Expert bean to cup reviews…
Do you want incredible coffee made from freshly ground beans at home, but don’t want the hassle of having to grind your own beans either manually or in a separate coffee grinder? Then you need a bean to cup coffee machine my friend. Here we pick out 5 of the best machines on the market right now in our opinion and tell you the pros and cons of each.The best bean to cup coffee machines – quick summary
You can read our full reviews of each machine below, but here is our quick summary table:Brand | Product Name | Approx. Price | Learn More |
---|---|---|---|
De’Longhi | Magnifica ESAM4200 | £289 | Check price » |
Krups | EA817840 | £469 | Check price » |
De’Longhi | ECAM44.660.B Eletta | £499.03 | Check price » |
Krups | Evidence EA893D40 | £699 | Check price » |
Melitta | Melitta Aroma FreshGrind | £117 | Check price » |
What is a bean to cup coffee machine?
The name pretty much says it all. With a bean-to-cup machine, you choose your own whole roast beans, add them to a hopper within the machine and the machine does the rest – grinding the beans, tamping them, heating the water to the right temperature and pouring into the cup. More expensive machines will include an automatic milk frother, whereas some of the cheaper models will just provide a wand, requiring you to heat and froth the milk manually. Bean to cup machines give you access to the huge variety of coffee beans and can undoubtedly make consistently great quality coffee but the main advantage of bean to cup machines is the convenience. If quality is your biggest priority ahead of convenience then you may be better off purchasing a standard espresso machine which is a lot more manual and requires a fair bit of learning and practice, but arguably produces better quality coffee. If you want some more detail on the features we looked for here, you can find these beneath the article – otherwise let’s get right into it. Here are five of our favourite bean to cup coffee machines from all price ranges.Our Pick
De’Longhi Magnifica ESAM4200
Plenty of features and great tasting coffee at around the £250 mark. Perhaps not the most user friendly – particularly the operating instructions – but at this price it’s hard to find fault with this machine.
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Krups Digital EA817840
Large water tank and bean hopper means you’ll be able to make approximately 10 coffees before refilling. Looks great and simple to use but possibly a little bit too expensive.
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Check price at John Lewis »
De’Longhi ECAM44.660.B Eletta
Milk frother could be better as it doesn’t get particularly hot – but made up for by plenty of really useful features such as the programmable drink memory function and automatic rinse and descale programmes. Quality unit but not cheap.
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Krups Evidence EA893D40
Packed with features including 15 one touch drinks and a Bluetooth app to make drinks remotely. Compact and stylish, but at nearly a thousand pounds there’s no denying it’s very expensive.
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Check price at John Lewis »
Our Pick
Melitta AromaFresh Grind and Brew
It is endowed with a 1.5 litre water tank so will make up to 10 small cups of coffee at any one time. The machine needs standard 1×4 filters and is comes with a borosilicate glass jug that is dishwasher safe. The machine also has an auto descaler setting and comes with a 3 year warranty, especially useful for anyone living in hard water areas where build-up of deposits can knock out machines in short order.
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Hi, Your review of the Delonghi ESAM4200 mentions an annoying delay after using the steamer if you want to make a second cup. The delay is only 10 seconds if you follow the instructions and run off some hot water to cool the unit down.