Review: Wilfa Volo Automatic

Wilfa has long been a household name in coffee. Their filter coffee machines are praised for both design and function, and the now famous Wilfa Uniform grinder received 5 stars in our review.

With the new Wilfa Volo Automatic, they are now venturing into the market for fully automatic espresso machines.

The Volo is incredibly simple and priced at the low end of the market. It has no app control or touch screen. There are five built-in options: espresso, lungo, latte macchiato, cappuccino and hot water, each with its own dedicated button. The only modifiable variable is the amount of coffee/milk and the grinder setting.

The bean hopper holds a modest 150 grams and the milk container holds 2.4 dl. On the other hand, the machine is both quiet and small. The discreet rectangle can fit into any decor and won’t overshadow the morning radio.

Volo takes 30 seconds to heat up and requires absolutely no input from the user. Switch on the machine. Press the coffee you want. You’re done. If there is no water in the container or the grounds tray is full, a discreet light will illuminate.

Strong coffee

There aren’t many settings to get confused about with the Volo. The grinder can (and should) be set all the way down for the most intense espresso. The standard size of an espresso is incredibly small, so it’s recommended to set it a little higher so the coffee doesn’t become unnecessarily acidic. 25-30 grams of liquid out was enough for both coffees that the machine was tested with this time.

The Coop365 Organic Dark Roast supermarket coffee doesn’t have much good to say about it, but Volo still got a surprisingly pleasant espresso out of it. Not undrinkably bitter, plenty of texture and a strong coffee flavour that works best in a cappuccino. Not bad for a supermarket coffee. The more expensive Ricco’s White Magic from Costa Rica had the same chocolatey texture and a more complex nutty sweetness, with far less bitterness and acidity. A coffee that in Volo can easily be enjoyed as pure espresso.

The espresso quality is not quite up to the Delonghi Dinamica, but is a solid step above the Philips 5500.

Simple milk system

There are only two recipes with milk and the milk texture itself cannot be adjusted. Volo delivers the best milk in the cappuccino recipe, which produces a mousse-like foam on top and a pleasant and well-textured milk at the bottom. The Volo (like almost all fully automatic machines) can’t quite handle the texture required for a latte. If you choose the latte macchiato option, you’ll still get pleasantly creamy milk, but a little less interesting and airy than in cappuccino. On the other hand, both recipes deliver the (for some) desired “layering” that looks great on Instagram.

Although Volo can make two espressos at once, it can only muster a single milk recipe at a time. A cappuccino takes 1 minute and 30 seconds.

 

Conclusion

Volo is not a machine with loud beeps and demanding options. It blends easily into the background and acts as a taciturn waiter, patiently and almost silently serving your morning coffee. Volo is for the minimalist who only wants access to an easy, quick and delicious cup of coffee and doesn’t want to waste time on anything else.