DeLonghi Magnifica S ECAM 21.117.B Bean to Cup Coffee Machine – Black

I’ve had this model for over 1 month really pleased with it. To begin with these come with an EU plug and a UK adapter as stated in the description. I did not have any problems registering it on Delonghi’s website for the guarantee. Obviously cheaper to source from there directly than get the ones made for the UK market which are more expensive but same machine only difference is the plug.

If you’re like me you’re not a coffee expert but you like a good coffee to start the day from a coffee shop then drink instant the rest of the day you’ll be well impressed with this machine. In fact it’s converted me I find instant quite a disappointment now. The issue I had is this makes strong coffee once you tweak the settings, forget reviews about weak coffee, cold coffee or milk doesn’t froth well. That’s just not true. Put it this way I found the coffee so strong that the first time I tried it with two cups both with double espresso shots I could not sleep that night. I actually mix the coffee using this machine by using normal bean to cup option in the morning and one in the evening, all coffee in between I use decaf ground which you switch the large dial fully anti-clockwise then drop it down the shoot one shot at a time. I found Lavazza the best decaff ground coffee the others were lacking strength and flavour. The normal beans are consistently good this machine is best for medium roasted apparently avoid oily dark beans.

Now when you get this machine it is set as follows: grinder mid position, water temperature set at level 2 out of 4 settings, the coffee strength dial is in the middle, the water hardness set at level 4 out of 4 settings, power saving mode set at 1 of 4 settings called ECO mode.

The problem with ECO mode is you will run out of water very quickly. Every time you turn this machine on it does a cleaning cycle, in ECO mode it turns off after 15 mins which does another cleaning cycle. So you go to get another coffee you turn it back on it does a cleaning cycle again….you get the picture. Also every time you use the steamer there’s a valve that releases condensed water into the tray.

OK the settings I found best for me. Change that power off mode to 60 minutes. My machine is in a very cold utility room when it’s not so cold I set the heat up to level 3 if it’s really cold I set to max of level 4. This helps getting strong hotter coffee without affecting taste. The water hardness set to 2. The grinder (you must only adjust a notch at a time when it’s in the middle of grinding otherwise you could void warranty) that’s been adjusted to a finer grind which is a couple of notches clock-wise. The middle dial is fully clockwise for beans. It makes strong espresso shots with these settings. Obviously tweak these to your preffered level.

There’s some other stuff about this machine. If you select the double espresso shot button you only get one grind but two shots of hot water through the grond coffee. Same with the two shots long coffee option. So if you want strong shots it’s two single espresso shots as you get two grinds.

Now the milk steamer. What I’ve found is that if you just steam milk in a cup you don’t get great frothy milk I don’t know why. However, you get a stainless steel steaming jug (does not come with the machine), make sure it is clean pour the milk in you get amazing foam from the steamer it works brilliantly. Always clean down the outer sleeve, remove the outer sleeve clean the nozzle put it back together then rinse out your steamer jug with water. You do that every time the steamer works really well.

Finally, there are better machines out there but you are talking a lot more money they’ll have more settings more features. They’re for people that are fanatical about the perfect coffee that’s not me I just like good fresh coffee this machine has enough settings to get you that. The other reason I bought this is you can get spares for this machine, the guts inside are the same for a lot of the models. A lot of the highly rated machines you just cannot get spares. There is maintenance you can do most issues I’ve seen reported are down to lack of maintenance (regular cleaning every couple of months checking the seals in the brewer unit). Most common faults reported are seals where you can buy seal kits, there are plenty of videos on maintenance. It’s recommeded you keep those seals cleaned and lubricated in the brewer unit (lubricant comes with the maintenace kit which is an extra). That comes out easily when you turn the machine off.