shop, and found the coffee took ages to come through with very little crema on top

I have spoken to the deLonghi help line who have said that some 'dripping' is normal but have advised me if it is excessive to return it.

I am reluctant to do this as this machine makes a great coffee, it is quick and easy to use, and it froths the milk as good as any coffee shop. Having had at least 4 coffee makers, this makes the best coffee by far.

Au contraire! A great little unit for beginners...
Sorry, but I have to disagree strongly with the previous reviewer. Having also recieved this as a gift (golly,thanks guys!), I was very impressed with its' ease of use & the quality of the coffee out of the box. Ease of use is amazing in comparison to some other machines I've tried. Espresso is pretty good at first attempts, & the 15 bar pressure surely helps here. The more I use it, the better my coffee gets. As for the free pods -they're Illy and pretty darn good for my first experience with pods, and an absolute boon for the non cafe-head...cough, my wife...yes, I do prefer to use ground coffee but it is nice to have the choice. This is a good-looking machine with a compact footprint: it makes good coffee which can only improve as you get used to the machine, and experiment with different blends/amounts etc...
The downside - the pump is noisy in operation, but at this price for a 15 bar machine w/ heated top plate plus consummate ease of use, the noise is inconsequential IMHO. Highly recommended!

Oh, and the cup size? Real coffee should be savoured in smaller cups! Who the heck drinks proper coffee out of mugs?! Oh yeah: people who think instant is best!