Sometimes you don’t want to do all the work yourself when it comes to making a delicious coffee beverage. The idea of skipping the line at the coffee shop may sound enticing, but the hassle of grinding and tamping your own beans, frothing your own milk, and putting all of the pieces together just doesn’t seem worth it.
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If this is how you feel then don’t count a home espresso machine out, as there are plenty of models that will take care of much of the difficult work for you. Let’s take a look at the Nespresso Lattissima Pro and see if it’s a good fit for you.
Features
Complex Coffee Drinks At Your Fingertips
The Latissima Pro is easy to use, even for complete beginners. With dedicated buttons for a variety of coffee drinks you can prepare rich shots of espresso, velvety lattes, and even professional looking espressos. All you have to do is make sure the machine is properly loaded with supplies and press a button – the Latissima Pro does the rest.
Convenient Capsule System
One of the main selling points of the Nespresso product line is that it uses the convenient coffee ground capsule system to brew every cup of espresso. The capsule system takes all the variables out of grinding, dosing, and tamping your coffee beans. When you’re done, simply recycle the used aluminum capsule.
Automate Your Foam
Many espresso makers offer steam wands that allow users to make milk foam to complement espresso shots and turn them into cappuccinos, lattes, and more. This is no easy task though. Producing high quality milk froth takes a finely tuned technique. Don’t worry, the Latissima Pro has an Automatic Cappuccino System that produces resilient milk foam for your beverages.
Advanced Carafe
In addition to preparing delectable milk foam for you, the Latissima Pro comes with a very convenient milk carafe. If you want more or less milk froth in your coffee drink just adjust how much the carafe dispenses using the prominent top knob. When you’re done making coffee, just detach the carafe and put it in the fridge to keep the milk nice and fresh for later use.
Maximize the Flavor
The team at DeLonghi has designed the Latissima Pro with a pump that can deliver up to 19-bar pressure during the espresso extraction. This is more than enough to get the most flavor out of your coffee grinds. It will also use the optimal flow of water to yield a delicious cup of espresso at the perfect serving temperature.
From Cold to Hot
Some espresso makers take quite a long time to get to operating temperature from a cold start. You may even have to turn on the machine and check back in a few minutes before it’s ready to go. The heating components in the Latissima Pro are designed to have it ready for brewing in a matter of seconds, so you won’t be waiting around.
Large Water Reservoir
If you’re making a lot of coffee drinks – and especially if you’re taking advantage of the milk frothing system – you’re going to go through a lot of fresh water. The last thing you want to do is fill it up over and over again. The Latissima Pro has a large water reservoir so that you can focus on brewing a great cup of espresso.
Brewing On Demand
If you’re expecting to use your espresso machine to make cup after cup of coffee drinks – be it for a party of guests, your family, or your coffee loving self – you don’t want to be sitting around waiting for the machine to reheat after each extraction. The Latissima Pro maintains the optimal extraction temperature so you can make as much espresso as you want, when you want it.
Pros
- Wonderfully easy to use with dedicated buttons for a number of coffee drinks. Just load the machine, press the button for the beverage that you want, and the machine takes care of the rest.
- Utilizes Nespressos signature coffee capsule systems for maximum convenience and minimal cleanup. When you’re done brewing your espresso just recycle the aluminum capsule.
- Choose from a vast selection of world-class coffee bean roasts and flavors available in the coffee capsule system, both regular strength and decaffeinated.
- Automated milk frothing removes the guesswork and eliminates the need to hone your technique. Make barista-quality coffee beverages with minimal skills.
- The machine heats up from a cold start in seconds, so you’ll be on your way to brewing espresso faster than ever. Plus it maintains the operating temperature, so it’s ready to brew cup after cup with no wait.
Cons
- Many users report that while the machine has great performance and is incredibly easier to use, they would have expected to get more features when taking the price into account.
Final Verdict: Should You Buy This Model
The Nespresso Latissima Pro certainly has a lot going for it when you consider all of the features it has to offer. One of the great benefits that it has to offer is its ease of use, from the convenient and recyclable coffee capsule system to the one-touch preprogrammed coffee drink features, and even the Automatic Cappuccino System that froths the milk for you.
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All of this convenience does come with some downsides unfortunately, and for the most part with the Latissima Pro this comes down to the amount of control you have over the final product as a barista-in-training. While this model is incredibly easy to use, you won’t be able to use your own coffee beans for starters. In fact, you won’t have any control over the size of the grind and the tamping either. Part of being a true barista is knowing how to balance all of the different extraction parameters to hone in the perfect brew for any particular bean, and that’s simply not what this machine was designed for.
That said, if all you’re looking for is the ability to make professional quality coffee drinks in the comfort and convenience of your home, then this machine covers all the bases and then some. You’ll be more than happy with this purchase.