Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This company must be paying for reviews. This same machine is posted several times on amazon with HORRIBLE reviews. I fell victim to the scam and bought it. I was a Starbucks batista for a good part of my younger life. I may not be an expert but I have a decent knowledge base of espresso machines and how they should work. This one is....garbage. First- GLARING design flaw. You are told to pull your espresso shots BEFORE FROTHING YOUR MILK. As anyone will tell you an espresso shot should not sit longer than 8 seconds or it becomes bitter (not to mention cold) meaning your milk needs to be frothed before you pull shots. At Starbucks we had to THROW SHOTS AWAY if they sat more than 8 seconds. Second - the espresso. Besides being awkward to load and use...this machine just pumps water through the chamber until you turn it off. It is not measured. It doesn't pour an actual shot. It just floods water through the grounds until you say stop. Then the extra water sits in the chamber. And drops slowly into your shot. As anyone knows a shot should be a certain number of ounces and should be pressurized to pass a certain amount if water through the espresso and then cut off, ending with a creamy head. This just shoves water theough until you stop it. So there is no way to regulate the strength of your shot and there is no "end of the shot" to create a creamy head. It then drips unpressurize water through the grounds into your shot until you remove the cup. It. Tastes. Awful. Then - while your watery overflowing weak espresso shot sits and gets cold and bitter you are to switch the machine to froth and froth your milk (in your own pitcher because they sure don't include one!). Unfortunately it will take 4 or 5 minutes of "frothing" to bring your milk to even being room temperature. And there is no froth. Cappuccinos? Not with this machine. Not if your life depended on it. The steam is intermitten and sort of works here and there. Mostly it blasts luke warm air into your milk. And dribbles water into it from the wand attachment that is not properly sealed. The result is luke warm milk with a couple of mico bubbles. Now add your luke warm unfrothed milk to your now ice cold bitter watery espresso shot and viola - literally the worst cup of anything I have ever put to my lips. If you thought maybe it was user error and reviewed the instructions to see where you went wrong youd find that they are in very very broken English and make 0 sense. Returning immediately and purchasing an actual espresso machine. Any positive reviews for this hunk of garbage must have been solicited and purchased. Because it is absolutely worthless. Unless you want to torture someone with awful coffee beverages until they crack and tell you all of their secrets ala Guantanamo Bay. Or want to make someone want to kill themselves voluntarily.