# Fully Auto Bean to Cup advise please ??



## Craig782 (Aug 27, 2012)

As the title suggests im after a fully auto machine

Looking to spend upto around a £1000 but obviously dont want to spend more than I need or miss out on a excellent machine if means slightly more etc

I want it to be able to make all the standard shots, latte, cappuccino etc but the misses wouldnt mind if it also had a chocolate option but not overly fussed on that but would be nice

Most of all I want a quality coffee machine,

At the moment I have been looking at the Delonghi PrimaDonna Exclusive 6900 ??

Im sure there are many other machines that have similar or better specs so just after some advise really ????

Any help ??


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Sticky sticky...

Ok here goes. Bean to cup machines are an expensive way to make poor espresso. For good espresso you need to forget auto and buy two things: A good grinder and a 'proper' espresso machine ... three things: freshly roasted beans from a good roaster. No, four... four things: digital scales. And a timer.... FIVE things.

I'll come in again.

Point is, are you after convenience over quality?


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## Craig782 (Aug 27, 2012)

MikeHag said:


> Sticky sticky...
> 
> Ok here goes. Bean to cup machines are an expensive way to make poor espresso. For good espresso you need to forget auto and buy two things: A good grinder and a 'proper' espresso machine ... three things: freshly roasted beans from a good roaster. No, four... four things: digital scales. And a timer.... FIVE things.
> 
> ...


Thanks for reply Mike

Your quite right I am after convenience, but also want the best coffee making convenience machine.

I would love the time to weigh, roast, grind etc but it aint gonna happen so after some help for the best all in one. There must be something that makes ok coffee

Thanks


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Fair enough







There are some vendors on here who I'm sure can offer advice about their products. Good luck.


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## vintagecigarman (Aug 10, 2009)

I don't think that you will find a great deal of expertise about B2C machines on here, largely because we are all into more specialist machines and grinders.

I haven't an axe to grind here, but in your position I would consider phoning Londinium Espresso - they handle both high end espresso and De Longhi B2Cs, so there advice might be worth listening to. If you go on their website and read the recent blog entries, there are some interesting comments on B2Cs.

Welcome to the Forum, by the way.

Sent via Tapatalk


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## Southpaw (Feb 26, 2012)

Whilst I'd advocate the manual approach I can understand the need for a bit of convenience. What would your benchmark for a good coffee? You might find the DeLonghi will give you that or close to it if that is what you're after.


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## RoloD (Oct 13, 2010)

I'll second what vintagecigarman says above. Reiss at Londinium Espresso is a espresso purist but also realises many don't want to put the time and effort into going into the enthusiast's/home barista route. He stocks the Delonghi B2C for this reason and also will give good advice on to how to set them up.

And while I agree with MikeHag in principle, in pratice many people are going to much better off with a B2C - I would hate to see people spend money on a 'proper' espresso machine and grinder and then not use it (or use it badly).

My friends love the coffee I make for them, but they also think I'm a bit mad.


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## vintagecigarman (Aug 10, 2009)

RoloD said:


> My friends love the coffee I make for them, but they also think I'm a bit mad.


Mine too! To quote one - "All that messing around for a thimbleful of coffee - I couldn't be arsed".

But it's a fine madness....


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## JohnnieWalker (Aug 24, 2011)

What about the illy Y1.1 machine?

I know it's "just" a pod machine, and "only" uses illy coffee pods, but from what I've seen of it, in videos and reviews, it seems half decent pod machine.

Coffee & Accessories available at http://TheCoffeeShop.Co


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## Craig782 (Aug 27, 2012)

Thanks Guys

Thats what I was after. Especially Vintagecigarman, the link to Londinium, they actually rate one of the Delonghi machines I was considering and slated the Jura which was a fair bit more and apparently no where near as good for quality of the actual coffee

Now all I got to decide is between 2 of the Delonghi machines

Primadonna S Deluxe ECAM 26.455M

Primadonna Avant ESAM 6700

Anyone have a clue of the difference of the ECAM / ESAM systems and which is better???

Thanks again


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## truecksuk (Sep 22, 2011)

The guys on Londinium should be able to help with this lol


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## espressotechno (Apr 11, 2011)

Do have a look at the Jura B2C machines: The brewer units are very reliable, the build quality (Swiss) is excellent and.... spares, repairs & maintenence are readily available in the UK. The thermoblock can pump out steam fast enough to meet all your "frothy coffee" needs.


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## solwisesteve (Jul 19, 2012)

Okay... I'm going to stick my 2d in. Up until recently I had Gaggia classic at home. I also have one at work along with a Gaggia grinder. Then SWMBO hinted that if we had a simpler coffee machine at home then she'd actually consider making me the odd cup of coffee... She drinks the instant crap and can't be phaffed to learn how to make proper coffee and when I'm running around doing diy at the weekend it would be nice to have a cup of coffee made for me for a change. Anyways... after a bit of research we went for a delonghi magnifica. I wouldn't go anywhere near a pod machine..... expensive to run and way below average coffee!! Now I'm not going to say the delonghi makes coffee as good as using the Classic but it's perfectly drinkable. I found I had to turn the grind a bit finer and turn the water temp up but, at the end of the day, it's a perfectly okay cup of coffee. I do most of my coffee drinking at work so having to slum it a bit at the weekend isn't too much of a chore. ;-) The magnifica was over two hundred quid but I can't justify spending more on a B2C machine which, at the end of the day, isn't going to be up to the standards of a decent manual machine.

One thing I would say though is the magnifica is all plastic and feels fragile :-( The Classic I have at work is already 5 years old and looks like it'll keep going for ever. The magnifica feels like it'll just get past the 2 year warranty and then die!


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## LFCsmithy (Jan 19, 2012)

Craig782 said:


> As the title suggests im after a fully auto machine
> 
> Looking to spend upto around a £1000 but obviously dont want to spend more than I need or miss out on a excellent machine if means slightly more etc
> 
> ...


Hi Craig.....i too have been looking at this machine,but there seems to be little or no reveiws about it. At the mo, i have the esam 6600 which has been great although i have had problems with the milk jug and frother lid. We use this machine about 10 times a day and in the 3 years ive had it, i have replaced the jug and frother lid 3 or 4 times. We do keep the machine clean but it seems it still seems to give up the ghost after 9 months to a year. Basically, it stops sucking the milk up the tube inside the jug....when replaced its fine again. At the mo im currently waiting for a new jug and top to arrive as i cant get latte or cappuccino to work. I can however make espresso as no milk is needed. Maybe the 6900 has improved things.

The 6900 looks like my next machine. And like u say, the hot chocolate function is a bonus.


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## sandykt (Dec 3, 2009)

Craig, which machine did you finally end up with? I am looking at the Prima Donna 6620 and would be interested to hear your thoughts on this.


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## CoffeeDoc (Dec 26, 2012)

I have a Miele bean to cup machine, I previously had a Delonghi but it was very unreliable and kept breaking down. The service was terrible.


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## shrink (Nov 12, 2012)

I used one of these for a year ( Jura f90 at around £1000-1100 )

http://deluxeproduct.com/coffee/bean-to-cup-coffee-machines/jura-impressa-f90/457

IMHO it made consistently decent coffees with Half decent beans. No complaints at this end. Required nothing more than a filter in that year, and didn't have one single hiccup

I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a b2c machine


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