There's finally a single-serve brewing machine for coffee snobs

Italian coffee company Illy spent years inventing a superior single-serve coffee machine.

The new machine, called the Francis Francis Y5 duo, makes both brewed coffee and espresso.

"We have finally created a single-serve machine for coffee lovers and connoisseurs," company Chairman and CEO Andrea Illy told Business Insider.

Many coffee affectionados have criticized the quality of coffee that comes from instant machines like the Keurig.

Illy's grandfather started the coffee brand more than 80 years ago. The company has been developing the pods and machine for about four years.

The new machine is slim and sleek, easily capable of fitting on a small counter or cabinet.

Similar to machines like a Keurig, a coffee or espresso pod is inserted into the machine. Then, you press a button to brew your beverage.

We tried coffee from the machine for ourselves.

The brewed coffee from the machine is light and smooth, with a sweet aftertaste.

But the espresso is delicious.

Creamy, rich and foamy, it almost tastes like dark chocolate. Illy tells me two of the little espresso cups contain the same caffeine as a large cup of coffee.

At $299, the machine is a little more pricey than its competitors.

But it's possible this instant brewing machine will satisfy coffee lovers more than the Keurig.

Keurig's much-anticipated 2.0 machine launched in August and it has racked up hundreds of scathing online reviews from unhappy customers.

Unlike Keurig's single-serve machine, Keurig 2.0 can make up to 30 ounces of coffee at once using a K-Cup that's about twice the size of its traditional coffee pods. Hayley Peterson contributed to this story.