Nespresso Lattissima Plus: Your Personal Barista

Dec. 02, 2011 — -- While I like to hope that one day I'll have my very own personal barista, right now trips to the local coffee shop and at-home coffee makers will have to suffice. Fortunately, Nepresso and De'Longhi have teamed up to create a moderately priced machine that will stand in until I strike it rich.

The Nespresso Lattissima Plus creates high quality espresso drinks with the touch of a button. I put my to-go mug on its shelf, insert a capsule, press the "latte" button, and continue getting ready for work as the machine creates a delicious drink for me. (Who doesn't love multi-tasking in the mornings?)

While the price of the machine might sound expensive at $399.00, it's under-priced when compared with other models in its category. The De'Longhi EN720.M Automatic Cappuccino, Latte and Espresso Machine sells for $799.95, and the Impressa S9 One Touch Automatic Coffee Center sells for $2,397.00 on Amazon.com.

After opening the box, the machine took me about two minutes to assemble. A few times I needed to check the instructions to make sure I was on the right track. (Doesn't everyone tear open the packaging and start putting things together immediately?)

The water tray in the back of the machine is removable and can easily be filled with tap water. There is a drawer on the front left side of the machine which holds up to 12 used capsules, and an adjustable shelf which allows you to move it according to the size of your glass.

The milk frother detaches from the machine and can be stored in the refrigerator. This is such a convenient feature and allows me to refill and clean it out on a regular basis. Do you usually order your latte without foam? The top of the frother has a setting that allows you to decide how much froth/foam you want in your drink. If you prefer larger drinks, the container will have to be refilled fairly frequently with milk.

The top of the machine has four buttons that you can select: espresso, lungo, cappuccino or latte macchiato. For the latter two, the milk comes out first, and then the espresso. A few times I had difficulty, and water came out of the machine instead of espresso, but it seems that no other person has really had that problem. (Sometimes, technology hates me.)

The Nespresso Lattissima Plus comes in four colors: red, midnight blue, white and silver. It's very compact, and fits right on my small New York City size counter with room left to spare. The machine also includes 16 Nespresso capsules to get started. Additional capsules cost an average of 60 cents each,and can be purchased on the Nespresso website.