I have been looking for a coffee machine with grinder function ever since our previous machine died a couple of months ago. The previous one was a Krupps fully automatic machine, made really good coffee but like all machines do at some point, it decided to die.

There are quite a few machines in the $1200+ range and a few in the $600-1200 range, which is the price range I was looking at. I had short-listed to Gaggia vs Philips, leaning more towards Gaggia but reports of their poor customer service was disconcerting. Both of these are fully automatic. De'Longhi had the semi-automatic Magnifica but it didn't look pleasing aesthetically as far as matching the rest of my kitchen goes. Breville seemed a little too much work with manual tamping - as in, you actually take the tamper and press into the portafilter to tamp.

Almost as I was finally ready to buy, I see this De'Longhi - la specialista. I have had this machine for about two weeks now.

It is a semi-automatic machine. Its not a press-one-button-and-get-coffee machine, you will have to do some, a little, bit of work. Meaning, attach the portafilter to the grind unit and then the brew unit. Not a lot of work, and it actually feels good to be doing that!!

Build quality is really really good. I am hard pressed to tell plastic from steel parts. Sides have the brushed steel look and chrome trims and I have no idea what is plastic. A very solid, well built machine. It looks really really good sitting on the counter, especially with that black 'dashboard' with the pressure gauge dominating the facade. The portafilter is solid and surprisingly heavy - you could easily use it for defense in case of burglary or something !! Same solid build is seen also in the included frothing mug and the filters, as well as the steel drip tray grill. Rest of the drip tray is plastic - the one place where plastic is obviously plastic.

Power button turns it on of course - there's a master on/off switch in the back. Also in the back is a water reservoir which is surprisingly large.

Attaching the portafilter to the grinder starts the grinding automatically. The machine will grind coffee for one or two shots if you press the 2x button.

This is where my only frustration with the machine arose - frustration that has since been resolved. Start with factory default settings - fineness at 3 and amount of coffee dial at about 10 o'clock position. I was too impatient and started playing with the dials causing the machine to grind EXCESSIVE amounts of coffee and essentially malfunction. Ground coffee would back up the discharge chute from the grinder resulting in unhappy sounds from the machine and unhappy time for me.

De'Longhi uses an "exclusive" new technology / sensor to determine how much coffee to grind. I think the common method is to grind for a certain amount of time. This machine detects the actual amount ground - I think. Anyway, I think this sensor is located in the chute which can be accessed by popping up a small flap located right at the base of the bean hopper. Using the provided brush tool, and a thin plastic stick, I unclogged this chute and cleaned out as much coffee grounds as I could. Problem solved. But it did take about half a bag of beans before getting that resolved.

I blame the above on the fact that this is our first semi-automatic machine. There is a learning curve.

Now that the vulnerable part is identified and addressed, the machine has been working without any issues whatsoever. I am actually coffee-making, barista style, on this thing. Coffee tastes really really good. Unlike the Breville, this one has a built in tamper - handle on the left side of the machine in the product photos. Once you attach the portafilter, the machine will automatically grind the dosed amount of coffee. Pull the handle down to tamp - there's a mark to tell you how much to pull. Remove the portafilter, attach it to the brewing station and press OK button. And you have your coffee.

The built in milk frother / steam wand works really well too. The frother has a dedicated heating unit, separate from the brew unity. It has a 'flat' and 'foam' function. I tried both and really enjoy the foamed steamed milk. After watching a few YouTube videos, I learned to hold the included frothing mug at a certain angle and move it in circular motion etc but then discovered that the machine does a really fine job without those shenanigans. Just set the mug on the corner of the drip tray, stick the want in there and turn the dial for steaming. You get a luxurious micro froth without doing the dance I described. And the steam stops automatically. If you like your coffee actually hot though, you will have to do the steam twice. There is a function to increase the temperature of the coffee but I have not played with that setting so far.

The cons are very few. Coming from a fully automatic machine, I had a to learn to use a semi-automatic one but that should be expected of any new tool / machine. The machine is full enclosed and does NOT have the easily removable brew unit that some manufacturers highlight, including DeLonghi. That might be an issue further down the road, but DeLonghi Magnifica and Breville don't have that feature as well and don't seem to be suffering as a result.

Overall, I am really pleased with the machine. Great build quality, great coffee. Happy with the purchase.

I read several online magazine reviews of different espresso machines, and this one ranked as one of the best. I ended up choosing this over a similar Breville machine because of the additional hot water spout. I was initially apprehensive about the price, but now I don't know how I waited so long to get one of these. The only problem now is that I want to drink coffee all day!

The machine is super easy to use, yet it's fun to operate and you feel like a professional barista. You get your coffee as fast as you would from a pod machine, but it tastes like you got it at a coffee shop. Once the machine is set up (not difficult), brewing a coffee is as simple as:

1. Attach the filter to the grinder. The correct amount of beans will grind automatically.

2. Tamp the grounds with the lever.

3. Attach the filter to the brewer and place a cup underneath.

4. Select your drink and hit OK.

There are some great features that make it easy to create the full range of coffee shop drinks:

* You can easily grind and brew 1 or 2 shots. Filters are provided for both sizes.

* You can select espresso, Americano (espresso + hot water), or "coffee" (AKA a lungo), and the machine applies the correct amount of water and brewing time.

* A separate button will provide hot water only, making this the easiest way to brew tea.

* There is a wand that can froth or steam milk so you can make cappuccinos and lattes.

I initially thought the coffee was not hot enough, but I checked the manual and found a setting to use a higher water temperature. There is also a bit of trial and error to set the grinder to get exactly the right "dosage" of grounds per shot, but once you have that dialed in, you don't have to worry about it again for a long time.

In conclusion, this is a great machine and I'm so glad I bought it. I can think of very few purchases where I was just as excited to use the thing weeks after I got it, and this is one of them.

PS. If you ever see "Amazon Warehouse" selling one at a deep discount, go for it. I got a $300 markdown because one corner of the shipping box was slightly dented. The machine itself was pristine!

If you are considering getting this machine... read on so you have a sense of what to expect. If you have already, I sincerely hope your experience is better than ours.

We have had this machine for about a year and a half. About 4 months ago, the grinder stopped working. It took me 40 min to get a hold of some one @ DeLonghi to get a repair (neve rmind online, where they promise a reply within 2 business days and I did not get any reply for over a month!).

They did honor the 2 year warranty and repaired it at no charge... except that it took weeks to even get the box/paper work to send it to them and a couple of weeks to get it back (the latter, honestly, I was ok with).

We have had it back now for about a month... and this morning it stopped working... again! Now the computer thinks the water tank is empty (it is not, and we have inserted/re-inserted the tank several times), and wants to run the set up program (which we have run 4-5 times already)... to no avail!

I am incredibly frustrated! This was not a cheap item. This was $800 and I would have expected better quality and better customer service. I am at a loss. I was hoping for a better experience. Now, I am back to my trusty coffee pot on the stove... until I figure something out.

Still here are some comments I have for you to consider about the machine itself.

What I love...

It is relatively easy to set up and use... almost foolproof!

It heats up quickly

It is quieter than others

Lots of features to make different drinks easily

Foams milk like a dream

The tamping feature is really cool! It helps control the mess and keep things tidy!

But...There are several design “flaws” you should be aware of...

It is a tall machine... we have it under the upper cabinets and to get it in and out we have to take off the coffee bean hopper lid

I absolutely dislike the fact you cannot take the hopper off when it is full of beans. So, you are “stuck” with whatever beans you put in. Other machines I have had lock the beans in and you can remove the hopper and the beans if you desire to change the coffee... which we do!

It has only 6 grinder settings... we have it set one notch above the finest grind setting and we still are not getting the intensity of flavor we were used to get with other machines. I wish there were more grind settings.

I hope this helps you make a more informed decision.

Eight Month Update: Average two lattes a day, keeping it clean and rinsing the steam wand religiously, not a hitch yet. Just did my second descaling, no problems. Still very happy and my wife loves every cup I make for her (of course she does!). No leakage, remember to keep the portafilter inserts clean!

Original review: This is a nice looking machine, and after three weeks I cannot say it has any problems at all. I dialed in the grind (set at 2 and about 5/8 of full dial setting) and used some 20 dollar Lavazza Blu/Oro beans, the coffee was amazing. The crema is quite good, it would be better if the head was heated by water like others, but run a hot water preheat before you start brewing. Try to warm the cup too, will hold the crema longer. For the price, this is quite good. The steam heater works well, if you put an inch and a half of milk in the provided pitcher, the sixty second steam cycle is sufficient, but use a thermometer anyway, it is best gage of readiness and they cost about 10 bucks with the clip. I believe cleaning is most important thing about these machines, blow out the steam tube, clean the steam wand, disassemble it and wipe the rubber tube after you're done with it for the time of day. Use filtered water, this is not a FAEMA or professional machine, it will help you keep the pump and piping cleaner longer. Don't let coffee get stale in the hopper, just put what you need for a few days at most. Clean between the two disks of the portafilter, and rinse it out too.

One thing that happened once is that a suction developed in the water line, not sure but seems like a check or stop valve got cycled by an air bubble. I stopped the cycle when the trouble lights appeared, lifted and reseated the tank, and it burped when I restarted the cycle. D'longhi should look into that, it might be a reason others have had problems with the water-out lights coming on.

All said, having this quality of espresso at home is a wonderful thing, beats starbucks by a long shot. If you want flavorings look up Torani syrups, I bought some for an occasional twist when I want it. I will update if I have any other news on my experiences with this machine. I think it is a good purchase so far.

***update- 6/9/22 - purchase date 11/23/20 ***

So, service wanted me to pay for shipping this heavy mofo to them to fix the condensation issue. Uh. No.

We left it unplugged for a few days while we cried in our uncaffeinated mugs. Magically when we plugged it back in, it worked.

The condensation build up is still there, but whatever. It works. That has been the only hiccup we've had with it over the last going on 2 years of daily use. Just know that they want you to pay to ship that bad boy to them if you try and use your warranty.

***Previous update from March 2021 is below***

I bought this for my husband in November 2020. It is now March 2021. It's made 1-3 cups of coffee every day since purchase, and has given wonderful results. My husband, the coffee snob, has really enjoyed it.

But then it broke. Condensation collected in the pressure window, and even when unplugged, the pressure needle is stuck at optimal zone. The machine is un-useable.

It was a really good buy, and I'll adjust my review if customer service comes thru and resolves the issue. Will update later.

Alright, so I've been using this machine for years and have a lot of thoughts and some experiences to share. So, take it or leave it, here they are in no particular order:

A year in the grinder burrs dulled and needed replacement, requiring a 2-3 week stint of going to the local coffee shop. Customer support is excellent. I imagine the closer you are to Pennsylvania you are the faster the shipping is.

Placing a water filter in the machine causes it to be non-functional, as if the filter doesn't allow the water to flow as quickly as the machine needs, even though the filter was made for the machine. I've seen other machines have settings to tell the machine it's using or not using a filter, this one has no such settings.

Not being able to control the pressure is a pain, the band-aid is to up the temperature (limited settings) and will not make you happy.

Each bean I use takes adjustments, whether it's how much it needs to grind, or how loosely it needs to be tamped.

Tamping is very light. While the automatic tamping system is nice, I am under the impression that tighter tamping is better. However, manually tamping is not an option. The machine does not have the pressure to push the water through tighter tamps (I'm not the hulk here, I'm talking about a VERY light tamp).

The grind is not fine enough to be considered an espresso ground fine powder that baristas would consider a good grind. If you use an external grinder that does do an espresso grind, the machine will not have the pressure to push water through. This actually caused an explosion of hot water and grounds, it was insane. Hence my stint to the coffee shop while the grinder was down.

This machine doesn't do an "espresso" of sending pressured steam, it's basically a drip through a stronger faucet. I think most people understand that when buying these machines, but in case you didn't know, this isn't a true espresso machine (as snobby as it sounds).

Cleaning it is a pain and must be done weekly or you'll have mold growing. Daily cleanings and wipe downs can keep the mold down, but that will take an extra minute or two.

The coffee setting will dispense about 3 ounces... Or less, I dunno I've never measured it, but it's not a lot of coffee. Probably 3 or 4 cycles to fill a mug. I bought this model for my girlfriend because she doesn't like the strong bean flavor. She hates the coffee setting, I wasted my time effort and money buying it. Not a big deal, but it's a fact.

The tea spout takes a good bit and is very loud and splashy, but comes out at a good hot temperature. Usually fills up half the mug with one press, so gotta stand around to hit it a second time (standard size mug here people, not like a "I love new york" big boy or anything).

Having seen a two thousand dollar machine in-person, I do think this one is better for the money. The more expensive styles still have a lot of downsides and produce similar results.

Decalcification takes forever, though it doesn't need it often. It takes a well timed slight-of-hand skill to dump the filling bowl/mug before each cycle begins. It drains almost the entire tank so you'll be dumping water quite often unless you have some way of dangling it over the sink...

Uhhmm, yeah. I can't say I really hate the machine, but I would try to find an actual espresso machine if I ever make the kind of money to afford one. All-in-all a good deal. Watch for sales, it drops in price often and worth snagging then. Good luck!

I’ve had a few different espresso machines over many years. My last was a Breville Oracle that finally died after 3 years. In deciding what to replace it with I evaluated what I wanted to use it for. For the last few years I only drink Americanos and to a lesser extent, Lattes. So I wasn’t looking for an espresso machine to produce god shots for drinking straight espresso, but something more than good enough to produce excellent Americanos and Lattes. The La Specialista met that quite well.

It is easy to use and since I was well experienced with espresso making, dialing it in to produce great coffee was quick and easy. From power on to ready to use is about a minute. Then I do a blind shot to heat up the portafilter as a cold portafilter will negatively affect the espresso produced. I leave the empty portafilter in the machine and use the Rinse button to get the preheat done. Grinding works well as does the built in tamping with a side effect of not being as messy as using a separate grinder with a tamper often is. One concern with the grinder is that to make good espresso the grind setting needs to be very close to the minimum grind size and over time, as the grinder burrs wear that will probably become an issue. Fortunately DeLonghi sells a replacement upper burr for that very issue.

Steaming excellent and nearly automatic for Lattes or Flat Whites, but I think it is a little weak for a cappuccino. Cleaning of the steam wand is dead simple and since the wand is a no-burn type, cleaning off the outside is easy too.

The various button combinations for changing some default settings work well and are well documented in the user manual. The First Start pamphlet is excellent and well presented so getting the machines ready for that first use is really easy.

Purchased machine mid November when I was able to get it at $100 off. Arrived quickly and all was well as I learned how the machine worked which, truth be told, took a bit of a learning curve. I sough help from De'Longhi because it was almost impossible to get the puck out of the filter holder. I eventually learned to live with that. I reduced the coffee amount and slightly increased the grind and that helped some but it still was difficult. Then, the grinder stopped working. I worked with De'Longhi to resolve and was unable to get it working. At this point I was told they would send me a box so I could return it and they would fix it and send it back to me. I had missed Christmas Eve and Christmas day coffee with my family and was unhappy at the prospect of weeks without my espresso machine. So, I called Amazon on Friday, explained my situation, and had a new machine on my doorstep Monday morning! Technically, my 30 day Amazon return window had closed, but after hearing my story, customer service came through!

In the meantime, the DeLonghi box never arrived. I did get a phone call from them about a week after I received my new machine telling me how sorry they were that my problem had fallen through a crack in the system. So, I guess I should be hopeful that the 2 year warranty on the machine will be honored. Still, can

t thank Amazon enough.

BTW: the new machine is amazing. Makes amazing espresso (for me) and Americanos (for my husband) and the milk frother is outstanding. Once you have it down, it can't be beat!

After a long time worrying i'd be buying an expensive machine, whose coffee i didn't like, i finally got this thing. It's now been almost exactly a year since i bought it.

Long story short: first 15 minutes were spent futzing about figuring out how to get it to work right, and then the remainder of the year has been spent absolutely loving this machine. Cant say enough about it. Read the other reviews for greater details of operation, i don't feel like rewriting it all. I wish i'd gotten it earlier.

I love espresso, i drink a lot of espresso. I've had lots of fantastic and terrible and expensive and cheap espresso. I didn't expect this machine to make the best espresso i've ever had, but it kinda does, and, like every time.

We pretty much only make espresso and lattes in our house - the grinder stays on "fine" the entire time, and its more than adequate. I get some people need talc dust level grind, but if you just relax, put down the 10 billion grit knife sharpener, and step away from the 10 thousand knit bedding, take a deep breath, you'll realize there's really not a whole lot unaccomplished by this particular "fine" setting.

I have experienced no leaks, or failures of any kind, knocking on wood.

Mi sueño hecho realidad. Compre esta máquina para prepararme un buen café todos los días y ahora la familia no deja de utilizarla. Es una excelente inversión si te gusta disfrutar de la preparación de café en casa. Me gusta mucho que ya cuenta con el compactador de café integrado ya que no haces tanto tiradero de café y por lo que respecta a la operación del equipo es bastante sencilla.

Excelente producto resaltará en tu cocina y lucirás tus dotes de barista en tus cenas con familiares y amigos.

Para adquirir esta cafetera leí una gran cantidad de opiniones, el manual de usuario y revisé videos de la propia marca y generales, y sin embargo en ningún lado se comenta con claridad sobre lo que aquí destaco:

Supongo que el modelo sufrió una actualización respecto al Manual de Usuario y los videos de la marca, por lo cual existe un alto riesgo de derramar los granos de café al interior del grill en el primer uso debido a una variación en el diseño respecto al de videos y el manual, pero más problemático es que no podrás accionar el molino. El manual dice:

"Introduzca en el recipiente del café en granos (A2) en el molinillo de café (fig. 1): el recipiente está colocado correctamente cuando la flecha está alineada con el símbolo y se oye un "clic""

Y con eso da por zanjado el asunto, cuando el clic jamás ocurrirá si previamente no se colocó el maneral del recipiente en el extremo opuesto, llevando dicho maneral hasta el tope en la parte trasera, en esa posición es como encaja el recipiente para desde allí hacer el recorrido del maneral hasta alinear la flecha y el símbolo del candado cerrado.

PRECAUCIONES:

1) En la foto que adjunto se puede ver que el recipiente tiene señalado un candado abierto y uno cerrado, esto confunde, se puede creer que el recorrido para cerrar inicia en el candado abierto alineado a la flecha pero no es así.

2) En la foto pareciera que hay dos flechas, pero una es solo el reflejo, ese reflejo debe ignorarse.

3) Lo que importa es que la flecha está alineada al candado cerrado, en ese momento es cuando ocurre el clic.

4) IMPORTANTE, no colocar granos en el recipiente hasta que esté perfectamente alineada la flecha y el candado cerrado, tal como se ve en la foto.

Este detalle no es menor y por tal motivo le doy 3 estrechas en facilidad de uso, en el futuro regresaré a editar para comentar mi experiencia cotidiana con la cafetera, por lo pronto estoy contento con la compra, pese a todas las molestias e inconvenientes que me generó el detalle descrito.

El diseño la convierte en parte importante de la decoración.

El sistema para compactar el café es genial y único.

Aunque lo más importante es que permite disfrutar al máximo la calidad del café, cuando se cuenta con uno de cualidades superiores.