The Jam Box

Our little Ascaso just gave up the ghost, after less than four years of delicious daily cappuccino for my wife and me. We’ll miss it. But we haven’t decided how to replace it.

This machine was fully manual, which meant getting good coffee out of it was like getting a melody out of a Stradivarius. It took practice and patience. But once dialed in, ahh, the results were splendid. My wife could never get the foam just right, and never learned to give it enough time to cool down after making the foam without scalding the coffee. But I found all the right ways to make delicious espresso beverages of all types.

I liked the machine, loved the design, tolerated the price, and the adored the coffee it made, but I can’t give it the highest rating. Fairly early on the foam wand started leaking, just a little. Then the seals stopped sealing well which caused un-pressed coffee/water to leak around the brew basket into the cup (a repairable problem.) Then the temperature gauge stopped working – not really a big deal. But the death nail problem was the demise of the heating element. No heat, no coffee, no steam, no nothing. And even Seattle’s espresso repair shop can’t locate a replacement heating element.

Will I buy another Ascaso, or try a different brand? I don’t know yet. Did we get almost four years of good espresso out of a $650 (on sale at Starbucks in 2006) machine? Yep. Should we have gotten more years of service? I’d like to think so. Would my wife prefer to listen to a digital CD player (i.e. use a fully automatic machine) to learning how to play a musical instrument (like the Ascaso)? As long as I’m around to make the coffee, she doesn’t care.
— RIP Little Ascaso Dream

Ascaso DR.118 Dream 16-Bar-Pump Espresso Machine, Polished | Best …