- 1500-watt super-automatic espresso machine with 15-bars of pump pressure
- Ceramic disc grinder; programmable size and strength; 57-ounce water tank
- Rapid-steam technology; removable brew group for easy cleaning; steam wand
- Water filter, descaling solution, cleaning brush, and instructions included
- Measures 16 by 13 by 14-1/2 inches; 2-year limited warranty
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Product Details
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Product Description
The Talea Giro offers all the convenience of a super automatic espresso machine, and is milk island capable ( milk island sells separately) which offers more options for frothing and steaming milk for cappuccinos and lattes. The Milk Island is a unique Saeco development for all Talea models. In fact, it is the key function for all milk frothing connoisseurs. Whether you prefer espresso macchiato, cappuccino, latte macchiato or any other speciality, the preparation of creamy foam takes just a matter of seconds. The Milk Island is available in glass with a total capacity of 13.5 ounces or 1.7 cups.The Talea Giro has a built in ceramic grinder that puts an end to grinding with metal components. Ceramic is inert and won't react to the coffee or alter its flavor. The ceramic grinder provides a more even grind, allowing for perfect dosing and blending and is also much quieter about performing its duties than stainless steel grinders. The Talea Giro takes care of the grinding, dosing, tamping and brewing, but allows for personal taste in the programming of coffee size, strength and temperature. The Talea Giro offers the patented technology of the Saeco Brew System--turn the dial either right or left and change the strength and consistency of your coffee by either increasing or decreasing the water pressure as it moves through the grounds. Saeco Opti-dose has an adjustable 7 ¿ 10.5 gram doser regulating the amount of beans to grind per serving. Talea Giro includes an adjustable built-in ceramic disc grinder, automatic cup warming surface that holds up to 6 espresso cups, a stainless steel pannarello attachment for steaming milk and dispensing hot water, a removable 57 ounce water tank, manual drip tray that you can move up or down to adjust to any size cup, sliding wheels on the base of machine for convenient rotation and rapid steam technology---no waiting between frothing milk with pannarello attachment and brewing espresso.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
I have purchased this coffee maker because I tasted the coffee it makes at a friends party. It was awesome. My friend had his machine for a few weeks and was very excited about it. This is a good looking machine, easy to fall in love with. I immediately went to purchase one. That's when my problems started. and by the way, so did my friend's. If you don't want to read any further, the summary is - DO NOT SPEND YOUR MONEY ON THIS MACHINE!!!
Pros: When it works, it makes wonderful coffee
Cons: you need about 10 minutes to read this and let it sink
1. Usability - after a few weeks of use it stopped working. The first problem with this machine is its usability - specifically, feedback to problems. It has a very capricious operation and the feedback it provides whenever a problem occurs is illegible. It is capricious because, it complains when (a) the water tank is half empty. When it complains you cannot make a decision to override it - in other words, when the red light goes on because your water tank is half empty, you cannot continue making coffee until you fill it up again. It takes 2-3 lattes to empty half the water tank - in other words, if you have several people for coffee, you can keep yourself busy filling the water tank, forget about polite conversations; (b) after 2-3 lattes you are also forced to dispose off of the used coffee, as it doesn't let you make your own decision, even though the disposal container takes a third of the volume of the machine and has plenty capacity to store 30 times more.
2. Reliability - I have this coffee maker for less than three months. It has been in repair 2 times, for a total of over a month. The first time I had to send it for repair after only three weeks of use, when the red light stayed on, no matter what I did. Customer service determined that the machine was faulty and asked me to send it for repair. It came back after 14 days with a note that they found nothing wrong with it! Miraculously it now worked, yet, while the red light problem went away, there was another, new problem. Now when I made espresso, the steam hose was dripping concurrently and profusely, emptying the water tank even faster then it already did under normal conditions. Called customer service again. They diagnosed it as a potential problem with an O-ring and asked me to send the machine for repair again, this time to their center in Ohio. I sent the machine for the second repair on November 14th, and I still don't have it back as of this writing (Dec 9, 2009) - you do the math!!! AND YES, THEY HAD TO REPLACE ALL THE O-RINGS IN THE MACHINE, SO PLEASE TAKE A PITY ON YOUR MACHINE AND TRY NOT TO USE YOURS EXCESSIVELY, MAYBE A CUP A WEEK OR SO...
3. Customer Service - this is the worst customer service money can buy. It is not that the reps are not nice - they are very nice and courteous. However, they are completely ineffective, dis-empowered to make any decisions (everything goes to a supervisor, her manager, and so on). When you're on the phone with the customer service rep, (which they have one of, judging by the wait time of 30 minutes on the average, and the fact that you get the same one every time) it may take 3-4 "waiting in between" times for him to go ask the supervisor how to answer my question or what to do with my request. And it goes on and on. By the way - don't call during lunch as you will get a voice prompt politely asking you to call back as the company is out to lunch - literally! And yes, if you thought you can get a status of repair on your coffee machine you paid so much for, forget about it. They have no ability to tell you anything except that "its on the workbench" or its not on the workbench... If they promise to call you back to let you know what's going on, because now it has been three weeks and you have called them multiple times, sent them multiple mail messages, etc., don't hold your breath - they won't get back to you, guaranteed. And guess what, having gone through all this, they won't send your machine overnight. If you have an issue with this, here is the reply you will get (I got this earlier today):
"I'm sorry that you feel that way. You should have been told that our turnaround right now is roughly 2 weeks. As I stated before, we are the main warranty center for THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES. THIS IS THE HOLIDAY SEASON. WE ASK OUR CUSTOMER TO BE PATIENT WITH US DURING THIS EXTREMELY BUSY SEASON. We ship standard ground. Anything other than standard ground must be paid for by the customer." It reminds me of the movie "My Cousin Vinny", when the whole store got the flu... The "roughly 2 weeks" she quotes has been 4 weeks now, so "roughly" goes a long way with Saeco. It also shows you how busy they are with repair - the more they sell, the more they are swamped with faulty coffee machines.
Will update you when I get the machine back. Obviously I would have returned it to Amazon within the first 30 days, had I known what is in store for me. Now I have to keep it. But I am clearly done with Saeco - no more buying their stuff. BTW - if anyone knows if I have a different option, would love to learn about it.
Update 1/14/2010
And so it goes on and on. The long story from above ended up with Saeco replacing my first machine with a new one. Got back from my vacation few days ago and found a new machine awaiting to be finally enjoyed. My wife and I were very excited. Opened it up, read the documentation and watched the video and started setting it up. I won't burden you with details - three days later - the new machine doesn't work. Discovered that a selection knob (steam/hot water) is damaged. Sent Saeco support a couple of messages with the images of the broken part. No reply. Called Customer Service several times, waiting 20-40 minutes and ending up being disconnected. So here we are. I guess it's lawyer's time now.
Pros: When it works, it makes wonderful coffee
Cons: you need about 10 minutes to read this and let it sink
1. Usability - after a few weeks of use it stopped working. The first problem with this machine is its usability - specifically, feedback to problems. It has a very capricious operation and the feedback it provides whenever a problem occurs is illegible. It is capricious because, it complains when (a) the water tank is half empty. When it complains you cannot make a decision to override it - in other words, when the red light goes on because your water tank is half empty, you cannot continue making coffee until you fill it up again. It takes 2-3 lattes to empty half the water tank - in other words, if you have several people for coffee, you can keep yourself busy filling the water tank, forget about polite conversations; (b) after 2-3 lattes you are also forced to dispose off of the used coffee, as it doesn't let you make your own decision, even though the disposal container takes a third of the volume of the machine and has plenty capacity to store 30 times more.
2. Reliability - I have this coffee maker for less than three months. It has been in repair 2 times, for a total of over a month. The first time I had to send it for repair after only three weeks of use, when the red light stayed on, no matter what I did. Customer service determined that the machine was faulty and asked me to send it for repair. It came back after 14 days with a note that they found nothing wrong with it! Miraculously it now worked, yet, while the red light problem went away, there was another, new problem. Now when I made espresso, the steam hose was dripping concurrently and profusely, emptying the water tank even faster then it already did under normal conditions. Called customer service again. They diagnosed it as a potential problem with an O-ring and asked me to send the machine for repair again, this time to their center in Ohio. I sent the machine for the second repair on November 14th, and I still don't have it back as of this writing (Dec 9, 2009) - you do the math!!! AND YES, THEY HAD TO REPLACE ALL THE O-RINGS IN THE MACHINE, SO PLEASE TAKE A PITY ON YOUR MACHINE AND TRY NOT TO USE YOURS EXCESSIVELY, MAYBE A CUP A WEEK OR SO...
3. Customer Service - this is the worst customer service money can buy. It is not that the reps are not nice - they are very nice and courteous. However, they are completely ineffective, dis-empowered to make any decisions (everything goes to a supervisor, her manager, and so on). When you're on the phone with the customer service rep, (which they have one of, judging by the wait time of 30 minutes on the average, and the fact that you get the same one every time) it may take 3-4 "waiting in between" times for him to go ask the supervisor how to answer my question or what to do with my request. And it goes on and on. By the way - don't call during lunch as you will get a voice prompt politely asking you to call back as the company is out to lunch - literally! And yes, if you thought you can get a status of repair on your coffee machine you paid so much for, forget about it. They have no ability to tell you anything except that "its on the workbench" or its not on the workbench... If they promise to call you back to let you know what's going on, because now it has been three weeks and you have called them multiple times, sent them multiple mail messages, etc., don't hold your breath - they won't get back to you, guaranteed. And guess what, having gone through all this, they won't send your machine overnight. If you have an issue with this, here is the reply you will get (I got this earlier today):
"I'm sorry that you feel that way. You should have been told that our turnaround right now is roughly 2 weeks. As I stated before, we are the main warranty center for THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES. THIS IS THE HOLIDAY SEASON. WE ASK OUR CUSTOMER TO BE PATIENT WITH US DURING THIS EXTREMELY BUSY SEASON. We ship standard ground. Anything other than standard ground must be paid for by the customer." It reminds me of the movie "My Cousin Vinny", when the whole store got the flu... The "roughly 2 weeks" she quotes has been 4 weeks now, so "roughly" goes a long way with Saeco. It also shows you how busy they are with repair - the more they sell, the more they are swamped with faulty coffee machines.
Will update you when I get the machine back. Obviously I would have returned it to Amazon within the first 30 days, had I known what is in store for me. Now I have to keep it. But I am clearly done with Saeco - no more buying their stuff. BTW - if anyone knows if I have a different option, would love to learn about it.
Update 1/14/2010
And so it goes on and on. The long story from above ended up with Saeco replacing my first machine with a new one. Got back from my vacation few days ago and found a new machine awaiting to be finally enjoyed. My wife and I were very excited. Opened it up, read the documentation and watched the video and started setting it up. I won't burden you with details - three days later - the new machine doesn't work. Discovered that a selection knob (steam/hot water) is damaged. Sent Saeco support a couple of messages with the images of the broken part. No reply. Called Customer Service several times, waiting 20-40 minutes and ending up being disconnected. So here we are. I guess it's lawyer's time now.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
We got this coffee maker for my husband, who likes to drink a lot of coffee and expend practically no effort to prepare it / clean up afterwards. He already knew drip machines were not for him - clean up after every use... So he had switched to a French press and got to like the bold flavor but that ended up being too much work still. After that he was only drinking "Turkish coffee" (i.e. dump the grounds in a cup and pour water over them) - that was about the right amount of effort but just didn't taste that great. Especially compared to his favorite "Americanos" at the neighborhood coffee shop.
SOO, when I saw this machine I knew we had to get it. We found it almost 50% off at an unnamed dept. store - so I have absolutely no reason to justify an expensive purchase by writing a positive review :).
I would not say it's cheaply made at all. The parts where it matters most use high-quality materials. I don't care if my water tank is plastic - it seems to be crack resistant all right.
The maintenance could not be easier - it cleans itself by running a bit of water through the system before every use (so the coffee never tastes stale) and all you have to do is empty out the grounds drawer and rinse the "brew group" about every week. Very easy.
My husband can make his americanos just by a touch of a button - the dispensing of extra water could not be easier. The switch to steam, just as easy. He loves the coffee and so did our guests - all major coffee fans.
And here's my favorite part. I didn't even drink coffee before we got this thing but now I will actually make a super light latte now and then. What won me over? The high-pressured, super-effective milk frothing system and the option to reduce the amount and strength of the coffee you brew. I can't think of a better investment and I'm glad I listened to my coffee-fanatic sister about going for the proven Saeco brand.
SOO, when I saw this machine I knew we had to get it. We found it almost 50% off at an unnamed dept. store - so I have absolutely no reason to justify an expensive purchase by writing a positive review :).
I would not say it's cheaply made at all. The parts where it matters most use high-quality materials. I don't care if my water tank is plastic - it seems to be crack resistant all right.
The maintenance could not be easier - it cleans itself by running a bit of water through the system before every use (so the coffee never tastes stale) and all you have to do is empty out the grounds drawer and rinse the "brew group" about every week. Very easy.
My husband can make his americanos just by a touch of a button - the dispensing of extra water could not be easier. The switch to steam, just as easy. He loves the coffee and so did our guests - all major coffee fans.
And here's my favorite part. I didn't even drink coffee before we got this thing but now I will actually make a super light latte now and then. What won me over? The high-pressured, super-effective milk frothing system and the option to reduce the amount and strength of the coffee you brew. I can't think of a better investment and I'm glad I listened to my coffee-fanatic sister about going for the proven Saeco brand.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Have been using this machine for a week now, and, most importantly, it makes outstanding coffee. I am not a coffee expert, but as a (now former) Starbucks regular, I can testify that I'd prefer coffee from this machine over Starbucks brew any day.
Other things on the good side:
- easy to install and simple to operate
- very fast, a great cup of coffee is always just a minute away
On the downside:
- Although the design is ok, the execution is a bit on the cheap side (for what I'd expect at this price tag) with plastic body and controls not having a feel of precision mechanism
- alarm indicators (too add water, add coffee, empty waste tank) are a bit cryptic and it takes an effort to figure out what this machine wants from you, maybe I'll get better at it with time.
Other things on the good side:
- easy to install and simple to operate
- very fast, a great cup of coffee is always just a minute away
On the downside:
- Although the design is ok, the execution is a bit on the cheap side (for what I'd expect at this price tag) with plastic body and controls not having a feel of precision mechanism
- alarm indicators (too add water, add coffee, empty waste tank) are a bit cryptic and it takes an effort to figure out what this machine wants from you, maybe I'll get better at it with time.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Saeco Talea Giro Plus super automatic espresso machine
I love this coffee maker. I have one in Canada and ordered another for my winter vacation home. I would recommend this machine to anyone who likes to have a fresh cappuccino or... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Jessi
Awesome thing
Before buying this machine, I looked around for a long time, and was not very impressed by the mixed reviews out there. Read more
Published 10 months ago by coffee lover
Great product
We love it, had it for year and a half, no complaints. Just clean it on a regular basis, follow the instructions.
Published 12 months ago by jake64
Excellent Saeco unit for the price!
I researched super automatics for quite some time before purchasing this model from Saeco. Pronounced 'sai-eh-co'
link: [... Read more
link: [... Read more
Published 17 months ago by G. Priglmeier
Thumbs Down
I can't believe I spent almost $1000.00 on this piece of junk. I used it one time and it ceased to function. I did everything the instructions said. No help. Read more
Published 19 months ago by S. Paskman
Saeco Espresso Machine
What a dissapointment. I have had the this machine for 5 months. I have sent it back for 1 month for repairs and it is broken again. When it works it makes a nice espresso. Read more
Published on March 23, 2010 by Deborah J. Wills
I like mine
Bought mine at costco, great deal. Works well, Takes a little figuring out, but now is old hat. I agree it could hold a bit more coffee and water for this thirsty americano, but... Read more
Published on February 11, 2010 by J. Brittain
WONDERFUL MACHINE!
I have had this machine for over 3 months. I use it every morning and it has worked very well! No problems at all. Good looking machine. Read more
Published on January 28, 2010 by airfrog14
Good for about 3 months...then the problems begin...support HORRIBLE!
Great for about 3 months.
Then the steaming wand began to drip endlessly.
I have been trying to contact their support for a week now. Read more
Then the steaming wand began to drip endlessly.
I have been trying to contact their support for a week now. Read more
Published on January 7, 2010 by G. Shok
Excellent product
I am extremely happy with this product. It is very user friendly. I had never owned an espresso machine before, and I wanted something that I would actually be able to use every... Read more
Published on January 4, 2010 by Melanie W.
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