De'Longhi Magnifica, Automatic Bean to Cup Coffee Machine, Espresso, Cappuccino, ESAM 4200.S, Silve
ESAM4200.S
For your perfect Italian coffee
From freshly ground beans to outstanding, intense, aromatic coffee variety. Your personal favourite drinks at the touch of a button.
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Excellent quality in cup
Each one of our grinders is tested and calibrated to ensure precision for a perfect Espresso brewing
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Ideal coffee extraction
It hosts single and double cups grinding quantity. Tamping is automatic for a consistent result.
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Your perfect milk froth
Be your own barista by manually preparing your desired milk drinks thanks to the manual milk frother
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Your favourite beverages
2 1-touch recipes: Espresso, 2x espresso plus many more manual milk drinks
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Ease of use
Preparing any beverage has never been so easy thanks to the one touch technology
1 Freshly ground coffee 2 Brewing unit 3 Manual frother 4 Beverage variety 5 One touch
| Weight: | 10.5 kg |
| Dimensions: | 37.5 x 28.5 x 36 cm; 10.52 Kilograms |
| Brand: | De'Longhi |
| Model: | ESAM4200 |
| Colour: | Silver |
| Colour: | Silver |
A good machine and a big improvement on my previous De Longhi. The item is easier to clean and also fairly simple to set up. The grouts are noticeably wetter than those from the earlier Magnifica and I have not yet figured out why.
Now, if the company can produce an affordable coffee machine that allows a user to add water and beans without dismantling anything (as my old Gaggia Synchrony could), I would give it five stars.
A good machine and a big improvement on my previous De Longhi. The item is easier to clean and also fairly simple to set up. The grouts are noticeably wetter than those from the earlier Magnifica and I have not yet figured out why.
Now, if the company can produce an affordable coffee machine that allows a user to add water and beans without dismantling anything (as my old Gaggia Synchrony could), I would give it five stars.
We’ve had bean to cup machines for several years now, but our De’Longhi Prima Donna, was starting to play up (after 15 years!). We only drink Black coffee nowadays, so all the ‘bells and whistles’ of an expensive machine, wasn’t needed. Ordered 9.30pm on the Wednesday, delivered lunchtime the following day! Pretty impressed to say the least….
The new machine was set up and working within 5 minutes and immediately, we both remarked on how easy it was. The 1st ‘proper’ cup was delivered (recommendation that at least 4 cups are made initially, before the taste really comes through) and it was lovely.
Not a real gripe, but we wished it had timed auto start like our old one, but it’s not an issue to press a button and wait 30 seconds.
Overall a great machine. Very happy.
This is quite a large bean to cup coffee machine but over the nearly 6 months we have had it (lockdown essential) it’s been reliable and consistent in providing great coffee.
The only niggles we have are that it’s quite noisy – especially during start up when it makes 40 or so loud grunting noises whilst presumably self cleaning. The grinder when making your coffee is also quite loud.
It should be noted that we haven’t used the milk frothed because we have a separate machine for milk foaming.
To summarise this is a great coffee machine and maintenance has been low/non-existent over the last few months. And we have used it multiple times a day, every day! Haven’t had to descale it yet as we have had to with other machines we have owned from other manufacturers. Just be mindful if you like a quiet kitchen!
So I did a lot of research and it came down to costs and easy to use.
Many coffee machines seem to have a compulsary water filture – this one doesn’t.
Also once you get the hang on what all the buttons and knobs are for and what your tastes are it is pretty easy to use.
You can set this up for how much you want your beans ground to the amount of grounds used in the shot.
Then you can have upto 2 shots and also do 2 cups at a time.
The milk steamer keeps it heat without the need to keep reheating enough to froth up enough milk for a cappucino.
You can pretty much make any espresso based beverage with this.
I love that the milk steamer nozzel is detachable for cleaning after each use.
My only negetive at this stage is that the milk steamer arm is too close to the machine – it bends out but doesn’t clear the edge of the machine enough to allow full movement of your jug.
AFTER 6 MONTHS
I still love this machine!
I’ve had no issues with fault etc. Still makes a lovely cup of coffee.
Love I can use decaf grounds.
My few points are that if using decaf ensure you have the dial turned to scoop before you fill with grounds. It leaves an aweful mess in the machine as it falls through and you end up with a full ground tray symbol for days after. I would recommend if single cups to empty the grounds tray inside as it can be forgotten and turn nasty.
Tips for the ground tray line it with kitchen paper as the grounds stick to the inside which makes it a bugger to clean. Plus they absorb some of the moisture.
Also to get a good strong coffee you do have you have the dial turned up and i always hit the double espresso button.
Also pop your mug under the sprout as soon as you switch on to catch the water used to clean it. Saves having to keep cleaning out the drip tray. Do the same when your done as it self cleans again as it self turns off.
Apart from this I love it. Great coffee from a great machine. X
Our first bean to cup machine and love it! Once we got the strength and grind levels right (didn’t take long), we were enjoying top quality coffee! Make sure you buy good beans though! We like Coffee Masters coffee beans, although Lavazza is a good all-rounder. Just one criticism though – if you use ground coffee, we had occasional probs with the machine telling us there was none in there when we added the recommended scoop.. Other than that, a highly recommended coffee machine
Firstly, I would ask you to assess your general intellect, are you smart? Do you have common sense? It amazed me how many people have left negative comments that clearly didn’t read their instruction manual properly. I mean, it took me 10 minutes to read the instruction manual and understand how to use all the features quickly and without referring back to the instructions.
Coffee temp – you can turn the temp up of the coffee to four settings, the highest setting was too hot for me especially when making a flat white, with hot frothed milk. So i’ve gone back down to heat setting 3/4. You can also use the hot water function to heat the cup beforehand which again will probably give you 20% more heat, depends if you ask for extra hot from a barista shop usually or not.
Steamer takes ages to cool down – As per the instruction manual the steamer needs to clear due to the temperature. You can either wait which will take probably 5-8 mins OR you can let all the steam out with the hot water function and within 20 seconds you’re ready to make coffee again, very very simple and quick.
Loud – So this one made me laugh a little bit, the machine is no louder than what my tassimo was so not sure what people are use to, I mean maybe people forget when you walk into a Starbucks or alternative that it’s exceptionally loud, one because so many people sitting and chatting (well use to be the case) and second due to the coffee grinders going and machines. The majority of the noise is the coffee beans being grinded, if you have ever heard a coffee grinder machine it sounds the exact same.
Overall it’s a great machine, zero problems with it, milk easy to froth, controls super easy, instruction manual takes 10 mins to read, took me 10 minutes to set up selecting water hardness, coffee temp and how long you want auto shutdown to be or you can completely remove it. Apart from the hot water, a 12 year old could set this machine up and use it daily.
Haven’t commented on the difficulty to clean yet as not had to clean it. Just wanted to leave this review as some of the above things that people had turned ant hills not even mole hills into mountains nearly put me off, so don’t be put off.
Still playing around with coffee bean coarseness, strength and how much water is pulled through but that’s been quite fun, amazing how different the coffee tastes from these three elements.
I’ve only used beans so not had the ground coffee issue, tbf I don’t see why you would buy a ‘Bean to Cup’ machine, if you are going to use ground coffee. Probably the same people that do not read the instructions.
In my previous career as an office manager, I learned just how important great coffee is for office workers and visiting clients alike. Guess what: it’s just as important for me at home. Good coffee really gives you a boost, and not just because of the caffeine. After a lot of research, I bought this coffee machine for my flat in London. My partner and I love it so much, that we bought a second machine for our other property. It makes great coffee and is easy to clean (but we do keep the manual to hand). We do find that we have to top up the water all the time, but I guess that is par for the course with a machine that is not connected to the water supply. I think that it is excellent value for money.
On reading the other reviews I was concerned about some comments on a long warm up time. Mine arrived and I duly plugged it in, topped up the water, added beans and turned it on. Sat there waiting for ages watching the lights flash and thought “Oh no! It’ll have to go back.”. After finally deciding to read the manual I realised there were a couple of setup steps required. Those done it warms up in <30 seconds, I find by the time you've got a cup, milk etc. ready the machine is hot and ready to go.
Making coffee is very easy, took some fine tuning for the grind, bean and water volume but now those are all set every cup is the same. It warns you in the manual to make all the coffee you need before using the steam pump as the machine needs to cool back down after steaming (manual says c. 10 minutes), seems fairly reasonable to me for a home machine.
Six months into ownership I have no issues at all with the machine, no problems etc. and for the price it works very well. Certainly a lot cheaper overall than going to [insert coffee chain here] every day.
I absolutely love this machine. I’ve had everything from a drip coffee maker, french press, and several espresso makers. This machine is the best espresso / latte / Americano maker I’ve had. It does everything from grinding beans to frothing milk. The espresso is dispensed with a beautiful crema layer. If you like espresso, dialing the cup level indicator all the way down pulls a nice shot with that yummy crema, while dialing it all the way up pulls an Americano. The milk frother is excellent, giving full creaminess to the milk. The very best part is that you don’t have to pack your espresso then scrape it out of a handle, it’s all done automatically — the machine even ejects the spent espresso into a container and then flushes its own internal pipes! WOW! Some may fine that it is a little bit loud, but it does not bother us for the end result is magnifico. Highly recommend.
This being my first bean to cup coffee machine I didn’t want to spend too much on one, but at the same time I didn’t want to buy something cheap that I might want to replace soon. This machine suits me down to the ground, it does what I need it to and does it well. Now, I am no coffee aficionado but I do enjoy a good cappuccino and this machine makes them to the standard I would expect from a good coffee shop.
It was relatively straight forward to set up by following the instructions which also told me how to set the water hardness and change the temperature settings.
I’ve read a few reviews that say it is messy or hard to clean, but can’t say I’ve had any problems. I clean it regularly and most of the time there is a few bits of coffee grind to clean up, but what do you expect it’s a messy business grinding all those beans.
I would recommend this machine for those folk not wanting to spend a fortune on a bean to cup coffee machine who like a decent coffee without seeking the full barista experience.
This being my first bean to cup coffee machine I didn’t want to spend too much on one, but at the same time I didn’t want to buy something cheap that I might want to replace soon. This machine suits me down to the ground, it does what I need it to and does it well. Now, I am no coffee aficionado but I do enjoy a good cappuccino and this machine makes them to the standard I would expect from a good coffee shop.
It was relatively straight forward to set up by following the instructions which also told me how to set the water hardness and change the temperature settings.
I’ve read a few reviews that say it is messy or hard to clean, but can’t say I’ve had any problems. I clean it regularly and most of the time there is a few bits of coffee grind to clean up, but what do you expect it’s a messy business grinding all those beans.
I would recommend this machine for those folk not wanting to spend a fortune on a bean to cup coffee machine who like a decent coffee without seeking the full barista experience.
This being my first bean to cup coffee machine I didn’t want to spend too much on one, but at the same time I didn’t want to buy something cheap that I might want to replace soon. This machine suits me down to the ground, it does what I need it to and does it well. Now, I am no coffee aficionado but I do enjoy a good cappuccino and this machine makes them to the standard I would expect from a good coffee shop.
It was relatively straight forward to set up by following the instructions which also told me how to set the water hardness and change the temperature settings.
I’ve read a few reviews that say it is messy or hard to clean, but can’t say I’ve had any problems. I clean it regularly and most of the time there is a few bits of coffee grind to clean up, but what do you expect it’s a messy business grinding all those beans.
I would recommend this machine for those folk not wanting to spend a fortune on a bean to cup coffee machine who like a decent coffee without seeking the full barista experience.
Best thing I have bought from Amazon for a long time! Whilst I am not a complete coffee connoisseur I do enjoy having nice coffee. I purchased this machine for Christmas and have used it every single day for the last 18 months.
I use it in combination with a Nespesso Aeroccino Milk warmer (this reduces the amount of cleaning of the coffee machine required and the water usuage.
Cleaning is pretty straight forward and only needs to be done every other month, although emptying the coffee granules bin is quite regular.
It took a little bit of experimented with the grind, coffee amount and strength setting but once dialed in it makes great coffee.
With bags of beans only 1.50 from Aldi why would you not have great coffee!
This coffee machine is so easy to use. Make sure you read the setup manual, as you can’t just plug it in and go. I like that it is bean to cup – no need to grind and tamp yourself! The coffee comes out with a good crema if you set it for an espresso shot. The milk wand is not the best, but you can absolutely still froth milk with it. Overall this machine makes good coffee, is really easy to use and is good value for money.
I’m pleased I bought this machine. It’s just what I want. It makes coffee quickly and easily. A friend has got a Krupps machine with the water container at the back and it’s a faff to fill and the coffee is never hot enough.
This DeLonghi is easy to set up, easy to use and easy to clean. My only complaint would be that the grounds container fills quickly and I seem to be forever emptying it (maybe I drink too much coffee).
I would recommend this to anyone, it’s made my working from home really pleasant coffee wise.
I bought my machine from Amazon Warehouse so it came with some cosmetic scratches and no manual. I wasn’t actually aware I was purchasing a ‘used’ item but I am entirely to blame for not reading properly. However for the cut price and how well the machine works I am thoroughly happy with my mistake.
When setting up the machine, follow the instructions carefully. The black plastic box catches the used coffee and needs to slot into the drip tray as one to shut the machine properly.
When I first tried using it the machine said there was no water and made a terrible noise but after attaching the water tank again it worked fine. If this happens persevere. I’ve read reviews where people sent the machine back due to it making a loud noise and not working during set up but I think this is an initial issue with water flow connection and once you ensure the water tank is all the way in and connected it will work.
The coffee from this machine tastes great and it’s really easy to use. You can adjust temperature and cup size and can pour two coffees at once. The espresso is great.
As others have pointed out, if making a coffee using the milk frother make sure you dispense your espresso first as the machine takes time to cool down after dispensing steam for the frother. However if you forget you can open the valve when off steam mode to speed up the process.
There are people moaning about the quality for the price but for me it’s been more than reasonable for its capability. I’m really impressed and so happy with my lockdown purchase.
It was a little difficult to work out how to use it at first as the instructions do not read well but found a few clips on you tube and cracked it !! It will take about 4 or 5 cups of coffee to find out what strength suits you and I would not advise anyone to buy to much of one type of coffee – shop around find what you like, there are some really excellent shops on line and we have found that if the beans have o ly been roasted a few days previously the smoother the coffee which is much nicer.
Would highly recommend
THINGS I LIKE:
It makes perfect espresso. That’s the most important thing. This means your barista drinks are predictably good. That includes using beans (my knob is set to 9 o’clock) or ground coffee (turn strength knob to 0/spoon symbol). Since moving a year ago, it’s been in my bedroom in London. To my surprise and delight, the water from the steam spout (steam dial on without pushing the steam button) is indeed hot enough for good tea (about 85’C), which obviates the need for a separate kettle. The steam spout is just fine for making milky drinks (hot milk for hot chocolate too). The machine is easy to clean (not descale), which I do about once every 4-6 weeks. I love that I have a one-stop appliance for any hot drink I want.
THINGS I DON’T LIKE:
The main issue with the machine is that the path of the beans from the grinder to the filter includes a hole which is slightly too narrow. If you open the central lid on top, you can see what I’m describing. Sometimes when using beans, enough of the ground coffee falls down the chute after the grinder that it touches the top edge. This can lead to an amount of freshly ground coffee coming out of the grinder in one go, which blocks the hole above the filter and causes the coffee to back up into the place where you normally put ground coffee. The machine will flash the “grounds full” light, indicating it didn’t get any coffee to use. A little jab into the powder from the top of the machine will clear the blockage and make the coffee fall onto the filter. IMPORTANT: In the early days, I got very frustrated about clearing the blockage and pressing the button for more coffee, grinding another amount of beans, wasting loads of freshly ground and sometimes expensive coffee. One day I realised that clearing the blockage onto the filter was functionally the same as starting with ground coffee as this machine can also do. So, after clearing the blockage with a couple of pokes from a pastry brush or spoon handle, I turned the strength knob to 0/spoon symbol and the machine began pouring on the coffee that had fallen onto the filter, and didn’t grind a new batch (which makes a mess of ground coffee inside the machine). No coffee is wasted this way. Just remember to turn the knob back or you’ll wonder why the machine isn’t grinding beans when you push for your next coffee.
The only other thing I don’t like is that isn’t ideal is that the pressure from the steam nozzle is not that high, which means steaming milk takes about 2 minutes. The results are fine, it’s just a bit slow, and you won’t get the same amount of foam as you would from a coffee shop machine.
CLEANING:
When you open the front, you remove the tray, the grounds box, and the filter box at the heart of it. The tray cover comes off and the red overflow indicator comes out. I rinse each piece under cold water, just using a brush to get the grounds off, and that’s fine.
DE-SCALING: I’ve done it each time the light has come on, which is 3 times in 4 years. The first and last times, I used the de-scaler that comes with the machine. The 2nd time, I used the descaling instructions but with ordinary distilled spirit vinegar diluted 2 parts vinegar, 1 part water instead, and that worked perfectly fine. I’ll never buy their de-scaler, it’s very strong but unnecessary. The only reason I used it last time was that I found some when I moved. If the light goes off after a vinegar wash, the vinegar has worked and the de-scaler is not needed.
TIPS:
1. I took the outer part off the steam adapter and never put it back on. It’s annoying to clean, anyway. If I ever make a milky drink, I just use the inner spout that attaches to the nozzle. The higher the end of the nozzle in the milk, the more foam you’ll get. 2. 99% of the time I don’t have anything attached to the steam pipe, which means when making tea I can leave it to fill a cup on the tray instead of holding the cup under the nozzle off to the side of the machine. There is a little bit of splashing from the hot water drips when using the nozzle this way. 3. I rarely make milky drinks now, so I use the milk jug to catch the water from the cycle when the machine turns on and off, and pour it away every few days. This is much easier than taking out the drip tray, which is shallow and so easy to spill when it’s full. 4. I’ve found that the best coffee comes from having the grinder set to 3, and both the size and strength knobs at 9 o’clock. These things all affect each other, but this is the closest to barista espresso I’ve found, without wasting too much coffee. You can always top it up with water from the nozzle (don’t push the steam button, just turn the steam knob).
I use this machine literally every day. If you’re considering this machine, I buy do it!
I hope you found this review useful, folks. I’d appreciate your follow @chrisjonescomic on Instagram and Twitter. Enjoy your coffee!!
i love that i dont have to load and unload the coffee, also it rinses itself when you turn it on/off which is great. it is already set on 30 min so i left it as it is because it suits me. the coffee is hot and creamy, it does make a difference when you change the amount of coffee and the grinding level. the machine has a few users in the house, we all know what we like so we change the settings all the time. we did have a few cups of trials and errors until we found out what we like. as with all delonghi machines, the steam is so loud! but the pressure is good and the temperature is high, all you need is one of those frothing cups with a narrow mouth or you will splash a lot. we like Lavazza beans, it is slightly cheaper when you buy 1 kg bags compared to ground coffee and the taste is a few notches up. we haven’t used the ground coffee function yet…
Bought to replace a very basic espresso coffee machine which only used ground coffee.
I was sceptical that all the previous great reviews in various forums might be wrong however I am mightily impressed with the quality and ease of using this machine. Just fill up with beans and water and off you go!
Perfect coffee every time, though it will need a few weeks to adjust all the setting to personal taste.
Cleaning is very straightforward but remember to do each month to avoid future problems! Also YouTube gives great videos on how to froth milk – follow these and you will create wonderful coffees!
Thoroughly recommended for anyone who enjoys a great cup of coffee at barista standard!
My dad has had this machine for 6 years (he loves it), and I have used it frequently over that time, so I bought it knowing what I was getting.
If you love americano’s it’s the easiest machine ever, and I can make my morning latte in less than two minutes. Now I’m no longer buying a coffee each morning on the way to work it has almost paid for itself in the 2 months I’ve had it
Yes its quite loud when grinding beans, so I would avoid making a midnight espresso if in close proximity to anyone sleeping.
I’ve been pretty impressed with the steam wand – given it’s a budget machine. It is however very slow to switch back to coffee making mode after you have used it – so make the coffee first then steam. Its easy to programme, not too needy on maintenance and simple to clean.
Buy yourself some good coffee beans, play around with the settings a bit and you will never look back!
I got a “used – as new” – meaning a returned item from Amazon and found it unable to prime the water pump and leaking water. Ortherwise the machine was brand new with stickers and all.
Clearly it was not tested after being received by Amazon, and it was likely the reason for it’s return.
A quick inspection revealed a ruptured silicon tube connecting the tank to the pump and was a quick fix, avoiding me the hassle of returning it and helping the environment by possibly saving this unit.
Overall:
+ great coffee
+ Machine is simple to operate
+ Customizable settings (water temperature, standby time, water hardness)
+ Reasonably easy to clean
+ Self maintenance friendly
+ Easily available replacement parts
– Loud pump
– Durability of some components
– Clunking sounds of the mechanism
Makes great coffee and fluffs the milk well as long as you keep the plastic nozzles clean, I use filtered water and the machine lights up when it needs de scaling which I use there brand liquid to do so bought online, doesn’t leave the machine stinking and tasting foul like the cheap aldi style stuff you can buy which should only be used for taps sinks and so on, you need to find tune the grind size, amount dispensed and water amount per cup but the result is a dependable cup after cup once of course you have sorted your beans out, suggest you try lidl columbian supremo or m & s columbian haven’t found any locally freshly roasted beans which cost three times the price any better but we all like different things, everyone seems to likes my coffee and comments on it but it is a tad noisy on start up and shutdown and I’m operation for that matter but you get used to it, if I ever get another machine I will get one with an integrated milk dispenser but they cost a lol more, got my machine on a sale about 130, what a steal they were 600
My daughter will be 8 too later this year, so I must have bought this at the same time. It’s given me great service over that time, and I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another. I probably use it for around 10-20 cups a week, and it gets cleaned our every 4-8 weeks depending on use. The only reason I’ve come back to this today and written this review its that it’s started to make a mess of the coffee grinds inside the machine, which have now started to infiltrate the coffee. The problem is the brewing unit, as the arm at the top has worn out of alignment so it’s not cleanly sweeping the brewed coffee into the waste bin. I’ve tried to adjust the screw and spring, but no joy. I did think I’d be buying a new machine, but it turns out you can buy a replacement part for just 30, so will give that a shot first. Otherwise, this makes wonderful coffee from beans at the touch of a button, with little maintenance required. Use it to make espresso shots though and add some boiling water, and not make longer ‘lungo’ type coffee from the machine, which don’t taste anywhere near as good.
Don’t normally write reviews but I spent so long trying to decide which bean to cup to buy I thought I would share. So my position before this purchase, generally drink black Americano, like strong coffee, appreciate good coffee but definitely not an aficionado. Day to day coffee I was using a Tassimo with Costa or Kenco pods but also used a stove top espresso.
So after many months trying to decide which bean to cup to go with I took the plunge with the De’Longhi ESAM4200. And it’s awesome, definitely not the fanciest machine you can buy but it is easy to use and makes good coffee. And it doesn’t cost a small fortune. I have mine set to about 75% volume, nearly full strength and selecting two cups delivers a mug sized serving of delicious coffee. It’s super easy to clean but yes you have to clean it so if you are looking for a magic maintenance free coffee machine this is not the machine for you!
If like me you have been looking at bean to cup machines for some time I cannot recommend this machine enough
I’m shocked at how good this thing is really. Firstly, the espresso and lattes are amazing! Don’t go for weak beans if you want latte. Go for the stronger ones as the frothy milk will make it smooth anyway. Instructions are definitely a bit naff and seem to miss out a few key moments in the initial set up. Watch some videos on YouTube to help. Every time you turn the machine on or off, it does a short cleaning cycle. You need to buy a milk jug and little espresso glasses. I’m a massive coffee fan and this has changed the way I drink coffee at home. I no longer go to a cafe and pay 3 a cup as this is honestly just as good. You just need to find the right beans, grind level and strength. I have mine turned to max strength minimum water and it makes the perfect espresso (which can then be used for latte)
I had a capsules coffee machine but I wanted to be conscious about the environmental issues of disposal of the capsules once used so I wanted to change to a normal coffee machine. My mum has health problems and she cannot close the Italian ones as she needs to put too much effort to close it and she should do any hard movements with her arms. I had this coffee machine at work and it has been working greatly for more than 8 years already so I decided to buy one for home. It works great, the whole family loves it and the possibility of paying it in 5 months without interests helped me to decide. No regrets so far. You can buy expensive coffee beans but you can also find cheap one at the supermarket. We use filter water to help the machine to be clean longer and so far so good. The foam from the milk is awesome! Like a proper coffee. My sister in law bought it too, together with a few colleagues from work and everyone is happy.
We have been using this machine since last Summer (2019) and so far have been very pleased with how it performs. We mainly use it for expresso, americano’s and the odd cappucino but whatever we decide to make, it comes out great.
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POSITIVES:
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Machine is compact and doesn’t take up too much space.
The water reservoir is big enough to make several cups of coffee.
The controls are easy to use and intuitive. You don’t need a degree to work it.
It makes very good coffee. The crema is thick and it heats the water to just the right temperature.
It is easy to clean and maintain.
Descaling is easy, once you have read the instructions properly.
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NEGATIVES:
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The steam function isn’t that powerful and takes a while to heat milk.
For some reason, I have to turn the machine off after using the steamer to be able to make another coffee.
I do find that coffee dust and water tends to accumulate on the inside.
It can be a bit loud when it is working. You definitely can’t make a discrete coffee with this machine.
I’ve had my coffee machine Magnifica for a week and finally found a good setting for my taste buds. I do buy the fresh beans and I also mix, just just to experiment so to find my perfect blend. So the machine itself is for me very easy to use and set up. The quality is what you should expect, for the price. It dose a job that it’s supposed to so I had no complaints until I bought some water tank filters, and unfortunately the filters are fairly big so take up water space in the tank which is noticeable when the tank needs filling more regularly, but it’s a small price to pay if you are keeping the machine internally clean and hopefully a longer life of the machine. I’m very pleased whith my decision to buy the Magnifica S and fingers crossed it will last until I get bored and want a more expensive machine.
This was my Christmas present to myself when I saw it’d been reduced on Black Friday as I’d wanted a proper coffee machine for a long time – not a pod thing – a really proper grown up coffee machine! I read a lot of reviews before choosing this model which seemed to have everything I wanted which was for it to be able to grind beans itself and from there produce a variety of coffees. And that means making the changes myself by having more or less coffee, adding milk, froth, etc. This isn’t a machine that’ll give you ready made Latte for example, you need to put in the effort yourself but it’s well worth it for a genuinely tasty and satisfying drink. It froths soya and almond milk easily for Cappuccino et al as well so if you’re a non-dairy person that’s handy. I would think it will froth most liquids to be honest although I’ve only tried the two above and cow’s milk.
It’s proving easy to clean too, it tells you when it wants water filling, grounds emptying etc but note that nothing is dishwasher safe. Not a problem for me as I’d like to take care of it rather than subject it to the ferocity of a dishwasher!
A quick rundown on making a coffee – it takes getting to know your machine. Don’t assume you’ll get something amazing from the first serving but be patient! You have to give it a few runs to get it up to spec and then you have several factors to get the drink you want:
– the strength/intensity/amount of coffee
– the amount of water you use in relation to it
– the size of the ground coffee pieces
– the coffee beans and roast you choose
… so you can see there are a lot of variations you can get from simply beans and water! And what a bonus to have those variations. It means I can cater to any taste at all rather than be limited to whatever the pod machine manufacturer thinks is the average request. Thats not for me – I’m not average!!
It’s taken me about 20 cups to find my personal favourite but now I’m there it’s pure bliss to simply switch the machine on and wait for it to do its magic each morning. From this base I can make variations to the serving for myself and others very easily.
It’s a pricey machine but you do get what you pay for and looked after properly it should last for years so could well end up being more economical than a cheaper machine. If you can get it on an offer like I did then all the better! It’s quite large but you’d expect that from a quality machine with the amount of stuff it has in it. Finally a note for DeLonghi – UK drinkers tend to drink coffee from mugs not cups (even espresso sometimes) and my one small gripe is that I can only just fit my mug under the spouts… can you make a slightly higher (.5cm) spout level in time for my next machine please?!!! 😉
Wanted a bean to cup machine after many filter coffee machines previously. I stayed with a friend who had one, and it made me jealous. 2 years later, after reading many reviews… I decided on this one….
I was so excited when it arrived a day early, and stayed up past my bed time reading the manual and testing out the expresso strengths..
To be honest, the manual didn’t make much sense at first…. But after 4 attempts, I’ve got the hang of things.
I was very impressed with the frothy coffee I made today.
Just hoping I don’t overdose on caffeine…. Water? What’s that when you can make a cappuccino.
Other people have commented about the plastic look and feel. But as my first bean to cup… And looking at the price you could pay…. I am very happy with my purchase.
I’ve owned one these machines for seven years now, and it’s used to make two double shot cups almost every day. It never fails to produce an excellent Flat White once you have adjusted the controls to suit your preference. As with all things, the better the quality of bean, the better the result in your cup. I would disagree with one previous comment however, the red light indicating the machine needs descaling/cleaning should not be ignored. Would you ignore your car oil warning light ? Descaling is essential, and not only produces a ” cleaner ” coffee, but prolongs the machines life, and genuine De Longhi descaler is not expensive. I also ensure that infuser and all the bits you can see are given a clean every 3/4 weeks. I believe good maintenance rewards you with good performance, hopefully I can look forward to another seven years of ” Magnifica ” coffee.
Received mine this afternoon. setup took about 20 mins and wasn’t paticularly difficult. So far I’m very impressed with this. I was worried it would look and feel a bit cheap with it being mostly plastic but that’s not the case at all, I actually quite like the aesthetics of it.
It does make a bit of noise as others have suggested however even the professional ones do too, you can’t grind coffee beans without actually doing some grinding!
It seems pretty easy to use too. I’ve not messed about with the settings too much and within about 30 mins from opening the box I was able to make a lovely cappacino that was easily the equal of something you’d buy in a costa or starbucks. Once I faff about with the settings a biut more, I’m sure I’ll enjoy it even more.
Overall, I was quite dubious about this but have always wanted a bean to cup machine and took the plunge with this and I’m so far very happy that I did!
I love this BUT I find the cleaning instructions very difficult to understand. It shows these red clips inside and what to do if it doesn’t fit back in but I can’t do it or understand it. Also the red ‘descaling’ light had been on since day 3 of use, it definitely didn’t need descaling that quickly, looked at the instructions and it said to set the water hardness by using the PH strip supplied. I did this but the red light is still on. Did it three more times but still the red light remains. When making multiple cups, the first 1.5 are ok but the third tastes quite bitter. I like this but for the money not as impressed as I should be.
Love this machine! Best purchase I’ve made in a loooong time and myself and husband saved a fortune from not stopping in morning for coffee.
I think we could shop around more for beans but we’ve been using the whole beans from Aldi and they are perfect!
*update: we have tried variety of beans and the aldi ones (no 4) are honestly perfect especially for thr price. My real favourite are Frank and honest. 5 for a bag but still way cheaper than buying coffee everyday.
We did get a second machine as issues with first and I must admit the new one is a lot quieter than the first. Which is great!
Meat machine, doesn’t take up huge space and we watched a YouTube video to set machine up. Bought stainless steel jug for milk and that’s about it. Worth every penny
I adore fresh coffee, I get a real craving for it and I get fulfillment at the press of a button. A whole sealed bean holds its flavour and freshness far better than any ready ground so beans to cup is the only way to go if you don’t want to be messing about grinding your own beans and you can guarantee the beans are ground to the right size, tamped down and water at the right temperature for a perfect result. I have followed the suggestion of other reviewers and use bottled spring water in the reservoir to reduce scaling and ensure that my espressos are not in any way tainted. I know this is a budget machine but for me it is almost perfect, looks good albeit being plastic and at the price I can easily live with that.Very easy to use and adjust water and coffee strength by just turning the appropriate knobs, setting it up to your requirements is also very straight forward. this is my first beans to cup machine so I haven’t anything to compare it with but suffice it to say I am completely satisfied with it, it does everything I want and I’m really looking forward to trying different beans. So now to the “almost perfect” bit, the steam wand is quite small so even when it is folded out it is difficult to see the milk in the jug when steaming, the nozzle is a bit too close to the body of the machine and the wand is rigid, a flexible section in the tube would help. Some criticism was made of the length of time you had to wait after steaming before the temperature dropped so you could brew your coffee, some said up to 10 minutes but if you turn off the steam generation and open the tap and let all of the residual steam out it’s seconds. Only other thing I would have liked is a leaflet telling how to make the different types of coffee, cappuccino, latte, flat white etc etc. There is some guidance information on the web site but it’s not that comprehensive. Still there’s plenty of videos on YouTube and the difference seems all to be in the preparation of the milk and you have to practice to get it right.
I bought this a couple of days ago and the machine arrived yesterday. It was easy to set up, the instructions very clear. I added Lavazza Qualita Rosso beans and I have transformed my breakfast coffee experience. It’s smooth and very tasty. Gone are the days of too bitter or too weak coffee! Really think that this is a great investment at 300 quid. Obviously we’ll have to see how long it lasts but from what I’m reading it seems like a sturdy machine and although a lot of the parts are plastic, it seems sturdy enough.
Update 6 months on: Still going strong, love it. Much cheaper to run than the pod alternatives if you drink a lot of coffee which we do.
Only thing I would fault is that it’s quite noisy when it turns on and off and when you make the coffee.
I have been impressed by everything about this machine. First Amazon delivered it next day with Prime. There are video instructions on the product page, but just used the one about the water hardness so far. There are clear instructions on initial set up as well as detailed instructions for cleaning and maintenance and comes with descaling tablets.
Without changing any settings, right away the first coffee was hot but not strong enough. So I changed the strength settings and now it’s fine. The milk frother does what it should and heats the milk, you can do it a bit longer to produce a more creamy foamy mix.
The only other thing I would do is make the coffee it a bit hotter to match the coffee shops so I will have a play with the settings and see how it goes. You can easily change the strength, drink volume and fill 1 or 2 cups at the same time.
This machine is excellent, it’s only day one but I hope the machine continues to produce lattes, expressos, cappucinos and americanos for the next few years!
This machine does what you want, it grinds the beans and uses pressurised hot water at 15bars to infuse and create a lovely cup of coffee with a white frothy top (just from the beans). This in all takes about the same time as it does to boil the kettle so it ends up quicker than making an instant brew (not that I buy that anymore). I was getting my coffee from a famous fast food chain but now I save that 2 a day and in about 150 days it will pay for itself!
It doesn’t do anything too fancy, and that is exactly what is so great about this machine, gives you options for strength and volume although it won’t fill a large mug on max setting, so if you use mugs maybe use lowest volume setting and run twice?
Machine Comes well packaged, with cleaning kit which is nice as eventually you will have to descale if you live in a hard water area as I do.
I have had this machine for the last few months and it had been an ease and a pleasure to use. I generally use this when I’m working from home a couple times a day and have had no real problems so far.
Using this to make cappuccinos for my father has been fun. You can take off the milk pipe and rinse with water to clean. However there is quite a significant delay when trying to make another coffee after using the milk frother. I’ve heard there are hacks to speed this up, but unless you’re making many cups, it’s not that bit a deal.
It’s a bit hit and miss trying to find the perfect amount of coffee in terms of size and strength but by tweaking the dials you’ll eventually get there (do take a picture of your settings, my sister decided to mess around with mine so I had to retry).
Positives:
Easy to use
Easy to clean
Coffee grounds are easy to dispose of
Makes a damn good cup of coffee
Negatives:
Steam generator/milk frothier takes a bit of time to start and then to go back to ‘coffee mode’
All in all, this is a fantastic bean to cup machine and you’d be hard pressed to find one at this price that’s better.
I bought this after several expensive repairs to a Krups predecessor and on the recommendation of a friend who had had one for a few months with good results. So far I’m happy although I can’t comment on long term reliability yet. The front loading water container is an improvement over the Krups although you still need to pull the unit out to fill the bean hopper from the top. Arguably the bean hopper is a touch small as it needs to be almost completely empty to get a full packet of beans in. Others here have noted that some water is consumed by the pre and post coffee making cleaning cycle which occurs automatically. The quality of the coffee is very good, definitely better than the Krups, and overall this coffee maker is good value for money.
It’s easy to clean
Makes amazing coffee
Really simple to use
Not huge
Visible water storage
Accessible water storage (without moving machine)
Downsides are
It’s slightly noisy but it does have to grind the beans
Takes a few minutes to reheat for the second cup. But it’s not unreasonable.
In brief I would say buy it!
Obviously I’ve not had it long so I hope it is hard wearing.
Love i
I am not a coffee drinker, I have always found it a great disappointment as the flovour never lives up to the fragrance of roasting and grinding. I purchased the machine after about a years research ( I clearly was not in too much of a hurry). When it arrived, the day following my order, I got rather depressed as it looked to be a minefield to set up.
Well now I am an enthusiastic coffee drinker, this machine has changed my mind. The house smells deliciously of fresh coffee and with the right balance and the right beans I am treated to a superb cup of freshly ground coffee whenever I want one.
There is however a major drawback, one I did not anticipate, my wallet is feeling the draft, coffee beans are not free and the best can be a little expensive. But no regrets, it is worth every pound spent, and I have spent a few. Purchasing was a good decision.
Like me enjoy.
I waited for a few years before finally reviewing this (over four I think) – and am pleased to say it’s a superb bit of kit.
I prefer Americano and have a good 3-4 cups every day – double shots!
This machine hands down beats any Coffee shop out there and is much better than my previous Gaggia – with a lovely rich crema every time.
It did take awhile to get the best settings for my taste and also the best beans, but now it just makes perfect espresso every single time at the touch of a button. But do not follow advice you may see about making Americano by setting it to max on the water dial – set the water dial to near min, coffee to near max, grind to near fine then just top it up with hot water like you are supposed to.
If this ever breaks I’ll buy another instantly.
Very simple to use makes a lovely cup of coffee when you find beans that suit your taste we are still working on that ! The machine holds plenty of water and beans for us however there are only 2 of us most of the time having coffee but we have pretty big mugs of it all the same it’s so easy to fill up with beans or water it’s no trouble to do.
I like hot milk in my coffee and the steamer works very well producing that however I’ve not as yet had much luck in getting a good froth if I want a cappuccino but that could be due to the freshness of the milk or just technique so I will keep practicing.
My only concern is that the machine is a bit plastic so I’m not sure how well it will stand up to use over time but I chose this machine due to the amount of really good reviews it had and the excellent price I paid also helped in my choice.
I have been happily using a De Longhi Dedica espresso machine and KG79 grinder for many years but have become increasing aware of how much time I spend faffing about to get those all important flat whites before I go to work. I bought the Magnifica as an experiment to see if it would save time and also as a benchmark to gauge my barista skills against.
The results are that, yes, the bean to cup machine is much quicker (and cleaner) than doing things manually. Results are consistent and adequate, as you might expect from a machine, once you’ve got the settings right for your particular beans. Probably the trickiest bit is getting the grind correct as you can only adjust whilst grinding is active but you don’t see the result until about two cups later.
I can still make a better cup of coffee by hand but this machine is certainly more convenient, especially if you are making coffee for more than one person.
The machiine works well and it is easy to use (although at first it may intimidate you). The only flaw is that it is a total nightmare to clean. Noone of the parts are machine washable, but most importantly of all the dirt gets everywhere on th inside. There is NO WAY you can clean it all up. In this respect the design is very poor because they have not considered “after care”.
A small gripe is the position of the dials and the buttons. They are too close to each other so it happens that first thing in the morning you end up pressing the wrong button. Again, a smaller design flaw.
In any case, I got this machine at a discount, I have used it for a few months and I and quite happy about it.
Ah, a cup of espresso (bean to cup) will set you back about 9 g of cofee, so slightly more than my older machine.
Having already owned the De’longhi Eletta (ECAM 44.660.B) I purchased this machine for our office. The internal components are similar to the Eletta and the shots of espresso produced are identical, despite the Eletta being twice the price. I found more flexibility in altering the grind settings in this machine compared to the Eletta as there is a manual knob to adjust grind amount and water dispensed on the front. The steam wand works well, however you will need to dispense all your espresso shots FIRST before steaming milk as the machine takes over 5 minutes to cool.
The water container is large enough to last a day for multiple users, however the coffee beans holder could do with more space. It would be wise to check how many beans there are at the start of each day and also check your worktop clearance as this machine is hefty and could contact cupboards that are placed above it. The instructions on how to use the machine are clear and it is very easy to sort out any problems using the FAQ. I would recommend this machine to anyone who wants a decent shot of espresso without paying double the price, however you may wish to go for a better model if you prefer milk-based drinks.
When I say the coffee produced is good, what I mean is unless you’re a real coffee aficionado the coffee that is produced will be more than sufficient to satisfy your needs for a proper cup of coffee in the morning without all the fuss.
So yes, this machine is good at making coffee. It has a coffee grind dial which you might as well not bother with because if you set it too fine then it won’t work. If you want to make an espresso-based coffee drink and want to pull a richer coffee which means having to change the grind setting, don’t bother. You won’t get a proper draw until your second grind, because there is still courser coffee grounds from the previous coffee.
I say stick it on a medium setting and your good to go, the process of changing the ground settings is too bothersome to be viable. Because coarse is better for bigger cups of coffee and fine is better for espresso. So medium is a happy “Medium”.
The steam wand works well. You can make both cappuccinos and lattes with this. However that metal plate you have seen in the picture is not actually a cup warmer, in theory, the cup shelf will get warm. But that’s only if you are making coffee like your a barista.
The water tank is very generous. I reckon I get like 4 ordinary mugs of coffee from this before having to refill this, which is nice because sometimes I have guests around and so it’s faster and easier to make coffee.
Ok, now onto the deal breaker. This machine is really awkward to clean properly. So all the parts you can take out and wash by hand, those are fine. What I’m talking about is the interior of the machine. Inside where you find the coffee waste and the infuse.
The interior of this thing is really badly designed unless they wanted to design something that was really good at collecting coffee grounds while not being easy to clean, then, in that case, it was designed really well.
The inside of this thing has so many nooks and crannies, where the stray coffee grounds can collect, are beyond a joke. You can’t easily wipe out the coffee ground. You have to dig them out with a q tip. Even that isn’t an easy job. I must have spent half an hour on it today and there are still bits of mouldy coffee grounds in the corners and places where no human hand get too.
In my opinion, this is where Delonghi have missed the mark. For the price point, it really should have been designed better.
1. We’ve actually been using the machine approx. 2 months making an average of 4/5 cups of coffee most days and although we have the machine set up for the hardest water it still came up with the warning to descale the machine already. At 3-4 per time to descale the machine if it has to be done every month or so if our coffee intake goes up it could work out expensive.
2. As per the video the water spout and milk frother is close to the machine so you will need a container that is not tall and of a thin material to get it under the spout head.
3. Not sure of the content size of the water tank but it does appear to be on the small size.
I have been using this for only 6 weeks and I am very happy so far. I have moved up from a much smaller delonghi model that only used ground coffee & wasn’t automatic. I have had that one for years and so wanted to stick with the brand.
I had been looking at another been to cup machine, endorsed by a celebrity chef . This machine does not quite have all the whistles and bells of the other but thanks to an amazing Amazon discount was about a third of the price.
Admittedly, the plastic casing means it doesn’t win the beauty contest, and I was surprised at how noisy it is. However, I can set it to make coffee that satisfies the requirements of all the family, and can treat my visitors to a really decent cup of freshly ground. All with very little fuss or effort on my part. It is also very easy to clean and maintain.
Unboxing this machine and using the Euro-pic instructions may take a little getting used to. The main grinder (open door and look at the black plastic bit) arrives at a canted or wonky angle, which makes it look broken, but this is normal. Once you feed it with power water and beans, it whirs into life.
There is no LCD display, and we don’t miss it. There are some programming tweeks, who adjusts those? We didn’t. The only thing worth noting is that the water container is rather small for serious coffee heads and may be an awkward fill (from our carbon filtered system). Each time you wake it up from sleep, it annoyingly spurts out a fair amount of water into the drip tray before it is ready to dispense. Which uses water that would be better off in the coffee cup. We don’t grudge it though.
Final confidence in the 2 year warrantee, but if it carries on like this, we won’t need to use that. Great machine.
It makes really great espresso. I tend not to use the milk frother as I prefer to use a plunger type milk frother. I use a Bodum milk frother jug. That is just my preference and I know a lot of people do use the built-in milk frother and are happy with it.
This machine produces espresso with a lovely velvety creme. The machine is easy to keep clean and easy to use. To descale I used to use the delonghi descaling solution for the first couple of years but now I just use some diluted citric acid which is a lot cheaper.
As I mentioned, I have had this machine for nearly six years. We use it to make around four espressos per day.
About a year ago the quality of the espresso had fallen and used coffee grounds started to make a bit of a mess inside the machine. I discovered online that replacing 3 O’ Rings and lubricating the piston inside the brew unit would solve this. I bought the O’ Rings with food safe lubricant on ebay for 7.50 and it took about 5 minutes to change them. It was not difficult to do. After I did that the machine started performing as new again.
This machine has worked really well for us over the years. If I was to replace it I would probably go a step up into Delonghi’s premium range with fully automatic milk frothing capabilities. However, for a budget machine I think this is probably the best around.
The machine itself is easy to set up. Make sure it is switched on at the back and the steam knob is set to the ‘off’ position. Read the instructions carefully although most of the factory settings are good enough to start with. I have used a few types of beans although I keep on coming back to Lavazza Qualita Rossa Coffee Beans 1kg after every experiment. Espresso is nice. I make cappuccinos for my son with it. Transition from coffee to steam is seamless but from steam to coffee takes many minutes. Make sure you brew your shot of espresso BEFORE you froth your milk otherwise the frothed mild would go cold/ flat while you wait for coffee to be brewed if you do so AFTER you froth the milk. I bought this Milk Pitcher, Dailyart 600ml/20fl.oz. Stainless Steel Milk Cup Milk Frothing Pitcher Milk Jug for frothing the milk in. I drank a cappuccino from Costa the other day and it felt weak and powdery. The coffee from this machine is totally different from anything you can buy from Costa, Starbucks etc.
Rightio. I waited a whole two months to write this review. It’s an expensive buy and I want to make sure I don’t just do a 5 star -honeymoon period endorsement.
It truly is terrific. The coffee is so good that you’ll prefer it to any high-street vendor’s offering. Fiddle with the settings (well explained in the booklet). For me perfect is just over the midmark on cup size, double size for a mug of coffee, maximum strength on the bean-counter 😉 and very hot for the water. I have the grind set toward the finer side of the midway mark.
The steam spout is super easy to use and even I can make perfect foam. This could be because the pressure is high enough, it certainly outperforms anything I’ve had before.
I clean the machine thoroughly inside once a week. I use a small paintbrush to really get the gunk and coffee-grind powder out properly. Judging by the amount of the stuff I remove it seems that this is important to keep the machine working at its best.
Great value. Highly recommended.
Anyway – this arrived quickly – sooner than expected actually, and was very straightforward to set up. Then it’s just a case of running it a few times to get things set up how you like them. This is all also really straightforward. We’ve now got it set to pump out coffees just right and it’s fantastic! It’s easy, so much less hassle than the traditional espresso machine. We drink lattes and the milk frother on this is great too. It helps to know how to use a milk frother to get the best results – but there’s plenty of info on youtube about that if you’re not sure. Probably the only criticism I would make is the steam wand doesn’t sit out from the body of the machine far enough. It’s manageable, but would be better with a bit more distance to work with. As others have said there is a cool down period after using the steam but if you run water/steam through the wand after switching it off that mode it cools down much quicker.
I’m now looking forward to trying out different beans to see the difference in flavours. We’ve only had this a month so far and I really hope this machine lasts – assuming it does I would highly recommend it. It makes great coffee and is really straightforward, without having to resort to single use packaging for every cup of coffee you drink.
I’d love to give this 5 stars, but although this is a great machine it isn’t as good as the original “Magnifica” which I bought this to replace. Actually the main internal components are pretty much the same, but the have cheapened the front part of the products and replaced many of the previous metal parts with plastic. However, my biggest complaint is not something that DeLonghi can do anything about because this is just stupid EU regulations relating to energy saving, so now the machine automatically switches off after about 20 minutes instead of being allowed to stay on standby. This is annoying and means that the machine has to close itslef down (using energy) and then has to be switched on again ( using even more energy because it has to heat up again!). It’s still a great machine though and makes excellent coffee.
Update – May 2022: we have used this coffee machine every day since purchased. We estimate that we must have made over a thousand cups of coffee. It’s on its last legs now but we will be replacing. Wish it could be smaller though. Takes up a lot of room on the kitchen worktop!
Mostly we are making excellent espresso / americano coffees/ On a week end my son will craft an excellent cappuccino for my wife. To this you need to use the steam wand and manually inject steam into a small jug of milk. Its totally capable of providing enough steam you just need to develop your technique to get the foam just right.
For us its perfect. Compact, but performs exactly what we want it to do. 5 Stars.
By following the instructions page by page and completing Water Hardest Test, this was very easy to set up “even with disabilities”
Made 2 coffees to set up my desired strength and cup length ” I use a Starbuck Large Cappuccino cup can be brought from Starbuck uk 6.50″
OMG what a great machine, the coffee is strong and the milk steamer heated and frothed milk really up well.
I live for coffee & for year drank normal Nescafe instant ,6mths ago completely went off drinking normal coffee as I believe Nescafe changed their coffee beans or processing ,their instant coffee just went awful,
I am now back in love with my love for coffee, cappuccino, latte made at home with this machine are lovely & taste as good as buying coffee shop coffee, but will a 10th of the cost.
Well done De`Longhi excellent machine at a fantastic price, you dont need to spend 600,700,800+ for a bean to cup machine, this one does a great job.
I must have tried ten different coffee machines in my time trying to find something that delivered a strong coffee consistently and this is it. It will take some experimentation to get it right for your taste and you should calibrate it if you change your coffee blend. You will need to make 2 or 3 minimal coffees to get the grind right to deliver the oils in the first few moments. Then its a combination of how much water you want to deliver against the quantity of coffee ground. You can press a button for two cups but change the quantity delivered to one cup by the dial to get a strong coffee.
Steam wand is too close to the body for my liking since you want to steam your milk while rotating the cup and you just have to get used to it. I make the milk first in a cup and then deliver the coffee. The technique is to get to the steam and froth the milk. Then unselect the steam button and draw the hot steam and water into a jug. The main pump noise alerts you the water will now be cool enough to deliver coffee and in it goes.
Best machine I ever owned.
We have had this machine since just before Christmas and I cannot begin to describe how impressed I am with it. We didn’t want to spend a hug amount of money on a machine as in my experience of trying others even spending more does not mean a better cup of coffee. The first few cups were a bit worrying as they were very weak but after about half a dozen the machine settled down and the biggest thing I have noticed is how consistent the result is. Every single time a coffee is made it is exactly like the last one. Just perfect. Even manages to deal with decaf ground coffee very easily.. We like strong coffee and so have set the machine to produce a decent strong cup. The only problem we now have is that we are finding coffee shop coffee too weak and watery!
We drink black coffee but last week I had a visitor who wanted capuccino so attempted it and had an amazing result on the first try.
Update: Have been using this for two and a half months and if anything think it is even better than my initial review. Coffee is so consistent and so good that we are now choosing to go home for a coffee rather than go to a coffee shop as we get better at home. Cannot recommend highly enough.
After moving from Canada back to the UK I wasn’t able to bring home my bean to up machine, it was pretty old and I thought it’s probably better to buy a new one, hence the Magnifica.
The first one I bought was at John Lewis then I saw the model up and a lower price than the one I purchased and quickly returned the other machine.
So how does it work?
It’s pretty straightforward there’s not many buttons and the manual can explain everything. Simply plug in and play (fill tank rinse, put settings, fill coffee beans, etc.). All in all great and user friendly.
How’s the coffee?
Espressos are great, for the price of the machine! Like really impressive. Milk based coffees are ok. You have to remove the extra black piece to make a latte otherwise it becomes very airy. Another gripe here is, you have to pour the shot before the milk otherwise you have to rinse the that section and return to the coffee aspect (this is obviously for advanced coffee drinkers who can probably afford a better machine, it doesn’t trouble the taste on an epic scale). Again, overall it’s pretty good, particularly for the price.
Additional notes
Descale processes are easy and you can pretty much use any brand or even vinegar. Tanks last reasonably long but it will be near a tap most probably. Good use of coffee, but this depends on your settings. Overall it’s a strong 4 out of 5 stars but due to the fact this machine has already lasted 4 years it would be wrong to give it anything less than 5 out of 5.
Good show De’Longhi
So guess what I did… yep, I just ignored the flashing light after the 2nd time it flashed [about 6 weeks later] and you now… nothing happened… the machine continued [and continues] to make great coffee. Hell those cleaning sachets were not cheap… about 6 quid each if I remember. Now if we divide six quid into a flashing light clean every 6 weeks we hit 208… pretty close to the price of a new machine. It’s like the printer ink con IMO.
Admittedly I used supermarket own brand cheap bottled water as I don’t have a water softener but this machine obviously doesn’t need to be ‘sachet. cleaned’ as ridiculously frequently as the circuit board tells it to.
All that aside the quality of the coffee is superb… there’s something deeply satisfying seeing a gorgeous thick creme every time… 4 years and still going strong… but just ignore that flashing light!
I never drank coffee at home, always been a tea man, but as someone doing 38000 miles a year driving good coffee on the road is a must. So I pondered long and hard on buying this machine, 3 months in fact – OMG why oh why did I wait so long!!! Three of us in the household use this morning noon an night now, I like straight Americano, the other two love their Cappuccino, with practice they have become self styled Barista’s :-). For variety in coffee tastes it is difficult to empty the bean reservoir if you want to change (we currently have 5 blends of beans in a very aromatic cupboard) so if you are trying it out buy ground coffee and make one cup at a time until you find your perfect blend. Strength is a “learning curve” but once you know where the settings are for your preference its so simple to get a perfect coffee every time. We don’t have issues with hard or soft water so not had any issues in over 4 months with lime scale so I cannot help you with advice on that issue, sorry. If you love frothy milk I definitely recommend a quality frothing jug (we bought the Andrew James .33L one after using cups for a few weeks ) as it really does impact the quality of the froth and this week we got 100 x 8oz takeaway cups for coffee on the go. If you love coffee, you will love this machine!!!
The machine is very economical on beans too, I have been amazed how long a 1kg bag lasts.
If you were to ask me would I recommend this, my answer would be “why the heck are you waiting”!
Employ a Barista 24/7, or buy this machine.
Having owned a Gaggia Baby Class & a burr grinder, we are into a whole new territory with the De’Longhi.
Who’d have thought that making a range of excellent coffees could be so hassle free?
From an easy going Americano, to a tiny single shot Espresso that would fix holes in the road, its just very straightforward.
The most difficult part is getting it out of the box.
After that, fill up with (mineral) water. Add some FRESH coffee beans, and switch on.
Then off it goes, 1st doing its party trick of rinsing through the dispenser head.first.
The grind needed a slight tweak, otherwise it worked brilliantly straight out of the box.
Some clever person has designed out all the mess, error, hassle, maintenance out of making a wide range of coffees.
And if it needs, water, beans, descale, whatever, it tells you.
It is a bit noisy,but thats because it is doing its stuff.
Did a lot of research before deciding on this machine.
If you’re reading this, you’ve found a great machine at a good price.
Just press that order button, your search is over.
I have been using this for a couple of months now, so my review will reflect my somewhat limited experience..
The Good.
Freshly ground coffee is delicious, I upgraded from a tassimo (which I really liked) but this knocks it for six. Lattes, cappuccinos, Americanos, flat white, you name it, I can knock one up in minutes. Compared to tassimo discs its also better value for money. Operation is simple, although setting it up to your taste takes a little longer, but once set its pretty good at delivering consistent drinks. The milk frother heats up quickly and provides a good froth, especially if you use a metal milk jug and full fat milk.
The not so good.
Cleaning is a pain, the machine seems to spit out the empty grounds in roughly the direction of the bin, often there are coffee grounds spread liberally around the internals of the unit, which is a pain to clean out due to limited access. The unit also ‘self cleans’ before use, and this isnt quite enough to thoroughly clean the pipes, I have to run the clean programme a couple of times or more until clear water flows through the nozzle.
Those are minor quibbles though and for the price I am still very pleased with it, waking up every morning to a freshly ground brew is very satisfying, and although its a bit noisy, it doesn’t disturb the wife upstairs.
Bean to cup seemed the way to go with a need for it to be simple enough for him indoors to use. Read far too many product reviews before I plumped for this one.
We have had it now for a few weeks and so far the machine fulfils those needs, and more. As recommended by previous reviewers I read the instructions, then had a go. I’d say we made 4 cups before we were happy with the result, and since then its been consistently good.
We buy beans from our fave coffee shop to their secret blend and this machine provides espresso, Americano and cappuccino beautifully.
Several have commented that it is noisy. When it cleans itself, you hear it (takes a few seconds), and when it grinds the beans you hear it, but as a bit of a sad being, this gives me a little shiver of happiness because I KNOW that gorgeous coffee on its way .
After taking a long time deciding on which new bean to cup coffee machine to buy and reading many, many product reviews this one was finally settled on. I was a bit dubious as my previous machine was a Gaggia, but I needn’t have worried at all.
The machine warms quickly and is ready to make that first cup in the morning before I have even said good morning to my dogs. It is also quieter than my old machine when grinding the beans, in fact it makes more noise when pulling the water through than in grinding, but this is only for a few seconds. People who expect a bean to cup coffee machine to be silent will be disappointed, as it is never going to be if you want freshly ground coffee beans in each cup.
The quality of coffee made is incredibly good and even has the creamy ‘Barista’ foam on top without having to do any magical pours and tips. Everyone likes their coffee slightly differently so De’Longhi have designed a machine with the strength & volume adjustments on the front of the machine, making this an easy task and not a chore.
Delivery and packaging of product was superb as was the customer service.
Will not be worried about purchasing a De’Longhi coffee machine again.
Still love our machine & still going strong after 8 years of daily use.
Regularly descale & have used white vinegar mixed with water instead of delonghi descaler – worked a treat.
Only issue it has now is it sometimes says coffee collector is full & needs emptying when half full. Empty the coffee ground collector & the light stops flashing. After 8 years I think I can live with this intermittent issue!
Looked at getting a newer model, but thought why? This works perfectly. Bought it for 253 in 2012 and it’s been worth every penny!
Oct 2012 original review:
Love my coffee machine. We have used this in Indonesia when we lived there & now three years after returning to UK it’s still going strong. Good coffee beans are more expensive here, but the machine still makes a mean cup of coffee. It has never let me down, has never broken – despite our relocation & move.
The children sometimes just froth up milk for their hot chocolates – they love it too. I have large cups, small cups and even a tall Denby cappucino mug – all fit under the adjustable spout.
I regularly descale it using delonghi descaler, maybe twice a year, three times at most. But we live in a hard water area. Having said that a litmus test is included so you can guage the hardness of your water so you can set the water hardness accordingly.
Only thing to remember – make & grind all the coffee’s first before frothing the milk – otherwise you’ll have to wait for the machine to heat up in between. If you do the frothing at the end, your coffee will be made really quickly.
Also, another tip, when I turn on the machine, I pop one of the cups I’m going to use under the spout. The hot water dispersing from the spout warms the first cup, whcih I pour into the second cup before throwing away – hot water warms up the cups
Final tip, use a stainless steel milk jug & keep it in the fridge so it’s really cold when you pour the milk in. Perfect frothy milk each time
————————————-
Yes, bean-to-cup is great.
And I get a good coffee from this machine with a wicked crema and the milk frother works perfectly well and is eay to clean imo.
BUT I haven’t any experience of other bean-to-cup machines so don’t know how this COMPARES.
Construction seems all plastic and not very robust.
I worry that I’ll drop a part and it will smash.
The water reservoir is small and requires frequent refils.
And the machine makes slightly unnerving clicking and whirring sound during operation.
Although the grind is adjustable, there is no control over the tamp.
Three stars may seem harsh but I’m reviewing the machine and not the format.
I should also mention that the first machine I received died after a dozen coffees, not filling me with confidence regarding reliability (although I acknowledge those who have enjoyed prolonged use without failure). Also, Delonghi were not as forthcoming regarding returns as Amazon were, suggesting that I hadn’t descaled it or had mistreated it.
With my new ‘toy’, I am probably drinking far too much coffee. Good coffee at that. (I also find myself drinking less beer & wine as a result.)
I just hope it lasts.
The Good : The frothing device is good. Froths milk really well. Do look on YouTube to see how frothing milk should be properly done. There are different settings for grinding coffee (coarse or fine ). Makes two cups of coffee simultaneously.
The Bad : Has to be cleaned regularly, quite often, hence my 4 star. My husband only makes a maximum of 2 cups a day and has to clean it more than once a month. It takes around 5 mins each time,not exactly hard work but it’s not what you’d rather be doing when you feel like some coffee and unless cleaned it won’t work. That would really put me off buying it, knowing I’m not rigorous myself . The other is the warming tray. Does not even increase it’s surface temperature by 1 degree let alone warm the cups but that does not bother me at all and not the reason for the 4 star.
Overall : a good machine that makes excellent choice but needs TLC ofte
My second one of these – the first one lasted 6 years with a lot of very heavy use and one replacement thermostat which I fitted myself. The seals were starting to go towards the end – but spares are easily available and the new owner has resurrected the whole machine. The older model looked slightly nicer in my opinion and had a heated cup area on the top – just as this model looks like it has (shiny bit on top right) but doesn’t….is this what it means by Eco? Just missing out bits to manufacture it cheaper I suspect… just as the drip tray that was a nice piece of metal is now plastic – but then it was 6 years and in all fairness this new model was a bit cheaper than the old one – I shopped around in both cases. I am aware by the way that there are many models by this company but this is the restyled version of what I had. I was very happy with the last one and having had this one for a few months now I’m happy with it too. Remember – it makes great coffee (although get beans from the net/independent coffee supplier NOT the supermarkets etc), stop having coffee out (2.50/cup?) and it is an economical way to have great coffee. You can spend more on these bean to cup machines but this does the job so well. Spend the saved cash on decent beans! Oh – and if you want a limited choice of pre ground coffee individually and expensively packaged endorsed by Hollywood and more costly per cup then look elsewhere!
I’m marking down one star because the coffee does not come out at the intolerably hot temperature that I would like. If you add cold milk then, in my opinion, what you get is not hot enough. I am fussy with hot coffee though and like it to be so hot I have no choice but to sip slowly. This issue can easily be worked around by making an espresso and then adding hot water from a kettle (like they would in a cafe) OR by steaming up some lovely, frothy hot milk!
The second reason I’m marking down one star is because after you use the steam function the machine requires a few minutes to cool before you can make another coffee. This is really only an issue if you make yourself delicious drink without asking your wife if she would like one too and then you have to go back and make another… There’s probably a solution to this particular difficulty too but I haven’t thought of it yet…
Given that there seem to be many reviewers giving lengthy tips about this machine I slightly feared that it would be difficult to use, but it isn’t at all. I can’t believe how easy it is. Let me put it this way: for decades I have been making coffee in a cafetiere and never found it difficult, but now that I have this machine I slightly dread having to use a cafetiere again, because by comparison that is a lot more messy and fiddly to clean than this bean-to-cup machine. When the light goes on, you simply open the front door (just pull), slide out the drip tray, dump the used coffee grounds into a bin (they are in nice neat little cylinders, not at all messy like when you empty a cafetiere), give it a quick rinse (stick under tap for a second or two), then shove it back in and push shut the front door. It takes seconds, not minutes, and it is so so so easy and non-messy. I LOVE it.
Such a shame the price has gone up. I would have ordered another one or two for gifts had it not been for that.
I bought this machine to replace a five year old bean-to-cup machine which had reached the end of its useful life. Compared with that machine this one gives great coffee (though the old one was great when we first got it). It is also easier to use and day-to-day maintenance is simpler because the design allows both the water reservoir and the used grounds collector to be removed from the front of the machine. Cleaning the brew mechanism has also proved to be simpler as it’s a simple shape that can easily be cleaned thoroughly (unlike the old machine which had a very complex mechanism that took some time to clean thoroughly).
On the down side there are a couple of things that the old machine had that this machine really probably should;
* The bean hopper has no sensor for when it empties so the machine is happy to make a nice cup of hot water
* The bean hopper lid has no sensor so you can open it whilst it is grinding beans which seems a little risky, though the design of the bean grinder makes access to the mechanism more restricted
Overall I like this machine, it’s easy to use, makes good coffee whether you want it short or long and is more controllable than our older machine due to the strength and volume dials. I also like that the machine will switch itself off after a preset period of time; no more forgetting to switch off. It also warms up faster.
After finally arriving, am very pleased with this purchase. The machine is quite easy to use once you have read the instructions – yes, really read the instructions!! We are still experimenting with the grind/flow to get a perfect crema but very pleased with it so far!!
Contrary to previous reviews, I don’t find this machine all that noisy. I had a gaggia espresso machine prior which is far, far noisier! You really get a quick cup of great coffee without the hassle of the Gaggia. The only downside so far is that the coffee could be a little hotter but having said that, I have not warmed the cups prior.
I will mention here that the delivery service was appaling. Delivery was NOT following day despite being a amazon prime member, but took 5days! Despite this, it was well worth waiting for, I would recommend this machine to anyone loving a good cup of coffee!!
I have been looking for a bean to cup coffee machine for a very long time but they were either much too expensive or had bad reviews. This one was a reasonably good price and had some really good reviews,which persuaded me that this was the machine I was looking for. It is! The instructions are easy to follow and since it arrived it has made reliable fuss free coffee. It’s easy to clean and the various lights make perfect sense. The first time I used it (my husband beat me to the first brew!) I was slightly perplexed by its cleaning cycle, which it does every time it is switched on, but have quickly realised that not only does this mean we always get a fresh cup of coffee, if you use one of the cups you are going to make coffee in, it warms it up very nicely! The quality of coffee is lovely, it is delivered at the right rate so doesn’t take very long. I have a hectic morning routine, but there’s always time for a proper cup of coffee – can’t say exactly how long it takes but it’s usually ready before the toast if I put it on first! Very glad I bought this machine and I am looking forward to serving coffee the next time we have people round for coffee, without having to apologise for my inability to make a nice cup of coffee!
I accept that 270 is a lot less than 450, but it is still lots of money just to make coffee, so after lots and lots of hesitation, I took the plunge!
Ordered from Amazon on free 3 to 5 day delivery. It was sent next day service, arriving 24 hours after placing the order; bravo Amazon! The machine delivered good espresso from the first push of the button and is gradually improving as I fine tune the various settings.
IMPORTANT! As mentioned by others, read the destructions first!!
Also worth spending 15 or 20 minutes on, is the home-barista dot com website. It gives a full and detailed explanation of how to make a good espresso and more importantly why changes of the various parameters alter the finished product. If you understand what is going on in the machine, you will have more success, faster
Some have complained that the machine is noisy. I can only imagine they have never heard a commercial coffee grinder running in a bar or cafe!!! The machine is not totally silent, but it makes far less noise than a blender or food processor and even during the grind phase, probably no more than an electric whisk. The rest of the operation is a quiet “chunter”.
Overall I am very pleased with the machine. I am already making far better espresso than I ever did with a conventional 15 bar domestic machine and without the coffee grounds spread over the worktop! Happy to have bitten the bullet. I hope that with normal care and regular cleaning/descaling, it will serve me well for years to come. So far it has been in operation for only 4 days and is already finishing off the second 250gm bag of Lavazza!
My advice – the grind adjustment had the biggest effect on strength. After trying a few beans – we settled on Illy – a good strong cup that’s smoothe as well. Look out for the silver cannisters in the supermarket if you don’t know it. It’s more expensive than most – but it’s worth it and occasionally on offer.
Don’t be fooled by the espresso cups in the picture – the spout assembly height can be adjusted to let a good sized mug under there. If I have one complaint it’s the steamer knob (the large one to the right of the machine). It doesn’t turn easily, not sure why. It’s a minor gripe. I love the machine – the danger is you’ll drink too much coffee, because it’s just to quick and easy to make one! Glad I don’t have to wash out cafetieres any more!
I didn’t use to drink much coffee but now I look forward to getting downstairs and making myself one. I hate reading instructions so as it was my husbands toy he did the reading and showed me – couldn’t be easier ( I’m a bit rubbish and impatient- if something is too difficult I just give up and don’t use it), once you’ve twizzled a couple of knobs to set strength and length of your coffee next time it’s all ready for you just turn on ( it cleans itself) then press for two cups ( as I want a whole mug – press one cup if you want an espresso ) and thats it, half hour later it cleans itself again (wondered what it was at first making the noise in my kitchen) then it turns itself off.
A light comes on to tell you when to empty the drip tray ( you empty any used coffee at same time) and it tells you when it needs water tank filling.
It brings out the child in me- makes me feel like I’m in a cafe!-it’s the easiest piece of machinery I’ve ever used and I love sourcing different coffee beans to try. Haven’t used the frother much as not really bothered with that but it does work if wanted. Hoping it lasts a long time as it’s now something I would hate to be without – the instant coffee hasn’t been used yet since we bought it. It is also excellent for family parties, people can just help themselves to it on the side.
It also makes your house smell gorgeous!
The reason i bought this one,The Magnifica .Its much easier than grinding coffee ,tamping it,etc.
With the Magnifica it,s all done for you.
Put your cup under spout,Draw some hot water in to cup,It Purges itself everytime it switches off(which wastes a minimal amount of water)and when switch on again,you will see both green lights in the single or double cup buttons at the top blinking off back on again
You can set it to Eco mode ,you can time this from 15 mins to 2 hour (i believe)?
The 2 dials beneath the 2 Coffee Cup Symbols adjust Amount on Left and Strength on the Right.
Makes a Great Crema,i don’t drink milk anymore well as much! Because you feel the Crema is that good, you don,t need milk
IMO.
Its not nearly as loud ,as some have said.
You can only put one scoop of ground coffee at a time, which is a Major drawback
It has room for enough beans to last the average coffee a week drinking 3 cups a day.
It has a 1.8 Litre water holder.which is adequate.
Little or no mess to clean up,A Light will come on when its time to refill and Empty Ground holder,easily done.
Easy to open,and clean.A light tells you when you need to empty Tamped coffee residue.
Do read the User Manual,and test your water hardness PH level.There is a strip for testing.and adjusting correctly.
So all in all a very very good entry machine
You can Adjust for water hardness,ECO Timer,Drink Heat.
Do adjust the Bean Grinder Dial to Approx middle way,around 3,though you may have to adjust for various beans.
Great buy all Around,Going strong after a Month of Domestic use!
Very Happy with this Machine.
THIS MACHINE IS AMAZING & MAKES FANTASTIC COFFEE!!! (With the right beans – quality coffee only comes from quality beans.) It can be set for personal preferences for coffee strength & how much water you’d like in your cup. I didn’t alter the default settings for the first coffees (as recommended) & thoroughly enjoyed experimenting, finally setting the strength & water dials to my own preference.
You have to heat the milk making the froth for latte’s & cappuccino’s etc, which is relatively easy & very satisfying to do. I bought a milk thermometer & 600ml jug at the same time as the ESAM4200, as well as Lavazzo beans, & looked at online video clips for barista & user tips on how to froth the milk & pour it. You do have to practice & experiment to become adept but it’s so much fun plus you get to drink the results!! Bonus!!
I’ve found a whole new world – the barista world, & a new art form making patterns & images on the milk froth. Check it out online, you’ll be amazed! Just google `latte art’ to find it & enjoy the wonderful coffee!!
The De’Longhi Magnifica ESAM4200 is a great machine; easy to use, easy to clean & maintain, easy to fill with beans & water, best of all the coffee is absolutely wonderful!!! I now drink an espresso while making my latte – utter bliss!!
ps: I’ve had my ESAM for over 6 months & it’s definitely worth the price – I thoroughly recommend it & would def buy it again!!
WOW!
I have owned this machine for 8 months now and realised I hadn’t written a review for it, so I though I should.
It has been simply brilliant so far.
I worked upto this machine from starting with a French press, then onto a coffee pod machine, then onto a espresso machine, then finally onto this bean to cup machine. I have never looked back !
Plusses….
Zero mess and fuss – coffee grounds come out in neat ‘pucks’
So easy to clean and maintain
Easy access to water tank
Very solid feeling
Excellent frothing function
Superb ‘fresh’ tasting coffee
Cosmetically nice looking
Minuses…..
I really cant think of too many – perhaps a little on the noisy side, but it doesnt bother me too much
………Thats it really
Brilliant coffee every time. Use some good beans and you get coffee that is easily as nice as any specialist high street seller – in my opinion, my coffee is better !
OK, I wondered for a while about spending nearly double what I could get a nice manual espresso machine for, but I really haven’t looked back. No manual grinding of beans and I certainly don’t miss the coffee grounds which always found their way onto the kitchen worktops…… or the used coffee grounds swilling around the sink edges.
Go buy one, you wont regret it!
It it worth tweaking the grind amount somewhat (I made it slightly finer). Although it is a large and not hugely pretty device on the kitchen work surface – it is worth it for NOT having the hassle that assembling and cleaning / refilling a manual espresso maker entails. IMHO – best to get grind setting, strength setting and water amount setting right for YOUR MAINLY USED fave (and small) CUP …. it is easy from there to add water from the kettle for people who require a ‘taller’ or ‘weaker’ strength.
** FEB 2018 – Many years after my purchase, this device is still performing BRILLIANTLY 🙂 Make sure you use Delonghi descaler when the machine prompts you to. Re-grease the infuser part using proper food-safe grease and replace the rubber O-rings (only just replaced these late 2017). Should anything need replacing or fixing I am 99% confident that I can repair or replace any part myself – YouTube is your friend!
I recieved the item in good time and well packaged. It took a while to find a spot for it in the kitchen (may still have to relocate it… it is quite a space filler! not recommended for small kitchens) but looks good.
The operating instructions are clear, but a little bit… involved. Not confusing… but there are a lot of instructions for basically fairly straight-forward operation. This is the first coffee machine i’ve owned so my experience is limited.
The first few cups were a bit rubbish, but now that i have sorted out the setting, i am getting consistently silky smooth coffee and nicely frothed steamed milk. It does take some getting used to but so far, i am very pleased with it. As for the long term, my only worry is that mixing beans will be a bit odd… though i may not even notice.
Some of the components seem a little plasticky, but nothing so far has caused me concern, and a lot of it can be simply deconstructed for easy cleaning etc.
The reason i am not giving it 5/5 is due to the plasticky feel and the overly elaborate instructions… and also because it is my first coffee machine, to call it perfect would be unfair.
Had this Magnifica ESAM4200 for a week now, do I have any regrets spending a significant amount of money for a coffee machine???
NOT AT ALL – Best coffee I have ever tasted and, I DO like my coffee. So simple to operate and consistantly produces a very good cup of coffee.
I must reiterate other reviewers comments about reading the instructions thoroughly, it is well worth it and makes the whole process simple.
Am experimenting with different beans at the moment, having started with Tesco beans I have now purchased another couple of types and wil see if I can detect any significant difference – I will update this review in a few weeks to confirm, or not, my joy with this machine.
Not being a barista 🙂 I have yet to produce a really creamy froth/milk for my wifes cappuccino (she is enjoying them no matter!). Cant get the milk (semi-skimmed and out of fridge) to the creamy state that coats the back of a spoon as per youtube. ANY RECOMMENDATIONS WELCOME………
I have even grown to likethe looks of it, thought it a wee bit big when first out of box. It now looks good on the work-top in my kitchen.
Last word on this machine – if you are thinking about it then stop thinking and buy it……!!!! You will NOT regret it.
This unit is smaller and more compact, which is a definite plus for a kitchen machine. This does come at a cost however – the discarded puck hopper and the water tank are both smaller than I’d like. It’s also mandatory to remove the water tank to fill it which isn’t the case with my other two automatics which could both be jug filled. I think I’ll be replacing those seals before too long.
As with a lot of automatics the coffee isn’t really hot enough for many. It does a rinse on start up and shutdown which means you’re pulling the water tank a lot to fill it. The delivery volume is a pain, as it doesn’t quite pour a long enough coffee for me. There is a useful undocumented feature that allows you to top up your coffee – you just press and hold the coffee delivery button within three seconds of the initial coffee delivery finishing. That does mean you have to stand over the machine whilst it makes your coffee though.
The case and finish of the materials and buttons is cheap, which is a real shame as it does let the product down. Still, if handsome is as handsome does then it does make great tasting coffee.
If you’ve not had an automatic before then you won’t be disappointed. If you’re migrating from a different machine then it might not be everything you expect. On the whole though, it’s an honest product that does a good job.
We bought 3 of these in Germany; one as a wedding gift, one for us, and one for my office at work. Unfortunately, when I moved to the UK, I lost the one in the office (office personnel had “joint” purchased it). The one that was a wedding gift is used every day and is still running fine. The office one was used EXTENSIVELY and was still working at the 1.5 year point when I bid a tearful farewell to it. The one in my home… wow. I’m an espresso nut, having lived in Italy for four years. I work that thing to the bone; it has made at least 5 espressos ~every~ single day of those three years that I was home and is still running strong. The only “bad” cup of coffee that I’ve had from this thing is when I bought low-quality beans.
To address some specific things mentioned in other reviews, I’d just like to say that this thing makes crema so well that sugar will sit on top of it…if you know the trick. Use a properly-sized espresso cup and heat it before making your coffee. Rather than relying on the heater on top of the machine (the silver part in the picture), just boil some water in the kettle and dump it in the cup; it’s a lot faster. Adjust the dispensing spout — the part with two little silver spouts directly above the cups in the picture. That piece moves up and down. The closer you get it to your cup, the better the crema. Adjust your grind; regardless of what others may have experienced, I find the adjustable grind to be perfect. It is, however, VERY dependent on what type of beans you use. I’ve had to tweak it nearly every time I use a different type of beans to get it to the perfect grind. Also, if you find that the puck grounds get mouldy from sitting too long, my only comment is this — you’re not drinking enough coffee. 😉 Last note before pros/cons/tips — this machine requires that ~you~ put milk in a container and froth it for cappucino; it’s not “fully” automatic, but the frothing bit works great (when used with skill).
Pros
*Extremely reliable (3 machines monitored over 3.5 years with no flaws)
*Near-perfect espresso
*Capability to use pre-ground (separate compartment, one cup at a time) for the decaf crowd
*Great frothing tool for cappucino (see tips)
*Fully adjustable grind, strength (amount of coffee used) and water (for “long” coffees) with single or double cup buttons
*Auto shut-off after about 2hrs
Cons
*A touch on the noisy side during start up and when it grinds
*Can scramble your freeview signal (though this is the fault of house wiring/antenna, not the machine)
*Doesn’t know when I’m going to wake up and automatically have an espresso ready for me when I get to the kitchen
Tips
*Read the manual. No, really. Read the manual.
*Use quality coffee. Always. (Lavazza Rosso or Espresso is good, Il Pascucci from southern Italy if you can find it)
*Pay attention to getting your grind set right
*Heat your cups with boiling water before making the coffee
*Make all of your espresso shots BEFORE switching to frothing mode for cappucino
*Use the descaler that comes with it, then switch to white vinegar for cleaning (has worked for me for 2 years)
*Go on vacation to Italy and learn how to make proper espresso and how to froth milk — it really is an art
*Honestly — it takes time to perfect the frothing. Don’t give up until you’ve talked to someone that knows how.
So what am I doing on Amazon looking at these if mine is so reliable? Yep, you caught me … I’m thinking of buying another one for the office here…