It can be hard to strike the balance between a cluttered countertop and a well-stocked one, especially when creating a dedicated space for making tea and coffee. In my time as Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor I've learned one of the things that those with organised coffee stations always have is some kind of tray or organiser to curate their nook around.

And now, I've found a very affordable solution to do just that: enter IKEA's £5 NÅLBLECKA organiser.

This versatile organiser is one of the brand's new-in kitchenware gems – alongside a bargain £15 fridge system and £4 hideaway dish drainer. Here's why it's genius for doubling storage space either on your worktop or in your cupboards.

The reviews accumulated for the NÅLBLECKA organiser collection show off its versatility. Of course, the flexibility of these Scandi-inspired products is the reason why so many IKEA hacks flood social media feeds every week, and with a little bit of vision even a humble £5 organiser like this one can help to switch up your space.

While one user has so far remarked that they were using it as a mug holder, another has already been using it as a method to keep loose cooking items organised.

The version with a tray on the top and bottom has a 4.8 star rating out of 5 from 496 reviews, with a whole host of reviewers saying it's a great fit for cooking oils and jars that need to be within easy reach.

For a coffee station specifically, the gap underneath the £5 organiser works well as it gives space for mug stacking – especially for those oversized mugs space which need to stack together without being restricted. Up top, the tray element is a good spot for tea bags, sugar or coffee too.

If you're stuck for space horizontally on your worktop, the legs of these organisers allow them to stack together too which is great for making the most of any vertical storage space you have.

The debate on what should be left on a kitchen worktop and what should be tidied away is always alive and well at Ideal Home towers. If there's one thing we all agree on though, its that one of the the things that people with a tidy kitchen worktop always have is a clutter bucket or tray to collect loose items.

Of course, the NÅLBLECKA is a kind of elevated tray but if you want something more interiors-led, these are the picks I would opt for in the ultra-organised kitchen of my dreams.

Whether you opt for IKEA's ultra-affordable organiser or one of these alternatives, the key to a curated and less chaotic kitchen countertop is all in picking the right place to gather your must-haves. Are you all for storing things on your worktop or do you prefer to hide everything away?

De'Longhi, the Italian coffee machine brand behind so many well-loved machines, have unveiled a more compact and affordable version of one of its bean-to-cup bestsellers – the Rivelia.

The brand new Rivelia Start, which is available now from De'Longhi for £599.99, is a very enticing prospect to me as Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor. Until today, I thought that its more expensive counterpart was the best bean-to-cup machine for most people after our 5 star review. But somehow, this slimmed-down model looks to have even more going for it and might just knock it off its perch. Not to mention it's available in a gorgeous green colour, which is one of the prettiest kitchen appliance colourways I've seen this summer.

Here's how the new machine compares to its predecessor and why it's the dream machine for small kitchens.

Let's go back to basics and dig into why was the OG Rivelia such a hit. As stated in our expert Home Economist's review back in 2024 it's a coffee machine with a lot going for it. Helen, our revieiwer, described it as 'quite possibly the best designed, nicest looking, and best performing automatic bean-to-cup coffee machine I’ve ever reviewed' – and she's tested plenty for us since 2022.

One of the most loved features was the dual bean hopper design. That means you can switch easily between two blends or levels of caffeine. If you enjoy a decaf in the afternoons, it's a great thing to have. Even though the Rivelia Start cost £100 less, it's retained this standout feature.

The milk frothing system, made possible by the LatteCrema Hot attachment (which is included) that makes such delectable hot drinks with the Rivelia is present within the Start too. There are 10 café-quality drinks on offer, 'from a velvety Flat White to a classic Espresso' according to De'Longhi along with the ability to 'enjoy standard-setting hot and cold creations back-to-back'.

If you want to enjoy cold drinks, like I did when I tested the phenomenal Eletta Ultra, you'll have to invest in De'Longhi's LatteCrema Cool Tech system separately. This will set you back £99.99 via the brand's website. If you're an iced latte lover, I would say this is well worth it as it provides you with a huge upgrade over just adding cold milk to your coffee. It cold froths milk perfectly so you can enjoy proper iced cappuccinos all day long and serve them up to guests.

There's also a Cold Brew setting, which will be welcome news for those who love the taste of this smooth chilled coffee drink and a treat in the ongoing heatwaves.

Compared to the Rivelia, the Start has a pared-down user interface. Rather than an interactive touchscreen, it has a panel featuring touch-sensitive illustrated buttons of each type of drink available. For most, this probably won't be much of a factor – especially with the benefit of saving £100.

For me, the colours available with the Rivelia Start are a huge draw. Two shades are available so far, the Jade Green and Umber Brown, with more to follow in the full line-up in September.

If you're looking for a do-it-all bean-to-cup machine that will totally wow your guests, the Rivelia Start is a phenomenal value option for this price. Within a few touches of the machine's interface, you can have a café-worthy coffee in front of you every morning. What's not to like?!

Ninja's shiny new automatic bean-to-cup coffee machine is now available in an array of new colours so that you can personalise this appliance to your existing kitchen scheme.

Now available for £899.99 from the Ninja website, the AutoBarista Pro (which I'm currently testing out) has proved very popular with both fans of this ever-expanding kitchen brand and coffee lovers alike. And I expect this best bean-to-cup coffee machine in these new shades won't be around for long before they sell out either. Here's a look at the new colours: Midnight Blue, Oat Milk, Mocha and Vista Green.

I really like all of these colourways and think they are preferable to the standard stainless steel version, which is the one I currently have in my kitchen for testing. I find that the metal is prone to holding onto marks and fingerprints, and is more difficult to match into an existing kitchen colour scheme.

I'm not just looking into a crystal ball when I predict these shades will be popular, either. One of the colours, Mocha, is already sold out. It's a super delicate neutral shade that would look lovely in a black or white kitchen, so it's no surprise it's already been snapped up.

If I was choosing, I wouldn't be able to resist this machine in Vista Green as I've always loved the idea of a coffee machine in an eye-catching colour. I have long pined after the De'Longhi Rivelia, which is one of the best coffee machines out there, in Jade Green. It's an exclusive shade that you can buy directly from De'Longhi's website for £699.99.

With these new shades, Ninja has really gone all out to colour drench the entire machine, with even the all-important milk jug and bean hopper covers available in the pastel shade of your choice. This is something we've seen with other Ninja colour releases recently too, including with David Beckham's special Cotswolds-inspired machine.

In terms of performance, I've been nothing but impressed with the AutoBarista so far. The choice to keep the automatic milk frothing jug over a system that uses tubes and internal systems is a good one for me and means I have the chance to practice my latte art. The hands-free nature of the coffee making process for black drinks has been a huge help for me on busy mornings too.

My full review of this ultra-capable machine is coming very soon but in the meantime I'd seriously recommend you check out the new range of colours available if you've been waiting to make a coffee investment for your kitchen!

Convenience is a given with automatic bean-to-cup coffee machines but the De'Longhi Eletta Ultra, which is one of the most premium appliances of its type you can buy, elevates the user experience to the next level.

With a huge price tag over £1000, this is no budget bean-to-cup coffee machine, but it is unbelievably impressive. Here's what I've loved about testing it.

In a nutshell

The Eletta Ultra is (somehow) a step up from the already hugely impressive Eletta Explore, which our expert home economist Helen McCue awarded 5 stars to in her review.

Its top line selling points include a huge drinks menu, two milk carafes (one for hot drinks, one for iced), a large touch screen and personalised coffee profiles with the machine suggesting a drink based on your previous choices.

Its upgraded from the Ultra with its new quieter tech, faster heat-up times and dedicated storage slots and user features.

After using it every day for months now, I can see why those looking to spend an awful lot on a coffee machine would be bowled over by this pick from De'Longhi. I can no longer imagine my mornings without – it's a total breeze to use. The things I don't love about it are minimal, but if I was to spend my money on it I would be looking for another finish. The stainless steel is a little bit of a fingerprint magnet to me.

Unboxing, setting up and first impressions

This isn't the kind of coffee machine that's going to neatly fit under your kitchen cupboards in a corner. It's big, bulky and also quite long (at 45cm). But given what it can do, this may be a small price to pay if you have the space to give over to it.

There's no need to build this machine out of the box – you pretty much can plug it in and go, which is what you'd expect at this premium price point. To get it going, you'll need to run the usual programs which walk you through water hardness and inserting the water filter and run a rinse cycle but this is all very easily done thanks to the hugely intuitive touch screens.

Another stand out thing with this machine is the use of an app to get into the technical settings. You can do this with the help of the materials that come with the machine and then get into the weeds of the coffee making process, if that's your cup of tea.

If you'd rather manually adjust the machine, then there's a dial situated within the bean hopper that you can tweak to get the taste you want.

I can't think of another coffee machine I've tried that has a more enticing user interface. The huge touch screen, which extends across the top of the machine, is in full colour. It also pings you for all sorts of reasons, such as reminding you to clean the milk carafe or add more beans, all of which are very helpful for making a better cup of a coffee.

The user profiles are a stroke of genius too. It's not just that you can set up the machine to remember your favourite drinks, but the tech will also recommend you drinks depending on your previous habits. So if you're prone to an iced coffee in the afternoons, the machine will be one step ahead of you in the process.

Even if you don't download the app, there are plenty of tweaks you can make on the interface of the machine itself. You can change the strength, length and milk quantity of any given drinks as well as how icy you want your cold versions. You can also tweak the level of froth on your drinks by turning the dial on either milk carafe.

The one niggle I have with the user-facing part of this machine is that the coffee spout doesn't quite go high enough for my liking. I have a specific set of glasses I'd like to use for iced coffee that don't fit, so I have to do a bit of pouring over if I want to use them. If you have large travel cups I imagine you'll run into the same problem.

Overall, this machine is astonishingly sleek. It has built-in storage for accessories for ground coffee in the top, as well as a slot for the hot water spout and the water tank fits so effectively on one side that you'd barely notice it was there. I also like how there's an opening at the front of the tank so that you can pour water straight in from your filter jug.

What is it like to use?

As with all of the processes on this app, starting it up is guided by the intuitive touchscreen. You'll be directed to add water, after which the screen will tell you it's warming through. This takes 30-45 seconds, in my experience, and is relatively quiet compared to the other bean-to-cup models I've tried. Obviously it does emit some noise, but nothing too overwhelming.

I would advise that you don't pop your clean cup under the spout straight away as the machine turns on as you'll end up with the rinsing liquid in there. If you can, the best thing to do is have a catch cup under the spouts at all times when you're not making a fresh cup.

Hot drinks

All in all, there are 23 hot drinks to take your pick from with this machine. It's fun to get a taste of all of them when you first get hold of the machine, but I imagine you'll settle on your favourites day to day.

In my household, Americanos are the black coffee drink of choice. I've really enjoyed how seamless making this drink is with this machine, especially when compared to a semi-manual machine on a busy morning. Just one touch of a button and your perfectly hot Americano is ready to go. When I'm making these for my partner to take on his commute, the 'To-Go' setting is also really useful, as it makes a longer version for a carry cup.

The other drinks on heavy rotation with this machine are the caffe lattes and the cappuccinos. This is where the hot milk carafe comes in, which you simply fill and attach to the front of the machine. On the top of it there's a dial with three froth settings. For the caffe latte, it's the medium level of froth while the cappuccino ramps things up with more foam.

I have quite large mugs, so I sometimes top up the cappuccino even further by using the hot milk setting on the menu. This can be done in under 30 seconds as it's very easy to go from one drink to the next. This is also a total godsend when hosting as you're trying to get everyone a drink in their hands. I also like how the temperature of the drinks is hot but not so hot that the cups you give out aren't immeadiately drinkable.

If I'm being picky, I am slightly icked out by the floppy tube you need to insert into the hot drinks carafe. I think I'm particularly sensitive about cleanliness so I am always giving all of the parts of the milk system a deeper clean than they probably need, but the built-in rinse does help to soothe my worries about milk build-up.

Cold drinks

It's been hot already this summer, so I've made good use of the iced drinks options on this machine. In order to make iced milky drinks you need to attach the cold carafe, which again is very easily done. You'll then be asked exactly how cold you want your drink and be directed to add a specific number of ice cubes to your glass.

All of the iced options I've tried have been delectable, but my favourite has to be the iced cappuccino which is delectably foamy. It's

The drinks are very smooth and stay cold well, so you won't be needing to add more iced cubes after the brew process is complete. And the cold frothed foam is such a welcome change to just adding cold milk to a shot of coffee – especially considering that is often what you get in coffee shops with iced drinks! I much prefer using this machine over getting an iced coffee out for this reason.

What's it like to clean?

A lot of people are put off buying a bean-to-cup machine because of the excess cleaning. But if you're paying the big bucks for this machine the good news is that most of those cleaning processes are automated. And even the parts that are not automatically carried out, like the rinse process, are easy to manage thanks to the on-screen prompts.

The cleaning feature I found most useful was the rinse feature on those milk carafes, which cleans the lines without emptying the container of its spare milk. As with all machines, you'll need to remember to empty the grounds container and drip tray but you'll be reminded of this by the features on the machine.

How does it compare to similar coffee machines?

There are so many bestselling De'Longhi coffee machines to compare this product to, but the two I think are most valuable are the Rivelia and the Explore.

I think the Rivelia (which our reviewer fell in love with way back in 2024) is an incredible machine for its price tag and will suit most people well, as long as they're not desperate for those extra iced settings. If you want to save hundreds and still bag an amazing bean-to-cup machine, I urge you to check it out.

Because the Explore came out a few years ago now, it's a little less expensive than the Ultra but offers lots of the same amazing features. It's worth weighing up the differences before you splash the cash.

Should you buy the De'Longhi Eletta Explore?

De'Longhi's offering of automatic bean-to-cup machines are unrivalled in terms of their convenience and the Ultra might just be the pinnacle of that. It's so easy to use and with it, you can whip up delicious drinks that are fine tuned just right with the help of the in-built technology. It's a huge amount to pay for anything, granted, but if you can afford its price tag you won't regret it.

Russell Hobbs is quite a beloved British kitchen appliance brand, but I wouldn’t say it’s one that’s made much of a mark on the coffee machine scene. However, the Russell Hobbs Café Genie is an interesting new launch that could compete for a spot on our list of best coffee machines.

Its RRP of £229.99 puts it firmly at the more affordable end of the scale, and yet, some of the features listed, like a touchscreen menu of drinks, are usually seen in pricier models. So I was keen to put it to the test, to see whether the features on offer could deliver.

In a nutshell

The Russell Hobbs Café Genie has a lot going for it. It’s a manual espresso machine that also offers the convenience of pods, as well as automatic milk steaming. The paired back menu of seven drinks is accessed via the straightforward touchscreen control panel and it’s very simple to use.

Milk is automatically steamed and textured, but no matter which drink you select, it’ll always be bubbly, so if you’re looking for glossy microfoams, you’ll need to look elsewhere. Similarly, while espresso is adequate, it doesn’t produce the well rounded flavour or robust crema that espresso aficionados will be seeking.

That said, this is a good value machine that makes drinks fast and packs in convenient features for busy people. So if you’re not a coffee snob and you want an easy-to-use machine for drinkable milky coffees, it’s a great option.

Who tested this coffee machine?

Unboxing the product

The first thing I noticed when I removed it from the box is that it’s quite a plasticky appliance. The portafilter doesn’t have much weight to it, and the tamper is very basic. However, other features like the intuitive touchscreen make up for some of the cheaper elements. And at this pricepoint, you really shouldn’t expect all the bells and whistles.

The colour is subtle and will suit plenty of kitchen styles. I like that when it’s switched off, the touchscreen is black and there’s no cluttered control panel, so it does look quite neat and streamlined. The on/off switch is tucked away at the side of the machine.

The included accessories are simple and easy to get to grips with. There’s nothing complicated or overwhelming, which is good, because the instruction manual is pretty basic.

If you’re buying this to use the Nespresso pod capabilities, make sure you stock up before it arrives because you don’t get any trial samples included in the box.

Impact on a kitchen worktop

The height of the coffee machine makes it ideal for sliding underneath wall mounted kitchen cupboards. However, when considering where you’ll put it, it’s worth noting that the water tank is at the back. It has to be lifted upwards to be removed, so you’ll need space to do that.

Alternatively, you could add water through the top opening using a jug if you have the space under your cabinets to get to it with a jug of water.

The footprint isn’t too big and when you slide it to the back of the worktop, it feels tucked back and leaves plenty of usable space in front. It’s certainly not one of the coffee machines that feels imposing on the kitchen worktop.

First impressions

Setting up was very straightforward. The manual offers up a list of all the parts that you should wash before using. And once these are all clean, dried, and correctly positioned back on the machine, you simply need to dispense water without any coffee grounds, to get the machine primed and ready to go.

I hit the double espresso button about five times, to make sure I’d run plenty of hot water through the system before using it for the first time. This ensures any dust from manufacturing is washed through.

Unlike some other coffee machines, this one doesn’t come with a water filter, nor is there an option to install one. The instructions state that a clean/ descale cycle will be prompted after 200 uses.

If you live in a hard water area, you may want to use water from a water filter jug, to reduce the build up of scale and help prolong the life of the machine.

The milk dispenser has a handy clean function that’ll run water through the milk nozzle to clean it, which means you can pop it in the fridge between uses.

On the whole, the touchscreen interface is very straightforward, displaying all the available drinks, for quick and easy selection. However, for any other menu functions, you ‘ll need to keep the manual to hand, as you’ll be required to press and hold various buttons or combinations of buttons.

That said, there’s no adjustment for things like temperature, strength, or volume of milky drinks. The main thing that can be adjusted is the volume of espresso dispensed.

It’s fast to heat up when first switched on. If you switch it on without the milk container in place, it’ll only warm up to dispense espresso, and that takes on average 30 seconds.

Meanwhile, if the milk container is in position when you switch it on, the process of heating up takes about 60 seconds. And then it allows you to select milky coffees from the menu.

The ‘Morning Rush’ test

I timed myself making two milky coffees back-to-back using ground coffee. I timed the whole process, from turning on the machine, to having two cappuccinos ready. It took four minutes 20 seconds.

Adding coffee grounds, tamping them down as well as removing the used grounds before making the second cup, took a big chunk of the time. So out of interest, I also timed the same process using Nespresso pods. This time it took three minutes and 10 seconds.

User experience

For me, one of the biggest surprises with this coffee machine was how fast it makes drinks (if you don’t include the time it takes to add the coffee grounds or top up the milk dispenser). From selecting a drink on the menu, to the drink being served and ready to go, is under a minute for almost all drinks on the menu.

The fastest milky drink was a cortado which was ready in just 30 seconds. While the slowest was a latte, which still only took 60 seconds. But it’s worth noting that a lot of the drinks on the menu are quite short coffees.

Thankfully, for lovers of longer, milkier coffees, the latte it dispenses is a decent mug full. And while you can adjust the volume of espresso that’s automatically dispensed, there’s no option to tweak the milk volumes in the various drink recipes.

Milk can be dispensed independent of coffee by pressing and holding the latte button. This is handy if you want to top up a drink with extra milk or create your own drink altogether.

The issue I had when dispensing milk, was that just before milk starts to come out, a quick blast of water comes out of the portafilter area, which, if there’s no portafilter in position, can mean you get bits of stray coffee grounds in your cup. But if you leave the portafilter in position it's not an issue.

Drink temperatures vary depending on the drink. A double espresso comes out at roughly 75C and the frothed milk is around 53C. So it follows that the temperature of milky drinks depends on the ratio of milk to coffee.

A drink with very little milk, like a macchiato, was quite hot, mine averaged 75C. Whereas a milky latte was one of the coolest drinks, measuring around 58C. And it’s worth noting that there are no settings you can adjust to change these temperatures.

The milk dispenser sits quite low, meaning it won’t reach into taller cups. A standard mug is about the tallest cup you can dispense milk into. Most travel cups and taller glasses are too tall.

The vibration of the machine during brewing has a tendency to move some cups, so I did have to pay attention, particularly when using lighter and smaller cups.

Some coffee machines I review seem to magically go through water at a rate that far surpasses the number of coffees you’re making. So I really liked the fact that the water tank wasn’t always running low. Water seemed to last a reasonable amount of time. On the flip side, filling it up is quick and easy.

I expected the machine to switch itself off after a certain period of time, but instead it goes into a low power mode, where the touchscreen display is dimmed. When it’s in this mode, you have to press one of the coffee buttons to wake it up. To switch it off properly, you’ll need to press the on/off button at the side.

How noisy is it?

At around 66dB, pouring an espresso is pretty quiet and unlikely to annoy anyone. The milk steamer is the louder process. This hit a maximum of 85dB on my noise meter, but averaged 74dB.

So while milk steaming is louder than extracting the espresso, it’s still not what you would call noisy. Plus when you take into account that all drinks are ready in 60 seconds or less, any noise created is only for a very short time and won’t be an issue for most households.

What's the coffee like?

During the review I used Exhale Organic Dark(ish) Roast whole beans. This is my regular brand of coffee and the tasting notes, according to the brand, are caramel, stone fruits, red grapes and cola. It’s said to be ideal for espresso and gives a chocolatey, nutty flavour.

I used a separate grinder to grind my coffee beans as needed. The espresso from this machine was drinkable and pleasant, though a tad more bitter and less fruity than it is when I use my usual Sage coffee machine.

The espresso crema was often a bit bubbly rather than thick and silky. I’d say the flavour will satisfy people looking for a decent espresso, but who aren’t reaching for perfection. And if you’re primarily having it in milky coffees, the nuances become less noticeable anyway.

Since there’s also a portafilter designed for Nespresso pods, I made coffee using pods as well. I’m not a huge fan of the flavour of Nespresso pod coffee. But what I would say is that the Nespresso portafilter is a great additional feature that does a good job of extracting the espresso. It's perfect if you’re time poor and want the option to make pod coffee on those busier weekday mornings.

Thermal stability

To check the thermal stability of the coffee machine, I made five single espressos back-to-back. The idea is to check whether the drinks get progressively hotter and if so, by how much.

The first one was 72C, the fifth one was, impressively, only a little warmer at 74.5C. So it wasn’t a massive jump in temperature, which was a good result.

The ‘Wet Paint’ test

When assessing a coffee machine’s ability to steam milk, we’re looking at whether it can produce the silky microfoam that’s perfect for latte art. This is often described as looking like wet paint.

This automatic milk frother makes bubbly milk rather than a thick glossy microfoam. And that’s the case whether you’re making a cappuccino, latte, or flat white. And there’s no ability to adjust the foam level.

What's it like to clean?

The matte plastic finish of the coffee machine doesn’t show fingerprints or small water stains, so on the whole, it stays looking quite clean and you can get away with a quick daily wipe after use.

The drip tray is very small, but I didn’t find this to be an issue. It rarely needed emptying as, unlike some other coffee machines that funnel water from internal components into the drip tray, this one is purely there to catch any drips from the portafilter or cup.

I like having the option to rinse through the milk spout after use. Simply by twisting the control dial into clean mode and selecting clean on the touchscreen, it’ll automatically rinse out the milk spout so that you can pop the milk tank back into the fridge without any gunky milk building up and causing blockages.

I was slightly frustrated that when removing coffee grounds from the portafilter, it wasn’t possible to dislodge a fully formed puck of coffee straight into my food waste caddy. When I did try this, the whole metal filter basket would fall out. So instead, I had to scrape the coffee grounds out with a spoon after each use.

The drip tray and the filter baskets can go in the dishwasher, but everything else has to be washed by hand.

Descaling

A full descale cycle takes about 45 minutes from start to finish. Thankfully it’s not a very hands-on process. Other than filling the water tank with water and descaler at the start, all you need to do is stay close in case your waste water vessel gets too full and needs emptying.

Then halfway through, you have to reset everything, this time with plain water in the water tank. And start it again, to complete the process a second time but without the descaler. All-in-all it’s simple and automated, but not super quick.

The machine should prompt you to run one of these cycles every 200 uses. So how frequently you need to do it really does depend on how much you use the coffee machine.

How does it compare to similar machines?

The Lavazza A Modo Mio Desea is an Ideal Home favourite that’s similarly priced. It’s a sturdy pod machine with a built-in milk frother. And it’s a great alternative option if you don’t intend to use ground coffee. There’s no preset drinks menu, but it’s easy to create your favourite drink nevertheless.

If you like the idea of a more hands-on approach, the Sage Bambino is an excellent beginner espresso machine. It’ll set you back an additional £100, but is capable of delivering a well-rounded tasty espresso, and you get to froth your own milk and create your coffee just how you like it.

Should you buy the Russell Hobbs Café Genie Espresso Machine?

I think at this price point, the Cafe Genie really sets itself apart with features like the automatic milk steaming and touchscreen drinks menu, as well as the option to switch between ground coffee and pods. It nicely straddles the line between espresso machines, pod machines, and automatic coffee machines.

The compromises are that there aren’t many adjustable settings. Milk is bubbly and frothy, it can’t create barista quality microfoams, but that’s the case with the majority of automatic milk frothers.

While it doesn’t produce the best quality espresso I’ve ever had, it’s decent enough to please most people. In conclusion, if you’re looking for a reasonably priced coffee machine that packs in the features, it’s absolutely worth considering this one.

If you’re reading this, then lusting after KitchenAid appliances is something we probably have in common: gorgeous looks and great design are a win-win for any style-conscious kitchen. Naturally, KitchenAid’s first foray into the world of bean-to-cup coffee machines was no exception – the £1,500 KitchenAid KF8 won our admiration (and a four and half star review) back in 2025.

Now, in 2026, the brand has now unveiled the more affordable members of its automatic bean-to-cup family. And in this review we’re going to be looking at the most upmarket model in the new trio, the £899 KF4.

In a nutshell

The big news here for many buyers is that KitchenAid has shrunk the size of these machines down – it claims that they’re 25% smaller than the previous models. In practice, the machines are roughly 6.5cm slimmer, so far easier to squeeze on a busy countertop. In truth, I haven’t seen any fully automatic bean-to-cup machines which are quite so slender.

The new range includes the £699 KF2, £749 KF3 and the £899 KF4 which I have for review here. Naturally, the KF4 is the most feature packed of the group. It doubles the KF3’s two user profiles to four. It adds five extra drink recipes. It also includes a rather more elegant plastic milk carafe in the box: by contrast, the KF3 simply dangles a tube into your preferred milk receptacle while the KF2 makes do with a manual steam wand.

Who tested this machine?

Unboxing

The KF4 comes clad in several separate protective panels of moulded wood pulp. Sensibly, KitchenAid wraps the whole package in a polypropylene sling with handles, so you can just lift the entire machine out of the box easily without worrying about dropping it.

As usual, several little strips of blue adhesive tape hold the various parts in place during transit, and protective transparent plastic sheets are adhered to the touchscreen and between the water tank and the machine’s rear to prevent scratching. Some of the packaging – the wood pulp, for instance – is recyclable with home recycling, but the plastic sheets and tape may need to be taken to a specific plastic bag recycling collection depending on your local area’s recycling facilities.

Open up the KF4’s box, and the user manual and quick start guide are placed just inside the box’s top flap, directly on top of the machine. Alongside, there’s a QR code offering to help you ‘Get Started’. Point your phone at the code and you’re transported to KitchenAid’s website where a very basic tutorial helps you to get familiarised with the machine. If you’re the kind of person who likes to familiarise yourself with the user manual before rifling through the packaging, it’s a good way to start.

The instructions could be better, however. The website instructions feel like a bit of an afterthought; the thick user manual is actually just a few pages of text instructions repeated in a multitude of languages – hardly what I’d call an Owner’s Manual – and the quick start guide is nothing more than an annotated diagram of the machine and its touchscreen interface. It would have made far more sense to combine the information from both into one concise pamphlet.

Thankfully, the touchscreen also does its bit to lead users through the set up process. It, too, could be more detailed – it’s not as clear as the full colour animations on Sage’s machines, for example – but it’s informative enough to get most buyers started. There’s definitely room for improvement here, though. Oddly, there’s no mention of using the water hardness tester at all, and the little on-screen diagrams are too small to be really helpful.

Impact on a kitchen worktop

This is where KitchenAid’s new models will win a lot of friends. At 36cm tall, it’s a tiny bit shorter than many of the bean-to-cup machines I’ve seen recently, and this is because of the integrated bean hopper – it doesn’t protrude from the top like some rivals.

At 19cm wide, however, it’s dramatically thinner than any machine I’ve reviewed in recent memory. The De’Longhi Rivelia (which we've reviewed) is the closest model I can think of, but that’s 24.5cm wide due to its side-mounted water tank. If you’ve been wishing you could accommodate a fully automatic model but just didn’t have the space, it’s a major selling point.

The downside of the KF4’s design, as you may have gleaned already, is that the water tank is positioned at the rear. Bean-to-cup machines often opt for side mounted water tanks that either slide forwards for easy removal, or unclip to the side. The KF4’s needs to be lifted up by about a centimetre and removed to the rear – you’ll need to leave room around it to make for easy refilling. You can open the lid (which isn’t removable) and just pour water in, but you may not want to risk this if you have mains sockets behind the machine. And if there are cupboards above, you’ll struggle.

First impressions

The KF4 feels well built. Like most bean-to-cup machines, it’s predominantly plastic, but those plastics feel solid and all the attachments feel robust enough to instil confidence. There isn’t the thin, hollow feeling which I’ve noticed on some sub-£1,000 machines.

It’s all been sensibly designed, too. The spouts slide up and down smoothly and provide up to 14cm of cup clearance. The drip tray slides out to reveal the grounds bin, and this separates into multiple parts for easy cleaning. The 1.8-litre water tank slots firmly onto the rear. The 250g bean hopper is hidden neatly under the top panel – the centre of this pulls away to reveal the bean hopper and the single dose chute. The rubber seal on the underside of the removable panel helps keep your coffee beans fresh, too, which is a nice touch.

A single water filter is provided in the box, and this screws into place in the tank. Replacements cost a fairly steep £15 each on KitchenAid’s website, but were just under £10 at the time of writing. However, don’t make my mistake of initially trying to install the water filter by hand: the narrow tank makes this nigh-on impossible. KitchenAid supply a coffee scoop in the box, and the odd-looking attachment at the other end is designed to fit over the top of the water filter and screw it into place.

The milk carafe design simply connects via a tube. One added benefit is that if you can’t find the carafe – or it breaks – you can just jam the tube directly into a milk bottle or jug. As long as the tube is intact, and it’s submerged in milk, it’ll work just fine.

The only issue with the carafe is the loose lid. I’d have liked to see the lid actually click into place – or secure in place with a rubber seal and interference fit. Make the mistake of grabbing it by the lid and it just comes off without any effort. Try carrying it by the lid and you’ll get a nasty surprise. It’s a poor design choice.

User experience

Hit the power button on the machine’s right hand side and the machine thrums into action. After the initial setup process has directed you to rinse the water tank and install the water filter, the machine pulls through four shots of coffee to prime and clean the machine. These need to be poured down the sink, so my advice is to use some old beans you have lying around rather than wasting good coffee.

Once the machine is warmed up and ready to go, you can swipe to scroll through the machine’s various recipes. Tapping an icon reveals a settings menu which provides options to adjust drink temperature, coffee and milk volumes and drink strength. Some drinks recipes give you the option to pour two drinks simultaneously: pop two cups under the spouts and the machine will pour two shots back to back and add milk to each.

There are four user profiles, too. These allow you to save specific drinks recipes to your user page. Tap the touch sensitive user button on the front panel and you can access your saved drinks without scrolling through the main menu at all.

Noise test

The KF4’s Quiet Mark certification is more than justified. It’s still noisy compared to the quiet splutter of a filter coffee machine, granted, but the loudest sound emanating from the KF4 was an average of 63dBA during grinding. Brewing was remarkably quiet at 50dbA and steaming was mostly around 55dBA apart from a brief splutter of 63dBA as the machine started to slurp milk.

For reference, this is a little bit quieter overall than the De’Longhi Rivelia and Philips LatteGo 5500, and only a tad louder than the two Jura models – the C8 and J10 – which passed through my test kitchen in recent months. If silence (or at least relative quietness) is golden in your kitchen, then the KF4 puts in a good show.

Coffee quality

The KF4 pours great coffee from the first prod of its touchscreen. I tried all of the major drinks from espresso to macchiato and latte to flat white, and they were all consistently well extracted. The over-ice drinks – the iced coffee and iced espresso – are brewed cooler (around 55c) and it’s left to you to add your own ice.

By default, it’ll pour a 40ml espresso while most of the longer milk-based coffee recipes seem to target a small cup size of around 120ml, so bear in mind that you’ll need to up the volumes to fill larger cups or mugs.

The milk frothing works well. It doesn’t create the thick, silken gloss of a carefully wielded manual steam wand, but it’s very good. The froth has a tight, creamy texture, and it’s much thicker and more long-lasting than the light, bubbly froth which you’ll get from some mid-range models, such as the Philips LatteGo 5500.

It’s a shame that the froth levels aren’t adjustable – for recipes such as the macchiato, where you just want a dollop of froth popped on top, it doesn’t quite fit the bill. What it can do, however, is create a flat warm milk or a frothed milk (and both of these hot milk options are on the menu for the non-coffee drinkers in the audience). For recipes such as the cappuccino, the KF4 uses its frothy setting; for a flat white, it pours plain steamed milk, so there’s only a thin layer of froth on top.

For those who want to dial in every coffee to perfection, there’s a good amount of adjustability. You can adjust the various options for each drink and save those settings to your user profile.

One interesting addition is the Body setting. This speeds or slows the extraction time, and you can use this in tandem with the dosage and volume settings to tweak the flavour of beans to your preferences. It works really well, too. There was the slightest hint of bitterness to the espresso with the strength set to maximum – dialling it down to the light body setting gave both a juicier, more fruity shot and dialled back the bitterness nicely.

There are only 5 settings for the grinder (the dial is hidden behind the KF4’s side panel), but it didn’t really need any adjusting for my medium roast beans. And in any case, the lack of extreme adjustments means that users are less likely to create undrinkably bitter or sour shots. I’d personally prefer more adjustability for dialling in different coffees, but most people probably won’t be too bothered. Rivals such as the De’Longhi Rivelia offer 13 steps of grind adjustment which gives a little more latitude for fine tuning.

Temperature consistency is good. The first drinks out of the machine were very slightly cooler than subsequent ones, but that’s not unusual as any coffee machine takes a little time for all the parts to warm up. In fact, the temperature stability is better controlled than some bean-to-cup machines I’ve tested recently. The first drinks came through around 68C and subsequent cups settled between 70c and 72c depending on the recipe and the ratio of milk to coffee. As the machine heats milk to around 65c – the perfect temperature to prevent scorching the milk – it’s the volume of hot coffee added which bumps temperatures up to and beyond 70C.

If you are in a rush, then you can get a couple of coffees poured in under five minutes. Once you’ve waited for the initial rinse, each milk-based drink at default size (40ml coffee, 80ml milk) takes around a minute and a half. You can tap the main drinks icon to pour two simultaneously though. Pop a couple of cups side by side, and it’ll brew two shots back to back and then add milk to both cups. This takes just under 3 minutes for the standard sized cappuccinos and flat whites.

What's it like to clean?

The KF4 rinses and warms up automatically the first time you turn it on, and this takes just under a minute and a half. Turn it on again a little later – while the machine is still warm – and it’ll prompt you to rinse but not force you to do so. A word to the wise: this can’t always be skipped. Ignore the prompts to clean the machine or milk system and you may find you’re forced to do both in succession next time you turn it on.

The milk carafe cleaning is elegant. Simply disconnect the tube from the carafe and plug it into a hole in the drip tray. This then blasts out any residue in the milk system for around a minute, while you simply have to clean the carafe in the sink with a bit of warm soapy water. Unlike rival designs which use more complex carafe designs, such as De’Longhi’s LatteCrema system, there are precious few nooks and crannies for milk residue to get stuck in.

Drips do tend to accumulate on the metal drip tray, but there’s nothing you can’t clean up with a damp cloth.

In terms of internal cleaning, KitchenAid recommends using a cleaning tablet after every 200 cups of coffee. Two are supplied in the box, and the KF4 will prompt you to carry out the process when it’s needed – or you can manually trigger it in the settings menu.

The water filter is designed to be replaced every 2 months or after every 50 litres of water used. Descaling is required in anything from 6 weeks to 2 months depending on water hardness. If you replace the filter regularly – or just use filtered water from a jug – descaling shouldn’t be required as often.

Bear in mind, however, that the initial setup process seems to bypass the water hardness testing if you opt to install the supplied water filter. This means that the machine is set to the worst case Very High water hardness setting which will prompt more regular cleaning and descaling. My advice would be to manually carry out the water hardness test and input the relevant information for your area – there’s a tester in the box, so you may as well use it.

How does it compare to competitors?

At this kind of price point, I normally have two recommendations – the Jura C8 or the De’Longhi Rivelia. Both retail for around £650 at the time of writing. For faff-free simplicity, I’m a big fan of the Jura. It makes good coffee and the milk steaming is very good, too. It’s not for everyone, though, as it lacks a lot of features compared to either the KitchenAid KF4 or the De’Longhi Rivelia. The C8 only has a handful of recipes, no hot water dispensing and while it makes good coffee, it lacks the adjustability to eke as much flavour from as wide a range of coffees as the Rivelia.

And this is where the KitchenAid KF4 comes in. In short, I think it’s markedly better than the Jura C8 and marginally a better all-rounder than the Rivelia. Given that it costs £899, that’s probably to be expected. In terms of coffee quality, both the KitchenAid and De’Longhi machines are capable of making a very mean espresso and an excellent milk-based coffee. Where the KF4 marches ahead, however, is looks and convenience: the slender footprint, simple carafe design and better touchscreen and controls all lean in favour of the KF4.

Should you buy the KitchenAid KF4?

I had high hopes for the KitchenAid KF4, so it’s impressive to see it deliver the goods in such confident fashion. The narrow footprint is perfect for smaller kitchens, and the fact that it’s relatively quiet, highly adjustable and makes such consistently tasty coffee is enough to convince me that it’s worth the relatively high asking price. There are cheaper rivals out there if you can accommodate a larger machine, but if you want great coffee without the bulk, it’s a great buy.

Ninja's shiny new coffee machine, the AutoBarista Pro, was only released at the end of last month but I've already spotted a version that's cheaper by £100 and available to buy now (via Ninja for £799.99).

This pared-back version of Ninja's super-automatic bean to cup coffee machine has a few differences from the original which I wrote about in detail in my preview. But there's one that'll disappoint decaf fans in particular: the two bean-hopper system (which is one of my favourite features of the £899.99 machine) is missing, as well as a few different drinks and milk frothing options.

Here's a look at the key differences so you can work out which one best suits your morning brew routine.

With an £100 price difference, I predict that there will be plenty of people interested in the standard version of the AutoBarista over the professional, but it's worth weighing up whether the features you lose are ones you might want in the future.

Let's start with what I see as the most important difference: the lack of interchangeable bean hopper system with the standard version.

The ability to swap between different types of coffee, including to decaf beans in the afternoon, is something that you can usually only get with much more expensive machines. It's excellent for making the most of your coffee machine without over-caffeinating or for those with partners or family members that have different coffee tastes. With two hoppers you could have one darker and one lighter roast on the go at the same time for those who want to switch between the two.

The other reason that the standard machine is more affordable is because it has a slightly diminished menu of drinks. There are 10 options available when brewing coffee: Espresso, Americano, Cappuccino, Flat White, Latte, Filter Coffee, Cold Brew, Cold-Pressed, Over Ice, and Hot Water.

You'll find those same drinks with the pro version alongside three more for your money: Cortado, Café Crema, and Lungo. And the ability to pull two shots of espresso at the same time – great for busy mornings if there's two of you using the same machine.

The automatic milk frother, which I think is the best feature on Ninja's Luxe Café machine too after trying it, is slightly altered in terms of programs between these two machines. While the standard machine offers 4 presets (Steamed Milk, Thin Froth, Thick Froth, and Cold Foam), the pro version has the same and more with the addition of Extra-Thick Froth too.

For the £100 price difference, it's definitely worth thinking about whether these differences would have an impact on the drinks you'd be making every day. If you'd be sticking to a flat white for most of the time, then you could save yourself a substantial chunk off your shiny new machine.

Or if this impressively kitted out new machine is out of the bounds of what you're looking to spend, then I've included some alternative highly-rated options below that you can consider instead.

Ninja has unveiled a brand new bean-to-cup coffee machine with a pricetag under £500 for the first time: the Luxe Café Mini Plus Espresso Machine (available for £499.99 via Ninja now).

This is the latest machine to join the ranks of Ninja's excellently regarded bean-to-cup coffee machine range. First came the sellout success of the Ninja Luxe Café (which I awarded five stars to in my review), followed by the even more capable Luxe Café Pro series.

Then, just last month, there was the hugely popular drop of the brand's first super-automatic machine – the Ninja AutoBarista Pro – which I've been trying (and loving in my kitchen).

Despite all of that success, there's undoubtedly been a gap in Ninja's range ready to be filled by a more affordable option. That's where this much more compact and affordable machine is bound to be a total winner. Here's how it compares to the rest of the sellout machines.

It may have 'mini' in the name but how compact is it really for small kitchens? The short answer is that it's 30% smaller than the Ninja Luxe Café Pro, which is certainly a bulky machine, and measures up at 34.11cm high, 30.91cm wide and 26cm in length.

Situated next to the Luxe Café in the promotional images, it's clear to see that this should be the Ninja coffee machine of choice for anyone who has been put off from the range thus far because of the bulky machine sizes.

Whilst having a much smaller footprint (and price tag), it seems there's been no skimping on quality features with the Mini from a first glance. Its control panel looks extremely in-depth despite its smaller size and the machine still boasts the Barista Assist Technology that I loved in my reviews of the OG Luxe Café. With this tech even beginners will find it exceptionally easy to get into pulling espresso shots that are finely tuned to their coffee tastes.

And crucially, this machine is still kitted out with an automatic milk frother too for the price, which makes it a brilliant buy for its price tag. As Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor, I trawl through press releases about new coffee machines everyday and it is very rare to get all of the features built into this machine for a sub £500 sum.

As a latte lover, the automatic milk frother is my favourite thing about every Ninja coffee machine I've tried – it makes wowing your guests with latte art or a perfect flat white so easy. And vegans haven't been left out of the equation either as this Mini machine is equipped for plant milk too. In my experience I've found steaming oat milk with the Luxe Café as seamless as with dairy.

Given the breadth of features packed into this slimmed down machine for under £500, I predict that this is going to be Ninja's most popular coffee offering for a long while. So if you like the look of this compact coffee maker, I'd snap it up fast!

For great coffee at home, you can’t go wrong with a good quality espresso machine. In fact, I owned, and loved the Sage Bambino for over three years. It’s a great compact espresso machine that still has a place on our list of the best coffee machines.

The Bambino Plus (£399.95 via Sage) is only slightly more expensive and marginally bigger than the Bambino, but the additional functionality it offers in terms of automatic milk texturing, is a potential game changer. Steaming and texturing milk is an artform and can be tricky to master, so I’m excited to see what this automatic wand can produce.

In a nutshell

For only £70 more than the entry level Sage Bambino, the Sage Bambino Plus offers quite a transformational upgrade in its automatic steam wand. In my opinion, this additional feature is worth the bump up in price, but it’s not flawless.

While I managed to create perfect espressos with a rich crema and tasty fruity flavour, I found the steam wand to be a bit hit and miss. The crux of it is that if you don’t add in an extra purge step, it can scald the milk. That said, during my tests, when purged first, it achieved great textured milk with zero effort on my part, and I soon came to rely on it.

So, in short, if you’re not super confident at steaming milk, but you want a manual espresso machine, then the Bambino Plus is the answer. But if you’re happy to steam milk yourself, then save £70 and go for the Sage Bambino.

Who tested this coffee machine?

Unboxing the product

When I removed the Bambino Plus from its box I was instantly struck by two things; it’s very lightweight and very shiny. The backplate that sits behind the drip tray is mirrored and I’m not sure how practical this is going to be to keep clean.

It appears to be well built and looks premium, but I expected it to have a weighty quality that’s lacking. Nevertheless, it comes with everything I need to get going, other than coffee.

The portafilter isn’t quite as premium as the one that comes with pricier Sage coffee machines, however it’s perfectly well made and fit for purpose. It comes with four filter baskets designed for single and double espresso shots depending on whether you’re using pre-ground or freshly ground coffee.

There’s a premium tamper that’s used for compressing the coffee into the portafilter, and this feels a good weight. The stainless steel milk jug is a typical size, though the max fill marker that’s embossed into the side is barely half way up the jug. What’s more, you can’t see the max and min markers easily on the inside of the jug, which might prove to be tricky when filling.

Impact on a kitchen worktop

Compared to so many coffee machines I’ve reviewed, this one is neat and pretty compact. It won’t dominate your kitchen and is suitable for smaller spaces.

The water tank sits at the back of the coffee machine, it’s easy to access and remove, or you can fill it by lifting the lid on top. But if you set the machine up beneath wall hung kitchen cupboards, it might be a bit awkward to get to.

First impressions

The physical instruction manual is brief, although it does include a QR code linking to a longer manual. For setup, you’re advised to download the free app BILT. It’s definitely worth it for the 3D interactive step-by-step set up guide which gives you all the info you need to get started. It's delivered via short, easy to watch video clips with audio descriptions.

In the app there are additional helpful guides on things like milk texturing, care and cleaning, and programming shot volumes. After watching all of these, I was armed with all the information I needed.

There’s a water filter included in the box to get you started and in hard water areas, this will definitely help to protect the machine from limescale. It is easy to install in the water tank, though it only lasts for three months. Replacements are costly at £14.95 each, which soon starts to add up.

This machine won’t automatically perform rinses, but it does advise you to do this manually by pressing the one cup button. This runs hot water through the group head and portafilter before and after use.

My main takeaway after getting it set up and familiarising myself with the control panel and accessories, is that it’s very straightforward to use. The paired back controls are very simple to understand.

If I'm being critical though, I’d love an on/off button. It automatically goes into standby after 30 minutes, but if you want to enter standby faster, you have to manually press two buttons in combination, and it took me a while to remember which two buttons.

And similarly, other processes like adjusting shot volumes or running a descale cycle are performed using various button combinations. This means you have to keep referring back to the BILT app or manual when you want to perform these additional tasks.

The ‘Morning Rush’ test

When the coffee machine is first switched on, it’s ready to use in seconds. I timed myself making two milky coffees in the morning to see how long the whole process was from start to end.

This included adding coffee to the portafilter, tamping it down, and pouring a double espresso. I did this twice and then filled the milk jug to its maximum level and set it to automatically texture the milk to the medium foam level and medium temperature.

By the time the two drinks were poured, the whole process had taken six minutes. Personally I have the time in my mornings and enjoy the ritual of making coffee, so I don’t think this is too long. But if your mornings are very rushed and you have very little time, you may need to consider a more hands-off automatic coffee machine.

Similarly, it’s worth noting that if you make very milky lattes, you may have to steam two jugs of milk to get enough for both drinks, which will add to the time.

User experience

It can take a while to get used to some of the processes involved in using a manual espresso machine. Tamping the coffee grounds with the right amount of pressure takes practice, but I love the tamper that’s provided, it feels really good quality and works effectively.

Sage also provides a clever Razor tool, which is especially useful if you’re new to manual espresso machines. It allows you to trim coffee from the top of the portafilter, this ensures it’s not over-filled, which in turn helps you to learn how much coffee is needed.

On the whole, making an espresso in this machine is a simple process, but there’s one part that I found annoying. Twisting the portafilter into position, and also removing it again, are both actions that require a bit of force.

Unfortunately, the machine isn’t weighty enough to withstand the force without being pushed across the worktop. So you have to stabilise it with one hand/ arm, while positioning the portafilter with the other. It can be awkward.

The double shot espresso is a bit smaller than I would like, but that's not an issue as it can be programmed it to deliver the exact volume you prefer. Alternatively you can dispense hot water from the steam wand to top up an espresso into a longer drink.

When I first got my hands on this machine, I didn’t think it was capable of dispensing hot water as there’s no obvious button to do so. But upon scanning the QR code in the manual and accessing the more comprehensive manual online, I discovered how to do it.

It is, unfortunately, another button combo to remember. With the steam wand tilted up, you have to press the 1 cup and foam buttons simultaneously and then hot water is dispensed. I dispensed a cup full and took the temperature. It was 71C, which is fine for topping up coffee or making the odd fruit tea.

The automatic milk steamer does the job, it's super simple to use and easy to toggle between the three foam levels. The highest foam setting delivers a spoonable cappuccino style foam, whereas you get more of a microfoam on the middle and lower foam settings.

My biggest issue with the automatic steaming is that it often made the milk too hot. Even on the lowest temperature setting, milk could reach temperatures in excess of 80C, which is far too hot and will scald the milk, affecting the taste.

I did eventually discover that if I purged the steam wand for a few seconds before use, by pressing the steam button and allowing water/ steam to escape, it was then less likely to scald the milk. After a purge, milk steamed on the lowest temperature setting, came out at 58-66C, which is much better.

Milk temperatures weren’t as consistent as I would like and seemed to be impacted by the foam level selected as well as the amount of milk in the jug. That said, when it was producing milk at the correct temperature, I very much enjoyed this hands-off automatic function. And I can see how this feature will be really handy if you’re busy, or if you hate steaming your own milk.

When filling the milk jug to the max line, you can add about 250ml milk which is just enough for two smaller drinks. If you prefer a longer milky drink, you won’t be able to make two at once. You ‘ll need to steam a second jug of milk.

Don’t be tempted to go over the max line though. I steamed the maximum amount of milk on the maximum foam level and the foam rose to the top of the jug. Any more and it would have spilled out over the top. However, I should say that I also found it very hard to see the max and min lines on the inside of the jug, which is frustrating.

Due to the occasional high temperatures achieved by the automatic steamer, I was thankful that I could also use the milk wand for manual steaming. I was able to texture the milk without scalding it when I did it manually. However it still heats the milk very fast and I still had to purge it first for best results. And if I’m honest, I did default to the automatic milk steamer on most uses.

Noise test

When brewing an espresso, the coffee machine registered a pretty quiet 59dB on my noise meter. It's the milk steaming that’s the noisiest part of the process. The automatic milk steaming averaged 69dB but peaked at 84dB for a few short seconds. On the whole, I wouldn’t class this as a loud coffee machine.

Coffee quality

During the review I used Exhale Organic Dark(ish) Roast whole beans. This is my regular brand of coffee and the tasting notes, according to the brand, are caramel, stone fruits, red grapes and cola. It’s said to be ideal for espresso and gives a chocolatey, nutty flavour.

I used a separate grinder to grind my coffee beans as needed, so I used the single wall basket in the portafilter as this is designed for coffee that’s freshly ground. Although I did also try out the double wall baskets with some pre-ground coffee I had in the cupboard.

I found the espresso had a rich and thick crema on top, and it lasted well. I enjoyed the espresso flavour too, it was fruity and had a nutty marzipan backnote. It was neither bitter, nor was it flavourless and watery, which is a good sign. On the whole, I was very happy with both the flavour and the quality of the espresso.

Thermal stability

I made five single espressos in quick succession to check how the temperature of the coffees changed. The first one started at 60C and each one was marginally hotter than the last. The final espresso was 68C. On that basis, and for consistent coffee, I’d suggest it’s best suited to smaller households where it’ll usually be required to make a couple of coffees at a time.

The ‘Wet Paint’ test

After much experimentation I found the automatic milk steamer could produce a lovely glossy microfoam, perfect for latte art. It had to be on the lowest temperature and middle foam setting (provided it’s been purged before use). The higher foam setting is a bit more bubbly, though ideal for a cappuccino.

Manual milk texturing is an option, but once I’d got the hang of purging it first, the microfoam delivered by the auto steaming function, far exceeded the quality of what I could produce when manually steaming.

What's it like to clean?

The exterior of the steam wand will need a good wipe down with a damp cloth after use. It automatically purges with water, dispensing water into the drip tray to ensure there’s no milk residue left on the inside. The steam purge can be messy and I found I needed to wipe over the drip tray afterwards.

I was able to tap out the coffee grounds in a nicely compacted puck. Giving the portafilter a quick rinse is the only other daily cleaning task. However the stainless steel sides and shiny mirrored back of the machine marked easily, so I found myself giving it all a daily wipe and buff to keep it looking as good as new.

The drip tray is very small, and this soon becomes noticeable if you make a lot of milky drinks, due to the automatic steam purge. A red float in the drip tray pops up to tell you it needs emptying, and I could only make 3-4 milky coffees before it needed to be emptied.

What's it like to descale?

The machine alerts you when descaling is due. It does this by flashing the one cup, two and steam buttons in sequence. You’ll need to use a Sage descaling product for the process and it has to be done when the machine is completely cool.

I followed the directions in the BILT app and found descaling very easy. For the most part it’s an automatic process, you just have to stay nearby to empty the waste water container and refill the water tank as needed. The whole process took around eight and a half minutes.

The other cleaning process required is a flushing cycle to clean the grouphead. This is a quicker clean that requires you to insert the rubber cleaning disc into the portafilter, followed by a Sage cleaning tablet.

Again, the machine alerts you to do it with a sequence of flashing lights after every 200 cups. It’s another automatic cleaning cycle and took me just six minutes. Waste water is supposed to be collected in the drip tray, but some leaked out onto the worktop during the clean, so I’d sit it on a teatowel next time.

How does it compare to competitors?

I’ve already made comparisons to the brand's entry level espresso machine, the Sage Bambino. It’s more compact and will save you £70, as long as you’re willing to steam your own milk.

It must be said though, the Bambino Plus isn’t cheap and if you shop around, you could bag a Ninja Luxe Cafe for around £70 more. This is an Ideal Home favourite that also offers automatic milk steaming. Crucially though, the Ninja has a built-in bean grinder and offers more adjustable settings and features. So if your budget can be stretched, it’s worth considering.

Should you buy the Sage the Bambino Plus?

Having previously owned the Sage Bambino I was pleasantly surprised by how much of an upgrade this model feels like, especially given the comparative difference in price. And if it’s a toss up between the two, the decision will come down to whether or not you’ll use the auto milk steaming.

If you’ve already got some barista skills, you may not need to pay the extra for the auto steaming function. That said, I’m used to steaming my own milk, but I soon got used to letting the Bambino Plus take care of it for me.

While it’s one of Sage’s cheaper espresso machines, this is still pricey compared to other brands. That said, it delivers a great espresso, and the automatic milk texturing is an elevated feature that you won’t find on many other machines. If you’re not confident at texturing milk, you’ll adore having perfectly steamed and frothed milk without any faff.

Ninja's bestselling coffee machine range is expanding. That's good news both for those who want to shop the brand's shiny, new AutoBarista Pro and for anyone who's been waiting for the price of Ninja's first-ever coffee machine, the Luxe Café, to drop significantly.

The Luxe Café is now available for £447 down from its RRP of £549.99 via Ninja. There's no mistaking that the Luxe Café is still a seriously pricey home investment, but considering it's also the best coffee machine I've ever tried in terms of value, this deal makes it even more of a star buy.

I awarded five stars to the Luxe Café in my review of it when it was released in 2024, though I wasn't the biggest fan of the stainless steel exterior, which can mark easily and be a pain to keep pristine. If you feel the same way, the good news is that this deal also extends to the matte black version, which is also down to £447 via Amazon.

There are so many things packed into this machine that you usually only see in products with much higher pricetags but my favourite by far is the automatic milk frothing wand.

If you love a frothy coffee in the morning, then this hands-free feature is going to get a lot of use in your home with the ability to whip up milk into foam suitable for lattes, cappuccinos, flat whites and more. It can also double up as a milk frother for hot chocolates and even has a cold mode for those hot summer days when only an iced coffee will do the job.

If you're just starting out on your journey as a home barista then learning how to steam milk can be daunting, but the automatic element of Ninja's frother takes that steep learning curve away. Plus, the frother is so good that it can create a genuine microfoam that you can use to practice your latte art skills, too.

The automatic grind size suggestions, which appear on the left hand side of the machine's screen, also go a long way if you're a beginner just getting into coffee at home. The set-up process for the machine is very helpful for getting to grips with all of the different elements.

If I was going to snap up the Luxe Café as part of this deal I would definitely pick the matte black option over the stainless steel. I love the subtle finish, which has a lot in common with David Beckham's swish new version too.

Making great coffee at home doesn't need to be expensive or cost you the entire width of your kitchen worktop. That's proven by the rise in popularity of coffee drippers, which allow you to make 'pour-over' coffee at home without having to turn on an appliance.

I think a good quality coffee dripper probably works as a no-tech alternative to one of the best coffee machines, offering you a more analogue, mindful brewing method on days when you want simplicity over everything else. Affordable and fuss-free, a dripper is a fabulously chic buy for having a slow morning to yourself.

The mechanics of a dripper are simple. Place one over your mug, insert a paper filter and ground coffee. Then add a splash of hot water and wait 30 seconds for the 'bloom' of your coffee to occur before pouring over the rest in gentle circles to allow your coffee to percolate. It's a method that allows gravity to do all the legwork and leaves you with a smooth, black coffee at the end.

If you like the sound of that, then I think you'll love the drippers I've collated here, including my absolute favourite pick from Fable (for £34) – which inspired this feature.

With one of these drippers, you'll be hooked on making quality coffee at home – especially as they give you total control over the amount of water and speed at which you brew.

It might even be your gateway into getting really into speciality coffee and then investing in a high calibre set up including a gooseneck kettle, which are all the rage over in the US for pour-over coffee.

Whether you like the idea of a coffee dripper for convenience or for craft, these ones will set you on the right path to a much improved brew.

Ninja just dropped a brand new automatic coffee machine, the Ninja AutoBarista Pro Coffee Machine (available now for £899.99 via Ninja) and I predict that this is going to be as big a hit (if not a bigger one) than the brand's sellout Luxe Café machine.

In what seems to be a bid to capture the entire bean-to-cup coffee machine market, Ninja has unveiled an automatic model for the first time – a departure from the brand's existing range.

As Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor I was lucky enough to be one of the first people to receive and unbox this machine and so far, I've been absolutely wowed by the features packed in for the price tag. Here's everything that's new with this impressive new release as well as the difference between this and the Luxe Café and the Luxe Café Pro (both of which I awarded 5 stars to in my previous reviews).

1. It's packed full of automatic features

If you've considered buying the Luxe Café before (which is a semi-manual machine) but were put off by having to pull your own espresso shots, this the machine for you.

The AutoBarista Pro has a very capable touchscreen from which you can choose 13 different one-touch drinks. Whenever you want a coffee all you'll need to do is select your drink from the screen and pop milk into the jug to be frothed. From there, the machine will set the grind, brew and froth settings.

I think this more hands-off approach will be a huge hit with those looking for a bean-to-cup machine that's more like versions from competitors like De'Longhi and Philips. After recently testing out the De'Longhi Eletta Explore, I can totally see the appeal in these more laidback machines.

With the AutoBarista Pro once your coffee has brewed and your milk has frothed all there's left to do is pour it over your coffee, meaning there's still a chance to improve your latte art at home!

2. It features two interchangable bean hoppers

When I was unboxing this machine I was very excited and impressed by the swappable bean hoppers included in the box. The ability to swap out two different types of beans (perhaps to switch to decaf in the afternoons or to meet different coffee tastes in one household) is something usually reserved for much more expensive machines – if it's even included at all.

I think the fact that it's built-in to this machine is a huge plus. After a preliminary try, I found the process to unscrew the hopper very easy which will be encouraging for anyone looking for a double hopper system.

This is one feature I'm very excited to try out for decaf coffees in the afternoon!

3. Personalised user programs

Dedicated user profiles is something that I am always into when I test automatic bean-to-cup machines, as it makes rushing out of the door with a coffee so much easier when you have your preferences saved.

It's just one of the big upgrades with this machine as opposed to the more pared-back screen on the Luxe Café. When initially turning it on, I noticed it had a very swish opening sequence, with the coffee icons appearing one by one, as well as full colour on the screen.

The number of coffee profiles is limited to just 2, but I'm intrigued to get stuck in and see how easy they are to program and use day-to-day.

This is just a small snapshot of everything I've noticed so far as I unbox and get to grips with this machine – not even touching on the easy cleaning features (which sound so useful) as well as the huge range of drinks available including cold brew.

I'll be testing this machine as soon as I can to let you know exactly how it performs in my kitchen but I have to say, I'm thoroughly impressed from my first look.

Automatic bean-to-cup coffee machines are the at-home coffee appliance for people who want coffee shop style coffees without leaving the house. If you don’t want to learn any barista skills or mess around grinding coffee beans and steaming milk, automatic is the way to go.

When I reviewed the Philips 5500 Series LatteGo it was the top of the range Philips automatic bean-to-cup coffee machine at the time. And I was impressed with its large menu of 20 drinks. But that was until the Philips Café Aromis Series 8000 made its way onto the scene, offering over 50 drinks on the menu.

I think this bean-to-cup machine offers the widest menu of drinks I’ve ever seen and there are several drinks that I’ve never even heard of. I’ve had it in my kitchen for two weeks and still haven't gotten close to trying all the options.

In a nutshell

The newly launched Philips Café Aromis Series 8000 slides in right at the premium end of the brand's automatic bean-to-cup range. The next best in the lineup offers a drinks menu of 20 drinks, so this model really does knock it out of the park.

It should be noted though that this new, more premium model is also £200 more at £849, which is a pretty hefty jump in price. And at this high price point it’ll certainly be out of reach for many households.

Price to one side, it’s got a lot to offer. The colour touch screen makes it effortless to navigate through the coffee menus. And tweaking settings like temperature, volume and intensity is an absolute doddle. Plus, you can even control it from an app on your phone.

The grinder is quiet and I enjoyed trying lots of different drinks. It’s brilliant for larger households with multiple coffee drinkers who can all save their preferences in a personal profile on the touchscreen.

The downsides for me are the milk texturing, which always produces frothed milk, even if the style of drink doesn’t require it. And I struggled to get a robust crema on an espresso. But these issues won’t bother everyone, so if you want a decent coffee and you’re not critical of the nuances, then this could be the machine for you.

Who tested this coffee machine?

Unboxing and setting up

The coffee machine was delivered in a pretty hefty outer box. After shuffling it inside, I removed the smaller main box, and its cut out handles in the sides meant it was much easier to lift into the kitchen.

Apart from a few plastic bags wrapped around some of the parts, the packaging was mostly cardboard, so easily recyclable. And the clever design of the inner cardboard cradle, allows you to lift the coffee machine out of the box, using integrated cut out handles.

Unboxing and setting up the coffee machine so that it was ready to use, took just 25 minutes. Once it’s plugged in, the colour touch screen walks you through the set up step-by-step, so you really can’t go wrong. The machine is chunky and it’s not designed for small kitchens where space is at a premium.

My first impression is that the control panel is very user friendly, which is going to make this machine super easy and intuitive to use. With so many drinks on offer, the drinks menu could be tricky to navigate, but thankfully it’s divided into sub sections; hot with milk, black coffee, cold coffee, cold with milk, and hot water.

When you click onto a specific drink, the screen displays the volume of coffee/ milk/ water. For me, being able to see the ratio of coffee to milk for example, helps when trying to understand all the different coffees on the menu, and work out which ones I’m keen to try.

Additionally, the coffee and milk volumes are also adjustable for each drink, via simple sliders within the settings. Plus there are seven adjustable coffee strength settings to choose from as well as three temperature settings. You can also select an extra shot in your drink. Then all of your choices can be saved to your personal profile for next time.

I also downloaded the app and connected the machine so that I’d have access to all the functions offered there too. You can set up eight different named profiles for different members of your household or your regular visitors. And each profile can save up to eight favourite drinks, including personalised settings for each of those drinks.

The main coffee dispenser slides up and down so that you can adjust it for the height of your cup. My 14.5cm travel cup just slides under it when it's pushed to the top. And when it’s all the way at the bottom of its range, there's about 8.5cm between the dispenser and drip tray, which is much better for espresso cups and other shorter cups like cappuccino cups.

The machine switches on and is ready to use in under 10 seconds, or if you select the option for a start-up rinse. It goes through an initial warm up and rinse and takes just over a minute. Personally, I prefer a rinse and proper warm up before brewing my first coffee, so am happy to wait.

Furthermore, I noticed that without the rinse and warm up phase, the first drink took 20-30 seconds longer to brew, essentially because it does still need to warm up.

Making coffee with the Philips Café Aromis Series 8000:

Since most coffees on the menu are espresso based, it’s crucial get this right when you're initially setting up and getting used to the machine. At first, the espresso started off quite weak, and lacking a proper crema on top. Initially I tried to adjust the strength settings in the menu, but it was clear that the grind size would also need adjusting.

Grind size is adjusted via a knob in the bean hopper. It’s recommended that the grind size is only adjusted one notch at a time, and you can only do it while the grinder is grinding.

It’s also recommended that after every adjustment, you brew 3-4 coffees before adjusting again. In the end it took me almost a week to get the grind size adjusted to the correct level, which was all the way at the very fine end of the dial.

It’s worth noting here that the noise from the bean grinder is one of the quietest I’ve come across, when compared to other automatic bean-to-cup machines I’ve reviewed. It registered 69dB on my noise meter.

The espresso tasted pleasant, fresh and fruity, and was very drinkable. Despite my adjustments though, I wasn’t able to create the rich, thick crema on top that I’m used to getting from my manual espresso machine.

The double espresso from this machine had an okay crema, but it disappeared long before I got to the end of the drink. With that in mind, if you’re an espresso lover chasing the perfect punchy espresso flavour, combined with a dense creamy crema, I would guide you more towards a barista style home espresso machine to tick all those boxes.

The espresso temperature on the default medium temperature setting was around 75C. This increased to 78C when I selected the high temperature option and dropped to 67-70C on the lowest temperature setting. So the temperature differences are minimal.

There are so many other black coffee options, whether you like a tall gluggable coffee, or a shorter, more intense caffeine hit, you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for here. As well as a double espresso, I enjoyed the Caffe Crema, a very drinkable black coffee that’s flavourful and balanced but not too intense.

Other black coffee options include popular drinks like a Long Black, or Americano, as well as lesser known, very strong black coffees like the Red Eye and Black Eye. The beauty is, you get to try them all.

The menu for cold black coffee is similar, but notably there are cold brew coffees added to the lineup. The cold brew is slow to make, even a small 120ml size dripped through so slowly that it took over five minutes to pour the drink, whereas the same sized iced Americano was ready in one and a half minutes.

The process of making these two iced black coffees is clearly different and that’s evident in the taste too. The cold brew is stronger, and by comparison the iced Americano tasted watery. But again, with 11 cold black coffees on the menu, coupled with adjustable strength and volume, as well as the option to add an extra shot, it's easy to create a bespoke drink to suit your own taste.

I also like that a lot of drinks include the option to size up for a travel cup, simply by pressing the travel cup icon.

Hot milk drinks

Given the number of drinks on offer and all of the adjustable settings, I was surprised that the milk texture isn’t adjustable. The milk steaming and texturing process only delivers frothy, bubbly milk. The biggest issue with this is that you get the same amount, and texture of foam on a latte as you do on a cappuccino or even a flat white.

If you prefer drink options with less foam, or those that should have a very fine microfoam like a flat white, you might be disappointed with the quality of milk texturing and the lack of any optional adjustment.

On the whole I enjoyed the hot milk drinks, and with so many adjustable settings, I believe most people will be able to create their perfect milk to coffee ratio and get a coffee strength that hits the spot. For me the biggest sticking point is the milk texture - it simply won’t be able to win over people who dislike bubbly foam on the top of their milky coffee.

The position of the milk spout is ideal for taller cups. But when I was using a short cappuccino cup, I did have to keep a close eye on the cup as the milk began to pour. The milk flows from the high spout like a waterfall, so when using a short cup there is a danger of missing it if you don’t position it correctly.

Milky drink temperatures ranged from 56 - 66C depending on the temperature setting selected. But other factors like the coffee to milk ratios and the temperature of your cup, will also affect the temperature of the finished drink.

When selecting just hot milk froth without coffee, the temperature isn’t adjustable. You can select one of five different volumes between 40ml and 320ml. There’s not an option to adjust the foam level, you will always get frothy milk. I poured out 180ml for a chai latte. It took 53 seconds and was 60C.

Cold milk drinks

For cold milky drinks, you have to use the dedicated cold milk carafe. Additionally, the screen prompts you to add ice cubes to the glass before the drink starts pouring. You can add as much as you prefer, but ultimately, the more ice you use, the colder the drink, but the more danger it’ll get diluted if you drink it too slowly.

I measured the temperature of an Iced Galao, it was 11C when first poured over a handful of ice. The ice cubes quickly chill it further and after just a minute in the glass, it was already down to 8.5C and getting colder the longer I left it. It’s absolutely possible to enjoy proper iced coffees from this machine and it’ll really come into its own on hot summer days.

Like the hot milky drinks, the cold milk carafe is only capable of dispensing frothed milk. So again, when I did a side by side comparison, the iced latte had the same amount of foam sitting on top as the iced cappuccino.

I tried several iced milky coffees and they were all enjoyable. Ultimately apart from temperature, the cold drinks are just as customisable as the hot drinks, so you can tweak the strength as well as the coffee and milk volumes, to get your cooling iced coffee just how you like it.

It does also dispense cold frothed milk without coffee, which can be used to create other non-coffee drinks with syrups for children for example. There’s even a cold babyccino on the menu.

Hot water

When the milk carafe is removed, the spout doubles as a hot water dispenser. You can select 100-300ml when dispensing hot water. 300ml was about right for my favourite mug and it took about 90 seconds.

Hot water on the medium temperature setting was only 75C, so a bit cool for most types of tea. On the high temperature setting I was disappointed that it didn’t get much hotter, the water in the mug was almost 80C.

Most of us Brits wouldn’t consider ditching the trusty kettle and getting all of our hot water from a coffee machine, so with that in mind it’s a decent temperature to top up a coffee, or to make a fruit or herbal tea.

Using the App

I think the app is absolutely worth downloading and connecting to. It offers additional features and settings. But for me, I just don’t automatically reach for my phone when I want to make a coffee, so I rarely selected my coffee and started brewing via the app. Let’s not forget you still need to place a cup under the spout and attach the milk carafe, so it’s usually simpler to use the touchscreen.

What's it like to clean?

After pouring a milk based drink, it didn’t automatically prompt me to rinse the milk dispenser, which is unusual for an automatic coffee machine. Most other machines I’ve reviewed are quite insistent in prompting you to do this. So to rinse it, I had to go into the settings and select the milk carafe rinse, which is a bit more long winded.

On the plus side, the milk carafes are really quick and easy to rinse clean under the tap. I like that there are no fiddly tubes to clean out. They come apart easily into three pieces and are some of the easiest to clean that I've come across.

The coffee spouts are automatically rinsed when the machine switches off, so ideally you need to leave a cup or container under the spout, otherwise it makes a mess of the shiny metal drip tray area.

You can choose whether it also rinses during the start-up/ warm-up phase. I switched this on because I like it to get a rinse before it dispenses the first coffee of the day, but as I stated earlier, this does increase the initial start up time to just over a minute.

Other regular cleaning tasks include emptying out the grinds and the drip tray. And then there are the less frequent tasks like rinsing the brew unit or descaling the whole machine.

As with most functions on this machine, the clear on-screen instructions and prompts will guide you through these cleaning processes, so nothing is ever too tricky or confusing. I ran the descaling programme, it took 20 minutes from start to finish, but was very easy.

How does it compare to competitors?

The De’Longhi Rivelia is still one of my favourite automatic bean to cup machines. In contrast to this model, it offers a smaller footprint on your counter and a more paired back coffee menu. It makes a great coffee, is easy to use, and can also produce some cold coffee recipes. Its RRP is only £100 cheaper though.

The Ninja Luxe Cafe Pro is an Ideal Home favourite, and you should look in this direction if you want an all-singing all-dancing machine that’s a tad more affordable. The trade-off is that it's semi-automatic, meaning you have to get a bit more involved, but not quite to the level of a manual espresso machine.

Should you buy the Philips Café Aromis Series 8000?

If you’re a household of two adults who each drink the same coffee day in day out, then you really won’t get the most from this machine. It’s designed for coffee lovers who enjoy switching up drinks with the seasons, and for larger households where everyone's varied choices are catered for.

There’s a particular joy in scrolling through the menus and sampling different coffees. You won’t get the same feeling from an espresso machine or pod machine. And simplicity is one of its key strengths, it’s effortless to navigate the choices, create the various coffees, and customise settings.

That said, the price is a potential stumbling block and hardcore espresso lovers would do better with a more traditional style espresso machine. Meanwhile, if you’re particular about your milk froth and want the option of froth free milk or silky microfoams, this isn’t the machine for you.

Whether you subscribe to astrology or not, you'll likely know that your birth month has a colour associated with it. From January through to December, there's a birthstone, linked to a specific colour, that encapsulates the time of your birth and you can use it throughout your home to hyper-personalise your surroundings.

As Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor, I love applying my birth month colour to the small details in my coffee station to give it that personal touch – namely with my choice of mug.

If you too want to adorn your coffee machine with mugs that speak to your birth month, then I've rounded up 12 picks in the perfect shades for birthstones.

Of course, personalising your home with your birthstone colour doesn't have to stop in the kitchen – we've in fact got an entire guide to decorating with your tailor made shade.

And our Sleep Editor Amy has put together a wonderful selection of birth month bedding if you want to refresh your sheets and go bold with colour. I'm definitely going to be looking up my birth month colour palette for decorating inspiration!

KitchenAid has unveiled a compact line of coffee machines, each of which is smaller and more affordable than the brand's first ever range.

Though the names might not be the most inspiring, I think there's plenty to get excited about with the KF2, KF3 and KF4 – all of which are fully-automatic bean-to-cup machines – ranging in price from £699 to £899.

While KitchenAid is a name we all know best in relation to the best stand mixers, the brand's first coffee machine collection, released in September 2024, was an immediate hit. Here at Ideal Home our expert reviewers tried the semi automatic machine and the ultra-expensive KF8 from the line to great acclaim. Here's what this new, more affordable range is offering up.

KitchenAid's coffee machine naming convention may be confusing but the bottom line with these machines is that there's something for a whole range of budgets.

If you've been dreaming of a KitchenAid machine thanks to those lush clean lines and hidden elements and you don't mind steaming your own milk (or learning how to) then you're in luck as the most affordable machine here is perfect for you. That's the KF2, which is also stunningly compact for small kitchens.

25% smaller than the original collection, these machines all measure up at 19.5W cm x 36H cm x 47D cm. At less than 20cm wide, this makes this a fabulous machine for slotting into tight spaces on a worktop. And as the KF2 doesn't have any external milk components, it works for cosy spaces even better.

The other big difference with the KF2 compared to the other machines in the series is that it has six presets where the KF3 and KF4 have 15 and 20 respectively. The KF2, which would be a good match for a black coffee drinker, can make the following drinks: Espresso, Americano, Coffee (Long), Lungo, Iced Espresso, and Iced Coffee.

If the allure of an automatic machine is that can make coffee and froth milk for you then you're looking at the KF3 and KF4, which come with the 'AutoMilk System'. Using a hose system to make frothy drinks at the touch of a button, this unlocks a whole other set of hands-free drinks from cappuccinos to flat whites.

The KF3 and KF4 also have the added benefit of iced, frothy drinks with the latter also featuring a larger touchscreen and three more hot drinks on offer: Cortado, Doppio, and Galao.

It's important to note that the KF3 model, the mid-range machine, only comes with KitchenAid's milk hose – not the carafe you get with the KF4. Plus, while the KF3 only has two user profiles the KF4 has double that – in case you wanted to use this as your family coffee machine.

If it's a coffee machine for a small space you're looking for then I think this KitchenAid version might be the best looking compact pick out there. Also announced for release this week was the very trendy Fellow Series One Espresso machine, if you're more of a coffee aficionado.

I'm hoping we can put both to the test sometime soon to see how the coffee fares, too!

Whether you're a seasoned camper or a good-weather hiker, a portable coffee brewer can go a long way to make your time in the great outdoors a little more enjoyable.

That's the idea behind OXO's new duo: the Manual Coffee Grinder (£38 at Amazon) and Rapid Brewer (£45, also at Amazon). Compact, lightweight and without fuss, this set should be able to help you make a quality cup of coffee without one of the best coffee machines, even when you're on the go.

I gave OXO's newest launchest to Ideal Home's resident walking and camping enthusiast editor Amy to test out for me to see if it can live up to the claim that it can help you make the 'perfect cup, anytime, anywhere, in 5 minutes or less'. Here's how she got on with it.

The brand most will associate with the portable coffee scene is Aeropress. We tried a whole host of them last year to see which came out on top with prices ranging from premium (around £150) to around the £30 mark.

OXO's new range is a similarly affordable one, with the set coming in under £85 and allowing you to grind and brew a coffee on the go.

There are plenty of use cases for one of these brewers including for camping, hiking and mobile homes. Or for if you just want a low-effort at-home brewing system without having to invest in a coffee machine. For our tester Amy, the quality of the coffee she could make when out and about was important.

'The one (extremely privileged) downside of having a top-notch coffee machine at home, is that as soon as I leave my own home - and if I’m not anywhere near a barista coffee shop - the coffee quality plummets,' says Amy.

'The OXO rapid brewer changes all that as it allows me to make my own fresh coffee anywhere, and thanks to the grinder,' she continues 'I can even grind fresh beans without even needing to be anywhere near an electrical socket.'

For Amy, this compact duo is therefore perfect for camping. As for how each is to use, Amy says that 'the grinder takes a little elbow grease to turn the handle and manually grind your beans, but, in my opinion, that effort just makes the final result taste better'.

The rapid brewer element, which has a capacity of 160ml, was also a hit with Amy.

'The rapid brewer can be used with hot or cold water, which is perfect if you don’t have the means to heat water. Plus a cold brew only takes five minutes of waiting before you can untwist the manual pump and extract your fresh coffee.'

It's a thumbs-up from Amy for this affordable duo then, but she's not the only one who can see the bright side of this portable coffee maker. From 971 reviews, at the time of writing, this OXO brewer has a 4.5/5 score with many commenting on its portability and quality.

One reviewer said that it's an 'amazing way to make great tasting coffee reliably and easily'. You can't say fairer than that!

This week has seen a whole host of new coffee launches, from Fellow's new espresso machine to KitchenAid's new slimline range, so if you're on the hunt for a better coffee set up then there's plenty to choose from.

From pier-dwelling sea lions to self-driving taxis, there are plenty of things native to San Francisco that you just can't get in London – but there’s about to be one less, thanks to the UK launch of Fellow's Series 1 espresso machine.

Now available from Harrods for £1,299, this striking coffee machine is absolutely beloved across the pond after dropping last year. It's made by prestige coffee brand Fellow, which is on a mission to deliver professional-grade coffee for home brewers.

I'm fresh from a trip to the Bay Area, where I saw first-hand the California café culture that Fellow embodies, and I have to say I'm excited about the launch of this machine that will no doubt be vying for the title of best coffee machine out there.

Whether you're a coffee nerd or a total novice, there's plenty to get stuck into with this incredibly impressive machine.

If you love the sleek minimalistic look of this machine but aren't clued up on the coffee side the first thing to know is that this is an espresso maker, but it is not an all-in-one bean-to-cup coffee machine as you might find from Sage or Ninja.

This separation of the grinder is very much by design, as real coffee aficionados believe that heat from the boiler of espresso machines can negatively affect the freshness of coffee beans, preferring a separate set-up for both.

That means you'll need a separate grinder for your at-home coffee set up if you want the freshest cup possible. In our extensive search for the best coffee grinder, Fellow's Ode (£245 at Coffee Friend) came out exceptionally well after testing.

One of the USPs of this machine is its Boosted Boiler System, which 'uses three independent heating elements to maintain temperature stability within a single degree' and can heat the machine to an optimal temperature in just two minutes. So if you're more of a rush-around in the mornings than you'd like to be, you can use this machine in a hurry.

Though designed for coffee enthusiasts, there's also plenty of helpful tech built-in to this machine if you love how it'll look in your kitchen but lack the barista know-how straight off the bat. Within its digital system it has a guided mode that can direct you as to how to pull your perfect espresso shot as well as a way of giving feedback to users on how to improve their coffee.

Getting the perfect texture and temperature can be the thing that stands between at-home beginner baristas and the perfect latte and luckily, milk frothing is another base covered with this machine.

It has an automated, temperature-sensing Smart Steam Wand built-in. This will stop working once your milk has reached its optimal temperature, so that you can use the microfoam for your latte art.

If space is at a premium in your kitchen, there's the benefit of this machine fitting neatly underneath standard kitchen cupboards too. It's short and deep as opposed to tall and bulky like other bean-to-cup machines can be, with customisable elements and colours also available.

If you're a coffee connoisseur, then Fellow's range of café-worthy products are absolutely worth your attention – our in-house coffee expert absolutely loved the brand's filter coffee machine Aiden when he tried it too.

Or if you love the look of this machine but feel less enthused about the price tag, here's a look at similar design-led alternatives with a similar feel.

Though I'm missing San Francisco's coffee scene already, this week sees the arrival of two exciting things: KitchenAid's new coffee machine and the London Coffee Festival coming into town – I can't wait to see the gems and new launches on show there.

If you're a Ninja mega-fan, the brand's newest collaboration with global ambassador David Beckham might already be on your radar. But if you're new to this bestselling coffee machine altogether then you're in for a treat – as this limited-edition buy really has combined the best of both worlds.

The OG Ninja Luxe Café Pro is hands-down one of the best bean-to-cup coffee machines I've ever tried and now, I've got my hands on David Beckham's brand new version for a closer look at the finer details.

This was already a five-star machine, as per my review from last year, and now it's had a serious glow-up with a trendy new colourway and subtle design tweaks. Here's what's new with David Beckham's shiny new version.

1. It's fingerprint proof

In behind the scenes footage of David Beckham designing his version of the Luxe Café Pro, you can see him scrutinising the original machine and its stainless steel exterior. Whilst examining swatches of material, he points out that the original shiny finish of the machine would be a problem for his everyday coffee routine.

'My problem with that' he says, 'is fingerprints'. It's an issue that I've found time and time again with stainless steel machines, including the original Luxe Café that I reviewed.

That's why David's edition features a different finish altogether, with a matte exterior that will keep marks and scuffs easily at bay. It's certainly been easier in a short window of time to keep clean!

2. It features a wood grain portafilter

A good, weighty portafilter is usually the sign of a great coffee machine. That was definitely the case with the original Luxe Café, which features a stainless steel version that's pleasing to pull an espresso shot with day-to-day.

But as this is the David Beckham version, obviously the portafilter needed to be a little more elevated than usual. After all, he said this machine was created by 'drawing inspiration from the natural materials of the English countryside' and it seems the Cotswold effect is in full swing with this natural, pared-back portafilter made from ebony wood.

It's a design quirk that's carried through to the handle of the milk jug too. This is another one of the central touch-points of the machine, which you use in order to make the best of the automatic milk frothing features, so it feels like a premium tie in to have it match up with the portafilter.

For Sage, one of Ninja's biggest coffee machine competitors, accessories with this natural wood look have already been a huge hit. The brand's Craft Premium Espresso Accessories (from £69.96 via Sage) are finished in walnut.

3. A shiny new colourway

The mix of matte chrome black and gold accents with this machine makes it a real standout in terms of colour. Since the dawn of the Luxe Café in 2024 there's been a selection of colours released, but this is the first to combine an all-over colour with different accents. It certainly makes David Beckham's version a real eyecatcher.

In terms of other available colours, Ninja released matte black and matte navy versions of this machine in September 2025, while Gunmetal, which is a shiny grey version, soon followed. There's been no foray into white or pastels with this machine yet, which I'm desperate to see, though US Ninja customers did just get access to a limited edition Raspberry Blush pink version.

Here's to hoping we see more from Ninja's partnership with David Beckham this year in the coffee realm, or at least some more colourways for all styles of kitchen!

Clever wouldn't usually be the first adjective that springs to mind when you think of a coffee machine but that's exactly what the De'Longhi Primadonna Aromatic is, with a flurry of features to make your at-home barista experience completely seamless.

I got to try out this seriously kitted out coffee machine at the Ideal Home test centre to explore its huge drinks menu and see if its worthy of joining the ranks of the best bean-to-cup coffee machines out there. Here's how I got on.

In a nutshell

The price tag of this machine takes it beyond what you might call an investment level purchase and more into wishlist terrority. At over £1000, it's a seriously pricey appliance.

What you get for that exorbitant sum is a very impressive machine. Highlights include De'Longhi's integrated BeanAdapt technology, which runs a program of automatic calibration to get the best from your chosen beans, as well as an interface that responds to your everyday coffee choices by prioritising your favourite drinks at certain times of the day.

For black coffee lovers or for latte obsessives there's a lot to love. The drinks menu is equipped with all manner of drinks in a variety of lengths and strengths as well as milk frothing like I've never experienced. It textures milk in a deliciously silky way for cappuccinos and caffe lattes that are as good as you'll get in an expensive coffee shop. The separate milk carafe for cold milk frothing would be just exquisite for the warmer months too.

Product specs

• Coffee machine type: Automatic bean-to-cup
• Dimensions: 26.2 cm (width), 40.7 cm (height), 46.3 cm (depth)
• Coffee options: 38 pre-set recipes (iced and hot)
• Water tank capacity: 2.2L
• Pressure: 19 Bar
• Weight: 12.6 kg
• Colourways: Stainless steel finish
• RRP: £1,549

Who tested this coffee machine?

Getting started & first impressions

There's no learning curve with a machine this kitted out as the process is made so painlessly simple for you. Once you've unboxed it and set it up, you just need to follow the instructions on the screen to calibrate its settings.

You'll waste a small amount of beans and get through at least 4 espressos in the process of tweaking the machine's settings but this only needs to be done once and is very much worth it.

Getting to grips with the Bean Adapt technology is the most important step for me. Usually with an espresso machine you'll need to turn a dial to get the grind size for your beans just right. With the Primadonna, in-built software takes this manual step out of your hands with the process beginning by creating a profile for the coffee beans you pop into the hopper.

From here, you answer different questions on the machine's touchscreen on the bean type and roast level which the program then uses to adjust various settings including the grind size and brewing temperature.

This isn't where the feedback ends. Once your coffee has been made, the machine will ask you for your opinion on how it dispensed as well as how it tasted. If you answer these, the machine will go even further to make the necessary changes to make the coffee more suitable the next time around. You can run this program as many times as you like to get your perfect brew.

As for first impressions, there's no getting around it: this machine is big and bulky. But its still stylishly done somehow, with its gleaming stainless steel exterior and large, engaging touch screen. One of the things I really like about this machine is that the water tank pulls out from the front, so that if you put it underneath a cupboard you don't have to grapple with it every time you need to refill. It's all programmed from the front, which is excellent for everyday use.

What is it like to use?

Unless you're a black coffee drinker, the next thing you'll want to know about in terms of use is how to pick drinks and froth milk. For me, this is the best element of this machine.

The touchscreen is genuinely a pleasure to use. It displays the machine's menu in full colour, with engaging illustrations and visualisations of any steps you need to take.

It pools the types of drinks into two categories: iced and hot. You can then browse your options by swiping across the screen.

There are over 38 preset drinks on offer. And if there's something you like hot then you'll also be able to find it in the cold menu, which can lead to lots of fun drinks experimentation. I imagine it's also very fun to show off to guests.

Once you've selected your drink (let's say a cappuccino) then you can customise it even further by tweaking the intensity, size and temperature of your beverage. If you've chosen a milk-based drinks, the next thing you'll need to do is attach your milk carafe to the front of the machine. The gamechanging feature with the Primadonna Aromatic is the two milk carafes – one for iced drinks and one for hot.

On each of the carafes there's a dial which enables you to set your drink up as dictated by the machine. For a cappuccino, for example, you might want to set the dial to level 3 for maximum froth. It's a seamless system which allows for a huge range of different froths for various drinks and the combination of steam, air and milk within the carafes does such a gorgeous job. It's also as good for plant milks as it is for normal milk – and that is no mean feat.

What's the coffee like?

I started simple with my tests, opting for a hot cappuccino. I'd already had a good run through with the black coffees whilst I was tweaking the espressos as part of the BeanAdapt tech and was keen to get onto how the milk frothing was with this machine.

To make a cappucino you need to take the black milk carafe and plug it in to the front of the machine. De'Longhi recommends keeping the carafes with milk in them in the fridge so that they're always ready to go at the right temperature.

The espresso dispenses from the spouts attached to the main body of the machine after the milk has been frothed. The resulting drink had such a pleasing look of many layers and tasted divine. The frothing with this machine and similar De'Longhi's is so impressive.

Next I tried an iced caffe latte, which meant swapping out the milk frother carafe and turning the dial that sits on the top. I also filled a double walled glass with ice, which you'll need to do for all of the cold drinks to have the maximum drinking experience.

With the iced latte the espresso dispenses first followed by the cold milk foam. The hot coffee hitting the ice does melt some of it, which is why it's important to have a full glass. By adding the milk second with this drink, the classic layered look that's usually reserved for coffee shop drinks is easily achieved.

Next I moved onto trying out the cold brew function, which works pretty differently to the iced caffee latte. While the latter dispenses a hot espresso over ice, the cold brew setting uses room temperature water and low pressure. This means it takes a little longer for your coffee to dispense (a couple of minutes as opposed to a few seconds) and it gives it a different taste profile too which is less acidic than normal coffee.

It's a seamless experience to try out a cold brew with this machine and it takes less than 3 minutes from start to finish to replicate a process which usually takes 24 hours (steeping coffee grounds in cold water). The taste is less intense than coffee and more suitable for sipping all day in hot weather and this machine does a great job of it.

Cleaning

Extensive cleaning can put people off bean-to-cup machines in a big way. But with the Primadonna, the process is made as easy as it can be (which adds up given the price tag).

Standout cleaning features include the ease of refreshing the milk carafes after you've used them (you just turn the dial to 'clean' before you put it back into the fridge) as well as the reminders to empty the empty grounds tray (which conveniently pulls out from the front).

The big jobs, like descaling, are also prompted to you by the touch screen complete with in-depth instructions. The machine also self-rinses to keep you from having to perform that separately.

How does it compare to similar models?

The De'Longhi Rivelia is one of the best-loved coffee machines we've ever tried here at Ideal Home as per our expert home economist's five star review. You can find it on sale for under £600 and it boasts many of the things I love about this machine too including BeanAdpat tech and hands-free milk frothing. It also has two interchangable bean hoppers so that you can enjoy decaf coffee in the afternoons. If you're on more of a budget, it's an easy pick.

Should you buy the De'Longhi Primadonna Aromatic?

If you're looking for a best-in-class automatic coffee machine and budget is no object, then what are you waiting for? This machine is unbelievably kitted out and the enjoyment you'll get from using it, as well as the calibre of drinks, will blow you away. It's ultra-capable.

If you're saving up for a De'Longhi or similar, while this machine might be out of your budget there's plenty from the same brand offering phenomenal quality for far less – check out the Rivelia as your first port of call.

The Philips Baristina coffee machine was launched in the UK earlier this year to much fanfare, with a sleek design and an affordable price point for a bean-to-cup machine, it has an alot going for it. However, its biggest selling point (alongside it's looks) is that it is unbelievably easy to use and is one of the best bean-to-cup coffee machines you can buy to ease the transition from a pod coffee machine.

In a nutshell

I will start by telling you what the Baristina is not: it's not a coffee machine for latte drinkers or budding baristas who already understand how to pull a good espresso shot. What this machine really is is an upgrade for anyone who needs their caffeine hit quickly and easily in the morning, but is fed up with coffee pods.

Philips has kept things very simple; like many coffee pod machines, it only has two options when making coffee: an espresso or a lungo. The machine makes the switch from pods to using coffee beans effortless. It does away with the mess and guesswork of other bean-to-cup machines doing the grinding, dosing, tamping and pulling the shot for you. All you have to do is touch one button, and every time you'll get a consistently good cup of coffee.

It was so quick and easy to use the Philips Baristina coffee machine that it finally persuaded my Mum (a decades-long Nespresso owner) to switch out her pod coffee machine.

Product specs

• Coffee machine type: Bean-to-cup
• Dimensions: 18 cm (width), 34.5 cm (height), 38 cm (depth)
• Coffee options: Espresso and Lungo
• Water tank capacity: 1.2L
• Pressure: 16 Bar
• Weight: 5 kg
• Colourways: Black or White
• RRP: £299.99

Unboxing

What is immediately striking about the Philips Baristina is how much smaller it is than your average bean-to-cup coffee machine. It arrived in a compact cardboard box that was easy for one person to lift and carry.

The box immediately won me over, as once I removed the cardboard sleeve, the inside box side fell open to reveal the coffee machine. No awkward tugging or shuffling to tip the coffee machine out of its box. Only a small piece of foam was used inside the box to protect the coffee machine; all the packaging was recyclable cardboard.

The coffee machine is relatively straightforward to use. While it did come with an instruction book, a quick start guide was written out on the top of the box along with a QR code to a dedicated website that included a digital user's manual.

The Baristina only comes with a white-handled portafilter, but other than a bag of beans, that is all you need to get brewing your first cup of coffee. However, if you do prefer a latte, you can buy the Baristina in a bundle with a milk frother for an RRP of £379 on Amazon.

First impressions

This is one of the best-looking coffee machines I've tested, I was testing the white version, but it is also available in black. I loved the chic matte white finish and the stylish fluted design. My one disappointment is that the coloured-handle porta filters, which this coffee machine launched with in the US, are currently not available in the UK. Here's hoping they'll land soon for an even more striking look on a kitchen worktop.

The coffee machine fits comfortably under a set of kitchen cupboards, and has a small foot print for a bean-to-cup coffee machine.

The water tank sits hidden at the back, and while relatively easy to lift out and refill, the tank felt more flimsy than my other coffee machines. The lid was completely removable rather than a simple flip-up, and a little tricky to lift off if you just wanted to fill it up with a jug. However, the water tank is a good size, I found it only needed refilling every five coffees.

I was a little concerned about the size of the drip tray; it doesn't cover the whole bottom of the machine. Instead, it is a tiny box that can be easily removed to fit large mugs underneath. When making a couple of espressos in a row, the mess from drips on the bottom of the machine had me wishing for a larger drip tray.

Before using the coffee machine, you need to wash the portafilter and run a rinse cycle, which is easily done by slotting in the portafilter, filling the water tank and pressing the intensity boost button to run the cycle. The machine communicates via easy-to-understand blinking lights around three buttons (espresso, lungo and boost). When the intensity boost button stopped blinking, the machine was ready to go.

The machine doesn't have a water filter, so there is the potential for hard water to impact the machine in the long-term. If you do live in a hard water area, as I do in London, you might want to only fill the water tank with filtered water; the machine will also alert you when it needs descaling.

There is nothing else you have to do to set up the coffee machine; the bean grind is automatically set. You can't adjust it, but I found it to be spot on for the beans I was using. The Baristina is the definition of a plug-and-play coffee machine; you can be up and running in minutes.

What is it like to use?

The Baristina, for all its simplicity, is very fun to use, and became my party piece when testing it out at home. It is a fully automated system, so all you have to do is slide the portafilter into the machine until it clicks and place your coffee cup under the spout. Press your chosen coffee size button, then slide the portafilter over to the right and leave the machine to do the rest.

On the right-hand side, the portafilter will fill with coffee grounds, a job it does while waiting for the machine to heat up. This is where my guests would panic that the cup was on the wrong side to catch the espresso shot, but the portafilter will automatically move back over to the left, where it brews and pulls the perfect espresso (or lungo) into your cup.

Then you have to wait until the button stops flashing on top before removing the portafilter. There is alot of flashing and blinking buttons involved with this machine, but they were helpful prompts to follow.

The portafilter has a little button that ejects the puck, which I was a big fan of it. It means there's no banging on the side of the bin, just press the button a couple of times.

What might put some people off is that the coffee machine has only two coffee options, espresso and lungo. I found myself using the espresso function most of the time as it was best suited to a latte base (I heated the milk using my Dualit milk frother). However, my partner and Mum, who both drink daily black coffees, loved the lungo function.

There is a degree of customisability with the machine; you can increase the intensity of the espresso or lungo by pressing the boost button after selecting your drink. You can also adjust the drink volume. You do this manually the first time, pressing your chosen size button for 5 seconds before moving the portafilter over to the right, and then pressing it again when it is dispensing the coffee into your cup. The machine will then save your chosen preference.

Personally, I found that the settings of the coffee machine were already set for the perfect espresso and lungo, so I didn't use either of these adjustments beyond initially testing them out.

The ‘Morning Rush’ test

All the coffee machines we review are put through the 'Morning Rush' test, which usually involves going from turning the machine on to having two milky coffees ready. As the Baristina is best suited to espresso or americano drinkers (maybe with a splash of milk), this is what I timed it for, and it aced the test.

It achieved the task in under five minutes. The machine heats up within a minute or two, and it can grind the beans of your first coffee while heating up. Once it's warmed up, it can produce either an espresso or a lungo from grinding to brewing in under 60 seconds. I put it to the ultimate test and cranked out five coffees (a mix of lungo and espresso) for some friends, and it achieved the task in 6 minutes.

If you are a latte drinker, the slowest part of the coffee machine process with the Baristina will be waiting for the milk frother to heat up. I didn't try the Philips Baristina milk frother. However, using my own separate milk frother, I found I could still get two lattes out the door in around 8 minutes, because I could froth the milk while the coffee machine was brewing the espresso shot - something many budget bean-to-cup coffee machines can't do.

Noise test

This coffee machine is relatively quiet. The specifications say its noise level is 72 dB, which is about the same level as a dishwasher, a little louder than a normal conversation. When I tested, I found the sound level to range to reach 78.9 dB at its loudest, which is when it's grinding the beans. The brewing and dispensing of the shot were all much quieter.

Coffee quality

Kiss the Hippo is one of my favourite coffee shops in London, and my main reason for using their house beans in testing is so I can compare my finished result to their professional barista-made drinks. I'm happy to report that the Baristina measured up well.

The espresso shots and lungos had a lovely, thick golden crema on top that lasted for a long time. The taste was lovely and smooth, with nice chocolately notes and a slight acidity. Overall, I was incredibly impressed by the quality of the espresso; the automated elements were calibrated perfectly. It delivered a superior coffee than I'd ever managed to achieve with my manual (and more expensive) bean-to-cup coffee machine.

Thermal stability

To test the thermal stability to see if the coffee machine was potentially overheating or over extracting I made 5 espressos in a row to compare the temperature from the 1st to the 5th cup. The 5th cup was slightly hotter than the 1st cup, indicating it could be at risk of overheating with extended use.

However, each of the five cups was consistently good, with a lovely flavour and beautiful crema. This machine is designed for easy consistency, which is excels at. The only issues I ever had with consistency was when I accidentally didn't put enough coffee beans in the bean hopper and was left with a very soggy coffee puck to remove.

Cleaning

A white coffee machine sounds like it's going to be a nightmare to clean; however, the simplicity of the grinding and brewing process and the lovely matte finish of the machine meant it was relatively easy to keep clean.

However, a word of warning, if the sight of coffee drips bugs you, then you do need to wipe it down after every use, every splash will show up.

All the parts, including the drip tray and water tank, are easy to remove and clean. The bean hopper isn't removable, but the instructions recommend simply wiping it down with a damp cloth and leaving the grinder alone altogether. The only issue I could foresee with this is if you were to use dark roast beans, which can clog some grinders up with their oils

The portafilter was easy to clean; you just need to make sure to press the puck release button a couple of times when running it under water to remove all the coffee grounds.

Descaling the machine was fine, once I got the hang of all the button-holding times. The machine will alert you when it needs to be descaled by the espresso and lungo buttons blinking simultaneously after brewing a drink. Philips recommends using their own CA6700 liquid, which you can buy for £8 on Amazon, for descaling, which you add to the water tank.

To start the cycle, you need to insert the portafilter and press and hold the espresso and lungo buttons for 5 seconds. The descaling cycle will begin when the buttons change so that the espresso button stops blinking and the lungo starts blinking. You can remove the water tank, rinse, refill and put it back to start the flushing cycle. The whole process took around 15 to 30 minutes. Personally, I'd have preferred a dedicated button, as I found all the buttons and light blinking combinations more confusing than they needed to be.

The rinse cycle, which should be done at the start before using the machine, or if the machine hasn't been used for a while, is quicker. You just need to press the intensity boost button for 5 seconds with the portafilter inserted into the machine, and it is done in a couple of minutes.

How does it compare to similar models

The Philips Baristina is an unusual bean-to-cup coffee machine as it has more in common with the best pod coffee machine, with the simplicity of its drink options. However, at £299 it is more expensive than most of the pod coffee machines we've tested, the most expensive Smeg Lavazza A Modo Mio is priced at £250, and at the other end of the spectrum, you can pick up the Lavazza A Modo Mio Jolie for under £100 right now.

However, with pod machines comes the extra expense of buying into the pods your machine uses; there is also a difference in taste. Personally, I prefer the flavour and freedom of choosing my own coffee beans, and enjoyed the espresso the Philips Baristina produced more than the Nespresso Pixie Pod Coffee Machine I also had in my kitchen.

Now, compared to high-end bean-to-cup coffee machines, which are rarely found under £500 the Baristina appears well priced. However, there are other super-easy-to-use automatic bean-to-cup coffee machines on the market around the £300-£400 mark. The De'Longhi Magnifica Evo Next, which our reviewer awarded 4 stars, can usually be found on sale for around £449, but it has a milk frother built in that can make lattes and cappuccinos at the touch of a button. The Philips Series 2200 Fully automatic espresso machine, priced at £319 at John Lewis, also includes a lot of things the Baristina lacks, including a built-in water filter and milk frother.

But while those two might deliver more functionality, they are nowhere near as aesthetically pleasing or compact in size as the stylish Baristina.

Should you buy the Philips Baristina?

I loved the look and simplicity of the Baristina, and it makes a 'damn good cup of coffee' to quote Twin Peaks. As a latte drinker, this coffee machine is not well-suited to my taste, but my partner and Mum, who both drink black coffee, loved it so much that my Mum has just swapped her old Nespresso for the Philips Baristina.

It is expensive for its functionality, but for the £299 pricetag you get a compact machine that is better looking than any other automatic coffee machine. It also makes super-speedy and consistent cafe-worthy coffees with zero effort. If you are trying to ditch a takeaway coffee habit and have no interest in learning how to tamp your coffee grounds, this coffee machine will help.

You should buy the Baristina if:

• You want a stylish and compact coffee machine
• You drink espressos or black coffees (with a splash of milk)
• You want to use coffee beans instead of pods
• You want your coffee quickly and easily

You shouldn't buy the Philips Baristina if:

• If you are a latte, flat white or cappuccino drinker
• You prefer a more hands-on coffee making experience
• You are on a tight budget

Mastering your at-home coffee machine is the key to a good brew in the morning, but having the same control over your manual milk steamer wand can sometimes take just as much, if not more, work.

That's why, if you love milky coffees (or even just entertaining those who do), you should think about your choice of milk frother from the beginning of your coffee machine buying journey too.

I've tested dozens of the best bean-to-cup coffee machines for Ideal Home in the last few years and the one thing all of my favourites have in common is a solid built-in milk steamer. If you love lattes and cappuccinos as much as I do, then these are the mistakes you should avoid even before buy your coffee machine as well as after you have it in your kitchen in order to keep the hot drinks flowing seamlessly.

1. Picking the wrong machine

As someone with the great privilege of testing coffee machines for a living, it's an unfortuante truth that my latte art skills are very much lacking. I use the Sage Barista Express Impress everyday for my morning coffee, which has a great manual steam wand, but my microfoam is not really there (thanks wholly to user incompetence).

So, if getting the perfect latte texture is essential to you, then you have three options.

Either learn the barista-level skills you need, opt for an automatic machine (such as Ideal Home's top-rated version, the De'Longhi Rivelia) or get a semi-automatic version with a steamer that does the work for you. In particular, when I tried the Ninja Luxe Café, I absolutely loved its automatic frothing abilities and for its price, it's a total bargain.

I've laid out machines that exemplify those three options below.

2. Allowing your milk to overheat

Once you have the right steam wand or milk frother to suit your drinks of choice, the next thing to get right is the process of steaming itself. This will be particularly important to anyone using a manual steam wand.

Stuart Wilson, founder of Lost Sheep Coffee (roasters of truly excellent coffee beans) identifies the biggest mistake people make when steaming milk as 'overheating it or introducing too much air.'

He goes onto say 'Milk should be silky and smooth, not burnt and bubbly. If it’s too hot, you lose that natural sweetness and end up with a flat, burnt taste.'

So how can you prevent that, even if you're still a home barista-in-training?

Stuart says to 'Aim for a temperature around 60–65°C (once its too hot to touch jug, remove hand and count to 5), and focus on creating a fine, velvety microfoam rather than big bubbles.'

'It’s all about control and consistency,' says Stuart. 'Less is often more when it comes to great milk texture. Get the milk spinning round in circles inside the jug and play with introducing air or no air into the milk from the wand. I always recommend Full Fat Milk or Barista Oat for best results.'

I definitely struggle to get the temperature of my milk exactly right from day-to-day. That's why I've been enjoying using a version with an integrated thermometer, like this one from Amazon for £12.31, as a visual guide.

3. Not cleaning it right away

Build-up on your steam wand can be a huge hindrance to the quality of your coffee at home. That's why it's a huge mistake to not stay on top of your cleaning routine.

Isabella Forgione, small appliances expert at AO.com, stresses the importance of cleaning your coffee machine and steam wand straight away.

'If your coffee machine has a milk frother or a steam wand then you’ll want to clean this after each use,' says Isabella. 'Never leave it sitting with dried-on milk as this can harden quickly and ruin the taste of future brews.'

Instead, Isabella advises 'Run a quick blast of steam into a jug of hot water then wipe the wand down with a damp cloth. If you think yours needs a deeper clean, then soak the tip in warm water with a little washing up liquid once a week.'

Getting into a schedule with your coffee machine cleaning in general is always a good idea, but don't forget about your milk frother if you want to keep your drinks top-tier.

With avoiding these mistakes in mind, you can hopefully master your at-home lattes as you never have before and keep yourself from spending money on takeaway coffees!

David Beckham's kitchen worktops at his home in the Cotswolds will need to be cleared of space for a new addition: his first product collaboration with Ninja, which has been unveiled as an exclusive version of the brand's bestselling coffee machine, the Ninja Luxe Cafe Pro by David Beckham.

The Ninja Luxe Café Pro, which I awarded five stars to in my review back in 2025, is now available with David Beckham's stamp of approval in a matte black stainless-steel finish, complemented by black chestnut wood grain and gold finishes.

Earning a spot as one of our top-rated bean-to-cup coffee machines (after testing dozens here at Ideal Home), the Luxe Café Pro was already a fan favourite, but now I predict it's about to get an even bigger boost of popularity.

In a big week for coffee machine releases, including new products from Nespresso (the Vertuo Up) and Philips (with a new bean-to-cup model), Ninja has joined the party with this celebrity collaboration. Given David Beckham's enthusiasm for all things coffee and Ninja's very successful move into the barista-style machine market, this collaboration feels like a natural fit.

The Luxe Café is already a product with absolute rave reviews, as well as extremely popular limited-batch colourway releases. Now those wanting to pull an espresso shot just like David Beckham might be enticed by his shiny new machine.

I've previously discussed the big differences between the original Luxe Café and the Pro version, but the summary is that the latter is a premium offering thanks to its integrated tamping system, improved milk frothing system and sleeker control panel.

This limited edition version was the product of 'a six-month creative process, channeling Beckham's signature aesthetic' according to Ninja. The specific design quirks, which are exclusive to this machine are inspired, according to Beckham himself, by 'the natural materials of the English countryside'.

It's no secret that David Beckham is a huge coffee fan and celebrated the launch of this machine with a post to his Instagram using it to pull an espresso shot, alongside some seriously niche latte art depicting his own face.

This week in the US, Ninja dropped a pink version of the Luxe Café machine, which fans were loving on the brand's Instagram. So as well as new David Beckham inspired machines, here's hoping there's plenty other variations of this sellout coffee machine to come!

Philips is making its mark on the coffee world with the release of a new bean-to-cup machine, this time an automatic offering, to add to its collection of barista-style products.

The Philips Cafe Aromis looks to be a very capable addition to that line-up, with over 50 possible drinks on offer, including the capability for iced versions.

Available now from a selection of retailers, including John Lewis for £849.99, it's sure to be a hit if the brand's previous iterations have been anything to go by. The Philips 5500 Series LatteGo, which we've reviewed and ranked as one of our favourite bean-to-cup coffee machines of all time, is always a big winner with readers when it goes on sale.

Here's a first look at the Cafe Aromis, which is a super capable machine just in time for iced coffee season.

There are a lot of brand-specific terms to get your head around with this machine, so let's dive into the systems at work here.

The BrewExtract technology is the first quirk to know about – designed to pack more coffee than competitors into every cup, according to Philips, and 'resulting in a consistent, cafe-quality experience'.

Next up, you have a Virtual Barista Assistant at your fingertips, a feature designed to help you, with an app, work out the optimal machine settings for your coffee beans of choice. That includes tweaks to strength, volume and texture.

Those features are all well and good for making black coffees but if it's iced macchiatos and creatively flavoured lattes that you're here for, then the feature that'll matter the most is the LatteGo Pro tech.

This 'pro milk system' will froth you whatever milky drink you choose (and there are plenty of options) at the touch of a button, with two carafes that attach to the front of the machine.

As with very popular recent machines from De'Longhi, such as the Eletta Explore, there's a huge draw in the two carafe system for iced coffee fans as one is dedicated wholly to cold milk frothing. That will really take your at-home iced drinks to the next level. This machine also has a dedicated cold brew setting too, which mimics the process of steeping coffee in cold water in a matter of minutes.

Another crowning feature for this machine is the 4.3” touch display, which is where you can pick out drinks to be made at just the touch of a button. It certainly means this machine makes a visually impressive addition to a worktop.

A few taster drinks that this machine can create include espresso macchiato, café au lait, mélange, piccolo Latte and even babyccinos so that the whole family can be invovled.

Priced at £849.99 it's certainly a pricey choice (unlike Nespresso's new machine which launched this week) but with its extensive features this machine really does seem like having a fully fledged barista waiting for you in your kitchen every morning. Here at Ideal Home we're looking forward to testing it out for ourselves to seeing if it lives up to these promises.

If you're in the market for a compact, affordable coffee machine, then you're in luck as Nespresso's newest offering, the Vertuo Up, just landed on UK shores.

Priced at £179.99 and available via John Lewis, the Up has a whole host of features that will appeal to those with cosier kitchens as well as iced coffee lovers – just in time for the start of summer.

For me, the standout thing with this coffee machine is the 'Coffee Creations Mode', which brews shorter, more concentrated coffees which are well suited to adding to an espresso martini or a barista-style cold drink like you would ordinarily pick up from Blank Street or Starbucks.

Ideal Home's coffee-loving team got an exclusive first look at the Vertuo Up at The Recipe Remix, Nespresso's pop-up running in Covent Garden between the 14th and 19th April to celebrate the launch. Here's what they discovered about this brand-new pod coffee machine launch which came out in the same week as David Beckham's new coffee machine with Ninja.

For a lot of us space can be at a premium on our kitchen worktops, which is where the sleekness of the Vertuo Up comes into its own. Measuring up at 25.5cm tall and 12cm wide, it's a real space saver – but just bear in mind that you'll need 40.5cm of space overall so that the spout on top of the machine can open.

As well as its slim build, there are a few efficient features that can help you get to your morning coffee faster including rapid heat-up (which means it can be ready to brew in 3 seconds) and a larger water tank for less frequent refilling. The water tank can also be rotated around the back of the machine, so that you can sit the machine where is most convenient.

Another bonus with the Vertuo Up, which the Ideal Home team got a taste of in person, is the colour options. You can choose from Pearl White, Ink Black, Graphite and Ocean Blue to suit your kitchen colour scheme, which is great for those who are picky about what they choose for their kitchen worktops.

Another thing that caught the eye at the pop-up was the machine's movable cup platform, which works in tandem with the ability to create up to 40 different drinks, according to Nespresso.

You'll probably be using this feature if you capitalise on the new Coffee Creations mode, as this brews shorter drinks that you can then add milk or other ingredients to in order to make your iced or hot coffee exactly how you want it.

The pop-up, which is serving up pickled coffee colas and Nespresso double espresso chiaro Vertuo pods brewed over ice, is showcasing the weird and wonderful breadth of coffees you can mix up with this machine.

While the Ideal Home team might not have been won over by the strange combination of the pickled coffee cola (which is the new brand ambassador Dua Lipa's supposed drink of choice) they were impressed by the Vertuo Up machines on show working overtime to serve 25 people their coffees at once.

Hopefully we can get our hands on the Nespresso Vertuo Up soon for a full, thorough review of its new features, as well as to test out its slimline credentials. Here's to hoping it's a true small kitchen space-saver!

There's no surer sign of spring's arrival than the switch from hot coffee to iced – and now we've finally come to the moment for cold brew and perfectly crisp iced cappuccinos.

And the best part of all of this, of course, is getting to switch over your coffee station to incorporate all things cold coffee, from ice cube trays to delicate glasses with the perfect sipping straw.

One of the best bean-to-cup coffee machines with an iced function, like Sage's Barista Touch with Cold Extraction (which we've reviewed), is obviously a handy thing to have as temperatures rise but small fixes can go a long way to improve your existing set up too.

So, why not mark the arrival of sunnier days with a new tumbler or set of stirrers? I've rounded up all my favourite iced coffee season picks below.

Of course, plenty of these picks can double up as new additions to your home bar or picnic set-up for this summer too. If only I had a gorgeous built-in bantry, I'd have it stocked up in an instant!

The Venn diagram of good coffee and stylish homeware is an unfortunately small one – as much as I love my bean-to-cup coffee machine, it's more than a little ungainly.

But if there's one exception that never fails to tick both boxes it's a French press, which is why I've found all of the best versions available to buy this spring.

Otherwise known as a cafetière, these stylish coffee makers couldn't be easier to use. Add hot water to coffee grounds, wait just a few minutes (usually about four) and serve up enough delicious coffee to please a crowd.

That simplicity of this French café-core essential is what makes it a timeless kitchen addition – my at-home pick is Le Creuset's Stoneware version in Chambray, which is £69. On the hunt for something more affordable? Then I've got the pick for you – Bodum's eight-cup cafétiere is just £35 (via Selfridges) and has stunningly impressive reviews.

Whether you're looking for a French press as your primary method of staying caffeinated or as a timesaver to pull out when you're hosting brunch with friends, these cafétieres are not only capable of making delectable black coffee but will look great on your kitchen worktop too.

If you prefer filter coffee rather than the perculator method, I've had my eye on this stunning stoneware dripper from Fable (£34.99) – it's well worth a look if you prefer the pour-over style.

However you prefer to serve coffee at home, there's plenty to be gained from emulating our French counterparts’ effortless café culture and eye for stylish picks.

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.

If you’re reading this review of the De'Longhi Magnifica Evo Next, then you probably fall into the group of people for whom coffee is a non-negotiable morning ritual. A bean-to-cup machine is definitely the way to go if you value good coffee. There’s just no beating the flavour you’ll get from freshly ground coffee beans.

This particular bean-to-cup coffee machine is automatic, so you’re just one button away from a coffee shop style drink at home. These machines require very little input, you don’t have to go to barista school, weigh out coffee grounds, or steam your own milk for the perfect brew.

I’ve reviewed plenty of coffee machines in my two decades of writing product reviews. A couple of years ago De’Longhi stole my heart with what I believe to be one of the best all round automatic bean-to-cup machines currently on the market; the De’Longhi Rivelia. So can this model live up to it?

About this review, and the reviewer

In a nutshell

Despite its hefty £650 price tag, in the context of De’Longhi’s other automatic bean-to-cup coffee makers, the De’Longhi Magnifica Evo Next is one of the cheapest on offer from the brand. It sits firmly at the entry level end of the price scale.

Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t make it entry-level when compared to the wider coffee machine market. On the contrary, its colour display screen and sleek touch controls are far from basic. Plus the customisable coffee length and intensity give you the scope to adjust drinks and then save your preferences into a personal profile.

There are several drink options on the menu; 10 in total, but I’d debate whether options like hot water, or hot milk should really be counted here. The main coffee choices are espresso, long black, coffee, cappucino, latte macchiato, and then variations on these options. In reality it’s quite a limited menu especially in comparison to what’s available from other De’Longhi machines such as the Rivelia.

I found it easy to set up, easy to use, and generally speaking it ticks a lot of boxes by creating decent tasting coffee from freshly ground beans, at the touch of a button. If you’re looking for a coffee machine that’ll do the work for you, it ‘ll deliver your morning brew without requiring any thought or effort, perfect for coffee fiends who don’t have the time, or headspace, to faff around with an espresso machine before rushing out the door.

De'Longhi Magnifica Evo Next specs

• Machine type: bean-to-cup
• Control type: automatic
• Water tank capacity: 1.8 litres
• Pressure: 15 bar
• Drinks: espresso, doppio+, 2 x espresso, cappuccino, cappuccino mix, latte macchiato, coffee, long black, hot milk, hot water
• Dimensions: H36cm x W24cm x D44cm
• Weight: 9.4kg
• Colours available: silver black or titanium black
• RRP: £649.99

Unboxing and setting up

Of all the kitchen appliances I review, coffee machines often require the most setup and ongoing fine tuning. This is partly the machines themselves, but the other big variable is the type and quality of coffee beans you choose, as well as tweaking it to produce coffee that’ll match your personal preferences.

When unboxing this model, I was impressed with the eco-friendly cardboard that’s used instead of polystyrene. There was a small amount of plastic wrap but it was minimal for such a delicate and expensive appliance.

There’s not any assembly required, it comes out of the box set up and ready to go, with just a small box containing additional bits and pieces, like the water filter and the milk carafe.

There are a few booklets and leaflets including a very basic quick start guide. I scanned the QR code, which didn’t lead me to an online instruction manual as I was expecting. But rather, a selection of very helpful videos covering everything from the setup, to brewing coffee, as well as maintenance.

I followed the guidance in the videos and washed all the removable parts, such as the drip tray, water container and milk carafe. Then, once everything is back in place, the colour touch screen guides you through the next few stages of setup.

It walks you through adding beans, performing a rinse cycle, and lastly, adding the water filter. There are a few steps to complete but it’s all made very straightforward by the easy-to-follow instructions on the screen.

Before you can start enjoying that first delicious coffee, you’ll need to brew a few espressos and adjust some of the settings along the way. There’s a dial inside the beans container to adjust the grind size. My first espresso came out pretty watery with no crema, so I immediately turned the dial to create a finer grind size.

My advice is to just accept that you’ll be wasting a few coffees in this setup stage. I ended up brewing about 10 espressos before I was truly happy with the results. Admittedly though, I went a bit too far on reducing the grind size and had to brew a few extra coffees while dialing it back again, so if you stick to small adjustments you might not need to waste as many espressos as I did.

There are further adjustments you can make using the touchscreen, including the strength, drink size, and temperature. I spent my first few days playing around with these. Thankfully, every time you change a setting, once the drink has been poured the screen prompts you to save the setting for next time.

Most drinks are available in small, medium, large, and extra large, so it takes a few goes to figure out which one will work for your favourite mug. Additionally, you can make it bespoke by using the ‘my’ function to set the volume of milk and coffee to your exact preferences. And with three profile options, you can have personalised settings for three different members of your household.

The coffee spout slides up and down to accommodate different cup heights, there’s space for cups up to 14cm tall. Frustratingly though, if your cup is this tall, it’s not possible to angle the milk nozzle into it, which feels like an oversight.

When it’s first switched on in the morning, the machine takes around 35-40 seconds to heat up and perform a quick rinse. And after use it’ll automatically switch off. The auto-off time is adjustable in the settings and can be 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, or 3 hours.

Brewing coffee in the De'Longhi Magnifica Evo Next

During the machine setup, I knew I would be wasting several espressos while I fine tuned the settings, so initially I opted for a supermarket coffee bean that was slightly cheaper than my usual favoured brand. It still produced an enjoyable espresso, but the quality of the drink was noticeably elevated when I upped the coffee bean quality.

My preferred brand is a freshly roasted bean that I get delivered via a coffee subscription. When these beans were loaded in, the machine made espressos that were not only richer, but fruitier, with a thicker crema. That’s all to say, that the better the quality and the more freshly roasted the beans you choose, the better the coffee you’ll get from the machine. And while this is true for all coffee machines, it’s absolutely worth the reminder.

With five espresso sizes to choose from you’re spoilt for choice. The medium size delivered about 35-40ml which is roughly a standard single espresso. It came out at around 71C when the machine was set to the low temperature setting, or 75C when set on the high temperature setting, so not a vast difference.

While there is a large or even XL option for espresso volume, I’d suggest choosing the ‘Doppio’ instead of ‘Espresso’ from the menu if you’re a double shot fan. The Doppio uses more coffee grounds so it’s better suited to a double shot volume of coffee.

When it comes to Doppio, the volume of coffee also differs. If you select a medium size Doppio, it delivers a shot that’s about three times the volume of the medium sized espresso, at 120ml. When deciding between espresso and Doppio, it takes a little while to figure out which is right for you. That said, it’s great to have plenty of options to explore.

In terms of crema and flavour, once I’d nailed the settings and was using a good quality coffee bean, I found the espresso to be well-rounded and flavoursome. The crema was rich and thick, and the great thing about a machine like this is that it’s reliable, delivering the same results every time.

Once I was happy with the quality of espresso, I started experimenting with the drinks menu, to see which one would be my preferred choice. Usually I would order an oat milk flat white, or a simple double espresso in a coffee shop.

Since a flat white isn’t an option, I tried out the cappuccino first. The default was a medium size with an intensity setting of 3 (out of 5). This proved to be a bit small and also too weak for my liking. I settled on a large cappuccino with the intensity set to 5. This selection delivered a crowd pleasing cappuccino with plenty of flavour.

Ultimately, over the week of using the machine my preference evolved into creating my own version of the cappuccino by dispensing the stronger Doppio shot and then topping up with frothed milk. This gave me the punchier flavour that I was craving.

The latte macchiato is similar to a standard latte. It has a distinct layered appearance that you’ll only see if you drink it from a glass, and the layering disappears immediately when stirred anyway. There’s also a touch more foam than a standard latte, but in terms of flavour it’s not dissimilar.

I wasn’t clear on the difference between a ‘coffee’ and a ‘long black’ on the drinks menu, in my head they are pretty much the same. I selected the ‘coffee’ in the large size and it gave me enough black coffee to fill about ⅔ of a standard mug, so if you like a decent glug of milk in your coffee, it’ll be perfect. Though black coffee fans would probably opt for the XL version.

This ‘coffee’ menu option served up a tasty, flavourful mug of coffee that is easily drinkable, I would liken it to your everyday mug of filter style coffee. The machine was set to the medium temperature setting when I brewed this one and it came out at 74C, so I didn’t have to wait long before it was the perfect drinking temperature.

The large ‘long black’ on the other hand delivered slightly less in terms of volume, but much more of a punch of flavour. At 68C it wasn’t quite as hot, and it took an extra minute to dispense, but that’s because half way through the process, it stopped to grind more beans, hence delivering a stronger brew.

The ‘long black’ has a crema and a richer depth of flavour. The two coffee options are distinctly different and ultimately I enjoyed both for different reasons. And once again, I could see the value in having the different options to choose between.

Hot milk/milk frother

The milk frother is automated, so you really don’t need to do anything other than top it up with milk and point the wand at your cup. When filled up to the max level, the milk carafe holds more than enough milk for two large cappuccinos. And the hot frothy milk it produces is ideal for a cappuccino.

The milk dispensed is always frothy, there’s no option to adjust the foam or eliminate it entirely. If you prefer your milk hot with no foam, or you’re looking for a more silky microfoam that’s required for a flat white, you won’t be able to get it from this machine.

A slight annoyance for me was that for taller cups in particular, it’s not always possible to get the wand angled into the cup. Certainly for my insulated travel cup, I had to hold it to the milk wand as it wasn’t possible to fill it any other way.

The milk temperature didn’t really vary, regardless of whether the temperature settings on the machine were set to low, medium, or high. The cup of hot milk was usually around 62C.

If the carafe runs out of milk while it’s dispensing, it doesn’t stop. Instead, steam is dispensed out of the milk wand, which is quite noisy and noticeable. When this happened to me I was able to run over and hit the stop button. But it would have been preferable if they’d been able to incorporate a shut off feature when it runs out of milk.

Hot water

If you plan to ditch the kettle and use the hot water function on this machine instead, here’s what you need to know. At first I selected the XL option, but this dispensed around 400ml of hot water, which is too much for a standard mug.

The large size is around 300ml which is the ideal volume for a decent sized mug of tea and takes around 1 minute 20 seconds to pour. The temperature adjustment in the settings menu doesn’t appear to affect the temperature of the water dispensed. I took the temperature of the water in the mug at the end of pouring and it was around 82C regardless of the setting.

The water is technically a little cooler than recommended for black tea, but I brewed a decent cuppa with it. It’s ideal for fruit and herbal teas or green tea. However, I have one big issue with this hot water dispenser that would put me off using it.

It spits and splutters a lot during pouring. I was writing this with my laptop next to the coffee machine, but had to move it away for fear of all the water splatters heading in the direction of my keyboard. Even standing in front of the machine, I could feel the odd droplet of hot water hit my bare arms. It’s not ideal at all.

Cleaning and maintenance

The coffee machine automatically completes daily rinses every time it's switched on as well as when it shuts down. If you want to avoid the drip tray filling up too fast, it’s advisable to leave a container under the coffee spout to collect the water from these rinses.

There’s a red float in the drip tray that rises when it’s full, and the screen will notify you when the used coffee grounds container needs emptying. Emptying these two is the most frequent thing you’ll need to do when it comes to maintenance and cleaning.

If you use the milk carafe, the machine will prompt you to rinse it after use. This is simply a case of selecting the button and the coffee machine will automatically rinse out the spout, without impacting any milk that’s still in the carafe. Afterwards you can remove it and pop the carafe into the fridge until you need it next. Though you should empty the milk out and give it a thorough clean every few days.

Descaling is an automated process. You’ll be prompted by the screen when it needs to take place, and you’ll need to use the De’Longhi descaling product. You can’t wander off and leave it to descale, but you don’t need to do much other than follow the prompts on screen to empty and refill various water containers as required.

How does it compare?

I’ve made no secret of my love for the De’Longhi Rivelia and given that they’re made by the same brand, it’s a natural comparison. For me, the Rivelia wins hands down, not just when compared to the Magnifica Evo Next, but in comparison to all other automatic bean-to-cup machines I’ve ever reviewed. However its RRP of £750 means you might have to wait for a deal to bring the price closer to the £650 price tag of this machine.

If you’re happy to get a bit more hands on, I’d also highly recommend the Sage Barista Express. This espresso machine might require you to learn a few barista skills, but it opens up the possibilities in terms of the drinks you can create, as well as the degree of customisation. However, if you’re time poor in the mornings and want coffee delivered at the touch of a button, this will not be the one for you.

Should you buy the De'Longhi Magnifica Evo Next?

If you’re in the market for an automatic bean-to-cup machine the De'Longhi Magnifica Evo Next will definitely tick a lot of boxes. For me, its simplicity is a big draw. The colour screen and intuitive touch control panel make it super straightforward to use. Having an uncomplicated coffee machine is a big win on busy mornings.

The drinks are always consistent and it can create a good flavoursome espresso. Some of the drawbacks include the slightly limited drinks menu, some households would benefit from a machine with more options. Likewise for milk texturing which is limited to frothy milk. And as I’ve mentioned, I wasn’t impressed with the splashy hot water dispenser.

But taking everything into account, it does a good job delivering decent coffee without overcomplicating your morning brew.

If you're going to spend hundreds of pounds on a coffee machine, the least you need it to do is last. That's why I'm revisiting my most-used and much-loved day-to-day coffee machine, three years after I first reviewed the Sage Barista Express Impress, to tell you everything I've learnt about it in that time.

I have the lucky job of overseeing our guides to the best coffee machines, which means I test plenty of coffee makers at the Ideal Home test centre and on loan in my home. But the one I've actually (very luckily) been able to keep hold of is Sage's flagship Express Impress, which we called 'a triumph for tidy kitchens' when we first rated it in 2022.

For a long time, this Sage machine was ranked as the best bean-to-cup machine in our guide, but it's since been superseded by alternatives offering more functionality for less money. But there's still plenty to love about this Sage machine and plenty I've learned through trial and error – here's an overview.

1. It still looks good as new

A general reservation people have with stainless steel coffee machines is the burden of keeping the surface clean, as the material is easier to mark than alternatives. But despite my reservations, it still looks pretty much as good as it did the day I unboxed it.

It's an exceedingly easy machine to maintain as long as you follow a few key processes. I never let too long pass before I empty and properly clean the drip tray that sits along the bottom – something helped by the machine's little 'EMPTY ME' float which rises up to greet you as the water level does. And I try to run descaling every 100 coffees or so (about every three months) to keep the inside of the machine ticking along too.

One of the big USPs with this machine is the one-armed bandit tamping system, which is a total godsend for avoiding mess and that still works a total treat – as well as it did three years ago.

All of this unsurprisingly means that the resale value of this specific model remains very high, so if you did want to switch to something else down the line (or upgrade to a newer Sage) you won't have sunk your money completely.

2. It can take a little trial and error

This machine is my boyfriend's favourite-ever kitchen appliance (and he's seen many come and go through our kitchen) but there did come a time where the coffee beans I mistakenly bought caused us a big headache with it.

Yes, I fell into the classic pitfall (which our expert says is one of the most common) of buying dark roast beans when I really should've stuck with medium. And we felt the repercussions for weeks after.

After the first few coffees we made came out exceedingly bitter, we stopped using the dark roast beans and switched back to our familiar favourite type.

But that didn't mean that the headache was over, as it seems the grinder retained the oils from the dark roast (which are much more pronounced than with medium) and therefore polluted the internal workings of the machine for some time with that horribly bitter taste.

It took us weeks of Googling and discussion to troubleshoot the issue – the phrase 'rancid oils' has surely never been said so many times – and in that period, we realised how reliant we'd become on our trusty coffee machine. And so the lesson was learnt on the buying of coffee beans!

We've also learnt a lot about pulling our own espresso shots. When we first got the machine we were new to at-home coffees and totally baffled by 'the Razor' tool you get with it – now we couldn't be without it for when we're adjusting the grind size when we get new beans.

3. I'm still hopeless at latte art

I have no excuse for how poor my milk steaming and latte art skills are given how many frothy coffees I've made with this machine over the years (it must be almost a thousand) but it does go to show that it's not a skill gained overnight.

The steam wand on the Sage Barista Express Impress is super powerful and so helpfully flexible to try and help you get the right angle to create the much needed vortex for microfoam.

Writing this retrospective has made me realise I really need to polish up on my skills, something that could be helped by using Sage's Temp Control Jug (£25.99) to prevent burning.

It's also why I'm such a big fan of the Sage competitor the Ninja Luxe Café. It comes in at £549 RRP (but you can buy it on sale for at least £100 less) and features an automatic milk frothing wand which for someone like me, who has a lot of barista-improvements to make, is a godsend.

Of course, it's all down to personal preference whether you're even bothered about milk frothing credentials, but it's definitely worth comparing potential coffee machines on the specific drinks you like.

For me, the Sage Barista Express Impress is still an appliance that's worth its weight in gold and I can forsee it'll last many years in my kitchen yet – I don't think my boyfriend could bear to part from it!

For me, enjoying the everyday is all about making a ritual of little luxuries. One of those non-negotiables for me is enjoying my morning coffee in peace before my workday begins – a moment that's seriously aided by my at-home coffee station.

It's nothing grand (like the hidden pantry nook of my dreams) but it does make all the difference to have a dedicated corner for my coffee machine and all of its accoutrements.

Though carving out a space has been a game-changer, I am keen to find out exactly how to keep it as tidy as possible so that my very tiny at-home café can stay open for business for good.

I've asked a whole host of coffee and interior design experts for their tips on how the tidiest people keep their coffee nooks looking polished all the time. Here are their essential tips.

1. Hidden, functional storage

Truth is: not everything is going to be pretty enough to earn a spot on your coffee station, so not only do you need to be selective about what you display but you also need hidden storage.

John Bradshaw, coffee expert and founder of Vex Coffee, is very much a supporter of the 'less is more' rule when it comes to beverage stations.

'One of the most common mistakes I see is people trying to display everything at once,' John says. 'Coffee enthusiasts tend to accumulate a lot of equipment, but realistically, you’re only using a small portion of it day to day.'

'Cups are a classic example,' continues John. 'There’s little benefit to having a dozen out on a cup warmer if you’re only making a couple of flat whites each morning. Being selective about what stays on the counter makes all the difference in keeping a coffee station looking clean and intentional.'

Interior design expert Danielle Verhees, Director at Studio 93 (working in collaboration with Redrow) suggests one solution might be 'drawer inserts, wall-mounted holders or stackable containers'.

That's a sentiment shared by Julie Gokce, Senior Kitchen Designer at MoreKitchens who says 'For overflow storage, use slide-on wire baskets inside cabinets for backup bags or spare filters, or even consider a pull-out drawer organiser to keep pods completely hidden yet easily reachable when needed.'

2. A decorative tray

When we put together a mini coffee station in the Ideal Home office the thing that really made it cohesive was the addition of a decorative tray. Turns out it was a good move with multiple experts recommending it as a tactic to keep mess at bay.

Julie Gokce calls a tray her 'number one non-negotiable item' adding that it can instantly 'stop all your daily-use items from looking like clutter' and that 'It works by creating a designated boundary for items like sugar bowls, stirring spoons and your coffee beans.'

Interior designer Danielle Verhees agrees that framing your coffee station space is the trick to keeping it neat, saying 'Use open shelving, trays or sideboards to visually frame the space and create a café-style layout. This defines the area and makes it feel purposeful, even in smaller kitchens.'

And the best part? 'It also serves a practical purpose too,' according to Julie Gokce, as 'you can simply lift the entire tray to wipe down the countertop beneath. It's the simplest way of combining style with everyday function.'

3. A place for waste

I'm guilty of letting my plans for aesthetics run away with me and then trying to work in practical elements as an afterthought. And to keep a tidy coffee station, I'll need to rethink that.

'People design a beautiful station but forget to plan for the in-between moments' says Lisa Hensby (of Lisa Hensby Design & Build) listing off 'the used spoon, the empty pod, the open sachet' as neglected examples.

In order to create a truly streamlined space you need to plot ahead for the mess you'll make day to day when making coffees. 'Build the tidying into the setup from the start' advises Lisa, suggesting adding 'a small spoon rest, a pod disposal box, a little dish for the bits.'

The type of machine you have will dictate the waste you'll need to get rid of, whether that's grounds with a bean-to-cup coffee machine or capsules with a pod coffee machine, so make sure to work in a disposal set-up specific to you.

4. A mini vacuum

I bow to Ideal Home's House Manual expert Lauren Bradbury on all things cleaning so I wasn't suprised to find out she has a secret weapon for maintaining her coffee station: a mini handheld vacuum.

‘Although it cost me less than £10, my mini countertop vacuum is by far one of the best purchases I’ve ever made,' says Lauren. 'It sits permanently on top of my Sage coffee machine, and comes in so handy when I accidentally spill coffee grounds. Its small and lightweight, and fits perfectly in the palm of my hand for gliding across the worktop - and it doesn’t take up too much space, which is perfect for me and my small kitchen!’

5. Constant editing

What I've discovered about the tidiest people I know is that it actually just takes a lot of dedication to keep things looking clean. So if there's one thing to do to really pull together your coffee station it's to constantly tweak its formulation.

Max Wilson, Co-Founder at Pocket Storage says there's one big mistake people commonly make with café kitchens. 'The biggest issue is allowing the station to expand over time,' he begins.

'Mugs, syrups, extra machines, and accessories gradually get added without removing anything. The space becomes crowded, and cleaning or resetting it takes longer, so clutter builds.'

To prevent this, strip things back to basics.

'Keep the setup limited to what you use daily,' says Max. 'If something new is added, something else should be removed or relocated. A quick reset at the end of the day, even thirty seconds, keeps everything in order and prevents build-up.'

Max says the most effective coffee stations are simple and intentional. 'When the setup is contained, easy to use, and not overfilled, it stays tidy with minimal effort. That consistency is what keeps the space organised long term.'

If you're in the market for a coffee machine to set up a station in the first place, these are ones we've reviewed that have been highlighted for their tidy designs.

I'll be taking these essentials and that mantra into my next phase of planning for my coffee station to make sure the drinks can keep on flowing!

Most of us need coffee to function - I couldn't write this article without it. Thankfully, it's easier than ever to make good coffee at home. No longer the preserve of independent cafes, domestic versions of the best coffee machines mean you can have true espresso at home.

At least, that’s the theory. But those of us who prefer to spend our spare time living instead of measuring the specific gravity of coffee beans can find that making coffee at home is surprisingly tricky. What should be a simple task - insert beans, press button, receive coffee - is littered with pitfalls.

After far too long testing these machines for a living, I’ve made every mistake in the book, so I know exactly what can go wrong. If your coffee isn’t quite right, you may have fallen for one of these common coffee maker mistakes - but they’re all easy to fix.

1. The wrong beans

Let’s start with the beans. Unless you’re an obsessive, you don’t need to worry about the difference between arabica and robusta beans - most wholebean and ground coffee sold in supermarkets is arabica anyway. If you’re interested, arabica beans tend to have more interesting flavours; robusta beans are cheaper, higher-caffeine, and slightly bitter, so they tend to be used in instant coffee.

A more common mistake is buying the wrong roast level for your chosen coffee. For moka or other black coffee styles, it’s best to use dark roast. For coffees with milk, a medium roast is better. Light roasts are fun if you know how to make good pour-over coffee, but this is best suited to coffee die-hards.

In most cases, it’s best to hedge your bets and go for a medium roast. Some of us just buy dark coffee because it tastes stronger, which people associate with higher caffeine levels and therefore more energy in the morning. Actually, the inverse is true; the lighter the roast, the higher the caffeine content. If you’ve ever made coffee and wondered why it tastes so bitter, you’ve probably gone for too dark a roast.

2. The wrong grind size

Once the beans are sorted, it’s time to grind them. Whether you buy ground coffee or do it yourself with a coffee grinder, you need to make sure you pick the right grind size. A common mistake is to over- or under-grind your beans. A helpful rule of thumb is that the smaller the portion, the smaller the grind.

Espresso needs finely ground coffee. If the coffee particles are too large, water flows too quickly, preventing it from stripping the right amount of coffee oil from the beans. You’ll know if your grind size is too coarse if the coffee tastes watery and weak.

Similarly, cafetière or filter coffee needs a coarse grind. If the coffee is ground too finely, too much coffee oil is stripped from the beans, which makes a bitter taste.

3. Too much or too little coffee

The standard amount of coffee for a double espresso is 16g. If you want a stronger coffee, you can take it up to 18g, but I’ve found it most reliable to keep the scoop to 16g, which is also the perfect amount for a single cup of pour-over or Aeropress.

Much more than 16g will make a bitter coffee, as it increases the likelihood that water will channel (more on this later), or over-extract. Less than 16g will make for a weak coffee.

The rough rule here is that two tablespoons are usually around 15-16g. If you want to be more precise, I’ve found a cheap coffee scoop like this at Amazon (for 72p!) is really helpful, but if you want something more stylish, there are plenty of other options like these at Muji, Garden Trading, or Barista & Co.

Helpfully, some portafilter baskets have ‘fill to here’ lines to help you pour the exact amount.

4. Wrong portafilter basket

Speaking of which, make sure you have the right basket for your coffee. The filter basket is what holds the coffee in your portafilter. It’s really easy to set up a machine out of the box and think it makes terrible coffee when you just have the wrong basket.

Many modern espresso machines come with several different basket sizes for different coffees. Some baskets are designed for single shots of espresso; others are designed for double shots.

Most are pressurised and force the coffee through a tiny hole, which is what creates the foam on a shot of espresso. Some baskets are non-pressurised, designed so that aficionados can adjust the pressure for different styles of roasts. For most people, pressurised is by far the easiest way to make coffee.

5. Skipping WDT

With the basket sorted and the coffee loaded, I’ve found it very helpful to use a WDT tool. It sounds technical, but it’s about as far from scientific as you can get. The ‘Weiss Distribution Technique’ is a very pompous name for stirring the grounds in an espresso basket before tamping them.

When I first started testing coffee machines, I was incredibly sceptical, but I've found that the WDT method makes a huge difference. The idea is that water will always flow through the path of least resistance. If you don’t even out the coffee particles, clumps of coffee will direct water straight through one part of your coffee and not through all of your grounds, which is known as ‘channelling’.

You can have a delicate roast, a particle-perfect grind and the exact 16g scoop - if you don’t WDT, the coffee might pull through unevenly. Some of it will be over-extracted, and some of it will be over-extracted. If you’ve ever had a sour yet somehow bitter coffee, this is why. It often happens in busy coffee shops where overworked baristas don’t have time to WDT - it’s a vital step.

The good news is that WDT tools are very basic equipment. They’re really just pins and a handle. You can buy cheap WDT tools like this on Amazon, but you don’t always need them. I’ve got by with a sterilised safety pin or sewing needle; you really just need to fluff up the grounds to prevent channelling.

5. Uneven tamp

A tamp is a tool for pressing down coffee in a portafilter basket. The point of tamping is that it removes air between coffee particles, so when water is forced through under pressure, it has to create paths for itself, which strips the coffee oil from the beans. It’s basically impossible to tamp too much, so you should press down on the coffee as much as you can.

However, make sure the tamp is level. A common mistake is to put as much force as possible into the tamp, but that makes the coffee sit unevenly in the basket, which causes channelling. If you’ve ever put two espresso cups under the spout and the coffee has only flowed out of one side, your tamp probably wasn’t level.

6. Low pressure

Now it’s time to hit the button, but even after the steps above, the coffee is a little watery. The mistake here is that you need more pressure.

True espresso needs around 9 bars of pressure. Most coffee machines max out at 15, but beyond 9 bars, you’ll make over-extracted coffee.

Unfortunately, it’s not visible on all coffee machines, and some models have a helpful but imprecise gauge which gives a rough pressure range for espresso but not specific pressure in bars. However, pressure is often quite easy to fix; sometimes you just need slightly more coffee and a better tamp to create a tighter puck and greater pressure.

7. Steaming wand trouble

If you’re making a latte or cappuccino, there are a few common mistakes with a steaming wand.

The first is to be sure to tilt the jug; if you don’t, you can’t create a vortex. The vortex stirs the milk as it steams, which distributes heat more evenly and helps prevent burned milk.

Another issue is wand placement. It can’t be too deep or too shallow. Too shallow, and you make too much foam. If it’s too deep, there’ll be a horrible screeching sound, and you’ll probably burn the milk. Instead, the milk should come about halfway up the milk wand arm, which will make a sort of tearing noise.

Finally, make sure you purge the wand before and after you use it for hygiene. A tip I can’t overstate is to keep a damp cloth to hand to clean the wand. I constantly make this mistake, and it’s a complete pain - if you don’t clean milk from the wand immediately, it dries hard, and it’s an absolute nightmare to clean.

If you know all this stuff already, but your homemade coffee doesn’t live up to what you get in a cafe, it’s probably the case that you’re making the wrong type of coffee. Different milky coffees have different milk ratios. A cappuccino should be a 1:1:1 mix of espresso, steamed milk, and foam. A latte should be a 1:3 mix of espresso and steamed milk, with some foam on top, and a flat white is 1:2. It takes some practice to get these ratios right, but it makes a huge difference.

8. Vegan milk

Finally, while we’re discussing milk, be careful with alternative milks. Whether oat, almond, or soy, standard dairy alternatives are too thin to use with a steam wand. The protein content is too low, so they don’t form proper foam, and they curdle.

Instead, you need the barista versions of these milks. It’s not a marketing gimmick - these milks are thicker than standard dairy alternatives, so they can form proper foam. There are a tonne of options out there, with a range of choices of barista soy milk, barista oat milk, and barista almond milk.

However you like your coffee, avoiding these simple mistakes is an easy way to improve your homemade brews.

When you need a good morning pick-me-up, instant coffee can do the job, but there's truly no better smell to flood your home than freshly brewed coffee. Whether you've used instant up until now because you don't have enough worktop space to dedicate to a machine, or perhaps it's to do with budget, because a decent coffee maker is expensive. I'm here with the answer to your caffeine-related woes, and it's the Lakeland Espresso 3-in-1 Coffee Machine, which I've spotted on sale for only £74.99.

Now with £50 shaved off its price tag, this Lakeland Espresso machine could be the best coffee machine for you. While we have yet to try this particular coffee machine, I'm already impressed by the product specs. It has a petite footprint, it is compatible with Nespresso pods and ground coffee, and it comes with a steam wand for frothing milk.

That is quite an impressive line-up for a machine that will cost you less than many pod coffee machines on the market, which don't include a milk frother. However, this deal is only on until the 18th March, so if you want to snap it up at this price, I'd act fast.

While we're yet to test this Lakeland espresso maker, we can more than vouch for the quality of Lakeland appliances. The team at Ideal Home has tested many a Lakeland own-brand appliance, from kitchenware to clothes airers and pizza ovens. All of which have been highly rated, so this espresso maker shouldn't be any different.

It's also very similar to the Salter Professional Espirista Coffee Machine, which we've reviewed and rated 4/5 stars. The two machines look almost identical, and both can make single or double espressos. However, the Salter one is only compatible with ground coffee and has a slightly larger tank — at 1.4L vs 1.2L.

This Lakeland espresso maker is proof that good things can come in small packages, as not only is it intuitive, but it can also be used to make hot water only, for tea or other purposes.

Included in the box, you'll also get a portafilter with stainless steel baskets and a tamping spoon. The manual explains how to brew pod coffee vs grounds, while it has a handy auto-shut off mode which activates after 25 minutes of inactivity — for those mornings you snooze your alarm a few too many times.

Price-wise, the Salter coffee maker is closer to £100, at £94.99 RRP from Amazon. Usually, the Lakeland model is £124.99, so it's currently a bargain you won't want to miss.

Alternatives

Here are several alternative best pod coffee machines we've tried and tested that deliver great value for money.

Malcolm Gladwell once claimed that it takes ten thousand hours to master something. I’m not sure that ‘practice helps’ is that insightful, and I don’t know that I’ve spent the equivalent of four hundred days testing coffee machines, but I do know that I've tried many of them.

So many in fact that I can’t even remember the exact number I’ve tried, but my editor, Molly, can confirm that as a team we’ve spent hundreds of hours in the test kitchen examining dozens of coffee machines.

The result is that I am, frankly, jaded about this stuff. Whether Lattissima, Latticia, or Baristina, I've seen innumerable machines marketed with a vaguely milky, suitably pseudo-Italian name. After a while, they all blur into one, but my years as a product tester have turned up a handful of remarkable machines for the money.

All this means I’ve turned the art of finding a good coffee machine into a faff-free science. After years of tests and who-knows-how-many pints of espresso, this is what’s actually important when buying a coffee machine.

1. Size

Perhaps a little obvious, but consider the size of the machine you want to buy. Before you roll your eyes, I don’t just mean checking you have a bit of space in the kitchen, but actually measuring. Lots of coffee machines are designed for huge US kitchen counters, with extra clearance to the cupboards above.

You can see in the image above that a Ninja filter coffee machine designed for the American market isn’t quite right for my British kitchen. Despite the larger-than-average cupboard clearance in my flat (brag, and yes, I am sad enough to have done the maths), it’s still awkward to use. I had to pull it out from under the cupboard every time I used it.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve unboxed a coffee machine to find it dwarfs all my other appliances, especially large coffee makers like bean-to-cup models. Sometimes I’ve had to sacrifice my toaster and kettle to find enough room, so it’s crucial to measure before some behemoth coffee maker takes over your kitchen. It tends to be the case that the more features on offer, the bigger the machine.

2. Key features

It depends on what you want, so you may not need all of these, but there are some key features to consider.

If you want a good espresso, the coffee machine should be able to create at least 8 bars of pressure for a proper espresso – ideally, it should be 9 bars. This spec is usually hidden somewhere on a product website, because PR departments won’t advertise that their machine can't pull that much. The very best machines will have accurate pressure gauges so you can ensure the coffee is at the right pressure.

For milky coffees, you need either a steam wand or a milk frother. If you like to make your own latte art, you want a steam wand. If you just want a good latte without getting hands-on, get a milk frother or frothing jug – you won’t have to learn how to use a steam wand, which is also a pain to clean.

The best bean to cup coffee machines will have built-in coffee grinders, so you can have freshly-ground beans in the correct 16g portion without having to grind or measure them yourself.

A good bean-to-cup machine will combine all of these features, but they’ll be missing from ‘automatic’ machines like pod machines or filter coffee machines. It entirely depends on the coffee you want.

If you only drink black coffee, there’s no point in buying a bean-to-cup machine that can make machiattos and other milky coffees. Similarly, if you like lattes, you don’t want a filter coffee machine that makes black coffee by the gallon.

3. Fake features

I’ve had some snippy conversations with PR departments about this one: some ‘features’ are just marketing jargon. There are machines out there loaded with features that don’t actually do what they claim.

Any marketing that claims a coffee machine can make ‘cold brew’ in minutes is lying, because cold brew by definition requires hours of steeping. Many machines marketed with an ‘iced coffee’ function don’t have that at all; the machine just tells you to pull a hot shot of espresso over ice, which you can do yourself.

It’s often the case that a machine marketed as capable of making 30 coffees can really only pull shots of espresso in slightly different quantities. It’s worth reading reviews to see if these bonus features are actually useful or marketing sleight-of-hand.

4. Ease of use

That’s why it’s crucial to consider the difference between automatic and manual coffee machines. ‘Automatic’ coffee makers rarely taste as good as an espresso machine, but they’re much easier to use.

If the thought of faffing around with a WDT tool or antistatic spray bores you to tears, you need something automatic like a bean-to-cup or pod coffee machine, which will reliably churn out the coffee you want.

A key issue here, however, is that automatic coffee machine doesn’t really exist. Any machine that offers coffee 'at the touch of a button’ is lying. A bean-to-cup or pod coffee machine is about as close as you’ll get, but these still need a bit of work.

Both need to be loaded with coffee. Both need to be flushed with cleaning modes, and both should be emptied and hand-washed at least once a week to prevent coffee grounds from turning mouldy. It’s not back-breaking labour, but it’s not automatic, and never as simple as flicking on a kettle.

5. Cleaning

Cleaning coffee machines can be pretty tedious, too. It’s a small thing, but lots of otherwise great coffee machines have finicky cleaning programmes for descaling and hand-cleaning the pipes. Some particularly annoying examples have their own special cleaning tablets or chemicals, which is really just a way to get you to spend more money.

The best bean-to-cup and pod models have easy cleaning modes, and a good espresso machine should be easy to clean by hand. Simpler methods like cafetières are often dishwasher-safe, which saves a lot of hassle.

6. Value for money

With pod coffee, you should consider whether a pod subscription is actually worth it long-term. Take Nespresso as an example; at the time of writing, a sleeve of Stormio Vertuo pods costs nearly £7 for ten pods. If there are two of you in the house drinking a coffee each per day, you’ll get through that in a work week. A coffee a day for a month is more than £40, which quickly adds up in the current climate.

You can get much more coffee for your money with whole bean or ground coffee; a cheap 270g bag of supermarket grounds should yield roughly 16 coffees, and they tend to taste better anyway. If you’re dead-set on a coffee machine, the most cost-efficient way to do it is to use an espresso, filter, or bean-to-cup machine.

Appliance companies won’t thank me for this, but you should bear in mind if it’s worth buying a machine at all. Lots of people get by on instant coffee and milk. I usually have some fancy coffee machine on loan to review, but I rarely stop drinking instant; it’s cheap and faster than a machine, so I’m drinking it while I write this piece. It’s not delicious or glamorous, but it’s much more cost-effective than a £600 coffee maker, especially when some of them aren’t even that good.

Which coffee maker would I buy?

I think the old ways are the best. If you want a lot of strong coffee, you can’t beat a cafetière. The Espro P7 (£105 at Borough Kitchen) has remained as good as it gets since the first time I tried it years ago. If you want to save a ton of money, try the Bodum cafetière (£16 at Amazon); it’s under £20, and while it’s not as fancy as other options, it will make a litre of very good coffee. For stronger coffee, try a moka pot – Bialettis (£36.69 at Amazon) are iconic and what I use, but Vonshef (£15.99 at Amazon) is way cheaper.

Easily my favourite coffee maker is an Aeropress, which I reviewed a range of last year. Aeropress is affordable, portable, fun to use, and makes delicious, unique coffee. It’s faster and cheaper than most cafetières or moka pots and tastes incredible. There’s an ongoing cost with filter papers, but that's negligible compared to pod coffee subscriptions. The only drawback is that it’s single-serving (unless you buy an Aeropress XL (£87.08 at Amazon)).

For an espresso machine, keep it simple. The Sage Barista Express Impress, which we've reviewed has everything you need and nothing else; beginners and pros alike can get a lot out of this machine.

Drip coffee shouldn't be fancy either. I’ve long loved the mid-century design of the Moccamaster KBG Select, which is easily the best filter coffee machine we've tried, but your wallet is better off with a cheap machine like the Russell Hobbs Buckingham (£44 at Amazon).

For milky coffees, the De’Longhi Eletta Explore is the best I’ve ever tried, but painfully expensive; the Melitta Latticia wowed me recently for much less, though it’s not as stylish.

For a pod coffee machine, I’d go with the Nespresso Lattissima One EN510.

It makes latte and cappuccino and uses the original Nespresso pods – I think they taste better than the Nespresso Vertuo pods or competitors like Tassimo. The original Nespresso pods are an industry standard; if you want to try coffee from Grind or Rave, you need a machine that takes the originals.

Though you have to navigate jargon and marketing tricks, there are some great coffee machines out there – you just have to know what you're looking for.

I've been racking up some serious screen time on Pinterest and given my job as Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor, it'll be little surprise to anyone that my curated feed is crammed full of enviably good café-style kitchens.

Coffee machines are my niche, with my review process of the best coffee machines meaning I've tried everything from bean-to-cup models in the £1000s to filter versions (like the Moccamaster KBG Select, a seriously Pinterest worthy coffee machine). But when trawling Pinterest there's one machine range above all other that the design-types among us are really invested in: the Sage Barista Express line.

Plus, it just happens to be that my coffee machine of choice is the Sage Barista Express Impress, which is the neatest and tidiest espresso machine I've ever tried, so I've been taking plenty of inspiration too. Here are three reasons this type of machine is so perfect for a cosy at-home café bar.

1. It's so easy to keep tidy

When we reviewed the Sage Barista Express Impress we called it 'a triumph for tidy kitchens'. And after using this machine for three years solidly at home, I can only agree that its in-built storage system is second to none as well as its integrated tamper, which keeps grounds from spilling all over your worktop.

When you pull out the drip tray on this machine, you'll find a stashing place for your portafilter baskets, which is a godsend to keep from misplacing them. The entire footprint of the machine is also very smartly square, which makes it very easy on the eye and easy to keep clean.

Of course, if you're creating a coffee nook, being able to easily maintain a tidy station for your lattes or cappuccinos makes things much easier which is where the appeal of the Sage range comes in.

We've also tried the Sage Barista Express BES875UK Espresso Coffee Machine, which is a much more affordable option (especially on sale) but our reviewer did find it more difficult to keep tidy over time.

2. It offers the at-home barista experience

If you like an easy life, there are plenty of coffee machines out there that are actually way easier to use than the Sage Barista line, like automatic options such as the De'Longhi Rivelia or the KitchenAid KF8.

And while those sleek one-touch options are a fabulous fit for neutral or minimalistic kitchens, they don't quite have the coffee-shop charm that Sage machines do, which have manual elements that make you feel like a barista in your own kitchen.

I might be biased but I think the Sage Barista Express Impress strikes the perfect balance between features that allow you to do the work and those which help you make better coffee.

The one-armed bandit tamp system exerts the perfect pressure on your coffee puck, but you're still the one frothing the milk and pulling the espresso shot. If all of that sounds foreign to you but you want to get into making higher quality coffee at home then don't worry, the machine is straightforward to master once you've gone through the set up process.

3. There are so many different iterations

I think this range of coffee machines from Sage is the most impressive when it comes to choice – there's really something for everyone. If you already have some specific ideas in mind when creating your at-home coffee station, then you're really spoilt for choice here, including when it comes to colour range.

Below I've compared the entire range based on our reviews of these machines so you can quickly see which one might best appeal for your Pinterest-board-vision.

My personal favourite is the Sage Barista Touch Impress in white (now that is an ultimate wish list item) but the classic stainless steel exterior seems to be the ultimate favourite amongst those styling their at-home coffee bars on Instagram and TikTok.

One of my favourite at-home coffee stations is from TikTok user @bygemma – it shows how you can bring together pink kitchen ideas in café kitchen setting so beautifully. Here are some of my favourite new-in products that I think would make the perfect finishing touch to a coffee corner.

Complete the look

Would you have a Sage coffee machine in your dream coffee bar set up? There's certainly plenty of choice with this brand if you're in the market to create one, or if you're more interested in something sleek, I just spotted the release of a brand new ultra-slim bean-to-cup model this week too.

I've just spied one of the best-looking and most impressive coffee machines we've tested at Ideal Home, the De'Longhi Rivelia Automatic Bean-to-Cup Coffee Machine, on offer in an exclusive green colourway.

The Rivelia Jade Green coffee machine is priced at £599.99, instead of £749.99 at De'Longhi. It's a rare opportunity to get 20% off this exclusive colourway of the best bean-to-cup coffee machine that you won't find anywhere else.

'The De’Longhi Rivelia is quite possibly the best designed, nicest looking, and best performing automatic bean-to-cup coffee machine I’ve ever reviewed,' said our coffee machine reviewer, Helen McCue, in her De'Longhi Rivelia Automatic Bean-to-Cup coffee machine review.

I can't get through the day without having 2 coffees. And when I say 2 cups of coffee, I don't mean instant coffee with a dash of milk like my husband will happily drink — I'm only consuming this form of caffeine if it comes out of a specialised machine with frothy milk. Call me fussy, but my coffee machine is one of the small luxuries in my life that I use several times a day, and this machine is the ultimate daily treat.

What makes this coffee machine so great is that it boasts an intuitive design, and you can choose from 16 settings — including hot and iced coffee choices.

It's a bean-to-cup model, so it grinds the beans for you, then brews the coffee, and it can even dispense the frothed milk straight into your cup. You essentially only need to grab your favourite mug and touch a few buttons.

It also has an impressively small footprint. Most other coffee machines are cumbersome and require a lot of your precious worktop space — but not this one. The Rivelia is traditionally only available in grey, black and Arctic white, which you can also find on offer right now for £599 at Amazon during the Spring Deal Days. You can only find the stylish green colourway at De'Longhi direct.

A great choice for families, its water tank is 1.4 litres, so you won't have to refill it each time you need your caffeine fix, while it comes with 2, 250g hoppers for the beans. With 7 grinding options, you can even experiment with grind size — but don't panic, as the machine can also advise you on the best setting for this, too.

Onto its milk tank, which is removable for placing in your fridge door in between uses. This is 500ml in size, and it slides onto the front of the machine. It has a spout that reaches from the tank, straight into your mug.

Our reviewer noted how easy and convenient the setup of this machine was, saying that from cutting the box open to first use, it was around 20 minutes. It takes around 40 seconds to heat, while a single shot takes only 1 minute and 30 seconds to dispense.

Are you tempted to snap up the exclusive green colourway while it's on sale?

Dreame (a brand best known to the Ideal Home team until this point as the inventors of the robot vacuum with legs) has launched a bean-to-cup coffee machine that's caught my attention in a big way.

Called the Ecceluxe Slim, it's the brand's first coffee machine and almost has too many selling points to count. But the big one for me to focus in on first is the pricetag: at just £499, it looks like it could be a real bargain – if it's any good, of course.

After all, the biggest hurdle for most to investing in a flashy bean-to-cup coffee machine is cost. So if this slimline coffee machine can measure up to the likes of De'Longhi and Sage, it could be a revelation. Here's my first look at it as Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor.

If you're in the market for a bean-to-cup machine, you have two broad types of machine to choose from: one with manual elements (where you'll tamp your espresso shot yourself) or a fully automatic version where the touch of one button can take care of everything.

This machine from Dreame is firmly in the latter camp. It features a touchscreen control panel with five drinks which look to be an espresso, an Americano, a white coffee of some sort, a cappuccino and a latte.

According to Dreame, the specs of the machine for making your morning coffee includes '9-level low-noise grinding', as well as 'golden silky-smooth extraction'. The milk frother, which attaches externally to the machine, has a 240ml capacity which should be able to whip up two drinks before it needs refilling.

Importantly, the slim profile of the Ecceluxe looks like it would solve a lot of problems for those who would love a coffee machine but struggle for worktop space – AKA if you don't want a bigger bean-to-cup machine for your coffee nook. It measures in at 18cm in width, which if you compare it to our favourite De'Longhi Rivelia at 24cm, seems very slim indeed.

Of course, I can't tell you whether any of these claims from Dreame live up to the hype just yet as I haven't had hands-on experience with it myself, which is paramount to how we test coffee machines here at Ideal Home. Hopefully I can get hold of one to review and let you know it's Dreame's foray into kitchen appliances is worth your time.

The much-heralded announcement of Nigella Lawson as the newest judge on The Great British Bake Off has sent me happily down the path of discovering the the chef's bestselling cookbooks. I'm enjoying something of a Nigella renaissance, you could say.

My first port of call was her book Simply Nigella: Feel Good Food, released in 2015, in which I discovered her signature matcha latte recipe, which was a huge hit alongside her adoption of avocado toast.

Yep, turns out whilst smashed avo and matcha might be all the rage now, Nigella was already adopting this low-caffeine alternative over one of the best coffee machines over a decade ago with the help of one of her all-time kitchen essentials: a handheld milk frother.

And luckily, Nigella even named the specific one she swears by in Feel Good Food and it's the unbelievably affordable Areolatte handheld frother, coming in at just £10 via John Lewis. Here's why she's sworn by it for years.

At the beginning of said recipe Nigella confesses that she first thought matcha, and matcha lattes, were a 'ridiculous fad'. But in the recipe to the drink, which she says is so filling that its like a full meal, she details how she was converted to the green tea powder thanks to its antioxidant rich properties.

She also details how it is the 'perfect tea for a non-coffee drinker who wants something with froth and get-up-and-go'. And she achieves the former with her small, handheld and extremely portable milk frother.

Nigella actually uses her Aerolatte frother twice in the recipe to whip up her matcha latte. First she combines her matcha powder with hot water in order to make a paste by using the frother in a mug. She then uses the frother on hot milk and combines the two.

And her finishing flourish is a 'pack of stencils' (like these from Amazon for £3.99) one of which she pops on top and applies matcha powder over, like you would with chocolate powder over a mocha.

Nigella's matcha method is stunningly simple, but there are a lot of matcha fans here at Ideal Home, most prominently our Digital Editor Rebecca Knight, who has taken extra steps in their green tea journey. Rebecca even tried out a new world-first dedicated matcha maker as per her Matcha Latte Magic Whisk review.

In a fashion strikingly similar to Hotel Chocolat's Velvetiser, the Magic Whisk can eliminate lumps and froth your matcha to perfection, made easier with the help of Dualit in terms of engineering. It's a lot pricier than Nigella's handheld frother at £99 via Bird and Blend, but it does come with a host of exclusively five-star reviews.

Have you tried matcha before? Will Nigella's affordable milk frother persuade you to give it a go?

It's a hard job, but we've found the caffeine addicts out there willing to do it. Yes, I'm talking about Ideal Home's process for testing the best coffee machines, a train that doesn't stop even when our expert testers have gone way over the recommended limit for espressos in a day.

In the last few years, we've tested dozens of coffee machines of every type, from filter products that you can fit a carafe under to compact pod picks, and established a set testing schedule so that we can tell you which are worth buying and which are best left on the shelves.

Each coffee machine that we feature in a review has been tested, either at our test centre or within our homes, for at least two weeks and used in place of our usual coffee machines. Our expert Ideal Home team is made up of our Kitchen Appliances Editor (that's me!), our freelance coffee expert Alex David and our resident Home Economist Helen McCue. Here's a little more about the details behind our testing process.

Our testing philosophy

The core mission behind our testing of coffee machines is simple: establishing whether each one is worth your money.

In order to do that, we stress test dozens of them in our homes as well as at our test centre so that we can see how they will measure up against the realities of a busy kitchen.

In our tests, each machine is benchmarked against three criteria:

1. Consistency: does the coffee taste the same every time?
2. Usability: can a non-barista use it?
3. Maintenance: how hard is it to keep running?

Our testing criteria in detail

Here's a closer look at how we evaluate each machine in real time.

Unboxing & set-up

As soon as a coffee machine for testing arrives at our door, the process begins. We ask the following questions straight away:

1. How easy is it to get out of the box?
2. Are the materials in the box recyclable?
3. Are the instructions clear, or does it feel like you need a degree to understand them?
4. How much faff is involved in first-use priming?

Extraction quality

Otherwise known as the espresso test, this allows us to see how consistently a machine can brew a good cup of coffee, whether that's a pod or bean-to-cup machine.

1. Testing the crema (judging the colour, thickness and persistence of it)
2. Evaluating the flavour balance (is it burnt or sour at all?)
3. Testing if the machine can produce a consistent shot without too much wastage

Milk texturing

Of course, not all of the machines we test have the ability to steam milk. But for those that do, we're looking for consistent performance in the following categories across both manual and automatic frothers:

1. The quality of the microfoam (if created) - is it silky enough for latte art, or just bubbly?
2. Does it heat the milk or only foam it?
3. Is it easily manoeuvrable for the perfect frothing angle?

Ease of use and liveability

Sure we could be testing the top-rated coffee machine in the world but if we can't work out how to use it, the chances are our readers will struggle too. That's why we look for the following usability perks as well as factors that make a machine easier to live with:

1. Are the buttons/touchscreens intuitive?
2. Are the drinks options clearly labelled?
3. How noisy is the grinder or pump?

Maintenance & cleaning

Too frequent cleaning can be a huge factor in people turning away from at-home coffee machines. That's why we delve into the specifics of what it takes to keep each coffee machine running smoothly.

1. How easy is it to empty? (Of either used pods or grounds, as well as the drip tray)
2. Does it have an automatic rinse cycle?
3. How often does it require descaling?

Value for money

We know our readers care about investing in the best for their budget, but of course each purchase needs to be value for money. That's why we're always running through the following criteria as we judge every element of a coffee machine:

1. How does the RRP compare to the build quality? (e.g are there plastic parts where you might expect another material for the price?)
2. Does it feel like it will last over time, or is it flimsy?
3. Is it worth buying over the daily buy of a cup of coffee from a coffee shop? Will the cost per use justify the purchase over time?

How we award stars

The star ratings on our Ideal Home Approved badges are the quickest way you can tell what we think a coffee machine is worth. Here's the criteria each machine must meet to enjoy the status of each badge.

Our expert testing panel

Who actually does the testing? Find out below, where you can meet our expert testing panel who have tested dozens of machines.

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.

Nespresso just dropped a new rechargeable handheld milk frother – the NanoFoamer (£40 via Nespresso) – just in time for the beginning of spring. This sleek, stylish frother is tailor-made for portability and has the functionality for iced drinks – just at the time of year where we're all daydreaming of an iced cappuccino or latte in the sunshine.

Nespresso's accessories for the best coffee machines have a tendency to go seriously viral – the brand's seasonal iced coffee tumblers spring to mind – and I have a feeling the very bag-friendly NanoFoamer might be a serious hit. Here's a closer look at its credentials.

This is exclusively a frother for cold drinks, as there's no heating element within the wand, so it's the one for you if you're looking to whip up iced coffees, especially on the go.

Completely cordless and fitted with a rechargable battery, the charge on the NanoFoamer should last for up to three weeks. It can foam up to 200ml of milk at a time.

To operate it you first need to decide which kind of foam you want (superfine, fine or ordinary foam) and slot on the corresponding foaming head afterward (these are called Nanoscreens).

Then, according to Nespresso, all you need to do is pop the foamer into the milk for at least 20 seconds and wait for the silkiness of the milk to reach the consistency you're looking for. For clean up, simply give it a rinse after every use.

At £40, I'm hopeful the quality of this mini frother is high enough that it can last you for years to come, whether that's for holidays or to take to the office with you.

And as it seems the huge café kitchen trend isn't going anywhere, now might be a good time to upgrade your current milk frothing set up. If you're looking for accessories to complete your coffee corner, these are my current ultimate wish list picks.

Are you in the market to add to your coffee machine set up right now?

When buying a hugely expensive coffee machine for your home, you often rely on reviews, both from journalists and everyday users, to give you a sense of what it's like to unbox and set up. But what about how well it lasts after it's out of the box and, crucially, whether you'll actually use a bean-to-cup coffee machine at home?

I've chosen to revisit my Ninja Luxe Café Pro series coffee machine review to try and answer exactly that, six months after installing it in my kitchen. This is the more expensive version of the OG Luxe Café, which I gave five stars to in my review back in September, though I've been testing it since last May.

Here are three things I've learnt over time with this espresso machine.

1. It will genuinely save you on trips to a coffee shop

I've been testing this coffee machine while living at my sister's house, an important detail because it's given me an insight into whether it can actually help people cut down on their coffee shop habits.

Before the machine arrived for testing, my sister and her partner would buy coffees out everyday – mostly from places like Costa or Starbucks – with costs easily racking up within a week. That spending on coffee has dropped significantly – though there is still a cost to the beans and milk, of course – and the promise of an easily achieved latte is always enough to get them out of bed too.

The cost per use argument is wheeled out every time someone is debating whether getting a bean-to-cup coffee machine is worth it, but testing this machine in this environment has allowed me to see it play out for real.

2. But you really can't slack on cleaning

One of my gripes with this machine during the initial review process was the high frequency with which you need to empty the drip tray, which is pretty small in capacity.

This is a frequent complaint on the user reviews for this product via Ninja's website too. Over the course of a few months, the problem only intensifies, meaning you must keep up with emptying the machine every time you use it to avoid leaks onto your worktop.

Every time you go to make a coffee, make sure to lift the drip tray out and position it over the sink to drain. This is easy enough to do, but remembering it every time can be a pain.

If you know that everyday (everytime, even) cleaning isn't for you, look at other models with larger water tanks. I'm also a long time user of the Sage Barista Express Impress, which has to be emptied much less frequently.

3. It might be worth playing the waiting game

Sure, technically the RRP of this machine is still £699.99 (which is still a bit of a bargain compared to the Sage Barista Express Impress at £730 which does not have an automatic milk frother) but it's been dropping steadily in the sales.

Right now, you can buy it from Amazon for just £494.99 which is a total steal. It's lowest ever price via Amazon has been even lower, £489, so I think we can expect good things in the next sales period with this machine if you can hold out for Prime Day or Black Friday.

If you can grab it under £500, this machine will make a huge difference to your coffee drinking habits at home. Can you see yourself investing?

Most trends (Dubai chocolate, anyone?) last a few weeks and are forgotten by the end of the year. Mushroom coffee, however, has stuck around for more than a decade.

For the uninitiated, mushroom coffee is coffee combined with a variety of so-called 'functional' mushrooms. These mushrooms are said to provide all sorts of benefits, from increased energy and focus to stress relief and a stronger immune system.

But much of the marketing for these coffees is couched in wellness jargon that obscures the simplicity of the drink. This is everything you need to know about how to make mushroom coffee at home – spoiler alert: you don't need one of the best coffee machines to do it.

How does mushroom coffee work?

Mushroom coffee, as its name suggests, combines coffee with medicinal mushrooms. Coffee, usually instant coffee, is mixed with powdered mushrooms, most typically Lion's Mane mushrooms, as in the Dirtea Coffee with Lion's Mane, available at Amazon for £31.49, a blend I've been trying at home.

The idea is that this blend reduces the drink's caffeine content, preventing jitters, stomach upsets, and poor sleep. At the same time, the inclusion of nootropic mushrooms can have host of benefits. Lion's Mane mushrooms are believed to increase focus, Reishi mushrooms are said to relieve stress, and Chaga mushrooms boost immunity.

Because mushroom coffee uses finely-ground coffee and mushrooms, it's incredibly easy to prepare. Mushroom coffees are almost always instant coffee, so all you need to do it add boiling water – no specialist equipment in sight.

Can you make mushroom coffee in a coffee machine?

However, if you're put off by use of instant coffee in some mushroom coffees, there are other - albeit less common - ways to make mushroom coffee at home.

Brands like Four Sigmatic make ground mushroom coffee (£18 via Amazon), so you can brew it as you would any other ground coffee. You can make it like pour over in a Hario V60 cone, for instance, or in an Aeropress – I recently tried a whole host of those out if they're new to you. This will let you play with brew times to adjust the strength and flavour of your mushroom coffee.

If you have a pod coffee machine, you can also find mushroom coffee pods. The brand GoMush makes pods compatible with the original Nespresso machines (via Amazon for £13.99). Instant mushroom coffee is a faster method, but if you want a crema on your cofffe this might take the brew up a level.

You could, hypothetically, make this sort of mushroom coffee in a filter coffee machine like the Ninja Prestige Dualbrew System, which I recently reviewed. However, mushroom coffee is often expensive, and you need a lot of it to brew filter coffee this way. In most cases, you're best option is to stick to instant mushroom coffee.

Can I make mushroom coffee at home?

The truly health-and-coffee-obsessed can make mushroom coffee for themselves at home, but can be a bit of a faff. That said, if you have a preferred coffee roast that you think could do with a little boost from mushrooms, homemade could be the way to make a more personal blend.

The most simple way to make your own mushroom blend at home is to take some ground coffee - either ready-ground for a supermarket, or ground at home - and mix it with mushroom powder. Mushroom powder can be found at most whole food and health shops, or online. Most people mix it in a 1:1 ratio of coffee to mushroom powder, but if you want to limit the mushroom taste you could try a 2:1 mix; the benefit of making it yourself is that you can tailor the mix to your needs.

If you're really obsessive, you can make your own mushroom powder at home. Slice your chosen mushrooms, then lay them out in a dehydrator or one of the best air fryers with a dehydrate function. Dehydrate them for around 8 hours until they're brittle. Then, transfer them to a coffee or spice grinder, and grind them into your desired texture.

For most people, this is overkill, but it will let you dial in the exact taste, texture, and benefits you desire if you want to get involved in this particular trend.

I battled through years of trial and error with my old Breville bean-to-cup coffee machine to learn to make the perfect latte at home. I wish I'd started my journey with the Breville Barista Sense Espresso Machine, and I might have kicked my takeaway coffee habits years ago.

I've been testing this contender for the best bean-to-cup coffee machine for the last three months, and I can say not only is it a good-looking machine, but it also pulls a great espresso. It's a machine that will grow with you on your journey from a coffee novice to an amateur barista.

In a nutshell

The Breville Barista Sense Espresso Machine is one of Breville's newest coffee machines, launched at the end of 2025. It has the same slick good looks and automatic coffee doser of the more affordable models, but what sets this one apart is the addition of the TempSense technology in the milk frother and the addition of more customisable settings.

This is a machine that is suited to beginner latte makers who want consistent results without too much trial and error, but can also cater to coffee pros who want a bit more control over their espresso. You can adjust the coffee grind size, coffee grounds dosage, shot volume, extraction temperature, flow profile and milk temperature.

I benefited most from the automated features, which made it possible for me to make consistently delicious lattes at home, even on super busy mornings, and completely replaced my coffee shop orders. If this is your main goal when investing in one of the best coffee machines, I can't recommend it enough.

Breville Barista Sense Espresso machine

• Type: Bean to cup
• Water tank capacity: 1.8L
• Bean hopper: 250g removable
• Pressure: 15 bar
• Dimensions: 37.6 D x 31.6 W x 40 H cm
• RRP: £599.99

Unboxing and first impressions

Like all bean-to-cup coffee machines, the Breville Barista Sense Espresso machine is not small. Still, compared to other models I've tested and my previous Breville bean-to-cup coffee machines, it has a strikingly slim profile.

There is also ample space on top for storing two espresso cups and coffee cups. It is only available in black with stainless steel details that look beautiful on a kitchen countertop.

It is a pretty straightforward espresso machine. It has a steam wand, a light plastic tamp with a metal bottom, a milk steaming jug, filters for single and double shots, a portafilter and a brush. The smaller accessories, like the brush and filters, are all hidden in a compartment in the drip tray.

There is no digital screen, only a collection of simple dials and buttons to control. To make the setup even easier, the machine comes covered in easy-peel off stickers indicating things like where to position the milk jug for hands-free steaming and what milk setting to choose for different milk types. There is also a QR code with more setup guidance.

The water tank sits at the back of the coffee machine and is easy to lift in and out for refilling, or you can refill with a jug.

The bean hopper is on the smaller side; it can just about take 250g of coffee beans, but the lid doesn't fit as snugly as I'd have liked. The grind is relatively easy to adjust by twisting the whole hopper in line with a dial around the base. While I like the simplicity of this, it is more fiddly if you have limited mobility in your hands.

Before use, you need to wash all the parts, which was easy enough. Then you need to prime the machine by flushing water through the portafilter and the steam wand for 20 seconds.

What is is like to use?

This machine is unbelievably easy to use for a bean-to-cup model. You turn it on using the power button on the front; a light will pulse while it heats up. When it has heated up, the three cup buttons and the steam wand dial will illuminate white. This is relatively quick to do, and by the time you grind and tamp your coffee, it is ready to go.

While it is heating up, you can use the tap-and-go grinder. This is designed to automatically grind the perfect amount of coffee beans for a single or double espresso shot. You slot the portafilter in and then tap the handle for the number of shots. I prefer a double shot in my lattes, so I would double-tap in quick succession.

To test the consistency of the dosage, I used Salter's coffee scales, which confirmed I was getting 13g of grounds for a single shot and 19.5g for a double shot. I stuck with this setting, but if you prefer more or fewer grounds, you can override the auto-doser and customise it to your preference.

The machine is kitted out with anti-static technology, which promises to keep the coffee grounds where they are and not on your counter. It made far less mess than other coffee machines I've used, but it was still a little messy which you should expect a little mess when you're manually tamping.

The tamp is a little lighter than I would have liked, but I appreciated the neat metal band around the bottom, which added weight to get the perfect puck, and neatly lines up with the edge of the portafilter.

Once the machine has heated up, you can twist the portafilter into the group head. I found this a little stiff at first; however, it has loosened up after a few months of use. Then press the one or two cup button and you're ready for your espresso.

Making an espresso

It took me a couple of espressos to dial the coffee machine in and find the perfect ground size for my Grind coffee beans to get a smooth stream of coffee and that silky crema. My first couple of espressos were drippy and over-extracted, but it was easy enough to troubleshoot using the guidance in the user manual. In my case, I hadn't gotten the grind size or tamping quite right.

While I haven't managed to achieve a perfectly smooth stream, I think that is down to my tamping skills rather than the machine itself. Overall, I have been able to achieve espresso shots with a lovely, long-lasting crema within a couple of days. This is something that's taken me weeks/months to perfect on other manual machines as a beginner.

There is the option to further fine-tune your espresso by adjusting the shot volume and extraction temperature. As I was more focused on speed and a delicious, low-effort coffee, I only dabbled with this and relied on the automatic features, which delivered great results.

The biggest downside of this machine is the noise. When pulling a shot there is a what I'd describe as a rhythmic thumping which vibrates the drip tray, adding to the metallic brrr sound.

Steaming milk

If you are an Americano drinker, the machine is kitted out with a hot water tap next to the milk wand for topping up an espresso. However, as a latte drinker, it was the temperature-sensing steam wand I relied on.

The temperature sense wand is the big selling point of the Barista Sense Espresso machine. The steam adjustment dial allows you to pick the perfect temperature for your chosen milk and automatically switches off when it reaches it. The four presets are matched up to the optimum temperatures for heating coconut, soy, almond and dairy milk.

I started out using the manual steam settings, but have completely switched to the pre-set options as they were better suited to busy mornings and switching between making a dairy milk latte for myself and an oat milk latte for my partner.

For those who prefer more control over their milk frothing, there is the option to skip the temperature-sense auto-shutoff and instead choose between a high and low steam rate.

The bonus of the temperature sense feature is that, in theory, you can steam your milk hands-free. There is a sticker to indicate where to place the milk jug on the drip tray to do this, both my oat milk and dairy milk screamed blue murder at me when I tried it out. I found that the only way to avoid the screeching was to hold the jug to stretch the milk first before putting it down on the drip tray to finish.

Overall, the steam wand worked a treat, creating the perfect microfoam. What confused me the most at first is actually one of the biggest selling points for the steam want: I didn't have to angle the jug as much as with other coffee machines to get the whirlpool going. This is how it can get away with the hands-free steaming option.

However, the chunkiness of the temperature sense steam wand might irritate some; it threw me off at first after using the slimmer wand of the budget Breville Barista Max.

What's it like to clean

Overall, the machine is super easy to clean. The manual comes with a handy timetable of what requires cleaning at what frequency, and the brushes to clean the group head and grinder are all included in a compartment hidden behind the drip tray.

There is also a cleaning light that comes on when the machine requires a cleaning cycle. This is straightforward: just place a cleaning table in the middle of the cleaning disk provided in the portafilter, press the cleaning button, and the machine does the rest. The whole process takes around 7 minutes to complete.

My biggest complaint is that the drip tray fills up quickly, and some of the steam condenses onto the brushes in their hidden compartment. That means you need to take extra care to keep these dry and empty the drip tray regularly.

How does it compare to similar models?

Despite the RRP of £599, you can usually pick up the Breville Barista Sense Espresso machine for just shy of £400, which is a reasonable price for a bean-to-cup coffee machine with temperature sense technology. However, it isn't the best-value coffee machine I've seen; that would be the ProCook Barista Elite Bean-to-Cup Espresso Coffee Machine, which is currently priced at £479. It has a similar product spec, an automated milk frother, but it also features a dual thermoblock heating system.

That is actually the biggest downside of the Barista Sense Espresso Machine; it doesn't have the dual thermoblock heating system, which speeds up the heating process and allows you to brew and steam at the same time. The Breville Barista Signature Espresso Machine, which is £100 more expensive than the Barista Sense, includes one, alongside a digital screen that displays things like your espresso extraction time to help with dialling in. However, the trade-off is that it doesn't have the temperature-sense wand.

The Barista Sense Espresso Machine is the only model in the new Breville bean-to-cup espresso machine range to have that feature in the steaming wand. However, if you don't mind going more manual with your milk steaming, you can get many of the same features with the Breville Barista Classic Espresso Machine for an RRP of £499.

Should you buy this coffee machine?

If you are on a budget and looking for a bean-to-cup machine that will take you from beginner to expert, you can't go far wrong with the Barista Sense Espresso Machine, especially if you can find it on sale for around £400. There are very few coffee machines with this amount of capability and flexibility at that price point.

Whether you are a beginner or a coffee enthusiast, this machine will have something to offer you. As a relative beginner who likes a low-effort latte, this machine has been perfect for helping me to achieve consistent results.

It is an awful lot noisier than other coffee machines I've tested, and the stiff portafilter was very annoying at the start; those are the main things that would put me off. But for the price point, it serves up a mean cafe-worthy espresso, and it looks gorgeous on a kitchen counter.

The cost of enjoying a cup of coffee at home from fresh beans just drastically dropped with the release of Philips Baristina Espresso Machine, which will be available from the 6th of February and is available to preorder now from John Lewis for £299.99.

One of the reasons that people often cite for picking a pod coffee machine over the best bean-to-cup version is the cost, with the latter often coming in at over £500. But this manual machine (which means you need to pull your own espresso shots) costs far less than competitors.

With a pricetag that might just be about to end the supremacy of pod coffee machines for good (depending on if the coffee is any good, of course), this frankly shockingly good looking machine is not only a bargain, but has a small footprint on a worktop too.

Here's a closer look at the coffee machine that might be about to spark a more affordable bean-to-cup machine revolution.

Part of the appeal for many with this machine will be the uncomplicated design. There's a three-button control panel along the top of the machine, which isn't visible from a head on view, and a fluted-look body behind where the portafilter sits.

With other bean-to-cup machines there can often be a steep learning curve before you get the hang of how the programs and grind sizes affect your coffee. Philips are aiming to do away with that kind of complication with the Baristina.

The brand claim this machine has a brewtime of under 60 seconds, calling it an 'efficient' option for busy mornings. There's no capacity for milk frothing inbuilt within the machine, though there are separate small frothers which will be on sale alongside it.

This is also a compact machine. Measuring up at (18cm x 345.5cm x 38cm) it is markedly smaller than Ideal Home's current favourite manual bean-to-cup machine, the Ninja Luxe Cafe (which I awarded five stars to in my review). One of my gripes with it was its bulky size at 33.6cm in width.

Made from more than 50% recycled plastics, Philips is also keen to emphasise the eco-friendly edge to this machine as well as the benefits that customers can enjoy by ditching pod coffee forever, with cost per use and sustainability coming up trumps.

From a first look it's very easy to see why the Baristina might be a hit with those who have put off buying a bean-to-cup machine on the basis of price. Here are some other sub £300 machines you can compare it with.

Do you like the look of this new Philips machine?

It appears newlyweds are waking up and smelling the coffee by buying into the incredibly popular café kitchen trend.

And it's not just the brunch-friendly aesthetic they're buying into – the best coffee machines have been distinctly identified as one of the major trends to watch in 2026 by wedding registry service The Wedding Shop – with customers determined to replicate the quality of their favourite coffee shops at home.

Liza Baucher, Gifting Guru at The Wedding Shop, told me why coffee as a registry category has been hotting up. 'Investing in a great coffee machine means enjoying quality coffee without the daily spend, saving money in the long run while elevating everyday routines,' says Liza.

'That’s why coffee machines make such a strong wedding registry choice: they’re practical yet indulgent, encourage shared daily rituals, and become part of life long after the big day.'

As Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor and coffee obsessive (as well as someone getting married this year), I was keen to know more about exactly which coffee machines couples are wishing for. Here are the top 5 from The Wedding Shop's bestseller list

1. Moka Espresso Pot

If you're heading to a wedding this year and hoping to keep things under budget when it comes to the regsitry, then you can breathe a sigh of relief in that knowledge that one top seller is a very affordable Moka Pot.

Yep, it's the Bialetti Moka Pot, an Italian classic for quality at-home coffee. Capable of brewing six cups at a time, this pot sits on your hob and utilises steam to brew an espresso-like drink from coffee grounds.

A Moka Pot has simplicity on its side and charm by the bucketload – especially the pastel coloured versions. For those who don't want to dedicate a large chunk of their budget or worktop to a coffee machine, a pot like this is a genius move.

2. A Sage coffee machine

The stainless steel star power of a Sage coffee machine is yet to be overtaken in the eyes of many, clearly, with the brand's Barista Touch Impress Espresso Machine with Cold Brew (£1,1995.95 via Sage) claiming the second spot on this list. This eye-wateringly pricey machine is like having a live-in barista in your kitchen, delivering a range of coffee-shop-worthy drinks via a full colour touch screen.

This is one of Sage's brand new releases, which we reviewed highly in the summer, with our expert tester saying it 'takes the guesswork out of making the perfect cup of coffee'.

Features of this high spec machine includes cold brew and cold espresso at the touch of a button, as well as eight texture levels to choose from via the automatic milk frother.

If you like the look and sound of a Sage but not so much the £1000+ price tag of this machine, there are more affordable alternative options available from the brand – our Barista Express Impress and Barista Express reviews are proof of that.

3. The Creatista Plus Nespresso Coffee Machine

If you like the look of the machine at #2 but you're not interested in the faff of grinding beans yourself, then you're in good company with the couples that have opted for this machine instead.

A stunning pod coffee maker dreamed up in collaboration with Sage and Nespresso, this machine can deliver you a latte or an americano with much less input from you than a bean-to-cup version.

For those who are bleary-eyed in the mornings, there's plenty to like here – including a 3 second heat up time and a starter pod set to get you into all the flavours available with Nespresso. What I like less about this brand of machine is being tied into Nespresso Vertuo pods (which are expensive and can be trickier to find) and the fact that pods still remain fairly hard to recycle.

We haven't tested this model but we have tried its sister machine (and rate it as the best pod machine out there): the Nespresso Vertuo Creatista.

4. Plisse Filter Coffee Machine

The best filter coffee machines are ideal for those who want to have a hot cup of joe on the go all day long, whether working from home or relaxing on the weekends. And the ultra-stylish Plisse Filter Coffee Machine, with it pleated look, is kitted out to help you do just that.

Equipped with a heating base to keep your coffee warm and an automatic start function to get you out of bed in the mornings, this drip coffee machine is bang on trend.

Filter coffee doesn't deliver the same kick as a shot of espresso but it can be imbued with delicious, delicate flavour – especially with this coffee machine which is kitted out with an 'exceptional aroma extraction'.

5. De'Longhi Magnifico Evo Bean to Cup Coffee Machine

I'm glad to see fan favourite brand De'Longhi on this list, especially the Magnifica Evo which has become a (more) affordable pick for many. This is an automatic bean-to-cup machine, which means that you can enjoy the freshness of coffee beans whilst benefitting from the convenience of just pressing one button in the morning.

I haven't tested the Eco model from the Magnifico series but I have tried the Magnifica Plus, which I reviewed and gave 4.5 stars.

It's little surprise that couples have asked for this machine on their wedding registry as it's spectacularly well reviewed too – a 4.3 star rating on Amazon makes it a popular pick indeed.

Whether you're getting married soon and brainstorming your wish list for your home or you just like finding out what other people are snapping up after their nuptials then one thing is for sure: at-home coffee is only set to grow in popularity in 2026.

Editor's note: all of the items mentioned above are available to list on The Wedding Shop and engaged couples can register here.

I am guilty of often leaving at least a third of my coffee or tea to go cold, much to the annoyance of my partner. No matter how delicious the drink is, even when made with one of the best coffee machines, I can never seem to finish it fast enough.

That's why the concept of the Ember Mug (available from £129.95) is well suited to my admittedly fussy drinking habits. It's an electric mug, which you charge on a matching coaster, that can be set to your ideal drinking temperature and sip from for up to 90 minutes without it going cold.

I've been trying the Ember Mug 2 since the New Year to try and keep up with one of my resolutions to entirely cut my spending on takeaway coffees. Here's how this clever mug has helped me achieve it.

The Ember 2 works thanks to a (basically impossible to detect) built-in battery in the bottom of the mug. It holds enough charge for 90 minutes while you sip or will last you all day for WFH coffee and tea if you use it in constant conjunction with its coaster (which is also its charging pad).

It looks like a normal mug, albeit a very swish one, with the only tell being the LED light along the bottom which lets you know when its reached the right temperature to be used.

Black is Ember's bestselling colour so that's the one I opted to try out, but if I had the chance again I'd choose the Rose Gold colourway – there's 6 colours available in total.

Setting up the Ember Mug 2 is really easy, especially if you just want the most basic level of use. Simply charge it up, turn it on using the power button on the bottom and pour your drink in. The preset 'hot' temperature is warm enough for me, but if you like your coffee extra hot then all you need to do is download the Ember app and connect your mug in order to crank the temperature up.

Using my everyday coffee machine, the Sage Barista Express Impress (which we've reviewed), I've made lattes everyday which stay fantastically warm in the Ember 2 even when I forget to keep sipping during meetings or when I get distracted by work.

The matching coaster is neat and tidy too and keeping the mug near my coffee machine means it's easy to remember to return it to charge after handwashing it. Of course, due to its electronic element the Ember 2 can't go into the dishwasher or into the microwave. Besides, if you need to dial the temperature up, you can do that on the app. The highest temperature you can set the mug to is 50°C - 62.5 °C.

The one downside I've experienced with the Ember Mug 2 so far is that it can't accompany me on my morning walks (or on a commute). There is a travel version available, but those with a double-walled carry cup probably feel that box has already been ticked (for a lot less money).

The cost of this Ember mug is its most controversial feature. At over £100, it's certainly a stretch to say that its an essential. But if you're looking for a big-ticket purchase to complete your coffee station at home or if your tendency to leave drinks to go ice cold has plagued you for a long time, it might be worth the investment. I've certainly been enjoying the ability to sip my drinks for longer with it.

If there is one thing I'll remember 2025 for, it will be as the year that the UK discovered the bean-to-cup coffee machine. On Ideal Home, we saw a huge rise in interest in these barista-worthy coffee machines, so it came as no surprise that the coffee machine that Ideal Home readers couldn't stop clicking on wasn't a pod machine, but the Philips 5500 Series Bean-to-Cup Coffee Machine, which is currently reduced by £100 to £549.99 at Amazon.

The Phillips coffee machine wasn't the only best bean-to-cup coffee machine that made the list of our most popular coffee machines in 2025. In fact, based on the number of clicks since January, the top three most popular machines this year were all bean-to-cup models. The best pod coffee machines are a great entryway into the world of coffee machines, but this year, there has been a clear levelling up in the at-home coffee arena.

While the Philips 5500 Bean-to-Cup Coffee Machine isn't cheap, it offers one of the most impressive drink menus at the touch of a button. This is honestly the closest you could get to having a barista whipping up drinks in your kitchen.

In our Philips 5500 Series LatteGo Bean-to-Cup Coffee Machine review, our reviewer awarded it a solid 4 out of 5 stars. Alongside its extensive coffee menu of 20 drinks (with hot and cold options), it's also one of the most customisable coffee machines we've tested.

It just takes a little fiddly button pushing to adjust a drink to your specific preferences at first, then you can save it to use again and again. There isn't a Starbucks barista who could make your perfect coffee order faster.

The most appealing part about this particular coffee machine is that it is nearly always reduced by £100; however, it is still a hefty price tag. But to give you a little perspective, I've worked out that the current on-sale price is equal to 144 coffee shop lattes priced at £3.80. So if you ditched a daily coffee shop order for this machine, it'll start paying for itself in less than a year.

Runner-ups

It wasn't just the Phillips coffee machine that caught our readers' attention this year. Here are the most popular coffee machine runner-ups from Ninja and Lavazza.

Did you add any of these coffee machines to your kitchen in 2025?

This Beko Caffe Experto Series CE7500+ review puts this budget bean-to-cup machine to the test to see if it makes good coffee.

While I wasn't wowed by this machine, it could be an option for those looking for one of the best bean-to-cup coffee machines on a budget.

In a nutshell

The Beko Caffe Experto Series CE7500+ costs £500, but by bean-to-cup standards it's relatively budget. It attempts to offer a rare thing – a bean-to-cup coffee machine that doesn't break the bank.

At first glance, it hits this budget price without cutting any corners, offering 18 different styles of coffee, from classic coffee like espresso to more complicated milk coffee like latte macchiato.

But if it seems to good to be true, it probably is, so I put this machine to the test for a week to see how it stacks up against the best coffee machines.

I found that if you're a coffee snob like me, this machine doesn't quite cut it. If you just want something simple the whole family can use, however, this might be the coffee maker for you.

Beko Caffe Experto Series CE7500+ product specs

• Type: bean-to-cup
• Control type: automatic
• Water tank capacity: 2 litres
• Bean hopper: 250g
• Pressure: 19 bar
• Dimensions: ‎W27.5 x H35.9 x D41.2 cm
• Weight: 9.68kg
• Colours available: black and silver
• RRP: £499

Unboxing and first impressions

I was impressed with this machine out of the box. It's a sleek appliance, and it takes up much less room than most bean-to-cup machines. In the usual black and steel of modern appliances, it's not the most stylish machine, but it looks impressive on a kitchen counter. It's the sort of thing to draw admiring comments from guests, which belies that this is remarkably inexpensive for a bean-to-cup machine.

However, I wasn't impressed for long. You only need to do it once, but setting up this machine was a pain. The manual has very little information about set up, and some of its steps contradict the steps in the separate water filter instructions. These are also contradicted by the app, and a video on YouTube, which was much easier to follow. However, some of the instructions are badly written and don't make much sense.

For example, when adding the water filter, it tells you to 'insert and push the water filter cartridge 'downwards into the bottom socket until i cannot move forward', which doesn't make any sense, because there's no way it can move 'forward' in any direction. This minor confusion happened on almost every step. While the intended method was obvious to figure out, it was still a little frustrating.

The app is straightforward but takes a while to pair to your phone. You also have to test your water hardness to calibrate the machine. After all that, I then had to download a software update. Once all of this was sorted, I could finally add some beans into the hopper.

What is it like to use?

Once everything is set up, however, it's very easy to use. You select your coffee from the touchscreen and it makes it for you.

You'll be alerted any time the water container is empty (which is handy, as it's around the back of the machine and you can't see it), and it will tell you when to empty leftover coffee grounds. The milk jug is detachable so you can keep it in the fridge, and it's all very simple to use. I got through around seven coffees before needing to refill the tank, and ten coffees before I needed to empty the coffee grounds bin.

Brewing is quiet, and while grinding is an unpleasant noise, it maxes at 65.9dBA, so it's not particularly loud.

You can change the intensity and length of your coffee, and set different modes and variations as favourites. There's a functionality for setting different user favourites too, so if your partner drinks black coffee and you prefer white coffee you can set different favourites, but it's so fast to use that you don't really need this feature.

The app is similarly easy to use, but I found that I never used it. It works well, but for most people it's pointless. You need to switch the machine on anyway and put a cup underneath, so you’re already next to the machine and might as well use the screen.

That said, the app could be great for accessibility – if you're blind and can't use the screen but can use your phone, the app is very useful.

Espresso

My first test was the most basic function of any coffee maker, an espresso. I didn't mess with the settings for my first test, because I wanted to see what the preset was like.

I have to be honest: the first coffee wasn't very good. It's not the worst coffee I've ever tried, but it was poor. It was bitter, sharp, and a little burned. There was a hint of the sort of sourness you get from over-extraction, and a thin crema. My overwhelming impression was that it tasted very thin. It felt watery and lacked the richness of a good espresso, and this was also true when I tried the Americano function.

To adjust for next time, I went for a much finer grind to increase the surface area of the coffee and stop it from being so watery. It made for a better coffee, but it wasn't a lifechanger. It was serviceable coffee, and that was true when I scaled it up to an Americano too.

Worse than either of these was the 'intense' setting, which made for a very sour over-extracted espresso, which was genuinely undrinkable.

The good news, however, is that the ground coffee mode is great. You add a scoop of beans to the ground coffee hopper, then select that mode after you've picked the coffee you want. This made for a much more balanced espresso, easily the best of the espressos I made in this machine.

Latte macchiato and milky coffees

My first test of the milk foaming was a tricky one, a latte macchiato, which needs a lot of milk foam. The milk jug is very easy to use, just fill it with milk to maximum line and slot it into the machine.

It made the drink in around a minute, which is pretty good for a milky coffee like this. The foam was excellent too – not the best I've ever had but much better than you might expect at this price. The steamed milk was fairly good, and as I came to find out across all of these drinks, the espresso was just fine.

This was also true of the cappuccino, flat white, and latte I tried. I thought I'd have more to discuss with these, but was actually very little difference between these modes and the ratios of milk foam weren't quite right.

It was mostly an matter of quantity rather than style. The exception was a cortado, which was correctly much stronger than the other coffees I tried, and the best of the white coffee options.

However, it's really great with alternative milk. It made a great oat cappuccino, with perfect milk foam, even if the coffee itself wasn't amazing.

Iced americano and cold brew

Though it was my favourite of any of the drinks I tried, I was disappointed with the iced 'Americano' mode. That's because it isn't a mode at all. When you press 'iced Americano, the usual 'start' button is replaced with a button that says 'guide me'. This then tells you to place a glass with cold water and ice under the coffee outlet. If you hit start, it just pulls a shot of espresso over the ice.

This is fine – it made a nice iced Americano – but this isn't a 'mode', it's just the basics of an iced americano. There are other machines out there which at least pull through the water to top up the shot of espresso. It's the same story for the iced latte function. I think it's disingenuous to call these preset functions.

Bizarrely, it's the same for the 'cold brew' function. You have to put ice in a glass, and then it slowly drips warm coffee into the cup over two minutes. To be fair, it was one of the nicer coffees this machine makes, but don't buy it expecting true cold brew. This is an approximation made by dripping lukewarm coffee over ice.

What's it like to clean?

This machine has a thoughtful but slightly annoying auto cleaning feature. It flushes the coffee nozzle and milk jug with water when you switch it on. This is great, but if you’ve just woken up and forget to put a cup underneath it will dump a load of water onto the drip tray.

What's more frustrating is that you can't really turn this off. You can turn settings – like the sound alerts – off, but it doesn’t remember this change in between uses. You can turn it off as you use the machine, but once it goes on standby it will revert to the auto clean mode.

However, the rest of it easy to clean. The milk jug sometimes drips after you use it but it's very simple to hand wash the drip tray and coffee ground bin. The screen inevitably picks up fingerprints but it's the work of seconds to clean these off with a microfibre cloth.

How does it compare to similar models?

This model is cheaper than similar options on the market, so it can be a good option if you want to save a little money. It's usually around £250 cheaper than the De'Longhi Eletta Explore, for instance, or £150 cheaper than the Philips 5500. It's slightly easier to use than these machines, too. None of them is difficult to operate but the big, simple touchscreen on this Beko machine is really straightforward, especially if you're a little bleary-eyed in the morning.

However, the coffee simply isn't as nice as those in the De'Longhi or Philips. I've spent days wondering if it's just user error, but I always use the same coffee beans, so I think it's the machine. It makes slightly burned, slightly too acidic coffee. It's hardly undrinkable; it's perfectly fine, but for £500 it might be worth saving up a little more for a machine that makes nicer coffee.

Should you buy the Beko Caffe Experto Series CE7500+?

Coffee snobs should stay away. If you're as annoying about coffee as I am, this is not the machine for you. I've used much better bean-to-cup machines and most espresso machines are far, far better than this. After a lot of fuss I've yet to use this machine to make a really good espresso.

However, I think this could be good option for busy families who aren't too bothered about their coffee. It makes pretty good milky coffees like lattes and cappuccinos, even if there's little difference between the modes. If you're all piling out of the door in the morning it's helpful to a machine that can quickly turn out reliable lattes and cappuccinos.

I think it's great for hosting – it's helpful to be able to quickly make different coffees without any work. It's great to get a serviceable latte macchiato without faffing around with a steam wand.

Another use case might be for small businesses. If you run a small office, this is a great coffee machine to keep busy workers caffeinated. If you run an Airbnb, this is a relatively inexpensive way to make your rental feel a little more premium.

In short, if you obsess over espresso, don't buy this. If you want a decent automatic cappuccino without breaking the bank, this could be a good choice.

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.

Aeropress coffee is a cafe classic. For nearly two decades, these clever contraptions have made strong, smooth coffee for a fraction of the price and hassle of espresso machines, moka pots, and other coffee machines.

But if you aren't a coffee obsessive it can be tricky to work out which model is best for a Christmas gift. It's not clear from the marketing if there's much of a difference between the Original and the Premium models, nor if there's any anything particularly special about the travel version.

To find out, I put the three bestselling Aeropress models to the test for weeks to work out which makes the best Christmas gift.

I found that the Premium model looks great, but there's no difference in coffee quality between it and the Original. While the travel model is fun to take with you on a hike, it's just as easy to carry the original Aeropress.

In short, I think the Aeropress Original (£39.99 via Amazon) is easily the best option for a Christmas present. It makes exceptional coffee and it usually costs under £40, so it's a perfect gift for any coffee lover.

The quick list

What is an Aeropress?

Invented in the early 2000s, an Aeropress offers a unique style of coffee. You quickly brew coffee in its chamber, then use a plunger and air pressure to force hot water and air through the coffee grounds.

It combines the steeping process of filter, pour-over or French press coffee with some of the pressurisation of a moka pot and espresso.

The idea is that this makes fast, rich coffee. It lacks the bitterness or sourness of some espressos, but it's not as watery as coffee from one of the best filter machines.

Which Aeropress should I buy?

1. Aeropress Original coffee maker

This Aeropress makes laughably good coffee for the price. The marketing copy on the box says it’s ‘Full bodied like a French press, Smooth like a Pour-Over, Rich like Espresso’, which I was very skeptical about but it’s sort of true.

It’s probably closest to pour over or filter but it doesn’t have the watery weakness of these coffees. Instead, it brings a strong, rich flavour. Unlike most coffee steeped in hot water there were no grounds or grittiness either.

The coffee is exceptional for the price. It's one one of the few coffee makers I’ve reviewed where I made another coffee simply for the taste, not to test. Steeping the coffee for a minute longer than Aereopress recommend made a much stronger, richer coffee, which I liked even more.

A great thing about the Aeropress is its simplicity. Put a filter paper in the filter cap, lock the filter cap into the chamber, put that over the mug, add water, stir, wait, then press down. It's simple, fast, and no louder than boiling a kettle, so you can make one of these without waking the whole house.

The inversion method is even easier – just flip it upside down to add the coffee and the water, which skips the faff of quickly stirring and adding the plunger to create the seal.

It's really simple to clean, too. When you're done, push the plunger through the chamber and pop all the coffee out into the bin, then rinse everything under the tap.

A very minor issue is that this obviously has no way to steam milk, so cappuccinos are out of the question. It also won't work if the person you're giving this to someone who loves espresso, because the coffee isn't true espresso. It’s nothing like espresso or or moka pot coffee, so don’t buy it expecting to pull perfect espresso shots. The paper filters will be an ongoing expense too, though the company sells metal filters at Aeropress.co.uk.

Another issue is that it only makes one cup at a time. This is perfect for me, because my partner doesn't drink coffee, but anyone wanting to show off their coffee skills may find it a little frustrating.

The best news – this is the best option for most people. I tried the Aeropress Premium below and liked it, but there is no difference between the coffee quality. You can buy a present that makes excellent coffee for £40 instead. So if you know a coffee obsessive that doesn't have an Aeropress already, this is an excellent gift.

2. Aeropress Go coffee maker

The Aeropress Go, unsurprisingly, is designed for travel. 100ml smaller than the Original and Premium models, it cleverly packs a folding stirrer and coffee scoop into its chamber. It also includes a handy snap case for paper filters, and it comes with a lid.

To test it out, I took it on a 20k walk around Richmond Park to se if it was easy to use on the go. In the wild you'd probably use a camp stove to boil water for the chamber but I just took some boiling water in a travel flask.

I was really impressed. The scoop is just the right size for the chamber, so it's easy to add coffee, and the folding stirrer was also effective. I could put the scoop and stirrer into the lid to keep them from getting muddy on the ground, and it was just as simple to add the water and press down.

The coffee was great, almost as good as the original, and it was great to sit for a minute by a pond and enjoy some freshly brewed coffee. There was a slight flavour difference from the Original and Premium models, but I'm almost certain this was because the boiling water in the flask was cooler than the water I'd been using from my kitchen kettle. The friend I was walking with loved the coffee; he called it a 'rich' and 'clean' coffee flavour without any grittiness or sourness.

Of course, it's a little gimmicky. If you're taking coffee on a walk it's much simpler to make it before and keep it in a travel flask. But it could be great for taking camping; it's lighter and takes up less room than a French press or moka pot, which you can also use on the go.

However, the cup included in this Aeropress means that it's actually heavier than the original Aeropress, so some ultralight campers might prefer to stick to the Aeropress Original and take their favourite travel mug with them to save on the weight. I think this is a great option for taking on hikes or camping, but if you want an Aeropress to take with you on work trips, it's just as easy to pack an original Aeropress, which is usually cheaper. This makes a great gift for anyone who loves to camp, but in most cases the Original is a better option.

3. Aeropress Premium

No prizes for guessing the point of the Aeropress Premium. This model swaps out the polypropylene plastic of the original for stainless steel, aluminium, and a dual wall glass chamber. Everything about it steps up the design of the original. Even the packaging is fancier than the regular Aeropress, filled with foam to stop the glass from breaking, and the box even has a magnetic opening.

The material swap makes for a much chunkier product than the Original. The original weighs in at 255g, and this weighs 891g. At nearly a kilo, it feels a lot more substantial than the original.

However, it makes identical coffee to the original. I thought the sleeker materials might make a difference, but they don't. It costs £130 more, but that price only covers slightly better looking materials. At first glance you might think that it's non-toxic, because it doesn't contain plastic, but the plunger end is rubber, so it's not truly plastic-free.

The materials look great, but they come with a few drawbacks. The metal filter conducts heat, so you have to be careful not to burn yourself when cleaning up after a cup. While it's interesting to watch the coffee steep through the glass, this picks up fingerprints, and it's not as easy to clean as the plastic Original, even if only by a matter of seconds.

On top of that, one of the joys of the Original is that it's light and small. You can throw it in a drawer or chuck it in a bag to take with you on trips, which isn't very practical with the Premium.

I think this is a great gift if you know someone who already loves Aeropress and fancies something that looks a little nicer. This is a great present for anyone who might find the plasticky Aeropress Original out of keeping with their kitchen design. It makes just as good coffee as the original, but it's probably not worth the £130 price jump from the classic Aeropress above.

With my thoughts after trying and testing these picks, hopefully lining up a present for the coffee obsessed in your life just got a little bit easier.

Dreaming of a coffee machine for your home that's as capable as the one in your office at work? Then take a look at the Siemens EQ900 Plus, which I think is the closest I've found to that pinnacle. Here's how I got on when I reviewed it as part of my quest to find the best bean-to-cup coffee machine out there.

In a nutshell

This machine is sleek, capable and kitted out with plenty of features that will make your experience of a morning cup of coffee as smooth as possible. That includes a bean identification system for ease and automatic descaling and cleaning for when you're all done.

The long black drink options are great with this machine and the milk texture is impressive on lattes and cappuccinos. Those who love having multiple coffees a day will be impressed with the extensive drinks menu and this machine will be sure to impress any guests to your home, too. My favourite feature? The unbelievably kitted out full colour touchscreen, which is like watching a TV.

Though this is an undoubtedly impressive machine, I simply can't see what justifies the huge price tag (£2,199 via Amazon), especially as the standard EQ900 machine (£1,199 via Amazon) is far, far less. Plus, if I was going to spend this much on a coffee machine I'd want it to bring more worktop appeal in terms of design but that point is all down to personal preference.

Product specs

• Type: bean-to-cup
• Control type: automatic
• Water tank capacity: 2.3 litres
• Bean hopper: 1 x 280g 'fresh' hopper, 1 x additional hopper
• Pressure: 20 bar
• Dimensions: H38.5cm x W24.5cm x D43cm
• Weight: 392 x 315 x 470 mm
• RRP: £2,199.00

Design and features

The EQ900 Plus features 'baristaMode' technology, which allows you to extract a delicious coffee from this machine without needing a certification in barista skills.

Through the program on the screen, you can be assisted with changes to the grind size, strength and brewing temperature of a menu of drinks. The touch screen that goes along with this mode is so intuitive – it walks you through every step of the process, even including adding your beans. It feels pretty foolproof.

The two separate bean hoppers are a huge draw too. They can be individually controlled, which is great for making decaf coffees in between caffeinated drinks or in the afternoons. Speaking of those hoppers, there's also a 'beanIdent System' with this machine which gives you prompts to describe the kind of beans you're using and then adjusts settings for you to give you a better brew. It's the kind of tech I've loved before on machines like De'Longhi's Specialista Touch.

This is a sleek, stainless steel number which hides away the water tank in one side and includes a plastic-y milk carafe in the other. It's not a design I'd personally enjoy on my worktop, as it really does feel straight out of a corporate office, but the features certainly make extracting a good cup of coffee easy.

Drinks

The menu here is extensive with 36 beverages to choose from but if I was paying around the £2000 mark for a coffee machine, that's exactly what I'd want and more. The full list of drinks ranges from a simple Americano to Caffe Lattes and separate milk frothing modes (which surprisingly not all coffee machines like this have).

The black coffees I tried with this machine all tasted great and there's plenty to tweak if you're an at-home espresso expert. Truly, there are programs within programs to explore – when using 'baristaMode' you can get into the weeds with 'aromaBoost' and alter your espresso ratios down to the finest detail. If none of that sounds appealing to you, you can use 'comfortMode' to set up your favourites at the touch of a button instead.

You can even set up your phone in tandem with this machine and remotely control it, if that's something that takes your fancy. If not, the huge colour touch screen is quite enough to be getting on with and is by far the most impressive I've ever tested – especially when used in tandem with all of the Barista mode settings for those who love to nosey around when it comes to their coffee.

I'm more of a long coffee drinker, so I was excited to try out the vast menu of options with milk. The texture that the automatic dispenser creates is great but the process is fiddly to get the milk carafe working correctly, involving more tubes than I'd like. It's overall less straightforward than with other machines I've tried of the same calibre in terms of set-up.

The texture of the frothed milk once you get there however is absolutely top tier and for excellent cappuccinos at home, you won't be disappointed.

What's it like to clean?

This machine is a huge draw for anyone put off by a bean-to-cup machine because of the amount of cleaning that owning one takes. The automatic cleaning and descaling system will kick in regularly to keep your machine in tip-top condition.

You can also manually remove the brewing unit in order to give it a rinse in the sink to prevent blockages and the milk system benefits from a fully automatic cleaning program too so that build-up doesn't need to become a problem.

How does it compare to similar machines?

Our top-rated bean-to-cup machine at the time of writing is the De'Longhi Rivelia. As per our 5-star review, it looks great, performs excellently and has a program to help you get the best out of your coffee beans as well as one-touch settings and two bean hoppers. With an price tag of £647 at the time of writing, it's easy to see why it's such a popular choice compared to paying over £2000 for this Siemens model.

However, if you want all of the fine tuning and customisation that this Siemens model can offer as well as remote control settings and the standout cleaning settings, then I'm sure the price difference will be justifiable.

Should you buy the Siemens EQ900 Plus?

If the extras included with this machine appeal to your specific home needs in terms of coffee and cleaning, then paying the extra cash for this machine will be worth it, as it can definitely deliver high-quality coffees of all types. However, I still find the price astronomical despite of all its positives.