Help me choose a coffee machine please

[Winderwall]

I can’t keep buying a coffee every day I can’t afford it.

I want to make a perfect flat white.

Which coffee machine, milk frother and beans do I need?

Huge thanks

I would recommend DeLonghi machines as I’ve had one for 11 years which is still going strong. Expensive but worth it. It might help if you post what kind of coffee you like and how much space you have…

What’s your coffee machine budget?

Honestly I love our ninja one, easy to use, good milk frothing and it’s nice and simple - makes a very good coffee too! Beans are subjective and it will maybe take a few tries before you find the perfect ones for you, what sort of coffee flavours do you like?

We have been through a fair few coffee machines! We had the sage touch screen Nespresso which was very good but we didn’t want to just have to stick to coffee that came in pods, we also had the sage bean to cup but found it was more effort than we wanted to give to our morning coffees (hard to get a good pull!).

We bought a Sage barrister pro in December, we have at least two coffees each a day and it’s saved us a fortune already. I do still have the coffee out but nothing like before!

Delonghi Rivelia. On the pricier side, but absolutely fantastic - we’ve easily made our money back in the year we’ve owned it.

I make coffee in a mokka pot and use a velvetiser to heat milk. Makes what you describe. Coffee is strong and it’s very good.

I’ve fancy coffee machine in the past, Which were great but if you want flat white, I don’t see the point

Agree with this. My milk frother is the one that came with a nespresso pod machine but you can buy similar anywhere these days.

You will also need a bean grinder. All 3 items can be stored easily so not taking up worktop space. Although my Mokka lives on the hob (induction).

I love it and am rarely impressed with a flat white when out these days as they're not as good as mine.

We have a Sage Barista Touch and it’s one of the best investments we made in a kitchen appliance! 😁 It makes the perfect latte, flat white etc. Nicer than most coffee shops.

Bought a Ninja last year and have been happily enjoying coffee daily. I wanted one that had a filter function having read that filtered freshly ground coffee is optimum health wise. But I start the day with an Americano.
The frothing function is very good, it also makes fantastic hot chocolate since it has a stirrer in the bottom.
You can set the size of the cup you use and it has an adjustable shelf so you can fit the big tall insulated mugs under the jets.
Easy to clean and maintain.
The big bonus is that all the “bits “ can be stored in the machine so you don’t have a drawer full of components. And the bean container doesn’t add to the height of the machine so it fits under the kitchen cupboards easily.
Things to add include a cheap water filter jug so you don’t need to remove the water container to fill it up. This also reduces scale build up. I have had to descale my machine once in the last 6 months and we have hard water.
A knock box for waste ground coffee is a must. Less mess emptying used coffee grounds.

We have a DeLonghi bean to cup with its own milk carafe. You can set the foam density and control the amount of milk it decants so a flat white would be easy. However, it is about £300 but has lasted us 11 years so far.

It is easy to clean, easy to descale, plus you can control how much water you want in a "long" coffee so you can customise it to your cup size. It has made about 18,000 coffees (there is a counter) and we have replaced one O ring in that time. We didn't want to have to froth the milk with the wand so the only downside is that the coffee isn't scalding hot. But you can warm your cups on the cup warmer or in this house warm the cup through with boiling water from the boiling water tap. Personally I like being able to drink it immediately so I don't warm the cup. The milk carafe lives in the fridge and we clean it out every few days.

Personally I have a cappuccino from it every day, Dh, whose present it was has espresso, long coffees and cappuccinos from it daily. The man loves coffee.

I must admit I did lol at ‘the jets’ hahaha

We had a sage for years and it did a good job. We recently got a new machine so tried the ninja. It’s very good for those that don’t know how to froth milk or grind beans etc it basically does everything for you at a click of a few buttons which is also handy because you can be doing other things while it makes your coffee if you’re pushed for time in a morning. My only complaint is even of the highest setting the coffee isn’t hot enough, it’s hot but not hot hot. I suppose it’s ready to drink, so if you like it like that it’s good. Fracino is the best brand of coffee machine I’ve ever used but they are very expensive and unless you’ve no budget it’s not worth getting to sit in the kitchen side

you can use these sachets and just add boiling water into a mug without the use of a coffee machine
https://www.ocado.com/products/kenco-flat-white-instant-coffee-sachets/585933011?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=22868494054&utm_content=non-brand&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22858828770&gbraid=0AAAAADi6iHlqej_KgI36JpjCqOQ2OmSO1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA2bTNBhDjARIsAK89wlGdOdudZtQqncrljEhSsDnZmYuJwFEIECIyiwb2Cp2umSUYKoxRvfQaAtOLEALw_wcB

We bought a Sage Barista Touch and it is fantastic.

It is expensive but worth it. The intelligent function takes all the guesswork out of making the perfect coffee.

You need good beans though.

https://www.theguardian.com/thefilter/2024/nov/21/best-coffee-machines

Have a read OP! I’m not much help as we just use a cafetière. But we will get a proper machine one day perhaps!

We have a fancy DeLonghi at home but honestly the best flat whites we have are the Dolce Gusto pod ones with my tiny machine in my office at work. The pods can be found pretty cheap on Amazon and I got a Piccolo machine refurbished on eBay last week with a warranty for about £35. The machine lacks some features I would like such as automatic shut off and a larger water receptacle but the coffee is lovely and it's a small machine which takes up barely any room
and is quite nice looking.

I coveted a bean to cup machine for ages then dbro got one and the cleaning/descaling etc out me off completely. We have a mill (hand held, quieter than an electric one) and beans go into a moccamaster for filter coffee. We also have a nespresso machine with a separate frother: I drink oat milk which goes in the microwave and then has nespresso coffee on top. This can be made into a flat white easily. The frother gets used for cappuccino and hot chocolates. The moccamaster filter coffee can be made as strong or weak as you like, so easy to get a flat white out of that with the frother or a microwave.