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Rocket Appartamento TCA in Test

The Rocket Appartamento TCA is a further development of the successful Appartamento on the market. The small dual boiler was appreciated by many and was a trailblazer for the success of machine manufacturer Rocket. The new Appartamento TCA was equipped with temperature control in four levels. A valuable expansion for a dual boiler if it functions completely. During our testing, we had some difficulties in this area, which is why we measured and tested two additional machines in addition to the test machine. You'll find out what our test results are in this video.

Buy Rocket Appartamento TCA

The following specialist retailers carry the Rocket Appartamento TCA and we can recommend purchasing from these businesses. All offer the option to adjust the machine's offset.

Germany: Stoll Espresso

Switzerland: deon

We search for specialist partners on your behalf, partners we know provide good work and good service, and we are in close contact with the retailers mentioned. The links are so-called affiliate links. If you order through one of these links, you won't pay a cent more – however, we receive a small commission that we invest directly in new test equipment.

We continue to search for competent partners in the DACH region on your behalf.

Strengths of the Rocket Appartamento TCA

The strengths of the Rocket Appartamento TCA undoubtedly include its excellent milk frothing performance. The machine performs well and solid work here. It has good power to get the milk circulation in the frothing pitcher going. It doesn't matter whether you're frothing with a small 0.3L or large 0.6L pitcher. The Rocket Appartamento TCA froths very well.

Another strength is in the eye of the beholder. The Appartamento TCA is an espresso machine with a Faema E61-type group head. While this format is widespread and we know it from many machines, the Appartamento also stands out positively in the TCA version. Not only the side panel, but also the tapered group head distinguish it from the mass of E61 machines. Otherwise, the workmanship appears solid.

The machine impresses with a beautiful pressure gauge, stylish matte rotary handles, and controls reduced to the essentials.

Weaknesses of the Machine

The greatest weakness of the Rocket Appartamento TCA is its temperature stability and slow heat-up time. The machine ranks at the bottom of all espresso machines we've tested in terms of heat-up time; under realistic usage conditions, it doesn't reach temperature. With considerable goodwill, we allowed the machine a heat-up time of 42 minutes. But even then, we were actually still below the target temperature. We discuss the temperature issue in more detail further down in the article.

In the area of temperature settings for the Rocket Appartamento TCA, we also note the poorly pre-set temperature ranges of the TCA. Absurd, since the Temperature Control Adjustment is supposed to be what sets the machine apart positively from its predecessor. From our perspective, however, the machine's pre-set temperature levels are all below the target temperature. We're not clear on why Rocket set them so low. Put differently: we have an idea. We believe Rocket only looked at where the machine's temperature reached after more than an hour of operation. Then it's indeed warm enough on the highest setting. But is an hour of operation really the standard for determining the target temperature of an espresso machine nowadays? In a time when other espresso machines are warm in 5 minutes and other Faema E61 group heads manage it in 17 to 18 minutes?

Associated with the long heat-up time, the Rocket has very high power consumption to prepare one or more espressos. At 0.34 kWh, the Rocket Appartamento TCA is in the field of large dual boilers and demonstrates very poor performance.