Gran Lattissima

We purchased our first of two Gran Lattissmo Expresso machines by De’longhi. Absolutely loved it. BUT——yes a BIG BUT—because within one week the frother ceased to work. It spit hot water at us with every attempt, but just water, no milk. We contacted Nesspresso and participated in troubleshooting using Face time on my iPad with an Nesspresso employee watching the machine do a great job spitting water. We reset the factory settings, took the frother apart, as well as a few other-interventions. Nothing worked. So a new frother was sent to us which took several days to arrive. While waiting for it, I had to drag out an old Keurig machine which I was grateful I still had so we could have our morning coffee. I was so hopeful upon the arrival of the new frother, but it performed identically spitting hot water and no milk. So called Nesspresso AGAIN and AGAIN had a very helpful person at Nesspresso walk me through the identical procedures as the first time with no success. . At that point, the faulty machine was boxed up and returned to Amazon for an exchange. New—number two machine arrived. I thoroughly read the manual again, but I also called Nesspresso once more to ask some questions which the manual did not address. I was told to use milk of a high quality which means high in protein. Whole milk, 2%, and skim milk can all be used. The higher the protein, the better the froth. I was using whole milk with 8g of protein. I now have whole milk and 2% milk with 12g of protein which is higher quality. Also, it is important to remove the top of the frother , before placing the frother in the fridge with milk still remaining in it. The frother mechanism should be cleaned frequently by completely disassembling it and soaking all the parts in warm soapy water for 30 minutes. Then, put the parts in the dishwasher on the top rack after soaking. Milk particles can become dry and stuck inside the frother mechanism which will cause the frother, in time, to malfunction . Thoroughly cleaning these parts and using high protein milk, will hopefully keep things working as they should. Also, if you notice milk residue sticking to the sides of the milk container, that is a sign that it may be smart to discard the milk and fill it with fresh milk. The machine is very easy to use and the extra maintenance is worth it. Time will tell if this machine continues to make great frothy coffee. Can’t say enough about the excellent quality of the coffee drinks this machine produces. That is why I am willing to try this again. The Nesspresso customer service is excellent, and so, for the most part, is Amazon. They made it very easy to return the defective machine to exchange for a new one. My husband says he use to drink coffee because it was warm and nice to have in the morning. Now we are drinking coffee a whole lot more because it tastes good. So far, I highly recommend this product, and hope it keeps up its great performance.

I purchased the machine for myself as a birthday present, and I've had it for about 6 weeks. We have a Pavoni espresso machine, which my husband loves for his espressos, but I think it's a pain for making lattes: grinding the beans, tamping down the pod, "pulling" the lever (which will be really hard if you tamp it too densely), steaming the milk, and then cleaning the steaming wand, not to mention what a pain to refill the water chamber (turn off, wait till pressure is gone, then you can refill). Why am I listing all of these steps? Because that's what you don't have to worry about with the Lattissima! Here are my steps now: turn on the machine, get the milk container out of the fridge and plug into the front, put an espresso capsule in the top, stick a mug under the spout, and push the Latte button. Done. You do need to clean the frother, which is just putting another cup under the spout, turn the milk to "clean" and let it clean, then you can remove the milk container and stick it in the fridge. I clean the milk container once a week, soaking all the pieces in a bowl of hot soapy water for a few hours.What I like: it tells me what to do next - "turn milk to clean", and "put milk back in fridge". It is easy to clean, both the base and the milk container. I like the milk container situation - I think what they've done to keep it clean ensures there's no moldy/yukky stuff sticking around anywhere. Holds enough water for the week, and easy to refill water. It makes perfect foam! I have it on the lowest foam setting and it's still a lot of foam for me. It's not too loud (I've used Keurig and Tassimo - they are louder!) It's mostly simple to use (I did read the manual first). It seems sturdy and well-built. You can make hot water (which I honestly haven't used yet). You can recycle the capsules (I think Sur La Table accepts them). And last, the espressos are just as good as what I can make on my Pavoni!What I don't like: as others have mentioned, the frothed milk is not that hot (the espresso is hot). That's one thing I do miss from the Pavoni - really hot milk. Also, the pre-programmed milk volume is not that much, 5oz. You can change the programming to increase to a max of 6.8oz but instead I just have a second Latte. I probably will change the programming at some point (when I go through my first batch of capsules and have to buy more!)Overall, I'm very pleased with this machine. Was it worth the $$? I think so (I got it on sale and didn't pay full price). Would I have paid the original price of $599? Probably not - DeLonghi did lower the price to $499, then some retailers offered additional discounts. So if you want the convenience of a capsule system with great tasting espressos, and are fine with not-super-hot milk, and can justify the cost, this is a great buy.Update 6/6/2015: After several months of perfect lattes, I had the following experience. I usually clean the milk carafe every 1 to 2 weeks - I take all the pieces apart and soak them in a bowl of hot, soapy water for several hours. While putting it back together yesterday, the top milk froth regulator knob would not go back in place. I futzed with it the whole day, unsuccessfully. I soaked it multiple times for several hours in hot soapy water, I took a fork and tried to play with the spring-loaded receptacle, I searched the web for answers as well to see if I could just buy a carafe by itself (nothing and no), I stopped by the local Williams Sonoma so I could look at another carafe and see how it worked (they didn't have any in stock). I was just getting ready to call the Nespresso support line, when I thought I would run it through a dishwashing cycle. While still very warm from the cycle ending, I tried again, and this time whatever was stuck became unstuck. Whew. I can't believe how much it bothered me that this $$$ machine would have mechanical problems so soon, and how much time I spent on it! So, a few thoughts after my day of frustration: 1) De Longhi needs to sell carafes separately (one for soy and one for milk?) 2) Hasn't anyone else had this problem? Why couldn't I find anything else about it on the web? and 3) I'm pretty pathetic if I let this bother me and consume my whole day!By the way, the manual does recommend dishwashing every week, but soaking in hot water for several hours is also okay if you do not have a dishwasher. I guess I wasn't soaking it often enough?Update 6/8/2016: Over a year later, still VERY happy with my machine. One minor nit-pick though, and this would be the same for either of the Lattissima machines, is the clean function. While I usually only have one or two lattes a day, when you have company and want to make several right at the same time, having to clean after every cup is not very efficient. How about cleaning after the last one? I haven't yet tried to pull the milk carafe off and put it back on and see if that resets the clean...