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Permalink Reply by Alun Evans on October 26, 2009 at 4:01am

I love it!! You reckon he is original? There was a guy on an Aussie comedy show called"Con the Greek Frutier"... the actor was not really Greek, but atrue ble Aussie... funny as

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Permalink Reply by Gabriel on October 26, 2009 at 10:15am

pretty good, sounds like he is really wanting to sell something though. He never really tells you why you shouldn't buy, other than its $20k and he could sell you a used one for $3k.

Here is my breakdown of what is wrong and right with a super-auto: based on my experience with a 2004 Macco Mega.

If you treat a super-auto as if it will make perfect drinks by pressing one button, then you are using it wrong. If you set it up properly then you can make good drinks with it (lattes mostly). Espresso and cappuccinos do not really turn out very well. Critical to the process is keeping the correct ratios of milk and espresso and in my experience, this cannot be done with a super-auto on any other size than the smallest size (12 oz or whatever your small is). Reason? Pressing the 16 oz latte button only produces 1 shot of espresso, then fills the cup with steamed/frothed milk (other machines might be able to produce more shots with a button press). If you setup a button to do just an espresso shot, then you can always add the extra shot depending on the cup size (therefore causing more "work" for the barista, as now you have to press 2 buttons). Foamed milk is pretty good on the Macco machine, the steamed is just OK, of course you can just use the wand if you want to do it manually.

Here is a big problem with the super-auto. After pulling a shot, the brew chamber is left dirty for the next shot, and subsequent shots thereafter. Most machines will run a auto-clean of the chamber every so often, but in the meantime, the chamber remains dirty with older grounds. Also, the mechanism that brushes the old grounds to the bin does not do a very good job of removing the spent coffee. Some machines may do a better job with this process, but I doubt any of them do it very well. There may be a way on some to manually clean the brew chamber, but the Macco shuts off when the lid is opened (you can get around this, but would be a pain to do this after each shot).

Setup is critical for these machines, if do not get the doses correct, then they will not produce anything good, if you get them setup right and know how to use them, then you can make a decent drink.

Another critical aspect of the super-auto operation is bean selection (probably more so than a non-super). In my machine, a lighter roast does better. You need a more "forgiving" bean in order to produce a good flavor due to the reasons mentioned above.

my 2 cents.

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Permalink Reply by Jesse Bladyka on October 26, 2009 at 10:23am

Beautiful... if you want to be idiot-proof, don't hire idiots! Words to live by. Although judging by the website, http://www.sreweb.com/ , I'm not sure I'd jump head first into business with them. I love the idea that a barista actually needs to understand the technology in order to use it to its full potential. I don't think enough people feel this way, no matter what kind of machine they are using.

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