Lavazza, A Modo Mio Deséa Coffee Capsule Machine, Compatible with A Modo Mio Coffee Pods, Touch Interface, Sound Alerts, Automatic Shut-Off, Dishwasher-Safe Components, 1500W, 220-240V, White Cream

One of a kind machine, so perfect for my little kitchen. I’ve always wanted to get a machine with a steamer nozzle but resisted as I’m very accident prone, and got two very curious cats, plus didn’t want the added space of storing a milk jug. This is a really safe & clean alternative. Coffee pods are a tidier option to having a separated bean grinder & the second best option in terms of freshness & taste. No tamping down of the coffee grounds either. Pods are locally compostable which is a huge step up from my Nespresso which needed to be sent away for commercial recycling. Lavazza pods are a little more expensive than Nespresso etc but I only have one cup a day and the flavour is worth. Overall, I am thrilled with this purchase & can’t fault it.

[Edit/added. Since writing this review I have joined the Vine 'club' as is now indicated above, but I want to be clear this machine was bought and reviewed by me personally and independently.]I had a pod machine in my room on holiday recently and was impressed, though it only did the coffee, not milk. So on return I decided to try one instead of my rather cumbersome, fiddly and noisy grinder plus espresso machine and steamer, and did a bit of research.The Desea seemed to be the ideal one for me and after buying from Amazon, so it has proved.I'm not a coffee nerd, but I can tell what I like more or less, so I'm working through a selection of capsules, both Lavazza and compatible.Operation is just so simple and pretty quiet (compared to my old setup). It also means that I can do other things while it's actually building my drink.Some people have complained about the drinks being too cool, but I think they are OK. Milk for espresso based coffees shouldn't be heated more than about 60-65°C as the flavour changes, so they need to be drunk fairly soon and not left standing like one might a mug of instant.That said the Desea mug is very thick and heavy, so I often pre-warm it with a bit of hot water (from the Desea or kettle) and this does help.Like some others I found the 'capsule drawer full' was coming on when it clearly wasn't, so I e-mailed customer services. (They are very quick and helpful, even on a weekend - no standard text referring you to some instructions you've already read three times.)Turns out the machine doesn't count capsules - it counts deliveries. So if you make a drink and then run it again to make it longer but with the same capsule in place (taste?!) it will count 2. Or if you do what I sometimes do: Use a free dose to get water to warm the mug, then run a coffee capsule, eject the capsule and then run another free dose to flush the spout - that counts as 3. You get to 10 long before there are 10 capsules in the basket.(I don't think this a bad thing really as running it with no capsule still puts water in the chamber which eventually ends up in the basket. Waiting for 10 actual capsules might result in liquid overflowing the basket.)The only real downside is that I'm having about double the number of coffees I used to ...

The media could not be loaded. I've used Dolce Gusto machines in the past and whilst I did enjoy the coffees, I really didn't like the fact the pods were plastic and rather hard to recycle.So I saw this machine pop up in my feed and the compostable pods, so it caught my interest immediately.Add to that, the machine heats and froths milk, then dispenses coffee, it looked really cool.I've had the machine now for a week now and I use it every morning to make a latte, using double cream, milk and sweetener.It's delicious, it really is, very hot too, I wasn't expecting it to be as hot as it was (bit of a burnt tounge haha)So that was a nice surprise, some machines I've had made barely hot coffee in the pastOne problem I ran into though was the registration code on the label didn't work on the websiteThe QR code didn't input the code either, it just takes you to the basic welcome/register pageSo I contacted Lavazzo through their support system, I got a response within 30 minutes asking me for proof of purchase and a photo of the sticker on the bottom (the serial/model details)Once done, it took a couple of days but the machine is now registered, I got an apology and they are sending me 4 boxes of coffee as a thank you!UPDATE - 04/06/2024So far so good, I've made probably 30+ coffees with this machine and they're always deliciousIt's so much simpler having the milk frother built into the actual machineThere is something I feel is worth mentioning, the coffee pods which are classed as compostable, ARE compostable, but you can't compost them at home, they have to be sent to, or dropped off at a place which accepts pods like this, as it needs an industrial composter.There's a charity called Salisbury Recycles for Medic to Medic, which will send you a UPS label via emailYou can then book a free collection via UPS's site and they get shipped to a composting siteThe box needs to weight 3-5KG, so you need to drink quite a bit of coffee before shipping