The Ascaso Dream Coffee Machine
Written by Administrator
Love a good coffee before your workout?
“Wow... Cool.” That's usually the first thing that people say when they first
set eyes on the Ascasso Dream Coffee Machine. And the best thing of all? It makes great coffee!
This is certainly a distinctive, funky, cool
looking espresso machine which many Gym Junkies love! Truly, this home espresso machine that would look
great in any kitchen. The Ascaso Dream is made in Spain, and the design team at
Ascaso obviously know a thing or two about how to make a product look really,
really cool. Then they must have had a big scrap about what colour to release
it in, so... they released it in nearly every colour imaginable!
Right, so Ascaso's Dream machine is living up to it's name so far then. The
thing is though, is that this is meant to be an espresso machine, not (just) a
piece of art or kitchen show piece. So as good as it looks, the question people
always want to know is:
“Can it make decent coffee?”
And the answer is yes; this super cute, funky looking home espresso machine from Ascaso can deliver really exquisite espresso, and foam beautiful milk for lattes, cappuccino and flat whites to get you amping before a workout or just to relax. It really is a great little espresso machine for home at a pricepoint that is less than half that of machines of comparable performance.
But wait! Before you rush out to the shops or morel likely to the web searching for the best price on the Ascaso Dream in the colour that matches your kitchen decor, there are a few things to be very wary of. You see not all Dreams are created equally. Just as the design team at Ascaso was going nuts over all the different colours of the rainbow, the boffins in the engineering department started to go a little crazy too. You see the earlier models of the Ascaso Dream had a few pretty serious limitations under the hood, as far as making quality home espresso goes.
Firstly the earlier versions of the Dream didn't have a 3
way valve, sometimes called a solenoid valve and sometimes a dump valve. Tee
hee. These little valves are a marvellous invention, that allows the machine to
divert all excess pressure and water through an exhaust port and into the drip
tray of your coffee machine, once the espresso extraction finishes. Huh? What
this means is that on the early version of the Dream machine the coffee
leftovers in the basket of the portafilter handle were a wet sloppy mess. They
were also under pressure, so if you took the handle off too fast the coffee
machine “sneezed” dirty coffee grounds and hot water all over your beautiful
machine. The new ones don't do this – through the miracle of the 3 way valve
you canwhip the handle of as quickly as you like and knock that lovely dry puck
of used coffee into the bin before reloading for that second shot.
Another feature that was sorely lacking on earlier versions of the Ascaso Dream was an over pressure valve. This mysterious sounding bit of kit simply restricts the pressure of the pump too a level perfect for espresso extraction. This makes it a hell of a lot easier to get your coffee consistently right every time. Guess what? The new version of the Ascaso Dream has been upgraded and now has this very important feature.
Finally the Ascaso Dream now comes in several versions. If you are serious about making great coffee at home the one you really want is the fresh ground (also called only ground) version. The pod and the combination models all make things a bit more convenient, but sadly they tend to massacre the delicate espresso flavour along the way. The new fresh ground version of the Ascaso Dream also comes with a decent quality Aluminium tamper, way better than those cheap plastic ones you get with anything made in Italy.
So, although they all look identical there are some huge differences between the old & the new model of the Ascaso Dream as well as between the different versions. This is why this fantastic home espresso machine has been really panned in some reviews and yet other reviewers love them. It's all down to the model. In a nutshell what you should look for:
1. Check that it has a 3 Way Valve
2. Check that it is the Fresh Ground model
3. Pick a nice colour!
With a very quick scout online I found these guys http://www.homeespressomachines.co.nz/coffee-machines/ascaso they have the new fresh ground version you want, and at the time of writing the price was pretty sharp too!