Terra Kaffe makes an espresso machine that brews café-quality drinks using sustainably-sourced, pod-free coffee beans.  

Terra Kaffe is a D2C coffee brand that helps consumers discover their perfect cup and perfect their coffee rituals. Founded in Berlin and raised in Brooklyn, we raise the bar when it comes to improving the coffee supply chain, one one-touch espresso at a time. Our products bring the spirit of café culture to the countertop of conscious consumers.

Terra Kaffe’s flagship product, the TK-01, brews café-quality espresso drinks—including lattes, cappuccinos, and more—from fresh coffee beans and offers a pod-free, waste-free alternative to expensive capsule-based machines. Inspired by the Bauhaus art movement, the TK-01 is a design-driven testament to beauty and functionality in tandem.


Sahand Dilmaghani

Terra Kaffe

TK-01

Kitchen & Dining

Home

I received the TK-01 as a Christmas gift from my boyfriend. I was so excited to finally have my own coffee machine and to make lattes at home. However, I have had a very disappointing experience not only with the TK-01 but also with the company as a whole. I began having issues with my machine a few months after receiving it. After reaching out to customer service, they gave me multiple things to try and fix the problems. Once one problem was fixed, another arose. I struggled with the espresso dispenser, the screen glitching, the drip tray sensor breaking, the brew unit getting jammed and pieces broken to get it out, and most recently, the milk system no longer works. It was clear from the start that this machine was dysfunctional. While the problems started under the warranty period, it is no longer under warranty and it is basically useless. Due to it being out of warranty, the only thing customer service is offering is for me to pay $175 for a repair kit. This machine originally costs $895 and it didn’t even last two years. Not once was I offered a replacement unit, a repair kit, or reimbursement under warranty. I completely understand that machines with many parts will have problems but for a machine that costs almost $900, I expect it to last far more than a year and a half or a replacement for a machine that clearly is not up to par.
All in all, if you get a machine that is in pristine working condition, it’s a great product. But if you get one that has any problems, don’t expect this company to replace or reimburse for their broken products. Due to the money that has already been put into this machine and lack of proper solutions, I will be taking my business elsewhere.

We bought this machine a long time ago now, with high hopes  of drinking beautiful daily espressos.  We have now been through several returns / exchanges due to issues with the machines ranging from steam coming out the sides to cracks appearing in the body of the machine due to heating / cooling.  The coffee it makes is actually pretty decent, and the convenience factor is there.  

However, the maintenance of the machine, build quality,  and the overall design of the machine make it hard to recommend to someone who wants a quality experience with low levels of hassle.

Title: Disappointing Experience with Terra Kaffe: A Costly Paperweight

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ (1/5)

I must admit that my experience with the Terra Kaffe coffee maker has been nothing short of a nightmare. From the moment I received the initial unit, I encountered problems that persisted throughout my ownership of this device. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this product to anyone, given the numerous issues I've encountered.

The first Terra Kaffe unit I purchased turned out to be defective right out of the box. It refused to brew coffee at all, which was incredibly frustrating. Thankfully, the company agreed to send a replacement unit, but the problems did not end there.

The second unit worked relatively well for about six months before issues started to arise. The machine began displaying error messages, insisting that the water tank was misaligned. I followed the provided instructions to clear the message, but even after doing so, the water still wouldn't flow properly through the machine. This led to a series of back-and-forth email exchanges with Terra Kaffe customer support, which, quite frankly, was a less than satisfactory experience.

After several attempts to get the machine running again, it mysteriously stopped making coffee altogether. Once again, I found myself engaged in a frustrating email exchange with Terra Kaffe's customer service team. They often resorted to directing me to YouTube videos as a primary solution, which was far from the level of support I expected for a premium product.

To salvage this increasingly expensive and underperforming coffee maker, I resorted to multiple deep clean cycles, rinsing, and even dismantling and cleaning the brewing unit. It was then that I discovered that the mechanism responsible for compressing the coffee was misaligned. Another round of emails, another YouTube video tutorial on realigning the mechanism—this process was far from user-friendly.

After getting everything back in order, I experienced a mere two days of normal functionality before the machine began dispensing only hot water, completely ruining my coffee. Once again, I had to contact customer service, who this time requested that I send them a video of the machine's attempt to brew coffee. At this point, it was clear that the Terra Kaffe coffee maker was nothing more than an expensive paperweight.

My experience with Terra Kaffe has been overwhelmingly negative. The lack of a reliable product, coupled with a customer support system that heavily relies on YouTube videos, is unacceptable for a high-priced coffee machine. It's evident that this company does not stand behind its products, leaving customers to spend both money and time attempting to fix a clearly defective item. Save your hard-earned money and invest in a coffee maker from a brand that delivers quality and customer support you can trust. Terra Kaffe simply doesn't live up to its promises, and there are undoubtedly better alternatives available in the market.

It's great if you use it's basic function , i e. drink espresso only.   For everything else... it's messy. 

You can watch handful of videos on YT where everyone loves the machine. My wife likes it as well. So I will focus on what could be done better.

I just got TK-01 and let me tell you about frothering milk. No matter if the foam knob settings, it gurgles oversaturating the milk with hot steam creating large bubbles that doesn't make drink looking tasty. In the process is spits milk all over around the cup on the machine surfaces, table underneath and some onto me if I stand in front of it. Even if you pull the dispenser head  down to sit on the top of the mug, it still manages to spray milk to the sides, so wiping this mess after each milked coffee drink is needed.

One other key function that made me to purchase this machine is ability to load pre-grinded coffee via additional slot. This way someone who might have a different coffee taste or simply wants a decaf coffee can still use this machine along with others family members around the house who use regular bean coffee loaded into main grinder tray. The issue with pre-grinded coffee intake is that's small so even careful loading using supplied spoon causes some coffee spill around the slot. Worse, that it is located right next to some slotted holes in the unit enclosure which let grinded coffee to get inside the unit, which is asking for trouble like machine malfunction. This is just bad design.  

One last remark, after the machine goes into standby mode, the screen goes completely blank and panel becomes inactive. I have to flip the main power switch to bring it back live. Worse, the switch is in the back of the deep unit, hard to access sometimes. That just make no sense. 

Overall for the money paid during black friday sale, it isn't bad. If you drink just espresso or you don't mind cleaning the mess around every time you prep your cappuccino or latte, you should be happy. Otherwise move along and look for a different machine. I am keeping mine as this was a gift for my wife and she doesn't mind putting up with these shortcomings.

Just got my Terra Kaffe during the black friday sale and absolutely am loving it so far. Was getting tired of going to starbucks everyday so wanted to give this a try. I normally like an iced latte but have been really enjoying the milk frothing for a cappucino. Overall strongly recommend! Also looks so beautiful on my counter. 

Lots of people complain about the cleaning, but I figured pretty early on that this is only a problem if you don't clean anything in your home. 

Better said, this machine requires very minimal (but pretty obvious) cleaning measures. If you don't wait weeks on end to dump your waste bin, yeah — it's gonna get dirty. But you wouldn't wait a month to empty the trash; you wouldn't wait 3 years to clean your fridge; you wouldn't leave your dishwasher filter to become clogged before cleaning it; so why leave this machine to fester? 

Annoyances with others aside, this thing RIPS! I use it 4 times a day on a slow day. Small Americano in the morning, 2 single shots in the mid-afternoon, and a latte with dinner (I know it's weird, and I know Italians would scream if they heard this, but it's a nice treat!). 

My only gripe is that I'm not very clear on what "water hardness level" means, and it's not made any cleaner by the machine's interface, which denotes said level by circles. But I emailed the company and they said I can just wager a guess based on where I live. I'm in Philly, which is pretty soft water, and so far I haven't needed to descale. Makes sense! 

All in all, I've had it for about 5 months and I don't see myself ever going back to Mr. Coffee. Sorry, sir!

I wish they sent us replacement tubes that connect the milk canister to the machine. They were hard to clean, and if we forgot to empty the canister each night, it was not a pleasant experiencing cleaning the day old milk the next morning. The hose was virtually impossible. 

These coffee machines are amazing. We had one in our office and it worked like a charm. I'm not an expert on espressos, but from what I do know I thought the quality was great. The self-cleaning feature seemed to work well too which is always a good thing. 

I bought the Terra Kaffe in late Nov for moving into our new condo at the end of Jan and was very excited.   But after setting up this week, I decided it wasn’t for us.   Coffee was lookwarm, water tank too small and finicky, grinder was stuck at 3rd level and drip pan fills up quickly.   Just much too complicated for morning coffee.   I contacted Terra kaffe and they won’t allow a return since past 30 days.  I explained I took it out of the box this week andcregistered it yesterday when I tried it for the first and only time.   They refused and tried to convince me they could solve all these problems remotely.   So I have an $800 paperweight.    Do not recommend.  

I was initially excited about my purchase of this coffee machine, but it quickly turned into a massive disappointment. The biggest issue I encountered was mold inside the machine, a serious concern that was not resolved despite following all the recommended maintenance procedures. This, coupled with the machine's frequent malfunctions—grinding without brewing, dispensing barely any espresso, and generally failing to perform as expected—made it clear that this product does not justify its high cost. My interactions with customer support only added to my frustration, revealing a lack of direct knowledge about the product, likely due to it being a rebranded version from a generic manufacturer. The final straw was discovering that negative feedback was being deleted from their social media, pointing to deceitful practices.

It has changes the whole coffee game for me. After Terra Kaffe I realized what a good cup of coffee is. Anyone thinking about investing in a new coffee machine, this is it!

Articles featuring Terra Kaffe