Hamilton Beach 40729 Espresso Machine
- Max. Power: 1100 Watts
- Operation: Electric
- Type: Espresso Machine
- Built-in Grinder: Without Built-in Grinder
- Capacity: 2 Cups
- Max. Pump Pressure: 15 Bar
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Worthless piece of junk!
Pros
Might make a nice door stop.
Cons
Life is too short to list them all.
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
Rather than waste your hard earned money on this worthless, plastic piece of junk, spend a few dollars more and get a real espresso machine.
No matter the price, this machine is a not a good value for the money.
Never having owned an espresso machine before, this machine seemed to have a lot of nice features. I purchased mine at Kohl's back in Nov. 06 for $80. A week later I found it on sale at Target for $50 and Kohl's matched the price. Thus, my adventure to make espresso at home began. The first thing I noticed was a strong plastic smell which was present to the taste of the espresso as well. As the machine broke in (about two week), the plastic smell and taste began to go away. (There is a reason for this plastic smell and taste which I will get to in a moment.) I bought fresh roasted, high quality coffee beans. Used a grinder at home for a fresh grind. Used cold filtered water. Tamped at different pressures but, no matter what, I could never get crema. The short frothing wand is a bit of a pain. I did get nice steamed milk and froth by using a very shallow coffee cup. In about a month the machine began to leak a little bit from where the metal brew head meets the plastic housing (not from the portafilter gasket which one might expect). Something internally was leaking. This continued to get worse till I finally had enough of cleaning up a flooded kitchen counter top and returned this piece of junk to Kohl's for a refund.
As I did some research looking for another espresso machine I learned that cheap coffee machines (usually under $100) are made with mostly plastic internal parts. This explains the plastic taste leaching into the espresso from the Hamilton Beach 40729 Espresso machine. Because most of the internal parts are plastic, the manufacturer must limit the brewing temperature to prevent the plastic parts from melting. This limit prevents these machines from brewing optimal espresso. Although the manufacturer attempts to limit the temperature of the machine, it is not precise. Some machine run hotter, some colder. Those that run hotter will eventually begin to melt the internal plastic parts, which in turn will begin to cause, among various problems - leaking.
I have since purchased a Krups XP 4030 from Bed Bath and Beyond for $150 and used one of their 20% off coupons for a total of $120.
The very first cup of espresso I made was hot, had crema and no plastic taste!
The lattes I have made with the Krups are far superior to any I made with the Hamilton Beach.
My Krups machine looks, feels and operates like an espresso machine should!
Never having owned an espresso machine before, this machine seemed to have a lot of nice features. I purchased mine at Kohl's back in Nov. 06 for $80. A week later I found it on sale at Target for $50 and Kohl's matched the price. Thus, my adventure to make espresso at home began. The first thing I noticed was a strong plastic smell which was present to the taste of the espresso as well. As the machine broke in (about two week), the plastic smell and taste began to go away. (There is a reason for this plastic smell and taste which I will get to in a moment.) I bought fresh roasted, high quality coffee beans. Used a grinder at home for a fresh grind. Used cold filtered water. Tamped at different pressures but, no matter what, I could never get crema. The short frothing wand is a bit of a pain. I did get nice steamed milk and froth by using a very shallow coffee cup. In about a month the machine began to leak a little bit from where the metal brew head meets the plastic housing (not from the portafilter gasket which one might expect). Something internally was leaking. This continued to get worse till I finally had enough of cleaning up a flooded kitchen counter top and returned this piece of junk to Kohl's for a refund.
As I did some research looking for another espresso machine I learned that cheap coffee machines (usually under $100) are made with mostly plastic internal parts. This explains the plastic taste leaching into the espresso from the Hamilton Beach 40729 Espresso machine. Because most of the internal parts are plastic, the manufacturer must limit the brewing temperature to prevent the plastic parts from melting. This limit prevents these machines from brewing optimal espresso. Although the manufacturer attempts to limit the temperature of the machine, it is not precise. Some machine run hotter, some colder. Those that run hotter will eventually begin to melt the internal plastic parts, which in turn will begin to cause, among various problems - leaking.
I have since purchased a Krups XP 4030 from Bed Bath and Beyond for $150 and used one of their 20% off coupons for a total of $120.
The very first cup of espresso I made was hot, had crema and no plastic taste!
The lattes I have made with the Krups are far superior to any I made with the Hamilton Beach.
My Krups machine looks, feels and operates like an espresso machine should!
