Why I buy this one ?
- 950-watt espresso/cappuccino machine made of heavy-duty stainless steel
- ThermoBlock 15-bar pump-driven system provides uniform, constant pump pressure
- Removable 2-1/4-quart water reservoir can be refilled from the top at any time
- Cup warming area allows up to 9 cups to be warmed before use
- Measures 9-1/2 by 9-1/4 by 12-1/2 inches; 1-year limited warranty

Amazon.com offers this stuff with condition New, new for:

Price : $142.75 Usually ships in 24 hours

What our customer's say!

"very pleased so far!", This is my first espresso maker in a looonng time...so before I spend some dough on good beans, I'm using regular cheap coffee. I am extremely pleased thus far. It is extremely easy to use...the last machine I had was super cheap so I thought the milk frothing was going to be a debacle, but got great even on my first shot! My regular coffee maker is officially in storage...who needs a mr. coffee when cappuccino is this easy? :-)

"Great so far", Despite the mixed reviews online, I've found the Ariete to work nicely. Be sure to leave the machine on when pulling out the coffee filter; if you turn it off first then you will have a soupy mixture of coffee and grounds. Saving money on the expresso machine let me spend a little more on the grinder (Capresso burr grinder) which was well worth it. All in all, this machine is well worth the price.

"So far so good...", Purchased this espresso maker as a gift for someone and have had the chance to use it quite a bit myself. Seems to make a good espresso and is easy to clean. Pluses include the removable water tank and it also seems to be built well, looks like it will last a long time. Good deal for a relatively inexpensive entry-level expresso maker.

"Great machine for the price!", I had bought a $600 automatic expresso machine and had to return it because the coffee beans would get stuck during grinding.

Then I purchased this nice looking and well built unit.
My girlfriend loves it and works great. Nice price for a pump machine!

Recommended.

"espresso", Overall, it is a decent espresso maker for the right price. It does take some practice to get good at making a perfect espresso, so don't expect to have a great drink on your first try.

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Who needs the coffee shop when you have this?", I've been drinking my morning coffee using the Melitta pour-thru
cone method for maybe 20 years. I didn't know what I was missing. This "little" Ariete Cafe Prestige quickly makes coffee that is FAR superior to the pour-thru cone method, using LESS COFFEE.
I'm talking "regular" coffee here which I drink 95% of the time.
The coffee that results has that "crema" that espresso-lovers
crave, and unlike ordinary drip coffee, there is no hint of bitterness in the beverage that is created. Needless to say, the espresso made by this little beauty is great as well. The only reason that I give it 4 out of 5 stars is that I've had espresso from machines costing many times what the Ariete costs that might be slightly better. But for this price for a machine with a "pump",
buying this one is a no-brainer if you love great coffee but decline to pay many hundreds more for what might be marginally better coffee. Oh, I use only premium, freshly-ground coffee here i.e.: like what you can get at ParadiseRoasters: [..]
.......... to do any less is just self-deprivation

"Great when you get it exactly right", This is an excellent espresso maker for the price when you get it exactly right - you need to be precise with the grind of the coffee, the amount of coffee and how hard you pack it. Plus you need to regularly clean the filter because the very fine holes get easily clogged. If you do all that you get brilliant espresso with fantastic crema. It also froths milk beautifully.

Plus it's a beautiful looking machine on your kitchen counter!

"Pretty, but...", I bought this based upon looks - bad idea. It works okay and the water storage reservoir is nice, but...the bowl is too small and it seems to take longer to get good steam going. It is now sitting next to a cheaper Krups model.

"Espresso make a bit of a dud.", Water tank difficult to fill and put back on. Nothing seems to fit quite right on it. I've had other espresso makers and this is the worst. Involved packing made it impossible to repack and return.

"Excellent design; close tolerances; WE are quality control", I've had my Ariete for a week now and it makes wonderful espresso, especially with raw grounds, but also somewhat less well with Lille prefab packets. (I've decided to go all fresh grounds - it's way cheaper, one can get better espresso coffee that way - at least here in NYC - and the mess is minimal if one simply uses a flexible plastic kitchen cutting board/matt upon which to tamp the grounds down into the holder with the tamping tool provided).

The main reason I'm bothering to write a review though is this. Earlier this morning I was about ready to return my unit to Amazon. Starting yesterday it had begun leaking out the junction between the grounds holder and the receptor gasket for it on the Ariete machine. Coffee was quite a bit weaker, steam and hot water began spewing out about halfway through the process, and it looked to get worse. I'd noticed that unlike the really firm and satisfying slow stop to the grounds holder after applying firm or even hard pressure on it's lever arm that the instructions recommend, the handle went all the way to the left and was stopped by some metal stop, rather than being too tight to get much further over with reasonable pressure. Uh, oh, I've already blown the seal I though. It's just too easy to do that ... Maybe I DID apply too much pressure ... Regardless, back to Amazon ....

Well guess what. I realized a bit ago that the two cup stainless espresso coffee grounds holder/filter was missing from it's cradle arm. I'd been putting the grounds "naked" into their holder. No wonder it bottomed out when tightening - there's about a 1/32" lip/flange to the stainless filter that was no longer there to tighten against. Yuup, it was in my trash. Fished it, that satisfying slow pressure stop to the grounds handle was back -- made another brew -- all was perfect

The moral of this story for me, aside from being a bit careful about knocking out the filter when tapping out the grounds (it is a pretty tight fit so one doesn't usually) is my vivid realization that the tolerances on this machine are REALLY close. That stands to reason - it takes lots of pressure on the steam to make a great cup of espresso.

What that means, on just a moments reflection, is that if you've got a unit that leaks (as many unhappy commenters do) with one of the stainless filters in fact in place, you probably were unlucking enough to get a unit with a manufacturing micro glitch in meeting the tight machining specs. In all likelihood Areitte or whoever the owning corp. is, isn't paying for lots of really good quality control over in China where these are made.

WE, the retail customers, are the quality control.

What THAT means to me is that if you had bad luck, realize that's in all likelinood what it is. Definitely return your unit. But the design is great. In all likelihood a replacement unit won't also turn up bad in this quality control lottery, though once in a while it might.

Well, I guess I may sing a different, less happy tune after the passage of more time, but that's how things seem to me now.

We after all aren't paying a lot for this Italian designed but Chinese made machine. Taking some quality control risk seems to me a fair trade. I'd be unwilling to pay twice or half again as much to run a much lower risk of having to return a unit, myself. YMMV.

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