Review of Siemens TK60001 Surpresso S20

An automatic espresso machine.
Reviewed by Lars Tufvesson January 5, 2005. lars@bizzbook.com

Introduction

I went out and bought myself an automatic espresso machine. You know, one of those machines that both grinds the coffee beans and brews an espresso with a single press of a button. The machine can also do cappuccino, caffe latte and hot chocolate. How was it to use the new machine? Read on and I will tell you!

Reviewed by Råd & Rön

After going through the available options, I bought a Siemens TK60001 Surpresso S20. One of the reasons why I chose this automatic espresso machine was that it got good words in the swedish magazine Råd & Rön in December 2004:

Recommended price: SEK 7300
Overall score: 4 (out of 5)
Score for taste: 4
Score for handling: 4
Temperature in newly brewn espresso: 65 degrees Celcius.
Score for temperature in newly brewn espresso: 5
Score for time to brew espresso: 3
Score for how evenly filled the cups are: 3
Score for milk frothering: 2
Score for how difficult it is to burn yourself on the machine: 5 (=very small risk)
Score for energy consumption: 3
Score for instructions: 5
Size: 500*280*350 mm
Water tank size 1,76 liters
Coffee: Takes both ground espresso/coffee powder and beans.

Expensive espresso machines in Sweden

A recommended price of SEK 7300 sounds expensive, and it is. For some reason, there is no large price press on automatic espresso machines in Sweden. Corresponding machines can be bought much cheaper via the net in Germany and Italy. The problem is that these foreign shops do not always want to deliver to Sweden. The solution for my part was to wait out a lower price in Sweden. I ended up buying a Siemens TK60001 Surpresso S20 after Christmas 2004 in a shop called Siba for SEK 3995. A saving of SEK 3305 as compared to the recommended price.

It is not just me that have noticed how expensive automatic espresso machines are in Sweden. In the swedish magazine Internetworld December 2004/January 2005 one of the founders of AdLibris (a swedish book shop on the net) writes that all kitchen shops in Stockholm took SEK 11000 for the automatic espresso machine he wanted. On the net, the same machine was...

...less than half the price in Italy. They could unfortunately not deliver to Sweden.
...a little more than half the price in Germany.

He bought the machine in Germany and got it delivered to Sweden. In this way, he saved SEK 5000.

Part two:

Specifications: What is in the box?