Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm a coffee novice so I always thought all espresso was incredibly bitter. I guess the first time I tried it that was my experience anyway. But when I saw this on sale for about sixty bucks on Black Friday, I thought, OK, I'll give it a shot. Wow. What a pleasant surprise! I've been using a Keurig for about 10 years, but that thing is getting donated because ever since I got the Nespresso my Keurig hasn't been powered on once. The espresso that comes out of this machine is so good I need about half the sweetener I use for regular coffee. The bright, intense flavor makes coffee seem like dishwater. Now, about this particular machine. Because it's my first foray into the Nespresso world, I didn't know what the machine should or shouldn't do. There are only two size options: Espresso, which delivers a little more than an ounce of espresso, and Lungo, which yields about 3.5 ounces. The cool thing is that these buttons are completely customizable! What more than one ounce on your espresso? Just hold the button down when starting and release it when it's at the amount you want. From then on, that's the amount of espresso you'll get. The buttons can also be reset back to factory defaults. First thing I noticed is that this baby is ready to go in 30 seconds from the time you first power it on. Sor there's no more need for clocks and timers that power the machine on beforehand. It also turns itself after nine minutes, which saves a lot more power than the Keurig and most other conventional coffee makers. The second thing I noticed is that it's loud, but it's putting a heck of amount of pressure through that little pod, so it's to be expected from an entry level machine. Third thing: because this puts out such a tiny amount of liquid, it cools down very quickly. That's where the milk heater/frother accessory comes in. I haven't bought one yet because I frankly like iced espresso anyway but if you want a hot drink you're going to have to heat the milk yourself or invest in a frother that heats the milk too. Fourth: This particular machine continues to drip for quite a while after finishing making a cup, so unless you leave the cup under the spout you're going to eventually have coffee all over your counter. At first I thought my machine was leaking, and actually, it might be. But even if it's just the dripping, it' annoying, and something Nespresso should correct for, even in their low end machines. Speaking of low-end machines, another Nespresso model, the Essentia Mini, went on sale on Amazon a couple of weeks after the Inissia for--you guessed it--60 bucks, and I figured it was so cheap it would be good to have a backup anyway, and it would be nice to compare and contrast the two units. Well, apparently, from what I've read, the Essentia Mini does exactly the same things the Inissia does but in a housing that's about half the size of the Inissia! It's so tiny that it looks more like a pod storage cabinet than an espresso machine itself. The water reservoir is slightly smaller in the Essentia Mini, as is the storage bin for used pods. But here's where the Essentia Mini is better: drips. It still drips, but doesn't seem to do so as much or for as long as the Inissia. And it doesn't have that awkward flip up cup holder so you can get cups right under the spout (but your clearance is shorter on the Essentia, so keep that in mind, too). Otherwise, the two machines are identical in what they produce and how they are operated. I'm choosing to keep the Essentia Mini because it's footprint is so incredibly small and because I'm still thinking the Inissia has a leak somewhere. There's more espresso showing up on my counter than I think could be explained by just the dripping after it makes a cup of espresso. And now for one big caveat that has nothing to do with the machine but everything to do with Amazon: If you think you're going to be able to return your Inissia to Amazon, even if you're within the return time period, think again. When I tried to return mine I got a response saying that it was "ineligible for return". Three different Amazon agents said the same thing, but no one could give me a reason why Amazon wouldn't take it back! Nothing in the item description said it was ineligible either, and it doesn't meet any of the criteria that makes something ineligible either. (One rep tried to tell me the reason is because there are glass parts inside the machine! Uh, no there's no glass in there, and even if there were, I've returned things with glass in them to Amazon before with no problem). Eventually, one agent said if I sent a picture showing that the machine leaks, they'd refund my money. That's the dumbest thing ever! A photo doesn't prove that a machine leaks! And I'd already carefully packed it up for return anyway. But I jumped through their hoops anyway. So I unpacked the machine and sent a picture of it with espresso drips on the counter. And Amazon did refund my money and didn't even require me to return the machine.