Review: De'longhi Icona Bar-Pump Coffee Machine

Ever made yourself a cup of coffee and then gone to sort little one out who decided now is the perfect time to have a tantrum or perhaps had an accident that required an emergency change of nappy and clothes and to which you return to a cold and not so refreshing drink? The De'longhi Icona Bar-Pump Coffee Machine could be the answer to your prayers of a warm coffee. Well we have been kindly offered the chance to test this out and let you know what we think of this coffee machine.


We have found this coffee machine to be pretty simple to use. You fill it up with water and put the grounded coffee into the filter. You can also place the cups on the top and it'll warm them up for you. The only problem with warming up the cups really is that it takes a pretty long time to heat them up. We enjoyed making Cappuccinos and found making the milk simple to do. We do think this product should come with some sort of jug for milk which will fit as our jug was too big unless we were making coffee for two or more people.

Keeping this machine clean can be a bit of a hassle. I found emptying the coffee filter tricky as the coffee would form into a solid block. No matter how hard I tapped it against the bin or sink it didn't loosen or fall out. I ended up digging at it with a spoon and a bit of warm water from the tap. The rest of the product can be wiped down very simply with a cloth ready for next time you decide to have a coffee. We also realised we didn't have any cups that were low enough to get under the filter and I ended up going to Tesco Extra in the evening just to get a pair of  coffee cups. We also found the steam boiler for the milk a bit annoying. We had to use it three times as it kept having to reheat, just didn't last long enough.

So has this swayed us towards ground coffee and saying goodbye to instant? Well... we do love the taste of ground coffee compared to the instant stuff, but the price of this machine is too much for our liking.

Pros
- Easy and simple to use.
- Heats up your cold cups.
- Ready in just a few minutes.

Cons
- Steam boiler for milk doesn't last long enough.
- Filter tricky to clean out.
- Heating the cups is slow.

Since Baby Al wasn't testing this product out we have Not-So-Petit Dad!

Not-So-Petit Dad's Rating: 7/10
Petit Mom's Rating: 6/10

Not-So-Petit Dad disagrees with the filter issue, perhaps Petit Mom isn't putting enough effort into it! But they are in agreement with the steam boiler.

This product was kindly provided by De'Longhi.