August 20, 2006

Hamilton Beach 40729 Espresso Machine Arrives for Review at SingleServeEspresso.com

The Hamilton Beach 40729 Espresso machine with ESE Pod Holder arrived for review today at SingleServeEspresso.com and we are pretty excited to take a look at this relatively inexpensive espresso machine. This may be an inexpensive espresso machine but it is not cheap; internally it is a pump driven espresso maker, a feature that you find in most espresso machines $150 and up. There are plenty of cheap steam or boiler driven espresso makers out there, but the Hamilton Beach 40729 Espresso machine is pump-driven, developing plenty of pressure that is so important to give you that fine layer of crèma foam to sit on top of your espresso. The higher pressure coming in at 10-15 bars (steam or boiler machines only develop 2-4 Bars of pressure), is also important in extracting all the flavor out of the ground espresso, as well as creating an espresso with body like one you might find in a coffee shop.

The Hamilton Beach 40729 Espresso machine has an 1100 watt heater, works with ground espresso or with pre-measured ESE Espresso Pods that make life very easy. The 2-cup reservoir is a little on the small side, but plenty for smaller espressos and steaming milk. The box also contains a scoop/tamper, 2 stainless-steel filters, instructional video, and recipe cards.

We’ll be using the Hamilton Beach 40729 Espresso machine over the next few weeks, first with some Starbucks ESE Espresso Pods, and maybe a few Lavazza Grand Crema ESE Espresso Pods (we reviewed these earlier this year and loved them). I’ve got some pretty sweet espresso on order for this review and I’ll let you know how freshly roasted and ground espresso does too.