Which coffee machine?

[lauracobden]

It's my birthday soon and I want to buy myself a coffee machine. There are so many available, can anyone suggest a good one? I'd like to make lattes, cappuccinos etc.

Thanks

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Hello, this thread is a little old and some of the recommendations might be out of date. If you’re looking for up-to-date advice on the best coffee machine money can buy, take a look at our round-up of Mumsnetters’ favourites. MNHQ.

can i jump on this thread.

i am looking to but a bean to cup machine for my oh 40th. i dont drink coffee so i am a bit confused. he drinks espresso and also standard mug of coffee with milk ( is this a flat white) i am looking at the delonghi. is it just for cappuccino and and espresso or can he just make a standard cup of coffee with milk in it

I love my (inherited) Tassimo. It has to be Costa Americano. I agree that any of their milks for latte etc are vile.
I have a Flavia by my bed but the coffee is not as good.
The Nespresso machine we had on hol was lovely, and if I were buying new I would choose that , but as I got my Tassimo for free and love the ease and taste of The Costa its staying

OP, I'm very happy with my Tassimo. I buy try usual pods on Amazon subscribe and save, which means I get 80 pods for around £16. Every now and again I buy a 'selection' of different coffees, chocolates etc direct from Tassimo, just so I can have something different occasionally, or offer something other than my preferred 'stronger' ( for some tastes) coffee to those who like a more mellow flavour.

I like my coffee fairly strong and fresh, don't like the idea of pods (can't bear all that packaging waste).

We have a Gaggia machine. Makes lovely coffee, very easy to use.

We have had a Gaggia, Tassimo and another machine who's name escapes me.

I'm back to the bodem cafetière - it's simple and the coffee is perfect every time - and I can put it away and it's not a great big lumping machine on my work top

I have a magimix nespresso with a milk whipper attatchment & it's great. You can order online, pods come next day and they take the old ones away for recycling. The coffee really is delicious. I was quite against having one, used to use a cafetière but it's great and I wouldn't go back. It's also quite a small machine which in my case was important as I have a small kitchen.

Definitely get a DeLonghi, absolutely the best (even the cheaper models). Just as easy as a pod machine and much better coffees. Huge range of different coffees everywhere you go.

Avoid Tassimos like the plague! Dishwater coffee and synthetic, sweet long life milk - disgusting!!!

Yes, compactness is one reason we chose the Nespresso, we keep the capsules (up to 60) in a holder on the inside of the cupboard door above it and spare boxes stashed in a cupboard, it's all very good in a small kitchen.

pud1 the DeLonghi would be perfect. You can make anything from a plain, regular black coffee to fancy cappuccinos and lattes.

I think there's more steps to using and cleaning a gaggia ground coffee machine, than a pod one.

With mine I just whack the coffee into the food recycling and rinse the holder/metal pod under the tap. I imagine you just put a pod in the in and rinse the holder under the tap with a pod machine. Cleaning the milk steamer is a bit of a faff but I rarely use it.

As for compactness, my non-pod espresso machine has a footprint of about 33 x13cm and I have to find storage space for one bag of coffee which is about 20 double espressos I think.

It is, of course, very much personal choice but I think some of the positives and negatives of pod v ground coffee simply aren't true.

I have the nespresso n400

I have the nespresso n/m400 it's a magimix one and it's bloody brilliant. Best coffee I've had. I've had other pod machines, espresso bean grinders etc amd wouldn't have anything else now

We have a lovely looking sage machine that grinds the beans.
It makes delicious coffee and hot chocolates.

Does anyone still have the 'put filter coffee and water in top, percolates through and makes big jug of coffee?' We have a Dualit one which makes DHs million large cups of coffee each morning, but hot plate is dying. Not sure a one cup at a time would keep up with the scale of his coffee habit! (He works from home).

We have a Philips Senseo. Much more popular on the continent; we buy the pads when we're visiting family (or ask them to bring some over).
Much nicer coffee than Tassimo IMO, and pods are cheaper than Nespresso.

Why did I never think to move my tassimo upstairs?? What a genius idea!

I have a Philips Senseo too, I love it.

I like the pads, (just like tea bags, not pots).

It's small & very very easy to use & clean.

I like latte so I put the milk in the cup in the microwave for 3 mins, then 1 minute watching it for the minute to get the foamy top, but not 'going over'.

I dislike the amount of packaging & waste with the other plastic/foil pots

I dislike any of them that come with the milk part in them, they always taste very chemically to me.

I had an extremely expensive one that was built into the kitchen, you put a large bag of coffee beans into the machine & it ground them fresh for each cup, it was mains plumbed and had an inbuilt milk steamer. It was a faff to clean, expensive, took up a chunk of space and the coffee wasn't any better.

If Phil died I'd buy one of his brothers the same day! 😬

We have this
Dualit machine. It takes BOTH nespresso capsules or a different handle takes normal ground coffee.
Fab, gives us a choice, we have every bloody type of coffee in the house!
Not too expensive either

extrahotlatte my DM did that - Senseo died and she'd bought another one the same day. Think it would be the same in our house - DP can't live without his coffees.

I have a nespresso kitchenaid and love it, so many reasonably priced different types of coffee. It does sometimes feel a bit cultish when you go and buy them, I think they're a bit like the apple of the coffee machine world but I also love apple so...meh! Lovely reliable coffee!

Thinking about it, mine takes ESE pods as well as ground coffee. They are basically tea bags but for espresso.

I have a nespresso pixie and an aeroccino machine and I love it. I too am close ish to the Trafford Centre, so replacement pods are easy to get and you can try different flavours when you call into the boutique.
I got my machine from John Lewis and got £75 credit which kept us in coffee and fancy cups for a good while.
The customer service is also excellent. 3 years guarantee and when I called regarding a problem a spare part was couriered out the next day - Saturday morning! Can't say fairer than that!

I'm looking at one of these, if I can find it in stainless steel instead of aluminium.

the-gadgeteer.com/2009/08/15/bialetti-mukka-express-review/

Or maybe one of these

www.atomiccoffeemachines.com.au

Thanks Olivia. Looks very space age! Does it only make one cup at a time though? Isn't that a pain?

Am I a 70s dinosaur to be trying to buy what's basically a jug percolator?