That is nothing; you should have seen the inside of the steam wand on my Faema. Caked with milk buildup, it took three days of soaking and scrubbing to get it clean.

HB wrote:Only "awesome" to those weaned on the swill served at most restaurants and cafes.

Now, I spent many years on the road and on tour, in hotels all across this lovely country surviving at the teat of a Krups steam toy. The 'challenge' pretty much describes my setup, as my tamper was a bottle cap of the correct diameter glued to the plasti-crap (tm) tamper that came with the Silvia. I used a Krups burr grinder ($40) and not a whirly-bird, and I used Illy beans (sometimes even got pre-ground!) or something nice, not grocery store beans, but I'd bet with a coupla days to get back into it, I could make a cuppu that you'd like. Not fall in love with, mind you, there ain't no god-shots coming out of these things, but I could put together a double in some nice micro-foam, with a lil heart or a rosette (or maybe by then I'll have perfected the palm tree...) that'll please. Even your palate. I'd guess that there'll be no requests for seconds, but I still made better espresso in that lil steamtoy than most of the shops that I had available to me on the road. that included bits of Seattle, too.