Bean to cup coffee machine?

willhub

willhub

willhub

Caporegime
Joined
3 Jan 2006
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Chadderton, Oldham
I'm considering a budget of around 150 for a reasonably good coffee machine, with a frother and the perculator I believe it's call for a proper barista style coffee.

Can anyone help me with recommendations and what not to get cheers.
 
you wont get one for a 150 quid brand new

https://www.thecoffeemate.co.uk/ have a wide range of manufacturers...philips own saeco/gaggia so all 3 brands seem to share the brew units and ceramic grinders

I have a saeco incanto and find it prefect for my needs ( I got a manual panarello rather than an auto milk justa hte more expensive units have)
 
I found this on rainforest for 99 seems quite good? Not quite bean to cup have to grind by self but I'd be fine with that. Or is that a cheap and nasty machine?

De'Longhi Icona Vintage Traditional Pump Espresso Coffee Machine ECOV311.BG. On rainforest
 
the brew head in many machines, including barista express is small because they have no boiler, and either a thermocoil/thermoblock,
the water capacity/tank is not so large 2 cups, but like the machine I have, need a jug nearby, cuts out a least once a week during a shot.
... so ... it can still be a David.
 
Honestly spend that money on a decent grinder and get a aeropress while you save up for a more capable machine, you might never want a machine after using the aeropress though i know i never bothered aeropress is amazing coffee for next to no money.
 
with that budget, your better off getting a nespresso machine...seriously. Especially if time is of the essence.

Otherwise, as above, get a decent hand grinder, v60/aeropress/kalita and drink filter. A bit more hands on and more time consuming but worlds apart in cup quality (when done right, of course).

Or up your budget. Considerably ;)
 
the ese pods on the machine I ref'd, have more coffee ~7.5 vs nespresso ~6, are cheaper too, and you have the versaitility of ground coffee if you have access to ground;
With a thermoblock, it might take a bit longer to warm up than a barista express, but not so much difference, I would expect similar quality.
(BE talks about pre-infusion, but this is not all that .. unless you have an e61)
...sometimes only an espresso hit will do

... it was also posted on hotuk today/yesterday too.
 
I had a £800 delonghi for about 7 years. It gave up in a way I knew would cost a couple hundred to fix with the likelihood something else would go.

Bought a Jura e8 last year, £900. Fantastic in everyway.

Any budget lower than that I would be buying my own grinder and an aeropress.

I would never go back to pre-ground. Nespresso are good...but not the same
 
lnoton said:
I had a £800 delonghi for about 7 years. It gave up in a way I knew would cost a couple hundred to fix with the likelihood something else would go.

Bought a Jura e8 last year, £900. Fantastic in everyway.

Any budget lower than that I would be buying my own grinder and an aeropress.

I would never go back to pre-ground. Nespresso are good...but not the same
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Seriously any budget under £900 get an aeropress. I have one, not used it since getting my £300 delonghi.
Nicer coffee and more convenient.
 
Participant said:
'Under £900 and get an Aeropress' is all kinds of wrong. Get an Aeropress anyway, but not to replace a bean to cup.
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Couldn't agree more. Although my bean to cup has a filter coffee function which gives me almost as good a coffee as the aeropress, so the convenience always wins.
Aeropress is still a faff compared to pressing a couple of buttons. Bean to cup at the budget end are ace unless your massively into your coffees.
 
How bad is the coffee from sub £900 machines that they are just not worth buying?

I am sick of nespresso and want a bean to cup but was hoping not to spend more than a few hundred.
 
Skidder said:
How bad is the coffee from sub £900 machines that they are just not worth buying?

I am sick of nespresso and want a bean to cup but was hoping not to spend more than a few hundred.
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Don't listen to that utter rubbish. Mine was £300 down from £400. It's better in every way to my Nespresso. Cheaper to run, more options and bigger drinks.
 
Ive had a Sage The Barista and its been great, must have had it about 3 years now and never had a single issue with it. Everything you need and the coffee tastes great. Of course the most important factor in a good coffee is find a bean / blend / roast that you like. Coffee is like most things, there are huge variations and its just a case of trial and error to find the combination that you like. Crap coffee that you dont like in a £900 machine will still taste much worse than the right coffee for you in a £400 machine.
 
I’ve got a Delonghi ecam23.460. I’ve had it since May and was bought to upgrade a nespresso. The nespresso is good, but I found the temperature was slightly too low so was adding boiling water and pre warming cups and using 2 capsules to make a coffee was a bit fiddly.

The bean to cup gives very good coffee. For a standard amount of coffee it certainly has far more flavour than nespresso and is easier. Changing beans makes a big difference to taste but i find that cheap beans are better than nespresso and nicer beans are better than a Costa/Starbucks..etc.

It depends what you want, I wanted to be able to have nice coffee in the morning and I leave at 6:45am, so needed something quick and easy. If you want to spend longer preparing and fine-tuning then you will be able to make better coffee with aero press and grinder for that money, so depends what you want from it.

Price wise watch out for deals and use camelcamelcamel. The basic machines in new condition were around for 180 in May when I looked, so savings can be made. Don’t worry about features too much, my feeling is that there isn’t much between the Delonghi machines in terms of the underlying coffee mechanisms to justify some of the price hikes.

Edit - I think it was the ESAM 4200 that was around £180 6 months ago. The RRP prices are best ignored as there is nearly always an offer on.
 
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