Esio Beverage System Review
One month ago, I hosted fifteen people at my house for my daughter’s Baptism Brunch. With a 87 year old to a 3 year old in attendance, there were many beverage needs and wants. When you host a party, that always seems to happen: Decaf vs cafe. Milk vs. black. Tea vs. coffee. Water vs. juice. I have a whole counter dedicated for drinks during my parties. Then I spend the rest of the party-prep doing the best I can to quell the quench of everyone there.
It is exhausting.
During the baptism brunch, I had one coffee maker, two coffee percolators, a tea kettle, juice boxes, bottles of water, carbonated juice, soda and tea. After the party, I had lots of used cups, containers, boxes and debris, along with the dreaded trip to the recycling center. Seriously, there had to be a better way. Within days of such thoughts, I was approached with the opportunity to review a new product that aims to please. (Cosmic consulting at its best.)
It was the Esio Hot and Cold Beverage System from Walmart. (You can also get the Esio Hot and Cold Countertop Beverage System from Amazon.com too.)
It arrived a couple of weeks before my scheduled Christmas Eve party. What a great opportunity to test it out during another family gathering and compare! Yet, with the holidays and other hoopla, I kept walking by it promising myself to open it later. As the way of my life these days, my Christmas Eve party was upon me. An hour before my guests were arriving, I was unpacking it.
And panicking.
It could have gone bad. Within 15 minutes though, it was up and running. It was probably the easiest set up I’ve ever had with an appliance. It could have been the long, previous nights of putting together Christmas toys, which can definitely can skew the perspective, but I had a witnesses though (aka: my Mom) who was also surprised how easy it was to get going.
During the party, it was a major conversation starter. It was fun to see one guest just get a glass of plain water, a relative get a hot cup of coffee, or my nephew pour some cold lemonade – all from the same machine! When the party was over? No clean up. I just unplugged it. No handwashing tea kettles or stand-alone electric coffee makers. No bottles littering the house or an overflowing recycling bin. Post-party bliss.
We did stare at it for a bit because it is rather…big. It looks like a commercial machine. One that you would see in an office or a car dealership. Plus, it sounds loud, like a vending machine in a hotel lobby. So I’m not sure if I would have it on my countertop if I had smallish counters or a small kitchen. Or if noises bothered me. Yet, if I had lots of kids, or ones that were like camels, it would be a huge help as they could get whatever they wanted without having to open the fridge all the time or me having to buy cases, upon cases, of lemonade or bottle water.
But for $200, it may be worth the investment even if you only use it for parties, because in the past, I bought two coffee percolators (one for decaffeinated coffee at a party and one for caffeinated coffee) that were $50 each. That is $100 right there and that only covers coffee, let alone the bottles of other beverages I would still need to get. Of course, there is the hassle factor too. The coffee percolators only make 12 cups of coffee. I want to be enjoying my own party, for pete’s sake – not be a barista.
The Esio makes as much as you want. Just keep filling the water in the tank. You buy the beverage packs, which are around $6 each. Yet, each package has 14 servings. Your guests (or family members) reuse each pouch until it is finished. So that is about 42 cents a serving. Then you don’t have wasteful packaging or all of the bottles you have to contend with. Plus, there are great beverage brands like Country Time Lemonade, Crystal Light, V8 Splash, Maxwell House, Diet Brisk iced tea, and Apple & Eve.
I asked my guests what they thought of the taste. Everyone loved the cold beverages, but were so-so on the coffee. To be honest, I am not sure if it is the Esio System or just the coffee brand I had on hand. Then I realized that you could strengthen or weaken the flavor intensity of the drinks. Maybe you want a less-intense lemonade; you can turn the dial on the machine so it dispenses less of the lemonade when it mixes with the water pouring out from the machine. Alternatively, dial it up so you can have a stronger cup of coffee. So, it may be something I need to play around with, which I think is fun, and hopefully more people catch on to the Esio Beverage Maker and more coffee brands will participate.
Two other perks to mention. I also liked the fact that it is just one button to push and it is not automated. Meaning, you have to keep your finger on the button to dispense the amount of beverage you want. So, you don’t have to have a full cup of apple juice, you can just dispense a half-a-cup. You also don’t need fancy bottles to make it work. For example, I dispensed the apple juice right into my son’s sippy cup. Convenient! I also like how the water is double purified. There is a filter in the machine and you use purified water (like a gallon of spring water or, in my case, water from our Brita Pitcher.)
All in all, I really like this machine. I love the concept and the execution, and I cannot wait to have another party (Super Bowl!) with it on hand! But if you have an office, or thirsty kids, you should definitely check it out for use there too!
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Image Credit: My Own. All Rights Reserved.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary Esio Beverage System for my review as a blogger for MomSelect. All thoughts, opinions and content is my own.
