17 Best Bean to Cup Coffee Machines of 2022

In this article, I’m exploring the 17 perfect bean to cup coffee machines of 2022 in the UK.

This includes comparisons of features, but also my own thoughts on each machine based on my knowledge of bean to cup coffee machines, and based on the experience I’ve had with each machine.

I’ve used a lot of these machines myself, usually rather commonly for my individual blog post reviews and YouTube reviews, and any that I’ve not yet got my hands on as of yet, I will do soon and I’ll update this article accordingly. 

So if you’re shopping for a bean to cup coffee makeking device and you wanted some ideas and comparisons by someone who knows a little bit about the machines in issue, then this is for you. 

I don’t understand about you, but when I’m shopping for anything, and I’m searching Google for “the best <whatever>”, I get mildly frustrated when I come to the realisation that I’m reading a scraped together list of sales blurb that I could have found myself, and the article doesn’t basically help me in any way. 

So this isn’t one of them – this is, hopefully, the many useful guide on the web for when it comes to the perfect bean to cup coffee machines available in the UK. This post also contains a big bean to cup coffee machine FAQ, so scroll down to the bottom of this post for that.

My aim is to provide the reader with real insight into which of these bean to cup machines may be perfect for you, including reviews from my own experience each time possible.

I’m working my way through these machines in terms of simply having them in my kitchen for a week or so, to help me to give even more helpful insight than would be possible with scientific research alone. 

I’ve used an increasing number of these machines, there are only a few bean to cup coffee machines I’ve not yet used, and when it comes to these I’m going purely from science study, but I do put rather a little bit of time into doing this science. You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you just how long I spend researching these machines…

So all of this info should be useful and insightful even if the machine in issue isn’t one I’ve personally reviewed as of yet.

Best Bean to Cup Espresso machines.

Just to point out, I’m specifically referring to the perfect bean to cup espresso coffee machines, and doesn’t include bean to cup American coffee machines, for these machines, see:

Perfect Filter coffee Machines

Why Buy a Bean to Cup Machine?

If you want true espresso coffee at home, or in the office, or both if you work from home as most of us do at the moment, you only in reality have two options, a semi-automatic traditional espresso machine with a coffee grinder, or a bean to cup espresso coffee machine (generally called fully automatic or super automatic espresso machines across the pond).

Going the traditional route with an espresso machine doesn’t really mean buying a coffee makeking device, it also indicates developing the required home barista skills.

There’s no doubt about it, if you want to be able to produce drinkable espresso coffee and espresso-based coffees utilizing a traditional espresso machine, this suggests embarking upon the home barista hobby, which is excellent if that’s what you’re setting out to do.

Nevertheless if all you want is a coffee machine capable of espresso-based coffees at the touch of a button, then it’ll be a bean to cup coffee makeking tool you’re after. 

If you’ve landed on this page searching for a coffee brewing tool, and at this point, you’re not sure which is the best type of coffee brewing equipment for you, I’d recommend this post:

How To Choose The Best Coffee machine For Any Budget

Something often overlooked when it comes to buying a coffee brewing tool is the importance of the quality of coffee that you choose to use. It doesn’t issue how good or expensive the machine is, you need to utilize decent coffee beans if you want decent coffee. Another way to put this is, put crap in, get crap out ;-).

I buy coffee beans from loads of different sources, all freshly roasted high-quality coffee of course, and we’re in fact lucky in the UK with the sheer number of small-batch coffee roasters here now, many which you’ll find in my UK coffee roasters directory. 

But a while back, I was helped by my fellow coffee botherers (this is what I refer to my readers as, so that’s you now since you’re here reading this) to put together a small range of special coffee beans, just for them, focusing on the flavour profiles that were requested the the majority of. This grew into The Coffeeworks, which is now a thriving business supplying a range of (at the time of writing) 16 freshly roasted coffees. 

Why not give them a go, and work with the discount code below if you do:

Work with discount code CBNC25 for 25% off your first order at Coffeeworks

What Kind of Bean to Cup Espresso coffee Machine?

The main kinds of bean to cup machine are manual milk frothing, and auto milk frothing. The latter are often discussed as “one touch” bean to cup machines or “one touch cappuccino” machines.

The difference is that the basic, manual milk frothing machines come with a steam wand, and the user has to steam and pour the milk themselves.

Auto milk frothing “one touch” bean to cup machines do everything for you including steaming and pouring the milk, you just press a button. 

There are advantages and disadvantages for both, however the main pro for fully auto one-touch machines is ease of work with, and for semi-auto the main pros are cost (they’re cheaper), and you have more control over the quality of milk drinks.

With some practice, humans can create way better milk texture and pour much better cappuccino & latte, and especially flat whites, than is possible with a machine.

Some of the better one touch machines do a fairly good job of cappuccino, latte & latte macchiato at the touch of a button, nevertheless I’ve not come across one as of yet that will make a proper flat white. Then again, a lot of baristas can’t make a proper flat white either, but that’s a topic for a future post ;-).

So let’s get on with it, beginning with the lowest price bean to cup machines and moving our way upwards from there. If you want more info on bean to cup coffee machines in general, just scroll to the bottom where you’ll find my FAQ.

Check Price - Amazon UK

Features:

• 1 touch bean to cup (coffee only, not 1 touch milk drinks)
• Front loading easy access water tank: 1.2 litres
• 13 grind settings
• Large dishwasher safe drip tray
• Decent steam power

This has been among the perfect selling bean to cup machines on Amazon for several years, and as a result, there are a massive number of answered questions.

So this machine has a lot going for it in terms of the user being able to discover all of its quirks & benefits and drawbacks before deciding whether it’s the right bean to cup machine for them. By the way, by far the perfect answered question in my modest opinion, is this one:

Personalise Your Coffee

Easy to work with control panel for you to just adapt the coffee strength and length to your preference.

Double Delivery

Prepare two drinks with a single touch of a button, or prepare hot water for tea infusions.

Traditional Milk Frother

Produces a smooth and silky milk foam to create your favourite beverages such as Cappuccino, Caffe Latte, or Latte Macchiato.

Notes about the blurb:

What is referred to here as a traditional frother is a pannarello wand / turbo steam wand, which most bean to cup coffee machines have.

These are literally a steam pipe with a sheath around it with air holes on the side, intended to foam milk without the learning curve associated with learning to steam milk with a pro steam wand. 

See my video on steaming milk:

Pro steam wands that you’d find on commercial machines, and traditional espresso machines such as the Gaggia Classic Pro & Sage Bambino Plus, take some getting used to, even though the Sage Bambino Plus also has an auto steaming role which is really impressive for a machine at this price!

Sage Bambino Plus Review

Panarello wands like this one make it much easier to foam milk, but don’t give you any control over the foam, you basically get whatever the machine wants to give you, which is usually dry, firm cappuccino foam. 

The only Panarello I’ve used which is the exception to this is the De’Longhi Dedica EC685 which has a Panarello which is capable of steaming milk for latte art.

Nevertheless with the ECAM 4200, and with most other bean to cup coffee machines with panarello wands, you can literally pull off the sheath and use the steam wand as a basic steam wand.

It takes a little of practice to steam milk this way, and you may find you’re happy with the foam produced with the panarello wand, and if you are then great.

My Review

My Observations:

This is one of the lowest price bean to cup coffee machines available.

Basically, as far as I’m aware it’s the cheapest bean to cup espresso machine available in the UK right now, and very, on paper at least, this machine as more going for it in terms of shot quality, than some of the much more expensive bean to cup machines. 

While some of the more expensive machines have some ideal features, especially when it comes to ease of use – the ESAM 4200 has as lots of grind settings as the more expensive De’Longhi machines, and double the number of grind settings of some much more expensive bean to cup machines.

While the 7 grind settings which half step increments doesn’t come close to what you’d expect to find on a stand alone espresso coffee mill, it does give you a little more ability to dial in (find the grind that produces the best espresso from the beans you’re using).

I used the Esam 4200 as my main espresso coffee machine for a week or so, in order to write my Delonghi Esam 4200 review. And I was really impressed with this bean to cup machine for the low cost, there’s in fact nothing offensive about this machine.

I can’t say “oh yeah it’s the cheapest bean to cup machine but here’s why”. Truly, it produces really as good shot quality and milk texture as a number of much more expensive machines. 

It’s a fairly compact machine, and everything is well thought out. I enjoy the front loading water tank.

Plenty of steam power and the steam pipe with the Panarello removed works perfectly well for producing decent milk texture, as you can see from a couple of photos of my latte art attempts above.

The only niggle I found with this machine is that it’s difficult to get back to the exact same settings.

The volume and strength dials are like volume knobs without any numbers for reference, which I found a bit of a pain, however not a deal breaker for such a bargain priced machine.

Check Price - Amazon UK

Check Price – Amazon UK

Features:

• Easy access front loading water tank: 1.8L
• Adjustable brew group height for different sized cups
• Steam wand doubles as hot water tap
• Fairly quiet grinding with 13 settings.

Blurb:

The ECAM22 will create you the fantastic espresso coffee at the touch of a button as well as giving you the opportunity to make cafe style milk based drinks such as cappuccinos and lattes.

Beautifully brewed, this incredible piece of engineering will allow you to start the day with the excellent coffee ingest to suit you and will look stunning on your kitchen surface.

The machine has a silent integrated coffee mill with 13 settings so that you can tailor your coffee to your exact taste buds.

Espresso. The humble rotation of the dial lets you increase or decrease the coffee intensity. By pressing the corresponding buttons you can choose between short or long coffees.

Cappuccino. Cappuccino System device is ideal to produce a rich, creamy froth for fantastic cappuccinos

Latte. Cappuccino System tool is ideal to produce a rich, creamy froth for fantastic lattes

Notes about the blurb:

“Cappuccino system device” – is basically the Panarello wand. It does irritate me when manufacturers try to make up cooler sounding names for bog fundamental implements… 

My Observations:

In my humble opinion, this is rather the majority of machine for the money.

It doesn’t cost a wonderful deal more than the ESAM 4200, and it does have rather a few more features and refinements, which would make me tempted by this machine vs the slightly cheaper preference, if I was on the market for a bean to cup machine.

It has a ridiculous number of Amazon reviews, which are extremely positive overall.

Obviously, there will always be negatives, but most of them appear to be rating the supplier quite than the machine.

For instance, there are multiple reviews referring to the machine having been sent to a UK address with an EU plug, and of course, this is a rating of the supplier, not the machine. 

By the way, the reason this may happen is if you’ve (possibly unknowingly) purchased from a third party seller. Sometimes there is more than one supplier option available, and some may be cheaper than others.

The problem with literally choosing the cheapest supplier is that there are numerous firms that sell coffee machines in the UK from Italy and other countries.

Machines purchased from these firms are likely to come with an EU plug, and they may come with a return to Italy warranty too, so it’s worth doing some due diligence and truly checking who you’re buying your machine from if it’s not a machine that is dispatched and sold by Amazon. 

Check Price – Amazon UK

Just a quick update re the Ecam E22, readers have explained to me that there’s a new version of this, which is about the same price nevertheless has been released more lately. A few people have asked me if I can explain the difference. 

Best Delonghi Machines

Check Price – Amazon UK

DeLonghi truly likes using numbers ;-), 21.110, 21.116, 21.117, just keep in mind that the first part of the number, in this case, ECAM 21, is the main model number, and the B or S is the colour (black or silver), and the final number is the specific variation, which is purely aesthetic differences as far as I’m able to tell. 

The 21.117 appears to differ from the first version of this model (21.110) really with the colour of the Panarello wand and other slight colour differences, I can’t find any meaningful differences in specs, and I think there are unlikely to be as they’ll usually release a new model basically to change something modest like the steam wand. 

This leads me to the other variation of the Magnifica S, the ECAM250 which as far as I can see, other than slight aesthetic differences only differs due to the steam wand. 

Check Price – Amazon UK

As I’ve just pointed out, they’ve given this a different model number, the Magnifica S Smart 250, but other than a few changes in the format of the controls, and extremely slight aesthetic differences, it appears (I’ve used both) to be the same machine except for the steam wand. 

Personally, even though, although a steam wand might not seem like a reason to go for a different model, I’d go for this one over the other similar versions of the machine, as long as the prices are similar, just due to the truth that I think this is the best Panarello steam wand that I’ve ever come across.

Panarello is the name for the sheath over the steam pipe which automatically injects air into the milk or milk alternative, and while I’m not a huge fan of these milk frothers, they are really, really modest to utilize, which is why so numerous domestic coffee machines feature them. DeLonghi came up with this particular version of Panarello steam wands with the DeLonghi Dedica EC685 traditional espresso coffee machine (at least I think that’s the first machine this wand featured on, please correct me if I’m wrong), and I was truly surprised the first time I used it. 

It enables the same almost automatic frothing as with the fundamental Panarello, where the position of the tip of the wand relative to the surface has little impact, however it also has a actually clever little feature that I think is really underrated, which is the ability to switch it from stretching to truly heating. 

Standard Panarello wands give you no control over how far you stretch the milk, which is why utilizing wands like this tends to give you truly stiff old school cappuccino foam. With this one, but, you’re able to decide when you’ve pulled enough air into the milk, and at that point, you can just change the setting so it’s only heating, and you’ll end up with microfoam.

This is a best feature, though you don’t have to use it. With both this sort of Panarello and the basic one, you can slide it off and work with the pipe underneath as a pro steam wand. There’s a knack to this, however once you’ve got it, you’ll be able to produce a perfect milk texture which is simply as stretched, and literally as hot as you prefer it.

Check Price – Gaggia Direct

Features.

• Dimensions: L25.5 x H33 x D42.5 cm
• Thermoblock boiler
• Steam wand doubles as hot water tap
• Auto Cleaning
• Ceramic Burrs
• Removable Brew Group
• Digital display
• Removable Water tank: 1.2 litres
• Coffee Bean Capacity: 250 grams
• Dump Box Capacity: 8 servings
• Adjustable Cup Height
• Panarello Steam/Hot Water Arm
• Adjustable Coffee Dosage

Blurb:

The Gaggia Brera is a compact bean-to-cup espresso machine in a stylish, modern design. The Brera is simple to use and allows easy access to the water tank and coffee ground waste via the front of the machine.

The Brera allows for customisation of your preferred consume. The easy to utilize controls provide control over the grind of the coffee, the amount of coffee used in each espresso coffee shot, and controlling the length of each shot.

My Review

My Observations:

I think this is a brilliant little bean to cup coffee machine for a relatively low cost.

I used it for a week or so everyday, as my home machine in order to write my Gaggia Brera Review, and I was really impressed.

It’s relatively quiet, it’s very easy to utilize, the steam power is nice & strong, and FAST, plus steam is ready extremely quickly. Removing the Panarello wand leaves a fairly long steam pipe which works rather well as a standard steam wand.

My only niggles are that I wish it had more grind settings (the two De’Longhi machines above are mildly cheaper, and have more grind settings), and I found the grind adjusting a little bit stiff.

Though to be fair, the difference between 5 to 10 grind settings isn’t actually going to make much of a difference, and I do realise that lots of bean to cup users won’t be touching the grind much anyway, so for a lot of people, this probably won’t matter. 

If you’re particularly fussy about dialing in (getting the grind spot on with each bean) you’re probably not going to be going for a bean to cup machine. 

If shot quality is the most important thing to you, and you want to be able to perfectly dial in every time, even the likes of the Sage Oracle & Sage Oracle Touch which in my opinion are the extremely best bean to cup machines when it comes to shot quality, won’t get you as close to perfection as a representative espresso coffee machine in the hands of a competent home barista. 

By the way, I usually find Amazon to be the best source of deals for coffee machines, but in this case – and with many Gaggia machines actually, Gaggia Direct, (the UK distributor for Gaggia) usually provides the perfect deal.

Check Price – Gaggia Direct

Also see my review on youtube:

Check Price – Amazon UK  Check Price – Currys

Features:

• Auto pre-infusion (for enhanced shot quality).
• Compact & stylish
• Easy cleaning
• Cappuccinatore system for one touch milk
• Humble to utilize

Blurb:

The Melitta Caffeo Solo & Ideal Milk bean to cup coffee makeking device is the wonderful combination of compact design and feature-packed technology that makes making a fantastic tasting caffeinated beverage quick and easy.

Easy Operation.  The Melitta Caffeo Solo & Best Milk has an intuitive operating panel with a pared-down LED symbol display to keep things humble and straightforward.

There are two pre-programmed coffee settings plus special programmes for both lattes and tall coffees. Coffee strength and descaling and cleaning programmes can likewise be accessed by selecting the appropriate symbol.

Auto Cappuccinatore. Steeps indulgent creamy coffees and light work of preparing hot water, warm milk, and light, frothy milk. You can set the desired amount manually utilizing the dial.

Aroma Extraction System. To increase your coffee satisfaction the Melitta Caffeo Solo moistens the freshly ground coffee prior to brewing which releases the subtle flavours of the coffee. The ability to troubleshoot the grind size and coffee strength in three stages will allow you to find out your great taste.

Height Adjustable Coffee Outlet. The height adjustable coffee outlet can easily accommodate latte macchiato glasses or mugs. The coffee outlet also allows you to make two cups at once utilizing the double cup mode.

Cleaning and Maintenance. The Melitta Caffeo Solo & Fantastic Milk features a removable brewing unit that can be rinsed clean under running water. It likewise allows the interior of the coffee makeking device to be cleaned with a damp cloth. The Melitta Caffeo bean to cup coffee brewing device will alert you if cleaning and descaling are needed.

Melitta Companion App. This app features tips and tricks on how to get the perfect from your machine and make the best coffee plus illustrated step-by-step instructions for maintenance programmes and help with knowledge the status of the coffee makeking device via the diagnostic device.

My Observations:

This is an auto frothing bean to coffee brewing device, and this is one of the lowest-priced options.

For the price, which at the time of writing is cheaper than the De’Longhi Magnifica S Ecam E22 above, and only slightly more expensive than the ESAM 4200, this is an impressive looking machine. 

The Solo uses a cappuccinatore for frothing the milk, vs a carafe system, which is one of the reasons (I think) for the lower cost of this machine, but actually, I think the cappuccinatore system has a lot going for it.

Instead of having to take out a milk carafe and put it in the fridge, or wash it out whenever – you literally put the cappuccinatore pipe into your milk bottle, the milk is then sucked up the pipe, frothed, and delivered into your cup.

Again, auto milk frothing whether delivered with this system or via a carafe isn’t going to give you much in terms of control of your milk texturing, but for a lot of people who value ease of use over anything else, I think this machine has a lot going for it at this price. 

It has the majority of Amazon reviews, which is always handy, as it suggests you can spend some time going through them and looking for recurring pros and cons.

By doing this, you can determine whether there may be some cons that would make a genuine difference to whether or not this would be the best bean to cup coffee brewing tool for you.

In particular, I like to spend time going through the mid star ratings.

I find if you look at the one star reviews you’re usually looking at faults or people reviewing the supplier. 

in the middle of the stars, around 3 & 4  are where you tend to find the interesting comments that may help you to determine if the pros and cons according to hundreds of users, suit your particular requirements. 

If you spend some time reading the reviews, you’ll see that there have been a fair amount of faults, which have led to the replacement of parts or the entire machine.

The greatest complaints I’ve seen are about milk temperature and the quality of the milk foam.

It does appear to be a trending niggle, so if milk temperature and/or quality of the milk texture are especially important to you, this may not be the perfect machine for you. 

Having said that, I would never expect any one touch milk frothing machine to deliver an amazing milk texture.

So if you’re someone who drinks a lot of milkies, and if you want excellent milk texture, I’d go for a manual milk frothing bean to cup coffee machine.

Take off the Panarello to utilize the steam pipe as a steam wand – or look at the likes of the Sage Oracle, or Sage Oracle Touch which have pro steam wands, and can create brilliant milk texture, however I’ll discuss these machines shortly.

Check Price – Amazon UK  Check Price – Currys

Check Price – Gaggia Direct

Features:

• Professional steam wand
• Fully customised coffees including temperature
• Espresso coffee, Espresso lungo, Coffee, Americano, hot water & hot milk (via steam wand)
• 1.8 Litre water tank
• Stainless steel drip tray
• Automatic pre-infusion
• Removable brew group for easy cleaning.
• 250g hopper capacity.

Blurb:

Adjustable Espresso Tray
The adjustable cup tray ensures the best height for producing stunning espresso coffee with minimal disruption to the crema, and reduced splashing. 

Pre-Brewing
Pre-brewing, likewise called pre-infusion, improves the quality of espresso coffee by pre-wetting the grounds before the commencement of espresso coffee brewing.

Removable Brew Group
The brew group, or brewing unit, is the heart of the machine. This auto-doses and auto-tamps the coffee for all your espressos, and keeping it clean of coffee oils is a ought to. Being able to basically remove the brew group and rinsed under a tap, and easily slotted back in place, steeps this important maintenance super easy.

Bypass Chute for Pre-Ground Coffee
In addition to the coffee beans preference, an easy solution to brew different ground coffee blends, included decaf

Quick Heat Boiler
The Quick Heat boiler ensures hot beverages from the first cup without the waiting. Its secret lies in its body brewed in light aluminium and stainless steel, which can reach hot temperatures fast.

My Observations

If you mainly ingest milkies, and if milk texture is important to you, this may basically be your fantastic bean to cup coffee brewing equipment. 

As far as I’m aware, this is the first non-commercial bean to cup coffee machine available in the UK other than the £1500-£2000 Sage Oracle and Sage Oracle Touch, which features a proper steam wand.

At the price of this machine (currently £550 at Gaggia Direct) given the extent of control you have over shots, including shot temperature, and given it comes with a pro steam wand, I think this is an exceptionally interesting bean to cup machine. 

Check Price – Gaggia Direct

Check Price – Gaggia Direct

Features:

• Professional steam wand
• Fully personalised coffees including temperature
• Espresso, ristretto, lungo, coffee, Americano, hot water & hot milk (via steam wand)
• 4 separate custom profiles
• 1.5 Litre water tank
• Stainless steel drip tray
• Automatic pre-infusion
• Removable brew group for easy cleaning
• 300g hopper capacity

Blurb:

Italian Excellence 
Proudly brewed in Italy, for premium quality and a never ending passion for espresso making.

Up to 6 Beverages
Find out the 6 beverages available, all at your fingertips and try the ultimate barista experience at home: ristretto, espresso, espresso lungo, coffee, americano & hot water (for teas and infusions). 

Brand New Wide Screen User Interace
High technology brewed it even more modest, thanks to a widescreen control panel giving all settings and functions at a glance.

4 User Profiles
4 different user profiles to memorize all beverages, personalised to your heart’s content, easy to change & easy to save.

Stainless Steel Pro Steam Wand
The must-have device to unleash your inner barista, the stainless steel steam wand dispenses steam to texture milk to a high – latte art worthy standard, and will also deliver hot water for teas and infusions.

Adjustable Espresso coffee Tray
The adjustable cup tray ensures the best height for producing stunning espresso coffee with minimal disruption to the crema, and reduced splashing. 

Pre-Brewing
Pre-brewing, also spoken about as pre-infusion, improves the quality of espresso coffee by pre-wetting the grounds before the commencement of espresso coffee brewing.

Removable Brew Group
The brew group, or brewing unit, is the heart of the machine. This auto-doses and auto-tamps the coffee for all your espressos, and keeping it clean of coffee oils is a needs to. Being able to just remove the brew group and rinsed under a tap, and easily slotted back in place, steeps this important maintenance super easy.

Bypass Chute for Pre-Ground Coffee
In addition to the coffee beans preference, an easy solution to brew different ground coffee blends included decaf

Quick Heat Boiler
The Quick Heat boiler ensures hot beverages from the first cup without the waiting. Its secret lies in its body crafted in light aluminium and stainless steel, which can reach hot temperatures fast.

My Observations

Released in the UK in November 2021 the Cadorna Barista Plus is Gaggia’s second latest bean to cup coffee brewing tool to be brewed available with a professional steam wand.

The steam wand on the Cadorna is slightly bigger than on the Magenta plus, other than that as far as I can see, it’s an really similar machine nevertheless 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 four personalised user settings.

Check Price – Gaggia Direct

Check Price – Amazon UK Check Price – Currys 

Features:

• Cappuccinatore milk frother
• 21 pre-set coffees
• 1.8 Litre water tank
• Dual hoppers (type of, nevertheless see my note below on this)
• Connected coffee makeking tool – via Melitta Connect app.

Blurb (paraphrased):

• 21 different coffee presets which can be personalised via the Melitta connect App.
• Produces a huge range of coffee shop favourites including Café Crème, Espresso coffee & Latte Macchiato.
• Patented tech including “best aroma system plus”, “Intense Aroma” and “Whisper Grinder”.
• Features two airtight coffee hoppers
• TFT touch screen display
• Automatic cleaning and descaling
• Engineered and manufactured in Germany

My Observations:

This is an interesting machine from Melitta, and the general consensus from people who own the machine is that it’s wonderful when it comes to the coffee side of things, people are primarily impressed with the espresso coffee and Americano this machine will produce, and the huge number of recipes, especially if utilizing the app. 

The 8 customizable user profiles with personal usernames instead of literally a colour system, for example, is something that people are often very impressed by, and many people seem to be impressed with the app, except for those who aren’t… ;-).

Those who’re not impressed with the app, nevertheless, I’m not sure if it’s people with a particular phone or people with a particular version of the firmware, but there seems to be two schools of thought here, either the app connection is simply easy and works well, or it’s awful and doesn’t work adequately. From what I understand this is a firmware matter, and models from 2020 and onwards ought to be fine with Android or IOS but don’t quote me.

Talking about the app, I think it’s in reality a truly clever thing when it comes to the ability to create and edit so the majority of different profiles and the various different coffee recipes you can select via the app, but there is one part of it that strikes me as a bit of a mistake, which is the fact that you can do all of this excellent stuff remotely, including creating coffee – however you have to physically walk up to the machine to turn it on. 

I know, you’d have to walk up to it to put the cup on the drip tray, but the reason I’d want a smart coffee makeking equipment like this would be so I can order my first coffee of the day while I’m still arguing with my alarm clock. There’s no reason you couldn’t put a cup in place the night before, then wake up in the morning and order a coffee via your phone, other than the truth that there’s no way to turn the machine on from the app.

A quick note on the “two hoppers” feature. This machine essentially has a hopper which is split into two sections, and I do think that’s basically clever, however it’s not great, especially not if you’re planning to utilize among the hoppers for Decaf. 

The first reason for this is literally that hoppers are the worst place to store coffee beans. I think you’re better off literally chucking in roughly the amount of coffee beans you’re about to utilize, and keep your coffee in airtight containers, and if you’re doing this then the dual hopper system is neither here nor there. 

I understand, the marketing blurb does say that this is airtight, but I doubt that. I’d enjoy to see some evidence that the hopper is airtight, as I don’t think that’s possible. You can put a rubber seal around the hopper lid, that will stop air from getting into the hopper once the lid is on, nevertheless then how is there no air available into the hopper via the burrs? The burrs aren’t touching, there’s a slight gap, and air is pretty small ;-), so I don’t think there’s a way to actually make hoppers air tight. 

How to store coffee beans appropriately

Even if there was, by the way, this still doesn’t make hoppers a good place to store coffee beans, due to the fact that what about the air you’re trapping in the hopper with the beans when you load beans in and then close the lid? With coffee storage solutions usually, you have some way of pushing out the trapped air. 

The other issue with a split hopper like this is that lots of people will see it as a route for decaffeinated, keeping decaffeinated in one chamber and full caffeine beans in the other and while this works in theory, in practice it’s not a excellent solution due to exchanged retention. 

Exchange retention is when some of the coffee you ground the last time you crafted a coffee stays in the coffee grinder and ends up being used the next time you make a coffee. This isn’t huge, with domestic machines it tends to only be two or three grams, nevertheless the question with dual hoppers and one grinding machine is you also have additional exchanged retention in the form of beans sitting on top of the burrs. 

When the other chamber is selected, there will be beans sitting in the top of the burrs which will be ground first before the fresh beans are ground from the selected hopper chamber, so add this to the exchanged already ground coffee, and I would assume that unless you waste a coffee each time you switch chambers, you’re probably going to be consuming a fairly even mix of coffees from both hopper chambers, which isn’t excellent for the person who thinks they’re sipping decaffeinated. 

Among the things I like about Melitta is that as with Gaggia bean to cup machines, a double shot is a double shot, and this is one of the reasons you’ll see me featuring a few Melitta machines here, and Gaggia machines. 

You can literally request a double shot, and get a double shot, meaning double the volume of espresso coffee brewed from double the volume of coffee beans. OK, you can get the same on other machines by basically pressing the single espresso button once, waiting for the espresso to finish pulling, and then pressing it again, but it does make me feel better about an espresso machine when a double shot is just brewed with double the weight of coffee beans.

Re the milk, this is handled with a cap in cup frother, also referred to as a cappuccinatore. I primarily prefer this sort of frother to the carafe systems where you have to fill a carafe with milk and slot it onto the machine. They tend to be a little more laborious when it comes to cleaning, and cappuccinatore milk frothers are so modest.

There’s just a milk pipe which you can put into the milk container which sits next to the machine, or actually slap it in your milk bottle, the milk is sucked into the machine, frothed, and delivered into your cup. 

Check Price – Amazon UK 

Check Price – Amazon UK 

Features:

• 7 one-touch coffees (with this version)
• 1.8 Litre water tank
• Carafe milk frother (with this version)
• Colour screen display

Blurb (paraphrased):

Freshly Made Coffee
The Magnifica Evo freshly grinds your coffee beans just as your coffee is being made, to ensure the freshest espresso and tastiest espresso-based beverages.

Colour Display
Attractive colour control panel with easy to work with soft-touch selections and coloured icons for a range of different one-touch coffee recipes.

LatteCrema System
The new LatteCreama system, exclusive to DeLonghi, enables one-touch milk-based coffees with long lasting rich milk foam at the wonderful temperature and texture.

7 One-touch Recipes
All of your cafe favourites at a single touch of a button.

My Observations:

At the time of writing at least, this is one of the extremely 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. 

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 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 is that the instruction manual isn’t fantastic and you’re perfect jumping on YouTube for video setup guides. Likewise, a few people have explained that the milk is a little bit on the cool side.

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Features:

• Auto or manual milk-steaming – your option
• One touch dial for 10 different coffees
• Colour TFT display
• 1.8L water tank
• 2 hopper chambers
• Adjustable brew group for different cup sizes.
• Automatic cleaning and descaling
• Compatible with Melitta Pro water filter cartridges
• Removable extraction chamber for easy cleaning
• Brew temperature control

Blurb:

Be Your Own Barista with the Award-Winning Caffeo CI Touch

Innovative Bean-to-Cup Coffee Maker Accommodates Individual Preference

With its double-sealed 2-chamber Bean Select system for flavour variation, the user-friendly Caffeo CI One-Touch moves swiftly in its mission to optimally extract both flavour and aroma, as beans are systematically pre-wetted to enliven your senses.

This fully-automatic bean-to-cup coffee makeking equipment offers 3 brew temperatures, 4 strength levels, and a double-cup option for simultaneous arrival of two drinks.

Its “My Coffee” memory-feature stores up to four personal preferences, and the choice to rotate between Espresso, Cappuccino, and Latte Macchiato (one of others) gives a feeling of an Italian cafe within the comfort of your own home or workplace.

With its smooth surface, refined design structure, and push-button cleaning components, it is well within your reach to maintain the pristine integrity of this innovative and long-lasting Melitta coffee maker.

My Observations:

This is a one-touch, auto milk frothing bean to cup machine, and it appears to have a lot going for it in terms of features for the price.

It has a fair number of Amazon reviews considering it’s only been available for a couple of years (at the time of writing), and there are lots of positives. 

The dual-chamber hopper – is about as much use as a chocolate fireguard, in my humble opinion. If you’re thinking of buying this machine due to the reality that of this feature, I’d suggest against it.

In theory, it seems a clever idea to have for instance an espresso blend in one chamber and a lighter roasted bean in the other chamber, or full caffeine in one and decaffeinated in the other.

HOWEVER – there’s only one grinding machine, being fed by two hoppers – well, one hopper split in half.

So when you switch from one hopper to the other, what about the grinds retention, and not only that, what about the beans retention, meaning the beans that are sitting on top of the burrs from the other chamber when you switch chambers?

Simply, you’re going to end up drinking a mix of the coffee from both chambers – unless you make coffee and chuck it away after switching hopper chambers, and how much you’d need to chuck away would depend on the grinding retention and how numerous beans are sitting on top of the burrs, it could be two or even three coffees that you’d need to make and pour away.

So as far as I’m worried, dual hoppers are entirely pointless unless they’re feeding dual grinders, as is the case with the DeLonghi Maestosa, and the Siemens EQ.9 plus connect s700, which both have two separate grinders.

Check Price – Amazon UK  Check Price – Currys

Check Price – Amazon UKCheck Price – Currys

Features:

• Cappuccinatore milk frother
• Extremely slim at under 20cm wide
• 1.5L water tank
• Pre-infusion
• Simple dose control
• 5 grind settings
• Removable brewing unit
• Auto cleaning and descaling
• Espresso coffee & Café Crème from one touch
• Volume settings with markings
• 3 adjustable brew settings

Blurb:

Among the a lot of compact bean to cup coffee machines on the market, the Avanza fires on all cylinders and punches way above its weight class and price class, offering effortless one touch espresso & café crème, plus cappuccino, latte & more via the modest to utilize and simple to clean cappuccinatore frother.

My Observations:

This is a neat looking and relatively new bean to cup coffee brewing tool from Melitta, and it seems to be rather a nice little compact machine at the low to mid price range. It’s a cappacinatore machine, which truly indicates that it has the milk frother that would usually be inside a milk carafe, however there’s no milk carafe, so you just chuck the pipe into your milk bottle, and the frother froths the milk (because that’s primarily 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 actually keep in mind that you can’t work with pre-ground coffee with it. There are five grinding settings, but the Manufacturer has extremely answered a issue about the grind settings in the Amazon questions and answers, which is quite interesting.

Someone has asked about the grinding settings, and Melitta have answered appearing to advise 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 crafted finer over the years as the burrs wear.

Just keep in mind that this isn’t a fully automatic bean to cup coffee makeking device 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 little bit from one country to another, for example, bean to cup machines are usually called 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 coffee is anxious. 

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, nevertheless it’s not that sort of machine – it will produce the coffee for you (espresso coffee and Café Crème) on a one touch basis, however 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 essential.

Check Price – Amazon UK

Check Price – Amazon UK

Features:

• 9 one-touch buttons including flat white
• Adjustable milk froth
• Complete control over each coffee including coffee temperature & strength
• Adjustable brew group height for different sized cups
• Intuitive touch control panel
• 2 litre water tank

Blurb:

Enhance your each day with Eletta Cappucino, De’Longhi’s innovative automatic coffee maker. Savour a velvety smooth caffe latte or prepare two espresso cups at once and enjoy your coffee with a friend.

Combining cutting-edge coffee technology with trademark Italian style, this sleek white and stainless steel design fits seamlessly into any modern kitchen.

• Coffee and milk based beverages at the touch of a button
• Brew 2 espresso cups at the same time
• Creamy, dense, long-lasting milk foam at the ideal temperature with the automatic LatteCrema System. Auto clean milk carafe
• Customise aroma and quantity
• White finish with stainless steel detail and button control panel

Notes about the blurb:

Re the “enjoy your coffee with a friend” bit, that’s easier said than done at the moment, eh? Unless you happen to live with your friend of course. 

My Observations:

This is another really successful bean to cup coffee machine from De’Longhi, as you’ll notice if you look at the reviews – it has racked up a tonne of reviews, and the overall rating is very impressive.

Although it’s largely positive, there are a few complaints that the flat white this machine produces isn’t a flat white, and this is no surprise to me. It’s a tall order to get a correctly crafted flat white at a coffee shop, let alone from a machine.

If flat whites are your milky of preference, as they are mine, then I’d avoid an auto milk frothing machine, steam your own milk.

Yeah, there’s a learning curve, nevertheless once you get it you’ll be able to make better flat whites than you’d get from any machine, and from the majority of coffee shops too.

Check Price – Amazon UK

Check Price – Sage Appliances Check Price – Amazon UK  Check Price – Currys

This isn’t a bean to cup machine, strictly speaking, nevertheless it’s really close – and it may be the absolute ideal machine for some people reading this post, which is why I decided to include it. 

By far my favourite bean to cup machines are the Sage Oracle and Sage Oracle Touch, which I’ll talk about a little bit later, and the Barista Touch is really close to these two machines. It lacks really little actually in the way of bean to cup type features, and it’s about a grand cheaper than the Oracle touch, which is why I think I have to include the Barista touch.

Update: Sage Discount Codes!
If you’re in the UK and you’re thinking of buying any Sage coffee makeking tool or grinder (or any other product from Sage Appliances) you might want to drop me an email. Click here to join my “Brew Time” mailing list, and then email me ([email protected]) to see if I have a recent discount code to Share. Sage Appliances sometimes share codes with me, I can’t publish them – and there’s no point as they’re usually time-limited anyway, nevertheless they do allow me to share them with subscribers via email.

I’m not including the Sage Barista Express in this post, or the Barista Pro, as I think without the touch screen features these machines are firmly in the home barista semi-auto traditional espresso coffee machine category. 

Features:

• Humble touch screen operation
• 5 pre-programmed coffees
• 6 personalised coffees
• 29 mill settings
• Automatic or manual milk steaming – your choice (automatic produces near-perfect milk texture!)
• Stainless steel construction
• 3 second heat up time

Blurb:

Create third wave speciality coffee at home with ease.

My Observations:

As I mentioned earlier, strictly speaking, the Barista Touch isn’t a bean to cup machine, but there’s only extremely one small bean to cup element missing, which is tamping.

The Oracle range that I keep harping on about, is a full bean to cup with one distinct difference, which is that they require the user to just move the coffee around, which does two things. 

To start with, it deals with a problem that bean to cup machine designers have to get around, which is automating dumping the used coffee grounds into the dump box inside the machine and ensuring that the user can’t allow it to overfill. 

Secondly, it offers bean to cup users a more authentic home barista experience. 

While Oracle users are only manually carrying out one small part of the method, moving the portafilter from the grind position to the group head & then knocking out the puck of coffee from the portafilter.

This handling of the portafilter is the main thing many people associate with the Barista experience.

So the Oracle machines allow home espresso machine users to feel like home baristas, and to experience a similar extent of quality in the cup that they’d experience, but without having gone through the home barista learning curve. 

The only extra step a barista touch user has to carry out is tamping (using the tamper to put pressure on the ground coffee in the basket), and basically – this is another key part of the home barista thing.

So for some people, the barista touch is excellent, offering just a bit more of the authentic home barista experience without requiring much in the way of developing skills.

Yes, there’s some skill involved in tamping, but it’s not rather at the same level as learning to pull decent shots with a traditional espresso machine without any automation.

Also, the Sage machines come with the razor equipment, which ensures a level surface & the right space between the top of the puck of coffee and the shower screen in the group head.

This does make it harder to mess up the tamp, as the main mistake people make when tamping is either not getting the correct dose into the basket, or not tamping extent. 

By the way, if you think you might love the home barista thing to the point that you may want to in reality develop the skills rather than rely on automation, the Sage Barista Express is almost half the price of the Barista Touch.

The Barista Pro is the newer version of the Barista Express, and has the same newer thermojet system. There’s also the Sage Dual Boiler, which is the same dual boiler machine as the Oracle & Oracle touch (suggests you can pull shots and steam milk at the same time) however without the bean to cup stuff.

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Check Price – Sage Appliances Check Price – Amazon UK  Check Price – Currys

As I’ve discussed, this is one of my two favourite true bean to cup coffee machines.

I say “true” because if we were to take that out of the equation and include the Barista Touch I’ve just explained, I’d say my three favourites, as I think this is a excellent fit for many people looking for a bean to cup coffee brewing tool.

The Oracle was the first coffee makeking device I ever reviewed. Sage sent me one on loan for a week or so in order to review it, by this point (almost 5 years ago, at the time of writing) I was mainly using manual brewers, and hadn’t yet begun my home barista journey.

I was very impressed with the machine, but it was only once I started the home barista learning curve that I fully appreciated the quality of the coffee and milk texture this machine was able to produce straight out of the box.

Until you’ve tried utilizing a manual espresso machine and you come to realise just how much skill is basically involved, you might not fully appreciate truly how much work should have gone into producing a machine that delivers effects like this straight out of the box.

Features: 

• Dual Boiler – pull shots and steam milk at the same time for faster coffees
• 2.5L water tank
• Proper low pressure pre-infusion – reduced chance of channeling = increased shot quality
• PID control – ensures stable brew temp = increased shot quality
• Auto on and off – set it to be ready to work with when you wake up needing coffee
• Full sized 58mm portafilter – comes in handy when it comes to buying third party accessories, naked portafilters, tampers, baskets, etc.
• Big, concentrated double shots – crafted from 22 grams of coffee
• Auto Dosing & Auto Tamping for as close to fantastic extraction whenever
• 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, not dispensed through the coffee grounds.

Blurb:

Third Wave Specialty Coffee, without the barista.

My Observations:

Sage (or Breville in Australia who create the machines, we understand them as Sage Appliances here) are an incredibly clever bunch of people.

Sage Coffee Machines – Why You Shouldn’t Buy One Just Yet

It’s apparent from their products that they take a step back when creating machines & look at things from a fresh perspective, quite than actually looking at what others have done. 

They clearly did the majority of stepping back when creating their respond to to the bean to cup question, as it’s so different to any other bean to cup coffee makeking equipment that came before it. 

“Normal” Bean to cup machines, for want of a better word, offer the untrained coffee lover espresso and espresso-based drinks at home, at the touch of a button, straight out of the box without the skill development required to get semi decent results from a classic espresso coffee machine.

They do this, however it comes at a sacrifice to cup quality.

There’s no doubt at all that a typical espresso machine in the hands of a skilled home barista will deliver espresso and espresso-based coffees that even the best bean to cup machine wouldn’t be able to come close to delivering. 

Nevertheless for years, bean to cup coffee machines have been great-selling machines because many coffee lovers place such a value on convenience.

They’re busy, they literally want to press a button and get their favourite coffee, and they don’t have the time or inclination to embark upon a hobby (and becoming a home barista truly is a hobby though the majority of people don’t quite get that when they begin).

What the Sage Oracle did, even though, was to address a particular niche market, which is busy people who want the ease of utilize of bean to cup, but without any sacrifice in cup quality. 

I’m not talking here about superficial things, bells & whistles, I’m talking about fundamentals. 

For example, the Oracle has 45 grind settings. This offers the Oracle a huge advantage over any other bean to cup machine I’m aware of.

All of the other bean to cup machines featuring in this article (and all of the machines I’m aware of) except the sage machines have between 5-13 grind settings.

Being able to more finely modify the grind size makes a huge impact on shot quality. So this is a huge plus for the Oracle even before we take any of the other features into account. 

But then we have things like pre-infusion, PID (digital temperature control), 21 gram double dosage, Americano being brewed with hot water via a dedicated water spout so it’s not basically a long over extracted shot, dual boiler, auto milk texturing.

While I don’t think you’re ever going to get a bean to cup machine up to 100% of the potential cup quality of a decent home barista set up and a decent home barista, these features I believe get the Sage Oracle about as close as anyone is likely to get.

Also, keep in mind that I said a decent home barista setup and a decent home barista. I would expect the Oracle to be able to deliver better quality coffees straight out of the box in the hands of a complete beginner than a novice with a great home barista setup. You ought to have tasted some of the coffees I crafted early on my home barista journey… 😉

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Check Price – Amazon UKCheck Price – Sage Appliances  Check Price – Currys 

I’m not going to go into as much detail here just due to the fact that this is a newer, touch screen version of the Oracle, and lots of of the features are the same. 

Features (which differ from the oracle):

• Simple touch screen operation
• 5 pre-programmed coffees
• 8 personalised coffees

Blurb:

Automation at every stage

My Review

Likewise watch:

My Observations:

For me, the newer Oracle Touch is aimed deeper into the bean to cup market than the Oracle is.

In other words, while The Oracle perhaps grabs the attention of the folk who find out that they want better quality than bean to cup machines are likely to deliver, I think the Oracle Touch is aimed more at the folk who swear by bean to cup, and are looking for the best when it comes to simplicity and convenience.

Let’s imagine you’ve been a bean to cup machine user for years, and your eyes are drawn to the Oracle Touch because of the intelligent looking user controls and personalisation.

You go on to read that not only is this machine going to give you the type of user experience you’re looking for, but it’s also likely to deliver better tasting coffees than any machine you’ve previously owned.

You may then be reaching for your wallet, or reaching for an excuse to tell (or sell?)  your better half why you need to spend the price of an incredibly nice holiday on a coffee brewing device ;-). 

Check Price – Sage Appliances Check Price – Amazon UK  Check Price – Currys 

Update: Sage Discount Codes!
If you’re in the UK and you’re thinking of buying any Sage coffee machine or coffee mill (or any other product from Sage Appliances) you might want to drop me an email. Click here to join my “Brew Time” mailing list, and then email me ([email protected]) to see if I have a recent discount code to Share. Sage Appliances sometimes share codes with me, I can’t publish them – and there’s no point as they’re usually time-limited anyway, but they do allow me to share them with subscribers via email.

17 Best Bean to Cup Coffee Machines – Conclusion

So this is the up to date list of what I believe to be the current 17 best bean to cup espresso machines in the UK this year.

I’ve lately totally updated this list as a lot had changed in the world of coffee machines since I first wrote this article, and I will continue to keep a close eye on things and update it again as things alter. 

Don’t forget though, regardless of what bean to cup coffee machine you go for, if you want great coffee out, you need to put excellent coffee in – don’t forget your discount code:

Work with discount code CBNC25 for 25% off your first order at Coffeeworks

Now, I’m going to introduce you to my bean to cup coffee brewing device FAQ. I did have this on a separate article, nevertheless 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 article, and more of an encyclopedia ;-), 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 learn that you can come back here and carry on reading.

Kev’s 2022 Bean to Cup Machine FAQ

What is a bean to cup coffee brewing device?

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

While with a classic espresso coffee machine there’s a filter holder, called 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 coffee 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 must 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 fundamental bean to cup machines only being fully automated where coffee is worried, and requiring some work from the user to steam and pour the milk, and with “one touch” machines likewise referred to as “cappuccino makers” being able to make milk-based coffees likewise at the touch of a button.

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

Creating a wonderful espresso with a representative espresso machine is something that requires quite a little bit of skill and effort.

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

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

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

For more on traditional espresso coffee machines see:

Perfect Espresso Machines

Is a bean to cup coffee makeking device the right coffee makeking tool for me?

This is an exceptionally good issue, lots of people buy a coffee makeking device without fully understanding all of the different kinds 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 lots of different kinds and even sub-types of coffee machines, that there’s usually a great match for all requires. But you need to know what your requires are in relation to a coffee makeking tool if you’re going to end up finding your fantastic match.

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

Coffee Machines Guide

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

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

If you were in reality looking for drip coffee, see: 

Perfect Drip coffee Machines

What are the different forms of bean to cup coffee makeking tool

Not only are there numerous different kinds of coffee machine, there are sub forms, too. 

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

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

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

Which kind of bean to cup coffee brewing tool do I need? 

This depends on you. So as pointed out 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 deal with 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 just 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 types of machines are one of the lowest cost machines – though this isn’t true of all machines.

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

For more see: 

Sage Oracle and Oracle Touch Review

The reason I say this sort of machine is better for someone who’s fussy about milk texture is that a lot of the one touch machines create fairly thick foam with big bubbles – for creating 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 wonderful 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” choice tend to get a little bit of stick in the reviews when it comes to whether or not they’re literally 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 brewing tool – this was a commercial bean to cup coffee machine, an incredible machine I have to say, nevertheless a lot of 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 brewing device, feel free to drop me an email, I’ll discover some wonderful commercial machine suppliers who I’d be more than happy to put you in contact with.

In my simple opinion, one of 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 truly a bean to cup machine, it’s a home barista espresso coffee machine with a touch screen, a hybrid, simply. 

When it comes to controlling texture and temperature, again you only in truth 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 perfect 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 discussed as a Panarello – also called 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 a lot of of these types 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 many machines, you can just 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 makeking tool or home barista machine. It takes a little of practice, nevertheless it’s possible to get literally 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 little bit of a faff, but you’ll get used to it.

Which are the perfect for milk texture

If milk texture and control over texture and temperature are important to you, my personal favourite is the Gaggia Magenta plus, simply due to the reality that it’s a actually clever bean to cup machine with the type of features bean to cup users would want, but it has a pro steam wand, allowing you to create excellent texture without the faff of removing the Panarello and not having a pipe which is rather long enough to reach into the milk jug.

Check Price – Gaggia Direct

As I’ve spoken about a couple of times now, there’s likewise the Sage Oracle and Oracle Touch, and I basically like these machines too – however they’re outside of the budget of many people, while the Magenta Plus is a much more reasonably priced machine.

The newer Gaggia Cadorna Barista Pro has now been released in the UK, too, which is well worth having a look at, particularly if there are multiple users who will want to save their own personal settings.

Do bean to cup coffee machines give control over grinding

Bean to cup machines have grind adjustments, but many them will have only around 3-5 grind settings, so there’s actually not much control there. The flagship Gaggia machines the Babila & Accademia both have 15 grind settings, which gives more control than with any other machine I’m aware of apart from the Oracle range which have 45 grind settings. 

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

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

If you were to ask me who I think gives the best ranges of bean to cup machines I’d say possibly Gaggia or  Delonghi. 

Gaggia Coffee Machines DeLongCoffee Machines

If you were to ask me which brand I think brews the very perfect bean to cup machine, my personal favourite is the Oracle or Oracle Touch, if I’m not taking budget into consideration. These machines, while not the many expensive to be fair, are not within the budget of the majority of of coffee lovers, and OK they’re not bean to cup machines, strictly speaking, they’re Sage’s address to bean to cup.

Are there any coffee only bean to cup coffee machines?

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

Simply keep in mind, these machines differ a huge amount in price, particularly 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 creating that choice deliberately. For more see:

Smeg Coffee Machines

Which bean to cup coffee machine is perfect for Americano?

A lot of bean to cup machines will make Americano, and the  Sage Oracle or Sage Oracle Touch have a one-touch Americano button – and a dedicated hot water spout, though as I’ve said these aren’t within all budgets, they’re not cheap. 

When it comes to more fundamental bean to cup machines (the Sage machines don’t have a brewing unit, so they’re not truly bean to cup machines, technically speaking) the latest Gaggia bean to cup machines including the Cadorna & Magenta I think are among the best for Americano because many 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 occurs with most machines.

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

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

What it depends on, more than anything, is how several people will be using it, so how most coffees each day it’s going to be creating. If it’s a home workplace, and you’re going to be creating a few coffees each day, what you’re looking for truly is a home coffee makeking equipment – despite the fact you’re going to be utilizing it in your office – so, all of the machines I referred to above in the main best bean to cup coffee machines section are one of the best.

If you’re talking about an workplace with several people many of whom are going to want a few coffees per day from it, along with making coffee for customers when they call, you’re probably going to need to look at the commercial side of things, both from a speed and a reliability perspective. 

12 people waiting to make a coffee from a home machine during a 15 minute break for example is going to be a little bit of a frustrating experience, while commercial machines are brewed for this sort of scenario.

Also a home machine put under this type of demand is likely to not last as long, or to require more regular maintenance – as it’s being used for more than it’s really designed for in terms of coffees brewed back to back and the worry on the components that will come with this.

If you’re looking for a commercial bean to cup coffee makeking device for bigger offices, 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 matter, and the usual respond to is simply to shop around and see who has a sale on or who’s offering a deal at the time.

If you’re buying a Sage coffee makeking tool, I may be able to offer you a discount code if I have one at the time, literally email me to see if I do.

Gaggia Direct have deals and gives sometimes, so they’re worth checking. Even if they don’t have a sale or a deal, they’ll sometimes offer 3 year warranty instead of the usual 2.

Amazon is always worth checking of course, and my advice there would literally be to make double sure the machine is coming from a UK supplier. 

eBay is worth checking too, particularly for used machines. If you’re looking at a new machine there, actually be careful when it comes to warranty. I’ve heard from a customer recently who bought a brand new machine from eBay listed as having manufacturer’s warranty, nevertheless when he went to the manufacturer with a warranty question he was told they wouldn’t honour the warranty as they didn’t recognize the seller.

Costco have decent deals on coffee machines occasionally, nevertheless other than that I’d basically shop around online and see who has the best deal for the machine you’re looking for. Just be careful that it is basically a good deal and you’re not being hoodwinked – wow, hoodwinked, where did that come from ;-).

Anyway – there are a few (at least…) websites appearing to offer literally good prices for coffee machines, often much better pricing than other UK suppliers, and it’s often not a great deal as such, but a grey import.

A grey import suggests that the machine you’re buying wasn’t intended for your country, and the seller is taking advantage of that. Manufacturers tend to have selling prices which reflect the market and also the cost of sale of the machine once it’s been imported to that country via the official channels.

You’re not breaking any laws, that I’m aware of, buy buying a grey import, however there can be issues when it comes to having to return the machine, as it would usually mean the buyer paying to return the machine from the country it came from, and there can likewise be unexpected customs charges.

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

This is a common issue, too – as Curry’s are 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 especially enjoy the truth that their staff are all floating quite than always having someone at the tills ready to take your purchase to, but anyway.

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

Best Coffee Machines

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

Sage Appliances, which make some of the most popular coffee machines, are called Breville in almost all other countries, we understand them as Sage here due to the truth that 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 makeking equipment at seemingly an awesome price, they’ve bought it only to realize a little bit later on that they’ve bought a entirely different brand of coffee brewing device.

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 although some of them look mildly similar and have similar names. For more on Sage see:

Sage Coffee Machines

Bean to cup coffee machines from Argos, same issue?

Similar question, similar respond to. Argos tend to sell De’Longhi, Seimens & Melitta – and again they don’t usually have the full ranges, however they do sometimes have decent deals, so it’s always worth a look. 

Are Jura bean to cup coffee machines any good?

My personal opinion about Jura machines is that their higher-end home bean to cup coffee machines, in particular, are really good. The reason you won’t find anything about Jura coffee machines on this blog, though, is that I’ve had so a number of complaints from people about aftersales support. Just check out their UK Trust Pilot reviews. I’ve not had complaints about their machines, I have to say – truly their support.

It does look like they’re beginning to do better, looking at the last couple of reviews – but I didn’t want to start reviewing their machines without hearing from them re what’s going on with their support, so I’ve tried to contact them, nevertheless I’ve had no joy. If this changes, and they convince me that whatever the issue with aftersales support, it’s now sorted – you’ll start to see Jura bean to cup coffee machines appear on this post.

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

Another common issue about two of the most popular manufacturers of this sort of coffee machines, and I completely understand the issue being asked, nevertheless it’s similar to asking which car manufacturers make better cars, it usually depends on the exact models being compared. 

Overall from the machines I’ve used, and from the conversations I’ve had with readers who’ve owned both brands, I tend to think of these two brands as being fairly equal. They’ve both been around for a long time, they both have rather wide ranges covering all budgets, and they both have many repeat customers who’re very loyal to the brand. 

As I’ve said in other posts, the one thing that would lead me to buy a Gaggia coffee brewing equipment over a DeLonghi coffee brewing device in the UK is basically 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 understanding they have allows them to offer great customer service.

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

The Gaggia bean to cup machines all deliver double shots when you select a double shot – in that they have a selection for 2 shots, and when selected – the machine grinds, pulls the shot, and then does the same again.

This isn’t the case with all of the DeLonghi bean to cup coffee machines as far as I’m aware, so this is undoubtedly one thing in Gaggia’s favour, nevertheless until I’ve tried all of DeLonghi’s bean to cup machines, which I haven’t as of yet, I can’t extremely make a sweeping statement re Gaggia Vs Delonghi on the whole.

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

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

The same is true of the Barista Touch, which is the touch screen version of the Barista Pro, even though that is more along the lines of a bean to cup machine, with it’s touch screen controls – but still, it isn’t a BTC machine.

I discover the question because some retailers put these machines in the bean to cup machine category because they see the coffee grinder and assume that steeps it BTC, but it doesn’t.

The BTC side of things refers to the technology built into the machine to replace the barista – not extremely the integrated grinder.

As I’ve said a couple of times, the Oracle range, while not bean to cup machines in the traditional sense as they don’t have a brew unit, are almost bean to cup machines in that they handle all of the parts of the procedure and require little or no user interaction other than handling the portafilter & moving it about – but the machines in the Barista range don’t have these clever “on board barista” features to reduce the need for barista skill.

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

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This post first off appeared at Coffee Blog – The UK Specialty Coffee Blog – For Lovers of REAL Coffee!