Quick Mill Anita Review: a Stylish Prosumer for Latte Aficionados

I can’t think of a better way to spend a day than fawning over a prosumer espresso machine. It’s in this spirit that I’m writing this Quick Mill Anita review.

Fortunately, this Italian lever machine is on its way to my doorstep. Many thanks to the age of online ordering! While I wait for it to arrive, I figured I’d take a first look at the design and features of the Anita Evo espresso machine. Let’s get into it.

Overview: Quick Mill Anita Review

It’s no secret that Italian espresso machines are the cream of the crop. After all, our beloved espresso has its origins in the historic coffee bars of Italian coffee culture.

As it happens, Quick Mill is an Italian coffee machine manufacturer based in Milan. They’ve been slinging burr grinders, superautomatic espresso machines and other home espresso machines since 1945.

All Quick Mill machines are designed and produced in Italy with high-quality materials. In fact, they source their materials from within Italy as much as possible.

With this context, it’s no wonder that I’m excited about the Quick Mill Anita. This is a sleek and compact prosumer espresso machine with a $1,695 price tag. Sure, that’s a lot to spend on a home espresso machine, but you’re getting this gem with a two-year warranty from the retailer, to boot.

The Anita Evo is a heat exchanger espresso machine with a single copper and brass boiler and thermosiphon circulation in the group head. All this translates to excellent thermal stability in the E61 commercial group, while also ensuring premium steaming power. 

In other words, this classic prosumer beauty is ideal for home baristas who favor milk drinks.

What’s more, the Anita is just gorgeous. Its compact size and sleek stainless steel body means this espresso maker will fit well in any kitchen. Even better, it’s durable enough to serve you for years to come.

Plus, an intuitive user interface makes this lever espresso machine a breeze to use. That said, don’t expect any smart controls on this baby. Rather, your shot customization options are all manual: adjustable brew pressure, preinfusion and volumetric control.

All in all, the Quick Mill Anita is a tried-and-true lever machine with modern features that could make it even more reliable than its Italian predecessors.

Quick Mill Anita Evo Features

Now that I’ve gone over the basics of this prosumer espresso machine, I’m excited to break it down further. Read along for the rest of my Quick Mill Anita review.

Size and Design

I’ll start with the gorgeous design of the Italian-made Quick Mill Anita.

If you’ve read my Quick Mill Alexia review, you’ll know that its design is a bit busy for my taste. Fortunately, the Anita is easier on the eyes, with fewer buttons and lights.

The Anita Evo is sleek and stylish, offering a modern take on the classic espresso machine design. It has an industrial look, with a stainless steel body and black accents.

This may sound a little weird, but I have to say that I find the dual manometers to be super eye-catching. I love their black backgrounds, blue accent curves and white lettering. Visually, the pressure gauges are unique, attractive and really stand out on the silver machine.

I’ll admit, I really like the timeless vibe of the Anita Evo. I certainly wouldn’t mind this machine taking up space on my countertop.

With that said, the Anita Evo is actually pretty compact. It’s got an 11.5 inch (29.2 centimeter) wide footprint, a depth of 18.3 inches (46.4 centimeters) and sits at 15.8 inches (40 centimeters) tall.

That said, if you have overhanging cabinets be sure to break out your measuring tape before opening your wallet. The height of the Anita could make it difficult to remove the top-loading 101.4-ounce (3-liter) water tank or open its hinge door for filling.

What’s more, this machine weighs a hefty 47 pounds (21 kilograms), so you’ll want to be careful when unboxing it or moving it around.

Despite its compact size, the Anita Evo features a 50-ounce (1.5-liter) capacity drip tray and a large cup warmer. Even better, a generous 5.8-inch (14.6-centimeter) cup clearance means you can fit tall travel mugs under the portafilter spout.

User Interface

The Anita Evo’s user interface is super simple and intuitive. This is a breath of fresh air, considering the confusing buttons on lights on the Quick Mill Alexia!

For starters, there’s a three-way power switch. The left position is for the initial fill of the boiler, the center is the off position, and the right position is for heating the boiler.

What’s more, there are three lights around the power switch, making the main interface into a grid-like shape. The top right indicator light turns green when the power is on. Meanwhile, the bottom left light turns yellow when the machine is heating up, then turns off when it’s thoroughly preheated. Finally, the bottom right button is green when the Anita Evo is ready to brew or steam.

On that note, you can regulate the steaming pressure and turn on the hot water via knobs on the left and right of the machine. Conveniently, these are labeled in Italian: Vapore for steam and Acqua for water.

Additionally, this lever espresso machine has a brew lever for pulling shots. Plus, the Anita features dual manometers to show the boiler pressure and group pressure.

All this sounds simple enough, right? Most home baristas with a touch of experience should be able to operate the Quick Mill Anita Evo without much trouble.

That said, there are some functions that aren’t obvious from the get-go. For example, the Anita has a manual preinfusion option, which you wouldn’t know just by looking at the machine. I’ll touch on preinfusion later on in this Quick Mill Anita review.

Finally, the vibratory pump is equipped with an internal pulsar that makes it quieter, so the Anita shouldn’t wake up any late sleepers in the house.

Boiler

The Quick Mill Anita has a single brass-coated copper boiler. What’s more, this heat exchanger (HX) espresso machine maintains steaming temperatures in the insulated boiler. Meanwhile, the HX design ensures that the water in the group is an appropriate brew temperature.

Due to the boiler design, I consider the Anita Evo to be the ideal machine for those who drink a daily cappuccino or other milk drink. Even better, an HX machine allows you to pull a shot and steam milk simultaneously.

That said, espresso devotees will have to learn to temperature surf with cooling flushes to get consistent shots with good extraction. For this reason, home baristas who regularly drink both straight espresso shots and creamy milk drinks may want to consider paying a bit more for a dual boiler like the Lelit Elizabeth.

Still, I especially recommend the Quick Mill Anita to households with multiple coffee drinkers. After all, the 54-ounce (1.6-liter) boiler is the ideal size for making a few lattes back-to-back. 

Plus, it’s got a generous 101.4-ounce (3-liter) water reservoir that is removable or fillable through a hinge door on the top of the machine.

Finally, magnetic water level sensors cut power to the boiler if levels are low in order to protect the boiler. If this scenario happens, no worries – the vibratory pump power remains stable to finish pulling the shot.

Group Head

As is Quick MIll’s custom, the Anita Evo comes equipped with a commercial grade 58mm E61 group head. This type of group head and construction is ideal for thermal stability and durable construction.

Even better, thermosiphon circulation ensures a consistent group temperature. Since this is an HX machine, built-in thermal stability is extra important. Again, you’ll still need to do a cooling flush before pulling a shot to get the group down to proper brewing temperatures.

Preinfusion

The Quick Mill Anita Evo features manual preinfusion using the brew lever.

As it happens, raising the brew lever only halfway allows you to pre-wet the coffee bed with low pressure. Then, pull the lever all the way up to brew with regular pressure.

The brew pressure gauge is helpful to monitor the group pressure during this process. In fact, I’d bet you can accomplish a late extraction pressure reduction towards the end of your shot if you’d like. I’ll test this out in my next Quick Mill Anita review!

Portafilter

The Quick Mill Anita comes with two 58mm chrome-plated brass portafilters. One of these has a single spout, while the other is a split portafilter. I would’ve liked to see a bottomless portafilter too, but there are plenty of those on the market if you want to upgrade.

Try not to judge the lack of stainless steel here. After all, brass is also a durable metal with great heat retention. Plus, the chrome gives the portafilters that modern and shiny appearance we’ve come to expect.

Anyway, the 58 millimeter size means these portafilters are compatible with all sorts of espresso accessories, like distribution tools and dosing cups.

Finally, Quick Mill includes a stainless steel backflush disc with the Anita Evo to help out with your cleaning routine. While I’m on the subject, I should also mention that you get a complimentary cleaning brush that’s great for cleaning the portafilter, shower screen and group.

Tamping

Upon unboxing your new Anita Evo, you’ll find … wait for it … a metal tamper with a wooden handle.

As I mentioned time and again, there’s just no use for a cheap plastic tamper these days, given the number of high quality and affordable espresso tampers on the market. Fortunately, Quick Mill includes a quality tamper in the Anita accessory kit so you won’t have to go out of your way to buy one.

Steam Wand

I already mentioned a few times in this Quick Mill Anita review that this HX machine is ideal for latte lovers. Well, I can back that statement up even further!

The Anita Evo has a commercial-style multi-position steam wand with a 2-hole tip. These features allow for greater steaming power and enable you to manipulate the steam wand into the perfect angle for creating latte art.

What’s more, there’s a designated hot water dispenser for americanos, tea and preheating latte cups. Plus, both the hot water and steam wands feature no-burn construction. Contrary to popular belief, you can be a full-fledged barista with your fingertip nerve endings intact.

Incidentally, you control both the hot water and steam wand via knobs. And if you’re a gamer or into manual transmission vehicles, you can even swap out the knobs for joysticks. Yes, Quick Mill found a way to make lever espresso machines even cooler!

Expansion Valve

With you techy espresso nerds in mind, I saved the best for last: the Anita Evo features an adjustable expansion valve.

Fortunately, the expansion valve is easy to access, so you can adjust the group pressure quickly. In other words, you don’t need to get under the hood to customize your brew pressure.

Since the Anita Evo doesn’t offer an adjustable brew temperature, being able to adjust the brew pressure is a nice trade-off. Though I admit I’d prefer to have both features!

How to Use the Quick Mill Anita Evo

Thanks to an intuitive user interface, the Anita Evo is a breeze to use. Still, I’ll let the user manual teach you about the initial setup process. Once you’ve got that down, here’s how to use the thing:

First, switch the three-way power switch to the leftmost position to fill the boiler. Then, put the switch in the rightmost position to start the heat-up process. When the Anita is thoroughly preheated the yellow heating light will turn off.

At this point, do your espresso prep as usual: grind some espresso beans in an espresso grinder, then distribute and tamp the grounds. Since this is an HX machine, remember to flush the group head by raising the brew lever for a few seconds.

As it happens, a cooling flush has the added benefit of clearing any coffee grounds from the shower screen. Once that’s done, return the brew lever to its down position and insert the portafilter.

Next, tare an espresso cup or cappuccino cup on a coffee scale and place them on the drip tray. If your scale doesn’t have a built-in timer, you’ll need to have your phone or a kitchen timer on hand too.

Finally, raise the brew lever halfway to begin preinfusion. When you’re satisfied with the preinfusion time, raise the brew lever all the way to begin extraction with full pressure. Once your shot reaches your desired specs, return the lever to its down position.

If you’re a good multi-tasker, you can also steam milk while your shot pulls. Simply use the steam knob to regulate the steaming power. Just don’t forget to keep an eye on your shot timer and scale!

Quick Mill Anita Cleaning

Cleaning the Anita Evo is pretty straightforward. Be sure to check out my guide to cleaning and descaling coffee makers when it’s time for a deep clean. In the meantime, if you follow some basic maintenance rules you’ll be good to go.

For starters, always use filtered water to keep your water tank and brew group squeaky-clean and scale-free. Additionally, make a habit of emptying and rinsing out your portafilter after each shot to prevent a build-up of coffee oils.

Plus, you should always wipe the steam wand with a damp cloth after steaming milk, then purge steam through it for a second to clear away any milk residue.

That’s about it for a daily cleaning ritual. I’d say that’s pretty simple!

Finally, at least once a week you should rinse the group head and gaskets by conducting a backflush. Incidentally, the included backflush disc is helpful for that.

Quick Mill Anita Evo Technical Specifications

Verdict: Quick Mill Anita Review

Now that I’ve come to the end of my Quick Mill Anita review, I’m somehow even more excited to pull some shots on this lever machine!

Check back soon to read my updated observations on the Anita Evo after I put this prosumer gem through its paces.