Smeg ECF01

I've read reviews about how badly this works. I've also had bad results, but I've addressed them. When properly used, this machine delivers excellent espresso coffee. In my experience better than most cafes. Why? Simple. While trying to make 1000 coffees for the rush, cafe machines overheat their parts, get sloppy with the milk temperature and burn the coffee. I've not once burnt my coffee with this machine. Get quality beans roasted to your taste, grind them to the right granularity, press them the right amount and with consistent pressure, and you will get superior espresso from this machine. Do it not, and you'll give it 1 star as the 'coffe' s crap'.

If you are expecting this machine to produce coffee like your local Barista makes for you, then your expectations are too high. This is an entry level home machine that if you know what you are doing will make a nice brew. We have been using the ESE PODs recently for a delightful mess free environmentally friendly brew and haven't been disappointed. Remember its about the beans and the grind - no matter how much you spend if you dont get this right even the most expensive machine wont produce a good brew. Easy to use and keep clean, stylish and reliable - a good entry level system for the price you cant go wrong.

Terrible machine, doesn’t work well. We regularly descale and clean but the coffee only drips out to about 2ml and then stops. The coffee is watery. Frothed is rubbish. Tried different coffee but still the same results. Very disappointing

As a coffee snob who couldn’t afford professional grade machine at home - this has been an excellent purchase for us. We have used it for over 5 years and have never had an issue with it. Not one. Very consistent (if you have a good grinder of course) and the steam wand works just as well as any other machine we’ve used - we are no milk experts and so don’t fuss with if much.
On the less important side - it’s nice and lean so take up minimal space on the counter.

Terrible coffee machine. It’s all plastic and so light it slides around the bench. The steam arm doesn’t texture milk it just puts bubbles in it (i was a barista for 15 years so I know what I’m talking about). No amount of programming makes a decent crema.
Upon research discovered smaller applications by smeg are made in china and you can tell.
The group head is not normal size so can’t use a regular tampar. The one they provide is, shock horror, plastic. Scoop on one end it’s too light weight to tamp effectively.
Annoyed this company would their brand on something so rubbish.
The only good points is it’s small and quiet. Other than that it’s a toy.
Seriously the worst appliance I have ever bought

My machine has just started to play up. Only a small amount of water comes through either the single or double shot . I have descaled, cleaned the baskets and changed the grind on coffee beans . At a loss as to the problem

We have had this coffee machine for 5 years making at least 2 coffee’s per day and it has not skipped a beat! We removed the frother as it made too much froth for my liking however is perfect without it! We take it on every holiday and everyone always comments on how great the coffee is!

I have this morning donated my new machine to an op shop for free. Nespresso makes 10 coffees in a row with no problem. This can only make one coffee at a time before overheating. The manual says the frother cannot be used for more than 60 seconds. The frother is so slow and ineffective that it takes more than 60 seconds. Then the machine overheats after one cup. The frother stem is too short and too close to the machine. A particular type of container has to be found to make it work.

1yo machine recently stopped memorising the coffee quantity, and now doesn’t froth the milk either. It starts to froth the milk it looses all pressure and stops pumping the water and then completely stops, all lights flash momentarily and then it keeps flashing the 2x coffee cup lights. Have descaled this week.

Machine used to make one coffee per day and broke down two years after purchase, No assistance given by the Australian (brought in Australia) or the NZ agents. We thought we had brought a quality product and a reputable brand but it appears we were mistaken.

Solid reliable machine that encourages regular cleaning, more than I would normally, so that's a good thing. The controls are not intuitive and confusing to new users, but I've gotten used to them now. Overall a nice compact bench top unit that doesn't hog to much space and delivers the shots as required.

Coffee machine looks great and the coffee tastes good however the milk frother is terrible. I have been practicing for months now and trying different techniques and it’s not getting any better. I have had other milk frothers previously with no issues. With this machine the milk doesn’t get overly hot, and just fills with air bubbles. Not happy.

Love the look and the functionality-even my husband can use it although it did take him a few coffees to perfect his skill. But since he has we enjoy great tasting coffee at home. The machine is easy to use and clean and we are very excited to add the coffee grinder to our collection next.

The customer care was amazing & sorted the initial issue.
The machine works well with a few initial hiccups. Not a big fan of the frother but it does the job. Thanks

I loved my Smeg coffee machine when I bought it about 4 years ago. But for the last 18 months it has been an ornament on my bench as the coffee tastes dreadful. Havent changed my method, or coffee or anything else, but the coffee just has no taste and is very watery now. I contacted the service department and the young lady sent me some coffee pods to try and they dont work either. Its as if there is no pressure behind the water flow and its just running over the top of the coffee and out, without passing through the ground coffee? Am loathe to buy another machine, as this was so expensive to only last 2 1/2 years.