De'Longhi Eletta, Bean to Cup Coffee Machine, ECAM 44.660.B
£449.99
Pros
- Fully automatic
- Large water capacity
- Large bean hopper capacity
- Great selection of drink choices
- Self cleaning
Cons
- Plastic parts
- Water spout height not adjustable
- Water filter not provided
I do love a good coffee, and for a while I’ve been using a Cafflano Kompresso Handheld Espresso Maker. It’s a great option for producing a lovely coffee. But I wanted the ability to get on with chores whilst a coffee was being made for me. The De Longhi Eletta coffee machine is a fully automatic bean to cup coffee machine. It’s one I’d been keeping my eye on to see if I could get a bargain. When I was able to secure it at a good price, I jumped at the chance to pick it up and give it a try.
I plumped for the ECAM 44.660.B version of the De Longhi Eletta. It’s black in colour, with a silver contrast from the metal drip tray and cup rest on the top of the machine. I bought a seconds one from Amazon Warehouse as it was £120 cheaper than a new one.
It was in excellent condition, despite supposedly having a few scratches on it. It had only produced 22 coffees prior to it arriving at my house – likely to be from testing or demos. Plus I couldn’t really see any big scratches on the machine – yet another excellent value purchase from Amazon Warehouse.
Well Packaged
The machine was well packaged and protected in the box. It also contained an extra box which housed a box of descaler, a long-handled brush/scraper to clear out the coffee chute, and a coffee scoop in case you use ground coffee rather than beans. Whilst I will mostly be using the integrated grinder to grind coffee beans, the scoop will come in handy sometimes if I run out of beans and need to use some ground coffee in the meantime.
I’m hoping that I won’t need the brush too often, but it’s great that it’s included, just in case. The descaler I’ll definitely be needing, as I live in a hard water location. I have also bought a De Longhi Water Filter which slots into the water reservoir to help filter the hard water.
Owning this sort of coffee machine requires quite a cash investment, but also an investment of your time in maintaining it to keep it in tip-top condition. If you’re looking for a quality coffee dispensed with the minimum of fuss, you’ll also have to be open to the idea that you’ll have to put in some maintenance time to keep it performing well.
Setting up the De Longhi Eletta
Once you’ve sited the coffee machine on a flat surface, with a few cm space around to allow for heat dissipation, and plugged in the power cord at the back, you’re ready to start getting it ready for first use.
The water reservoir has a very sizeable capacity, meaning you don’t need to keep topping it up. It sits on the right side of the machine, and all you need to do is slide it forward until it’s fully removed.
There’s a cover on top too, which you need to remove before topping up with water to the max line (near the top).
To make sure that as much of the hardness and impurities were removed as possible, I use filtered water from my Brita water filter. Once you’ve filled the tank, replace the top and slide it gently back into the machine.
You also need to fill the coffee bean hopper on the top of the machine. Remove the lid and you’ll see quite a sizeable area to tip your coffee beans.
There are some rather flimsy plastic fins screwed in to the hopper to help direct beans towards the grinder. These strike me as an area of potential weakness in the future. I suggest being careful filling the hopper and moving beans around in there, just in case.
You can change the fineness of the grind by adjusting a dial on the left-hand side. Quality control tests by the manufacturers mean it should be set up correctly already. But if you do need to adjust, it’s easy to make a change here. But if you do need to adjust, it’s easy to make a change here.
Using Ground Coffee
To the front of the bean hopper you’ll find a flippable lid which opens up as an entry point for ground coffee. This goes directly into the coffee puck, and means the grinder won’t be used to fill the puck.
You’re only to put one spoon of ground coffee in per cup, using the scoop provided with the accessories kit.
This is where you may need to use that other accessory that came with the coffee machine, a really long handled brush/scraper.
This chute for the ground coffee is quite deep, and if there’s residue that needs clearing then you’ll need this long-handled brush.
Making a Coffee
Once you’ve got your beans and water in place, you’re ready to produce a regular black coffee. Ensure that the power rocker switch is on (around the back, next to the power cord). Then you can press the on/off button which is on the left of the front panel (next to Menu/Esc).
The machine will power up and as part of the process it will do an initial clean of the nozzles.
You may want to pop a cup under the two coffee dispensing nozzles prior to this to catch the water used for cleaning. It will just go in the drip-tray, but to save it getting full too quickly you may want to catch it. Move the nozzles up and down to fit large and small cups.
For a standard strength, standard volume of black coffee, all you need to do is press the single cup button to the left of the Milk Menu button.
The machine will whirr into action, grinding enough beans to fill the puck and then moving the puck into position. It’ll start heating the water, which it does very quickly, and then dispenses the coffee via both nozzles into your cup.
You could also select the two cup button and place a cup under each of the nozzles, to produce two in one go.
It really doesn’t take long to produce a single cup of black coffee. You can then opt to top it up with hot water to you desired taste.
The nozzle is to the left of the coffee dispenser. Be warned – it’s not moveable so hold the mug or cup underneath the nozzle to stop it splashing. If you just leave it resting on the drip tray you will get lots of splashes and it gets messy.
To start dispensing water, press the button on the bottom left of the display, which has an icon of a tea bag in a cup. It will continue dispensing hot water until you press the button again to stop dispensing.
Cleaning out the Coffee Grinds
Once complete, the De Longhi Eletta will deposit the used coffee grinds into the container which sits in the middle of the machine. This has quite a capacity, so you won’t need to be emptying it too often.
You access it by sliding the drip-tray forward, which will also bring the grinds container forward as well. Once it’s fully removed you can simply lift off the grinds container and empty it into you food recycling bin.
Take the opportunity to empty the drip-tray as well. You can remove the metal cover simply by lifting it up, and then drain the drip-tray into your sink. The metal tray slots back on top.
Then it’s simply a case of slotting the coffee grinds container back into the space at the back of the drip tray. Then sliding it gently back into the machine.
You’ll also notice a red device within the drip tray. This float will raise when you’ve got too much water in the drip-tray, with a red indicator appearing above the metal tray cover.
Making a Coffee with Milk
The De Longhi Eletta is a fully automated coffee machine, able to make a range of coffees with milk. It comes with a detachable milk container which you can remove and store in the fridge.
Remove the lid to the milk container and add your chosen milk. We use oat milk very successfully, despite it not being on the list of milks that De Longhi mention. With the lid back on the container, you can then add it to the coffee machine.
To fit the milk container you firstly need to remove the hot water nozzle. It’s simply a case of gently pulling it away from the machine. It’ll take a little bit of a pull to get past the initial inertia, but once it’s free it’ll simply slip off.
Then you can slot the milk container onto the same attachment the hot water nozzle came from. It should be fairly clear which part slots on there!
The machine will give you a beep of confirmation when it’s slotted on correctly.
You really don’t need to do this with any strength, it will just slide gently on there.
Adjustable Spout
The milk container has an adjustable spout. You can tilt it up and down to make it easier to put in mugs and cups.
It’s a great addition to help you avoid messy spills when using different sized cups and mugs.
Plus it has an extendable nozzle to help it reach into the cup.
It needs a little tug to pull it down (see image on right). But be careful – there’s nothing to stop you pulling it fully off the pipe it’s connected to!
You can pop it back on if you pull it off, but just be a little careful in the first place.
Once you’ve got the milk dispenser in position you’ll be able to select the drink you’d like.
Cappuccino Time
There is a menu button to select a cappuccino, as that’s the most popular option according to De Longhi. Pop your mug into position under the two coffee nozzles and the milk nozzle (which you can adjust). Then press the cappuccino button and the machine will start to dispense.
It’ll first add the frothy hot milk, before grinding the beans and dispensing the coffee into it as well. The display will signal to you once the drink has been fully dispensed.
It’s quite a quick process, considering all the steps that are being taken.
If you’d prefer a different milk-based drink, there’s a milk menu for you to select alternatives from. You can move through the options by using the left and right arrows to the top of the Cappuccino and Milk Menu buttons.
Cleaning After Milk Drinks
When you’ve finished dispensing milk drinks you need to clean the spout, which the machine will do automatically for you with hot water.
Place an empty beaker under the milk spout (not essential, it will go into the drip tray) then turn the dial on the top of the milk container fully to the right.
The machine will then take a moment to flush out the milk spout with steamy hot water to ensure it’s been cleared of any milk residue.
You can then remove the milk container by pulling it gently towards you. Store the container in the fridge to keep the milk nice and cool.
Use a clean cloth to wipe the pipe on the machine when you have removed the milk container. You can reattach the hot water spout, ready for the next black coffee you’ll be dispensing.
When the De Longhi Eletta is not needed you can power it off using the round button on the left of the buttons. It will also power itself down after a period of no use.
Prior to doing this the machine will run a small cleaning routine, using hot water to clean out the coffee dispensing pipes.
You can either pop a mug underneath to collect it, or leave it to drop into the drip tray. I prefer to use a mug, so that the drip tray doesn’t need to be emptied too often.
De Longhi Eletta Summary
I really love this De Longhi Eletta coffee machine. It makes a great coffee with ease, and is straightforward to set up and use. It’s not a cheap bit of kit, so it is quite an investment. But if you like your coffee and want a straightforward way of getting your cuppa, then this definitely is worth considering.
As is the case with a lot of devices nowadays, there is a lot of plastic used in it’s making. It seems relatively well made, but these will be weak points, especially the hopper feeding the beans into the grinder. It just strikes me as something that could be easily broken if you’re not careful.
The accessories provided with the machine didn’t include a water filter, which was disappointings. But I picked one up a De Longhi Water Filter from Amazon for about £10. I’ll need to buy some De Longhi EcoDecalk Descaler at some point. But at least there was some contained in the accessories package that came with the machine.
I use Lavazza Rossa coffee beans for my De Longhi Eletta coffee machine. You can bulk buy Lavazza Rossa 3kg to get best value.
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