To ask for coffee machine recommendations

[Onynx]

I love my coffee but our Nespresso Creatista has died so I'm looking to replace it. I would like to move away from pods completely but I haven't a clue what makes a coffee machine 'good' or what I should be looking for or avoiding in a new machine?

We'd like to move away from pods too but have no idea. I'll be watching this thread.

I understand that 'bean to cup' machines are popular but am a bit worried that if it's too much faff then it would just gather dust.

I went from Nespresso to a bean to cup machine and the coffee is so much nicer! I buy freshly roasted beans.

I’ve got a Delonghi Autentica. Pricey but worth it

We've had our DeLonghi bean to cup machine two years and it is FABULOUS

It cost £250 and we have 2 coffees each every day. I buy Union coffee beans and we have saved a fortune, so although £250 is a toppy outlay, it soon pays for itself.

I just bought ours on Amazon. Super pleased with it - a fabulous purchase.

I am on my second Gaggia bean to cup machine - the first one lasted 15 years. Depends what you want partly - I don’t use the milk frother very much so that wasn’t a factor but it might be for you. Which mag rates the Beko ones quite highly for a simpler cheaper one.

I looked at Sage but they have some neg reviews for reliability and they are more of a faff than the fully automated ones - but they look good.

We have a Sage Oracle Touch bean to cup machine. It's amazing but pricey. We have 2 or 3 coffees each every day and DS uses the milk steamer for hot chocolate.

Bean to cup. Friend got a delonghi and its fab. I'm lusting after a melitta

I just use a standard filter machine.

I’ve got a smeg espresso machine and a smeg milk frother. Both are excellent and I use them multiple times a day

Not a machine... but the Aeropress delivers great coffee for little faff. Only about £25, the geeks over at the coffee forum rave about it, you can take it on holiday/camping, no wasteful pods, only takes 5 seconds to clean up... literally just pop out the puck into the compost and rinse under the tap. Just add ground coffee and hot water to the main chamber, place the plunger on and press through into your mug.

It really depends on if you enjoy a variety of different coffees or the basic flat. For my basic although it's time consuming nothing beats boiling the coffee on a stove.
Then of course budget if you cannot afford been to cup nothing wrong with beans and a filter, and chances are if you have a blender you have an attachment for the beans.
And if a pod machine do you care if the pods can be recycled or if you can use refillable.
If you prefer the proper hot drink rather than a cooler drink some of the machines make yet again there are a multitude of options.

I have a coffee maker addiction and every time I look at my next purchase those are some of the things I consider.

Bean to cup. Press one button for strength, another for type of coffee. Aldi or Lidl coffee beans. Ours is deLonghi and when it croaks, I’ll look at the Beko.

We've had a few over the years and keep going back to Gaggia, with a stand-alone grinder.

Grinders seem to be consumables and break after a few years, even the really good ones. So not going for a bean-to-cup machine at least means when the grinder goes you only need to replace that.

We've used this site for repairs over the years and they've been good: www.mrbean2cup.co.uk/buy-gaggia-coffee-maker

The good thing about Gaggia is that they're repairable - the cheap machines and brands eventually break and then are just trash. Whereas our Gaggia Classic has been repaired once and is still as good as new.

(London's ultra-hard water really does a number on them, so occasional de-scaling and an inline water softener seem to do the trick).

@BahHumbygge

Not a machine... but the Aeropress delivers great coffee for little faff. Only about £25, the geeks over at the coffee forum rave about it, you can take it on holiday/camping, no wasteful pods, only takes 5 seconds to clean up... literally just pop out the puck into the compost and rinse under the tap. Just add ground coffee and hot water to the main chamber, place the plunger on and press through into your mug.

I love my aeropress. My kids laugh that I have every coffee making gadget known to man. But everything but the aeropress is now gathering dust. And that's three years on from first getting it. The only other thing I occasionally use is my massive cafetiere if I have several people around. But I honestly don't think you can beat coffee from an aeropress. And it doesn't even really need cleaning! And you can pop.it in your suitcase for holidays. All my friends who travel for business pack one for decent hotel room coffee.

I've also got a delonghi bean to cup and love it.

We have Krupps bean to cup and it's wonderful. Zero faff. Just empty the waste every few days and fill water/beans.

Aero press was the devil. Faffy, messy, burnt hands, bloody hate it

I had a couple of Gaggia espresso machines before moving onto a Sage Bambino. Wasn't sure if I'd like pressing buttons and having semi automated milk frothing after the old school Gaggias but I'm 18 months in and not regretting my choice

I've had a few different machines and always go back to my stove top Moka pot. I love the morning routine of filling and brewing it. And it really is the best coffee you can make at home

Another vote for the Sage Oracle Touch. It’s brilliant

I got the Lakeland bean to cup. It's much more affordable than the others. However you do need to clean it out every use but this only takes a few minutes to rinse under the tap. It makes 2 mug fulls at a time. You can also use grounds in it. Lovely coffee depends on the quality of the beans you buy. Lavazza is my favourite.

I have a Delonghi Dedica which takes ground coffee. No faff, easy to clean, makes good coffee and has a small footprint on the worktop.

I recently got a sage duo temp pro. It’s very good

We also have a Sage coffee machine - The Barista Express SES875 half the price of the Oracle. Makes a lovely coffee, downside is I've accidently become a coffee snob and no longer enjoy coffee out as it doesn't compare.

I wanted to move away from wasteful nespresso pods although I am quite lazy and liked the convenience.

I tried an aeropress and found it a bit fiddly and there was much less crema than nespresso.

At the start of first lockdown I bought this machine from John Lewis www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-partners-pump-espresso-coffee-machine-with-milk-frother-stainless-steel/p4839837

I wasn't expecting much for the price but I was pleasantly surprised. I drink black coffee so I've never used the milk frother, but the espresso is as good as nespresso with plenty of crema, once you find the brand you enjoy best (Lavazza Rosso or Lidl purple Guatemalan for me). It's very easy to use and clean too.

@lurkingdh

We've had a few over the years and keep going back to Gaggia, with a stand-alone grinder.

Grinders seem to be consumables and break after a few years, even the really good ones. So not going for a bean-to-cup machine at least means when the grinder goes you only need to replace that.

We've used this site for repairs over the years and they've been good: www.mrbean2cup.co.uk/buy-gaggia-coffee-maker

The good thing about Gaggia is that they're repairable - the cheap machines and brands eventually break and then are just trash. Whereas our Gaggia Classic has been repaired once and is still as good as new.

(London's ultra-hard water really does a number on them, so occasional de-scaling and an inline water softener seem to do the trick).

This is all true - I omitted to mention the one thing that needed repair in 15 years on my Gaggia Synchrony bean to cup machine was the grinder.

The replacement is a Gaggia bean to cup.

Gaggia Anima is the current one in case anyone cares :)
We drink a lot of coffee.