I was about to add this coffee maker (excuse me: espresso maker) to the Luddite gift guide but instead I felt it deserved special mention. As a fan of pod-based coffee-makers, I love almost everything about the EA82 – except its price.
This thing is a dense block of coffee-creation goodness. Operation is simple – add some water, whole beans, and a cup. You select the type of coffee – espresso or regular – and press a button. The machine does everything from grinding the beans, heating the the milk and water, and blowing out delicious coffee with just the right top of frothy crema.
The kit also includes a milk steamer and separate milk container for making endless cappuccinos and lattes.
The entire thing is self-cleaning and all you have to do is dump the grounds and some excess water. It comes in red and black, so you can buy one of each to match each of your kitchens.
Now for the bad news: this thing costs $795 on a good day and has an MSRP of $1,200, which is just about as nutso as it gets. However, I assure you that the coffee this thing pumps out is just about the best stuff that I’ve tasted in a long while and it will definitely steer you away from those $6-a-cup joints down in the building lobby.
There is, obviously, no way the average person would invest this much in a coffee maker, but if you’re running a small office this may save you quite a bit of cash in the long run. The system is solid, handsome, and easy-to-use and it definitely saves on the $1.25-per-cup price of many pod makers. For personal use a French press would probably produce equally good coffee, but the clean-up time and simplicity of this system is too nice to ignore.
Hopefully this coffee monster falls in price over the next few months and allows everyone to enjoy her freshly brewed goodness. Until then, I’ll drink cup after cup of coffee out of this loaner unit they sent me and cry, my lamentations rattling the heavens, when it’s time for it to go back.
