After using MiiCoffee Apex Espresso machine for a Month. Also Turin Lagato is same machine.

I purchased the first unit available on Miicoffee’s website back in Nov 9th, received a few days later and been using it ever since. I wanted to do YouTube video but my skills isn’t that great.

Overview on features; It’s got some very desirable features at this price range, PID, separate thermal block for steam so won’t affect brew temp, brew pressure gauge, a water flow rate adjustment and 58mm size portafilter, I been using a Normcore portafilter with VST basket and also a ECM portafilter with Pullman Basket. All of them fits and works well, great compatibility with accessories.

The unit is pretty compact with a 1.7L water tank, which is pretty good and I brew 2-3 times a day for espresso or latte. I have to fill the tank maybe once or at most twice a week. The tank being easily visible from the side and back help with checking water level. Just a quick peek and you know if you need water. The water tank has a lid where you can lift and fill or remove to fill, making it pretty easy to use.
The whole machine exterior is stainless steel, however I’m not sure what type they use because none of my magnetic accessories sticks to it. Top of the machine is good for warming up the cups and it does get pretty hot up there. I’m not sure if this is because the boiler some claim is not wrapped and heat radiates out. Same with the sides of the machine, it does get pretty warm.

Now the brew broiler is 550ml, which is a good size for 3 pull of shots. The PID is displaying broiler water temperature but being that it is right above the brew head the PID display temp is very very stable and close to brew temp. That’s a great feature. I used it to adjust to a Med-Light roast bean by turning the temp up a degree or 2. Helps a lot. Because PID display boiler temp, you will notice that the temp drop after every shot pulled and needs a short time to recover to set temp. When I pulled 2-3 shots, I usually wait less than a min before the PID display is back to my set brew temp. The more shots you pull the longer the wait time becomes, but I never had an issue. I usually use the time to clean my portafilter and accessories and it’s back to temp.

The pressure gauge is the brew pressure at the brew head which is a great tool. Because this machine doesn’t have a OPV valve if you want the pressure to show around 9 bar you would really have to understand and learn grind size, dosing and water flow. Great learning tool!

Now this machine does come with a flow adjustment feature, I don’t call it flow control because you can’t not change flow mid brew. It is for adjusting how much water does the pump per min. It’s the little copper screw right next to the brew head and LED light. Turn right for less water, left for more. From factory it was about 450ml/min I found it hard to get the brew pressure to 9bar at that rate and slowed it to 300ml/min. Another great tool.

The Brew head: In my opinion is the biggest weakness on this machine. I removed the shower screen and took a photo of the brew head. You can see that it has a single down pour location and It’s where the screw for the shower screen is screwed into. This means that the water hits this screw and gets dispensed out the 2 area around the screw. This doesn’t dispense water too well and I often notice that water flow more in one area than other, you might get under extracted areas from time to time but not too bad. Still can give you very good and tasty shots. This being my first machine to learn on I know I will move on to a E61 or higher end machine later on.

The front of the machine you’ll see 3 button in a row, Top is power, Mid is Manual brew, Bottom button is a Timed/Program brew with “pre-infusion” if you want to call it that. Top and Mid button are self explanatory. The lower button requires a bit more explaining: If you HOLD it down during the brew process it will remember how long you held the button and repeat that brew time the next time you press it. Only when you programming it the first time do you need to HOLD it down during the entire brew process.

Now, Pre-infusion if you can call it that. I find it not helpful and is very distracting on this machine. After you activated it by holding down the – on the PID you can chose a time between 0-30 seconds… this is NOT THE PRE-INFUSION TIME, it is the waiting time after the pump turns on for ONE second. So if you set it to 5, behavior is pump turn on for 1 second then WAIT 5 SECONDS before turning back on and pumping to full pressure. This 1 second isn’t enough to get puck properly saturated for pre-infusion. My suggestion is to not use it, turn it to 0 and just use the 3rd button as time brew.

My final thought: It’s great beginner machine to learn on. Price for feature it’s an incredible deal! Comparing feature it’s got everything the Diletta Mio does. Diletta obviously has higher build quality and better brew head water distribution design, but all the features are there. You can really learn how to make a great espresso on this machine. Now the price comparison would be Gaggia Classic, gaggia has a better build and brew head design but doesn’t come close to features, you have to temp surf to get consistency from brew temp and a really small boiler make it tough to brew multiple drinks and steam milk.

Overall, great beginner machine to learn about espresso and its process, you can make good espresso with it and you can keep all you 58mm accessories for your next machine.

by Desperate-Pen2022