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

Way better than using pods. Coffee tastes better for sure. Excellent quality and happy customer.

I already had the same machine that works perfectly well. However, this one simply doesnt work, almost feels like a knock off. The grinder doesnt work and feels off when trying, some buttons simply dont react.

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My wife bought this machine from Amazon about 9 months ago. We haven’t had any of the maintenance problems other users have had. I haven’t seen any reviews here from an “unwilling” household member, so I wanted to post this. We have had the same automatic drip coffee maker for over 10 years, so this was a serious upgrade for us. As a guy who “just wants a cup of coffee” in the morning, I was very skeptical that I could grow to love this machine. We have limited counter space and so didn’t want to have both. But my wife promised she’d make the coffee every morning, so I consented. Her promise lasted about two months, so indeed I was stuck using the machine as expected (and making hers as well)! Now I drink cappuccino every morning, because the taste is better than coffee (Americano) and it takes the same amount of time. That’s my chief complaint with this machine, the active time spent using it. You can't set it to be ready when you wake up, and the operation is active; you can't just push a button and walk away. So my experience is not in comparison to any other espresso maker, but compared to a “normal coffee maker.”I also wanted to share a few tips to getting the time down from 8 minutes to 4 minutes including clean up. This is for people who have been using the machine for a few months so you know what I’m talking about.1. Use the shelf of the machine for the milk foaming. If you use enough milk (we use heavy cream/almond milk), the steamer tube will reach into the milk while in the included steel “pitcher”. I have found no difference in milk/foam consistency if I stir the milk around or just let it sit. I use this time (usually takes 2 steam cycles) to empty out the grounds and clean up the filter holder.2. I use a small metal spoon to clean out the grounds from the filter rather than banging it, which has been faster and makes less of a mess. I’ve been doing this for the past 4 months and have not noticed any scrapes to the filter or filter cup. The sooner you do this after use the easier it is.3. We remove and rinse the filter after each use. This was very annoying for me as I have big fingers and it’s nearly impossible to grip the tiny rubber tab to pull the filter out. Then my wife showed me a trick: just use a small corner torn off from a paper towel to pull the tab. It gives you just enough grip to easily pull out the filter, and works every time.I clean the filter and cup while the milk is foaming and this has made coffee making into only a minor annoyance rather than the serious one it was before.My other complaint is the noise that the foamer makes. Surprisingly, the way that you orient/tilt the milk pitcher makes a big difference. Play around with it until the noise is reduced. I used to wake up the whole house with what I would call the “shrieking beasts of hell”, but now they have mostly been tamed.Overall, I’m happy with the purchase, but it took some getting used to.PS: In case anyone is wondering, each steam cycle adds about 30ml of water to your beverage. I weighed the milk pitcher before and after steaming. Yes, I'm a nerd.

Overall I'm really happy with the product after using it for more than 2 months and after some early frustrations I'm pulling quality espressos, lattes and Americanos.There are however some glaring opportunities to improve the user experience without adding manufacturing expense and I'd love to see these on the replacement model.I replaced my 4 year old Breville 870XL (Barrista Express) with this unit; a model many are likely considering along with the Delonghi.Although there are features I miss from the Breville, I'm ultimately happier with this unit.Pros- it's a breeze to clean. With the grinding and tamping all in one, there is very little mess to clean in terms of loose coffee grinds. The milk wand is also way easier to clean than the breville.-Americano quality. As it's a double boiler, you can make the americano with one press of a button. The spout for the water is right by the portafilter and you can do both simultaneously. It also pulls a perfect amount of hot water for the Americano.-Flavor/consistency. After a few early struggles (see cons), I'm able to pull a really consistent shot with great crema. It also takes a lot less time to find the sweet spot when changing beans; something I found a lot more difficult on the Breville.-foam/flat milk setting. I was skeptical out of the box that it would make a difference, but it does. In particular for lattes, it's really easy to steam a consistent milk and because of the double boiler there's virtually no heat up time which drove me nuts with the Breville (and it's tick ticking)Cons-Only pressurized portafilters. Doesn't give as much control and I was worried at first when my first few pulls were incredibly weak flavor with almost no crema. I figured out the sweet spot but it took some time and a machine marketed as semi pro should really offer an unpressurized option. This might be the biggest advantage to the Breville and what I miss the most.-Grinder. a more fine grind option would be helpful. I never go above the finest setting or the pull would be too quick-Grind amount recommendations. I find I have to fill a good 2-3 MM above the recommended tamp line in the portafilter. This is how I was able to beat the weak pull issue. Whoever made that recommendation either didn't taste the results or likes their coffee really weak. Getting the right grind amount is the most challenging/frustrating experience when trying to get the setting right.-Milk steaming cycle length. The steamer shuts off after a preset amount of time that can't be changed as far as I can tell. The milk is seldom hot enough by this point and i need to run it through a partial second steam. There should be an "indefinite on" option in addition to the timed steam.-sturdiness of the tamp arm. Everything else on the machine feels really sturdy. But the tamp arm feels flimsy and like it will very likely be the first thing to go. You also need to tamp a bit harder than they recommend to get a good pull, so it should really be a bit more robust.As mentioned at the beginning, overall I'm quite happy with the unit. After 4 years of the 870XL I wanted to get something with a double boiler with a built in grinder and tamping but I didn't want to pay the $2500 Breville wants for the Oracle.I'm sure the Oracle is a much better machine than either, but compared to the 870xl, I'm pulling a more consistently solid coffee with better crema with the Delonghi. It's also faster and a lot easier to clean than what I had before.At the end of the day, the positives outweigh the negatives comparing this unit and my old 870xl and I'm happy with my decision to upgrade.

Keep looking, don't get anything from this company or this seller. Here's why, or at least here's what happened to me. Within two months of getting this very nice, very expensive machine, the grinder stopped working. I tried to get a replacement from DeLonghi, but DeLonghi doesn't recognize this seller as an official retailer so they wouldn't honor my request for a replacement piece. The seller would replace or refund if I would mail them the machine back, which would have been super expensive. The machine is obviously heavy. At the time, I chose to live with the machine since it was still half working. Today, the entire machine stopped working. It turns on but won't do anything else. All of its functions have ceased to work. So, DeLonghi machines, no matter who you buy them from, are lemons. At least mine is. DeLonghi, the company, won't stand by their manufacturing. The seller here would not make refunds or replacements realistic and absolutely not easy. Amazon is at fault here too, in my opinion. They should not let unauthorized sellers sell anything that would jeopardize a return, refund, or warranty. At all. Ever. That's just shady. I hope you find a great espresso machine from a reputable company. My DeLonghi was great while it lasted but I'd never spend a dime on something that didn't even last 10 months. Good luck. UPDATE: One day after posting this review, I was contacted by DeLonghi and was told that they would indeed honor the warranty. They provided me with a packing box and packing slip (at their expense) to ship my broken machine off to be repaired. Which it was!!! The machine was repaired and returned to me. I love my machine and the coffees it makes. I kinda wish they would have honored the warranty the first go-round, but at the end of the day, I am glad DeLonghi did the right thing.

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.