CC1 Version 1.5 Espresso Machine

To be brief, I've owned a CC1v1.5 for about 60 days and I am very, very satisfied. I spent a great deal of time looking for the "best" machine at this price point and decided on the CC1 over the Rancho Silva (and everything else for that matter) after listening/reading hands on experience of sales people and users of all walks.The build quality is excellent. It pulls a great shot with the proper grinds and setup. The timing settings and so forth allow for great flexibility when trying different roasts, beans, etc. Given about 30 minutes to fully warm up I have been able to pull 10 consecutive shots with great consistency. The steam wand produces ample steam and I have had none of the common complaints many report with single boiler machines.Considering my compact kitchen space the ergonomics and placement of some controls are inconvenient in my situation. However had I the counter space to give it more work surface these issues would be eliminated. The one exception is the water reservoir, it is troublesome to access. Again, with appropriate space it would be much much easier but still not ideal. Fortunately it is quite large. While I may partially agree with one user's review below (the manual leaves something to be desired, the rest I disagree with completely) as a novice of the fancy-coffee-at-home-community it took no more than 10 minutes to orient myself to the form and function of the CC1. My wife was (and is) quite happy when a great (if I do say so myself) cappuccino arrives during her morning rush to get out of the house. :) I figure between the 3-4 shot a day habit we have it's already recouping on the investment.All in all I feel it is a great value for the price and performance, not sure what else one might possibly need other than a supply of coffee and a quality grinder.

My husband bought me this machine from another site. He read that this was the way to go if you were a coffee lover. Apparently, the PID system is what all the cool kids are buying. Since I consider myself pretty coffee affluent, I was excited to see what I've been missing. Longer time waiting for coffee was the answer, apparently.Right off, you see a flaw in the design. There is a metal tube in front of the water reservoir. One needs to perform finger gymnastics to put water in the darn thing without breaking the pipe (which I did, with barely any touching of it).Next flaw comes when you select what you want to do. One is supposed to turn and press the Menu button to select the desired action. However, on some functions, pressing Menu actually starts the process. So, if you select 2-Cup Espresso while the machine is still heating up, DON'T PRESS THE MENU BUTTON. You will bathe your counter in cold water. The machine has to blink three lines for a loooong time before it actually heats up. Then it sloooowly climbs to the desired temperature and only THEN should you press Menu.First time I used the machine, we couldn't figure out how to get it to steam. Now, he's a computer engineer and I'm a programmer. It's not like we're illiterate. But no matter what we did, only water shot out of the nozzle. After waiting a long time, we finally got the Steam screen to appear. Seems there's Steam, and then there's Steam...and you're supposed to know that one means it's ready while the other just means that's what you want. What?After struggling, I finally got a latte out of the machine. It was terrible. Watery and bland. We read the reviews and they blamed my coffee grinder. I've used this fine on my old Starbuck's Barista for years. Why would this be the culprit. I asked a local coffee house and they suggest the machine might need to get "dirty" so not so much water runs through it. Hoookay. So, I changed my grinder settings to Turkish coffee and left a bit of much at the bottom of the basket and the coffee tasted stronger...almost as good as the twelve year old machine I was replacing.I have to say, the foam was amazing. Rich and thick and better than most restaurants. That is, until the third day, when the machine stopped foaming. It would turn to Steam, then display Steam (again, lol that you have to wait for the second Steam), but then almost immediately blink off to "Set Up". I've had it for about a week and it's going back. I'm not really encouraged to get another one. For this kind of money, I want the machine to drive my kids to school after it makes my coffee. I don't need another headache in the morning.

It started off as a wonderful machine. Makes excellent espresso, has the programable temps and times for singles and doubles, as well as a pod setting. My problem is with the reliability and manufacturer. After only four months of use, the machine quit heating water in the boiler. Emails to Crossland Coffee went unanswered, and shipping the machine back to the retailer ran me about fifty bucks. Fortunately, I opted for the package that included an extended warranty through the retailer. When I bought the machine, it was a tossup between the CC1 and the Rancilio Silvia. I'm beginning to think I made the wrong choice. Maybe it will last longer than 4 months once I get it back, but I'm setting aside funds to invest in a Silvia now. I was given a 3-4 week turnaround on the repair, so I guess I'll be drinking crappy coffee for awhile.