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So as the nights are drawing in and the mornings seem darker I've decided to pull the trigger on a coffee machine. Of the bean to cup variety, to assist as much as possible in my bleary eyed winter morning state. My issue is that I don't want it to completely dominate the worktop, most of them seem very deep? There's the sage range that look decent but are pricey circa £1000. Can anyone recommend one that's more wide than it is deep and makes good coffee at a more wallet friendly price? Thanks in advance...
Delonghi stuff is good if you can find something that fits your space.
Can you use dead space in a corner? Mine sits quite nicely on the worktop butted back in to the corner, uses otherwise useless space
DELONGHI Autentica is narrow but deep so takes less counter space. Sometimes they are sold under £300 new.
i've got this issue too. Gone for a filter machine
In my experience there is nothing at the lower end of Bean to Cup machines that matches the quality you can get from a more traditional coffee machine.
At work we have a DeLonghi Magnifica Cappuccino Bean to Cup (IIRC) and at home I have a Sage burr grinder and a Sage Duo Temp Pro (a recent upgrade from a Gaggia Classic that was falling to bits). The coffee at work is fine, but I can make as good a coffee as I have ever had from a shop with my Sage (which is a marked improvement from the Gaggia surprisingly).
Look for delonghi factory reconditioned machines. Ours was @£300 and is great. Lovely coffee, with a little spout to make late night decaf from preground.
They sell through an eBay shop.
Ive just googled it, and on the same page was a refurbrd sage Barista Express, which is only 31cm deep, if that is important?
Look for delonghi factory reconditioned machines. Ours was @£300 and is great. Lovely coffee, with a little spout to make late night decaf from preground.
Another vote for the Delongi, Ive had the best results when key I make a very strong short coffee with the grinder set as fine as the machine will allow and still allow water through, I then top up with hot water from kettle.
However I have had no look using the little preground spout Must be doing it wrong!
Space is the issue really, I only have one space it can go and it's exposed. 30cm depth is do able.
Thanks for the heads up on the ebay page... Do you have a link?
If you search for delonghi refurbished (on eBay) they come up right away
Delonghi are too long/deep unfortunately. They are good we also use them at work.
Delonghi are too long/deep unfortunately.
I was thinking this as the water trays run front to back whereas the Sage ones run side to side so they aren't as deep. I don't know if that is the same across the range but it's my experience of each brand.
I’ve decided to pull the trigger on a coffee machine.
Edit (I was typing as that last post came in)
That's the one I've got ^
I happened to have a tape measure to hand, so just checked and my Sage machine (bought as a 50th birthday present in lockdown) is 30cm deep. Checked and officially it is 31cm, so not sure about that.
It is the Sage Barista Express - not fully automatic, like some, but I think I prefer that.
I had two DeLonghi Magnifica ones before that, which were ok, but not a patch on the Sage.
We have a Delonghi thing. Hateful machine , makes all sorts of noises, requires purging / descaling / filling up and much other nonsense on a daily basis. Has to have some sort of cup "nappy" placed under it for when it decides to expel water from itself for whatever reason. Cost £700 quid. My wife seems to like it.
I personally feel the answer to the OP problem is to get into those new fangled things called tea bags.
^^^^ A delonghi machine that self cleans!!^^^^^^ How awful! It has a drip tray that it purges into. The manual says when you empty the grounds, empty the drip tray.
My £700 machine cost me £300 as I bought a returned/refurbished one from them - still comes with the full guarantee.
We worked out that the money we would save going from Nespresso pods to Beans, would pay for the machine in less than a year.
Vote for Delonghi here. It's consistent in what it produces, and there's not too much to mess up by fiddling. Frothing isn't all that though.
Sage is the other option, especially if you want semi-auto (ie you grind the beans on one side, then shift the head across to make the coffee); and it has all sorts of options to fiddle with.
Delonghi magnifica cappuccino here.
Really happy with it. No problems at all.
As mentioned above delonghi have an eBay refurb shop and there some nice bargains on there. Link below to one of their coffee machines, just select sellers other items to see other stuff they're selling
Trigger pulled on a refirbed Sage Express! Thanks everyone!
Delonghi here for ten yrs. just about to replace it as a few bits have worn out as it’s used lots daily. Prob can be fixed but too old to spend money on now unfortunately. It’s done tens of thousands of coffees!
Good advice here
https://coffeeblog.co.uk/best-bean-to-cup-coffee-machines/
Good choice if depth is critical. People talk highly of them. Now to chose your beans......
Segafredo Intermezzo for me!
My DeLonghi Perfecta has been faultless for the last 12 years. The odd descale when it tells me to, drip <span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">tray emptied when it tells me the grounds bin is full. and I clean it out every other week which takes about 5 min tops.
Its probably too big for you though as it’s the same depth/height as our microwave and not much narrower but the £900 it retailed at when I got it has long paid for itself in consistently good coffee.
My one gripe is that the milk frother/jug seems to make milk go off really quickly when it’s kept in the jug (in the fridge!). I suspect a small amount of steam/hot milk gets let back in to the jug after it has pumped the required froth/milk through, so the milk goes off quicker. To be honest my wife was the one who liked cappuccino, latte and the like. I just make espresso or Americans with it. </span>
Americans
Like we need more of them 🤣🤣
I use a separate heat/whisk milk jug for frothy milk. We use a mix of skimmed/oat milk in our house, plus I find it much simpler.
Trigger pulled on a refirbed Sage Express! Thanks everyone!
good choice! A couple of pieces of advice:
Making coffee is full of variables - try to change only one thing at once. My advice would be to keep the ratio of ground coffee to shot size the same, and focus on getting the grind setting right.
Adjusting the grind size is extremely sensitive - you are moving the wheel thing by a couple of mm at a time
"seasoning" the grinder burrs sounds like utter horseshit (at least it did to me) - but I found it to be a real thing.
I have the Sage Barista Pro. My coffee comes from our local roaster (James Coffee, Ross on Wye). If you're ever in the area, pop in ask to see Peter (the boss) and get him to walk you round the machines they have. A man who has devoted his life to coffee and it shows!
I am sad enough to have a book with the best grind settings for each type of bean I get. Only real thing you can change on my machine so I try and get to a 30 second shot every time. Other stuff Peter tells me are important
1) let machine warm up. At least 10 minutes
2) always use fresh water, flush through a shot empty first
3) If you're having any water in your coffee, put that in first
No idea if it makes a difference, but that's how I make mine.
Oh and now almost no coffee I buy seems worth the price!
The DeLonghi machines self flush every time they turn on and off, which works well.
Those looking at Delongi might be amused by this
our local roaster, James Coffee
Nominative determinism, much?