This smart coffee machine makes café-quality drinks at the touch of a button and couldn’t be easier to use, says beauty and wellness editor – and former barista – Laura Mulley
As someone whose day can’t truly start without a cup of good quality coffee, over the last couple of years I’ve been testing out a number of different home coffee machines in the search for one that creates drinks that taste just the ones I happily pay £4-plus for from my local café.
I also used to work as a barista in Starbucks in my younger days, so I should know a thing or two about good coffee.
I’ve tried almost every type of machine, from pods to semi-automatic ones, and, while all have their own merits, I think I’ve just found one that strikes the perfect balance between delivering quality tasting coffees and being easy to use: the De’Longhi Rivelia Bean to Cup Coffee Machine – and it currently has £100 off its usual price.
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Grinding beans and frothing milk in one at the touch of a button, this smart home coffee machine has hundreds of five-star reviews, with one happy customer saying how it makes “coffee at home to the standard you get in Costa or Starbucks”.
Usually priced at £749.99, it’s now down to £649.99 on the De’Longhi website plus third-party sellers such as Lakeland and Amazon. It also comes in a number of different colours, with something to suit every kitchen.
My honest review of the De’Longhi Rivelia Bean to Cup Coffee Machine
First up, for the amount of tech and functions it has, it’s surprisingly compact; coming ‘outwards’ rather than width-ways, it takes up remarkably little room on the kitchen counter – ideal if, like me, you’re short on space. This is, however, reflected in the size of the water tank; it’s smaller than some others, although I made five drinks from one full tank.
It’s also incredibly easy to set up. Once plugged in, its smart digital display guides you through every step of the quick set-up process in a very cheery tone of voice. It’s a marked difference from the last coffee machine I tested, the Philips Barista Brew Semi-Automatic Espresso Machine, which did require a bit of study and trial and error before getting going. With this De’Longhi machine, you’re up and running in minutes.
It makes a huge range of coffee-based drinks, from lattes and cappuccinos to espressos and cortados – and even iced drinks – simply by selecting the right button. This then freshly grinds the correct amount of coffee and adds the right texture of hot frothed milk to create your perfect drink.
Helpfully, each drink also comes with a guide to its size and its intensity – although you can manually alter either of these parameters.
Other cool features include a self-cleaning function of the milk spout after every use, the ability to test your water hardness and set your machine to adapt accordingly, and user profiles, so if more than one person in the household if using the machine, you can quickly access your chosen coffee preferences. It also learns what type of coffee you like at what time of day, speeding things up even further. The grinding and frothing is also a lot quieter than some machines I’ve tried.
And as for how the coffee tastes? I’d give the drinks a solid 9/10. I wouldn’t say that they taste exactly like my go-to Gail’s flat white, but they’re a pretty near match, and very tasty (and, of course, could save you money on drinks out in the long run).
If you’re a real coffee snob, and like the ‘art’ involved in brewing a great coffee, I’d still recommend the Philips Barista Semi-Automatic, and pod machines like the Nespresso Vertuo will always have a place in my heart for quick drinks or if kitchen space is an issue, but for a making a really wide range of professional-quality drinks with minimal effort, I’ve been super-impressed by the De’Longhi Rivelia.