DeLonghi CC80 Deluxe Coffee Cappuccino Machine

If you like brewed coffee, this makes some of the best I've had. I am not sure why, but the design of the lid over the filter captures the aroma and I never get a bad cup. There is a built-in water filter and a gold mesh filter comes with.

To make the hot milk, you fill the espresso-like tank with water, allow it to come to temperture and fill the reservoir in front with milk. Put a pitcher underneath and open the valve on the side. Hot milk froths into the pitcher, ready for your porcelain bowl of cafe-au-lait. But then you MUST take the little plastic insert out and soak it or you have dried milk clogging the suction tube.

My first unit had a defective heater on the milk side, so I exchanged it. The new one has worked flawlessly for two years. The filters are hard to obtain; we just decommissioned the water filter and use pre-filtered water instead. And don't wash the gold filter in the dishwasher or the ionic action of the detergent and other metals will strip off the gold.

If you want hot milk for cocoa or cafe-au-lait, and a great brewed cup, this is superb. For espresso, you have to look elsewhere.


WHAT A MESS   February 21, 2003
Sandy (Poulsbo, WA.)
4 out of 7 found this review helpful

I DIDN'T PAY ENOUGH ATTENTION TO THE PEOPLE WHO SAID THIS MACHINE LEAKED. WELL... I ORDERED IT. WHEN I FILLED IT THE DOOR BELL RANG AND WHEN I GOT BACK THERE WAS WATER ALL OVER MY COUNTER AND FLOOR! SO I THOUGHT, O.K I'LL TRY AGAIN. SAME THING. THIS TIME I FILLED IT IN THE SINK. I TRIED EVERY WAY I COULD, BUT IT LEAKS. IF I PUSHED THE BREW RIGHT AWAY, IT ONLY LEAKED A SMALL AMOUNT. THE NEXT PROBLEM IS THE FOAM. NOT GREAT. AND, IF THE FOAM OVER FLOWS, IT GOES RIGHT ON THE COUNTER. THERE IS NOT A RESERVOIR TO CATCH IT.


Great coffee -- poor durability   February 10, 2003
Dr Margaret A Walsh (Austin, Texas USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

I admit that I really love this machine. It makes great coffee and does a terrific job of frothing the milk. And who can beat the price? If you are thinking of purchasing the machine, however, you should know that getting replacement parts (which you will inevitably need) is very expensive. The frother itself breaks after a few months (I froth two tanks of milk a day). In order to replace this, you will have to purchase the entire milk tank, steam tubing, and frother. Mine has broken twice in the space of 12 months. In addition, I broke my carafe and found that it cost $...(plus shipping) to replace (the prices on the price list included with the product were out of date). Paying over a third of the purchase price to replace the carafe was a little much. Having said all this, there probably isn't a better value on the market for the price.


Sweet deal   December 1, 2002
Muriel DeBlasio (Olalla, Washington United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

Our purchase of this coffee maker kept numbers of customers at a local gas station/convenience store in lattes while the store's commercial machine awaited delivery of a part. We were glad to see the return of our new machine to our own kitchen counter. All of my adult children enjoy coming to our home to treat themselves to a hot drink. A favorite over the holiday has been to steam eggnog instead of milk. The machine is attractive, cleans up easily and as our local minimart owner might say compares favorably to the very expensive machines.


Great machine - easy to use!   August 25, 2002
My husband and I purchased this item over two years ago at a local appliance store to replace our Expresso machine. It only made small amounts of expresso, so to make lattes and mochas, we would make coffee in our Mr. Coffee and froth milk with the expresso machine, which was difficult to use for frothing, in my opinion. So we replaced it with the DeLonghi Coffee Cappuccino maker becuase we have owned other DeLonghi products and were very satisfied with their performance.
It has been a wonderful machine, very easy to use and as others have reported, it makes wonderful coffee. We make ours very strong and we like it better than when we made lattes with expresso.
The only drawback I have found is in replacement parts. They are EASILY available (ordered over the phone and received by mail), but they are rather costly. There is a white milk tank where you pour the milk to froth, and frothing is accomplished by a small translucent tube which sends air into the milk. This tube is connected to the tank by a very small red valve-like apparatus. Here is the problem. This little red part is attached with a clip which eventually breaks after clicking it in and out each time you froth milk. But the tiny red part cannot be replaced -- you must buy the entire milk tank assembly, which cost($$$)3 the last time I ordered one. I have to replace it about once a year, maybe a little more often. However, we do use our machine every single morning and every single evening, so it gets a lot of use. And that brings me to the most important comment I want to make: this unit is rather expensive as coffee makers go, but many have reported it works wonderfully. I have written to let you know that ours has also been very reliable over the long term, and with lots of use. I hope my review is helpful to you.