I've had my Brewtus IV package for six months now and figured it was time to share my opinion. For starts I'll go right to the heart of the package which is the Brewtus IV. This machine rocks! When using quality beans the espresso/coffee beans I find I can produce a latte that easily superior to anything from $tarbucks. The espresso has a fantastic, rich crema. The steam wand produces a fabulous micro foam. The reservoir and heaters have capacity to produce a large volume of beverages. The temp gage ensures you always know when it's ready to brew. The hot water spout gives you very hot water to preheat your latte cup while you're steaming your milk. Finally, the machine is drop dead gorgeous. It's become a conversation piece in my kitchen and is worth every dollar spent.

On to the grinder, not much to say here other than it works beautifully. I find that 11 seconds fills the two shot portafilter perfectly. You do need to tweak and tune the grind settings to get a perfect espresso. Of course settings very from person to person and from bean to bean. For me and my beans, from Cafe Calabria, my local roaster here in San Diego, the perfect grind setting is 2- on the macro setting and L on the micro setting. I tried to go a bit finer on the micro setting but found it caused the Brewtus IV to build up too much pressure and caused the pump to work too hard.

Rate your coffee expertise:
Connoisseur

What do you like best about this product?
A complete, high quality espresso setup in a single box! The various products are well matched. You certainly wouldn't want to skimp on a grinder after throwing down big bucks on an awesome machine like the Brewtus IV. And the stainless steel tamper is equally worthy - it'd be tragic to use the plastic tamper that ships with the machine.
Finally, there's a discount for buying the package so not only do you get a quality setup you're saving money too!

Do you have any helpful tips for using this product?
Beans, beans beans. Your choice of beans can make or break any espresso experience. Also, don't be afraid to tamp the ground coffee with serious force. I believe it's thirty pounds of force. You'll know you're using enough pressure when the espresso flows out very slowly from the machine.

Also, the Brewtus IV does take more than twenty minutes to preheat. I have it plugged into an electronic appliance timer so I always have a machine ready to brew when I first wake up in the morning.