The Rocket Appartamento TCA is a further development of the market-successful Appartamento. This small dual-circuit machine was highly valued by many and paved the way for the success of the machine manufacturer Rocket. The new Appartamento TCA features four-stage temperature control. This is a valuable addition for a dual-circuit machine, provided it functions perfectly. We encountered some difficulties with this aspect during our testing, which is why we measured and tested two other machines in addition to the test machine. You can find out what our test results are in this video.
Buy Rocket Appartamento TCA
The following specialist retailers sell the Rocket Appartamento TCA, and we recommend purchasing from them. All offer the option of adjusting the machine's offset.
Germany:
Switzerland:
We search for specialist partners for you who we know offer good work and excellent service, and we maintain close contact with the retailers mentioned. The links are so-called commission links. If you order through one of these links, you won't pay a cent more – however, we receive a small commission, which we invest directly in new test equipment.
We are still looking for competent partners for you in the DACH region.
Strengths of the Rocket Appartamento TCA
One of the strengths of the Rocket Appartamento TCA is undoubtedly its excellent frothing performance. The machine does a good and solid job here. It has plenty of power to get the milk circulating in the frothing jug. It doesn't matter whether you're frothing with a small 0.3 or a large 0.6 liter jug. The Rocket Appartamento TCA froths very well.
Another strength lies in the eye of the beholder. The Appartamento TCA is an espresso machine with a Faema E61-style brewing group. While this format is widespread and we're familiar with it from many machines, the Appartamento TCA version also stands out positively. Not only the side panel, but also the tapered brewing group distinguishes it from the mass of E61 machines. The overall build quality also appears solid.
The machine shines with a beautiful pressure gauge, stylish matte handles and a control system reduced to the bare essentials.
Weaknesses of the machine
The biggest weakness of the Rocket Appartamento TCA is its temperature stability and slow heat-up time. In terms of heat-up time, the machine ranks last among all the espresso machines we tested; it doesn't reach temperature in realistic usage. With a lot of goodwill, we gave the machine a heat-up time of 42 minutes. But even then, we were still below the target temperature. We'll discuss the topic of temperature in more detail later in this article.
We also criticize the poorly preset temperature ranges on the Rocket Appartamento TCA when it comes to temperature settings. This is absurd, as the Temperature Control Accessory is what is supposed to set the machine apart from its predecessor. In our opinion, however, the machine's preset temperature levels are all below the target temperature. We don't understand why Rocket set them so low. In other words: we have an idea. We believe Rocket only checked the temperature after more than an hour of operation. By then, it is indeed warm enough at the highest setting. But is an hour of operation really the benchmark for setting the target temperature of an espresso machine these days? In a time when other espresso machines heat up in 5 minutes and other Faema E61 brew groups can manage it in 17 to 18 minutes?
Combined with the long heat-up time, the Rocket consumes a very high amount of power to prepare one or more espressos. At 0.34 kWh, the Rocket Appartamento TCA falls into the category of large dual boilers and thus exhibits very poor performance.
Temperature curves: WBC protocol and KM protocol
We discussed the temperature issue in another YouTube live.
Energy consumption and performance measurement
More information about the machine will be added soon. For a comprehensive review, please watch the video.
