De'Longhi Stilosa Manual Espresso Machine, Compact Coffee Maker, 15 Bar Pump Pressure, Manual Milk Frother Steam Wand for Authentic Single & Double Espresso, Lattes & Cappuccinos, Tamper Included

Benjamin Burlinson United States

I have the answers to your questions. ~Now updated~ see bottom.

* I only rate exceptional products 5 stars. * This espresso machine meets my exceptional standard. * Price/function ratio is unbeatable. * Good for everyone except those brewing commercial amounts of coffee. Due to the length of this review and the sake of brevity, I will label each section for easy reference. SUMMARY Will this machine brew a cafe quality coffee drink right out of the box? Yes, but with major caveats. WHY I BOUGHT THIS MACHINE Money. Plain and simple. I wanted an espresso machine that wasn’t $500+. I just don’t have the money. I set out to buy what I thought was the very cheapest functional espresso machine to find out if it would in fact produce an espresso that was worth it. The Stilosa is it. You can’t go cheaper, once you do that, the machines offered don’t work at all, I mean, at all. They don’t have consistent pressures, temperatures and flow rates. So please, don’t waste your money on the $59.00 versions. At the time of posting, I bought the Stilosa at $99.00 on sale. INTRODUCTION When I purchased this, I knew nothing about espresso. I just wanted a good coffee drink without spending, what is now, $7.00 a cup. Since then, I have learned everything about espresso and have almost a 100 hours of study and practice in. Through lots of trial and error, I have taught myself the intricacies of espresso brewing, and believe me, it is far more intricate than you think! I also found out that many of the terms are vague and far from universal. With that said, most of what I will write aligns with as much of a community standard as one exists. CAVEAT #1 The truth is simple. This machine will brew a cafe quality drink right out of the box because “most” cafes have horrible drinks. I have discovered that brewing espresso is a fine balance between science and art. The major chains actually have very expensive machines and they still brew disgusting coffee. I have read so many reviews, and the one thing that is consistent throughout all of them is this; purists (the French and Italians), and anyone who has had a good espresso, won’t even go to the major chains. This is why. Lemon juice is disgusting! But pair it with sugar and you have probably one of the most popular drinks on the planet, lemonade. Likewise, most of us hate extra dark chocolate, because it is really bitter, but blend it with milk, and surprise, you have one of the most popular deserts, milk chocolate! Sugar balances sour, and dairy balances bitterness. What this means is this. You could run sand through the Stilosa, and if you blend it with enough sugar and milk, it is difficult to differentiate between it and major chain’s coffees. It isn’t until you start drinking espresso straight that you notice how horrific most of it is. To test this, just go in and ask for a double shot, chances are it will be bitter or sour. If you don’t know, espresso is actually very balanced and often velvety and sweet on its own. So, will the Stilosa brew a really good espresso right out of the box with no other tools? No, but…… neither will a $5,000.00 machine. Which leads me to caveat #2. CAVEAT #2 It doesn’t matter what machine you buy, none of them will take bad coffee and make it good. Again, I wanted to buy a machine as cheap as possible, with no accessories, and see if I could get a good espresso. Sorry, if you are on a budget, it’s not gonna happen. No matter what your budget is, you have to have a grinder. As soon as you are forced into buying pre-ground coffee roasted 10 weeks ago, you will only get what those products are able to deliver, regardless of the price of your espresso machine. My suspicion is, this is why major brands have such bad coffee. In the pursuit of supply chain uniformity, they lose freshness. Crema is a function of the release of CO2, once ground, these gases are escaping. It is simple science. Even with the best vacuum packaging, pre-ground coffee will lose its ability to create crema in a couple days (if not less). Combine that with stale beans and there is nothing you can do to make good coffee. Imagine trying to make a great sandwich with expired stale bread and cheese. Ingredients matter. You have to have a grinder. I didn’t want one, but I was forced to buy one, otherwise my espresso machine was just going to sit there, unused. This is of course if you don’t want to dump a bunch of sugar and milk in. I spent $50 on an Enzoo conical burr grinder, and it works great. You may say, “what about just grinding your beans at the grocery store?”. tried that, several times, it doesn’t work. First of all, those machines are all out of spec because nobody every maintains them. Second, every coffee is different and “dial in” needs to happen for each brand and roast of coffee. Third, you will buy a 8 or 10 oz bag of coffee and grind it all at once but you’ll never use it all at once. The next morning, your coffee is already starting to go stale. The good news is this. If you have a $1000.00 espresso machine, you still need a grinder. So at least you can buy the Stilosa and have an overall lower financial commitment. CAVEAT #3 It is impossible to get a fantastic espresso without adding some tools to the Stilosa. This is not so bad considering the price point of the Stilosa, because, once again, you will have to buy all that anyway regardless of the machine you purchase. This is only the case if you buy an espresso machine and not a bean to cup machine of course. If you don’t want to mask your espresso with sugar and milk, you will need the following things without exception; Grinder = $50-$75 Kitchen Scale = $15-$35 Not necessary but very helpful and time saving; WDT = $10-$30 Dosing Funnel = $10-$35 Tamping Tool = $10-$65 Espresso shot glasses Varies Puck Polishers Blah blah Non-pressure Portafilter $$$$ pricey And the list goes on. This is where espresso making turns into more of a hobby than just wanting a good cup. The accessories that come with the Stilosa will work, they don’t work great, but they will work. What you trade in money, you lose in time. You can still get a really good cup of coffee (this is only if you have a grinder and a scale) from the Stilosa with its accessories, but you will work for it. The last 5% of quality is always the hardest, and that’s where the upgrades come. If you want, budget a few things. Namely a bottomless, naked, Portafilter, with a non-pressurized filter basket. The Stilosa comes with a Portafilter and 2 pressurized filter baskets (7 gram + 14 gram). ~ Side Note Below ~ ~ The Stilosa has a very unique and interesting pressurized filter basket. More often, to maintain pressure, a pressurized filter basket will only have one hole in the bottom. The Stilosa actually has a spring driven piston that really works very well. This is an industry upgrade and I think more and more economy machines will come with this feature. You can also “hack” the filter basket if you wanted. You can remove the spring piston assembly, place the screen back in the basket, and have a non-pressurized basket. I would NOT recommend this as it probably voids your warranty. ~ CAVEAT #4 The price to function ratio of the Stilosa is incredible. But that is a ratio. More expensive machines give you things that this just won’t. You will not be able to watch or change; temperature profiles or pressure profiles, and it doesn't have a PID (proportional–integral–derivative controller), and frankly a bunch of other things you probably have never heard of. But the Stilosa has fantastic features for the price point. It has a very flat and consistent pressure profile, its group head is heated, as is the top of the machine (for heating your cup), and the steaming wand is amazing. It is also a nice size and fits very well on my counter without being overbearing. Unless you are making 100+ cups a day, you really don’t need all that other stuff. Of course, those things are nice if you have found yourself turning espresso into a hobby, but as we all know, hobbies get kind of expensive. My only substantial complaint about the Stilosa is this, there is no way to grab and hold it as you install and remove the Portafilter. I am strong enough that this isn’t a problem, but for others out there, this may be a bit of a challenge. SUMMARY Five stars all day long. This is the single best entry machine you can buy. It is backed by a major espresso machine manufacturer and they hit the mark. It will consistently produce a “better than cafe” espresso, it will just make you work for it. Paired with a good grinder, you will be able to play with all your ratios and pull Ristrettos, Espressos, and Lungos without issue. It heats fast (a little over a minute on cold mornings), has a really nice upgraded spring piston pressurized filter basket. Consistently makes “better than cafe” micro foam for latte art (with practice). You can easily upgrade the Portafilter to a bottomless one without issue. No automatic timing, which is what you want for proper pulls (time is a measure, not a variable). It is advertised that it has an auto shut off……. I haven’t see that yet. I just turn mine off after use. I also fill it with filtered, bottled water, it’s so much easier than removing the tank and filling it. Considering I have less than $200.00 in the whole setup, I couldn’t be happier. With good coffee, a good dial in, and lots of practice, you will be able to make a really good cup of coffee, better than the major chains. I would buy again in a heartbeat. THE “CATCH” This will take you to a whole new level, but you are going to earn it. Lots of frustrating moments, but ultimately very rewarding. If you just want a fast cup of coffee, don’t buy this. Go buy a pod machine like Nespresso, LOR, or Lavazza. Remember, these aren’t espresso machines, and just because they call it that, doesn’t make it true. But with that said, their coffees are moderately good. For about the same total investment, you can get milk “frothers” and a pod machine that will make your drink in 20 seconds. Dump enough sugar and milk in and you won’t know the difference. But they will never dial into the perfect, pure, crema topped, 1-2 ratio, pressure pulled, espresso. And once you have had that, you’ll never go back. Some helpful info: 51mm 2 ear Portafilter with a 7 gram and 14 gram filter basket. ~ most machines are 54mm or 58mm with 18 gram baskets. As a small side note, 7 grams was the original Italian single espresso, and can be very difficult to brew correctly. But less coffee means you can have more of it throughout the day! Steaming wand with Pannello attachment. Heated top for cup warming. Heated grouphead. 33+ oz water tank. ~ Update I stand by everything I have said. However, I decided to upgrade to a bottomless naked portafilter and that has changed everything. The dial in on a new coffee is so much easier and the crema and flavor of the coffee is so much easier to manipulate! The other big thing I have discovered is the perfect coffee. Do yourself a favor and go get Tony’s Upland blend. Brew it to a 2.7 ratio at roughly 27 seconds. Oh…. My….. Gosh…..! You’re welcome.

Kelcie United States

Incredible!

So I had purchased a cheaper espresso machine before and it was such a pain. I truly struggled just to prepare, make my coffee, steam the milk, then clean up the mess. Took me 15 minutes just to do that! This machine is much faster! Heats up in seconds, and then the milk steams in a couple minutes! A few tips that I have learned over the years of making espresso: 1. Rinse your tools! After using the coffee filter, I truly know the easier way is to dump the grounds and rinse them off. If you do have time, take out the part that holds the grounds from the handle bar and rinse that, but really you should be able to just leave it after rinsing to start. The directions recommend taking apart filter shots after a couple hundred coffee cups! And I’d rinse off the steam wand as well, milk builds up, it takes just a few seconds but saves you time! The steam wand and the rubber tip that shoots steam come right off, I would rinse those too. And finally (without touching too much because its hot!!!) I’d wipe the machine part where the hot water goes into the coffee, it gets grounds on it. Just a wet paper towel. 2. Shoot steam before and after steaming milk! They put this in the directions also, you need to shoot out some steam for a couple seconds before doing the milk because water can drip out at first! Then I like to do it again after you finish, in case milk gets sucked into the spout. It can make it easier to clean and keep your steamer clear! 3. DESCALE!!!! They recommend this after 200 coffee cups (same as the shot filters). They have their own brand of descaler, but there are others out there (unsure if others are able to use for this machine). The directions help, they say to add 1/4 a bottle of descaler to the water tank then fill the rest with water (the bottle of descaler also has the directions) then you leave the portafilter off and run the machine into an empty bowl and also spray the steamer a good bit. Then you wash out your water tank thoroughly and make another empty bowl of water to get the descaler out fully! It doesnt take too long because the machine is very fast! I just set a reminder on my phone for when I believe I’ve made about 150 cups, I never like to push the time limit products give me, just to be safe! Then I do the descaler and coffee shot filters at the same time! It’s super easy and can really make the machine last a good long time!!! 4. Get a cup for the espresso! If you like to use a large tumbler for coffee, it wont fit under the portafilter. I like 20oz coffee mugs and add espresso to it, I had an old pour cup from my previous machine, I use it then pour the espresso into my tumbler! Unless you like a small mug of coffee, then youre fine! Keep in mind, the machine wont calculate a 1 shot or 2 shot amount, You need to turn off the machine when you feel it’s an amount you want! My pouring cup has measurements on the side so it tells me when I’ve reached 2 shots! So overall, that is my experience and I truly think this machine was worth the cost!!! PS.***** added this a week later! FOR THE DOUBLE SHOT, I suggest doing one scoop tilting the scooper sideways and tapping gently, then packing it in!! Then you can do the same thing again! I recommend doing this over a coffee container or the sink or trash, it will likely be somewhat messy!!! You get the hang of it though!

Cyrus Samii United States

Incredible value that makes good espresso with some hacks

If you are interested in learning about espresso but don’t want to shell out hundreds at this point then this machine is perfect. Check out Lance Hendrick’s YouTube video about this machine to understand why it is a good buy. Here are things I’ve learned for making great espresso with this machine: I. Do not use the pressurized portafilter that comes with the machine as is. You have two options: (1) remove the pressurization component (again see Hendrick’s video) and also pull out (with pliers) the black plastic funnel component leaving just the basket and filter screen inside the portafilter. See photo. (2) buy a regular 51mm non-pressurized portafilter to use instead. See photo. The only problem with (2) is that the fit might not be perfect and so you might get some leakage. That was my experience. Doing (2) for a while (leaks and all) was helpful to learn what good extraction should look like. You get down and watch how the espresso comes out. It should come out even and creamy. It should taste good. You experiment with grinds, beans, volume, tamping pressure till it gets there. Once I had things dialed in, I went back to (1) to avoid the occasional leakage. If you do (2) and there’s no leakage then you’re all set. (If you use the portafilter as-is out of the box you will get weak pseudo-espresso with fake crema from the pressurization.) II. Get a better tamper. The plastic one that comes with the machine is awkward and feels like it can break. You can see the one I use on the pic. It wasn’t expensive but it’s good quality. Good tamping is crucial to develop the right puck pressure with the coffee itself. III. Use freshly roasted coffee that is freshly ground for espresso. Freshness has been the biggest factor in getting tasty espresso. I bought a burr grinder on Amazon that was also pretty cheap but does espresso-fine grind. It’s worked well (although I recognize it may not have the longest lifespan, we’ll see). The key has been buying freshly roasted coffee. It doesn’t have to be the most expensive, just fresh. So if your Trader Joe’s moves its whole bean coffee quickly, you might be better off buying that than the bag of beans that’s been sitting around for a month at the fancy coffee shop. The difference is huge. IV. Keep things clean. After I pull a shot I take off the portafilter and run water through to flush out the residue from the machine head and wipe it with a sponge. Maybe once a month an unscrew the filter from the machine head and rinse it out. I knock out the espresso puck and rinse the portafilter thoroughly. The water should come out looking like an even shower, no lines or unevenness. It makes a difference for the espresso. Keeping things clean helps in getting good consistency. I don’t use the steam wand, so can’t comment on that. After dialing things in I am getting tasty espresso that is as good as most coffee shops or restaurants nearby. Of course if I want to treat myself I can go to one of the more exceptional coffee shops, but now I have a benchmark to know whether they are doing anything special.

Amazon Customer United States

UPDATED REVIEW - My Favorite purchase in the past 3 years!

Updated Review for the De'longhi Stilosa Espresso Machine This is an update to my previous review. I have had my machine for several months now and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! BEST PURCHASE I HAVE MADE IN THE PAST FEW YEARS. There definitely is a learning curve if you are new to this, so it is trial and error on some things like: - how hard to tamp the ground espresso - not to overload the portafilter. - how much an ounce or two ounces is when pulling a shot - when to stop the shot because it is not automated - the ratio of milk to espresso to get the best taste for my preferences. I am obsessed with this machine! I drink lattes almost every day now instead of once or twice a month because of cost and having to go find a Starbucks. If you are new to espresso machines like I was it is a good idea to watch youtube videos, measure things properly like ounces of grind vs ounces of espresso shot, until you get used to it. But I have learned how to use this machine and can just eye amounts and get a perfect shot of espresso. I had to find a good decaffeinated espresso bean because I can't have caffeine. I found a great brand here on amazon Allegro Decaff organic espresso beans. I am so glad I splurged and bought this. ORIGINAL REVIEW I love my new De'longhi Stilosa Espresso Machine. The Good... 1. Price Point is Great ..This will pay for itself within a year by making lattes at home instead of going to starbucks 2. Very Basic Machine for beginners easy to understand how it works...plus there are youtube videos on how this machine works. 3. I don't have to leave the house for a latte! 4. It seems to be really well made and good quality CONS 1. It doesn't come with the espresso shot glasses or the milk frothing cup so you have to buy these seperatly. 2. the tamper included is really just a piece of plastic and a waste so you need to buy one..and it really does affect how your espresso comes out. so buy a good one 3. The machine is NOT AUTOMATED! what does this mean??? This means you cannot just touch a button and a shot of espresso comes out & your done... NO.. You have to start the espresso drip and watch it to see when you need to turn it off. otherwise it will just keep dripping through like coffee and you will ruin your shot of espresso. Learning how to pull an espresso shot and timing it and guessing when it is done is a learning process. It seems to me that it should be automated. That would be a basic requirement for me. if I had known it was not automated I probably would not have bought it. I don't even know if higher end machines have an automated system or not, but as a beginner it would have been really great to have. OVERALL- Good Purchase So it takes practice learning to pull a shot of espresso, getting the best grind of beans, tamping it down, how much water to use...It's a whole process, but it is fun to learn. There is a lot more involved than I realized. I made 5 shots before I started to get the timing and measurements right. I hope to continue to get better at this, and it was a great birthday gift to myself.