I love good quality coffee from pour overs to lattes and this is a super
automatic espresso machine from Terra Kaffe they call it the TK-01 and
basically one tap will make me an amazing latte
now I've been hands-on testing it daily for over a month now and this machine is
pretty dang awesome let me show you I'm Ben from authentech and I'm usually
reviewing tech gadgets but I also love coffee gadgets as well so this is a
perfect marriage I consider myself a semi coffee snob using mic MX pour over
every morning staying far away from that Starbucks stuff and hanging out with all
the hipsters at my local third wave coffee shop just kidding but only a
little in all seriousness I love a good latte but it's hard to get at home and
especially those pod machines they're blessed to be desired for many different
reasons which I'll get to in just a minute that TK hits a lot of boxes on my
list it's very clean and beautifully designed it's literally one touch away
from making an incredible latte and the price point is actually pretty great for
what you get especially when compared to the competition so disclaimers up front
huge things to tear a cafe for sending me the sample unit no sponsorship though
and all thoughts and opinions are my own and I'll give you all the pros and cons
that I've found so far first we gotta start with the quick unboxing which I
was pleasantly surprised it takes a company effort and money to
package a product well and we've seen companies like Apple spend that extra
dollar on nice unboxing experiences so I was pleased to see something similar
here on the espresso machine I could tell Tara cafe is purposeful in
the details from the packaging to the product I've unboxed a lot of gadgets
over the years and I love the little touches like these cardboard flaps to
open and reveal the machine well-protected inside there's two color
options they sell white and black my wife and I went with the white model as
it fits our kitchen aesthetic well also in the box includes plenty of
accessories cleaning tools a water filter and milk carafe setup is a
basically there is none besides plugging it in filling up the beans filling up
the water and maybe running a couple shots through it as a nice primer and
that's basically it so as I mentioned in the beginning we've
been using this machine for almost every single day for over a month and here's
some of our favorite features so far first the product design it looks good
it looks really nice in our kitchen it has that very clean modern and minimal
look and you know one of those cool kitchen appliances you aren't ashamed to
leave out on the counters when friends come over this is one of those of course
the taste it makes some really delicious lattes espresso and other drinks now let
me show you how it works I turn on the machine and it starts warming up the LCD
touchscreen is bright crisp and sharp looking simply one tap to brew up an
Americano espresso cappuccino latte steamed milk or hot water if I want a
latte which is my favorite I first double check to make sure I have enough
water in the tank it's easy enough to pull this container in and out for
refills I always make sure there's enough fresh bean up in the hopper and
lastly I grab the milk carafe which can be kept in your refrigerator to keep the
milk cold which is a nice touch I connect the milk hose to the carafe and
to the spout I place my supercool ember coffee cup below the spout now quick
sidebar huge thanks to ember for sending over this mug I asked for I have the 14
ounce black model and this smart mug is so cool it will let me set and hold the
exact temperature to keep my coffee hot it's well-designed feel great in hand
nice weightiness to it I love the wireless charging no plugging in the mug
just dropping it on the charging coaster and they'll automatically recharge it
even has bluetooth built into the mug so it'll connect quickly to my iPhone and
from their app I can select a predefined temperature even when I pour it in my
hot liquid the live temp reading was impressively fast this is their new
model which has improved battery life they'll keep my coffee warm for up to
about an hour and a half which I find plenty long or of course
place it back on the charging coaster to keep it hot even longer first
using the ember mug was actually really surreal it took me off-guard
after 15 plus years of drinking coffee almost every day it became sorta like
second nature that after a few minutes of drinking my coffee it's sort of
cooling down and then by the time it's half or a third left it's sort of that
lukewarm semi cold less enjoyable coffee experience so now each time I pick up
the cop to take a sip it's still perfectly at that hundred and thirty
five Fahrenheit or whatever temperature I set it to it's really nice okay so
back to the espresso machine I place my cup under the spout and simply tap latte
you'll auto grind the coffee bean then froth the milk and dispense into the cup
then it pulls the shot of espresso and then wham bam I have a delicious latte
ready to drink it's seriously that easy and almost too easy I found myself
wanting to drink lattes and coffee all throughout the day since it literally
only takes a tap now as any coffee person will know it's all about
controlling as many of the variables as possible to pull the perfect shot or
make the perfect latte what I really appreciate about this
super automatic machine is they still give me a lot of customization under the
hood I can adjust the coffee grinder with this a little knob one through five
we have the ability to control milk foam brewing temperature brewing pressure
coffee bean dosage coffee extraction volume milk frothing timer and these are
all separated out per drink types so we can have fun an experiment dialing in
the perfect cup and I think that's why I like this machine so much it's found
that perfect balance between clean minimal fast and easy yet powerful
control and customization as well and just as important as easy brewing they
make cleanup easy as well it'll auto prompt to clean the milk hose after
usage and they even streamline that process simply disconnect the hose from
the craf and connect it to this little drip tray plug it's really nice press
the check button twice and they'll clean the milk hose and spout after so many
drinks the machine will auto repeat ooh empty they used coffee grounds bin I
open the right door it pulls right out and if I had a garden this would be
perfect fertilizer compost or of other clever uses for used grounds or
just tap it into the trash bin and rinse it out there's many other ways of
cleaning out the machine whether for general mains or descaling or deep
cleaning here's just a few other little details that they gave attention to
which I appreciate there's these little warm LED lights they turn on when making
a cup of coffee the brew nozzle adjusts up or down for different cup heights up
to five point three inches of cup clearance there's a warming tray built
in to keep your non-member cups warm the drip tray has this nice little bar that
will pop up when it's full and it's easy to pull out the whole tray empty and
clean it I can choose an auto shut down time for the machine to conserve power
there's pre and post rinse cycles each time I boot up and power down there's a
bypass chute for a pre-ground coffee this could be perfect for maybe decaf
bean okay so any major complaints or issues thankfully not they major just a
couple small wishlist ideas I found the water tank capacity of fifty seven fluid
ounces to be like an a-minus almost perfect but just a tad small after
brewing a few cups of coffee and a couple pre and post rinse cycles the
water tank empties out a little fast and it needs to be refilled semi often one
little complaint sometimes when I press a button on the LCD screen a different
button is selected usually not a big deal and it doesn't happen very often
but if for example sometimes I'll press latte and then it starts to brew a
cappuccino I have to press cancel real quick and then have to tap latte again
they told me they are aware of this issue and they're working on it oh it is
a bonus wishlist item when it's in standby mode it'd be kinda nice to
customize that wallpaper I'll call it give me the option to make it a large
clock display or maybe just a simple black screen or I guess I can always
flip off the power switch in the back if I want it turned off now lastly I think
there's probably a hundred different reasons why I'd vote this machine way
better than a pod base espresso machine besides the constant aluminum waste that
those pods create but simply the quality of drink is going to be lightyears ahead
with a machine like this that allows you to brew freshly roasted coffee
being and control many key variables to dial in that perfect cup the price for
this super automatic espresso machine is seven hundred and seventy five dollars
now at first I thought that was pretty expensive but the more I look into how
much other automatic espresso machines go for it actually comes across pretty
affordable and if not cheaper than most other options out there
even those Nespresso machines can get really expensive and then factoring in a
few years of pods it's very interesting if you run the math almost a hundred
dollars is not cheap by any means I'm not saying it is but it seems pretty
fair price for what you're getting if you want to check it out or the super
cool ember mug I'll give you all those links down below let me know any and all
of your questions and until I see you next time let's live authentic