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I’ll start this review off with a confession: Before this test, I had never owned an espresso machine. By that I mean a full-blown grind, tamp, twist and brew machine. Stovetop percolators aside, my coffee-making accessories are pretty basic. So when the Terra Kaffe TK-02 arrived at my front door, I felt like I was leveling up big time.
What emerged from the box was the sleekest piece of space-age machinery I’d ever added to my kitchen. Unlike more traditional espresso makers, the TK-02 is essentially a big white box of magical inner coffee workings. Billed as a “connected super automatic espresso machine,” the only front-facing mechanisms on it are a screen, a drip tray, a milk container and an in-laid section for beans on the top. Everything is symmetrical, compact, organized. It took up a good chunk of my counter space, but I quickly became dedicated to using it every single morning.
So, how does the space-age automatic espresso taste? Now that I’ve made countless morning coffees, here’s my honest Terra Kaffe review.
Terra Kaffe TK-02 Specs
Let’s start with the basics of what this machine can do, because it is a powerhouse. It can brew just about anything you want, from a single espresso shot to drip coffee. And it’s hefty. The TK-02 measures 17.5 inches deep and 10.4 inches wide, and weighs about 30 pounds — so it will eat up a lot of counter space. It’s anything but modest. That being said, everything from the water tank to the waste bin and drip tray all fit together in a satisfying jigsaw assembly.
Now’s a good time to mention that the TK-02 comes with an app which allows you to control it and customize brewing capabilities from a distance. The machine comes ready with a list of classic drinks that are ready to be brewed, but you can also change things like bean grind size, water temperature and drink volume to your liking in the app. You can then conveniently save these as custom drink specs to be used at a moment’s notice. Plus, the TK-02 uses a hybrid-brew unit, which means it has means that the ability to go from brewing espresso to drip coffee without you having to switch machines.
In terms of storing your milk and frothing it, the TK-02 comes with an external milk compartment you need to hook up to the machine yourself whenever you want to use it. To refine the aeration of your milk, there is a small grey dial on the side of the machine that lets you do so, which not only works well but is very fun to use. Every time you do use the milk compartment, the machine will give you an option to run steam through the portion of the milk unit that sits inside the machine to clean it out. Please do this — we don’t want any grime building up.
When it comes times to empty, refill or clean anything, the TK-02 will not be shy about letting you know. In fact, it won’t let you continue brewing if the waste bin needs to be emptied or the water tank is running low. A warning will appear on the screen highlighting what needs to be addressed. All of these sub-compartments are hidden behind sleek white sheaths you need to prop open, which confused me at first but I quickly got the hang of. It’s worth nothing that there’s a bit of a learning curve here — it has so many capabilities and compartments that are not immediately obviously, so it took me some time to get used to.
What I Loved
The best part about the TK-02 is that I can be incredibly lazy and still brew great coffee. There were many nights where I would place a mug under the machine in anticipation of brewing my morning coffee from bed — which I did often. It also made brewing more involved espresso drinks like cortados, macchiatos and cappuccinos much less intimidating. As someone who can appreciate but not necessarily make quality espresso drinks, I relied on Terra Kaffe’s machine to do the precision work for me, which it did flawlessly.
I particularly enjoyed the hybrid-brew unit because the thought of having to pull out a French press to make drip coffee while I had this mammoth of an espresso machine at my fingertips felt inefficient. There are many mornings when I prefer your standard drip to something more rich and velvety, and luckily this machine did both. All in all, the ease and convenience of the TK-02 was something that deterred me from hitting the coffee shops in the morning. It was consistently able to brew what felt like barista-level drinks from the comfort of my own home.
What Needs Work
As amazing as this hyper-customizable machine is, let’s discuss the flaws I encountered.
The first and most terrifying qualm I have is that, on occasion, this machine would start steaming at random. I had moments where, in the middle of the night, I awoke in a cold sweat because I thought my oven was going to blow up, only to run into the kitchen and learn that my TK-02 was just blowing off some steam, literally. Now, it was never apparent to me if this was an automated cleaning feature or something else, but Reddit discussions informed me that I was not alone. Others had been experiencing this “ghost brewing” — yes, you heard that right, ghost brewing. The Terra Kaffe site explains that sometimes this happens because condensation on the touchscreen mimics someone actually selecting a brew option. I later learned that this was in fact not ghost brewing but actually the machine turning off which is required for safety certifications.
Now, let’s talk about milk. The milk steaming compartment of this machine is unique and unlike anything I’ve seen before. As I mentioned, you store milk in a box outside of the TK-02 and a tube connects it to the machine so that when it comes time to brew, it gets sucked up, warmed up, somewhat frothed and then shot out into your mug.
This little compartment is fine. It’s nothing extraordinary and it takes away your responsibility of trying and inevitably failing at latte art. The one gripe I had with it, however, was that it is so incredibly tricky to clean. Only parts of it can go in the dishwasher, and the tube catches all sorts of milk residue that is difficult to get out. It’s taken me many tries of shoving dish soap down the tube and sitting patiently as I hold it under high-pressure water from the sink to bring it close to getting entirely clean. You are meant to leave milk in the compartment and let it sit in the fridge — but personally, I found that less than ideal. I would forget it in the fridge, the milk would form lines on the container and eventually I’d end up throwing away a few ounces of milk every morning because it never looked quite right after sitting in that box overnight.
My only solution to this was cleaning the milk compartment immediately after I’d make coffee, which is something any normal, regimented person would do — but for me, someone who may dabble in leaving dirty dishes until a later date, this hard-to-clean milk apparatus is not something I want to deal with each and every morning.
The Upshot
I don’t think you need to spend north of $1,500 to have a coffee machine that does it all, because as the saying goes: jack of all trades, master of none. Does this machine make my life incredibly easy? Yes. Do I opt to brew my coffee from bed every morning so it’s ready by the time I get to the kitchen? Abso-fucking-lutely. That being said, if I were left to my own devices and bank account, something like a Breville Bambino would do just fine. The major issue this machine poses to coffee lovers is that it takes away the agency and joy found in routinely making your own coffee.
It can be meditative to move through the motions of grinding, brewing and steaming your morning beverage, which is something this extremely automated machine does for you. Some may go so far as to say that making a good espresso is an art form itself, one that only improves when done by hand. If you already have your tactile coffee-making process honed, you probably won’t be looking for an automative machine. And if you don’t know how to make a good cup of coffee or espresso yet, I encourage you to start somewhere else, because knowing how to make it yourself is hot. Slinging espresso builds arm muscle, gents — so get to it. That being said, if you do like the idea of next-gen coffee technology that you can control from under the covers, the TK-02 might just be for you.
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