DeLonghi Magnifica S Bean to Cup Coffee Machine ECAM 22.110.B Review

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This Delonghi Magnifica S bean to cup coffee machine represents outstanding value for money at or around the £300 mark. Prices do move up and down on all of their bean to cup coffee machines from month to month but at that price you get a fully automated coffee machine that allows you to control a lot of the variables that give you a café quality coffee.

You can easily pay double the price for other bean to cup coffee machines from Delonghi or other brands and get the same result.

Delonghi has around 30 different bean to cup coffee machines to choose from at any one time with prices ranging from several hundred pounds to several thousand pounds so how do you work out the difference between your Magnifica’s and your Prima Donna’s?

Do you want a milk carafe for genuine full automation or should you use a steam wand to heat and froth up the milk yourself?

At the end of the day does a Delonghi bean to cup machine that costs £300-£400 actually produce a better cup of coffee than one that costs £1000?

Having spent hundreds of hours testing and reviewing all of the different bean to cup coffee machines on the market, the truth is that with Delonghi you may get some extra features like a digital display and maybe a few more buttons for drink selection but the final coffee that gets delivered into your cup is going to be so similar that you simply would not be able to tell the difference if it was made on a £300 or a  £600 bean to cup machine.

If you are able to control the amount of coffee that is ground, the temperature of the water and the length of time that it takes for the espresso to be delivered, that is where you get the best value for money and you don’t have to shell out in the high hundreds to get that.

If you are on a tight budget then you can consider one of their entry-level machines like the Café Corso ESAM2800.B that will grind your fresh beans and process them from “bean to cup” but if you consider that this is an investment that you are looking to make great coffee for maybe 3-5 years then in our opinion it is worth the relatively small upgrade in price to be able to control more of the variables with this Magnifica S 22.110.B.

A bean to cup coffee machine is an indulgence that delivers a sensory experience and Delonghi are the market leaders in delivering that experience so let’s take a look at how this Magnifica S 22.110B performs from a quality and value perspective.

Overall Score 9.97/10

Design 10/10

This is a well thought through and aesthetically pleasing appliance. Finished in a combination of matt black and shiny chrome, Delonghi have understood that this is something that will be living permanently on your worksurface,

Some bean to cup coffee machines can be bulky and non-descript but this is a fairly compact appliance that is actually pleasing on the eye with a silver drip tray, silver control panel and silver cup rest on top of the machine all blending together with the black body to create a coffee machine that will fit perfectly and blend into any style of kitchen.

At 23.8cm wide, 43.0cm deep and 35.1cm tall it’s an average size and will be no problem for most kitchen worktops.

Functionality 10/10

The size of the beans container is something that often gets overlooked but it is worth making sure that it holds at least 200g of coffee beans.

This has a good sized beans container (or bean hopper as it is called) holding up to 250g of beans at full capacity. Machines that hold 200g of beans are ok as well but If you don’t want to be topping up the beans every couple of days then avoid the machines that hold only 150g of beans or less.

This machine has a very intuitive way of guiding you through the coffee making process with an extremely easy to understand control panel with default settings that deliver a coffee to suit almost every requirement for whatever coffee is your drink of choice.

The control panel has six buttons and a dial to control everything you need for perfect coffee delivery.

One is the on/off button and another is to turn the steam on for using the steam wand to heat and froth your milk.

The other 4 buttons control the coffee delivery and it is extremely likely that using one of these default buttons will satisfy your needs regardless of what type of coffee you like.

Each button controls the amount of water that is delivered through the ground coffee and into your glass or cup.

Pressing the one cup button on the left delivers 40ml of water which is the equivalent of a single espresso.

Pressing the two cup button on the left delivers 80ml of water which is the equivalent of a double espresso. If it was us we would have named the buttons “single espresso” and “double espresso” instead of showing one and two cups but when you know what they do it doesn’t matter.

The buttons on the right simply deliver more water so if you prefer an Americano then use these buttons. One delivers 120ml of water and the other 240ml of water.

Everyone has a different taste when it comes to how mild or strong they like their coffee so 40ml.80ml,120ml or 240ml of coffee will accommodate most peoples tastes.

If however, you want something in between you can just hold down one of the buttons during a coffee delivery to program it just how you like.

So that you get the coffee just how you like it, use the dial in the middle in conjunction with one of the 4 coffee buttons. The dial increases or decreases the amount of coffee that is ground each time so grind more for a stronger coffee and less for a weaker one.

By adjusting the dial and using one of the 4 coffee buttons you can fine tune everything so that this bean to cup coffee machine automatically delivers your coffee just how you like it every time.

This is what we mean by value for money. Why spend £600, £700, £800 or more when you can fine tune what you need to a very precise level with a machine like this?

You can also adjust the fineness of the coffee grind by adjusting the grind adjustment dial which is located inside the bean hopper. With 13 different levels of fineness you can use this to fine tune your coffee even further.

The water tank has a 1.8 litre capacity which is plenty for at least 8-10 cups before needing to be refilled.

You can even adjust the temperature of the water in the settings if the default is not hot enough for you.

This Delonghi bean to cup machine comes with a manual steam wand for heating and frothing milk. We would always recommend heating the milk yourself instead of choosing a machine with a milk carafe.

Bean to cup machines with an automatic milk carafe may look good and at first seem great but they are more expensive and you can’t control the temperature of the milk (except on the really expensive ones) or the texture and they can be a pain to clean. Although you can store the milk carafe in the fridge it tends to only stay fresh for a day or two so you are constantly having to clean and refill it.

With this machine simply press the steam button and flick down the steam arm just above the nozzle and froth up the milk just as you like it in just a few minutes. There is a reason they do it that way in coffee shops – it’s better.

This coffee machine will automatically switch off after 2 hours of no use. It warms up and is ready to use within a minute so 2 hours is a little long in our opinion. You can easily reconfigure the automatic switch off to as low as 15 minutes which is the level we would recommend. No point in wasting electricity unnecessarily.

We would always recommend using a water filter to get the best flavour possible from your coffee and to reduce the risk of damage due to limescale and it reduces how often to need to perform a cleaning cycle. A water filter can easily be fitted into the water reservoir of this coffee machine which is not always the case with all bean to cup machines so keep an eye out for that if you are considering others.

Ease of use 10/10

This is a very easy coffee machine to use. Once you have had a play around with the coffee strength dial, just press one button to have a great coffee delivered, every time.

Quality of coffee 10/10

It’s all about the coffee. Use fresh coffee beans that have been roasted recently (no more than 4 weeks ago is ideal) and you will soon be wondering how you ever went to a coffee shop and paid £3 a time.

Value For Money 9.97/10

For the level of personalisation that you have with this coffee machine to tailor-make your coffee exactly how you want it, this really is phenomenal value for money at the price. Expect to pay double with other brands for the same features.

We really like this coffee machine. It achieves everything that you would want from a bean to cup coffee machine and there is virtually nothing in it between this and our top-rated bean to cup machine, the Delonghi Autentica ETAM 29.510.B

At the end of the day, it comes down to personal preference. We like the fact that the coffee buttons are flush to the control panel on the 29.510 and it also has a “Doppio+” button that gives you a nice strong double espresso at the touch of a button without having to alter any of the default settings.

Other than that, they are very much alike.

Now you know the difference and exactly what they do, Whichever one you go for they represent amazing value for money and you will not be disappointed with the results you get.

Last update on 2024-04-17 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API