I apologise in advance since I know this has been asked before but my grasp of the search facility is as good as an oil coated kipper.

What are the great stw recommendations on bean to cup machines?

De Longhi Magnifica.

I’ll save everyone else the trouble.

Someone on here linked to Currys, who had what appeared to be a decent sale on them.
In true time honoured fashion, I’d recommend a normal espresso machine and grinder and learning to use them. Lot more geeky, bit more effort but greater reward IME.

That was me over £350 savings on some but it’s expired.

De Long works great. Ours hasn’t missed a beat after 4 years of use. You need to decide if coffee is a hobby or if you just want the convenience of a half decent espresso based coffee drink at the touch of a button with no cleaning up or faff after. If the former get a manual espresso machine…. If the latter you’ll get a coffee that is 90% as good at the touch of a button with very little clean up faff…just empty the spent coffee pucks out occasionally when the machine tells you and top up the water and every now and again run a descaling cycle.

Read the threads that said DeLonghi & bought a Gaggia Brera instead. Liking it a lot!

Thanks! I’m in the convenience end I think. we have a cafetière that gets only very occasional use as it’s such a ball ache to clean.

There’s a load of Delong ones is the magnifica magnificent compared to the others or not much in it? Most of the features and stats about pressure are gobbledegook to Me

I love my gaggia brera

Hmmm so I was thinking of up to a couple of hundred quid for one of there’s things. Is the pauper’s option to have an espresso one.

Curry’s have still got cracking 50% deals deals. I got one of these and dead chuffed.

DELONGHI ECAM23.420 Bean to Cup Coffee Machine

Melitta TS Smart Barista. Had it for ever a year and it’s been spot on.

Looks like Maybe I need to reassess my 200 budget up a bit But Woa, That melitta smart barista thing is 800 quid!! That’s some serious money for a kitchen appliance.

Another complication – Im guessing if sometimes you want a decaff and sometimes a full caff its either two machines or a espresso and grinding setup.

If you have beans in the machine you can still run decal preground through a separate slot

If you have beans in the machine you can still run decal preground through a separate slot

This is what I did, although I mostly stopped bothering because the decaf was just awful. Whether that’s to do with the grind, or the coffee itself I don’t know, but I have instant coffee if I want decaf. It’s fine for making lattes and stuff though.

De Longhi Magnifica

is an excellent answer. I had one for over three years and now it’s providing good service to a mate. It’s had one service in that time. Two other mates have them as well. Consistent coffee, not much mess, steam wand isn’t great if you care about such things.

Now I have a Sage Barista Pro which was over twice as much, is quite messy but the coffee is definitely better with the same beans. Takes a while to get a repeatable technique but now that I have….. and I make Latte’s because the steam wand seems to be a lot more controllable.

That’s some serious money for a kitchen appliance.

This is serious money for a kitchen appliance 😉

Oh you need a very decent grinder to pair with it too, think 5-800 ish.

SingleOriginCoffeeTrackWorld!

I was thinking of something to make a few coffees a day, not open a coffee shop!!

This is what I did, although I mostly stopped bothering because the decaf was just awful. Whether that’s to do with the grind, or the coffee itself

It’s the coffee.

My old man has the same machine as me and no matter what decaf bean he fills the hopper with the coffee is rank.

He’s had posh stuff from posh shops he’s had cheap stuff from cheap shops. He’s tried independent roasters and he’s tried the stuff off the shelf in leclerc/Carrefour and it’s all pretty poor if you are used to cafienated coffee….

It’s a minefield and also depends on how fussy you are about your coffee, I had a cheap Delonghi, but I never got good coffee from it. I bought a better grinder, it still sucked. Eventually I moved to a hand espresso pump (Flair) found my grinder to be serious incapable of grinding fine enough coffee, so ended up with a hand grinder that amazingly engineered and cost as much as the original coffee machine I bought.

Other people seem happy enough with ok coffee from an ok machine. But I’m a purist and only drink espresso, or long blacks so don’t mask the flavour with milk.

I know it’s a bit naff to do this but if anyone is interested in a “Delonghi ESAM4500 Fully Automatic Bean to Cup Machine Magnifica” then I’m about to put it on eBay, cost £700 a good while back but I hardly use it & never recently with milk so I’m getting a smaller pod based machine to free up worktop space, I can’t be arsed to post it so if anyone can collect it in either NW7 or AL5 postcodes then try me with a derisory offer (save me the listing fee on eBay at least 😉 )

I picked mine up from here for about £320 just before Christmas…

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/DeLonghi-Eletta-ECAM-44-660-B-Black/dp/B00I6E7CWG/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=eletta&qid=1589554944&sr=8-1

Easy to use and we do get quite good results out of it – just so much easier than messing around with a proper machine – unless the whole process is something that you’re really into

I thought Sage were the go to for bean to cup?

My DeLonghi (not bean to cup) leaks like a mofo and i hate it and the stains it has permanently left on my wooden worktop. Regularly been descaled and was sent make to DeLonghi for repair. Still leaks.

I just got one of these a few years ago. Works like a charm. Doesn’t leak, doesn’t seem to require any expensive servicing like other much more expensive machines do and make a pretty decent espresso. Wont satisfy those who see coffee as a hobby. Plenty of controls to play with to tweak your shot and once you’ve set it up its all repeatable at the press of a button. Probably get 90% of the results of a more manual and much more expensive machine for 10% of the price.

De'Longhi Magnifica, Automatic Bean to Cup Coffee Machine, Espresso, Cappuccino, ESAM 4200.S, Silver

Jura A1 – superb, sleek and compact.

For those that are interested in a higher end coffee machine but don’t have the wonger for one, check out Melittas website, they have a section for refurbished machines(still with 12months warranty),

The barista one mentioned above can be had for just around £420.

https://www.melitta.co.uk/products/coffee-machines/refurbished-bean-to-cup-machines/?p=1.

I bought a filter coffee machine from there recently(not a refurb) and the service was spot on and the coffee maker for my needs is great.

I’ve managed to pick up a 20 yr old Faema E98 “compact” commercial espresso machine for $150 (75 quid), and a similar vintage Mazzer Super Jolly for $100 (50 quid – listed as a “grander” rather than grinder).

They both need a strip down and clean up – a few new seals and a replacement valve, but they’ve not been worked hard and easily have a couple of decades service left in them.

The coffee they are producing is really excellent, even with Aldi beans (roasted here in Melbourne), easily on a par with all but the very best coffee shops here – better than 98% of places I recon. Really good locally roasted beans were slightly better – but the result with the Aldi beans was so good, I can’t justify spending the extra on the expensive ones.

Keep an eye out on Facebook/gumtree/ebay etc…… bargains do come up fairly regularly if you know what you are looking for.

I have the jura ena 5, bought it years and years ago price at the time made me wince. Sent it away to to be cleaned once and get seals changed. I now learned how to strip down and clean it myself its been faultless. I’d buy another jura again

I’ve had a magnifica for a number of years and it’s been great.

Unfortunately, it’s now got a problem and I cannot seem to fix it!

Basically I am getting the error code that the infuser is not fitted, even when it is. The first 4 left hand leds light up in sequence and the machine wont reset or reset to the taking the infuser out position. I can eventually take the infuser out with trial and error of raising and lowering it but nothing seems to help with the sensing thing (tried a bit of blue tack etc)

Does anyone have any experience of the same problem and a route to a solution – I need coffee back in my life – hopefully without a £300 bill!

I brought a DeLonghi Prima Donna last December After years of Nespresso. I wanted to be able to choose which coffee I used as opposed to being locked in to Nestle. Must admit it was expensive but I’m so happy with the results. They do machines at most price points. By all accounts as long as you stay on top of cleaning, (I live in a hard water area) the should last for years.

Whatever you choose, pick one with a tank on the side. They use a lot of water for rinse and clean, and it’s a pain to go behind and fetch out the tank on a daily basis. You want at least a litre tank and 250g hopper too

I have a Jura Ena 7. It’s a pain to pull out. The A1 is the same but newer ones do have a side full. I never use the milk attachment as cleaning is a pain. I use a nesspreso aerofrither it just a cafetière if microwaved milk for multiple cups.

There’s a Delonghi refurb “store” on ebay (I believe it’s genuine factory refurb but not sure of that)

I moved to a hand espresso pump (Flair) found my grinder to be serious incapable of grinding fine enough coffee, so ended up with a hand grinder that amazingly engineered and cost as much as the original coffee machine I bought.

What grinder did you go for? I’ve just bought a Rok manual espresso machine and I’m wearing my wrists out (quiet at the back) with my Hario Skerton grinder. Sorry for the thread tangent.

@northwind

Kinu Phoenix, it’s still manual so wrist work is required!

I don’t mind the effort, the Hario just isn’t very ergonomic and I think the burrs are wearing out anyway. Considering a table top one like the Rok one. The Kinu one looks very nice but €1000 :-O

Has anyone actually ever seen anything in stock on the Melitta refurb store?

Am interested in the Barista TS Smart. There’s one for sale locally on eBay for £400 but that seems poor value compared to a refurb with warranty for £480 – if they are ever actually available.

@northwind, no the phoenix is more like €199, I’m crazy, but not THAT crazy!

I was close to buying one of the curry’s ones but worked out I have nowhere to put it yet

Does anyone have any experience of the same problem and a route to a solution – I need coffee back in my life – hopefully without a £300 bill!

I just did the service option at delonghi UK in January.

I had to get a new infuser and gearbox for an issue.

120 quid fixed price service including collection and delivery . 10 day turn around.

Their were higher tier service costs by the woman on the phone said they were pretty much for chassis exchanges where the original was too damaged……is you dropped it or something

You have to speak on their live chat.

And itll probably be post covid.

Has anyone actually ever seen anything in stock on the Melitta refurb store?

I think the best bet is to register your interest on the ones your interested in (there is a link by each item),

Stuff does seem to go virtually as soon as its listed (no surprise when you can be saving £5-600 on some of the items).