Coffee is such a personal taste that investing in a machine that suits you and everyone in the household can be a commitment. With a large selection of coffee machines available online, knowing what type of machine to choose – be it bean-to-cup, capsule or a ground coffee design - can be daunting. But we’re here to help as we start by taking a closer look at popular coffee machine brand De’Longhi.
Type ‘coffee machines’ into Google, and the name De’Longhi will appear alongside other well-known coffee brands such as Nespresso, Bosch, Lavazza and Krups. What grabs us about the De’Longhi selection, however, is the fact that its price range is so wide.
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You can find coffee machines from its portfolio to suit all budgets this Black Friday from £30 / $39 / AU$57 for a basic capsule design, to all-singing machines with smart features that will set you back around £2,500 / $3,213 / AU$4,730. So is this coffee brand worth considering? To make choosing the ideal coffee machine easier – and avoid you having to revert back to your local Costa while it collects dust on the worktop - we’ve taken a closer look at the selection on offer.
The Bottom Line: As a brand, Delonghi has an impressive range of coffee machines, grinders and accessories to suit a variety of budgets and tastes.
Pros: Know what to look for and it’s easy to add barista-style to your kitchen so you can enjoy creamy cafe lattes at dawn and delicious espresso martinis at happy hour.
When searching for the best coffee machine it’s important to think about how you drink your coffee. Would you like a machine that will grind fresh beans from scratch? Or perhaps you want the flexibility of a ground coffee machine? Or perhaps you hark for a fuss-free capsule design that is easy to keep clean?
De’Longhi scores well in this category as it offers machines to suit all these functions and more. How luxurious the design and coffee offering however, depends on how much you’re willing to spend.
Cons: While De’Longhi has a sophisticated looking range of coffee machines in its collection, it’s worth noting that you will have to pay more for the designs with sophisticated finishes and functionality that give a more professional tasting coffee. The Jovia EDG250R takes Dolce Gusto capsules and costs £29.99 / $39 / AU$57, and we think it’s satisfying enough for the casual coffee drinker, but for a really fresh brew with a thick crema it’s best to opt for a bean-to-cup design such as the De’Longhi EPAM960.75.Gi M Maestosa (pictured above), priced £2,624.99, $3,374 / AU$4,967.
De'Longhi – everything you need to know:
Founded in 1902 in Treviso, Italian company De’Longhi started out producing portable heaters and air conditioners – something it still prides itself on - and has since grown to be a worldwide producer of small domestic appliances across food prep, cooking, cleaning and ironing. As well as producing a wide range of coffee makers, grinders and accessories, De’Longhi sells a stylish mix of appliances such as kettles, toasters, grills, barbecues and deep fryers.
De’Longhi launched its first pump-driven espresso machine cappuccino system in 1990 and has since gained partnerships with both Nespresso and Dolce Gusto and it is in fact a third party manufacturer for machines that take Nespresso and Dolce Gusto capsules. Its range of machines and accessories is vast, but here are a few main types of designs to look out for:
Bean-to-cup: If you’re serious about flavor, try a machine that grinds its own coffee beans to produce a very dense, thick crema, such as the luxurious De’Longhi PrimaDonna S Evo bean-to-cup model, priced £683 / $878 / AU$1,292. While it doesn’t come cheap, it is a high-spec design that you’ll want to show off on your worktop and it lets you customise your drink to suit your taste. It even comes with smart connectivity so you can link it to an app on your phone and personalise your drink.
Capsule coffee: De’Longhi has a wide range of capsule machines – you can pick up a Nescafe Dolce Gusto design for as little as £29.99 /$39 /AU $57, for example, which comes with basic features and has a compact space saving design. For a model that uses the more premium Nespresso capsules, you’ll pay more with the De’Longhi Nespresso Gran Lattissima Capsule Coffee Machine, which costs £349.99 / $450 / AU$662. If you’re keen to join the Nespresso ‘club’ to gain access to its signature coffee flavors from around the world, we think it might be worth comparing De’Longhi’s designs to Nespresso’s own range of machines, so you can weigh up the coffee options, however.
Filter coffee: If you love the simple taste of filter coffee perhaps the 10-liter De’Longhi ICM15210.1 Filter Coffee Maker, which lets you refill your cup diner style costs a reasonable £29.99 /$39 /AU $57, is all you need.
Dolce Gusto capsules: If you like the flavor and offering of Nescafe Dolce Gusto coffee - which is available at most supermarkets – you may want to consider one of DeLonghi’s dedicated Dolce Gusto machines. It’s worth noting that within the De’Longhi Dolce Gusto range, there are some machines that look and function just like competitor brands – the only difference we can see between Dolce Gusto Infinissima by Krups and Dolce Gusto Infinissima by Delonghi is a slight difference in the coffee machine body colour and logo in the front, for example.
DeLonghi: the final word
Within the De’Longhi brand you’ll find clever designs that include features such as smart connectivity and the option to personalise your settings and remember them for the next time you use the machine.
There are also designs that can grind beans from scratch and pod machines that will offer you a wide range of drinks beyond coffee including hot chocolate and green tea. Whether you refuse to wake up to anything less than a double espresso or just want a milky hot chocolate come bedtime, it’s likely you’ll find a design to suit you this Black Friday.
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TechRadar is scouring every retailer and rounding up all the top deals over the Black Friday period, and we’ve put all the best Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday deals in easy-to-navigate articles to help you find the bargains you’re looking for.
