Morphy Richards 47505 Roma Review

Overall Rating

Attractive appearance. Cheap in comparison to other domestic pressure espresso makers. Company name has good reputation.

Produces very small quantities of essentially cold espresso.

I switched to the Morphy Richards 47505 Roma after happily using a Morphy Richards filter espresso maker. Big mistake. The largest quantity of coffee that the Roma can make at one go is 2 espresso cups - or one normal coffee mug. And look at the size of the machine? Then the coffee needs microwaving in the cup to make it hot. Have now switched to a stovetop aluminium espresso maker. Double the size, a quarter of the price - and the coffee is hot!

Members' Comments onKeith Skinner's Review

• stronk on 14th May 2006

  Terrible review. Of COURSE the espresso machine 'only' makes two espresso shots at once. This reviewer has evidently never owned a proper espresso machine, because that's what ALL single brew group espresso machines make (including ones that cost over £1000). The reason it's cold is because the reviewer has not prewarmed the cups on the warmer at the top and likely as not has never used the machine when it has been properly warmed up. And as for getting a stovetop 'espresso' maker instead: these don't make espresso, they make mocha (no, mocha does NOT necessarily mean coffee with chocolate). The drink is totally different. For goodness' sake, check your facts before you post a review!

• Keith Skinner on 16th Feb 2008

  Please tell Mr Stronk, who I assume works for Morphy Richards, that I was probably making espresso before he began eating solids. Mocha is a type of coffee bean, not the machine that makes it. Espresso is made by forcing steam/water under pressure through the coffee grounds. The 'cup heater' on the 47505 is a joke and of course I warmed up the machine before suing it. I still use the machine to make steam (for frothing milk) and the stovetop to make the warm espresso. I'm happy - so are my 'customers'. But is a rather large steam generator. But now we have Nespresso - wow what progress!

• stronk on 18th Feb 2008

  I'm sorry for being offensive. I seem to have written that when I was extremely irritated at something else. Let's clear this up: what we agree on and what we don't. 1. I don't work for Morphy Richards (although I know this was probably a light-hearted accusation) and I agree with you that this range of espresso machines from MR are not very good at all. 2. Espresso is made by forcing ~90-degree water (not boiling and certainly not steam) through coffee grounds at 9bar for around 25 seconds. A stovetop 'mocha' pot does not have the control to make real espresso, regardless of how good the final product tastes. Incidentally, neither does this machine (I owned one for a long time and the pressure was never adequate for real espresso; now I have a Gaggia Classic). 3. You're right about 'mocha'. Talk about not checking my own facts first... However, the point is still relevant, even if the drink is not called mocha. 4. I still say that any semi-auto espresso machine should only be able to make 2 espresso shots at a time and I also think that getting the coffee to be warm was a simple matter of pre-heating the cups with hot water (something that's common practice with any espresso machine) and pre-heating the portafilter before packing coffee into the filter. The general conclusion we have both come to is the same, though (even if we disagree on why): it is very difficult to make good espresso using this machine. The milk frothing function, on the other hand, is pretty good. PS: The site doesn't appear to like paragraphs, so apologies for the formatting.