Description
The Essenza Mini is the smallest machine Nespresso makes, and this listing is the Breville built version, model BEC250BLK1AUC1, sold as a bundle with an Aeroccino milk frother. That bundle is the important part: the frother is a separate powered appliance that sits beside the machine, not a wand attached to it.
What it is and where it fits
The listing gives the dimensions as 3.3 inches deep by 8 inches wide by 12.9 inches high, and those two horizontal figures are almost certainly transposed. The Essenza Mini’s defining characteristic is a body around three inches wide, and eight inches is the depth. Read it as a very narrow machine that reaches back toward the wall, and plan the counter accordingly.
Weight is given as 5.95 pounds, which is high for a machine this small and probably includes the frother and packaging. The number of items field says 7 while the unit count says 1, so the record does not agree with itself about what is being sold.
Where it fits is the smallest space in which somebody still wants espresso and a cappuccino. A desk, a studio kitchen, a spare room. It brews two sizes, espresso and lungo, from original line Nespresso capsules.
Living with it day to day
The coffee side could not be simpler. Insert a capsule, press one of two buttons, and the machine ejects the used capsule into an internal container when the lever is next opened. Cup sizes are programmable, meaning the volume for each button can be set and stored.
The milk side is a separate object. The Aeroccino is a small electric jug that heats and froths milk on its own base while the coffee brews, and it produces a thicker foam rather than the microfoam a steam wand makes, so it is better suited to a cappuccino than to latte art. It also needs washing after every use, and its non stick interior does not tolerate abrasive scrubbing. Two appliances means two things on the counter and two things to clean, which is the honest cost of a machine too small to house a wand.
The parts list on this record is unusually complete, naming the water tank and lid, the drip base and grid, the capsule container and the coffee outlet as separate items, which is a good sign for spares. Noise is not published, and a small pump machine is briefly loud.
Two other daily details follow from the size. The water tank on a machine this narrow is small, and no capacity is published, so refilling is frequent rather than occasional. The capsule container is correspondingly small too, and neither figure appears anywhere on the listing. Those are the trades for a body that fits where nothing else will, and they are worth knowing before the machine arrives rather than after.
Controls and connected features
Two buttons on the machine and a single button on the frother. There is no display, no clock, no app, no Wi Fi, no Bluetooth and no account anywhere on this listing, so nothing depends on a phone and nothing can be withdrawn in an update. The programmable cup volumes are stored in the machine itself.
What decides the coffee is the capsule. Original line Nespresso pods carry a fixed dose and the machine pushes water through them at pressure, which means there is nothing to adjust beyond volume and nothing that can be got wrong. That is the appeal and the limit in one sentence, and it applies equally to the Gran Lattissima and every other machine in the same family.
Running cost and upkeep
Voltage on the machine is recorded as 110 volts, the legacy way of writing the North American 120 volt supply. What the listing does not do anywhere is state the electrical rating of the Aeroccino, which is a separate mains powered appliance with its own cord and its own heating element. Both need their own outlet, and both rating plates should be read, particularly since the country of origin is given as Hungary and this is a bundle assembled for a specific market. There is no water line, no drain, no gas and no venting.
Capsules are the running cost and they are proprietary original line Nespresso pods, which are not the same format as the Vertuo capsules used by the Vertuo Next elsewhere on this site. There is no ground coffee path at any price.
Upkeep is short. Descaling on Nespresso’s schedule, emptying the capsule container and the drip tray, and washing the frother jug after every use. There is no grinder, no filter basket, no carafe and no group seal. Compared with the maintenance list on a pump machine like the Bambino Plus, this is close to nothing, and that is a fair part of the value.
The listing gives a first availability date of July 17, 2017 and does not flag the model as discontinued.
Highlights
- Around three inches wide, the smallest machine footprint in this catalog.
- Bundled Aeroccino milk frother, so cappuccinos are possible without a steam wand.
- Two programmable cup volumes stored in the machine.
- Individually named replaceable parts including the tank, drip base, grid and capsule container.
- Very little maintenance: no grinder, no baskets, no carafe and no group seal.
- No app, no account and nothing that can lose software support.
Things To Consider
- The Aeroccino is a second mains powered appliance and the listing gives no electrical rating for it.
- The depth and width figures on the listing appear to be transposed.
- The record says seven items in one field and one in another.
- An Aeroccino makes thicker foam than a steam wand, so latte art is not realistic.
- Proprietary original line Nespresso capsules only, with no ground coffee option.
- Two appliances means two things to clean and two spaces on the counter.
Who it is not for
Anyone who wants a mug of filter coffee should not buy an espresso machine that makes two small sizes, and the coffee machines category covers that instead. Anyone who wants latte art needs a steam wand. Anyone who resents proprietary capsules will resent these as much as any others. And anyone who wants milk drinks from a single machine without a second appliance on the counter should look at the Vertuo Lattissima or the other integrated milk machines in the single serve brewers range.
