22 Best Bean to Cup Coffee Machines. Kev’s 2024 UK Reviews

In this post I’m going into detail on the best bean to cup coffee machines at the time of writing, and providing some crucial info on the types of bean to cup coffee machines and who they’re for, with a goal of helping you to discover your perfect bean to cup coffee machine..

So, let’s just begin with a short intro on bean to cup coffee machines, firstly to make completely sure that it is a bean to cup machine you’re after, and that you understand the differences between the different kinds of bean to cup coffee machines on the market before I get into the suggestions for which I believe are among the best & why.

Bean to Cup Coffee Machines – What Are They, Exactly?

Bean to cup coffee machines are coffee machines that make espresso and espresso based coffees (all the coffee shop favourites) from whole coffee beans, more or less at the touch of a button. Put coffee beans in the hopper, get freshly brewed coffee out of the bottom, no faff.

Contrary to popular belief, a bean to cup machine is not simply a coffee machine with a built in grinder. 

If you go to most of the bigger retailers, they’ll list the likes of the Sage Barista Express and Barista Pro, Delonghi La Specialista and so on, as bean to cup machines, because they have an integrated grinder.

This is one of my pet hates ;-), an integrated grinder alone doesn’t make it a bean to cup coffee machine.

The first ever domestic bean to cup coffee machine was released in 1985, the Seaco Automatica, and what made it special wasn’t just the built in grinder, but the built in grinder in combination with the brewing unit.

It’s the presence of a brewing unit that qualifies a machine as being a bean to cup coffee machine. 

Espresso machines use a filter basket, this is where the ground coffee goes, and it’s tamped, and then hot water is introduced under pressure, to extract the espresso.

With traditional machines, the basket is in a filter holder, known as a “portafilter” and it’s manually dosed (the correct amount of ground coffee added) and tamped, before being locked into the group (where the hot water is delivered from), and then knocked into a knock box to dispose of the used puck of coffee. 

Bean to cup machines use a brewing unit instead, with a gearing mechanism to dose and tamp the coffee in the basket and then expel the puck of used coffee internally into the waste bin.

 

I do include some Sage coffee machine reviews in this post, but I’m not saying they’re bean to cup machines, I’m saying that they’re a very specific kind of machine, currently exclusive to Sage, that are made for the kind of coffee lover who would usually choose a bean to cup machine.

Bean to Cup Coffee Machine Types

The main differences when it comes to the type of bean to cup machine, comes down to how the milk is frothed.

The cheapest bean to cup machines are called “Panarello wand” machines. These are the standard chunky looking steam wands, they’re easy to use, but they produce only one type of milk texture, fairly large bubbled texture, towards the more “old school” side of things, kind of 80’s/90’s cappuccino foam.

It’s worth keeping mind, though, that most of the cheapest Panarello wand machines are going to be almost the same where coffee quality is concerned, as much more expensive machines, as the more expensive machines mainly deliver more features and convenience, but the grinders and brewing units are usually almost identical.

There are pro steam wand machines on the market now, currently only from Gaggia, the Anima Barista Plus, Magenta Plus, Cadorna Barista Plus and Accademia.

Cappuccinatore machines are bean to cup machines with the same frother usually found in milk carafe machines, but without the carafe, instead you put the milk tube directly into your milk bottle.

One touch milk carafe machines often sold as one touch cappuccino makers or latte machines, are bean to cup coffee machines with a milk carafe frother. You fill the carafe with milk, then press the cappuccino option, for example, and everything is done for you, the espresso and frothed milk are delivered into your cup, and you walk off with a smile on your face. 

Well, you do if you’re Brad Pitt, thinking about the huge amount of money you were paid by De’Longhi for riding a motorbike with a bag of coffee in your backpack with your name on the front ;-), but that’s a different story. 

If you’re looking for a one touch milk machine, I can make this decision VERY easy for you. The latest machine from DeLonghi is the Rivelia, I was expecting it to be just an other one touch milk machine, I was wrong, it’s ridiculously good. Click here to jump down to the Rivelia review.

The only other kind of “bean to cup” machines to mention, aren’t bean to cup machines at all, so why am referencing them in this post?

These are the machines from Sage that I refer to as “In-Between machines“, and I’m mentioning them because actually despite them not being bean to cup machines, technically speaking, I think these specific two machines are among the best options for a lot of people who’re thinking of buying a a bean to cup coffee machine. 

With all that said, let’s get into the reviews. 

By the way, just before we get into it, it may interest you to know that I’ve actually used most of these machines. As you may be aware, this isn’t the norm, often when you’re reading a post like this with multiple product reviews, the person writing the post hasn’t been in the same room as any of the machines, in fact, these days it might not be a person writing the reviews at all!

 

 

The fact that I’m passionate about coffee, and I’m genuinely focused on helping people to find the perfect coffee machine for them, coupled with the fact that I’ve actually had first hand experience with a growing number of these coffee machines, I believe makes this the most helpful guide on the web for helping people choose the right bean to cup coffee machine for them, hopefully, you’ll agree when you’ve finished reading :-).

 

De’Longhi Magnifica S Ecam E22.110

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Features:

• Panarello Steam Wand
• Easy Access Front Loading Water Tank: 1.8L
• Adjustable Brew Group Height for Different Sized Cups
• Fairly Quiet Grinding with 13 Settings
• Dreg Drawer Capacity: 14 Coffees
• Maximum Cup Height: 13 cm
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 23.8 x 43 x 34.8 cm

My Observations:

This is one of DeLonghi’s more entry-level espresso machines in the Magnifica range, the successor to the hugely popular Magnifica 4200, that is now been discontinued.  It’s sold very well over the past few years, I think it’s actually still one of DeLonghi’s best selling-bean to cup coffee machines.

In a nutshell, I think the reason this machine sells so well is that its priced right for this section of the coffee machine market, it’s really good value for money, it’s simple to use, and although they are cheap machines with quite a bit of plastic, they’re built to last. As with the earlier Magnifica, they just keep on going, there’s really not much in them to go wrong in terms of clever electronics.

For more on bean to cup machines & longevity, see: How long do bean to cup coffee machines last?

They’ve released the more modern-looking Evo range, and I think in the long term they’ll probably become as popular once they’re available as well priced as the Magnifica S is often available for these days.

If you’ve noticed there are a number of Magnifica S machines, by the way, and you’re wondering what the difference is, most just differ by colour and aesthetics, and some of them have a different steam wand, for example, the S Smart has the clever steam wand with two settings, the best of this type of steam wand that I’ve used.

Some may say that the Magnifica S machines don’t differ a great deal from the Magnifica ESAM 4200 other than looks and size, and that’s a fair comment, there’s not a massive amount of difference, but the earlier Magnifica wasn’t broken, so there wasn’t a great deal to fix. I think they just wanted to release a Magnifica that looked a bit more modern and has a slightly more modern interface.

It’s slightly quieter than the earlier Magnifica, the footprint is slightly smaller, and instead of volume dials it has re-programmable buttons. Unfortunately, as with the 4200, it doesn’t produce what I’d refer to as a “true” double shot, but this doesn’t seem to bother a lot of people.

All I mean by this is that with a lot of the other bean to cup coffee machines you’ll find in this post, most of them in fact, there’s an option to produce double the volume of coffee from double the amount of ground beans, either by selecting 2, or by pressing the button quickly in fast succession, to tell the machine to grind and pull the shot twice.

The Magnifica machines don’t quite do that, instead the 2 cup option vs the 1 cup option, is just made to produce double the volume using only slightly more ground coffee, so the 2 cup option produces a bigger, weaker coffee, which is fine if that’s what you want. If you do want double the espresso from double the ground coffee, you can have that but it means pulling two singles. It’s not really a huge deal, the only difference vs the Gaggia machines for example is that you press the shot button twice and then you can do something else for a minute while the machine grinds and pulls the espresso and then repeats.

If you’re just looking for a low cost, small, reliable bean to cup coffee machine – this would be one of the most obvious choices.

Best Delonghi Machines

 

 

DeLonghi Magnifica Start 

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Features:

• Panarello Steam Wand
• 3 Pre-set Coffees (Espresso, Coffee, Americano)
• 1.8 Litre Water Tank
• 13 Grind Settings
• Dreg Drawer Capacity: 14 Coffees
• Maximum Cup Height: 14 cm
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 24 x 44 x 35 cm

My Observations:

This is one of the latest bean to cup machines from De’Longhi, and it’s one of their cheapest bean to cup coffee machines at the moment, very similarly price to the Magnifica S.

The way it differs from the Magnifica S, in case you’re wondering, is really only in two regards, and that is that the new “Start” machine has a more modern interface, and a one touch Americano setting.

The Magnifica S, S Smart and Start, are all identical machines internally. The brewing unit, grinder, pump and so on are all the same parts, in fact this is the same across nearly all of the Delonghi auto bean to cup machines.

The Magnifica S and S Smart area bit more old school where the interface is concerned, buttons and dials – the Start has soft touch buttons. 

For me, this isn’t really a big deal, unless you’re vision impaired. If you are, then you’ll probably find old school tactile buttons and dials more convenient. I get quite a lot of emails from people with visual impairment asking me which are the best bean to cup coffees for people with visual impairments, and my response is always to go for the most old school machines.

If it’s a Delonghi, then I’d go Magnifica S or S Smart, if it’s a Gaggia, I’d go for the Brera or the Anima, it’s just a much more tactile experience with the old school buttons and dials.

If you’re not visually impaired and this isn’t factoring into the decision, you might want to lean towards the Start if you’re an Americano fan, thanks to the one touch Americano setting.

This is a panarello wand machine, so milk steaming is done manually, it’s very easy with these kinds of steam wands to make what I refer to as “old school” cappuccino foam, but you can also just slide off the panarello and use the steam pipe like a pro steam wand, to make more modern microfoam textured milk.

 

Philips 2200 Series EP2220/10

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Features:

Panarello Steam Wand
12 Grind Settings
Water Tank Capacity (front accessed): 1.8 Litres
Dump Box Capacity: 12
True Double Shots
Adjustable Cup Height
Grinder Bypass Chute for Pre-ground
Dimensions (WxDxH): 24.7 x 43.4 x 37.4 cm

This appears to be the Philips answer to the popular De’Longhi Magnifica S Smart. It’s slightly more modern looking, I’d say possibly slightly more attractive, the price is often more attractive these days, too.

The main pros of the Philips 2200 Vs De’Longhi Esam, however, are:

True Double Shots:

The Philips 2200 will deliver a true double shot. When you select the 2 cup version of either espresso or coffee, the machine delivers double the coffee from double the dose, by grinding and pulling two shots in succession. The DeLonghi Esam delivers double the volume made with only a slightly bigger dose, so this isn’t a true “double” shot, in my opinion.

Water Filters:

The Philips machines have the optional Acqua Clean filters, that will allow you to make around 5,000 coffees without running a descale cycle, which is a very handy feature for anyone living in a medium to hard water area.

Dose Awareness:

It’s more simple to know what dose (the amount of ground coffee) you’re using with the Philips 2200, as with the Gaggia coffee machines, there are three dose settings you can toggle through to deliver 7, 9, or 11 grams of coffee (or double this if you select a double).

It isn’t all pros for the Philips Vs De’Longhi, though. The pump on the Philips is slightly louder, and although the removable brewing unit is very easy to pull out and clean, the internals of the Philips do get covered with coffee, and the sharp corners of the tray make it a bit of a pain to get them all out.

 

Gaggia Brera

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     Features.

 

• 5 Grind Settings
• Removable Water Tank: 1.2 Litres
• Dump Box Capacity: 8 Servings
• Panarello Steam/Hot Water Arm
• Adjustable Coffee Dose
• True Double Shots
• Adjustable Cup Height – Max 12 cm
• Easy to Clean The Burrs – Dark Roast No Problem

Gaggia Brera Review

My Observations:

In my opinion, the Brera is one of the best options on the market when it comes to balancing performance, reliability and value for money.

It does a true double shot, as with all the Gaggia machines it tends to grind slightly finer than most other bean to cup brands, it’s possible to tweak it to grind even finer for more like portafilter espresso if you want, it’s easier than most to clean the burrs, and it’s fairly small and not too loud.

Re cleaning the burrs, you’ll usually find that bean to cup coffee machine brands advise you not to use darker roasts, as the oils can coat the burrs, and if you end up clogging the machine as a result, you’d usually end up having to send it back to be sorted by the manufacturer. 

There’s a hack with most bean to cup machines to get around this, by just stopping the cycle as soon as the grinding is done, so it dumps the grounds into the internal bin without pulling the shot.

With the Brera, you can easily trick the machine to thinking the brewing unit is in place, with a piece of folded card in the slot that the piece of plastic on the brewing unit slots into, and then with a piece of folded card also in the door slot, you can grind with the door open, with no brewing unit in, and just hold a cup under the chute. So just put your puly grind or Urnex grindz into the grinder, and grind them into the cup. 

The hack for making it grind finer is also really easy, you just take an Allen key to the hopper lift that off, and you’ll see that the top of the grinder turns, just turn it clockwise as much as you can (it won’t turn much, only a few mm) put it all back together, and you’ll find the finest grind is now finer, and you’ll get a slightly slower and slightly more intense shot.

The 1400 Watt thermoblock produces decent steam power, which is ready to go almost instantly, and removing the panarello sheath leaves a steam pipe which works well as a pro steam wand. It is actually possible to retrofit the pro steam wand from the Anima Barista Plus on the Brera, by the way, if you get in touch with Gaggia Direct, they should be able to supply the part. 

The Brera, in my opinion, is one of the best bean to cup coffee machines for people with visual impairment, something I’m asked quite a lot, as it’s all tactile buttons and dials. It has a front accessed water tank, which makes it good for sliding under kitchen wall cupboards, as long as you’ve got room to put the beans into the hopper of course.

It’s also a really solid little machine, there’s not a great deal on it or in it to go wrong, and the parts are all easy to get hold of from Mr. Bean to cup.

 

 

Check Price – Gaggia Direct

Features:

• Pro Steam Wand
• 5 Dose Settings (Strength Settings)
• 5 Grind Settings
• Espresso, Espresso Lungo, Hot Water (via Steam Wand) & Steam
• 1.8 Litre Water Tank
• Top Fill Water Tank
• Adjustable Cup Height – Max 15 cm
• Dump Box / Dreg Drawer Capacity: 18
• Dreg Drawer Capacity: 15 Coffees
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 22.1 x 43 x 34 cm

My Observations

If you were looking for something just a bit more substantial than the Brera, with a slightly bigger water tank, more strength settings, taller cups, and bigger dreg drawer, but you want to stay close to the Brera’s price point and you want to stick to a more old school machine with standard buttons, then the Anima is probably one for you to look at.

This is the Barista version, with the pro steam wand, however, if you click the link above and to go the info page, you’ll see info on the other models too, as there are a number of versions of this machine where milk frothing is concerned. I’m just including the pro wand versions where they’re available because I think this feature really sets Gaggia bean to cup coffee machines apart from other brands, as no one else appears to have cottoned onto the fact yet, that many people want bean to cup espresso with pro milk steaming, for perfect milk texture for flat white, cortado, and more modern third wave latte and cappuccino.

I think the Anima is one of the best bean to cup coffee machines where value for money is concerned, it’s a heck of a lot of money for the fairly small price tag, and they’re really durable machines too, older school simple button design.

 

Gaggia Magenta Plus

Check Price – Gaggia Direct

 

Features:

• Pro Steam Wand
• Fully Customised Coffees Including Temperature
• Espresso, Espresso Lungo, Coffee, Americano, Hot Water & Hot Milk (via Steam Wand)
• 1.8 Litre Water Tank
• 5 Dose Settings
• 5 Grind Settings
• Water Tank Capacity: 1.5 L
• Dreg Drawer Capacity: 10 Coffees
• Maximum Cup Height: 12 cm
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 24.6 x 43 x 38 cm

My Observations

If you mainly drink milkies, and if milk texture is important to you, this may just be your perfect bean to cup coffee machine. The pro steam wand allows you to produce your perfect milk texture and temperature, and although there is a bit of learning involved in properly texturing milk with a pro wand, once you’ve got it sussed, you’ll be able to knock out true coffee shop quality latte, cappuccino, flat white & so on.

Gaggia have released a few machines with pro steam wands now, and I think it’s a good move. You’re not forced to go for the pro steam wand model, they have multiple options for most of their machines usually starting out with a Panarello version, but I think the pro steam wand option is the right option for anyone for whom milk texture and milk temperature is of prime importance.

On the espresso side of things, regardless of which Gaggia bean to cup coffee machine you go for, you’re going to find very little difference. This is the same with most brands, regardless of where you go in the price range, you’ll usually find the exact same brewing unit and grinder.

These are responsible for the quality of the espresso, and they’re usually the same from the cheapest to the most expensive in any range, and what you get from investing more, is usually features, most of which tend to be on the milk side of things, for instance, it’s usually the one touch milk machines that are the most expensive in any range.

What you do get from the mid-range and up (from the Anima upwards) from the Gaggia range, is five dose settings (strength settings) vs three, and various features depending on which machine you go for, for example, there’s a colour digital display on the magenta & four programmable user profiles on the Cadorna range.

 

 

De’Longhi Rivelia

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Features:

• One Touch “Lattecrema” Milk Carafe
• 12 One Touch Coffees
• Optional 9 Additional Iced Coffees (Cold Froth!)
• Dual Hoppers With Switch Mode
• Bean Adapt (Dialling in Guidance)
• 14 Grind Settings
• Extra Shot Function
• 4 Custom Profiles
• 1.4 Litre Front Accessed Water Tank
• Dreg Drawer Capacity: 10 Coffees
• Maximum Cup Height: 14 cm
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 24.5 x 43 x 39 cm

My Observations

As far as I’m concerned, as long as we’re talking about actual bean to cup coffee machines (not including integrated grinder portafilter machines that some people refer to as bean to cup, as they’re very different) this is the best one touch bean to cup coffee machine on the market, full stop.

Firstly, I’ve never had milk texture this good from a one touch bean to cup coffee machine before. 

I was absolutely gobsmacked the first time I used it, and I could see what was hitting the espresso was not the usual bigger bubbled foam I’m accustomed to seeing from this kind of machine, but was actually Microfoam. 

So, I excitedly grabbed one of my favourite milk jugs (I say “one of”, I have many, I have a bit of a thing for jugs) scrolled to “hot milk” on the same setting, and produced this, which I’d call a modern micro foam cappuccino.

This is with Oat milk, by the way, Moma Oat (my favourite Oat Milk). I then turned the froth level down slightly, and produced the best flat white I’ve ever experienced via a one touch bean to cup coffee machine:

Honestly, in terms of milk texture, this is the best I’ve had from a one touch bean to cup machine.

The only thing some people might not like about the milk, is the temp. It steams up to about 60-62C which personally I think is perfect, but some people prefer burnt milk, each to their own eh? ;-).

The espresso is very good too. I need to do some more testing, but my initial impressions using chocolate brownie blend (which I know very well) is that this among the best espresso I’ve tasted from a true bean to cup machine.

The dual hoppers and bean swap feature is pretty flipping good too. 

This is two hoppers with a “switch” feature, so when you lock the hopper to swap over, for example from full caffeine to decaf or from a blend to a single origin, you can tell the machine either to make one last coffee with the beans that have already fallen into the burrs, or to just grind and dump them.

You can even swap the hopper and put it straight into switch mode by unlocking the hopper, meaning you can switch for just one coffee, the only drawback being that you don’t have control over the intensity (amount of coffee beans used) if you do this.

Not only does it have 12 one touch drink options, but if you pay for the optional cool one touch carafe, that opens up a menu of iced coffees, latte, cappuccino, flat white etc., all with cold frothed milk!

For more, see:

DeLonghi Rivelia Review – DeLonghi’s Best Yet?

 

 

Gaggia Cadorna Barista Plus

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Features:

• Pro Steam Wand
• Fully Personalised Coffees Including Temperature
• 10 Grind Settings
• Espresso, Ristretto, Lungo, Coffee, Americano, Hot Water & Hot Milk (via Steam Wand)
• 4 Separate Custom Profiles
• 1.5 Litre Water Tank
• Dreg Drawer Capacity: 10 Coffees
• Maximum Cup Height: 16 cm
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 24.6 x 42.8 x 38 cm

My Observations

The Cadorna is one of Gaggia’s newest bean to cup coffee machines, and the main feature this range brings to the Gaggia lineup is the four custom profiles.

As I mentioned earlier, you’re not going to get any huge difference in espresso quality from one bean to cup machine to another, especially not from the same brand, what you’re investing in as you go further up the range, is mainly features, and the main feature of the Cadorna which differentiates it from the others in the range is the custom user profiles.

The one I’m featuring here is the pro steam wand version, the Barista Plus, but if you click on the link above you’ll also see all the other options in the range.

The steam wand on the Cadorna is slightly bigger than on the Magenta Plus, other than it’s a very similar machine however it has a slightly smaller (1.5L vs 1.8L) water tank, It will produce ristretto, it’s about 3.5cm wider, 2cm taller and about half a cm deeper. It has a bigger display, and it has the four personalised user settings.

 

De’Longhi Magnifica Evo ECAM

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Features:

• One Touch Milk Carafe
• 7 One-touch Coffees (with this version)
• 13 Grind Settings
• 1.8 Litre Water Tank
• Colour Screen Display
• Dreg Drawer Capacity: 14 Coffees
• Maximum Cup Height: 13 cm
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 23.6 x 42.9 x 34.8 cm

My Observations:

At the time of writing at least, this is one of the very latest bean to cup coffee machines from DeLonghi. It’s entry to mid-range in terms of price, and it’s quite an impressive little machine, on paper at least, being one of the lowest cost one touch cappuccino & latte bean to cup machines on the market.

The reason I say “with this version” for a few of the features, is that there are a few different versions of this machine, the cheaper Evo 292.33 version, for example, has a Panarello steam wand instead of the one touch carafe, and that one doesn’t have the one touch milk drinks.

It’s a new machine so early days regarding reviews, but the only real gripes I’m hearing so far are that the instruction manual isn’t great and you’re best jumping on YouTube for video setup guides. Also, a few people have mentioned that the milk is a bit on the cool side, which is one of the more common complaints about one touch bean to cup coffee machines in general.

 

De’Longhi Magnifica Evo ECAM292.33

 

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• Panarello Steam Wand
• Grind Settings: 13
• Coffee Options: 5 (Espresso, Coffee, Lungo, Americano + Manual Frothed Milk)
• Litre Water Tank: 1.8 L
• Maximum Cup Height: 13 cm
• Dump Box / Dreg Drawer Capacity: 14 coffees
• Dreg Drawer Capacity: 14 Coffees
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 23.6 x 42.9 x 34.8 cm

My Observations:

This is the Panarello wand version of the DeLonghi Evo above, but I’m showing the SB version here, Silver & Black, while the one touch version above is the “B” version, so it’s all black.

The only difference (other than the colour option, but they have the same colour options in both versions) is that this is one touch for coffees only, if you want to make cappuccino, latte, flat white, etc., you have to froth your own milk using the steam wand.

If you’re wondering what DeLonghi thinks the difference is between espresso, coffee, lungo, and Americano, I’m wondering the same ;-), well, I am when it comes to the difference between coffee and Americano, at least.

Espresso is obvious, Lungo (or “long”) is a longer ratio espresso, so more volume from the same amount of ground coffee, and although you may think that’s just a weaker coffee, the ratio will impact on the extraction.

If you go too long (too high a volume) then yeah you may end up with a coffee that just tastes weak, but a slightly longer shot should result in a bit more bitterness coming through, so if you try a shot and it’s a bit lackluster, or slightly on the sour side, you could try a lungo, which you can do via the long coffee option or just by re-setting the espresso option slightly longer.

Americano is simply espresso mixed with hot water, and I think that their “coffee” option is just a slightly weaker version of the Americano, but I’m not 100% sure.

 

Philips 3200 

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Features:

• One touch milk carafe
• Grind Settings: 12
• True double shot
• Coffee Options: 5 (Espresso, Americano, Coffee, Cappuccino, Latte Macchiato)
• Water Tank (front accessed): 1.8 L
• Maximum Cup Height: 17.5 cm
• Dump Box / Dreg Drawer Capacity: 14 coffees
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 24.6 x 43.3 x 37.2

My Observations:

This is the newer, slightly updated – quieter version of the Philips 3246/70, that I’m talking about. The first version of this machine had a very loud milk frother, around 90 decibels, which is on the loud side. They’ve updated the frother, and if you’re not sure which version you have if the carafe has a B printed on the bottom, it is the original louder version, if it has a C printed on the bottom it’s the new quieter version.

This is another low-cost one-touch bean to cup coffee machine which I think is very similar in features and cup quality to the De’Longhi Magnifica Evo. The simple buttons vs a touch screen make it very simple to use, and the optional Aqua Clean filters that you can use with these machines allow you to avoid descaling without your machine developing limescale buildup.

It will make one-touch cappuccino and latte macchiato, in addition to espresso, Lungo, and “coffee”, which in case you’re not familiar with Bean To Cup Coffee Machine “coffee” setting, is basically a bigger lungo.

The milk carafe is pipe-free and dishwasher safe, so it’s the type of bean to cup coffee machine that are easier to clean the milk system vs earlier models with the more complex kind of milk frothers.

Being among the lowest cost bean to cup machines with one touch milk carafe, it’s not really fair to expect perfection at this price point, but there aren’t many common complaints among owners of the 3200.

There is the occasional complaint about the milk temperature not being quite hot enough, but this is a common complaint from people who like very hot cappuccino and latte, that is made about most one touch bean to cup machines. Some people also don’t like the fact that there’s no option for hot milk only, but that’s normal for the entry level options.

 

Melitta Avanza Series 600

Check Price – Amazon

Features:

• Cappuccinatore Milk Frother
• Very Slim at Under 20cm Wide
• 5 Grind Settings
• 1.5L Water Tank
• Simple Dose Control
• Espresso & Café Crème from One Touch
• 3 Adjustable Brew Settings
• Dreg Drawer Capacity: 10 Coffees
• Maximum Cup Height: 13.5 cm
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 20 x 45.5 x 35.3 cm

My Observations:

This is a neat looking and relatively new bean to cup coffee machine from Melitta, and it seems to be quite a nice little compact machine in the low to mid-price range. It’s a cappacinatore machine, which basically means that it has the milk frother that would usually be inside a milk carafe, but there’s no milk carafe, so you just chuck the pipe into your milk bottle, and the frother froths the milk (because that’s mainly what frothers tend to so) and delivers it into your cup.

It has three-dose settings with simple bean selections, as with the Gaggia bean to cup machines, and the volume setting is on a dial similar to the DeLonghi machines, but there are some references in the form of markings around the dial to refer to, although there are no numbers (that could be remedied, with stickers, or Tipp-ex – stickers would probably look neater…).

This machine doesn’t have a bypass chute, so just keep in mind that you can’t use pre-ground coffee with it. There are five grinding settings, but the Manufacturer has actually answered a question about the grind settings in the Amazon questions and answers, which is quite interesting.

Someone has asked about the grinding settings, and Melitta has answered appearing to recommend not adjusting the setting at all from the factory pre-set until at least a thousand coffees have been made. This seems odd, I’m sure if they’ve misunderstood the question and are talking about some form of internal burr adjustment, or whether they’re saying that the grind adjustment is only there to be made finer over the years as the burrs wear.

Just keep in mind that this isn’t a fully automatic bean to cup coffee machine as the blurb states, not when it comes to how we tend to classify fully automatic in the UK, this may be lost in translation a bit from one country to another, for example, bean to cup machines are usually referred to as fully auto or super auto machines in the states, whereas here if we refer to a bean to cup machine as fully auto this would usually be an automatic on the milk side as well as where espresso is concerned.

There are a few gripes in the reviews stating that they thought they were buying a fully automatic machine, which would produce one touch milkies for them, but it’s not that kind of machine – it will produce the coffee for you (espresso and Café Crème) on a one touch basis, but the milk is a manual affair, although all you have to do is stick the pipe into your milk bottle and press the steam button, so there’s not a massive amount of work required.

 

Siemens EQ6 plus S300

 

Check Price – Amazon

Features:

• Cappuccinatore Milk Frother
• One Touch Coffees: Espresso, Café Crème, Espresso Macchiato, Latte Macchiato, Cappuccino, Latte (+ Milk Froth & Hot Water)
• 5 Grind Settings
• Water Tank: 1.7 L
• Max Cup Height: 14 cm
• 2 user profiles
• True double shot
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 28.1 x 46.8 x 38.5 cm

My Observations:

Siemens have been making bean to cup coffee machines for quite some time, in fact as far as I’m aware, the first Siemens bean to cup machines were made by Gaggia or Saeco (Saeco bought Gaggia in the late 90s) in the early 00s, so they’ve had bean to cup coffee machines in their range for a good twenty odd years.

So although Siemens might not be the first brand that pops into my head when I hear the phrase “bean to cup coffee machine”, their machines have been out for quite a while, and they have a few real workhorse machines in their range, in particular this one, the S300, and also the S500 below.

There’s a milk carafe version and a cappuccinatore version, I’m featuring the cappuccinatore version here simply because I would personally recommend these over milk carafe machines. There’s just a lot less messing about, stick the milk pipe into your bottle of milk, make your drink, put the milk back in the fridge, far less faff.

There’s no real difference in milk texture quality or temperature by the way, the frother part is more or less the same in both, it’s just that with the cappuccinoatore versions the frother isn’t inside a milk carafe.

It’ll produce a true double shot, and the drink options are pretty good, with an espresso macchiato, and both latte and latte macchiato in the menu, and the two user profiles too.

Café Crème – sometimes just marked as “coffee” on bean to cup coffee machine menus, isn’t the same as Americano, as I’ve seen some people suggesting.

It’s a style of longer coffee that originated (I believe) in Switzerland, and has become popular in various other countries including Germany, which was initially a particular espresso ratio to go with a particular type of Swiss coffee roasting, while these days it’s mainly the name used to refer to a bigger ratio espresso usually made with a more coarse grind setting.

While “normale” espresso is made at a one to two ratio, for example 7g of coffee beans to 14g of espresso, and Lungo is made at roughly a one to three ratio, Café Crème would usually be made at anywhere from one to four, to one to six, or higher. The easiest way to describe it would be akin to a fairly small, relatively mellow but very enjoyable Americano. It’s not an Americano, though, as it’s all espresso, Americano is espresso diluted with hot water.

 

Siemens TQ503GB1 EQ.500

 

Check Price – Amazon

Features:

• One Touch Coffees: Cappuccino, Flat White, Latte Macchiato, Single Espresso, Double Espresso, Café Crème
• 5 Grind Settings
• Water Tank: 1.7 L
• Max Cup Height: 14 cm
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 29.5 x 46.7 x 37.3 cm

My Observations:

This is a one touch bean to cup coffee machine, it’ll make cappuccino, flat white, and allegedly even flat white, at the touch of a button – but I’d take that last one with a pinch of salt. No, wait, I don’t mean add salt to your flat white, ooh, maybe I’ve just invented something? But no, I mean any one touch bean to cup machine claiming to be able to do “flat white” is a stretch, flat shite, maybe, flat white, doubtful.

A double shot cappuccino isn’t a flat white, that is what I refer to as a flat shite, where the barista can only do one level of milk foam, so at best what you end up with is a double shot cappuccino, at worst it’s just a cappuccino, or at rock bottom, a crappuccino, which is a cappuccino served at eleven thousand and a half degrees Celsius.

Anyway, it’ll do cappuccino, latte Macchiato, and something labelled as flat white, which probably isn’t what I’d call a flat white. This isn’t a putdown of this particular machine, any one touch bean to cup coffee machine claiming to make flat white is usually met by me with a bit of tongue-in-cheek sarcasm.

Apart from this, what we have here is what appears to be a pretty capable one touch fully automatic bean to cup coffee machine at a very reasonable price.

 

 

Philips 5400 Series Bean to Cup Coffee Machine With LatteGo Milk System

Check Price – Amazon

Features:

• One Touch Coffees: 9, Espresso, ristretto, lungo, Americano, coffee, caffe crema, caffe latte, cappuccino, latte macchiato,
• 12 Grind Settings
• Water Tank (front accessed): 1.8L
• Max Cup Height: 15.8 cm
• Real double shot
• Grinder bypass chute
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 24.6 x 43.3 x 37.2

My Observations:

This is the successor to the Philips 3200, and it has the quieter Lattego milk system as discussed above, pipe-free, and it offers more one touch drink options, a settings display & user profiles.

If there are going to be multiple people using the coffee machine, then profiles are a really useful thing, it means that each user (maximum of four) can customize their own drinks settings, which is a time-saving function when it comes to multiple users using the same machine.

There’s a ristretto option, and caffe crema, as well as espresso, lungo, and coffee, and with the milk options, there’s a latte option, in addition to cappuccino and latte macchiato.

Another update vs. the 3200 is the settings screen, which gives you a drinks counter that shows you how many of each drink you’ve made, it also allows you to adjust the stand by time from 15 to 180 minutes, it allows you to disable/enable the beep sounds, adjust the water hardness (to determine how often you’re prompted to descale), and to toggle between the three brewing temperature options.

The 5400 also has a milk froth option, so you can select frothed milk for hot chocolate for example, without having to trick the machine into thinking it is making a cappuccino but stopping the process before it grinds the coffee.

I do think the 5400 is better overall than the 3200, but is it better enough to warrant the price increase? That’s up to you to decide, but these upgrades do seem to have come at quite a high cost.

 

Gaggia Accademia

Check Price – Gaggia Direct

Features:

• One Touch Milk Carafe with 4 Froth Levels for Each Drink
• Pro Steam Wand
• Flow Control for Better Espresso Quality
• 19 One Touch Coffees
• 8 Grind Settings
• On the Fly Drink Modification via Sliders
• 4 User Profiles
• Multiple Language Options
• Heated Cup Warmer
• Real Glass Front for Easy Cleaning
• Programmable Auto On
• Coffee Boost Button Adds an Extra Ristretto to Any Coffee
• Dreg Drawer Capacity: 15 Coffees
• Maximum Cup Height: 15 cm
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 28.2 x 42.8 x 38.5 cm

My Observations:

The features list above could have been triple the size, this machine has more features than you could shake a stick at, which is a weird saying, come to think of it. They’re not gimmicky features though, there are some really useable features on the Accademia.

Before we get into the features, though, the main thing to say about the Accademia is it’s one of the best bean to cup machines where cup quality is concerned, if we’re talking about true bean to cup coffee machines, and historically it’s been one of the most reliable one touch bean to cup machines on the market too.

At around seventeen hundred quid, it’s at the higher end of the price range, but it’s not the most expensive. Actually, it’s cheaper than the DeLonghi Primadonna Elite, it’s a LOT cheaper than the Delonghi Maestosa, and in my humble opinion, the Accademia wipes the floor with any other domestic bean to cup coffee machine I’ve ever seen, again, as long as we are actually talking about “true” bean to cup machines, with brewing units.

For example, I’m not saying that this is better than the Sage Oracle or Oracle touch, I commonly get emails from readers asking me for a bean to cup coffee machine on the same level as the Oracle range, and I don’t believe there is one, simply because the Sage Oracle is a portafilter machine, with traditional baskets & automation to replace barista skills.

The fact that Sage has done it that way with the Oracle is what makes the difference vs bean to cup coffee machines, and I just don’t think you’re ever going to get the same kind of cup quality with a true bean to cup machine that you’ll get with the Oracle or Oracle touch (more on these below).

But if you’re looking for the best true home bean to cup coffee machine that money can buy, I think this is probably it.

I say it’s been one of the most reliable machines “historically”, because this is the new model of the Accademia, and it’s the original that developed such a good reputation in this regard, in some cases having produced tens of thousands of coffees before needing a service.

In fact, the image below is courtesy of Whole Latte Love in the States, one of the original Accademia machines that had been used in a busy office kitchen and had made over thirty thousand coffees when it had its first service, and there wasn’t much that needed doing to it on that service either!

I’m told that the new version is more or less the same machine under the surface, just with a few upgrades, so it’s expected that the new Accademia will be just as reliable, although time will tell.

This is the kind of bean to cup coffee machine that you could put into any busy home or office kitchen and keep everyone happy, at least where coffee is concerned.

It’s simple to use, but it’s also very advanced in terms of what you can do with it if you want to. For example, if you’re in a rush, and you just need a couple of coffees for you and a customer/visitor, you can just walk up to it, swipe and tap the glass touch screen, and saunter off with your cups of coffee.

But if you’re on your morning break and you have a bit of time (don’t do this if there’s a queue, or you may get some grief from your colleagues, unless you’re the boss of course in which case they’ll wait until you left the room and then slag you off) you can play around with the espresso restrictor to slow the shot down, play around with milk texture, or even steam your own milk and have a go at impressing your colleagues with latte art.

I’m referring to a work situation here as this machine is commonly purchased for offices, but it’s a great machine for home too, especially a busy home with lots of people needing coffee every morning.

Negatives? The drip tray capacity isn’t quite what I’d expect from a machine at this level, this is something that was a common complaint on the original Accademia, and I’m surprised they didn’t fix this on the new version. They appear to have fixed things that weren’t broken, but this one thing that many people moaned about, they’ve left as it was, which seems like a bit of a mistake to me.

The controls can just occasionally be a tiny bit fiddly too, don’t get me wrong, most of the time the touch screen and the ability to toggle through drinks with the dial, works great, I just occasionally found it just slightly faffy to select the exact thing I was trying to select.

Also, having a button for steam purge is great, but I wish there was also h3ly start the steam, rather than having to fight your way through the entire drinks menu to get to steam if you want to use the steam wand manually.

I’m nit picking though, really. This is a very impressive bean to cup coffee machine with far greater control over the espresso than I’ve ever seen from a true bean to cup coffee machine.

 

De’Longhi PrimaDonna Soul

Check Price – AmazonCheck Price – DeLonghi Check Price – John Lewis

Features:

• 13 One Touch Coffees: Espresso, coffee, long, doppio+, coffee pot, Americano, cappuccino, latte macchiato, cappuccino mix, caffe latte, flat white, cortado, espresso macchiato
• One Touch Milk Carafe
• 12 Grind Settings
• Water Tank (front accessed): 2.2 L
• Max Cup Height: 14 cm
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 26.2 x 48.5 x 39 cm

The PrimaDonna Soul is one of De’Longhi’s premium bean to cup coffee machines, and it comes with a lot of features, and LOTS of one-touch coffee options, it’ll also produce frothed milk for hot chocolate, it has three user profiles, a 4.3” TFT display, and the Coffee Link app.

Via the Coffee Link app, you’re able to personalise beverages and save them to any of the three profiles, and to create your own recipes. It’s actually a really fun app to use, some of the recipes are really deserts, vanilla Affogato, deconstructed nougat espresso, Apple strudel coffee – and there are several tea recipes in there too, but if what you’re looking for is an app you can have a play with when you have some free time, there’s some great stuff for you in the app.

When it comes to time-saving convenience, however, I’m yet to see an app that will allow you to turn on the machine from your phone. Connected “smart” coffee machines are often sold as being the ultimate in luxury and convenience: Wake up, tap your phone, get coffee.

Unfortunately, most apps don’t have a function to turn the coffee machine on, or to take a cup out of the cupboard, rinse it and put it on the drip tray, or to get the milk out of the fridge, so really, I think apps are more about their ability to act as a more convenient and advanced user interface, and from that perspective I’m really impressed with the De’Longhi Coffee Link app.

The app also acts as an interface for the “Bean Adapt” feature, which is essentially a dialing in tutorial. You feed it information about the beans you’re using, and it acts as if it is a really clever bit of technology to help you to get the best extraction from your beans.

Actually, in my opinion, it’s mostly a gimmick, none of the information it asks you for such as bean type or roast profile is actually used for anything, the guidance the user is given is purely down to their answer to the questions re how it tastes, so unless I’ve missed something here, they’ve just made this overly complex to make it appear more clever than it is, but still, I think many users will find this helpful.

The app can be slightly problematic when it comes to pairing and staying paired, and to be fair to De’Longhi, this is something that most “smart” coffee machines appear to suffer with. I even had the same kind of struggles with the La Marzocco Linea Mini, one of the most well-known very high-end traditional espresso machines.

Overall the PrimaDonna Soul is a very capable machine, I think many people will probably find that a lot of the available features don’t get used much once the novelty wears off, but I also think that most people will be very happy with the coffee they make with it, regardless of how much use they get from the bells and whistles.

 

The Sage “Bean to Cup” Coffee Machines

I decided to create a completely separate section for Sage coffee machines, for the simple reason that they make some of the best bean to cup coffee machines on the market, but they’re not actually bean to cup coffee machines ;-).

You may be wondering why I’m including them if they’re not bean to cup machines, and the simple answer is that most people refer to these machines as bean to cup, so I feel the need to include them in order to clear this up, and also because even though these aren’t true bean to cup coffee machines, many people searching for a bean to cup coffee machines would actually be best suited to one of these machines.

 

Sage Barista Express Impress

Check Price – Sage AppliancesCheck Price – John Lewis

Check Price – Amazon Check Price – Clumsy Goat  

 

Features:

• Integrated Grinder with 26 External Grind Settings & 10 Internal Burr Adjustments
• Tamp Lever Delivers Calibrated 10Kg Tamp Every Time
• Automated Dosing
• 2 Litre Removable Water Tank with Water Filter
• PID (Temperature Controller)
• Single & Double Programmable Shot Buttons
• Adjustable Brew Temperature
• Adjustable Pre-infusion
• Brew Pressure Gauge
• Integrated Tamper in Magnetic Slot
• Pro Steam Wand with Single-hole Steam Tip

My Observations:

Sage produces a number of espresso machines which are often described as bean to cup coffee machines, and the main reason for this is that, similarly to bean to cup coffee machines, they’re one neat unit with a coffee grinder on the top, so to the uninitiated, these are bean to cup machines.

As you’ll know now, however, from reading my waffle ;-), the integrated grinder alone doesn’t make it a bean to cup, it’s the presence of a brewing unit instead of a portafilter, that does this.

Sage machines including the Barista Express & Barista Pro are traditional espresso machines, with portafilters, but with a built-in grinder. They’re very user friendly as all Sage machines are, but they don’t actually negate the requirement for barista skill any more than using a stand alone traditional espresso machine and grinder pairing.

So if you were actually thinking along the lines of push a button – get coffee – skip away as happy as my father-in-law (Larry), buying yourself a Barista Pro or Barista Express probably isn’t going to quite give you the result you were hoping for.

Up until recently, if you wanted true barista quality cup quality with bean to cup convenience, a piggy bank raiding exercise would be called for in order to afford the Sage Oracle or Oracle Touch. This all changed, however, with the release of the Barista Express Impress.

The Express Impress achieves similar ends to the Oracle, but it does it with assistance instead of automation, and it does it with the Barista Express at its core, while the Oracle is based on the Dual Boiler, which is a much more expensive machine.

It has 26 grind settings (a heck of a lot more than most bean to cup machines), and it has internal burr adjustments too which are mainly intended to adjust over time as the burrs wear, but this can be used to grind slightly finer if needs be. Although, don’t make the mistake that many people are making with this:

This is such a clever machine, and as Sage (Breville worldwide, but they’re Sage here as they sold the brand name here in the 80s) like to do fairly regularly, they really invented something completely unique when they developed the Impress.

Some have argued with me in YouTube comments that this isn’t correct, because the De’Longhi La Specialista came first… Don’t get me started! ;-). Let’s just say that firstly, the Barista Express was the first integrated grinder portafilter machine on the market, as far as I’m aware, in any case, it certainly came before the La Specialista. Yes, DeLonghi did come out with the La Specialista, which does have a tamp lever, but it’s not the same idea as the Impress at all.

The Impress delivers a calibrated tamp of 10kg, and it does it with very little user effort, one finger is enough, and the machine does the rest. The really clever stuff, however, is when we take the automated dose into account, and add that to the precise & consistent tamping pressure – this is what makes the impress unique.

The impress tells the user if the dose (volume of coffee in the basket) is too much or too little, so it guides you to getting the dose volume perfect (very important), and it then remembers how long it ground for in total to get the optimum dose, so once you’re happy with the shot so you’re no longer adjusting the grind, there’s no more faffing with the dose, it’ll just grind the perfect dose every time.

What this means is that someone who has never used a traditional portafilter espresso machine before, can get it out of the box and be making some of the best coffees they’ve ever tasted, within a much shorter space of time.

 

 

Sage Barista Touch

Check Price – Sage Appliances Check Price – Amazon Check Price – John Lewis

 

Features:

• Integrated Grinder with 29 External Grind Settings & 10 Internal Burr Adjustments
• Touch Screen Controls with User Guidance
• 5 Pre-programmed Coffees
• 6 Personalised Coffees
• Automatic or Manual Milk Steaming – Your Choice (Automatic Produces Near-Perfect Milk Texture!)
• 3 Second Heat Up Time
• 2 Litre Removable Water Tank with Water Filter
• Single & Double Programmable Shot Buttons
• Adjustable Brew Temperature

My Observations:

Another machine from Sage that is often described as a bean to cup machine, the Barista Touch is closer to bean to cup when it comes to the user interface, and the milk side of things, than the Barista Express, Barista Pro, or Barista Express Impress.

You have the very pretty colour touch screen display & controls that are found on the Oracle Touch, it does a great job of milk texturing, giving you the ability to customize each drink (latte, flat white cappuccino, etc) on auto, and it guides the user through making each coffee, and it’s roughly a grand cheaper than the Oracle touch.

It’s cheaper because it’s based on the Barista Pro, while the Oracle Touch is based on the Sage Dual Boiler, very different machines. The touch is almost perfect for the “in between” folk who want the best of both worlds, home barista cup quality with bean to cup convenience, but it’s not quite perfect.

The only drawback of the Barista touch is it doesn’t have any assistance where espresso is concerned, so it may take you longer than it would with the express impress to be getting espresso that you’re really happy with, as there’ll be some skill required.

 

Sage Barista Touch Impress

Check Price – Sage Appliances Check Price – Amazon Check Price – John Lewis

Features:

• Integrated Grinder with 30 External Grind Settings & 10 Internal Burr Adjustments
• Touch Screen Controls with User Guidance
• Impress Puck System, Tamp System & Auto Dosing With Machine Learning
• 9 Pre-programmed Drinks (Espresso, Café Crème, Long Black / Americano, Cappuccino, Latte, Flat White, Babyccino, Hot Chocolate, Milk Only, Tea)
• 8 Personalised Drinks
• Machine Guided Grid Adjustment
• Automatic or Manual Milk Steaming – Your Choice (Automatic Produces Amazing Milk Texture!)
• MilQ system with 4 presets for Dairy, Oat, Almond & Soy
• Queue Espresso to Brew After Milk Steaming is Done – Milk First, or Espresso First
• Queue Espresso to Brew After Water for Americano/Long Black – Water First, or Espresso First
• 3 Second Heat Up Time
• 2 Litre Removable Water Tank with Water Filter
• Adjustable Brew Temperature

My Observations:

As soon as the Barista Express Impress was released, people started contacting me asking me why they didn’t release an Impress version of the Barista Touch, and I remember thinking that was quite a good question, as the Barista Touch was touch screen & delivered a very modern bean to cup user experience where the milk is concerned, and great on-screen guidance, but there’s no assistance where espresso is concerned, so this would have made sense.

As it turned out, Sage were well aware of this and were on it, as the release of the Barista Touch Impress came about a year later, and as far as I’m concerned, this is the most game changing machine to be developed in the bean to cup market.

It isn’t a bean to cup machine technically speaking, it’s a traditional espresso machine with a portafilter, but it’s clearly aimed at people shopping towards the premium end of the bean to cup coffee machine market who want barista cup quality but high-end bean to cup user experience, and this is the most game changing machine I’ve seen so far in this space, so much so that I wonder it this is going to be the end of “bean to cup coffee machines” as we know them, in the long term.

This machine is just so good, and addresses this end of the bean to cup coffee machine market so well, that I think it’s going to cause a lot of disruption in the top end of the bean to cup coffee machine market. Once people realise just what this machine is, I think most people considering spending this kind of money on a premium bean to cup coffee machine will end up choosing the barista touch impress, and I can’t think of many situations in which it wouldn’t be the best choice.

So I think other premium brands, or brands with offerings at this end of the price bracket will need to work hard with new models to compete with this, as it stands currently I just don’t see any real competition for the touch impress at the moment.

It may seem like there is if you trust the blurb, some of the more premium bean-to-cup machines will promise more hands-off experience and greater convenience, but I think it’ll end up being common knowledge as more people try the Touch Impress, that it’s actually just as convenient or even more so, vs higher end one touch bean to cup machines, and the user experience is much more slick.

It’s as simple as this: Put fresh beans in the hopper, swipe and select the drink you want, do what the screen tells you to do.

The machine handles the dose, the tamp (just a one or two-finger light push required to deliver a 10Kg tamp), it even tells you if the grind needs to be made finer or more coarse for the next coffee. You can queue up the milk if you’re making a flat white, cappuccino, etc., so you don’t have to hover over the machine, and you can choose espresso first or milk steaming first.

If you’re making a long black / Americano, again you can queue it up either way around, water first or espresso first, so you can carry on getting ready for work for example rather than having to stand waiting for the water to finish pouring so you can press the espresso icon.

I could keep on raving about this machine, but I’ll leave it there, for the full review see:

Sage Barista Touch Impress Review

 

Sage Oracle 

Check Price – Sage AppliancesCheck Price – John LewisCheck Price – Amazon

 

Sage Oracle Review

 

Features:

• Dual Boiler – Pull Shots and Steam Milk at the Same Time for Faster Coffees
• Based on the Amazing Sage Dual Boiler
• 2.5L Water Tank
• Low Pressure Pre-infusion
• PID Control
• Auto On and Off – Set It to Be Ready to Use When You Wake Up Needing Coffee
• Full Sized 58mm Portafilter
• Big, Strong Double Shots – Made from 22 Grams of Coffee
• Auto Dosing
• Auto Tamping
• Auto Milk Steaming with Control over Milk Temp and Texture
• Auto Steam Wand Purging
• One Touch Americano / Long Black – Water Delivered via a Separate Water Tap

My Observations:

If you’re looking for the best of both worlds, and you have the budget for it, the Sage Oracle was made for you.

This is basically the Sage Dual Boiler (which in my opinion is the best traditional portafilter espresso machine on the market within a couple of times the price!) with automated dosing, tamping, and milk steaming, to take away the usual skill requirement.

Sage are a really smart bunch, it’s very clear that when they’re developing products they really think outside the box, often leading to them creating game changer machines, and I’m sure even their biggest competitors would agree that the Oracle is a game changer.

What it does is to put true barista quality espresso, Americano, latte, cappuccino, and so on within the reach of people who don’t have home barista skills and aren’t interested in developing them.

Let’s be clear, the home barista hobby isn’t for everyone, the vast majority of coffee lovers want better cup quality from home, but aren’t willing to go to quite the same degree of geekery that home baristas are, in order to achieve it.

The oracle really does this, by the way, it’s not just a marketing ploy.

I wrote my initial Sage Oracle review several years ago when Sage first sent me one, but I got my hands on one again much more recently in the run up to filming my YouTube review, and I used it here in my studio as my main machine – as I like to do when I’m reviewing machines.

I couldn’t stop raving about it to my wife (who works with me in the studio, she keeps me organised!), as it’s just so easy to use and the cup quality is so good!

If you put decent coffee in this machine (freshly roasted) you’ll find it quite difficult to not get great coffee out of it. If you’ve used a bean to cup coffee machine in the past, be prepared to be blown away!

 

Sage Oracle Touch

 

Check Price – AmazonCheck Price – Sage AppliancesCheck Price – John Lewis

 

Features (which differ from the oracle):

• Touch Screen Operation & Guidance
• 5 Pre-programmed Coffees
• 8 Personalised Coffees

My Observations:

The touch version of the Oracle is more or less the same machine as the Oracle but with the touch screen display and guidance. This machine is more geared up for multiple users and guest use, I think if it’s mainly going to be you using the machine, you may find that the touch screen side of things is a bit of a novelty that you possibly don’t use much once you’ve found your feet with your machine.

When guests come round who aren’t used to using such a high end machine, you’ll be able to just point at the machine and say “help yourself”, the interactive touch screen makes it really easy to use, even for people who’ve never used a coffee machine before.

Personally, I didn’t find this machine quite as impressive as I did the Oracle when I was using both machines, but keep in mind that I’m someone who is very used to using traditional espresso machines, so I don’t need the on screen guidance, and for me, it just got in the way. Plus, I’m not actually a big fan of touch screens, and I know that puts me in the minority, but each to their own eh?

For more options from Sage, see:

Best Sage Coffee Machines

17 Best Bean to Cup Coffee Machines – Conclusion

So you’ve just read the completely updated best bean to cup coffee machine post for 2024, which is kept very up to date, by the way, in order to not waste your time talking about machines which aren’t available anymore and to make sure that I’m featuring the latest machines as they’re released.

The most important thing for me about this post though is all of the info leading up to the suggestions. You may notice that I’ve put a lot of effort into making sure my fellow coffee botherers (coffee blog readers and/or Coffee Kev YouTube viewers so that now includes you) understand all the key distinctions about bean to cup machines because once you understand these things, you’ll find it much easier to be matched up with your perfect coffee machine.

Now, I’m going to introduce you to my bean to cup coffee machine FAQ. I did have this on a separate post, but I thought it would make sense to bring this info here so that anyone looking at bean to cup coffee machines has access to all of this info on the same page.

OK, this does make this less of a post and more of an encyclopaedia ;-), but you don’t have to read all this info at the same time, feel free to bookmark the page so if you do have other questions, you know that you can come back here and carry on reading.

 

Kev’s 2024 Bean to Cup Machine FAQ

What is a bean to cup coffee machine?

What we refer to as bean to cup coffee machines, are espresso machines with an integrated grinder and a brewing unit.

While with a traditional espresso machine there’s a filter holder, known as a portafilter, into which the user has to put ground coffee beans (we call this dosing), this is handled by the brewing unit. The machine automatically grinds the coffee for you and then doses the basket, in the brewing unit.

With traditional espresso machines, the user has to tamp the coffee, lock the portafilter into the group, press the button, and then knock the portafilter into the knock box, as you’d see a barista doing in a coffee shop – all of this is managed via the brewing unit on bean to cup coffee machines, all the user needs to do is press a button, and empty the internal grinds bin when it’s full.

There are different kinds of bean to cup coffee machines when it comes to the milk side of things, with standard bean to cup machines only being fully automated where coffee is concerned, and requiring some work from the user to steam and pour the milk, and with “one touch” machines also known as “cappuccino makers” being able to make milk-based coffees also at the touch of a button.

Best electric burr coffee grinders reviewBest manual coffee grinders review

Do bean to cup machines make espresso as good as traditional espresso machines?

Making a great espresso with a traditional espresso machine is something that requires quite a bit of skill and effort.

A good traditional espresso machine paired with an espresso capable grinder in the hands of a skilled Barista, will (in my humble opinion) deliver espresso on a different level than that which a domestic bean to cup machine would usually be capable of.

However, this is only after the user has invested a significant amount of money on equipment, and a significant amount of time and effort in developing their home barista skills.

When it comes to just being able to walk up to a machine, press a button, and walk off with your coffee – bean to cup machines offer a level of convenience that most people would expect from a coffee machine, while delivering espresso and espresso-based coffees that the majority of “normal” coffee drinkers would be more than happy with.

For more on traditional espresso machines see:

Best Espresso Machines

Is a bean to cup coffee machine the right coffee machine for me?

This is a very good question, many people buy a coffee machine without fully understanding all of the different types of coffee machines available, and as a result, they end up with something which doesn’t quite fit their needs.

The great thing about coffee machines now is that there are so many different types and even sub-types of coffee machines, that there’s usually a great match for all needs. But you need to know what your needs are in relation to a coffee machine if you’re going to end up finding your perfect match.

If come to think of it, you’re really not sure if you understand all of the options of which bean to cup is just one, I’d recommend this post:

Coffee Machines Guide

Another quick point to make is that bean to cup machines are espresso machines.

Espresso is the base of many of the most popular cafe coffees including cappuccino, latte, flat white, cortado, macchiato, and Americano – and you can make all these kinds of coffees with most bean to cup machines.

If you were actually looking for filter coffee, see:

Best Filter Coffee Machines

What are the different types of bean to cup coffee machine

Not only are there lots of different types of coffee machines, but there are also sub types, too.

When it comes to bean to cup, there are two main subtypes:

• Bean to cup coffee machine with steam wand
• One touch or “cappuccino maker” bean to cup coffee machine

See my video below which explains the different types of bean to cup coffee machines.

Which type of bean to cup coffee machine do I need?

This depends on you. So as mentioned above, there are machines with steam wands, which allow you to manually steam milk for milkies (cappuccino, latte, etc) and then there are the one touch machines that handle the milk from one touch, too.

By the way, if you’ve heard the terms semi-automatic and fully automatic bean to cup machines, this tends to be how bean to cup machines are described in the states – with semi auto being what Brits tend to call simply bean to cup machines with steam wand, and fully or sometimes “super automatic” machines being what we’d refer to as one touch machines.

Machines with steam wands such as the Gaggia Brera, Delonghi Magnifica, Gaggia Anima, and so on – are best for:

• Budget (they’re usually cheaper).
• People who are fussy about their milk texture.
• People who want more control over the milk temp and texture.

These kinds of machines are among the lowest cost machines – although this isn’t true of all machines.

The Oracle and Oracle Touch have steam wands – but they’re also one touch machines, kind of – and these definitely aren’t the cheapest. These machines have a steam wand, but the machine still does the frothing, just in the jug via the wand instead of via a carafe, and unlike most other one touch machines they actually produce amazing milk texture, suitable for pouring latte art.

For more see:

Sage Oracle and Oracle Touch Review

The reason I say this kind of machine is better for someone who’s fussy about milk texture is that most of the one touch machines create fairly thick foam with big bubbles – for making what I refer to as old school cappuccino, with spoonable foam.

Some people like this kind of foam, which floats on top of the coffee, whereas I much prefer velvety microfoam, which mixes with the coffee and creates a much more integrated milk & espresso based coffee which, for me, delivers the perfect mouth feel.

Regardless of how you like your milk texture, if you’re a flat white lover, you’re going to need microfoam. Flat white just can’t be made with standard stiff milk froth, which is why some of the one touch machines which have a “flat white” option tend to get a bit of stick in the reviews when it comes to whether or not they’re actually capable of one-touch flat whites.

By the way, I have had what I’d considered to be a fairly good flat white from a bean to cup machine, but not a home coffee machine – this was a commercial bean to cup coffee machine, an amazing machine I have to say, but most people aren’t going to spend this kind of money on a bean to cup machine for home.

If you are looking for a commercial coffee machine, feel free to drop me an email, I’ll know some great commercial machine suppliers who I’d be more than happy to put you in contact with.

In my humble opinion, among home coffee machines the only bean to cup machine capable of proper flat white is the Oracle & Oracle Touch. There’s the lower cost Sage Barista Touch, but this isn’t really a bean to cup machine, it’s a home barista espresso machine with a touch screen, a hybrid, basically.

When it comes to controlling texture and temperature, again you only really have this with machines with a wand – except for the Oracle & Oracle Touch, and some of the other higher end one touch machines including the Gaggia Accademia.

Do all bean to cup machines with steam wands produce great milk texture?

I’m glad you asked this, oh – wait, I asked it, I’m talking to myself!

Nearly all of the bean to cup machines with a steam wand, come with what’s called a Panarello – also known as a “turbo frother” or “auto frother”.

These are a sheath fixed over the steam pipe. They pull air into the milk via a hole on the side, and most of these kinds of wands are only capable of the thicker froth for old-school cappuccino that you’ll also get via most one touch bean to cup machines.

But – with most machines, you can simply pull the sheath off, to reveal the metal pipe, which can be used like a pro steam wand that you’d see on a commercial coffee machine or home barista machine. It takes a bit of practice, but it’s possible to get a really good milk texture this way, with the Panarello removed.

The only thing which is a bit of a pain is that some of these pipes aren’t all that long, so it can make it a bit of a faff, but you’ll get used to it.

Which are the best for milk texture

If milk texture and control over texture and temperature are important to you, the best bean to cup coffee machines for you would be the options with a pro steam wand, including the Gaggia Cadorna Barista Plus, the Gaggia Magenta Plus, and the Gaggia Accademia. All of the Sage espresso machines have pro steam wands, too, of course.

Do bean to cup coffee machines give control over grinding

Bean to cup machines have grind adjustments, but most of them will have only around 3-5 grind settings, and the grind adjustments on bean to cup machines aren’t really made for dialing in, as you would with a traditional espresso machine, you really don’t have much control where the grind is concerned, with true bean to cup coffee machines.

Who makes the best bean to cup coffee machines, Gaggia, DeLonghi, Sage, Melitta, or Krups?

This is a common question, but there’s no simple answer, as all manufacturers have ranges of machines spanning different budgets.

As I’ve said quite a few times by now (I know, I sound like a broken record, like a broken rec rec record…) Sage don’t really make bean to cup coffee machines, they’re different kinds of machines, if we’re talking about actual bean to cup machines without a portafilter and with a brewing unit instead, then the brands I usually find offer the best options are Gaggia and Delonghi, although Melitta makes a couple of interesting options too.

Gaggia Coffee Machines DeLonghi Coffee Machines

Are there any coffee only bean to cup coffee machines?

Yes, not many, but there are a few. The Beko CEG5301X, the SCOTT Slimissimo and the Smeg BCC01.

Just keep in mind, that these machines differ a huge amount in price, especially the Smeg machine, but they appear to be incredibly similar in terms of specs and features, with the Smeg it seems you’re paying for looks, rather than for additional specs or features, which is fine as long as you’re making that choice deliberately. For more see:

Smeg Coffee Machines

 

Which bean to cup coffee machine is best for Americano?

Most bean to cup machines will make Americano, and the Sage Oracle or Sage Oracle Touch (again, these aren’t really bean to cup machines as such) have a one-touch Americano button – and a dedicated hot water spout, although as I’ve said these aren’t within all budgets, they’re not cheap.

When it comes to “true” bean to cup machines, the latest Gaggia bean to cup machines including the Cadorna & Magenta I think are among the best for Americano because most of them have a separate channel for hot water. So they deliver the coffee through one channel, and then fresh, hot water via another channel, instead of delivering hot water through the used coffee as is what happens with many machines.

Which is the best bean to cup machine for an office?

This is a common question, and the answer is, annoyingly “it depends.”

What it depends on, more than anything, is how many people will be using it, so how many coffees per day it’s going to be making. If it’s a home office, and you’re going to be making a few coffees per day, what you’re looking for really is a home coffee machine – despite the fact you’re going to be using it in your office – so, all of the machines I mentioned above in the main best bean to cup coffee machines section are among the best.

As I mentioned earlier, the Gaggia Accademia has a great track record when it comes to being used in offices.

The Bravilor Sprso is worth looking at if you’re thinking of using a machine in a waiting room, salon, car showroom, etc., and making maybe 20 or 30 coffees per day.

If you’re looking for a bean to cup machine for more substantial output, i.e. 30-50 coffees per day or more, then you’re really looking for a commercial bean to cup coffee machine, so just drop me an email and I’ll point you in the right direction.

Where should I go for the best bean to cup machine sales & deals?

This is another fairly common question, and the usual answer is simply to shop around and see who has a sale on or who’s offering a deal at the time. Just watch out for the grey imports. This is particularly common with Gaggia machines.

A grey import means it was imported outside of the official channels, and quite often this means buying a machine with an EU to UK converter plug, and having no UK warranty, so probably not worth the often quite small money saving, they usually take quite a bit longer to be delivered, too.

Bean to cup coffee machines from Currys, are they any good?

This is a common question, too – as Currys is a convenient place to buy from, although – I went to my local Currys the other day and stood there at the counter like a lemon for about ten minutes. I have to admit I don’t particularly enjoy the fact that their staff are all floating rather than always having someone at the tills ready to take your purchase to, but anyway – you won’t have that issue if you’re buying online.

Currys sell some well-known bean to cup machine brands, including Gaggia, Krups, DeLonghi, and Breville – but they tend to have particular models from each manufacturer rather than having the full ranges.

Best Coffee Machines

Just be careful when it comes to the Breville side of things, as this is a commonly made mistake.

Sage Appliances are known as Breville in almost all other countries, we know them as Sage here because the brand name was sold in the 80s.

Some people (I know this from the emails I’ve been sent from readers) have noticed that Breville and Sage are the same machines, and have thought that it’s an interchangeable brand name, so when they’ve walked into Currys (the main reseller for Breville UK) and seen a Breville coffee machine at seemingly an amazing price, they’ve bought it only to realize a bit later on that they’ve bought a completely different brand of coffee machine.

See Breville Barista Max Plus:

Breville Barista Max Plus

I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with Breville coffee machines by the way, just that the brand we know as Breville in the UK is definitely not the same brand that is sold outside of the UK, and they’re massively different machines even though some of them look slightly similar and have similar names. For more on Sage see:

Sage Coffee Machines

Bean to cup coffee machines from Argos, same question?

Similar question, similar answer. Argos tend to sell De’Longhi, Siemens & Melitta – and again they don’t usually have the full ranges, but they do sometimes have decent deals, so it’s always worth a look to find out who has the best deal.

Gaggia Vs DeLonghi – who makes the best bean to cup coffee machines?

De’Longhi and Gaggia come to bean to cup machines from a slightly different perspective, mainly due to when they started producing their bean to cup machines I think.

Saeco invented the bean to cup machine in the mid 1980s, the Superautomatica, which was developed in Italy to make traditional espresso quicker and more convenient to produce. Saeco acquired Gaggia in the late 90s, and Gaggia also launched bean to cup machines. 

The way Gaggia bean to cup machines work, has never fundamentally changed from the original Saeco design. OK some of the more “Philips style” more modern Gaggia bean to cup machines have a bit more where bells & whistles are concerned, user profiles and touch screens etc., but they’re all  fundamentally the same where the espresso is concerned. 

So when it comes to dose and yield, for example, Gaggia bean to cup machines operate along the lines of traditional espresso, in that depending on the bean setting you choose, you’ll be making an espresso using 7 – 11g of beans, and if you choose a double shot, you’ll get double the yield made with double the beans.

Delonghi launched their Magnifica bean to cup machines in the early 00s, they’d clearly made some deliberate technological advances over the Saeco/Gaggia bean to cup machines, and the main difference between the two (which remains to date) is when it comes to dose.

While you can easily choose to press the shot button twice on Gaggia machines for it to grind double the beans and produce double the espresso, the same isn’t true of Delonghi bean to cup machines. You can get a true double shot, double the yield from double the dose, but you’d have to do it by pressing the shot button, waiting for the shot to finish, and then doing the same again. 

There are other differences, depending on which Gaggia machines you’re comparing to. The older school Gaggia machines including the Brera and the Anima, for example,  more of a “they don’t build them like that any more” affair, workhorse machines that work as you’d expect them too with no tricks up their sleeves. Some of the newer Gaggia machines including Cadorna and Magenta, on the other hand, are more modern where the interfaces are concerned. 

They’ve both been around for a long time, they both have quite wide ranges covering all budgets, and they both have lots of repeat customers who’re very loyal to the brand.

As I’ve said in other posts, the main thing that would lead me to buy a Gaggia coffee machine over a DeLonghi coffee machine in the UK is simply that the main UK reseller for Gaggia in the UK, Gaggia Direct, are the same guys who ran Gaggia UK before Philips bought Gaggia, so the history and knowledge they have, allow them to offer great customer service.

Plus, they’re an old-fashioned customer support-oriented business that you can simply phone for support, have a Zoom call with, or pop in to see them if you’re within driving distance of their warehouse and showroom near Halifax.

Are the Sage Barista Express or Barista Pro good bean to cup coffee machines?

The Sage Barista Express and Barista Pro are great machines, but they’re integrated grinder portafilter coffee machines, and not bean to cup coffee machines. My video, above, explains the differences between these two machines, in case you were wondering.

Which Is the Best Delonghi Bean to Cup Coffee Machine

This really depends on what you’re looking for, actually, where the coffee is concerned, you’re probably going to find very similar cup quality with the very cheapest DeLonghi bean to cup machine, which is usually the trusty Magnifica range, and with a much pricier option in their range. 

The same is true with other coffee machine brands, and this is because the espresso quality is determined by the grinder and the brewing unit, and this is usually going to be the same or very similar regardless of which machine you go for in any range, with a few exceptions.

So when you spend more money on a machine higher up in any range, it’s usually features you’re paying for, rather than cup quality.

So, there we go, all of the most commonly asked bean to cup coffee machine questions. If I’ve missed any just leave a comment below and I’ll answer it, and add it to the FAQ if it’s a question I’ve missed.