A few months ago I wrote a post about our Breville Espresso machine breaking down after purchasing it less than 2 years prior (16 months to be exact). To put things into perspective, a family member of ours has had their Espresso machine for 12 years now and it's still going strong, so a machine dying in 2 years is absolutely ridiculous and was very frustrating for us to say the least. Our experience left a sour taste in my mouth towards the Breville brand and ultimately, I would never purchase another machine by them or recommend Breville to anyone else. My wife read reviews online about Breville machines and found that many other owners had the same issue that we had; their machine started leaking after a short period of time in the same place as ours. The issue appeared to be pretty common it seemed.
Our bad luck with Breville didn't stop us from wanting another espresso machine though. Once you go down the path of owning an espresso machine its hard to go back to regular drip coffee. We started saving to buy a new one right away and recently we took the plunge and made a purchase.
I originally had my eyes on a lelit Bianaca after watching some videos online and there were a few of them in the store we went to. The store owner said that they have become quite popular lately and a lot of people have been buying them. Then he told us that they were owned by Breville and we immediately soured on the idea. My wife looked up reviews online for the Lelit model and found that people started complaining about Lelit machines leaking starting in 2020, the year that Breville bought the company! After asking more questions the store owner eventually informed us that the Lelit machines have a lot of complicated parts inside which, based on what I saw in our Breville when I opened it up, means that they are made with more cheap plastic tubing and fittings and have many many more failure points.
My guess is that Breville did the typical corporate thing. They bought a competitors brand that was a good product then gutted the internal workings and replaced them with cheaper materials to bring costs down and make the machine more profitable. In my mind, buying a Lelit was essentially buying a Breville in disguise 🥸
So we pivoted from Lelit and narrowed our choice down to two other machines with dual broilers, Profitec vs ECM. The two brands are actually owned by the same German company and essentially have all of the same interal parts. Our online research found some very minor differences between the two models that we were looking at, but the shop owner said that it really just comes down to the look of the machine and its usabilty. "Do you want joysticks or turning knobs for your controls?" Even the prices were almost the exact same and both models were on sale at the time. Luckily for us.
For us the ECM Synchronika won out in the end by a small margin. I can't even remember what cinched the deal for us.
Unboxing this bad boy. Oooo so shiny!
The one challenge to this machine is that it doesn't have a programmable automatic start timer. Actually, none of the models that we were interested in had this feature, which was somewhat of a surprise for us.
The difficulty of not having an automatic start is that these machines take a very long time to heat up before they can be used, approximately 15 minutes or more. That's a very long time to wait in the morning on a work day. I don't particularly want to stand around for 15 minutes waiting for a machine to heat up when I'm already rushed to get ready and out the door in the morning.
My wife figured out a pretty genius work around though. A smart plug to the rescue! We plugged the machine into the smart plug and then programmed the smart plug to turn on 20 minutes before we wake up in the morning and shut off about 5-10 minutes after we are done our morning coffee routine. The process has worked out great so far.
We still have our Breville grinder from before and that is working fine for now. I actually have no complaints about it.
For extras, we purchased a new sliding drawer style knock box for the used Espresso pucks.
We also bought a new rubber tamper pad for the counter.
Previously we were using a makeshift cork trivet which wasn't the right size for the portafilter which caused its own set of challenges.
The ECM machine came with a new tamper as well, which is a much better quality than the one that the Breville machine came with.
Its solid stainless steel other than the handle and easily triple the weight compared to the flimsy plastic and aluminum Breville model. Even the top little magnetic piece fell off the Breville tamper and got stuck in the machine housing slot 🙄. I don't mean to keep ranting about Breville but you can understand the frustration about spend a lot of money on something only for it to give you problems after 6 months and then completely die on you after a year and a half. Regardless, you can see the difference in quality between the two tampers in the photo.
One thing that slightly annoys me about this new machine is that the portafilter doesn't line up straight, though it's supposed to. Online it says that this can be common among new machines and will go away in time, essentially after the machine expands and contracts a little when heated and cooled. It could also be that the gasket in the grouphead is slightly too big or the basket in the Portafilter is sitting too high. Overall I think that it's a minor issue that I'm hoping will resolve itself overtime, or I figure it out myself.
For my inaugural coffee I made an Americano and it was really delicious. Since then I've had several of the same as well as a few Cappuccinos. The espresso shots that the machine are producing are top notch in my opinion.
I haven't figured out how to do latte art yet but my wife is getting better and better at it and almost made a heart yesterday. Or maybe its a tulip? Regardless, its the best that either of us have come up with yet 😆
We are still getting used to the new home set up, but so far we are quite pleased by the ECM Espresso Machine. I would say that its still too early for me to recommend it to others to purchase but I will say that its been simple to use and that the coffee it has been making has been excellent so far. We are very happy with the purchase.
I like the look of that machine. We have used a mokka put for years which makes great choice but I still have a hankering for an espresso machine. I had one years ago.
I agree on the Breville front, everything we have bought from them breaks after a short while. I think you might be on to something with what they do, just replaced the insides with cheap shit. Bastard brand that they are
I've never had or used a moka pot but a lot of people say that its a great device that makes really good espresso. It goes to show that often the most simple device is as good or superior than an expensive or complicated one. Yeah once I saw the inside of our old machine I realized how much of a piece of junk it was. It's the way of the world these days, everything is cheap but not inexpensive. I hope that we have better luck with this one.
I ask sure you will have better luck, it looks the business. I like the workaround with the smart plug. One to remember!
You should get a Moka pot too. One thing I love about it is that it is eminently portable and you can take it camping and all sorts!
Yeah the smart plug was a good idea by my wife. We pretty much needed it or I'd have to wake up even earlier for work.
Yes, I've thought about buying a moka pot for some time. I need to make sure that it works on our induction stove. I'm sure that there is a version that would since induction is pretty common in Europe.
Oh yeah, that's right, they might not. I am sure we stayed somewhere years ago where I had to put the Moka pot inside a pot to get it to work. I think that could only have been an induction one!
Haha that's a good work around. I'm sure that I could find one for induction though. They must exist! 😂
Lol. It did amuse me. But you are right I'm sure there will be such a thing!
Oh, I'm pleased to know that you are happy with your investment! Congrats on doing thorough research.
Your wife is a genius. I wish I had a timer for my manual kettle that takes a while to boil for me to have a cup of coffee.
Otherwise, this is a testament to the value of reading reviews... I NEVER do, whereas hubby doesn't buy anything unless he reads the review. I'd be hesitant to purchase a Brewville machine if, by any chance, we should upgrade to an electrical coffee maker.
Still, with an exquisite-looking coffee machine like this one, you ought to have a pop up window and dress like a barister and sell takeaway coffee on the weekend. Don't you think?
Btw, that last coffee photo is perfection. The coffee looks divine.😋
So far we are really enjoying it. Not sure about becoming a baristas as of yet though. Maybe once I master latte art!
The time was a game changer of an idea. Not sure how well it would function day to day without it.
Yeah, reading reviews if definitely worth it. I never bother with 5 star reviews nowadays since companies can just buy them nowadays. I always read the 3 star reviews so you get the pros and cons of something and then 1 star to get the worst case scenario situations.
That's a brilliant idea.
Hmmm, so you have a goal then?!
I have a modest goal of being able to do latte art. Not to be a barista though lol
The image belongs to millycf1976 and was manipulated in Canva.
Happy to finally do another coffee post 👌😄👍
It can sometimes be frustrating when a certain product doesn't meet our expectations especially with its brand popularity. Your observation about the internal parts is disheartening and especially considering its price. Hope the other espresso machine will perform and last longer as it should.
Yes, very frustrating when a device breaks down long before it should. I hope that it doesn't happen with the new machine. Fingers crossed 🤞
After reading your review, I think you and your wife have chosen the right espresso machine now, hopefully you and your wife are very happy with the choice now. Oh yeah, your wife is very smart with the smart plug idea, congratulations my friend.
I hope that we made the right choice.
The smart plug was a genius idea. It's super helpful.
Thanks!
You're welcome my friend!
An espresso machine has always been my dream, I can see that this one works great, I love the coffee that the espresso machine prepares, they come out perfectly, good work to your wife, she will soon have her heart and a tulip in a cappuccino, while practicing to perfect the art, congratulations on that purchase 🥰☕
Thank you! Yes we are both trying to learn how to do latte art. She gets more practice than me because she drinks more lattes. Buy I'll keep trying.
It's a shame you had such a bad experience with the first machine and you probably felt ripped off. I hope this new machine works better for you in the long run. That does look very nice and it seems to work very well.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us.☕
Good day.
The old machine was definitely a rip off. All I can do now is try and inform others and hope that it works out for our new machine. If this one fails then then I give up 😅
Hello friend
Sorry for your experience with the coffee machine. Hoping that this new one meets your expectations 🙌🙌🙌
The design looks very nice and you can tell that their coffees look great 😍😍😍
Thank you for sharing your experience friend 🙌🙌🙌
I'm hopeful that this one works out better. My wifes uncle still has his machine after 12 years so I'm hoping for a similar scenario lol
Breville is a brand no one should buy! It’s downright horrible. Sanremo Cube is what I always recommend people to buy, it’s a perfect machine for Home Brewing.
ECM is not something i’ve heard of though but it does look like a solid machine!
Also Loved your wifes idea of the smart plug 😂🤌🏼 that’s just genius!
Have you had a bad experience with Breville as well or just based on what others say?
I've never of a Sanremo Cube. They didn't have one at the store we went to. They mainly carried ECM, Profitec, Rocket, Lelit, Breville and a few other brands that I forget the name of.
The smart plug is a game changer 😄👌
I’ve used the Oracle Touch and Barista Express at cafes before, always found the extraction poor plus the quality needed work on. Oracle Touch worked well weirdly with darker roast and cappuccinos came out well them.
Okay I see. Interesting that the roast made a difference 🤔
Sorry for that bad experienced of your previous coffee machine and congrats for your new machine, hope it would last long.
Thanks. I hope it lasts!
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