A:Answer The hopper does come off, but it's for the purpose of cleaning it and the grinder within.
The way the machine works is you fill the hopper with beans-
You select how many shots you want, 1 or 2
You attach the porta-filter to the hopper side, which triggers the machine to grind the beans (based on your calibrations regarding fine/coarse and amount of grinds).
Then you pull the lever on the side of the machine to tamp down the espresso while it's still attached to the machine.
From there, you just switch to the water side, press a button, and BOOM! You have Espresso.
I'm not sure that I would buy this unit if you didn't intend to use the grinder, but I suppose you could.