Panasonic NC-ZA1 review

PANASONIC NC-ZA1 ESPRESSO

We started by making an espresso. At first, we found that the coffee was a little on the cool side, at 50C. Fortunately, you can dial up the water temperature using the touchscreen interface. Second-time around, espresso was delivered at 58C, which is plenty hot enough for espresso.

We were very impressed with the quality of the shot. It was dark and rich throughout, with a thick, oily crema that had the right reddish-brown colour to it. Taste was excellent, too, with the coffee having no wateriness throughout and that slightest hint of bitterness that it should have. We have to say that this is the best automatic machine that we’ve tested, coming incredibly close the results we’ve had from manual machines.

The quality of the coffee is up there with the best of the manual machines we’ve tested

Longer coffee drinks come out just as well. As the spout is adjustable, there’s plenty of room to use all but the very largest of mugs.

PANASONIC NC-ZA1 LATTE

To make a latte, the drip tray has to be pushed into the machine, in order to give enough height for a latte glass. Before you start, you can clip on the latte macchiato tray to bottom of the machine, giving you a stable platform to place your glass on and to catch any drips.

Assuming you haven’t bought the Milktank, the hose from the machine needs to placed into a jug, cup or bowl of milk, placed next to the coffee machine. From then on, the machine is fully automatic. It froths the milk first, pouring that into a cup, before reducing the water temperature automatically to make and pour the shot of espresso.

It’s impressive to see in action, with the NC-ZA1 doing a great job of steaming and frothing the milk. However, as the espresso is poured in last, you tend to get a three-layered drink consisting of milk, with a layer of espresso, topped with a layer of foam. It needs a bit of a mix at the end to get a smooth latte.

You’ll need to tinker with the settings to get perfect lattes

Getting the perfect drink also requires a bit of tinkering. Not least, you need to have measured your latte glasses in order to get the NC-ZA1 to dispense the correct volume of fluids. You’ll probably also want to play with the milk foaming setting, to get the result that you like. Fortunately, you can save your ideal settings or, if you want to go a bit more manual, dispense the milk separately from the coffee.

As the milk passes through the machine, it’s important to keep the hose and internals clean. The NC-ZA1 prompts you after you’ve made some milk-based drinks to use the cleaning cycle. This is simply a matter of putting the hose into a jug of cold water and having it pumped through into a cup. It requires quite a lot of volume and takes a few minutes to complete. On top of that the NC-ZA1 also prompts you regularly to clean the milk hose using the provided cleaning solution. While we understand the need to keep everything clean, these cycles kind of reduce the reduce the convenience of an automatic machine; with a manual steam wand, you can just use a burst of steam at the end to discharge built-up milk, and give the wand a wipe with a damp cloth.

You’ll get on-screen instructions telling you how and when to clean the milk hose

Otherwise, maintenance is kept to a minimum, with only the water container needing to be filled, and the spent coffee grounds needing to be emptied from their bin at the front of the machine. Spend coffee grounds come out as nice, dry ‘pucks’, so they’re easy to empty; some machines dispense rather wetter coffee grounds, which can lead to mould and harder cleaning.

Even though this is Panasonic’s first espresso machine, we have to say that the NC-ZA1 is excellent, easily competing with the more well-established competition. Its espresso shots are excellent, competing well with the results you can get from a manual machine. Milk drinks are a bit of a faff to get the settings the way you want them, but the clear touchscreen interface and programmable favourites means you only really need to set things up once. We wish that the milk hose was better hidden, but that’s a minor complaint.

PANASONIC NC-ZA1 CONCLUSION

When the NC-ZA1 was first announced, Panasonic sold it for £900, which is way too expensive; however, in the intervening time, the price has dropped to just £500. That’s an impressive drop and, at that price, it makes the NC-ZA1 something of a bargain, winning a Best Buy award.