De'Longhi's 'effortless' Eletta coffee machine amazed our reviewer when she tried it – now they've released a new version which somehow looks even better

De'Longhi has a fantastically shiny new coffee machine to 'ooh' and 'aah' over – the Eletta Ultra – and if you're into iced drinks, you'll want to see the extent of the menu here.

Available now for £1,149 via De'Longhi, this automatic bean-to-cup machine is an upgrade to the existing, and very popular, Eletta Explore model. Ideal Home's expert reviewer and home economist Helen McCue tried the Explore out back in 2024 in her review, calling it 'the ideal machine if you love cold coffee as much as hot coffee'.

Here's a closer look at this new version, which according to De'Longhi has improvements in three key areas: variety, silence and precision.

Let's get into what earns this brand new machine its 'Ultra' title, starting with the menu of drinks on over. There are so many customisable drinks on offer here that I've taken the liberty to copy below, because I know you want to see exactly what kind of coffee shop vibe you can create in your kitchen.

1. Espresso
2. 2x Espresso
3. Coffee
4. Doppio+
5. Long
6. Americano
7. Espresso Macchiato
8. Cappuccino, Cappuccino+
9. Cappuccino Mix
10. Latte Macchiato
11. Caffelatte
12. Flat White
13. Cortado
14. Hot Milk
15. Hot Water (for tea)
16. Espresso Over Ice
17. Coffee Over Ice
18. Americano Over Ice
19. Cold Cappuccino
20. Cold Cappuccino Mix
21. Cold Caffelatte
22. Cold Latte Macchiato
23. Cold Flat White
24. Cold Milk Foam
25. Cold Brew
26. Cold Brew Pot (multi-serving)
27. Cold Brew Cappuccino
28. Cold Brew Latte
29. Cold Brew to Mix (for cocktails/mocktails)
30. Hot To-Go - every hot drink scaled for a travel cup
31. Cold To-Go - every cold drink scaled for a travel cup

With a menu list that long, you're essentially opening a coffee shop in your own kitchen. And there's added (and new) versatility in the fact you can also switch between hot and cold drinks with dedicated milk frothing systems that you attach onto the front of the machine. Plant-based milk drinkers are covered too, with specialist settings for non-dairy drinks.

This machine has a very immersive-looking interface, with a 4.3" full-touch display which you pick your drinks from – the Explore has a 3.5-inch Colour Touch Display which our reviewer called 'effortless to use'.

Another thing Helen loved using the Explore's screen for was for tweaking its settings to get the perfect cup of coffee. And the brand's signature bean adapt technology has been carried over to the Ultra too. Helen had high praise it, saying that 'because I had taken the time to set up the bean adapt technology, every drink started with the base of a perfectly brewed espresso.'

Plus, if you have a bean-to-cup machine already but find that it makes quite the racket in the mornings, the Eletta Explore also has the benefit of ultra-quiet performance. It's QuietMark-approved (an organisation that independently checks the noise level of appliances) and according to De'Longhi 65% quieter than previous models. That's bound to be a huge selling point for people who want to enjoy their first coffee of the day in relative peace and quiet.

There's so much to read up on with this shiny new De'Longhi machine and I'm excited to put it to the test in my own kitchen to see how it fares as we come into iced coffee season. Here's a quick look at the other De'Longhi automatic coffee machines we've tried here at Ideal Home and their specific USPs.

Whichever automatic bean-to-cup machine takes your fancy all of them have one thing in common: total ease of use.