Even coffee purists will love this bargain sub-£350 bean-to-cup coffee machine from Melitta – it makes truly exceptional drinks

This Melitta Latticia OT Bean-to-Cup Coffee Machine review puts this budget bean-to-cup machine through its paces to see how it holds up.

The TLDR? Taste-wise, this is easily the among best bean-to-cup coffee machines you can buy, but it can be a bit of a faff to master.

In a nutshell

The Melitta Latticia OT Bean-to-Cup Coffee Machine sits at around the midpoint of the market. At first glance, it's a fairly middle-of the road coffee machine.

However, after a couple of weeks with this machine, I found that it makes incredible coffee. I've tested coffee machines for years, so you know that's high praise. It easily slips into the ranks of the best coffee machines out there full stop.

The catch? This is a fairly clunky appliance. The analog buttons and milk hose take a lot of getting used to, and it has some meddlesome quirks that the very top machines avoid.

If you need something to quickly make you some coffee in the morning, steer clear. If you want unbelievable coffee at home on a budget (as far as bean-to-cup machines are concerned), you need this machine.

Melitta Latticia OT Bean-to-Cup Coffee Machine product specs

• Type: bean-to-cup
• Control type: automatic
• Water tank capacity: 1.5l litres
• Bean hopper: 250g
• Pressure: 15 bar
• Dimensions: ‎W20 x H35.2 x D45.9 cm
• Weight: 9.3kg
• Colours available: black and silver
• RRP: £549

Unboxing and first impressions

At first glance, this is a pretty basic machine. It's a bit of throwback to see analog buttons on a bean-to-cup machine; it feels like it would've been hi-tech in the early 2000s but hasn't quite caught up. A cheaper machine like the Beko Caffe Experto Series CE7500 (which I recently reviewed) looks much sleeker, particularly because of its touchscreen.

I can't comment on setting up the water hardness features because I was sent a loan sample, so much of that was already set up. All I had to do was give it a quick clean, so it was fairly easy to prepare. All I really had to do was add beans to the hopper, fill up the water tank, and switch it on.

Like many of these machines, the cleaning function is automatic. Any time you switch this coffee machine on and off it will flush water through the spout. It's a great feature for hygiene, but it means you need to remember to stick a cup underneath it.

What is it like to use?

I found that this machine is simple to use, but it's not as intuitive as touchscreen or labelled machines. You have to wait for it to heat, press the coffee bean button to set strength, then press the icon of the coffee you want. These coffees are shown with labels, not words. It doesn't take a genius to figure out which is which, but it's not as simple as a labelled icon.

You have to learn some tricks to start the milk cleaning mode (hold down the milk button for two seconds) and for double portions (hold down the coffee button). It's hardly difficult, but it's another thing to keep in mind.

Tricker is that there's no specific espresso or Americano setting. You select black coffee and adjust the dial for the amount of coffee you want. At either extreme this is pretty simple – the lowest setting will make an espresso, the highest will make an Americano.

However, I found that this system is pretty frustrating as you get used to the machine. Unless you want an espresso or Americano it’s guesswork as to which of your cups and mugs will hold its amounts of coffee. The website says it works in steps from 25-220 ml but as far as I can tell this isn’t written anywhere in the instructions.

In short, machines with touchscreens have less faff, and it doesn't feel like doing your homework every time you want a coffee.

On top of that, it doesn't use a jug for milk. You take its milk hose and plunge it straight into milk from the fridge, which I found odd. This rubber hose easily picks up dust and dirt, so it can be a little frustrating to keep clean.

That said, it's worth noting that it's relatively quiet as it brews. It measured an average of 52.9dB as it brewed, maxing out at 66.7dB for a second as it ground the coffee.

Of course, I kept it clean as I tested, and perhaps this is a bit of a wooly criticism, but it felt a bit gross dunking a rubber tube into communal jugs of milk. It's subjective but removable, washable milk jugs feel a lot cleaner, and I've found them much faster to clean out. You can of course just pour out some milk into a cup once you get used to how much it takes but as ever, it’s not clear on the machine or in the instructions.

As mentioned above, it also has a cool 2x mode for double the amount of coffee, which is great. I haven't seen it on many bean-to-cups but it means much faster coffee if you’re making two for you and your partner. Despite the increased size of the shots, it maintains great coffee. It kept a delicious crema even with the extra water.

Espresso

My first test is always the same – a simple espresso, the most basic coffee you can get.

I was incredibly impressed. I use the same supermarket beans for all tests, similar to what most people can afford to buy regularly, and it had them tasting excellent. I don't want to get carried away; it's not the best coffee I’ve ever had but it's far better than most I’ve had from bean-to-cups at home.

It has a rich, dark colour which is much more appetising than most bean-to-cup espressos, which tend to look a little watery. It has a nice, thick crema, and all of this translates to a great cup of coffee. It's warm, earthy, and well-ground. There's no wateriness and only the very slightest trace of the acidity which indicates over-extraction. For a mid-range home bean-to-cup machine, this is the gold standard.

Americano – or is it 'Café Crème'?

I wasn't expecting a huge difference between the espresso and Americano settings. As I outlined above, it's really the same setting, with the smallest amount of coffee roughly being an espresso, and the largest an Americano.

The result was a delicious but interesting coffee; it was essentially a big espresso. It had a unctuous, dark black colour and a perfect, thick crema. It had a strong, deep coffee flavour and only the slightest hint of wateriness.

It's the best Americano I've had from a bean-to-cup, but perhaps that's because it technically isn't an Americano. The website lists this coffee mode as ‘Café Crème’, but unlike the French café crème, this is really a caffè crema, a style of coffee popular in Germany, where Melitta are based. This is a essentially an espresso pulled with around 180ml of water, rather than an Americano, an espresso topped up with hot water. The result is an remarkably rich long coffee.

I thought it was delicious, and switched to drinking these as my morning go-to while I tested this machine, but it's worth knowing that it isn't quite a traditional Americano.

Cappuccino

As I outlined above, unlike many machines I’ve tried you don’t fill up a milk jug for this – the machine comes with a milk hose you put straight into a jug of milk, which at least saves on storage.

It takes a while compared to other machines I’ve tested. Brew time, shot, and milk frothing all in is about 3 minutes.

However, in the end it makes a really nice cappuccino. It's not as watery as others I’ve tried, with a good strong coffee flavour. The milk froth is thick yet light, making for a very well-balanced drink. It’s easily up there with cappuccinos from top-end machines.

Latte macchiato

The latte macchiato function produced similar results to the cappuccino. This time round was a faff – it’s a fairly slow machine and the lack of the screen mean that that it’s not always obvious if it’s running an automatic cleaning cycle or dispensing coffee. Once you get used to it, it’s fairy intuitive.

That said, it’s one of the better lattes I’ve had from a bean-to-cup. The milk is well-frothed for a silky but not cloying texture, and it holds a warm, bitter coffee note, unlike other machines where the latte doesn’t taste like coffee at all. Like all the other coffees from this machine it tastes incredible, there’s just a bit of faff with it.

Milk froth

The final setting to test was milk froth. I knew from the cappuccino and latte function that it was good, but I still wanted to try it by itself. It made really good milk froth, with well-steamed milk at the base and an indulgent layer of microfoam.

Even better was when I used this for hot chocolate. After making a sort of paste with some hot chocolate powder and hot water, I poured it into the coffee and it made a near-perfect hot chocolate, with smooth, drinkable steamed milk and soft, fluffy microfoam.

The only downside? I made this the day after the latte and despite running a cleaning cycle there was milk left in the hose – I cleaned it out, but it’s a bit of a faff.

What's it like to clean?

This model has an automatic cleaning feature, so it will automatically flush water through its pipes. It also has a milk cleaning mode to flush milk residue through its pipes, though I found that this could be a little inconsistent.

Like most bean-to-cup machines, this model has a dedicated cleaning mode. Unlike other bean-to-cup machines, this has specific cleaning tablets. Unfortunately, I received a loan model from the company, so I didn't have these tablets on hand to test.

The other parts of cleaning this machine were simple, however. Like most bean-to-cup coffee machines it can be wiped clean and all its parts can be hand-washed.

The only thing to bear in mind here is that this machine creates far more waste water than other bean to cup machines. It will collect around 200ml before the machine alerts you to empty the tray, so you have to be careful when you clean it or you'll slosh coffee water all over the kitchen.

How does it compare to similar models?

A good comparison is the Beko Caffe Experto Series CE7500+, which I reviewed a few months ago. The Beko machine is roughly the same price – this Melitta is listed as £50 more expensive, but I've seen it sold for less.

The Beko is by far the easier machine to use. It has a handy touchscreen and app, and a much wider range of coffees. There's no messing around with double-pressing buttons to select modes; if you want a latte, you just press the latte button. You can also use ground coffee with that machine, which some users may prefer.

However, the Melitta makes better coffee. The Beko coffee is bitter and acidic by comparison, and I tested these machines with the same beans. It's not just a head-to-head issue, wither; I think it makes slightly better coffee than more expensive machines like the Philips 5500 or the De'Longhi Eletta Explore, for instance. That's just in the bean-to-cup category, too; it's a different planet to the underwhelming coffee of a Nespresso or other pod coffee machine.

Should you buy the Beko Caffe Experto Series CE7500+?

I think this machine is a good option for coffee purists. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the coffee from this machine. If you want a very good coffee to start the day, this is an excellent choice. It's impossible to fault the coffee.

However, the whole point of a bean-to-cup machine is create quality coffee at home without wasting hours grinding your own beans and faffing around with a tamp and WDT tool. If you're busy – or simply don't like fuss – this isn't the machine for you. It takes a fair bit of getting used to, and other bean-to-cup machines make a wider range of coffees.

About this review, and the reviewer

Alex has tested coffee machines for years at a variety of publications, including Ideal Home's sister publication Homes & Gardens. Not only does he drink coffee every day, but he has tried dozens of appliances to help you find the very best.