Melitta Barista TS SMART Bean to Cup Coffee Review 2021

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Melitta is a German based company that actually invented the process of making filter coffee so you would hope that know a thing or two about making amazing coffee.

Melitta is the “official coffee partner” of Manchester United. That is certainly not a reason to buy the coffee machines they produce so we have put this to the test to see if it’s worth spending quite a lot more than the average for this top end bit of kit.

They are very much geared towards the premium end of the market and have come up with an all singing all dancing coffee machine that has so many different options on it you would need to go on a course to understand them all.

But is the Melitta Barista TS SMART Bean to Cup Coffee Machine worth it?

Overall Score 8.6/10

Design 7/10

This is a very bold design. It’s not supposed to be subtle and is very in your face.

It is a very substantial product that has a look of German engineering about it.

It has an ever so slightly industrial look and feel about it and has been designed more for the output of what it is supposed to do rather than for simple good looks. This is something we like as at the end of the day it’s the coffee that’s the most important thing.

An example of this is the large separate milk container that kind of sits to the right-hand side of the machine. The milk delivery tube hangs over the front of the machine and connects to the milk tank.

Most other fully automatic bean to cup coffee machines have the milk container integrated into the front of the machine. This is probably more practical but we still think they could have paid a bit more attention to this in the design stage

This measures in at 46.7cm deep, 25.9cm wide and 37.2cm tall and that does not include the milk container which sits on the right side of the machine

It is not a small machine compared to others of this type so make sure you have the worktop space.

Functionality 10/10

This machine has an extraordinary array of functionality that put simply will cater for every possible palette.

This a pure fully automatic one-touch coffee machine.

The first interesting thing we noticed is that there are two chambers for holding the coffee beans. Different beans can be used for different drinks. Espresso beans tend to be stronger so you can add those to one chamber and perhaps add some other less strong beans to the other chamber for a milder drink.

The machine will automatically use the correct bean type upon drink selection. A neat little function.

It comes with a water filter which should definitely be used and replaced at regular intervals as the quality of the water impacts on the flavour of the coffee

The water container holds up to 1.8 litres of water. The coffee outlet has a height adjustable nozzle that can be moved up or down to the top of the cup which is handy to avoid a mess.

You will be automatically notified if water or coffee is running low.

The control panel on the front allows you to select one of the default drinks or you can bespoke any of the defaults to exactly how you like it.

What we like about this is how easy Melitta make it.

There are 4 standard buttons. Espresso, Café Crème (basically espresso with a bit of water), Cappuccino and Latte.

All drinks are fully automatic and require no intervention whatsoever. This should be fine for most people.

If you are not happy with the default then there are 2 digital “sliders” on the front where you can increase the amount of water or the amount of coffee to make it stronger or weaker accordingly.

We do note though that you cannot alter the amount of milk delivery so if the default is too weak for you if you press cappuccino you will need to increase the amount of coffee to tailor it to your requirements.

If you want 2 cups of the same thing just press the 2 cup button before drink selection

If you are looking for an Americano then simply press the espresso button and then when finished press the water button to taste.

What we like is that you can fully bespoke your coffee using the 2 sliders with very minimal fuss.

If noise is a factor for you then a neat little accolade awarded to this coffee machine is the Quiet Mark seal of approval. This is a company which identifies the quietest products in their category in the whole market and this bean to cup coffee machine has this accolade.

Ease of use 10/10

Extremely simple operation.

This really is a one-touch cover all beverage machine. Any drink you can think of fully customisable and once set its one button and you are done

There is also an app available that connects to the machine via Bluetooth so you can select your drink without even touching it.

As you have to be within Bluetooth range of the machine for it to work, for us this is a bit of an unnecessary gimmick as we don’t really see any benefit ordering your drink from your phone rather than pressing one button on the machine itself.

Quality of coffee 10/10

The pedigree of this coffee machine is very good so it deserves the best beans to go with it. If you combine great beans with this great product then you will definitely get a coffee shop quality cup of coffee every time.

Value For Money 6/10

This coffee machine does not come cheap. If pure convenience is what you are looking for and money is not your biggest concern then this is a great choice.

Hers is a short video from Melitta of the Barista TS SMART Bean to Cup Coffee Machine.