Just received and an intro to the machine first for my coffee beans will arrive next week. More pictures then.
The SMEG automatic coffee machine's working is very simple. Just imagine it is a vending machine for different coffee types.
It is not exactly fully automatic for making milk coffee is manual. This is not a new released machine. Many YT videos available to watch
Bought directly from SMEG Singapore for $1088 with free delivery. First time owning a coffee machine. Lazy to manual brew and would like to try out different types of coffee. Also, to save costs, no need to go to coffee shops, StarBucks or other coffee outlets to drink
NOTE – Beans roasted with butter/oil (like local beans bought from coffee provision shops) can cause the machine to clog, jam and damage the grinder. This is a typical problem of coffee machines grinding such beans. Avoid dark roast beans for they are typically oily
PROS
1) Simple to operate and clean
2) Slimmer in width than many semi-auto and superautomatic machines
3) Making coffee is automatic at the press of a button. No need barista-style manual operation.
4) Has a steam wand for milk frothing so no need to turn on oven to microwave the milk or put the milk on the stove to heat it
5) Milk do not pass inside and then out of coffee machine making the cleaning of the removable steam wand very easy. Also, milk is consumed as needed so no balanced milk in milk container unlike in those superautomatic coffee machine otherwise the balanced milk will be spoiled if not consume.
6) Water tank of 1.4L of water capacity is just nice for 2 days fresh water and to prevent organic growth in water tank.
7) Has a built-in stainless steel burr grinder to grind whole beans. Can adjust from coarse to very fine grinding (5 steps)
8) Self-clean the dispenser nozzle during startup and shutdown
9) Can check and set water hardness
10) Can clean the machine internal circuits (coffee and milk) and comes with descaling capability too
11) Adjustable coffee dispenser to cater to different height of glass cup/container
12) As a nice touch, during coffee dispensing, there’s a light at the dispenser (see below picture in post #7)
13) Has alarms for empty/missing water tank, empty coffee beans container, full/missing coffee grounds drawer, control required on brewing group/chamber and descaling recommendation/descaling mandatory. High water level in the drip tray is indicated by a red float popup indicator
14) The machine allows the customization of the amount of coffee or water dispensed
15) The brewing group is removed on the left side without being obstructed by any machine part e.g. water tank. Just ensure no other obstruction is there
16) Machine auto shuts off after 30 mins of inactivity
17) No need to struggle with manual grinding, tampering, selecting right time/temp for brewing etc
18) Can use any liquid commercial descaler for coffee machine
19) Can buy the SMEG water softener filter to make the water from medium to soft
20) This machine is good enough for a single user drinking 2 - 3 cups of coffee per day with its 1.4L capacity water tank. Need to top up water and empty coffee pucks about every 2 days. A 12 oz packet of coffee beans will be consumed within a week. In short, this is a simple machine for people with simple needs
21) Allows one to make coffee art using manual milk frothing
22) White color available locally
CONS
1) Noisy when grinding beans
2) Cannot use ground coffee and coffee pods. Only for whole beans
3) Cannot use filter paper
4) Only comes with one thermoblock
5) Limited customization options. No temperature control, no brewing time control, no grind size recommendation, no different froths selection, no cold brew, no cup warmer, no built-in scale to grind by weight, no different user profile settings etc
6) Cannot dispense coffee and at the same time froth the milk
7) No color digital screen for display. Use buttons only.
8) Only 5 steps for coffee bean grinding
9) If you need to change different coffee beans (e.g. decaf beans to caffeinated beans etc) all the coffee beans in the beans hopper need to be fully used up before you can change.
10) Because the water tank is on the back putting the machine on a countertop with top cabinets may prevent the removable of the water tank
11) Cannot purge grind from previous setting like purging coarse grind out before starting the use of fine grind and vice versa
12) Cannot strip grinder for cleaning
13) Making milk coffee is manual
14) Auto shut off time cannot be customized
15) No dual bean hopper(s) for different bean types
16) Cannot use beans roasted with oil/butter (like local beans bought from coffee provision shops) and French roast/dark roast/medium dark roast/full city roast beans which are typically oily.
17) Need to pay for optional water softener filter, if needed
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Google Tchibo or Simplissima, you will find those machines look suspiciously similar as well. All same internals, spare parts for 1 brand can use in any of the others. I can take my brewgroup put in your Smeg and it will work just fine, because the only difference is your brewgroup got the Smeg word.
