Autentica Cappuccino, Fully Automatic Bean to Cup Coffee Machine, Espresso Maker,1.4 litres, ETAM29.660.SB, Silver and Black

We waited patiently for a the right bean-to-cup to come into our price range, and this one seemed the perfect choice. It's really very neatly sized - yes, bigger than a Nespresso etc. but it's only about 7-8cm taller than our kettle, and barely any wider. For a while we considered a Caffe Corso or Magnifica (all the DeLonghi machines seem to get favourable reviews) but this was neater and more stylish, plus for where we wanted it in our kitchen, having the steam wand on the left was a bonus. As usual with Amazon it came super quickly, along with the 350ml milk jug we ordered. The instructions are clear and I recommend reading them first before twiddling - you quickly get a sense of how the digital interface works and it's actually very straightforward. There are just a couple of settings that need adjustment before you get going that you might not otherwise think to do: The hardness of the water, and whether or not you're using the water softening filter. The tester strip that comes with the instructions barely registered our water as 1 on the 1-4 scale (and we never get limescale in our kettle) so in fact I didn't bother installing the filter - just an added expense to replace, and our old Nespresso did fine without one for years. The bean hopper is accessed from the top, with a rubberised edge seal to maintain freshness of the beans inside, and the water tank is removed from the back. This seems to draw a few complaints but is really not difficult at all, as the flip-up lid acts as a handle; as long as you have space to move your arm over the top of the machine, you can pull up the tank and then move it off to either side to remove and fill. The drip tray and grounds box are removed as one although the grounds box can then be lifted off, and the tray comes with a handy indicator so you can easily see when it needs emptying. This machine rinses when switched on and when it switches off (which it does automatically), so for convenience it's easier just to leave a small cup or espresso glass underneath all the time to minimise drip tray empties. So, how is the coffee?! My first impressions were underwhelming. I knew that it would take a bit of running through, and that the first 5-10 espressos would just be thrown away (it says so in the manual) but even after that, I felt the coffee was weak and bitter. And this included after moving the grind adjuster. After drinking as much coffee as I dared given that I was unpacking at night, I went to bed a bit deflated. However! The next morning I tried some different beans, and what a difference! Whether it was purely the beans or whether the machine just needed to "settle in" overnight, I don't know, but the espresso I was now getting was rich, oily, fruity, just a hint of acidity, and with a thick and well-coloured crema. The night before I'd used some beans I'd bought from a cheap supermarket by accident, but the new beans were received as a gift from a friend on their travels in Africa. The instructions tell you that the grind adjuster shouldn't need moving much, but if it does, do it a click at a time. It was set to nearly the coarsest grind. I've adjusted mine to near the finest grind, so that the espresso runs continuously (not dripping/stop-starting) but quite slowly, with just a hint of "spiralling" (I think this refers to the winding motion the coffee stream makes when it is running out so slowly). I also have it set to "strong coffee"; there's a setting to go even stronger if desired although I'm not sure quite what this adjusts? The interface gives you the options for one-touch single or double espresso, "long coffee" (which is not just espresso topped up with water but uses a lower pressure, filter-style extraction technique... apparently! This is how my wife drinks it and no complaints from her!) and "Doppio+", which isn't made entirely clear in the manual but I think it's a double espresso plus a bit extra! I have only tried the steam wand once so can't review this much yet, other than to say the 350ml jug is just the right size, I don't think the wand would reach the bottom of a larger jug. You may have to wait a few moments for the pressure to build as this does not have a double boiler, but I knew this already. The wand is not quite as convenient to clean as a traditional espresso machine - there is an outer case which somehow adjusts how the steam is delivered (and therefore whether you want cappuccino style foam or just hot milk, allegedly) but to clean, this must be removed, rinsed, and the internal rubber spout also wiped, but it's not difficult! Finally, even the options that are not "one-touch" are very straightforward, with arrow buttons to select the size of drink you want (Standard is 60ml, short is 40ml but there is a "My Coffee" customisable option which can be even shorter if you wish) and the "strength" of coffee - again, not exactly sure what this adjusts. Overall, after the initial frustration, I'm delighted with the machine. It comes with a 2 year warranty and will get so much use that even if it conks out a day beyond that I'll have had my money's worth out of it. I think it gives you just the right amount of customisation; It's easy to get a useful range of lengths and strengths, but doesn't unnecessarily complicate matters. Examining the pucks in the grounds tray suggests that it is working well - evenly compressed disks, saturated all the way through but not sloppy. If you're primarily wanting something to make milk-based drinks, I can't really speak to the suitability of the steam wand - you might be better with one of the automatic machines that includes a milk tank, or a machine with a double boiler. But for those who only want a cappuccino occasionally or when friends come round, but want good quality espresso/black coffee most of the time, this is perfect - just give it time to settle in, and if in doubt, try different beans! (I do come back and edit reviews if issues crop up...) Edit, 23/9/2019: Just want to describe an issue with the steam wand which was resolved quickly, but not by DeLonghi. We rinse the steam wand out after every milk-frothed coffee, but for a week the wand has been creating the high pitched jet noise as if set to "hot milk" rather than "cappuccino", and not frothing the milk at all. I called DeLonghi and spoke to a clueless teenager on the phone, who told me to restart the machine, asked me if I cleaned it regularly, checked it was within warranty and then told me I'd have to send the whole machine in for repair! I suggested it was almost certainly due to the steam wand nozzle, couldn't they just send me a replacement. He agreed, but then said it was not in stock and they had no idea when it would be back available - so they still offered to collect the whole machine. However...! A bit of YouTubing and I found a video called Auto Frothing Steam Wand: How to Test and Use. This isn't for DeLonghi specifically, but explains how these wands work and troubleshoots them a bit. Essentially they're very simple - the cuff at the top alters whether air is drawn in and mixed with steam to froth, or pure steam only for hot milk. If something is stopping air flow, the frothing performance will be poor, even though the same amount of steam is being pumped out. If you take the silver frothing nozzle off, you can pull it into the upwards position ("hot milk"), but then pull it upwards firmly further (as if you're trying to pull the black collar off). This lets you see some holes and channels underneath. As I said, we keep ours clean so it wasn't even gummed up here, but I gave it an extra little brush. There now seems to be more play/movement up and down between the two settings than frankly there ever was, and it completely fixed the problem. So, no marks off for the machine, but DeLonghi loses a star for not being able to talk to someone who had a clue, although obviously it's good to know they were ready to take the machine back for repair. I've added in photos of the steam wand in the THREE possible positions - cappuccino, hot milk and then "extended", which allows better cleaning and fixed my problem.

This is my second De'Longhi bean to cup coffee machine. Dad who is 80 managed to break the coffee grinder on the old one by fiddling with the adjustment dial in the hopper. It still works with ground coffee, but be advised only to adjust the grinder one notch at a time, and only when the grinder is in operation. The Autentica comes with the same health warning. That said my new Autentica arrived just before christmas and I am super delighted with it and fast on my way to becoming a coffee geek; I can now converse in coffee and can tell you what the difference between a cappuccino a lattè and a flat white, a ristretto, doppio and an espresso, even if I'm still not sure how to spell them properly. Bottom line is they all taste superb, because you can set the strength of coffee, the froth of the milk, and the size of the cup, to suit yourself. There are four temperature settings too, as well as a cup warming tray on top to take the chill off your cups, but the tray does take 5-10minutes to warm up fully. If you want your own particular style in your favourite cup, you can set it to dispense that at the touch of a button. You can even adjust how long the machine will remain on standby before switching itself off, and another feature to set it to come on, so that eg it is warmed up ready for breakfast in the morning. The milk jug can be swopped out, it fits neatly in the fridge door tray, for a hot water/steam nozzle for making tea or cuppasoup, but I'm drinking so much coffee right now I haven't gotten round to trying that option. One unexpected pleasure was also buying the insulated glasses; they come in 3 sizes ie espresso, cappuccino and latte or very short standard and very long. You can see the alternate layers of milk , coffee and foam in the glass, and no matter how hot the coffee the glass is pleasantly warm in your hands. Well it impressed me! *postscript: had it now for a month and I am getting the jitters from the amount of coffee I'm now drinking. Loving my coffee. The water jug could do with being bigger but quick and easy to refill almost filled to the brim. The steam/hot water nozzle could be longer, for making up a jug of hot milk, if you want to get creative/artistic pouring your cappuccinos. Yup, that's how bad I've got the habbit now. 😉

We bought this to replace a DeLonghi Magnifica which had given us nearly 10 years service on a daily basis. My daughter likes a frothy milk so the mik function was just what we needed. Some of the other DeLonghi machines will not do a hot frothy milk. The milk function is much better as you canvary the amount of frothiness. Accessability to empty the drip tray and the grounds container is better than on the Magnifica, and the water is at the back not the side like on the Magnifica, which again is easier to access. I would recomend this machine for its good looks and excellent functionality.

I have the machine over a year now, I have tried all available coffee options and I am very happy with it. The machine is a great quality and the coffee taste better then in any coffee shop. There has never been any issues with the machine itself, it work perfectly and make a delicious coffees. We are coffee lovers and use it a lot. It is very quick and easy to use and clean. The only issue I had was with the Milk Jug which after 1 and a half year of using stopped working properly (it didn't make the foam , was just worming up the milk without making the foam) I have contact the De Longhi support team and got a replacement. It was very easy and quick so I recommend this product and the brand to everyone.

I’ve had coffee from bean to cup machines before and been (or bean) generally unimpressed so I was nervous about buying this one. What made me push the button was mainly the temperature adjustment, yes it makes a proper hot cup of coffee. There are enough settings to adjust coffee strength and quantity to make most happy. You can also use pre-ground coffee, it’s a bit of a fuss adding one scoop then another for a long coffee, i.e. a full cup of coffee. The milk foam is fiddly, tall latte cups don’t fit and if you don’t pay attention you’ll end up with a mess. But otherwise super easy, cappuccinos are one button push. It’s not quiet when grinding and rinsing but that’s par for the course. And the coffee tastes great.

I bought this from Amazon five years ago. During that time I've descaled it at least 10 times, and replaced the water canister at the back of the machine when the lid decided to break and fall off. The water canister is easy to source and cheap to buy. This is a magnificent coffee machine. It works as well now as it did five years ago and has never let me down. Coffee tastes better than the crap from Starbucks et al. I drink about 10 cups of coffee a day so the machine is well used. This was an expensive present to myself and I have had more than my money's worth from it.

Cappuccino was never hot enough, despite setting to hottest level and following the recommendations in the User Manual. I found that this was probably due to the milk frother delivering COLD milk. A pity because in all other respects it is an excellent machine. (Black coffees were hot and very good). Spoke to customer support, (after waiting over 20 minutes in the queue), they did not know if the milk should be hot or cold! Just told me to return the machine. A small point - the water tank is a bit small, always running out of water.

Have been using this machine for 2 weeks and it's my first bean to cup coffee machine. The machine looks great and the coffee is considerably hot. Easy to use, customize and to clean. Some drawbacks though. The water tank is place at the back and capacity is smaller as compared to other models. So after rinsing and making few cups of coffee, you will need to top up the water tank again. Similarly applies to the ground coffee container which you will need to clear every now and then. The plus points are really that it is small and nicely design which can tug at a small corner. Overall very happy customer.