Eletta, Fully Automatic Bean to Cup Coffee Machine, Cappuccino and Espresso Maker, ECAM 44.660.B, 2 liters, Black

This review is for the De'Longhi ECAM44.660.B Eletta Bean to Cup Coffee Machine, 1450 W - Black Benefits of this machine - very easy to use and saves a lot of time with one touch for most popular drinks - ability to customise drinks to suit your taste - automatic frother works very well and has several settings for the different drinks - felt uneasy using pods environmentally and this machine grinds beans fresh - we use the milk from this machine to make hot chocolate for our toddler as we feel safe it will not be too hot for her - we do use this to make tea. Saves boiling the kettle and you can have hot milk too - love seeing the different layers of the drink through the coffee mug Points to note - check the dimensions - we have not yet had the joy of performing maintenance on this. But these machines will require regular filters, decalc and cleaning - grinders are never going to be silent Tips - Lavazza coffee beans can be had relatively cheaper from Costco if you are a member - Branded coffee cups can be very expensive. We have found the IKEA 365+ clear mugs a very suitable alternative. They do 2 sizes and we have found the smaller ones are a good size for the Cappucino and the larger ones for Lattes and the flat white coffees. - Using a small tub under the "taps" when running a clean on the milk caraffe and when powering off the machine, means the drip tray has to be pulled out much less frequently - Placing your coffee cup under the machine when it's turned on means it can get hot with the rinse. - We always run a clean on the caraffe if it's come fresh out of the fridge just to help pre-warm it - I have attached an image we have printed and laminated showing the different drinks that can be made. This is much easier to show to guests when they are deciding which drink they would like. - The image also includes the different froth settings for the different drinks so will save you having to pull out the manual We are relatively newbies to the world of coffee coming from a cultural background of tea drinkers. However we had recently been frequenting more and more Costa and then used the Aeropress with a separate frother at home. We have now moved onto this splendid device and now on average I will have at least 2 coffees a day from this machine (Cappucino in the morning and Flat White later in the day) and then the family have adhoc lattes throughout the day. As always, if you find this review helpful please make sure to let me know. Knowing you've found it helpful motivates me to do more such reviews.

I was working up to buying a coffee machine for many months before right at the last moment changing my mind on the model I was going to buy. I felt like I’d researched all the options and had settled on a Sage Barista but now that I’ve owned the DeLonghi Eletta for a month, I know it would have been a terrible mistake to go for the Sage. In essence the Eletta is perfect for the person that enjoys a coffee out and about (like Starbucks or Costa) but isn’t really arsed about the efforts and origin of the bean or how it made its way to your cup. Knowing coffee fanatics personally, I just really don’t care- I just want a nice coffee to wake me up in the mornings. The Eletta is 90% effortless. 10% not awarded because duh, you have to put water in frequently (not every time you use it, but at least once a day) and you have to offer it some basic maintenance like emptying the grounds, wiping the tray. However this is a small price to pay for the perfect coffees every time. I got the model with the milk tank, and if you have kids, this is also essential. I was reluctant due to the additional efforts in cleaning required however it has made the entire machine that more useful because it gives us a perfect hot chocolate, ovaltine and tbh I have even been using it for tea. I just always ensure I give the straw a rinse through immediately after making a batch of hot chocolates etc. Other additional benefits are the pre-programming features. You basically tell it what quantities of coffee you want. My husband and I always fill our flasks before work. The spout moves up and down depending on your cup size. Bonus. We have set it up to give us 100ml coffee on a “my coffee”, then tell it to do 2, so in essence we get a 200ml coffee flask made with enough room to add milk. It’s flippin perfect. You can change all the quantities on all the pre programmed drinks too so if you like a specific ratio of coffee to milk with your latte or cappuccino, it remembers. All this and you don’t even have to tamp the coffee down. It also accepts pre ground coffee btw but we have been happy buying beans. It takes no more time to fill our flasks than it was when we boiled the kettle to make instant coffee. To set it up: well, it got delivered at 9pm one evening and I followed the basic instructions and before 10 I was confident to make my morning drink, which I did. It took me less than a day to feel like I knew the machine. As for noise, I can’t say I find it annoying- it is a grinder after all. It makes noises that you’d expect. My husband gets up before 1am for work and I have not yet been disturbed by it. So it’s not that bad. Enjoy!!!

This review is a bit late as i bought this machine in 2018. Ive had it for 8 years, used it ever day and it has Never Failed me. Always makes a great Cappuccino and, every other coffee I have made for either myself or others has also been great. All made automatically for 2018 that was great engineering . The only maintenance ive had to do is clean it regularly and change the water filter. Even though it still makes a great coffee ive decided to move on as its showing its age a bit. Ive gone for the De'Longhi Rivelia EXAM440.55.B, Fully Automatic Coffee Machine. Obviously i had to buy the same make as the last one was so good. I hope the new one serves me as well as this one did and would like to thank the manufacturer for a great machine in build quality and operation

My husband and I had wanted to buy a bean to cup coffee machine for a while. I was looking for something of great quality and value and this seemed to be the best choice at the time I researched. Having worked with commercial coffee machines in the past, I would say (after about 5 weeks of usage) this is a great compact version which so far doesn’t compromise on the necessary functionalities. We also chose this model because we didn’t want the faff of a barista-style machine. Plus we wanted to avoid the waste that pods create (plus coffee grounds are great for compost)! I followed the setup instructions to a T - it’s important to treat this sort of equipment as per manufacturer instructions. If you are not prepared to keep on top of cleaning and maintenance - this is not the machine for you. However if you are willing to commit to rinsing the milk jug/coffee system after each use, plus keep on top of the descaling regime, the machine will last much longer and be a fabulous choice. It’s relatively simple to set up. I watched YouTube videos to figure out the functionalities. We tend to prefer espressos and cappuccinos, so we use the single/double coffee or cappuccino options. The milk jug creates great foam with various choices of foam levels. You don’t need to go too high to get a good amount of foam. The other reason I chose this machine is that I only drink one caffeinated coffee in the morning, then decaf for the rest of the day. It has a secondary input for pre-ground coffee, where you can select decaf as an alternative (or vice versa based on your preference). The machine produces good crema on top of espressos. Plus the default grind setting has worked well on 2 types of coffee bean so far. You can also adjust the strength of coffee without the faff of adjusting the grind by choosing from the various taste strength options. There are only 3 negatives I can point out so far: 1. The machine has to be regularly rinsed and descaled, meaning it uses more water than probably most other coffee making options. 2. We have an average of about 4-6 coffees a day. The machine asks for a descale roughly every 2 weeks. The descaling process is about 30-45 mins and uses about 4l of water. The machine comes with a water hardness measurement as part of setup, so descaling frequencies may vary (I live in an area where water is very hard). We have therefore invested in descaling product (the official Delonghi approved of course, otherwise this could nullify your warranty), which should last us about 2-3 years! It costs about £45. 3. Following on from above, don’t forget to consider the cost of consumables and cleaning materials - look the costs up on the delonghi website before buying if budget is a big factor. Personally, the above negatives wouldn’t have made us choose differently. Overall we are really enjoying this machine and are so glad we bought it!

Makes a great cup of coffee. So far, so good. It has lots of features and you can change strength, heat and so on. The milk is excellent, the froth adjustment on this machine is really good. If you want hot, this thing produces seriously hot drinks but you can adjust to suit. I'm giving it 4 stars only because the interface is not in any way what you would describe as intuitive. I'm an engineer and I'm way above average with technology. This thing takes effort to figure out. We've had it a couple of weeks now. It took a few days to get things dialed in bit it makes great coffee. It doesn't go through too much coffee or water. We had other machines that had loads of issues or consumed excessive amounts of coffee but this machine seems pretty darn good. Reliability is ultimately the big question and we shall see how it goes. Let's hope we get a few years out if without serious issues. Bit it's pretty darn good thus far. So far, so good.

I had been thinking about buying a bean to cup coffee machine for some time and when this particular machine was on offer, about a month ago, I decided to take the plunge. Never having owned one before I didn't know what it would be like owning one, so if you are in the same position, read on. Although this relates specifically to the De Longhi machine I have, I suspect most of the points I am making will apply to all of them to a greater or lesser degree. These machines are quite needy, like a high maintenance wife (or should I say partner of either gender or none), you love them, and want to keep them, but they are a bit of a pain in the neck: 1. The water tank will need filling up regularly, at least once a day, (if you have a family all using it 3 or 4 times a day) - it holds about a litre I would say at a guess, but if you think that you will get a litre of coffee from that you would be very mistaken. When you switch on the machine it warms up by flushing warm water through the machine, and when you switch it off it does the same. So that uses a lot of water. 2. Don't expect it to make Starbucks or Costa size lattes etc. my machine doesn't and I doubt any other one does either. Mine dispenses small, Italian sized, lattes/cappuccinos, by default. Now it is true that this machine allows you to vary the amount of milk that gets dispensed and the amount of coffee too. So the first thing that I did was program the cappuccino button to give me a big mug full. The problem with that is that the amount of coffee grains is the same it just runs more boiling water through them so that by the end it's quite weak. So it sort of works, but i didn't think it was great. It might be ok if you like fairly weak coffee, but if you are an extra shot type of person it probably won't do. At the moment i find it easier to just put two small cappucinos into one mug as it tastes better but obviously takes a bit longer to sort out. 3. The milk container is pretty good, but you obviously have to store it in the fridge between making drinks. Also after you have finished making your drink, or drinks, you have to set the dial on the milk dispenser to "clean", which flushes hot water through the milk container pipes - this uses even more water in the tank (see 1 above). You also need to clean the milk container manually every day or two. 4. specific to this machine, other people have mentioned that the metal drip tray cover scratches - and it does. if that is going to freak you out this might not be the machine for you. True you could buy glass mugs with a smooth bottom, but most of those can't be put in the dishwasher. Also putting the milk container on and pushing the water tank in place also marks the drip tray cover and there is nothing you can do about that. Somebody said that it's made of plastic with silver paint, but to me it looks, feels and sounds like solid metal so I don't think it will ever look too bad - even with the scratches. 5. All the water from rinses and cleaning the milk container tubes has to go somewhere. By default it will got into the drip tray. The drip tray isn't that big so if you allowed that to happen you would be emptying the drip tray a lot. I put a plastic tray over the trip tray to catch the water because it's easier to empty this rather than keep pulling the drip tray out and emptying it. 6. The used coffee grounds go into an area behind the drip tray - you will need to empty this every few days depending on use. 7. The manual recommends you give the internal gubbins a full clean fairly regularly - I haven't tried that yet. You have to descale the inside too - I have't done that either yet, and they recommend a water filter is fitted and replaced at regular intervals. I don't know how much the descaling fluid and filters cost So in conclusion, I love the coffee and don't regret buying this machine, but it is needy. It bleeps when it wants more water, it bleeps for you to empty the drip tray, it bleeps when the coffee grounds need emptying, it bleeps when it wants more coffee beans - so it does a lot of bleeping! If you want a machine that you just switch on and forget, while it dispenses cup after cup of coffee with no input from you then this (or I suspect any other) bean to cup machine is not for you.

Delonghi to date has had a long standing reputation for well made products. I feel this no more. We have owned a few coffee machines over the years and initially in May 2023 (yes only 4 months ago) we thought this was one of our best coffee machine purchases. We were wrong as it is our worst. By July the machine would not work at all, the error message ‘Insert Infuser Assembly’ came up and the machine would do absolutely nothing. We phoned the number Delonghi say to phone and we’re told they would collect the machine and send it back fixed. A week later it did come back fixed but a month later (2 weeks of which we were on holiday) it broke again. We send it back and were assured that if it broke again we would either get our money back or a new machine. Last week (Friday) we got it back and took the machine out of the box. The machine was dirty, we cleaned it up and put coffee beans in ready for it to work. The machine had not been fixed. Understandably beyond words at the lack of customer care, we rang the call centre again to be assured once again that we would now get a brand new machine due to the amount of times the same fault has been on this machine. Today the machine came back. It is an old machine (not even sure it is our original one) and they say on the service booklet that completely different things have been changed than the part that was broken. We have had no apology from Delonghi for this on a machine that is not even 6 months old. The customer care is awful and it seems that Delonghi do not really care anymore about providing a quality and reliable product. I can’t emphasise enough this machine does not even get 1 star from us - 3 times the machine has gone back in the space of 4 months. Delonghi do not give a damn about their customers - £600 plus for nothing apart from a load of hassle.

I’ve had this coffee machine for nearly 7 years and it still works perfectly. It makes the best coffees. It gets used everyday, so it’s a very durable machine. Lovely colour/design and looks great in the kitchen. Very easy to use. Not noisy at all. Fantastic value for money.