De'Longhi La Specialista Espresso Machine with Sensor Grinder, Dual Heating System, Advanced Latte System & Hot Water Spout for Americano Coffee or Tea, Stainless Steel, EC9335M, 1.3 liters

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've been using one of these for years now and it makes great espresso! It's relatively easy to clean and maintain. It's very solidly built. I bought a second one for my office.

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.

I've been using this machine to make espresso 3-4 times a day for nearly a year and a half. It is still performing just like new. The espresso brew produces plenty of crema foam. I couldn't expect anything more. Keep in mind that I only use distilled water, so I have not needed to descale it. The only maintenance is occasionally cleaning the drip tray, and occasionally using a dry paper towel to remove excess coffee grounds from the tamping press. I haven't even needed to adjust or unclog the grinder, not even once. Well worth the investment if you want maximum flavor and freshness out of your coffee without spending a fortune on expensive beans.

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.

I have this unit for over 3 months - use it for flat white with doppio espresso. Consistent and easily adjustable grind size and portioning. Very convenient tamping ( mess free ) however I finish with my manual tamp. Steam wand very easy to use and clean. Easily adjustable shot size. I make minimum 2 coffees a day. The only negative think of is the capacity of drip tray - I find it full too frequently....

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.