Nespresso Essenza Mini Espresso Machine by De'Longhi, 0.6 liters, Red

Works well in small spaces. Easy to clean and use. The water container at the back needs a better design. It’s loose.

Made great espressos for the price point and saved a lot of space for my limited counter space. The only negative is the loud noise when it’s brewing.

I recently purchased the Nespresso Essenza Mini Espresso Machine, and I must say it has completely transformed my mornings! This compact little machine is a powerhouse when it comes to brewing the perfect cup of espresso. Its sleek design not only looks great on my countertop, but it's also incredibly easy to use. With just the touch of a button, I can have a delicious cup of espresso in no time.One of my favorite features of this machine is its versatility. It comes with a variety of coffee pods, allowing me to explore different flavors and find my personal favorites. The espresso it produces is rich, smooth, and full-bodied, just like the ones I used to enjoy at my favorite café. Plus, the speed at which it brews is impressive. Whether I'm rushing to get ready for work or enjoying a lazy weekend morning, the Nespresso Essenza Mini never fails to deliver a quick and satisfying caffeine fix.I also appreciate the convenience this machine offers. It's easy to clean and maintain, with a removable water tank and a used capsule container that holds up to six pods. This means less time spent on maintenance and more time enjoying my espresso. Additionally, the machine's energy-saving mode gives me peace of mind knowing that it's not consuming unnecessary power when I'm not using it.Overall, the Nespresso Essenza Mini Espresso Machine has exceeded my expectations in every way. Its compact size, ease of use, and exceptional espresso quality make it a top-notch addition to any coffee lover's kitchen. Trust me, once you try it, you won't be able to start your day without it!

I am a coffee aficionado and already have a espresso maker but wanted to try a coffee capsule style machine . The advantage of this is that it is very easy to use and eliminates the coffee grinding adding to filter etc. The coffee pods are easy to use and lasts for a very long time as these are sealed.However the coffee pods which came with the machine was not that good and very bland flavoured. I bought separate starbucks pods which has a much richer flavour and showcased the benefits of using this machine.Obviously there are some downsides, for the convenience you get you have to spend more. Coffee pods are really expensive and are only single use. You can try refilling a coffee pod and reuse but it really doesn’t work well.So though the machine will look reasonable think of the pros of buying coffee pods vs using coffee grounds before buying this machine.Personally I didn’t find there is a lot of difference between coffee from a normal espresso machine and the pod. Obviously this depends on the grounds you are using and type of pods being used.

For reference, my household-adjacent has both a Vertuo (purchased as a gift for my partner around the holidays) as well as the Essenza Mini (purchased as a gift for myself a few months later), and for the sake of clarity - I'll highlight some key points between the two that could help inform a decision.I picked up my Essenza Mini + Frother from Amazon Warehouse. It was advertised as "very good" condition with the corresponding pricing due to a cosmetic imperfection, but upon inspection, I really couldn't find anything wrong with it. I see that as a definite win. Setup was fantastically easy, and I'd note that the instruction to "press three times" for the initial flush on the the Essenza Mini refers to pushing the button once letting the machine complete the cycle, and then follow the procedure two more times. [On the Vertuo, you can press the button in quick succession.] The total time between unpacking the machine to getting it set up was less than 5 minutes.I'm fascinated by the technology behind the Vertuo, i.e., it has pre-programmed and also further customizable volume settings depending on the code of the pod being inserted. However, my go-to for just a plain cup of coffee has always been and will continue to be my Aeropress. A large part of that is being a creature of habit, and a smaller part of that is that I'll occasionally roast my own beans. One of the key driving factors of purchasing the Essenza Mini is that it fills a very first-world gap of, "Sometimes I just want an espresso or an Americano, but I don't really want to wait and/or the effort to heat up water and prepare grounds for the Aeropress means I should just make a full cup again anyway but then I'll be up too late."Enter the beauty of two buttons on the Essenza Mini. One button dispenses a smaller volume of water. The other dispenses a larger (maybe twice?) the volume of waster. No codes on the pods to tell the machine what to do. Instead, you pick. So, if I want just a concentrated shot of espresso? Push the button that corresponds to the smaller volume. I want a little bit more volume? Push the button that corresponds to the larger volume. But here's the kicker, and it's going to sound painfully obvious: you can effectively make an Americano by pushing one button (take your pick) and allowing the cycle to finish, and then pushing the other button to just run hot water through the used pod and picking up some residual flavor/color/content. I found that pushing the larger volume button twice yields something that effectively tastes like watered down coffee, but to each their own on what they like.The variety of pods that are compatible with this series of machine is overwhelmingly greater than those that are compatible with the Vertuo line. Maybe something to do with the technology of the coding, but I'm not an expert on that. There was one that came as part of the Nespresso welcome kit that made me feel like I was seeing time, but slowed down. It also kept me up till 2am since I had it at around 6pm, so there's the trade-off.I don't think anyone truly "needs" a machine like this, but it's very nice to have.

This machine makes an excellent cup of Nespresso, surprisingly good! However, it appears the pump is failing already and water does not seem to be getting through the capsule. I did run descaling fluid through it in case it was blocked by build up of salts in the water or coffee, but it did not really make a difference. I bought it in December 2022 so assume it is longer warranted?