Reviews related to : Beverages

Household gadgets are becoming ever more popular and ever more complex in the area of your favourite drink. The standard 'filter coffee' machine is still there, but so are Expresso and other more sophisticated options. Want to stay healthy? Instead of paying a fortune on pre-made smooties, why not make your own from fruit that would otherwise end up on your compost heap?

Here it is the long awaited coffee machine and what a machine it is. While I have reviewed numerous machines before this is the first that uses fresh roasted beans, not ground coffee, unground beans freshly ground in the machine for each cup.
A new experience for me and by some way the largest machine I have used, still it’s a lot smaller than that found in a decent coffee shop. It is 26.5x39x35cm and you will need access to the left side to remove the compacted used coffee grounds every so often, maybe every two days or so dependent on use.
ItÂ’s no secret that to me black coffee is a no no, my days of alcoholic excess are long gone and I prefer something smoother so milk is required. I do like my milk frothy so a device to pump steam in while making good coffee is for me.
This unit is 30x22.5x23cm. The unit is predominately white but the sides are a ribbed black and the area behind the coffee spout is also black. On top there is a chromed strip which lifts up to insert the pod and to the right of the front another chromed area the steam spout. There are three buttons on the face, bottom left on/off, top left heating button, top right steam button. On the right side at the top front a twist knob that is either off (vertical) or on (horizontal).
For those of you that like espresso, but often just want a jug of warm coffee then Krups have combined both functions in a single unit.
The is a stylish brushed stainless steel and black plastic unit. The combination of espresso and filter means that it's physically bigger than other machines we've tested at 35x32x31cm (Width x Height x Depth) - my measurements from the actual unit and weighing in at 3Kg.
In our continuing series reviewing the world of home coffee machines we're taking a look at a stylish espresso machine from Illycaffè.
We've now covered a wide range of coffee machines - now is the turn of the FransisFrancis X6 Trio - designed by Italian architect Luca Trazzi for illy. This machine makes use of standard ESE coffee PODS. ESE standards for 'Easy Server Espresso'. Each pod is very similar to a tea-bag - except hard. Each pod contains compressed coffee between tow pieces of filter paper. Each pod is suitable for a single cup and are available from a number of companies.
Continuing our series on up-market coffee machines, today we're reviewing the elegant 'Le Cube' from Krups.
Krups has a long history in the coffee business, being formed back in 1846 as (according to their web site) 'a brand dedicated to precision and technical perfection'. They moved into coffee in the 1960s, giving them over four decades in which to hone their craft. They should know a thing or two when it comes to coffee and in this case they have leant their name to this Nespresso machine.
An efficient, good looking, easy to use and clean juicer with citrus and centrifrugal attachments to handle citrus fruits, hard fruit and vegetables.
Today I tested the / .  It comes with two separate juicing attachments - citrus and the centrifrugal.  As you'd expect the citrus juicer is there for oranges, grapefruits, limes, and the like.  On top of the brushed crome electrical unit sits a bowl, sieve and a citrus squeezer which is just the same shape as those you use by hand.
Continuing with our review of up-market coffee machines, today I'm reviewing the Nespresso DeLonghi Lattissima. Having worked my way through the various combination of options on this machine I'm a little worried that sleep may elude me this evening!
The specific machine I'm reviewing today is the DeLonghi Lattissima EN660, designed for Nespresso by the Italian design house DeLonghi. At a recommended price of £249 this is a budget product and is aimed squarely at the coffee lover. Available in two finishes, silver (brushed aluminium) or 'creamy white' with dimensions of approximately 20cm wide by 26cm tall and 34cm deep and a good weight at a full 5Kg. The design is basically symmetrical split into three roughly equal areas.
New from the chocolate fountain people, Giles & Posner. Think Johnny Depp and Juliet Binoche in Chocolat for this one - and hot chocolate has never tasted so good!
In amongst the coffee machines we are reviewing this month, we came across this Giles & Posner Chocolate Cocktail Drinks Maker.  As a dedicated chocoholic, this made me smile. The chocolate drinks maker looks a lot like a liquidiser with a heating element.  And really that is broadly what it is - except it doesn't chop anything, it mixes and heats.  The idea is very, very simple.
Gadgetspeak drinks from the cup of the UK's most popular coffee machine. Compact and easy to use, winner of Product of the Year 2007, as voted in a survey of 10,000 households
Now isn't coffee such a personal thing, and choosing the right coffee machine comes down to just how much of an aficionado you are and how much time you have on your hands.  Here at GadgetSpeak we will be testing some of the best selling and newest coffee machines so that you don't have to!  In the first of a series we have road tested the , winner of the Product of the Year 2007 (the UK's largest independent consumer vote on product innovation).
Bored with the 'standard' jug kettle? Want a kettle that adds to your kitchen rather than being something you really want to hide in a cupboard? This might be just the thing for you!
Rather than the current fashion for jug format the kettle seems to hark back to an earlier age. The base is wider than a jug and the sides vertical. The main body is clear perspex allowing a clear view of the water as it boils and removing the need for floats or other devices to show how much water you have in the tank. My initial visual reaction was 'wow - something different - I like that'. My wife's was a little different - being not so keen.
Living in a hard-water area and being a tea drinker has not always been a good combination, unless you like a filmy layer on top of your cupper! Filtering your water is of course the solution, and here we review a new quick filter system in a Russell Hobbs kettle.
Of course lime-scale isn't the only impurity in your average tap-water, and in fact is probably one of the least unpleasant substances you'll find there. Other contaminants can include pesticides, chlorine and heavy metals like lead and aluminium. You can see the lime scale when you boil the water, the others - well, they are invisible.
A futuristic coffee machine that has special coffee and dried milk capsules (pods) that quickly combine to make currently four kinds of coffee that are top notch.
Currently the comes with a starter pack of coffee and dried milk capsules as well as a cup/saucer and glass to give that coffee shop appearance. However the main thing with this machine is the speed of making a Cappuccino or Latte Macchiato both of which require a milk and a coffee capsule or an Espresso or Caffe Lungo that are drunk black and require just a single capsule. If the machine is switched on cold water is turned into a hot drink in around 20 seconds.
A coffee machine that does not require plumbing, a decent fresh hot cup of coffee whenever you want it in only 20 seconds, all you need is a 13amp plug. Philips and Douwe Egberts have combined to produce Senseo.
The shape of the is distinctive, in fact I would go so far as to say unique. A little like a jug kettle, a little like those thermos type jugs that keep coffee warm inordinately but in truth nothing like either. Senseo from Philips The Senseo 'coffee pad system' to give it it's full name can produce either one or two cups of delicious coffee from 'ready' in 20 seconds.