Thinking about buying a coffee machine, any opinions or recommendations gratefully received

[TeapotCollection]

Just that really 😊

Are you glad you bought one?

Ugh, but now I've looked up the Delonghi Magnifica and I want one.

We have the Delonghi magnifica, it's a great machine, but, a word of caution, all instant coffee after using something like a bean to cup will taste like warm water in comparison, and yes that includes Nescafé which used to taste quite strong to me before we got our machine.

Another vote for sage! I wouldn't be without mine, we even take it on holiday. Shop around though, the prices seem to have crept up a little. I bought mine new for £400 but it's now retailing at £600+

An ex bought me a Bosch Tassimo coffee machine for Christmas 2017 and I've used it every day since. Love it! Shame the guy didnt last but hey ho, I have coffee 😊

We had a Sage but upgraded it recently. A brilliant starter barista style machine. Takes a bit of practice though. If you aren’t really into massively fussy then Nespresso is easy to use and the coffee is fine.

@TeapotCollection

To my shame I have to admit I’ve done precisely zero research 😃 so I don’t know what pod or bean to cup means, although it looks fairly self explanatory 😊

I’ve no idea how much they cost either, I’m guessing bean to cup would cost more, and take longer to make the drink?

Both of those sound like they’re worth a look

DH has a Sage all singing and dancing bean to cup machine. It cost him about £450 and he has to have his coffee delivered freshly roasted because it refuses to work on beans older than 18 days. It's very particular about the freshness apparently. But DH adores it, swears that he's easily made his money back by not going to Costa and uses it multiple times a day. He got it on Amazon and used their payment plan option.

As far as it taking the time to make the coffee, no longer than it takes to make a cup of tea.

Recently it developed an electrical fault, only 10 months in. Sage got him to send it back (they covered postage), and sent him a replacement one, no questions asked, so the customer service was excellent.

I've just seen that someone has already linked DHs one. The prices have definitely gone up as a PP said.

Nespresso with the hot milk thingy. It broke I got a new one immediately!!!

I do recycle the pods easily dropped of at collect + site

My husband wants a bean to cup - I just want to push button and get coffee :)

Had a Nespresso for many years, did like the coffee but due to the capsules not being so easy to recycle I went for a Lavazza pod one this time. Eco capsules, made of a bio-degradable plastic that you put in your green waste bins (home compost doesn't do it apparently). Good coffee, too.

For those worried about freshness of the coffee beans for a bean to cup machine, we keep our beans in the freezer, and fill the dispenser every few days, this way the beans keep fresh, it allows us to buy ours in bulk from Amazon.

I've been considering one but I worry they're a nightmare to clean?

Nespresso pods are the easiest thing ever to recycle, as a PP said you put them outside in their bag and they get picked up when new pods are delivered. You can drop them off in the shops too, if you live near one. They are mostly made of aluminium which is one of the most recyclable materials there is. The conclusion of the article I linked to before was that pods were environmentally superior to other ways of making coffee (although I personally think the aeropress must be at least as good, but I don’t like the coffee from it as much).

chemenger That was an interesting article, by the way thanks! They only seemed to look at 4 options, though: instant not coffee, pods, drip filters and stove espressos. The latter two I can see would be very inefficient as they involve making more coffee than you actually need, and keeping it hot using an external source. And as most energy is from the growing, harvesting, roasting and transport of the beans, using more beans will be worse than using fewer. Hence why instant comes out well because it contains hardly any coffee--. The pods are good for that because they are portion controlled, but surely in a bean to cup or aeropress you also only use the amount of coffee you want... If you want stronger coffee you'll use more than a single pod, maybe, but then the pod would give you weaker coffee than you want! (or you'd use two). I too would be interested to see if they considered a "barista style" machine or aeropress, with only the amount of water/ coffee you need heated/ dispensed. Good to know the pods aren't as bad as I'd assumed though. (still not keen on the coffee they make, but that may just be the brands of pod I've used... #coffeesnob)