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SunBeam Paul Bassett machine review

There are many Espresso Machines out in the market. Similar to the DSLR market, it is categorized as consumer, commercial, and a category in the middle, the pro-sumer. For home users, it is rather pointless to have a commercial machine in home. Those machines are built to make coffee in a constant basis, where you have to fulfill the needs of an endless line of caffeine seeking junkies. Unless your house of people need 100 cups of coffee per hour, you have the choice of a basic consumer or a pro-sumer machine.

Entry level espresso machines are relatively inexpensive. One most important thing that I would look at is the steam wand, in the entry level ones, most of them gives you no pressure, and probably doesn't pack the power needed to create the spiral effect when frothing the milk. This wand is definitely strong enough for anyone to pour some coffee art.

My recent experience of a SunBeam Cafe Series Paul Bassett Edition is rather surprising. It has double boiler, packs most of the features that you would find in a commercial system. And most of all, the froth it produced is very amazing. It is small and fits nicely in your kitchen. The handle is solid and sturdy, unlike other brands where the handle and the machine feels very plastic.

There is a few slight issues with it, is that the milk frothing wand is shaped such that it is very difficult to have it all the way cleaned. It has an irregular edge that can trap some milk deposit in it, you have to really scrap with your fingernails to get that part of the area. The 2nd issue is that the tamper that came with it feels a little bit like a toy, I think it is not heavy enough for anyone to take it seriously. Also the pressure generated from the boiler takes a very brief moment to heat up, thus the first few drops of your coffee which came out seems a bit under extract. However, since this is a consumer grade machine, it is already offering much more than I'd expect. Last bit of issue is not to do with the machine itself, but rather the company. Sunbeam is a relatively new Australian company, and they currently only sells in Australia.

The verdict

Overall I think this is a great machine, very great value for the money. Pack it with a decent grinder and you have a near professional setup at home. The coffee and froth that comes out of it is great, much better than some automatic brand name machine that is double in price. It is very easy to clean and the make and feel is really solid. The look of the machine is great, it can add to your taste in the kitchen.

Hong Kong and asia Milk Tea

Hong Kong Milk Tea

Hong Kong had a rich culture of coffee and tea from their English dominance days, they had fused the traditional Chinese tea with the traditional English tea to something that is unique to this day; the Hong Kong "Milk Tea". There are a variety of "Milk Tea" around Asia, most notably the Taiwanese bubble (Tapioca) milk tea. There is also the Malaysian milk tea, Teh tarik.

Hong Kong milk tea is made with a cup of strong black tea, much like the English breakfast tea, and combine that with condensed milk to form a perfect cup of Hong Kong style Milk Tea. This category of tea has a very strong sense of Tea. Hong Kong being the ex English colony, had grown accustomed to afternoon tea. Milk tea is the national favourite relaxation beverage. Prices are usually around $2 USD in most local places.

Taiwanese Milk Tea is made a little bit different, they also start with a cup of hot strong black tea, however this is where the similarity ends. Milk powder is used instead of any kind of liquid, then if you ordered a cold one, ice is included before they finish it with some hand shake action, very much like a cocktail in a bar. The typical Taiwanese milk tea has a stronger milk flavor compared to the Hong Kong style. Milk feels smoother due to the shaking action, similar to a steam wan in an espresso machine, it adds that extra bit of froth into your milk tea. There is also the adding of Tapioca and different other form extras into your milk tea, which makes this type of milk tea very popular to dessert loving people. Ordering process can be quite difficult when you order milk tea in Taiwan, there are a number of attributes you can tweek to make your perfect cup of milk tea. You can alter the sweetness (5 levels) you can alter the ice (less, normal or none), you can also alter the different kind of sweets to be put in depending on the shop that you goto, some has big small tapioca, in that case you can order either or both. Prices generally fall between $1.50 USD to around $3 USD in most local places.


Malaysia milk tea shares the same basic principle with the Taiwanese when it comes to Milk Tea, they like some hand action to put some froth in it. However they do it just a bit differently. Teh tarik literally translates to "pull tea". It is done with 2 jugs, one in each hand, pull from one to another with great height, thus putting the froth into the milk.

I really love to drink tea and milk tea, and I don't prefer any one in particular. I prefer to drink good milk tea. I would always make the extra mile and extra room for a good cup of milk tea whenever I travel to different parts of Asia.