Saeco Aulika

Leaking machine – The Saeco Aulika makes a good coffee, but our machine leaks underneath the drip tray. The machine is just over a year old, but this problem started after a month or so of use. I note that others have also complained of the same problem so it must be a design fault. For the price of this machine, I would expect the manufacturer to contact purchasers about this problem and repair or replace these faulty machines  Show details

Very difficult to steam milk because of the size of steam wand – I tried to purchase a Saeco Royal coffee machine but was told it was discontinued and the Aulika was the appropriate new model. I have purchased the Aulika top speed. It just arrived yesterday and started using it today. Unfortunately although the Aulika coffee machine has two boilers they cannot be used concurrently. Also the size of the… Read more

steam wand prohibits you from manually frothing a small amount of milk.

I really cannot understand why it even has two boilers if it cannot be used appropriately. I would seriously like to return the machine and find one that can actually work with two boilers.

The milk frother is our biggest issue – The coffee is good, although not as much crema on top as I would like. Its the automatic hot milk I really hate. It starts off silky and smooth, then starts shooting out big wads of fluffy air ending up with a jug of froth, rather than hot silky milk. I hate it and wish we had never bought it after our old Saeco was destroyed by a storm.  Show details

Good coffee but some reservations – This machine makes good coffee and it is easy to adjust the grind/dosage. Despite having 2 boilers you can't steam and do coffee at the same time which I found surprising after being used to the Royal and the Magic, both discontinued. Steaming is slow and it cuts out. If you haven't finished you have to start the process again which isn't… Read more ·  1

difficult. The milk froths well. My main issue is with a leak under the drip tray. After several months the amount of water coming through was insufficient to make a coffee. It was repaired by Saeco in North Perth. A month later the problem returned and I will be taking the machine in next week. It is still working fine but I take the drip tray out at night and wipe away the water as I am concerned about rust. I live 360km from Perth so it is inconvenient to have to take it back so soon. I have had Saeco machines for 20 years now and have always had excellent service from Saeco in Perth.

Nice machine but for the price I expected so much more – After 10 years my beloved Saeco Magic Deluxe slowly started dying so for my 50th birthday I asked for a replacement. My preference would have been another Magic Deluxe or similar but alas it is no longer available. I was so happy with my original Magic after 5 years I bought a second hand one for my office & to take away with me on my annual… Read more

camping trips. My friends thought I was mad the first year and the generator groaned under the strain but my Magic is now a very welcome & appreciated member of our camping party. Anyways, getting to the real point of my post - the Aulika. A lovely machine but slow, over-complicated & fiddly. It's incessant cleaning before & after use irks me & goes through water too fast as a result. Its constant need to warm up between frothing & expressing is annoying. The cappuccinatore makes lovely froth but dissasembling, cleaning & reassembling after each use is way too bothersome and we have already lost the little rubber suction tube joint. Granted, Segafredo did send us a free one-off second hand replacement but imagine our surprise when we were told that the part is not generally available separately and can only be purchased together with the whole cappuccinatore unit. The cappuccinatore has so many small separate parts that if one were to perform the cleaning recommended in the manual after each use losing more parts will be a given. As a result we've switched to using the manual frother but that also has it's flaws. The spout is too small & short. We are a family of six so I often make a large jug of froth and getting the jug in and under the spout is tricky, it also seems to froth slower than the Magic which also had a warming tray which the Aulika does not :) So now to the quality of the coffee. We've had the Aulika for just on 3 months & we're still trying to get the taste of the coffee to our liking - it's either too hot or too watery. The Magic was almost perfect out of the box and the 10 year old Magic in my office still makes a better cup than the Aulika. Maybe we need to persist with the various settings but I must admit we've started looking around for a replacement especially since the CALC CLEAN has been coming up to annoy us after such short time in use. As I said in my intro, it's a nice machine and makes fairly good coffee but it's fussy & over-complicated and I expected so much more from such a pricey machine.

The Breville BES870XL Barista Express or DeLonghi ESAM3300 Magnifica are looking good. The Jura Giga 5 would be nice but who can justify such a price tag.

October 5th 2017 Update: Update after 6 months

Hi all, just thought I'd write an update on this machine after my initial post in June. I see this model has been discontinued by Saeco. I am not surprised. I think they must have realised the engineers had stuffed up with this one. As for my experience with it since June, nothing much has changed. It's still frustrating to use to the point that I only use it on weekends. On weekdays it just takes too long to get it going to make just one cup of coffee. I prefer to head into the office & use the old Magic Deluxe which pops it out in half the time. Imagine my surprise when in September the CALC CLEAN message appeared again after I had just done a decalc barely 3 months ago but this time it would not let me cancel it or make a coffee until I went through the agonising process. Consequently I did not use it for 3 weeks because I just didn't have the time or patience to spend half an hour with the accompanying mess required. When I finally did do it I just put water through it and didn't use any decalc fluid. My old Magic Deluxe worked for 10 years without a decalc (I use quality water) why is this machine soooo fussy? The Magic Deluxe still makes a better coffee even though I use the same beans and I have tweaked & tried just about every setting on the Aulika. If only I could get my money back on it and buy a less frustrating machine or even if they just replaced it with a better model I think I would be happier - surely it couldn't be worse. A Saeco Official from the Philips Australia Team did contact me to offer assistance but all I got was the royal runaround & no real help or offer. I can't even sell the damn thing now because of so many neg reviews. Oh well, such is life. I'll just have to wait till my 60th and maybe ask for a better one :)

Excellent! – This is a great machine for home. Makes awesome coffee... Absolutely no complaints. Machine quality is top notch. My only critique/wish would be that the one touch cappuccino would do a flat white....I'm not much into froth...This machine makes amazing frothy milk. Easy cleaning by flushing with boiling water...This halves your milk frother cleaning frequency. I love this machine, and I've had plenty of others.  Show details ·  1

Great unless something goes wrong – I purchased this machine 18 months ago and from the start had problems with the cappaccinatore blocking and the machine leaking underneath. After about 5 times of taking my machine back to the place of purchase for repairs, on the 6th time it was sent to Perth for repair and the part leaking was actually replaced. Unfortunately that now leaves me… Read more

with a rusted out machine. When I got the machine back it was also mouldy and smelly. When I complained I was told that there was nothing that could be done. Who wants a $2200 machine that is all rusty inside, not me. NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

I'm a proud Saeco Royale Cappuccino machine owner but bought this one for my son – The machine I love has been discontinued, so purchased the Saeco Aulika for my son and he is very happy with it. Just a little tip for those who experience mold growing in the coffee dregs, pour a little white vinegar in the clean dreg bin each time and no more worries!  Show reply