Scarlett coffee maker: how to use, all models, reviews

We would like to remind you: excessive coffee consumption is harmful to your health.
A lot of time has passed since the advent of such a delicious drink as coffee. Every year, more and more people prefer to start their mornings with it. Some people spend money visiting cafeterias, while others strive to master the art of cooking it perfectly. And if a few years ago it was problematic to do this, today it will not be difficult. After all, in any store you can find a budget coffee maker that will greatly facilitate the preparation process.

Recommendations for preparing the drink

It may seem to some that only a sophisticated person with extensive experience can make delicious coffee on their own. However, we hasten to assure you of the opposite. All of the above cooking options are simple. Consequently, even an amateur who has no experience in using a coffee maker can brew a drink with amazing taste.

The first recipe that will be discussed in the article is a classic version of espresso. To prepare it at home, you will need to perform a few simple manipulations:

• Carefully unscrew the top of the coffee machine;
• Remove the filter intended for ground coffee;
• Pour water into the container located below. Fill the container with liquid up to the drawn limit line. Please note that exceeding this line is strictly prohibited! Otherwise, you will not be able to brew the coffee as it should;
• The filter, which looks like a small strainer, is completely filled with coffee. It is permissible to compact it a little, removing the excess;
• After this, you can reassemble the device by screwing all the parts into place and connect it to the network or put it on low heat;
• It is necessary to monitor the design throughout the entire cooking time. If you see water leaking out of the cracks little by little, the structure was assembled incorrectly;
• You can remove the device from the heat (unplug it from the mains) only when steam rises from above. This will mean that the water has boiled;
• After waiting a few seconds, you can start pouring the drink into cups.

Please note that most electric coffee machines are equipped with a special mechanism that turns off the device automatically after the water boils.
If you purchased just such a model, then you do not have to wait at the stove for the moment of boiling. Sometimes the coffee prepared in a geyser-type coffee maker can turn out to be too strong.
In this case, the situation can only be saved by diluting the drink with plain water or milk (depending on your personal preferences). To avoid such trouble in the future, you should experiment with the degree of grinding. Experiments like these will help you achieve the optimal consistency over time.

Carob coffee maker Polaris PCM 1515E

A simple device with manual control The Polaris PCM 1515E carob espresso coffee maker is a fairly simple device that allows you to prepare one or two cups of espresso in one start and is equipped with a cappuccino maker for heating milk and producing milk foam. The coffee maker is as simple as possible to operate: it does not even provide the ability to automatically turn off and adjust the volume of one serving. At the same time, the developer promises that the device creates a pressure of 15 bar, which should be more than enough to prepare high-quality espresso.

Table of contents

1. Characteristics
2. Equipment
3. At first sight
4. Instructions
5. Control
6. Exploitation
7. Testing
8. conclusions

Characteristics

Equipment

The coffee maker comes in a cardboard box decorated in cream tones (which looks quite logical, considering that the model is called Adore Crema). The box is equipped with a plastic carrying handle. The side faces depict the coffee maker itself, as well as excerpts from the technical characteristics of the device: the key features of the model and equipment are described.

The contents of the box are additionally protected from impacts by cardboard and foam inserts, and are also packed in plastic bags.

Having opened the box, inside we found:

• The coffee maker itself, including the drip tray and the removable drip tray;
• Filter holder handle and filter itself;
• Measuring spoon;
• Set of stencils for drawings on milk foam (3 pcs.);
• Coffee ideas brochure;
• Instructions;
• Warranty card and promotional materials.

At first sight

The coffee maker gives the impression of a well-built and very attractive device. The body is made of matte black plastic and cream-colored metal. The control panel is glossy, the water container is translucent with a carrying handle and min and max marks, which allows you to find out at any time how much liquid is left in stock and add water if necessary. The marks, however, are on the back of the coffee maker, so you will have to either unfold the device or pour water “by eye”. It would be much more convenient to apply them to the side surface of the container, which is always visible.

The filter horn is traditionally installed by rotating it 45 degrees. The set includes only one filter, so to prepare half a serving (i.e. one cup), you will have to determine the volume of ground coffee yourself, manually. It is possible to prepare two cups of coffee at once (to do this, the cups must be placed under two drink horns at the same time). The horn has a plastic clip that allows you to rinse the filter under running water without removing it from the holder - very convenient.

The cappuccino maker nozzle is equipped with a special rubber handle (so as not to get burned during the process of preparing milk foam or immediately after completing this process).

The control buttons are mechanical, with LED backlighting and indication. The steam volume adjustment knob is also mechanical. It is worth noting that it does not rotate completely evenly: in the process you have to apply different amounts of force. Because of this, at first it seems that something is stuck inside or is not working correctly, although, of course, this is not the case.

The icons illustrating the control process are simple and intuitive.

The only thing that looks frankly cheap is the plastic lid of the water container, which is noticeably loose. However, this is noticeable only during the process of pouring water, and does not directly affect the operation of the device.

The top surface of the coffee maker is suitable for storing clean cups. The heating level of the device is not high enough to keep them warm. Moreover, after some time spent in readiness mode, the coffee maker automatically turns off.

Plastic stencils allow you to apply designs to milk foam. For example, using ground cinnamon. A nice and cute little thing.

Instructions

The instructions are a brochure with full-color photographs, printed on high-quality glossy paper. The information is provided in three languages ​​- for Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan (each has 20 pages). The contents of the instructions are quite standard: general information, safety instructions, description of the device and how to care for it, etc.

An additional coffee ideas booklet, also printed in full color on quality paper, contains 13 illustrated recipes for coffee drinks and cocktails.

The recipes look very nice, but some of them have problems with proportions. For example: the ingredients for a Viennese cappuccino indicate “100 ml espresso, 50 grams of grated chocolate and 9 dessert spoons of whipped cream,” and the recipe itself begins with the words “bring the milk to a boil.” The question arises: how much milk to take? Unclear. Plus: imagine 50 grams of grated chocolate. Is this really supposed to be poured into 100 ml of espresso with cream? In other recipes, coffee is even measured in “tablespoons.” There were also typos in the recipe book.

The recipes are supplemented with pseudoscientific recommendations from the series “in winter, doctors recommend starting the morning with a cup of a tonic drink” and “obviously, the most satisfying food is a banana.”

The solution turned out to be simple: Google suggests that these recipes were simply taken from the Internet. In some cases, “one to one”, in others - with minor rewriting. It is clear that they are not directly related to the Polaris PCM 1515E coffee machine. Moreover: the given illustrations of ready-made drinks were also found on the Internet (or taken from photo banks) and do not correspond to the recipes, which, of course, is outright “hack work”.

Control

The coffee maker is controlled using three mechanical buttons with LED indicators and a rotating knob, which is responsible for adjusting the steam supply to the cappuccino maker nozzle.

The purpose of the buttons is as follows:

• heating steam for the operation of the cappuccino maker;
• making coffee;
• heating water for making coffee.

LED indicators show the degree of water heating. So, to make coffee, you first need to press the water heating button and wait until the indicator stops flashing. The steam heating button for the cappuccino maker works similarly: while the indicator is flashing, the steam is heating up. As soon as the indicator stops flashing, the steam is ready.

The coffee preparation button starts the process of dispensing water through the filter with ground coffee. There is no automatic shutdown for this process. On the one hand, such a system allows you to prepare coffee of different strengths by manually turning off the preparation of the drink at the appropriate moment. On the other hand, it requires the presence of the user and does not allow you to set the required strength once and prepare coffee at the touch of a button.

The handle for supplying steam to the cappuccino maker, as already mentioned, does not rotate very smoothly, which, however, does not affect its operation and easily allows you to set the required intensity of steam supply. It is worth noting that in the first seconds of operation of the cappuccino maker, a small amount of water flows out of the nozzle, so it is better to use a separate container to remove it.

Exploitation

Preparation for use

Before first use (and also if the coffee maker has not been used for some time), the developer recommends filling the reservoir with water and emptying it completely during normal operation of the device. This procedure should clean the coffee maker and eliminate technical odors.

We found that the odors were indeed removed, with the exception of the “plastic” smell of the tank. It remained pronounced even after several weeks of using the device.

Care

Everyday care of the coffee maker is standard: it is recommended to wipe the body with a damp cloth, the filter and holder can be washed in warm water (it is recommended to clean the holes in the filter with a small brush, which, however, is not included in the kit). The drip tray and cappuccino maker tube are washed in the same way with running water.

Descaling every 2-3 months is done by replacing the water with a 2-3% solution of citric acid, which is passed through the coffee maker in the standard coffee preparation mode.

Testing

During the testing process, we checked how all the functions of the coffee maker work and measured the corresponding parameters. So, what primarily interests us in this device? Obviously - the speed of preparation of the finished drink and the volume of the finished portion.

Objective tests

Measurements showed that the maximum volume of coffee that can be placed in the filter is approximately 17 grams. As you know, an average serving of espresso requires 7 grams of coffee per 25 ml of water, and a regular one requires about 10 grams of coffee per 35 ml of water. Thus, we can conclude that this coffee maker is suitable for preparing two medium servings or one regular one.

It takes 2 minutes 35 seconds to heat water at room temperature, and the cappuccino maker takes another 40 seconds to heat up after preparing a cup of coffee. Add 15 seconds to the actual process of preparing the drink, and we get 3 minutes. This is exactly how long it will take to prepare the drink during a “cold start” of the coffee maker.

When cooking several mugs in a row, this time will be slightly shorter: it will take less than a minute to heat up (about 45-50 seconds to be exact).

As for the cappuccino maker, its operation did not cause any complaints: steam regularly comes out of the nozzle and whips up foam in the milk. The cappuccino maker can also be used to preheat cups, which allows the drink to maintain the desired temperature longer.

With a coffee maker, you can use cups up to 10 cm high, and for a cappuccino maker - up to 7 cm, so not every cup in the house is suitable for making milk foam.

The power of the device, according to measurements, was 830 watts, and energy consumption was 0.06 kWh per cup of coffee.

Practice tests

In our opinion, the quality of the finished drink turned out to be quite acceptable. Of course, if you strictly observe the proportion of the amount of coffee and water, which is not so easy in the absence of an automatic shut-off function.

It would probably not be wrong to say that “real espresso” should be a little stronger than the one produced by the Polaris PCM 1515E. We suspect that this situation is due to the low power of the device: 830 actual watts - quite a bit even for a home coffee maker. It is believed that if the power of the device is less than 1 kilowatt, then the coffee maker is unlikely to cope with the task of creating the required pressure of 9 bar. Against this background, the declared 15 bar (19 bar according to the information on the website is probably a typo) for our tested model raises some doubts.

conclusions

The Polaris PCM 1515E coffee maker is a completely adequate solution for a “beginner” coffee lover who is not too picky about the quality of the drink and the convenience of its preparation.

It can be easily used for preparing weak coffee, coffee with milk and other coffee drinks in which proportions are not particularly important. But for preparing espresso directly, the device turned out to be too demanding for the user: firstly, to prepare one portion, it is suggested to measure the amount of ground coffee “by eye” (or immediately brew a double portion, filling the filter to the brim). Secondly, the lack of an automatic shut-off function makes it quite easy to miss the volume of water - after all, when preparing one serving of espresso in 11-12 seconds, even one extra or missing second significantly affects the strength and quality of the finished drink.

pros

• Easy to manage and use

Minuses

• No automatic shutdown
• A recipe book compiled from online recipes and illustrations from photo banks

How to make Moccacino using a coffee maker?

To prepare this sweet milk drink, you will need very few ingredients:

• coffee - 1 tbsp. l.;
• milk (chilled) – 120–150 g;
• syrup – 20 ml.

Take a glass and fill it with syrup. Start preparing 40 ml of coffee. Once it's ready, add it to the glass of syrup. Then, using the cappuccino frother, froth the milk. Add the frothed milk to the other ingredients.

The option with the addition of various sweets (chocolate, marshmallows) is suitable only for people who love sweets. Cinnamon is also a specific additive and this must be taken into account when using it to prepare Moccacino coffee.

Pros and cons of drip coffee makers

Latte at home

Before you start cooking, stock up on the following products: 1 tbsp. l. coffee (finely ground), 170-220 ml milk, chopped nuts, cinnamon. Please note that the amount of milk varies. This discrepancy is due to the fact that devices may have glasses of different capacities. Therefore, it is necessary to use the amount of milk that will fit in the container.

1. Prepare 40 ml espresso in advance.
2. Pour it into an Irish glass.
3. After this, start preparing the milk froth and froth the milk. To do this, you can use a special attachment in the coffee machine itself or a beater.
4. Pour the frothed milk into a glass. At this stage, you need to decide which version of “Latte” you are going to prepare. If you want to prepare the so-called puff version, then pour the milk carefully, along the side of the glass. If you want to make mixed coffee in a geyser coffee maker, you can simply pour in milk and mix it well.
5. At the last stage, you should start decorating the drink. Ground nuts and cinnamon are ideal for this purpose, as they complement the delicate taste of the drink well.

If you're not sure you can make a layered latte, then you can safely take the simple route and make a mixed drink. It is worth noting that its taste will be in no way inferior to coffee prepared according to a complicated recipe.

Making Cappuccino easy and simple

To prepare this wonderful drink with a rich taste, you will need the following ingredients:

• coffee - 1 tbsp. l.;
• milk – 130 ml;

Remember that according to tradition, Cappuccino is served with a small teaspoon.
Using it, you need to eat the milk foam and only after that begin to slowly taste the drink itself. To make coffee you will need a special cup. It should have thickened walls. If you want the drink to remain warm for as long as possible, then this bowl needs to be warmed up thoroughly and only then place the ingredients into it.

At the first stage of preparation, you should brew 40 ml of espresso and pour it into a cup. The next stage involves preparing the milk. It must be foamed well and added to the drink. You should start pouring in the milk from the center. You can decorate the drink with grated chocolate or cinnamon. If you are a lover of sweets, you can add a couple of pieces of refined sugar to your coffee.

Useful tips

Although the process of making coffee in a coffee machine is not complicated, there are several nuances that will help you avoid mistakes and quickly master the difficult art of preparing the drink.

1. Try to always grind your coffee just before using it. In this case, it is completely inappropriate to grind it with reserve. After all, using the old grind, you will get an unsaturated drink with impurities, devoid of the original taste.
2. If you use geyser coffee machines for preparation, it is preferable to buy medium and coarse grind coffee. Otherwise, your drink will be too thick.
3. No matter what coffee maker recipes you use, remember that the quality of the drink is greatly influenced by the type of water used. That is why it is recommended to use only filtered liquid.
4. Do not be lazy to wash the device after each use and remember that cleaning must be done without any detergents.
5. To preserve the warmth and aroma of the drink for as long as possible, it should be poured into slightly warmed cups.
6. When the coffee maker is working, it is prohibited to open it! This will not only negatively affect the quality of the coffee, but can also cause burns.
7. If you find that the finished drink contains sediment, then this indicates an incorrect choice of coffee grinding. In this case, you should use a coarser grind.

Remember that before using a newly purchased device, you need to run it once without coffee and steam it several times with the addition of coffee powder. It is not recommended to drink the prepared drink. Using the coffee maker recipes described above, you are guaranteed to be able to create amazing drinks. In this case, you will not need to visit the cafeteria to drink a cup of coffee. You can enjoy this drink at home.

American coffee makers

Europeans often call drip coffee makers “American,” since it was the Americans who came up with the idea of ​​preparing a large thermos of coffee in the morning and drinking it throughout the day, without being picky about the taste and aroma.
The operating principle of this coffee maker is extremely simple: cold water is poured into a special container; usually the volume of the reservoir is about 1 liter. The coffee maker has a cone filter, you need to add ground coffee there. The coffee maker then closes. Now you need to turn it on, the water will heat up and flow through a special tube to the filter. Passing through the thick beans, it is brewed and turns into a coffee drink, which flows drop by drop into the coffee pot.

Once all the water from the reservoir has flowed into the coffee pot, many coffee makers automatically switch to warm mode. This is why you can drink coffee from a drip coffee maker for quite a long time: it remains aromatic, tasty and hot for several hours.