Recommend me a high calibre coffee machine.

[Honeyroar]

I would like a good coffee machine for my home. One that uses proper ground coffee and has a steam frother. As near to coffee shop standard as possible.. Any suggestions?

I have a DeLonghi Icona and it’s excellent.

I’m half looking at switching to a bean to cup right now, not because of any coffee-quality issues with the DeLonghi, but because I know a bean supplier and want to just buy whole beans from him and not grind anything myself. (Apart from maybe my teeth after the 4th cup)

Three years ago I was persuaded to upgrade from a gaggia classic to a gaggia brera.
It’s bean to cup.
You can also use ground coffee if required.
I absolutely love it.

www.coffeeitalia.co.uk/gaggia-brera-silver.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwh7H7BRBBEiwAPXjadmKkbMQtiJnGJtrxLntoYwFUfqLQaRS0AjPyPSOCrFeOfQet8os8WxoCkCoQAvD_BwE

I bought it from this company I think and they offered good knowledgeable advice over phone. There may be a better model now as well.

De Longhi are also excellent- my friend has this one and we bought FIL one a couple of years ago - it’s also very well loved by both.
It’s bigger and less pretty to look at than my gaggia .
Again there may be newer versions .



Sorry link fail

www.baavet.co.uk/shop/index.php?route=product/category&path=57

Aargh weird !

www.delonghi.com/en-gb/products/coffee/coffee-makers/automatic-coffee-makers/magnifica-esam-4200s-0132212136?gclid=CjwKCAjwh7H7BRBBEiwAPXjadk3iToLreP1es0ssVlx6mNGcQjpXUWKhwG1gTkKeUsXqUgLXhbUGLRoCXt0QAvD_BwE

Thanks I will have a look at them.

If you are new to the game feel free to post any you are tempted by as I like to think I am quite clued up nowadays on practicality and drawbacks ..
Can you tell I love coffee and I love my machine ?
Happy browsing

Thanks.

I was looking at this one before- love the colour and it’s a little more in my budget.

Forgot to post it!

Jura - all price ranges

I have a sage barista bean to cup with milk frother.

Melitta Cafe Solo. Bean to cup. Three strengths & variable volume give you everything from latte to expresso. Easy to use & tells you when it needs a clean cycle performed. Had ours for about 5 years. Love it 😊

What does bean to cup mean please?

It means you just put whole beans in one end and coffee comes out the other - so you don’t need to either grind the beans or by ground, you just buy beans and the coffee machine grinds them.

The one you’re looking at; the Icona, it’s a really decent machine. The frother is excellent and it’s generally just good, fast to heat and a decent crema. It won’t bust the bank but it’s not sub-standard. I think you can also use pods but I’m not sure/never tried.

You don’t need to go straight to bean to cup, and a decent one of those is usually easily four figures (would genuinely love to have recommendations of any that aren’t), so it’s a significant and of negligible value over and above any decent espresso machine.

Sage machines are excellent...☕

I've got a Melitta Smart TS bean to cup. It's brilliant.
I got it in Lakeland and used a voucher I'd been sent so got it for about £650. Worth every penny

We have a Delonghi magnifica bean to cup which we are really pleased with. It is a few years old and there are newer models available to ours, but it is still going strong. In an ideal world I would like to buy a Jura or possibly Miele but it is a big increase in price.

A Melitta bean to cup, depending on exact model & seller will cost approx £280 - £350. I've bought a separate frother which whisks the milk without adding water. Again Melitta and was £40.

The advantages of a bean to cup are no separate grinding & you get the perfect amount of freshly ground coffee for every cup.

I've previously had Gaggia and Morphy Richards. They made nice coffee but didn't last long. The Melitta has been the best machine we've owned. We've had to replace a cog wheel but it wasn't expensive & my husband followed a Youtube video to do it. We worked out this was after approx 6000 cups of coffee.

Sorry, should have clarified above - A Melitta model of similar/same specification as mine would cost approx £280-£350

How do you get a Melitta for that price?!

This is my model and it's currently selling for £850

https://www.hartsofstur.com/melitta-barista-ts-smart-f860-100-stainless-steel-bean-to-cup-coffee-machine-6764554.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwqrb7BRDlARIsACwGad4qUbQOg7mUBB5xauimMeAOh6QzU7Mkv0nyjfw8fAFCPe9xAOsWG0aAk45EALwwcB

I've got a nesspresso sage machine. It's brilliant.

I just have a filter coffee machine, love it though.

FYI - Marks and Spencer now have their Christmas coffee in stock

We've got the delonghi magnifica bean to cup machine and it's awesome. It's not top of the range by any means but it's a fecking workhorse. Ours is nearly 5 years old and used roughly 5 times a day and is just as brilliant now as it was the day we set it up.

We chose it as it's the same model that my parents have, they chose it because it was the best they could afford at the time. Theirs has to be at least 12 by now and works perfectly.

Upkeep is easy, beans go in the top and water in the side and that's it. It needs descaling and wiping down occasionally which is a faff but then all machines would need that.

We don't use the frothing bit much but it works well when we do. It also has a section for ground coffee but again we don't use it as we wanted beans.

We found you have to play with the strength/volume dials though. It's designed for cups of coffee not mugs of coffee. Normally we have the strength quite low and the volume in the middle and put the mug under both nozzles to get a mug full of coffee. If you do 2 mugs at once its pretty stingy. But for home use one at a time is fine. If we wanted to do more quickly we just turn the strength up and then top it up with the kettle and then can do 2 at a time.

@Baxdream Wow, yours is posh!
This is the updated version of mine

Hi OP @Honeyroar so sorry to reply so slowly but you have had loads of advice from other coffee lovers.
Have seen several high end brands I hadn’t really been aware of - lovely machines galore !
The one you posted looks like a really safe bet as a starter it’s a good brand. You can always upgrade in future if you decide to. It will give you the option to try pods and ground coffee to see what you prefer.
Let us know what you decide !