Coffee machine recommendations

[Hungrycaterpillarsmummy]

I'm looking to buy DH a coffee machine for his birthday (maybe split between bday and Xmas if it's pricey) but I really don't know where to start!
I think I'm sure we don't want one with pods, he'd rather have pre-ground coffee beans or a bean to cup machine.
What do I need to be looking at?
Does anyone have any recommendations?

I don't want to buy a cheapy machine I want something robust and hardy

Sage Barista Express here as well - it’s fabulous and used at least 3 x day - highly recommend. Prior to buying the Sage I had a few DeLonghi machines over the years which is a brand I’d also recommend.

DH was 50 this year and I didn't really know what to buy him, and then I thought about a coffee maker. We had a nespresso but the pods are a pain to have to deal with afterwards in a responsible way. (plus I think there is a specific nespresso taste to the coffee, it's not like proper coffee). I asked on here and loads had recommended the Delonghi Magnifica bean to cup (as is the case on this thread!)

So I bought him that and it's brill, and he uses it all the time. I@m not a huge coffee drinker, but that machine makes proper restaurant quality coffee which I enjoy now and again. We use Lavazza beans (both the red Rossa ones and the espresso intenso black packet)

La Pavoni lever machine. Had ours over 25 years, used every day. Produces brilliant coffee, and looks superb 😁.

I bought Melitta Aromafresh Grind & Brew Thermal Filter Coffee machine, it is bean to cup and ground coffee options, brilliant so happy with my little treat for myself

I have a Sage Bambino Plus and love it. It’s a small machine, but feature rich for its size and price point. It’s simple to use, will steam milk excellently automatically and can adapt to either freshly ground or pre-ground coffee depending on the baskets used.

It’s worth considering that it doesn’t come with an integrated grinder, so if you want to grind your own then you’ll need to invest more money into an espresso capable grinder. You can’t change brew temperature on the Bambino Plus, but that’s quite standard for entry level machine. Also, the Sage machines are designed differently to machines like the Gaggia ones, where modding and tinkering is common. Sage machines are designed so that you use them as they come.

Oh lots of good info here, thank you!

Dd's morning coffee took my Delongi 2 minutes.

This.