Sunbeam Cafe Series EM7100

Its alright machine i like the extra cup part that does pods thats about it but the expresso loses its pressure to mutch for me shouldve gone with another machine its okay but i do like the steam seperate from the water presser for coffee pumps

Backflow valve design prone to failing. Mechanical fault. After 3 replacements I've given up. The milk temperature gauge is a lie. It shows time not temperature. Heat the milk and turn the steam off and on quickly. The gauge resets and starts slowly counting again and does not reflect the milk temperature. The drip tray is poorly designed resulting in constant mess. The water reservoir is so badly designed the "out of water" alarm goes off with anything less than a litre in it. Tollerance for grind is terrible. The slightest difference in tamping will take it from no crema to totally blocked.

Makes me miss my old em6900.

Honestly the best coffee machine I have owned. I liked it so much I bought the newer version of the same machine after the last one started to make a few noises after 5 years of heavy use. This version has made min 3-4 cups a day for the last 2 years and is very easy to use. Heats up quick, easy to fill, and with twin heaters you can steam and pour a shot at the same time.. highly recommended

This machine is my life savour. Every morning I come out switch t on and within a couple of
Minutes it has heated. I grind my beans and place the handle ready to pour. Press a button and out comes coffee. There is a little gage with red and green and the dial will always be between the green, which I know tells me it’s perfect to pour. I have never had a bad coffee, the coffee is always consistent pours smoothly and easily. Frothing milk has never been easier as well. The little temp gage tells you when it is the perfect temp. So no more burning your hands whilst trying to figure out if it’s good enough. I love this machine, can’t believe how easy t is to use.

Our old Sunbeam Espresso Vita finally carked it six weeks ago and we have replaced it with the EM7100. We were so impressed with the old one ( see my previous review - if it still exists ) that for us, there was no other choice but to go with a Sunbeam.
The only criteria that concerned me was our new machine had to have a twin pump and thermo block ...this allows me to be extracting at the same time as im frothing the milk... multiple cups for a group of friends becomes much faster as there is no "swapping function" down-time. Other reviewers have said slightly negative things about their coffees from this machine but believe me this is a truly superb machine that makes awesome coffee, cup after cup after cup. If you dont get that same result you arent doing something right. Check the operators manual - if your beans are ground too fine/coarse the gauge shows you, theres another gauge for milk temperature so you cant really mess that up either honestly its so easy to use I love it. Its simple design is very easy to clean, easy to top fill and it takes up a small amount of bench space for such a feature-packed machine. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it and congratulate Sunbeam on producing such a great machine. Get one - youll love it too.

Was so pleased to find this machine that can do both pods and ground coffee. I didn't realise it was possible.
We really do use both. Pods for a quick blast and grounds when we have the time. That way I can still enjoy my favorite flavored pods and experiment with different coffee roasters. Adding cuppocinno milk is really fun but watch it! That steam wand packs some power. I got milk all over the bench the first time. We have already enjoyed this heaps and only had it three months.

I recently got one of these coffee machines after the previous one died on us. It's got a pretty powerful steam wand, which has taken some time to get the hang of as sometimes the milk gets too hot before I am able to get a decent froth. The espresso I get can't be faulted. I like that I am able to do the espresso and steam the milk at the same time. I haven't used the pod functionality on it so can't comment on that.

This machine has met my morning espresso expectations. Aromatic coffee even with supermarket beans. A good refinement over my EM6900 which still works after 10 years. The thermoblock EM7100 is fast to heat up (over a boiler machine) and easy to cleaner. The machine prefers well ground beans so invest in a decent grinder too. If want to progress beyond the huge shortcomings of a pod machine this is good place to start. Recommended.

We researched well before purchasing the EM7 100, being able to use pods and beans was the extra incentive to buy this model. Coffee tastes great from the pods all of the time. Learning how to grind and tamper the beans perfectly is a challenge. It's been a month of trial and error but I think the hubby has perfected it. I'm still learning.

Was in the market for a coffee machine but we couldn't decide if we wanted pods pr beans. This one was perfect. The fact it can do pods as well as beans is amazing and it can adapt to 3 different brands. Easy to use and well worth the money!

I use the pods when I’m in a rush and beans when I have time and don’t mind making a mess. The fact you can interchange between was a big plus for me but make perfect coffee every time. You do have to get the grind right for it to be a perfect coffee but after some trial and error it’s all sorted.

We had the first version of this machine, which lasted 4 years of being used every day, and recently upgraded to the next model. I am a barista by trade and am very happy that the steam wand makes fantastic milk every time, even my 8 year old daughter can use it!

I was recommended this product from a friend who insisted I spend that little bit extra for a machine that would produce great quality coffee and last years. I was so glad I listened, originally was looking at the EM7000 but purchased this model as it was on special. Although I don't use the pod extension, I can vouch that the machine produces a quality espresso made from freshly ground Coffee Cartel beans. Easy to use, once you know what to do and easy to clean. Highly impressed.

I searched for 2 years to find the perfect coffee machine. I wanted the milk frother built in, I wanted the machine to use ground coffee and pods and I wanted to produce hot coffee. Too many machines make luke warm coffee.
After two years I came across the Sunbeam EM7100 and I couldn't be happier. I used to purchase a coffee from the cafe across the road each morning. I haven't bought one since I purchased this machine. The coffee is even better than at the cafe! Cant fault it.

After upgrading to this machine I was expecting big things
Most of the basics are great but the Group handle gives constant problems
When using single bottom baskets you can not produce any crema no mater how fine you grind or hard you tamper coffee pours out fast and watery
You get a good crema when using double bottom baskets except when using the 2 cup only half of the pour comes out of the group handle making a mess when removing the handle ( drives me crazy )
Im tempted to try a handle from another machine to see if its the handle and basket design

I purchased this coffee machine to replace a 2 year old "reworked" EM6190 where the pump failed. I make a soy latte for myself daily, and for family about once - twice per week. I have used this unit for 1 week. I didn't buy this for the capsule functionality, it just so happened the EM7100 was on special and cost less than the EM7000, so buying more for less is better - right ?

The EM7100 makes great coffee, and brings out the flavour of the coffee bean being used even better than the EM6190 (which already is a competent espresso machine). It is a semi-automatic machine, which means your choice of beans, along with your barista technique (bean / grind freshness; coarseness of grind; correct amount of coffee; tamping) will drive the outcome of the quality of the coffee the EM7100 will make.

For Sunbeam upgraders:
+ It's quiet - no more waking and shaking up the house in the morning
+ Milk steaming wand has a proper rubber sheath - no more accidental burns from brushing against the wand
+ Steaming wand has been turned down a notch (slightly less, but smoother pressure). This is great for flat white and latte lovers where you want some froth, but not too much froth - not so great for cappuccino lovers, where a bit more work is required to create loads of smooth froth.
+ Pressure gauge has been recalibrated so that the green zone is the actual sweet spot for great coffee (the amber zone on the EM6910 made for an ordinary coffee, where I was targeting to get just over the recommended zone)
+ Group head has been changed so you can't overtighten anymore
+ Pump / Thermoblock has pre-infusion programming which overcomes some of the limitations of using a Thermoblock rather than boilers

- Uses polished stainless steel. Looks outstanding, but highlights dust and smears in a big way. Cleaning the unit is more challenging
- You need to benchmark the milk temperature gauge against a thermometer. The green zone is good for milk, where I have estimated the beginning of the green zone is 70 deg. For soy, the 60 deg mark is 4 notches away from the green zone. You can tell from the way I am describing this thermometer, there are no numerics marked on the gauge

Some other notes:
. While the use of thermoblocks to heat water is fast and efficient, the way the pumps work with the blocks results in these machines not being able to create the level of crema a commercial espresso machine that uses boilers can create. This means you won't be able to match a skilled barista using a quality coffee on a commercial machine, but with the right coffee making techniques, you will make better coffee than the vast majority of cafes churn out. That's just because the EM7100 comes close to being of commercial grade, and the care factor. It's unlikely you'll short change yourself on the quality or amount of coffee, and you should be determined to experiment to get the technique right.
. One technique for making coffee that is specific to Sunbeam is the double tamp process, where you fill up the head with ground coffee once, light tamp to compress, and then fill again, proper tamp, where the ideal fill after tamping is you should be able to see half of the steel that lines the tamper. This process is described in the instruction manual using mm. It's important that you get this measure right, and does require practice, as you'll be eyeballing all the quantities. Under tamping or underfilling the basket does make for a sub-standard coffee using the EM7100.
. Do experiment with the coarseness of the grind, as this will change with the beans used (i.e. every time you open up a new bag of coffee beans, the coarseness of the grind will need adjusting).
. When cleaning make sure you fold a soft wettex up and get into the gap between the group head cover (the underside of the shiny curved surface that stands out on the machine) and the seal. My experience with the EM6910, found that coffee grinds can build up on the seal, and this can cause pressure failures as the head does not properly sit against the seal when tightened. It's also quite tough to clean as the group head cover prevents direct access to the seal.
. While I have never used the capsule (nor ever intend to use capsules) function, Choice rates the coffee results from using capsules on the EM7100 as sub-standard (45% - using the espresso heads - 75%). As all the capsule handle does is punch 3 holes into the capsule and then brew it as an espresso. I assume this causes flow problems, where the water can't properly circulate around the coffee within the capsule. I think this would be a great machine to demonstrate that capsule coffee is just good filtered coffee at best, and nothing can beat a true espresso using good technique and a good espresso machine :)

We bought this machine, because we like to be able to control the steam when frothing the milk. There's very few machines around nowadays that allow you to do this. Our Saeco finally died after six years of great coffee with a crema almost as high as the coffee, and pretty good milk frothing too. We tried a Breville & were not impressed, especially with the automatic frother, so finally went for this sunbeam after a friend recommended it.

Sadly we are not impressed & will be taking it back to the shop this weekend. There is no crema, none. No matter what we do with the few factory setting options (as per the user manual), how fresh the beans are, how fine the grind is, how much the weight of the basket. The guage doesn't move and the coffee looks like filter coffee only not as strong.

The milk frother is also not too good. We've been using coffee machines for over 20 years and do not recommend this machine at all.

Ok now I did prefer the twin series to this one I found it really hard to find parts to repair it so I had to move on my friend recommended this one and said he had great success with it now even though I'm not an actual barista it really easy to make coffees with and it's coffee are amazing

After doing a lot of research and being sceptical of the brand we decided to purchase this machine. So far it has really impressed me as we moved from our Gaggia Baby Dose. It does what it needs to do so a semi automatic and once you learn how to heat milk and get the extraction right it makes very good coffee and a lot better than most in a coffee shop.

It's great that you can heat milk and extract coffee at the same time with the twin boiler.

My tips:

- Always use good coffee beans
- Use a good grinder and play with the grind to get the best consistency with your extraction (we ended up buying the sunbeam grinder which is very good as well)
- Read the instruction before use :)

Purchased in January 2016 from Myer. RRP was $999.
Purchased because, in addition to making espresso, the machine could also use nespresso pods. It also presented beautifully with a mirror chrome/stainless steel finish. Previously I another Sunbeam cafe series which was reliable, long lasting and made a great coffee.
This machine make a good espresso but the nespresso pods are slow to run through the machine. It is quick to heat and all the gauges are still working. Disappointingly the finish near the dials and the sides turned a grey color noticable after three months of use - possibly from the heat generated by the machine. Sunbeam consumer hotline was not helpful with the problem, I was advised to clean with a microfiber cloth which made no difference.
In summary, this machine does make a good espresso, but if you also want for looks, consider other products. At $999 the quality of the finish should last beyond three months.
I hope my review is helpful.