15.1.2019

I bought this machine after initially buying a Krups Evidence, which I subsequently returned as I was disappointed with a number of features. I am pleased to say that despite only receiving this machine at the third attempt (the first two being stolen by the delivery drivers(!) - the pitfalls of Amazon sending an expensive item unpackaged during the Christmas rush) I am delighted with it.DESIGN- this is an elegant machine that aesthetically lives up to the money you spent on it. It feels solid and well made, the main body being of high quality plastic. With a few exceptions, most 'stainless steel' effect parts are actually plastic but also of a high quality, and it is not obvious they are not metal until you touch them.The buttons and display look good, are simple to use and have a nice feel. In a nutshell, is this is something you will be proud to have on your worktop and are likely to receive compliments from most people who visit you.- whilst fairly narrow, this is not a small machine in terms of height (measure the space under your units before buying) and it is fairly deep – most likely it will come almost to the front of your worktop, a consideration if you are short on food preparation space.- beware both the drip tray and warming rack will scratch if you are sliding rough textured cups around on them. A bit of care (and close supervision of guests!) will keep things looking pristine.BLACK COFFEE- as you’d expect the machine makes great espresso (but calls it a short coffee) for which you can adjust both the quantity and strength, meaning you can get it as you like it, with a decent crema. The smallest quantity you can dispense as a preset is 40ml, so not quite a ristretto but pretty close, but the ‘my coffee option’ (basically saves your strength/volume preferences) allows a minimum quantity of 20ml.- there is also a long coffee option which taste-wise is essentially a filter coffee and noticeably a different drink from the short coffee. I suspect it is made at a lower pressure.- this machine does not make a one-touch americano, but it can easily add boiling water to your espresso, thus creating the same drink with two-touches (or three if you want to stop the water early!).- in the bean hopper there is a dial to select one of 7 grind settings, meaning you will find exactly what you need for the beans you are using and the drinks you usually have.- I also really like the ground coffee option for both short and long coffee (haven't worked out yet if you can use this for the milk based drinks), which many machines do not offer. It is really useful if you are partial to flavoured coffees, have guests who demand decaf or if you occasionally fancy using something different from the beans you have in your hopper.- the coffee temperature has four settings and is scalding hot on the highest, so no complaints there.MILK BASED COFFEES- this machine makes five one-touch milk based coffees - flat white, latte, cappuccino, caffelatte, and espresso macchiato - plus the option to dispense plain frothed milk (aka babycino), for which there is also a 'my milk' setting to save your favourite quantity.- the machine controls the quantity of the coffee and milk in each drink, however all one-touch buttons can be reprogrammed to your own quantities if desired. If you fancy a different quantity just as a one-off, you can also cancel the milk while it is being dispensed to create a smaller stronger drink.- the texture of the foam is controlled manually using a dial on the milk carafe. There are three settings: minimal froth (essentially just hot milk), medium froth (latte etc) and stiff froth (cappuccino). The machine does not remind you to change the dial, so if you forget you will get the wrong drink.- the latte, cappuccino and espresso macchiato on this machine are excellent. Adding gingerbread syrup to my lattes gets me a drink equally as good as I've purchased out, and the cappuccino foam is impressively stiff.- The flat white is less good; the quantities are way off and it's nothing like you would expect if you regularly purchase this drink on the high street. However, as mentioned above, you can reprogram the button to get a much more authentic result.- as seems to be the case with most similar machines, the milk is not super hot, but once combined with the coffee it is more than hot enough for my taste. If you are using the plain milk to make hot chocolate then it would likely need drinking pretty quickly though. You can also use the steam wand to froth your own milk (not the machine doesn't come with a jug though) which yields a hotter result.MILK CARAFE- the milk carafe is made of clear plastic, and fits nicely in the fridge door. It normally does me 5-6 drinks before needing topping up, and being clear you can easily see when it needs refilling, thus not wasting a drink by suddenly sucking on air half way through.- it is easy to attach and detach from the machine and you are prompted to activate a steam cleaning cycle after every drink. I tend to do this when I have finished making a set of drinks which seems to work fine (beware it's a bit messy, so put an empty cup underneath first). Once a week I empty any milk left in the carafe to keep it fresh and give it a thorough clean under the tap - everything easily comes apart so this is a quick and simple procedure.OTHER- the water tank is filled from the front (really useful if you plan to put it under your kitchen units) and can be topped up with a jug rather than taking it to the tap.- the bean hopper is obviously on the top, and this can be tricky to fill without spilling beans everywhere if your machine is under your kitchen units (I tip my beans onto a plate and then slide them in).- the machine cleans itself on both startup and shutdown which seems unnecessary. I don't really mind because the drip tray capacity is enormous, but it does seem to mean I refill the water reservoir at a greater rate than I am drinking.- the cup warmer is moderately effective and could be of use if your kitchen is cold (you can set the machine to come on automatically at a set time in the morning, theoretically giving you warm cups when you wake up). I don’t use it however as I’d be at risk of knocking my cups off every time I opened the cupboard above.- it’s worth registering the machine with DeLonghi. I’m not sure if they always have a welcome offer, but I got free espresso glasses, beans, cleaning equipment and a 1 year service.Overall I am very pleased with this machine and hope it lasts me a long time. I'm not sure I could convince myself to part with the RRP, but at the price point it can usually be found at I feel like I've got myself good value for money. If you are struggling to decide on which machine to get, and aren't buying solely to make perfect flat whites, this is probably one of the best options for you to consider.

17.1.2018

This review is for the De'Longhi ECAM44.660.B Eletta Bean to Cup Coffee Machine, 1450 W - BlackBenefits of this machine- very easy to use and saves a lot of time with one touch for most popular drinks- ability to customise drinks to suit your taste- automatic frother works very well and has several settings for the different drinks- felt uneasy using pods environmentally and this machine grinds beans fresh- we use the milk from this machine to make hot chocolate for our toddler as we feel safe it will not be too hot for her- we do use this to make tea. Saves boiling the kettle and you can have hot milk too- love seeing the different layers of the drink through the coffee mugPoints to note- check the dimensions- we have not yet had the joy of performing maintenance on this.

23.6.2015

The first, and most important, thing to say about this machine is that it makes really great coffee. The quality of the drink, is, of course, dependent on the beans you use. We use Esotico from the Algerian Coffee Shop in Soho.The machine notionally will work with either beans or ground coffee, but ground coffee is not really an option for continuous use, as you have to refill the ground coffee input container with each cup. It is, however, useful for, say, making the odd cup of decaffeinated coffee if you have a guest with that predilection.The usefulness of the machine is enhanced by the several controls - it is really easy to change both strength and temperature for each cup.The machine is basically simple to use,

15.8.2016

Having had this machine for a few weeks, I could not be more happy with it. It arrived with a water filter and one packet of Descaler, although it's not advertised as coming with these. I also joined the delonghi coffee club and they sent me another two packets of Descaler for free and also the option to have a free service of the machine after a year. I have been trying different beans and I've yet to have a bad coffee from this machine, although some beans are better than others so you'll just have to experiment with your own taste. I like Americano coffee and if you put a mug under the coffees dispenser and set it for extra long coffee and press two cups it fills the mug to the perfect level and the resulting cup is as good a coffee as you will get anywhere.

13.4.2018

This is the second De'Longhi machine I have owned. I bought my first which was the DeLonghi 5600 Perfecta over 5 years ago and it still makes a great tasting coffee, however the temperature of the water wasn't as hot as when new so when I saw this new ,machine on offer from amazon I just had to get it. My first machine has found a new home by the way and is still making great coffee. When I passed it on it had produced nearly 6000 cups of coffee.This machine is stunning to look at, I just love the black which compliments my kitchen and other appliances. My old machine was great but this one is a huge step up in terms of performance. It holds more water, it is quieter,

29.7.2015

I think to review this item you have to do it within the context of it being around £500 so will appeal to only very few coffee drinkers. It is a really made piece of Italian hardware and operates with reassuring noises that confirm this is a premium product. There are no corners cut in its design and build quality.If you're a serious coffee drinker this is a great machine; it will make many types of coffee from espressos to lattes quickly and easily and although the final taste is down to the quality of the beans it will bring out the best of whatever you use. It is a step change to anyone who has drunk instant and is a far superior choice to those horrible coffee peculators that seem to

25.1.2019

I’ve been looking for a ‘proper’ coffee machine for ages. Years ago I had a small instant coffee machine and it did the job but was so fiddly to use and clean. Changing filters and cleaning all the tubes and bits was a nightmare and for the time it took to make a coffee and clean after I ended up just using instant coffee. After years of deliberation I made the plunge and started to look for a real coffee maker.I am not exaggerating when I say this is probably one of the best things I have every purchased. This delonghi ECAM44 coffee machine is just fantastic. It is so easy to use and clean it’s a dream.Coffee beans are added to the top compartment, you choose your default strength and then just pick your desired coffee.

17.8.2018

Love this coffee machine! It's not perfect, I have a few niggles with it but overall it makes lovely cappuccino and americano, my go to coffees. Get's used at least 3 times a day.It has settings for other milk based coffees but no where does it tell you what the machine does differently. I know what the difference between a cappuccino and a flat white is but i'd like to know what the machine does that's different. as far as I can tell. they are all the same...a shot of coffee...and some milk at varying amounts which you manually set to what ever frothiness you want.Makes a fairly hot cappuccino, think the milk could do with being a degree or to warmer but a long as you drink it immediately its good.

2.10.2015

I bought to replace a Nespresso machine. I checked it first at John Lewis and subsequently bought it on Amazon, as it was cheaper. I am overall pleased but base one my experience with this machine I would like to share the following:1) It does look stylish and it is easy to use;2) Only really suitable for coffee beans, as you can only make one cup of coffee using pre-ground coffee and it is a messy process;3) You should only use fresh milk. If I take out the milk container, put it to the fridge (as they advised in JL) overnight and try to use the next day, it does not work;4) It makes good capuchinnos and lattes but I am struggling to make an Americano, as it tastes bitter,

16.1.2016

Having owned a de'Longhi Magnifica automatic cappuccino machine for 7 years I find this new machine to be an excellent replacement. We well and truly ran the Magnifica into the ground and it unfortunately got to the point where all parts were obsolete so it was no longer possible to fix. It pretty much did everything we needed from a machine so looked for something similar and the Eletta ticks all the right boxes. As others have said, it's a tad slimmer and taller than the Magnifica but thankfully still (just) sits underneath our kitchen wall units.Interestingly, the bean hopper takes more beans than the Magnifica which is great because this represents the greatest faff as it's housed at the back of the machine,

1.6.2015

This is an excellent coffee machine, and a worthy upgrade to my old Coffee Garcon machine that has finally been put into retirement. It's very sleek, compact and well put together - it certainly looks the part in my kitchen. I do have a few tiny gripes with it however. Firstly, there doesn't seem to be any indicator to display the level of beans in the machine - as far as I can tell, the only way to determine this is to check manually. It's only a very minor quibble however. Equally minor is the fact that the drink sizes are offered in cup sizes rather than actual volumes - my old machine let me just set a volume of coffee each time, which I really liked. This may just be my preference however,

27.12.2016

I have used this machine for about 4 days now and i totally love it. Its much faster then i was expecting and also quieter.Now today i found out that the "My Coffee" option is sort of broken. I could set it the first time to my preference by holding down the "one cup" button so it enters programming mode but now it fails to enter the programming mode. Instead it shows "Please wait" as the picture shows. when i keep holding the "one cup" button. and if i keep holding the button it cancels everything. I can also see that the beans that were made are not even used (second picture). Seems there is something wrong on the motherboard circuit or something. I tried shutting down and try again,

29.6.2018

We've had this machine for almost a month. It's fantastic and light years ahead of the Tassimo pod machine it replaced. It looks good too.It produces beautiful freshly ground coffee to our specific taste. As good as any coffee shop you can visit and for around 10p a cup (or 15p a cup if you like your coffee milky). We've based this on buying excellent Taylor of Harrogate beans on a 2 for 1 deal. This cost would obviously rise proportionately if you bought from an artisan producer.Moreover, it produces a perfect cup of coffee quickly, effortlessly and in a simple, foolproof way.Cleaning is mostly automatic, self generated and a doddle.My wife and I like our coffee the same,

27.2.2016

Had it for a few days now and like it. Had intended to get the cheaper DeLonghi but thought what the heck, certainly not cheap but bean to cup machines aren't. It's straight forward to get started although the manual perhaps makes it seem more complicated than it is and could be better. Everything's customisable, strength, temperature, amount produced... but if you're used to having a full mug/cappuccino cup (300ml'ish) then by default even the extra long doesn't fill it as it uses standard servings (I think) so an extra long espresso is 120ml.Some aren't happy with the cappuccino/milk temperature. I've been warming the cups using the kettle so they're nice and toasty and using milk straight from the fridge.

13.8.2017

If you want a coffee machine that takes your choice of beans and can give you an infinite variety of coffees at a high but not unreasonable price this machine is for you.We have pretty much every variety of coffee making technology in our house. A Nespresso machine has been our go to day to day coffee maker but we realised we were spending 100s of pounds on coffee without much ability to vary the kind of coffee we had. I like long milky lattes and my wife likes short flat whites now we can easily program or coffee machine to make exactly what we want whatever we are feeling like. This is coupled with saving a lot of money by buying beans rather than pods,

De'Longhi ECAM 45.760.W - Reviews

Info

Analysis

Detail