Solis Crema SL-90 Black Espresso Machine Review

Makes excellent Americanos and fairly decent espresso if you get everything right (tamp, grind, non-press filter, etc). If you need to make multiple (more than two) drinks quickly, it's not that much fun to use.

Very succeptible to internal disconnect of the hoses and some electrical plugs during shipment. I mention this, should your unit arrive and not function correctly. Housing is plastic.

The drip tray needs to be deeper because it has to be drained fairly often.The built-in tamper is mainly useful while you are learning and using the included pressurized filters.Once you've built some skills, you'll likely ignore both the built-in tamper and pressurized filters.

Solis should have put a horizontal bar across the front of the top (cup storage area).The cups have a tendency to slide off the front, especially when you lift the plastic water reservoir for filling. I solved this problem using double sided tape and a strip of plastic trim I cut to fit the opening.

On the up-side, the price is right and the unit is easy to use. Your first purchase (along with the SL90) should be the non-pressurized double filter.This is essential to getting the best espresso possible from your SL90. Slightly overfill it, wipe the excess and then tamp.This is about 15-16 grams of coffee which is slightly more than the recommended 14grams for a double. Also, get a good "metal" 53mm tamper for use with the non-pressurized filter.

If you only need to prepare one or two drinks at a time, the SL90 is more than capable.If you need to do more than that, I'd recommend getting a higher-end HX machine and skip the SL90.

The steaming capability of the SL90 is superb. It will definitely get the job done and quickly. You can create loads of microfoam, latte milk, etc and the learning curve isn't very steep. All in all, the product delivers good espresso and in its price range the SL90 is a very reasonable investment.

The SL90 is too light when the water tank is less than 1/3 full.You may see people write about cabinet flex with the SL90.Actually, the flex doesn't really affect anything, but the light weight does and Solis should add weight to hold the unit still.

Clearly one of the best design features of the SL90 is the water tank.It's really easy to use, easy to see the level and quite convenient to access. With a 3L capacity, it really helps reduce the amount of refills needed.

The keypad that allows you to select up to 12 preset timings is largely useless if you prefer to watch the shot and manually stop it when it begins to go "blond". However, I use the presets for cleaning and running a certain amount of water through the PF.In that regard it's a useful option that the SL70 doesn't have.

You've got to wait for the boiler to recover each time you need more water or steam and this adds up to feeling like it's taking for ever when you have multiple drinks to prepare.For just one or two people this isn't much of an issue, but begins to be one for 3+ people.

Unless you have $1000+ to spend for a double boiler system unit, the Solis SL-90 is likely to be fine for most of us that don't have houseful of coffee drinkers or entertain large crowds of people.For what this machine was designed to do, it does it very well. Should Solis ever figure out that a stainless steel housing and added weight would greatly improve the appearance and make it a more "solid" unit, they would have a major seller for those of us who don't want to spend more than $500 for a dependable and decent machine.

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Product Description:
The SL 90 is a "purist" machine with a bit of cutting edge technology built in. This machine will make the production of all of your favorite coffee house drinks like cappuccino, lattes, cafe mochas and more. This Swiss masterpiece has all the features of the SL 70, with the added benefit of digital control over the espresso shot volume; allowing you to select a program for your own perfect shot. Classified as an "automatic machine", we prefer to call it a traditional machine for 2004 and beyond.The SL 90 has an initial heat up time of just over two minutes. It will brew a single shot of espresso in 15-20 seconds and a double shot in 20-25 seconds; however, these times can be programmed to your liking. Initial heat up time for the steaming function is 48 seconds, with an average heat time of 58 seconds for an 8-ounce cappuccino and a 12-ounce latte takes 96 seconds. These are impressive performance figures for a machine in this class.If you desire espresso topped with a thick layer of crema, the SL 90 delivers. It's specially designed coffee basket ensures the proper espresso extraction regardless of the grind of the coffee beans or tamping pressure of the coffee grounds, thus yielding a perfect layer of thick golden crema (foam), which is the hallmark of perfectly extracted espresso. The SL 90 permits you to use your own pre-ground coffee or single serving espresso pods. These espresso pods can be purchased from many online retailers and make the production of espresso quick and easy, no need for a coffee grinder.

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