bonVIVO Intenca

Design/AestheticsAs can be seen from the photos, it is stunning piece of industrial design, combining raw and bold forms with refinement and nuance--always a difficult balancing act for a designer. It actually looks substantially better in person than in the photos. The handle has a very comfortable and solid feel to it and looks far better in person than in the computer-generated renderings. Attention was paid to the details, including virtually no trace of welding marks, a fine engraving in the inside showing the maximum water level, and a frosted finish on the bottom, presumably to hide scratches.Quality of ConstructionEverything except the pressure valve is stainless steal. This includes the coffee basket which is of far better construction than the aluminum versions. The interior of both components are well finished and free of rough machining marks, etc.. The threads are well made and clean. My only complaint is that the top of the pot, under the lid, was misshapen when I bought it. With a little bit of effort I was able to reform it back to a nearly perfect circular form.Ease of UseThe smooth interior makes this pot easier to clean than the common aluminum versions (which are always roughly machined in the interior). There are some deep recesses in the upper portion which are slightly difficult to access, but it is really not much of a problem. The handle, unexpectedly, remain quite cool when the pot is in use. I have had no problems with the coffee burning, which was one of my concerns of buying a heat conducting stainless steel pot.Overall, I would recommend this product and similar products by the same manufacturer. If you use a Moka pot regularly, I would recommend investing in a higher quality one such as this one. It is always a delight to use beautiful and quality tools.

...that the receptacle that holds the coffee must be filled to the top every time - which requires a bit more than 1/4 cup of espresso grounds. You can end up wasting a lot of espresso if you only drink a portion of what you brew. 5 to 6 cups of espresso is a lot. If you alone, or even two of you are drinking all this espresso every time you brew it, it seems like a lot. I've tried cooling and refrigerating this immediately, to use the next day, but everyone knows it's not quite the same. The pot is of excellent stainless steel quality and heavy for its size, and works excellently. But the design of the inside of the pot makes it hard to clean for people like me who don't want the coffee residue building up inside. There's a kind of ditch around the inside edge, perhaps 3/4" deep. I typically rinse my pot with hot water and then wipe with a paper towel (which can often lift up the oily residue that the hot water leaves behind), but in order to wipe residue out of that ditch, I have to wrap the paper towel around a knife and stick that down in there and try to run it around the circumference of the pot. It's tricky, because if the knife and paper towel are too thick it can't be run around the inside, and if they're too thin they won't wipe the surface of the pot.Is there a reason the pot was designed this way? I don't know. But I like mine clean so that the next cup tastes fresh, and with all the fussing with the clean-up and the amount of espresso i have to use to make each pot, I find I'm not using this pot as frequently as I intended to. I'm keeping it because it's beautiful, solid and works fine. I just wanted to make others aware of the espresso use and cleaning issues I've experienced.

This attractive shining stove-top espresso pot has a wonderful handle that helps you tighten and unscrew the pot! ( I read that some other pots are disappointing because the handles “can’t take the heat” and are too weak to use to screw the pot tightly shut. Some specifically say, “Do not use handle to tighten.”). Glad I got this one with the great handle. This pot makes a concentrated six cups/six shot-strength liquid extract from the espresso—a VERY strong (bitter) latte. So.. add hot water and make 2 to six cups with the concentrated brewed espresso or cofefe. Add half and half to a large coffee mug with your sugar (or whatever — to your taste). The pot should be carefully watched — or maybe you could set a timer—but watch and listen so that as soon as pot makes a gurgling sound, take the pot from the stove and pour it into your cup or tea pot or coffee carafe immediately. Otherwise, if the pot is left too long on heat, it sends a burnt tasting flavor into the espresso or coffee. If you get it just right, it has a wonderful butternut flavor and fragrance. Note: I bought Bullet Proof Mentalist Espresso and used with this pot, and it gave me inconceivably long lasting energy throughout a long day. Making a latte like this is cheaper than the cost of “drive-thru” latte. Someone said to blend espresso in a blender with all your almond milk, cream, coconut milk/flavors, and it’s just like what you buy at the coffee shops! I tried it and agree. I was so happy to get this espresso pot to get the benefits (of desperately needed energy!!) and yet save so much (desperately needed money) that I was spending at that coffee shop!I tried heating on lower heat and my impression is the burnt taste is easier to avoid that way. The sudden point at which it burns doesn’t come so “suddenly”. Others say, turn it up to hottest for best results, but perhaps each pot has a different “best technique” for its unique properties.

Let me start out by saying the Bontato Company is interested in customer satisfaction. I believe that you can have confidence that if you buy one of these or any of their other products, you can count on the quality to be there.That being said, the first one of these I bought was amuck; not sure what, but it didn't work right. But the company was on the spot ready to make it right. The second one I received works perfectly. I have a gas stove with a tiny simmer burner. I can fill it with cold water and put it on that burner at maybe half throttle and within 3 or 4 minutes, coffee is flowing into the upper chamber. It works perfectly.Using that small of a burner, the handle is still cool enough that I can pick it up to pour. If you have a larger gas burner, you may have to use a hot pad or something to pick it up at first. I believe that would be true of any type handle when you have direct heat from a gas fire going up the side. I don’t think you would have any trouble with an electric stove. This handle feels very solid and ought to give years of service.The base is heavy duty. The whole thing shines. It’s easy to clean up. I make myself one big cup / cappuccino, and by the time I am done and come back to it, the base is almost too warm on bottom to grab and loosen. I use a hot pad to get it started and then I’m good. Incidentally, if you need to get it off quicker and it's too hot, there is no reason why you can't put the base under your kitchen faucet and run a little cool water over it to help cool it down.I take the time to dry it off after cleaning to help keep it looking nice and shiny. I would certainly recommend this espresso maker. For me, it’s actually kind of fun using it. You almost feel proud of it. It beats pushing a button on some electronic gadget that is likely to break in 6 months.

I decided to keep this pot as a backup and maybe to use it occasionally. Before I bought this pot, I used Bialetti of approximately the same size for many years. And so here is my tale of why I will keep using my Bialetti for years to come, probably.This pot is of good overall quality. The build is solid and the looks are great. I really like the casket it has. It feels really solid and reliable.The first thing I noticed when I started using it is that the funnel basket is narrower than in Bialetti. It also is a little smaller and can accommodate a slightly smaller amount of coffee as well (about 2 grams less, depending on the coffee and the grind). The resulting coffee is nice and tasty, but I also feel that it always underextracts slightly, compared to Bialetti. It might not be a difference that everyone perceives and even I am not sure as I did not measure it, but just looking at the coffee that was coming out of the nozzle and it's color, as well as the resulting taste, I feel that it was not extracted as much.Another thing about this pot is that the top of the nozzle is a bit below the top of the pot itself, and it's also positioned such that coffee flows directly down. There is nothing wrong with this design, but it also means that if you are standing to the side and waiting for the coffee to start poring out, you might not notice when it starts. So you basically have to be right there on top of the pot watching it.The base of this pot is smooth and round. Again, nothing is wrong with it, but it makes this pot mostly usable only when using it with cold water. If you pour hot water in it, it will be very difficult to screw the top on.And finally, another issue (see pic), the base of this pot is raised from the bottom and has a deep groove around it. This basically means it's impossible to clean by hand (which is recommended cleaning method) and has to be cleaned in a dishwasher (which the manual says to avoid). Another problem with cleaning it by hand is that it's so narrow. If you are not careful, you will definitely break the nozzle with your hand. This is quite a poor design in my opinion.I also for some reason could not make coffee consistently. It would be good coffee every time, but in about 15 times I used it, I could never get it to use the same amount of water. I do not have the same issue with Bialetti, I pretty much always get the same number of liquid on the output. While using this pot, It sometimes got completely empty and sometimes about a third of water was left inside. I always used the same temperature, the same grind size and the same amount of coffee with it, so I really don't know what is the issue. It could be entirely my fault, but again, I don't have this problem with Bialetti.All in all, I do get good coffee out of it. I also find this pot interesting, so I am keeping it. But I also understand everyone who sends it back.

This is not my first moka pot, but it is the best that I have owned. It has a feel of quality and durability.When I removed the moka pot from the box, the first thing I noticed was its heft (840g about 1lb.-14oz) and its new, chrome-bumper shine. I have a similar capacity Chinese made moka pot from a Swedish furniture seller that weighs in at 650g, about 1lb.-7 oz. The base is clearly stainless steel, since it is magnetic and it works on my induction stove. The interior of the base is uncoated, stainless steel -- unlike my Swedish box store moka pot, which has a grainy interior. The hinge for the sturdy feeling lid works well and the pour spout works as intended. I am surprised how often a "pour spout" is in reality a "dribble spout".Some have commented that the handle can get warm to hot. That is not my experience, but I use it on a small "burner" on an induction stove.It is advertised as a 300ml (10 oz. US) moka pot, but I was able to fill with an absolute maximum of 385 ml (13 oz. US), which was just below the pressure valve.Hand Wash. Similar to any quality stainless steel, do not place in a dishwasher and do not wash with any abrasive as that will dull its finish.Where it is manufactured is unclear. The parent company is in Munich, but the country of manufacture is listed nowhere. It's not on the box, the paperwork, or the pot itself.

This is a great product for making stove top espresso. Just to be clear its not as good as an actual espresso machine but for 50$ and ease of use its pretty close and makes the best coffee I've had from home by far. Most everything about it is great, and it looks wonderful but you will need to clean it out every use and don't let it sit on the stove once its stopped making noise as this will burn up the bottom. The reason I removed 1 star is as others have said the threads between top and bottom are not as smooth and easy to thread on/off as they probably should be. However as long as you screw it down tight, mine has had no problems with not sealing well.. You may need a lid opener (rubber grippy things) to get the top off once its cooled and you getting ready to rinse it out.. UPDATED-------(update 1/5/21) after almost a year of use I am still very pleased with this product. After a few months of use the threads to screw together the two parts no longer have been giving me any trouble so possibly it was just needed to be broken in a little? This is a very good product and I would recommend. I have the silver finish and it still looks wonderful with no sign of damage to finish others have mentioned. I hand wash mine and do not put it in the dishwasher.

I was immediately impressed by the quality of this moka pot. It is substantially heavier than the aluminum one I had been using, and the base especially is quite heavy and of thick stainless steel. My only complaint as to the construction quality is that the lid seems a bit flimsy. If anything fails, it'll be the lid.As far as use is concerned, I appreciate the fact that this pot has an engraved "MAX" fill line in the base, which helps with both consistency and of course overfilling. I'm a bit mixed as to ease of cleaning; on the positive side, the carafe is cylindrical rather than tapered, so it's easy to get a sponge in there. On the negative side, the threads and seal for the reducer is recessed into the carafe, so there's a narrow grove inside the carafe to accommodate the reducer, which could potentially hold onto sediment and water. A thorough swirling of water after brewing should mitigate this though. I have not run this moka pot through the dishwasher (the hinge on the lid is flimsy-feeling enough that I'd worry about rust), but it washes up easily by hand (with the above concerns noted).Given that I've had my eye on a stainless steel moka pot for some time now, this next statement may be showing my bias. I tried the same coffee in both the bonVivo and my other aluminum moka pot, and the bonVivo's brew tasted much smoother, with a richer flavor. I have the impression that the reducer allows more of the beans' oils into the coffee, but I could be wrong.Either way, I am very impressed with this moka pot so far, and the fact that it's 1/3 the cost of the other pot I had in my wishlist, I'm even happier.

I loved this product as soon as I open it and the coffee taste is amazing, and the satisfaction of making own Coffee is something I can’t explain in words! I am using using lavazza crema coffee beans.🥰

Don’t hesitate to buy it quality NO.1

Nice looking Moka with good seals and looks great. Not the cheapest but worth the ££££. Plus arrived very early, 2 weeks in fact.

La cafetera esta hermosa y los materiales son de muy buena calidad, fácil de usar y estupendo el sabor del cafe

One of the (initially) main reasons for buying this coffee maker was the copper colouring - matched the décor of our recently renovated kitchen! However! The pot makes coffee superbly, does not spit when boiling, does not dribble from the lid hinge, the handle stays cool, and pours cleanly.The connecting screw mechanism is smooth, and it has an overall classy, substantial, feel about it.Don't hesitate.