Buy Briel ED132AFB Sintra Espresso Machine with Drip Coffeemaker - Kitchen

Product Description: Become your own barista with coffee, lattes and espresso just a countertop away! This combo machine lets you enjoy your favorites and is great for entertaining, too. It features a 10-cup drip pot and 15-bar pump, a warming plate for heating cups and an attractive, European design to top it off. In addition, the Briel espresso/coffee maker offers an Auto Espresso Flow micro-chip that lets you pre-select amount produced, ESE-adaptability with pods or grounds, a Turbo Jet frother for plentiful steam, Crema Master filter for rich, genuine crema every time and a stainless boiler. More features include a large, 1.8 liter water reservoir and water filter on intake, two thermostats for coffee and steaming cycles plus a third for safety, the AquaStop No-Drip system to eliminate remnant water, push button operation, a 10-cup drip coffeemaker with pause feature, removable overflow tray for simple cleanup and a built-in coffee tamper with separate measuring spoon.

Amazon.com Review: Briel's Sintra espresso machine with drip coffeemaker is backed by the company's 30-plus years in the coffee business, and it shows--this model's designed to present café-quality drip coffee, espresso, and cappuccino to the home user. To get this high quality, the Sintra has a number of extraordinary features. To start with, it gives you the ability to match most coffee preferences in one machine, due to its dual nature: drip coffeemaker and espresso maker. On the drip side, it has a 10-cup-capacity glass carafe and a nice "stop-and-serve" feature that allows you to remove the carafe during the middle of the brewing cycle.

The Sintra also has some nice functionality on the espresso/cappuccino side, starting with its Auto Espresso Flow system. This system lets you set the coffee strength according to taste, from a stronger, Italian-style short cup to a larger, less robust brew. The espresso is brewed at the required 190 degrees F, and the machine has 15 bars of pump pressure. And it's speedy, brewing two cups in about 35 seconds. It also makes good cappuccino, because of its steam nozzle, which lets you froth the milk. Some other nice features include its patented Cremaker filter, which provides a richer crema on each espresso, an exterior water-level indicator, and a cup warmer. In shining stainless steel and sturdy black plastic, this machine won't shame any counter. It has 2,010 watts of power and measures 14 by 11-1/2 by 10 inches (length by height by depth). --A.J. Rathbun

Editor's note: This item may arrive with water inside from the manufacturer's pressure test. This is a normal occurrence and doesn't point to a problem with the machine.

Customer Reviews:

Great coffee and cappaccino maker! December 18, 2008
This is a quality machine with sleek lines. Very nice looking and small, fits on the couter nicely. Coffee and the the cappaccino taste fantastic, much better than our last machine. The only issue I have is pouring the water into the back of the coffee machine, the lid gets in the way and spills a little bit.

Overall I would highly recommend this machine for any home or office!

Excellent Machine December 18, 2008
It takes time to learn how to make good espresso. If you know how to grind the beans and pack the espresso, then this is a great machine for the money. Pressure is good and will make two shots nicely. If you want more then two shots you must re-load. My family uses our Briel Sintra an average of four times a day. I've owned two other machines prior to this one. Iced latte way better than the bucks. I rate this machine very highly. I've had my Briel about one year. Keep in mind, most problems arise from user error. Make sure you practice and learn how to make a perfect shot of espresso. No need to spend any more money.

Low Quality - TERRIBLE service (7 of 8 Found this Helpful) January 15, 2006
After two months of good service the pressure for espresso and temperature of the drip coffee both dropped significantly. I called the New Jersey service department and was dismissed offhand, told only that I should clean the espresso screens. When I pressed the issue of cold coffee I was told that was not a problem. For me it is.

The service is poor enough that I would recommend not buying any Briel products.

Stopped Working after 1 Month (5 of 7 Found this Helpful) July 19, 2005
I was initially pleased with this maker. However, it stopped making steam a month into its use. Of course, when you are over the magic 30 days after purchase, no such thing as a full refund.
Major UNHAPPY.

I'm tossing my Sintra today (10 of 11 Found this Helpful) November 19, 2004
After reading good reviews, I bought this machine sight unseen. Big mistake. Filling the reservoirs was cumbersome and you couldn't see the water level on the coffee and trying to make a half pot was very difficult. The espresso coffee holder didn't fit easily on the machine and sometimes it took five minutes of fiddling to get it to seat.(doesn't help that you can't see what you are doing). So soon we stopped making espresso, thus getting around the fact that a coffee mug won't fit under the espresso head. The coffee maker was mediochre. The lid over the basket fit poorly and was difficult to seat. It easily clogs and leaks all over the sink, even right after a cleaning. Today I'm off to Zabars to buy myself a new coffee maker. And it won't be a Briel.

Briel ED132AFB Sintra Espresso Machine with Drip Coffeemaker

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