Decent bean to cup machine...?

[NorfolkSunset]

Which doesn't cost the earth? Are any of the less expensive ones any good? I have around £200 in John Lewis gift vouchers and could stretch to £300 as a total budget but I don't know if I'm wasting my time and should just stick to my Nespresso machine on that budget. A lot if the recommended ones on Which etc seem to be around the £700 mark.

It's a big investment which I'll be using daily so want to make the right decision!

@VinEtFromage ooh that one looks ideal - thank you! Very kind of you to look this up!
The only trouble is I'm aiming to spend my John Lewis vouchers and get it from there, but on JL website it's sold out! Looks like they might be discontinuing it. I'm going to try and choose one on JL and hope I can find the one I'm looking for!

Not helpful, but I bought my husband a Sage machine for Christmas. He really loves it.

But it was about £750 iirc.

Another vote for Delonghi we've had ours 5 years with no issues and love it.

I have had a Gaggia one for 6 years now which is good but I’m wanting one with 2 bean hoppers now so I can put decaf in it too

I've got a Delonghi Magnifica. If the house was burning down I would save this first!

My brother forked out £800 for the Siemans one, he bought a
cheaper one which didn't last, you get what you pay for.

We have a jura one. It’s lasted for years and makes great coffee at the push of a button - doesn’t seem to matter what beans we use

Depending on where you are in the country, it looks like it’s in stock in stores.

Almost all bean to cup machines are fit for the bin. Don't waste your money. I guess they are fine if you have no ability to taste good coffee.

I would not be so -erm - forthright as prettylittlefool because we alllike different things, but I've not often tasted better coffee than that from a simple filter cone perched over a jug. Fresh ground good quality beans (approx one rounded dessertspoonful ground per person for a big mug; less for a smaller cup, obviously); freshly-drawn water just off the boil; warmed jug; carbon neutral filter paper. No milk, no sugar. Pure and simple and delicious.

We have a delonghi Caffe corse which DH swears by. We have had it a couple of years so unsure of cost and even whether it is still sold, but if not I would still look at the rest of the delonghi range

I have a delonghi autentica, got it seriously on sale in the Amazon day, like several hundred off. Probably wasn't the latest model, but nothing that mattered - what mattered most to me was the small footprint, and having one that did both coffee and milk automatically. I didn't pay anywhere near this much: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00MOIE1E2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

Things I like are the detachable milk jug to go in the fridge in between so you don't waste milk; the fact that all the bits of the milk carafe can go in the dishwasher; the separate space for ground coffee if you want to add decaf or whatever for just one person, and the small footprint. Mine fits on the worktop, underneath the kitchen cupboards, with enough room still to get the water carafe out and filled, and to fill the beans hopper. I've only just got enough room to do that though; when you look at the specs of the machine, the height sounds like it will fit fine, but it's easy to underestimate how much extra height you need for the water and beans, if you don't want to be pulling it out all the time. Of course if you have plenty of space on other surfaces and don't need to keep it underneath the cupboards, even better.

What I don't like - it doesn't tell you when the beans are out before it starts making a cappuccino, so it does the milk first, then starts grinding and then tells you there aren't enough beans. Obviously a more organised person than me would have always checked that the beans hopper was full..

It's also very very needy, but that is true of all bean to cup machines. It always wants something, water, beans, cleaning the milk, descaling, changing the filter, emptying the grounds ,whatever - it's always beeping at me like a toddler seeking attention.

I've had a couple of problems, once with the O-ring seal wearing out, but it was under warranty; another time I think it was a similar problem, but a lot of descaling seemed to fix it. They were quite good about collecting and returning it and efficient with repairs, which is handy - this was DeLonghi in the UK who dealt with it.

I am still trying to find a coffee bean that I really really like, though.

Whatever you do don't buy the Smeg one.

It looks great, makes lovely coffee but has been sent back twice to Smeg in a year. I have a love hate relationship with it.

We've got an old Delonghi Magnifica - great bit of kit.

We had one of the sage bean to cup machines and it was lovely to make coffee with but such a bloody faff and I couldn't stand the mess. We recently gave it away and bought a sage pod machine which we use with grind pods, I much prefer it.

The lovely Mr James Hoffmann (jimseven on Instagram) has just posted a comparison video on this very morning. Worth a look.

Obviously a more organised person than me would have always checked that the beans hopper was full..

When I'm not WFH, it can be days between brews, so I keep the beans in an airtight jar and add them as needed. I've found the largest measuring spoon (is it tablespoon ?) heaped is perfect for a double espresso.

Before that, I too became familiar with the sudden increase in speed as the hopper runs dry.

I had a quick look at that and I think that’s from this video last year. Much as I love James Hoffmann, the cheapest machine in this video is £1000, which is way over the OP’s budget.

And that drop-what-you're-doing race to the machine when the sound first starts, thinking 'I can get there in time to add a few more beans to let it finish this drink before the milk loses its foam' :)

I know approximately how much it uses each time as I bought myself a beans advent calendar with 25g or something of beans, and it was just about right for two drinks (bit too much actually) so for those days, I did actually add the coffee individually each time.

@AlexandraJJ

You're worth it! What more justification do you need? As long as you can pay the rent/mortgage & council tax & feed the kids, then get the coffee machine.

Update for anyone interested! After a LOT of research I have bought a DeLonghi Magnifica Evo One Touch. It was just over £500 but I saved quite a bit with my John Lewis gift vouchers.

After much research I decided this was the one for me as it is literally one button (no manual tamping or faff) and the milk system self-cleans, plus you can keep the milk compartment in the fridge. So I think this will be a great first machine for me at this point in time with busy mornings.

In the future when I have more savings or win lottery and move into a larger kitchen I'm going to aim for the Sage Oracle Fully Automatic which looks amazing! (RRP £2099). You can even start making your coffee from your bed using your phone and then just go downstairs and colllect it!

At present the one I've bought looks like a great option. We live in East London so there are a lot of artisan coffee bean sellers around here to try. Looking forward to setting it up and getting brewing!

Also been looking at this machine.

Give first brew updates please 🤓