This is my new baby for 2011 – the Dual Coffee Espresso Maker.  While it is not new on the market, it is something I have wanted for a while. It gives me the best of both worlds. There are a few different models to choose from. A couple are better than the rest. My opinion is that two separate machines may be better (one just for brewing coffee, and the other for making your own espresso), but who has the counter space, and who wants to spend 3 mortgage payments to buy one like they have at Starbucks.

Delonghi Coffee Espresso Maker

Anyway,  we purchased the Krups XP 2070 Dual Coffee Espresso Maker and have been using it for about a month now.   We thought we wanted one unit that did both coffee and espresso. Some of the features we were looking for is that we wanted a programmable unit to set our coffee to brew, and  we wanted a pump espresso maker.  Despite some of the cons mentioned on Amazon, it is one of the few dual, programmable units on the market, and not a horrible price.

Here is how I use my dual coffee espresso machine. We usually have a pot of coffee waiting for us early in the morning. Then, either in the afternoon or after work, we use the espresso machine with cappuccino attachment/.  It has done well, and we have been very happy with it.  If you are going to use the espresso side more than a few times per week, I would buy a different tamper than the one provided. The provided tamper is plastic, and can be a bit flimsy, but I am very satisfied with the product.

I was originally inspired when my friend bought the DeLonghi BCO70 Caffe Nabucco Espresso, Cappuccino, and Coffee Bar off Amazon. She really liked it, and while I was going to buy the same one, I thought I would buy the other model, we could use each of them for about a year, decide which one was best, and go from there.

Here is what she has to say – my daughter works in a cafe’ at the bookstore at the mall. She is used to running one of those multi-thousand dollar coffee machines. She is quite an expert, and laughed at me when I wanted to buy this one. This machine is as much as we wanted to spend. Since we bought it (about 5-6 months ago), it has been non-stop espresso, latte & whatever since we brought it home. She thinks it’s great, which says something to us about the machine. She has found no fault with it after testing all the features.

The Krups XP1500 is another option.  It is okay, quite a bit cheaper, but I like what I have. It has a 10 cup coffee maker and a 4 bar steam espresso machine. Easy to use, the water level indicator clearly shows how much water is in the tank and it has a convenient steam nozzle for easy frothing of milk on the espresso side.

There are several other Dual Coffee Espresso Makers that you can check out on Amazon.  Some cheaper than cheap, some that I don’t know why in the world they ever made them, others that are much more expensive and don’t do anything more than my Krups. Kohls also has several to choose from, but your best price is on Amazon.