Buy Automatic Coffee Machines

Review by Jahlive:

This machine is excellent. Produces above average espresso on every shot. Foams milk well too.

I was an early buyer of this machine, and 8,513 shots later (yes it counts them), I know it is an excellent value.

I also would comment that the customer service is excellent. Sent in the machine once, and for 0.00 received a complete overhaul. (Sent in for a pump leak after a house move.) Came back like new, on time, and they paid for the return shipping. Can’t ask for much more.

I will buy another super auto, from Jura/Capresso, when the time comes for a new machine. It might be many years from now…

Review by Dean Wette:

Saw a demo of this at a local Sur la Table and very impressed. The coffee it makes is outstanding. I plan to buy one later this year.

Amazon is being deceptive about price. They state list price is 00, and they’re selling it for 98.95, at a savings of 1.05. NOT! Look at the Jura-Capresso website. The list for the Impressa F9 is 99. That brings Amazon’s big discount down to a whole

Capresso 121.01 Ultima Semi-Automatic Coffee and Espresso/Cappuccino Machine

Capresso.01 Ultima Semi-automatic Coffee Maker and Espresso Cappuccino Machine – Capresso 121By eliminating the usual fuss and mess, this 1,200-watt machine makes it easy to brew espresso and make cappuccinos and lattes at home or in the office. It’s semiautomatic because all that’s required is to fill the water tank, place ground coffee into a receptacle, and pull a lever. Within seconds coffee flows from the double spout, which adjusts for different cup heights, into one or two cups. No tamping is required because the machine tamps the coffee precisely and automatically. Nor is it necessary to clean used coffee grounds out of a messy filter holder, because there is no filter holder, and the machine automatically discards grounds into a waste tray. The tray also catches overflows, and a light shows when it needs emptying. For steaming and frothing milk to make cappuccinos, lattes, and hot chocolates and for delivering hot water for tea, there’s a wand that rotates out to fit inside a pitcher or cup. The coffee receptacle accepts 7 to 15 grams (one or two fillings of the included scoop), and the powerful pump supplies enough hot water each time to fill cups from 1-1/2 ounces to 12 ounces, which means it will make a big mug of regular coffee as well as an espresso. The 53-ounce water tank is transparent for water-level monitoring. Water heats quickly thanks to the 1,200-watt heating coil, and a thermostat light shows when the water is hottest. The machine has internal storage for the power cord and comes with clear instructions, drink recipes, and a one-year warranty against defects. –Fred Brack

• Measures 15 by 16 by 12-inch; 1-year limited warranty.
• Steaming wand froths milk for cappuccinos and caffe lattes
• Removable 53-ounce water tank; double brewing spout fills 2 cups at once
• No-mess, no-fuss: automatically tamps coffee and discards used grounds
• Brews from 1-1/2 to 12-ounce of espresso or regular coffee in seconds

Rating: (out of 132 reviews)

List Price: $ 440.00
Price: $ 288.99

.05. The higher end Impressa S9 is 99 (and Amazon claims it is 00). Do your research. Don’t trust Amazon’s claims for MSRP.

Review by Vatsug:

I have the EAM3200, which is the previous model version. The differences are slight but noticeable to the newer. These machines are the best in class for price and performance, produce a great espresso, and are maintainable in ways that other manufacturers models are not. The coffee from the Delonghi is just as good as from Jura and even some manual models such as Expobar and Rancillo. It is very close to what you find in Italy – not quite, but for the price it is worth it. Great crema, hot temperature, rich flavor. And the best part is you can pull out the brew mechanism and clean it – VERY key. This will ensure sound operation and function for many years.

In order to keep this machine is fine working order, you need to do a bit of upkeep each week and use the right beans.

1. Only use non-oily, 100% Arabica beans. If you use oily beans it will clog frequently and attract rancid flavors. It will also shorten the life of the machine. I use Illy, but any espresso will do (I actually get the Illy dark roast – it has more flavor when brewing a larger “americano” cup).

2. Clean the brew mechanism once a week. Just snap it out and run it under hot water.

3. Use spring water instead of tap water. This will keep any weird flavors from your tap entering the coffee. It may build up minerals, but…

4. De-calcify the machine when it asks for it – don’t wait.

I, for one, would rather have manual controls over coffee amount, strength, etc. You are not losing out on anything by not having digital controls – other than not being able to have the machine automatically on and ready to go when you first wake up. As for the other models ability to do milk-based drinks at the touch of a button – how often do you really want a cappuccino? If it is every day, then get the 3500. If you are like me and need real coffee in the morning, then get this model. The milk canister can only sit in the fridge for so long. If you are planning to serve cappuccino at dinner parties, then you are committing Italian heresy – cappuccino is only served in the morning.

CONS

1. The cup warmer does not work very well, but get double walled cups and the temperature of the product will not be an issue.

2. You can’t have it turn on automatically at a certain time. But it only takes a few minutes to get up to temperature.

3. It is NOISY.

My espresso settings – coffee amount at 10 o’clock, strength at 3 o’clock, single cup dispense. Super double espresso in an espresso cup. I may have 2 of these on a saturday.

My wife’s “americano” settings – coffee amount at 3 o’clock, strength at 3 o’clock, double cup dispense. Full cup of rich coffee in a normal cup.

Bean grind at 5.

Review by Dale Botkin:

I wish I could give it a 4.5. As others have noted, it is a bit on the noisy side. We went from a Bunn drip machine (best drip coffee maker by far) to this after being blown away by the one our hosts had in Germany. It’s been worth every penny. Speaking of pennies, a 20% off coupon at Bed Bath & Beyond is the ticket for low price and a VERY good return policy.

We have used Starbucks and Pears beans, and will continue to try others probably. Cleaning is a snap, my only real gripes are the water reservoir – obviously designed with coffee-sipping Europeans in mind, not us coffee-DRINKING Americans. Still, we haven’t used the Bunn since we plugged in the Magnifica.

Likes:

Superb coffee!! Great crema, better than coffee houses

Easily adjusted cup size & coffee strength

FAST warm-up

Easy to clean

Everything works perfectly

Dislikes:

A little noisy.

No automatic timer (not a big deal, since it warms up fast)

Cup warmer not of much use, and no way to shut it off

Review by Katrina728:

I received this machine as a gift (thankfully, ‘cuz I wouldn’t have been able to afford it for myself). Before this I had a Capresso CoffeeTEC machine. The Magnifica is so easy to use and to clean, it’s great not to have to deal with filters, grinders, frothers, etc. My husband is a stickler for using freshly ground coffee beans for his coffee. It’s such a joy not to have to sweep up the coffee grinds from the floor now! Anyway, here are some things I like about it:

- Amazing tasting coffee; freshly ground at the touch of a button. Several people have told me that it tastes better than Starbucks coffee

- Machine rinses itself after turn on and before turn off

- Tells you when to clean the coffee grind container (makes ‘em into little hockey pucks)

- Wide range of coffee strengths from which to choose: extra mild, mild, regular, strong, extra-strong

- 3 cup sizes from which to choose. You can change the settings so the cup sizes are customized for you. I use the “Long” setting. If you press it twice quickly, it will make 2 ‘long’ coffees for you

- Love the frothing pitcher. Just attach it, press the cappuccino button, sit back and watch it make you a steaming hot cappuccino with thick froth. Frother puts frothed milk directly into your cup and then makes the espresso and puts it in the cup.

- There’s a pre-ground “bypass” button. I use it when I want to have decaf. I add ground decaf beans and use the frother to add frothed milk.

- Machine tells you everything that it “needs.” “Fill Beans container, descale, add water…etc.”

- You can use the water spout for instantaneous hot water for tea, hot chocolate, etc.

- Starbucks will sell you bottles of their flavored syrups, so I bought several of my favorite flavors for my little “at home cafe”

Update Sep 2008: About a month ago I opened the front door of the machine and it was empty. I thought to myself “who would’ve broken into my house and only stolen the infuser to the coffee machine?” I examined the machine and was able to see that the infuser was stuck in the housing at the top of the machine. An internet search showed that other people had had the same problem but no solutions were posted. I called DeLonghi and went through a few troubleshooting steps with a friendly customer service lady. Finally we gave up and she said I had to send it in to get it fixed. They sent me the boxes, labels and packing materials, which was nice. I sent it to an appliance place in NY. After 3 weeks I called to check the status and they said, “It’s on the shelf; we’ll get to it.” Within a day or two the machine was delivered and working again. It was a bummer to have to ship it out to get it fixed (took a month) and my other gripe is that it came back dirtier than when I sent it (coffee grounds everywhere, etc.). Would’ve been nice if they wiped it down. Anyway, DeLonghi customer service handled it well.

Review by Ute Roesner:

Let me express my extreme unhappiness with the handling of a replacement part order by DeLonghi itself, not Amazon.

Two weeks after we received the coffee maker, one of the three O-rings broke which means that the frothed/steamed milk feature is deactivated ever since.

I ordered three replacement O-rings three weeks ago from their web page, get a link that tells me that I can always “find out the current status”, which is total bogus because the status never appeared on the web page.

I sent an email to this same address 1 week after the order (Dec 11) to inquire what the status is. On the web page and in the phone message under the service number DeLonghi prides itself that any email would be answered within 1 business day. I have not received any reaction to my email.

I called the DeLonghi customer service number on 12/15 to inquire the status of the order. I was told that there are not 3 O-rings available at this point and this caused my order to be blocked. I was told that 1 or 2 O-ring are in stock and that I would get at least 1 O-ring shipped that same day.

I called the DeLonghi customer service number again on 12/20 to inquire the status of the partial shipment. The person on the phone was unable to find out about the real status, was unable to find the supervisor but promised me that she would personally ask the supervisor for help with an expedited shipment when (s)he becomes available again.

Another phone call today, 12/27, resulted in more of the same, more postponing, no explanations.

The DeLonghi web page trumpets the following:

White Glove Service Guarantee (Available in U.S. Only)

“Your choice of the Magnifica super automatic espresso machine reveals that you have the highest standards, and we at DeLonghi strive to always exceed those expectations. Our specially trained DeLonghi espresso experts are here to serve your needs in any way we can.”

Given the history of my order of 3 little O-rings, this sounds like an extremely bad joke.

We are happy with the machine (even though we did not expect its first flaw of a broken O-ring to happen so soon) but extremely unsatisfied with the worst customer support we have experienced in a long time. A real shame given that we paid 00 for a coffee machine “with the highest standards” and I shudder at the thought that I would ever have to ask for more significant customer service than a little black O-ring.

We will never again buy another DeLonghi product!

Review by Joe Corbett:

I was initially reluctant to buy this based on the fact that they use proprietary pods. Had that reluctance stuck with me, I probably would’ve spent a few hundred more on a high-quality manual espresso machine, or over a thousand on an automatic machine. $.52 a cup is reasonable when you consider that grinding your own works out to about $.30 a cup, but yields a greater mess and requires more soap and water for cleanup each time. With two little kids at home – who has time to clean? I was absolutely giddy the first time I used both the machine and the frother. Separately and together, both machines match or rival what all too many of us pay -5 for from the local coffee shop. I’m convinced that our friends will like us more if we decide to share some of this with them. I bought this at Williams-Sonoma based on loyalty as I had sampled it 3 times over a two week period and finally couldn’t take it anymore. I had to have one! Consumer reports also ranks this machine highest in its class. The only machine that offered comparable taste was larger, cost about a grand, and requires more cleaning.

Review by Seattle N:

I never thought I would go for this machine, I am a little purist and cranky about my morning cup of wonderful – however, I indulged the Nespresso rep at a local Sur La Table – and, wow.

This little combo worked better than The Cube in my opinion, and I love that frother!

Yes, you need the little capsules, but the darker roasts and the “Special Club” are pretty good, and I have many more to try. it helped that the rep tossed in like 5 extra packs of them for me. I found them online here at Amazon for about a sleeve and with my Prime membership it was free shipping. And the rep told me next time I see her she will let me “try” a couple other flavors as well – bonus.

I have made chocolate milks, coffee blends with liqueurs for desserts, decaf cap’s at night as well as my new fancy morning beverages.

I have had it for a month and adore it. Sure, a little pricey, but I think I have saved about already in morning coffee shop trips. So that pays for itself pretty fast.

The coffee button has to be programmed for the small and large size you prefer on the “pull” time. Hold it down for the length of the “pull” you want then release. It will “remember” it for the next time you tap that button.

I am going to order a set of replacement frother spinners, not because they don’t stick to the top of the frother well (they are pretty magnetic) but because I am afraid they will get washed away by a less careful user (ahem. no pointing fingers… HONEY.)

If you would like a treat for yourself, do it. It wont be comparable to your most fave coffee house or a replacement for a chatty, fun, pierced, “I really want to be an actress/singer/massage therapist.” type barista, but it will save on trips to the coffee shop and maybe keep you from being ten minutes late to your morning meeting because you just HAD to stop on the way in to the office.

So anyway – Froth away! Invest in some pretty cups and some chocolate syrup too! =)

Review by A. Loudermilk:

When we used our last cleaning tablet for our Jura Capresso maker, we logged onto Amazon to find more tablets. We ordered it on May 12th; the order shipped on the 13th and we received it on the 15th of May. We couldn’t have asked for anything better as far as timing on the order. We are now stocked with cleaning tablets that work perfectly with our perfect capresso maker!!

Review by David M. Jones:

Does what it is designed to do. I need one about every month or so (we drink a LOT of coffee). Painless.

Review by VictoriaSpice:

We had this machine in our lobby hotel in Paris and in our hotel room at the Westbury in Dublin and I LOVED this machine so much that I’m buying one asap. It rocks. Great expresso. Fast. No mess.

Review by D. P. Windham:

Honestly, if I hadn’t been exposed to this at a relatives house, I know that I would not have purchased it. However, I was!!! I immediately came home and ordered one for my husband and myself. I use this machine in my bathroom, for my first cup of coffee of the day.The coffee is fabulous and the machine is easy to use. No grinds to deal with, storage for cups, heated cup shelf, water container and self contained “garbage can.” Very low maintenance is what I was looking for in the bathroom. Once a week, I empty the the “garbage can” and reload with water. Very simple, clean and luxurious!

Review by I. Peters:

The Bosch Benvenuto B30 is an exceptional coffee maker. We used to have a fully automatic Saeco model for the past 9 years, but it recently started leaking and so we decided to get a new machine.

Before buying the Benvenuto B30, we researched quite a few machines: The Saeco models we saw on store display didn’t strike us as too well-made. Our old one was largely metal but we found the new models to be made of relatively flimsy-feeling plastic. We then looked at the Jura machines but ultimately decided against them due to their high prices, reviews we read that the coffee isn’t made hot enough, and also because Jura machines only allow for three different coffee strength settings – weak, medium, and strong. We wanted more choices.

Having had experience with these types of machines for almost 10 years, we knew what we wanted: a height-adjustable spout, the possibility to use both beans and ground coffee, a relatively quiet operation, and an intelligent design which would tell us when to refill water, beans, when to clean, descale, etc. The B30 does all that and more. Moreover, it offers stylish design and is very well made.

The machine does not take long to reach its required operating temperature and the electronic display informs you when it is ready. The coffee strength can be adjusted from mild to extra-strong. Furthermore, the amount of water can be adjusted to accomodate small Espresso cups, XXL coffee mugs and pretty much everything in-between.

Undoubtedly the best feature is the height-adjustable spout, or rather spouts (the B30 has 2) which let you brew 2 cups of coffee simultaneously – a huge time-saver in the morning! We found that although the height can only be adjusted by little over 4 inches, there is no problem to use cups higher than that. This is due to the clever design that gives ample and easy access to the spouts from the side as well as from the front – we just move the cups under the spouts holding them at a slight angle. With our old Saeco machine, we always had to remove the grille and tray to be able to accomodate larger mugs.

Another very nice feature is that the water temperature can be adjusted. At the Maximum setting, the coffee is piping hot – very useful when adding cold frothed milk to it because with other machines, this makes the coffee too cold to be enjoyable. The B30 even has a heated top grille for pre-heating your coffee mugs!

And if all of that weren’t enough, the machine even has an automatic timer function to automatically turn itself on at a pre-set time, and turn itself off again after a set number of hours.

In summary, this machine is incredibly easy to operate, fast and makes excellent coffee in all kinds of strengths and sizes. An integrated steamer to froth milk, etc. is of course standard.

The only other thing I would like to mention is that if you are a larger family of coffee lovers, you may find the water tank to be a bit on the small side. In our house we’re just two people and find that we have to refill the tank every day after just 2 – 3 cups of XXL-size coffee. Then again: This also ensures that the water is always fresh and not stale from sitting in the tank for too long. So you be the judge whether this is a negative or not.

I whole-heartedly recommend this machine which in my opinion offers a lot more than the overpriced Jura machines, especially when it comes to flexibility!

Review by M. Zukerman:

The Bosch is a great machine – I owned a Jura F7 for about 18 months and finally returned it to Sur La Table (great return policy at Sur La Table by the way). The Jura was absolutely acceptable when it worked, but I think we killed it when my wife switched to decaf and started using the bypass chute every day. It started showing error messages and would refuse to work from time to time. I finally got fed up when some beans got stuck in the grinder chute and would not budge! So back it went.

ANyway, I found this machine and it has a very similar style to the Jura-Capressos (internal mechanism, same steam wand, etc.), but it makes WAY better espresso than the Juras. It is consistently stronger and richer than the Jura. SOmetimes in the Jura I would feel the need for two shots just to taste the coffee through the milk in my capuccinos. In the Bosch, one shot’ll do you. I never knew what I was missing with the Jura.

I also tried the Saeco Incanto Sirius which I really liked as well, except that it made crappy soap bubble foam (why do people put up with that? have you never had good dense microfoam??). Unlike the Jura (and now the Bosch) the Steam Wand on the Saeco was not at all modifiable. See my Jura F7 review for the modification to the Jura and the Bosch to create a traditional single hole steam wand. No big deal – basically it involves screwing a Krups tip on the existing wand. Righty tighty, lefty loosey is all you need to know. Learn to use a traditional steam wand and you will NEVER be satisfied again with the crap foam that is created by any of these so called “frother aids.” By the way the steam pressure on the Bosch is much stronger than the JUra – almost hard to control, but once you get the hang of it, you will be making capuccinos like an Italian barista, only without the tamper, dregs box and mess.

The only things keeping this from 5 stars are: 1) poor foam out of the box (but that applies to ALL super automatics), 2) first shot is always bad and way too cool – easily solved by running a rinse first (which is not as simple as the Jura since there is no rinse button – have to trick it into thinking you put grounds in the bypass chute), and 3) when you ask for a double, it just doubles the water – same as the Jura. Some of the Italian machines (like Saeco) actually brew two shots in succession (but as I noted above – generally one long shot is sufficient.)

By the way, bought it at Costco Online for about 50. Costco is the way to go for so many reasons.