De'Longhi Magnifica Evo, Bean to Cup Coffee and Cappuccino Maker, ECAM292.81.B, Black

Product Information

If you’re after a longer coffee, however, then you may not always find the coffee and long coffee presets are to your taste. Where pricier machines pour an espresso (or two) and then add hot water to create a longer coffee, the De’Longhi simply passes more water through the ground coffee. The upshot is that it has a tendency to taste bitter.

There are two spouts on the coffee dispenser which means you can make two coffees at once. We found the machine sturdy enough to prevent the espresso cups from sliding around on the drip tray and the adjustable height of the dispenser meant it was very easy to fit a variety of cup sizes beneath it. Should DeLonghi orient itself more towards modern microfoam here? I don’t think so. The cappuccino is super hot, which indicates the milk has almost been denatured. Still, I know you guys like really hot milk, so that’ll be good news! The advantage is obvious: no matter how big your cups or glasses are, you’re able to fill them. The carafe is too small to fill two latte macchiato glasses, but you’ll be able to get a couple of decent sized cappuccinos. Milk frothing is a manual affair but the steam wand is designed for beginners. There’s no expertise required here at all, and even a complete novice can make a serviceable latte or cappuccino with minimal effort. Spend a little time optimising the grind size, coffee temperature and the amount of espresso and milk used for each drink, and you can get better results but you can also make things worse, so there’s no harm in just leaving it at the default settings. Whereas the Magnifica S Smart needed tweaking from the off, I’d be happy to just leave the Evo One Touch alone.The steam arm doesn’t come with a compatible milk jug as standard so when we used a steaming jug we already owned, the wand wasn’t long enough to reach into the milk. This, of course, is easily fixed with a smaller milk jug but do bear in mind that you won’t be able to froth as much milk in one go. It was also a little disappointing not to have a milk jug included, despite the price of this machine. When we did make a cappuccino, the steam arm did a great job of frothing and adequately heating the milk within 20 seconds. The milk was silky and well-frothed and held its shape well when mixed with the espresso. Dark, chocolatey, full-bodied and also nice and hot: this is what I intended for my Coffeeness coffee and that’s how the machine presented it during my DeLonghi Magnifica Evo review. In fact, I would’ve been surprised if this fully automatic coffee machine had come at me with a particularly refined flavor profile.

There is a steam arm and a coffee dispenser on the front of the machine and the latter is very easy to slide up and down so that you can fit a variety of mug sizes beneath it. This is a simple but very welcomed design element as many machines require you to move the drip tray to fit a taller mug beneath the dispenser.None of this is a big deal. But in my experience, simplicity in the right places is never a disadvantage. DeLonghi Magnifica Evo First Impressions With that done, the results were much improved. The espresso was still too thin and watery, however, so I used the option to manually adjust how much water the machine uses for each espresso shot. Reducing it a little helped matters immeasurably, and the result was a tasty espresso with a pleasant flavour and texture. For the best results, pouring a single or double espresso separately, then placing the cup under the steam wand and manually using the hot water setting to top it up produces the better results. Included Accessories: Measuring scoop, Water hardness test strip, AquaClean filter, Lubricant, LatteGo storage lid In here, the machine doses and tamps ground coffee before extracting your beautiful espresso. So, get used to removing the brew group and giving it the attention it deserves! By that, I mean rinsing it, drying it and singing to it softly. Cup Height

As I mentioned earlier in this DeLonghi Magnifica Evo review, using the LatteCrema milk carafe couldn’t be easier. You just add milk, attach the flask to the machine, and away you go! Once you’ve made a drink, it’s really easy to flush the milk system without having to take everything apart. I slowly increased the strength dial turn by turn and pulled a few more espressos just to give the machine a little time to settle in, but that didn’t remedy matters completely – I also had to adjust the grind size a few steps finer. Once all that’s out of the way, I’d recommend preparing a few coffees and throwing them out. That way you’ll season the machine and get rid of any factory residue that could be hanging out in the nooks and crannies. Drink Preparation The DeLonghi Magnifica Evo ECAM290.81.TB is a countertop espresso machine that offers a variety of features for coffee lovers. With a water tank capacity of 1.8 liters, it can hold a substantial amount of water, reducing the need for frequent refilling. This coffee maker allows users to choose between coffee beans or ground coffee as their preferred input type, providing flexibility for different brewing preferences. The coffee bean capacity is 250 grams, allowing for a decent amount of beans to be stored at one time. Apart from this pretty idea, the Magnifica Evo is one of the DeLonghi espresso machines obviously oriented toward a popular model from an equally popular competitor. More on that later too.

A stylish, nicely designed bean-to-cup machine for under £500 – but longer coffees aren't the best

The Magnifica Evo’s user interface will be a breath of fresh air for those of you who dread the prospect of a bottomless pit of menu options. Seriously, everything you need to operate this machine is right there in front of you. In terms of noise, this De'Longhi coffee machine measured 78db when it was grinding the coffee beans (which it does for every drink) and averaged 55db when it was pouring out the espresso. For context, 55db is about the sound level you'd expect from an electronic toothbrush but 78db is more in line with a vacuum cleaner. Talking of which, the steam wand is a far cry from those found on better manual machines. Instead, it’s designed to be as foolproof as possible. Slide the collar on the wand to “Cappuccino” and all you need to do is pop it into a jug of cold milk and turn it on: the result is hot, frothy milk. You don’t get the deliciously silky microfoam that you can coax out with a proper manual wand – or the automatic milk-frothing options on Sage’s manual espresso machines for that matter – but it’s okay. However, you should be aware that this kind of side-mounted milk flask with a long spout never works for two cups at the same time.