We were given the Lavazza A Modo Mio (My Way) Minù to test and were a little sceptical. We love our coffee; have used other, bigger coffee machines; and while they’ve been okay, they haven’t been good enough to make us forsake our local café.
The Minù does! Not on every occasion – because, after all, the local barista is someone to say hello to and it’s nice to be social – but given the choice of the office coffee run on a cold, winter’s morning for a 5-minute walk and a 10-minute wait to walk back another 5 minutes by which time the takeaway is quite a bit colder, OR staying inside with the Minù, the Minù is winning!
Having said that, the office isn’t the best place for it. Home is, especially if you want a quick, delicious coffee in the morning and you’re juggling the morning rush including breakfast for you, your partner, the kids or housemates.
The machine itself is small and compact and nicely styled. Because of its size, it’s also good for a small kitchen with limited bench space.
We really appreciated how easy it is to clean, how easy it is to empty and replace the capsule and to fill the water tank. If you don’t want to rinse the movable components, they are also dishwasher safe.
The Minù has a simple ‘stop-and-go’ switch on the side that allows you to enjoy any size coffee you want with an automatic switch-off after two minutes (so no mega mugs!). This is perfect in the morning if you’re supervising the children over breakfast, keeping one eye on them – as you don’t have to keep an eye on the Minù. The entire machine switches off if it hasn’t been used for about ten minutes giving it an extra safety feature.
And, best of all as I alluded to earlier, it makes really good coffee if you’re into Italian espresso. Put it together with Lavazza coffee’s extensive range, the Minù delivers authentic Italian coffee made with an authentic crèma on top.
Retailing at $99.95 (or $49.95 on special in Coles last weekend!), and with 16-capsules in a box costing between $10 and $14 depending on where you purchase them, it also makes for some good savings. You can purchase the capsules online via the Lavazza website or in supermarkets, but I noticed the range was smaller in the supermarket. I estimated last week that I saved $22 from seven fewer visits to the local café (not taking into account the cost of the machine). If I keep up that rate, that’s over $1,000 in a year which is a really simple way to save that much money!
If you like milk with your coffee, there is a Lattemento version which costs $129.
The only small drawback – and this is really being fussy – is that the machine is slightly on the noisy side if you’re also trying to listen to morning radio or TV, depending on where they are in relation to Minù.
Overall, a very good value buy which gives a quality, genuine coffee at home that is quick and convenient and looks really stylish.
Five stars.
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The Lavazza A Modo Mio Minù was given to us for this product review.
It is available at Coles or online at http://store.amodomio.com.au
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