The one thing I don't like about it is that where the top screws to the main body, there is a rubber gasket with holes about the diameter of a pencil eraser. You want one of these holes to match up with the hole on the steam wand - if you tighten the lid in a way that makes the gasket slide away from that, it seems like the wand isn't as effective.
But with a little practice (oddly enough, the sound is the key), you get a really decent foam out of it. You won't be making latte art, but you'll do much better than the vaguely hot milk splashed around by some coffee shops. I found a thermometer to be really helpful as well - I use one that I bought for $5 at Borders one day on a whim.
The other thing is that you have to let the steam pressure build back up between drinks - you can't really do three drinks in a row without doing that. But for one latte or mocha it's fine. It probably takes less than 5 mins on the stovetop to get the pressure back up though.
It's funny, but the stove top steamer works better than the steam wand on the Gaggia - the Gaggia has some weird foamer attachment that creates really bad bubbles without making any nice pourable foam.
The one thing I don't like about it is that where the top screws to the main body, there is a rubber gasket with holes about the diameter of a pencil eraser. You want one of these holes to match up with the hole on the steam wand - if you tighten the lid in a way that makes the gasket slide away from that, it seems like the wand isn't as effective.
But with a little practice (oddly enough, the sound is the key), you get a really decent foam out of it. You won't be making latte art, but you'll do much better than the vaguely hot milk splashed around by some coffee shops. I found a thermometer to be really helpful as well - I use one that I bought for $5 at Borders one day on a whim.
The other thing is that you have to let the steam pressure build back up between drinks - you can't really do three drinks in a row without doing that. But for one latte or mocha it's fine. It probably takes less than 5 mins on the stovetop to get the pressure back up though.
If I get another stove top steamer, I'll probably try something like http://www.1-800-espresso.com/stove-top-steamer.html to avoid the gasket issue I mentioned.
It's funny, but the stove top steamer works better than the steam wand on the Gaggia - the Gaggia has some weird foamer attachment that creates really bad bubbles without making any nice pourable foam.
http://www.wholelattelove.com has great online videos that talk about/demo various espresso machines and http://www.coffeegeek.com/guides is another great resource.