Reply With QuoteWiley is your man here as he made the switch.
Shame yours keeps breaking, I have the Creatista Plus and been faultless. Assuming you must have the Pro then?
We have been using nespresso for years, currently using a their top machine with the wand, which has been back twice now because it stops working. To replace is 500 quid and the capsules are getting crazy.
Coffee is okay it’s the ease that I find appealing, but is it time to change from ness all together?????
Would be great to hear from chaps who have made the switch, ease of bean machines and any recommendations budget £500
Many thanks in advance.
Wiley is your man here as he made the switch.
Shame yours keeps breaking, I have the Creatista Plus and been faultless. Assuming you must have the Pro then?
We have a Delonghi bean to cup at our main home and a Nespresso Vertuo (the one that spins the pods) at our holiday home.
The Delonghi is excellent, but we almost never use the milk attachment unit that does a nice latte. Despite us having a water softener it requires descaling a bit more often than I would have expected.
It isn’t expensive to run and I now buy our beans in bulk from Amazon which saves a fortune (we drink about four cups a day in total).
The Nespresso Vertuo does produce really excellent coffee but at nearly a quid per pod it is expensive- so we view it as a holiday treat.
Hope that helps a bit!
So clever my foot fell off.
Bean to cup is a whole different level to Nespresso, you'll never look back.
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
Cheers buddy, yes the pro.Originally Posted by Mj2k
I have the De’longhi Specialista it’s a great machine, had it since March and life would be difficult without it. As the comment above it needs descaling often but it’s no big deal. I use English Bay beans from Bean Bear, roasted the day before so very fresh and a great crema.Fantastic start to the day.
Last edited by hilly10; 1st November 2023 at 08:07.
I had a De'Longhi BtC machine for a couple of years at home but it was a bit noisy when the rest of the household was asleep and a faff to descale. I moved it to the office and replaced it with a Melitta which is very quiet and dead easy to clean. Hard water here so I use filters which delay the need to descale.
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
I got a Jura e60 form this very forum. About 4 y ago I think
Loads better imho than the nespresso I’d used for a few years
Really easy to use and self clean
Andy
We stopped using the Nespresso a couple of years ago. It sits in the cupboard unloved. We used a Moka Pot at the moment but will be upgrading to the Sage Barista Express when the next deals come out. Currently £600. Out friends have one and made us a coffee to try and once dialled in it’s on another level and simple to use. It does take a little while to dial it in but it’s worth the effort.
Already £500 at Argos, Amazon etc (though not really a bean to cup machine).
Get a Sage, they're regularly on offer - and look out for additional voucher codes as sometimes they appear and work on top of sale prices.
In fact right now the Barista Express is £100 off, as are the proper "bean-to-cup" machines. I'd go for the Express. Once you have the grind level for your regular bean set up, it's really not much more fuss than a Nespresso and a lot more pocket/environmentally friendly.
I already had a grinder, so I got the Bambino Plus.
Last edited by Scepticalist; 1st November 2023 at 09:05.
Will the Express grind coarse for filter coffee or it's set up for only an espresso?
Obviously not relevant if you drink espresso (or espresso based drinks) but we've had a couple of good bean to cup filter machines. Still get the benefits of freshly ground beans. Currently have a Mellita.
I have a Delonghi Caffe Corsa bean to cup in my office, my daughter has a Nespresso machine in the kitchen. The bean to cup appears to be "better", whether this is solely due to taste or the "experience" is debatable. However, the choice of beans is very wide and bargains are there to be had. We use an independent (Stwearts of Trent Bridge) regularly but have purchased beans from small roasters when we've been on our travels.
The bean to cup needs to be looked after, regular cleaning and descaling (more often than I had anticipated).
If I had to choose one over the other it would be the bean to cup...
Snap. - bought mine several years ago reurbed from Delonghi via eBay if I recall around £150- great machine and very inexpensive- yes it dies need descaling maybe once a month but no big deal
There often part of the 20% deals on eBay
But do you fill it with water that's gone through the softener anyway? I know with ours we have a separate tap for drinking water.
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Last edited by xxnick1975; 1st November 2023 at 10:09.
I presumed it ‘counts’ how many cups have been through the machine as opposed to checking to see if it requires descaling
Pretty sure none of the BtC machines actually measure hardness - they rely on you inputing soft/med/hard in the set up.
If you fill from a d/w tap pre-softened, then input "soft"
my melita generally calls for a clean program every 4wks and descale every 8wks.
both of which are pretty easy, a tablet in the clean program and a spoon of descaler in the tank for the descale program
https://ao.com/product/ti923309gb-si...-94060-65.aspx
Looks like a good deal and not far off the OP's budget, guess it is a run out model as it has £700 off retail. I don't drink enough coffee to justify a machine but if I did I would give this one a go.
Had nespresso for years, various machines. Think we have the exact same machine. Went for the pro to be able to froth milk and extract espresso at the same time. In hindsight we should have gone bean to cup sooner.
Jura was recommended here by Joe Narvey and I found one almost half price in Costco last year. ENA 8. Good but not very modern. Some drawbacks but very happy with it overall, especially over the Nespresso, but you’ll need to do milk separately. All the coffee grinds go into the garden.
I use the Nespresso for frothing milk or decaf and the Jura for espresso and black coffee. Aerochino 4 is the best external milk frother Ive found.
I have a Jura bean to cup and love it. It replaced a 10 yo Siemens btc which had died after producing literally thousands of cups. I've had it since 2020 and nothing's gone wrong, despite producing around 10 cups per day.
+ You can set it to give the coffee you like - choose the beans, then on the machine you can choose the grind/strength/size/heat - in a way I was never able to with the Nespresso machines.
+ Although it takes a bit of cleaning and descaling, this is both quick and easy
- You need to buy the Jura-own water filters, which aren't cheap, and I've get to find a cheaper alternative. Failure to use them means you'll kill the machine, so false economy to do anything else.
- Mine was on offer, but it's still a bloody expensive bit of kit
As alluded to above:
Using the steam wand for frothing milk has two downsides:
Cleaning of the wand of dried on milk
Increased scaling in the heating element.
Using a Nespresso mechanical frother is the answer- easy to use and clean, plus - you can usually pick up cheap S/H (unused) ones from people who have either bought or been gifted a complete Nespresso set and seeking to recoup some money on what they don't use.
I've never tasted a satisfactory Nespresso cup (or filter coffee now) - BtC is the only way forward.
I did - I don't want the hassle and went back to a nespresso.
I'm slightly curious - was it the cleaning that was the hassle? Mine needs a filter change every month (ish) which takes 3 minutes, plus a cleaning every two weeks (drop in a tablet, walk away, come back 15 minutes later). The only other issue is dealing with the coffee grounds, but they just go in the garden so that's a non-problem for me.
By far the biggest issue I have with the Nespresso machines is that I have yet to find capsules that taste even half as good as the beans I can buy.
Just the mess with the grounds and the space it took.
I'm perfectly happy with a nespresso especially as I don't actually buy Nespresso pods so it's not expense. I drink a lot of coffee but I'm not a snob on taste plus I liked flavoured coffee.
Last edited by Alansmithee; 1st November 2023 at 12:14.
I don't think progressing to Espresso coffee machines and BtC versions is being a 'snob'.
Well lots of people are saying than Bean to Cup is vastly superior - I am saying for me and me only - I don't care - coffee is coffee to me.
I'm another one in the camp of the Nespresso system is more than good enough.
Having gone through several of the 'plastic' models I've finally settled of the Grind 1 machine and their Grind capsules. The capsules are the same blends as in their caffe's and knock the Nespresso ones into a cocked hat. They're also fully compostable, so go in the green bin with the grass clippings.
The machine is in a different league to the Delonghi's, Nespresso's and the like, produces a great espresso and the milk frother again is way better than the usual plastic ones.
They have regular deals, currently 15% off everything but sometimes 25% - and that includes the machine.
Great coffee without the expense, mess and faf.
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
If you're considering a Sage, some models are discounted on their site at present.
You can also get an extra 15% off if you signup to youtuber Coffee Kevs mailing list here https://coffeeblog.co.uk/sage-coffee-machines-5/ and ask him to send you a 1 time code.
You can get the Barista Express for £450.46, or the Barista Express Pro for £552.46
I've just saved 180 quid off an Touch Impress
Many thanks all for your thoughts and feedback.
I’m liking the sage barista machines, might see what Black Friday brings.
Pitch
I’m going to keep an eye on this thread. Always fancied a Sage but just waiting for a good offer. Cheers
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I went from a Nespresso to a sage bambino plus and decent grinder. Getting the hang of dialling in was a pain initially but I quite like it now. A decent tamper and scales and never looked back.
I’m still enjoying trying different beans and I am lucky enough to have a roaster not too far from me.
Not bean to cup but makes a cracking cup of coffee.
Me too (I used to have a Gaggia espresso machine) but I also don’t use Nespresso capsules. I get mine from here
https://lacapsuleria.com/en/compatib...fee-machine-10
Ship from Italy in about five days
I bought a Sage Barista Express last year - love it, dead easy to use once you have tuned the settings.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
What’s a good grinder that you would recommend?
Bean to cup here too. Moved from Nespresso about a year ago.
Opens up a whole new world of better coffee, is much cheaper, better for the environment and as is just as simple. Our machine is a Delonghi too, with a milk steamer that is fun and simple to use for frothing milk.
Don’t know why we didn’t do it sooner.
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I’ve had a bean to cup Delonghi for 3-4 years, great machine, got mine on EBay direct from the manufacture with 12 months warranty.
They are ex demo machines that may have been used a couple of times at a lot less than RRP.
Good luck hunting Paul!
What's your budget? Honestly the Sage one is pretty decent, but depending on budget there might be better for more and for less.
Many thanks buddy but Mrs P has got the machine going again and with a changing landscape in front of me I fear I may to put this on hold.
Hope it’s not as bleak as that reads, matey.
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What's the best setup to do bean to cup manually? I take it I could just grind the beans and pour hot water over them through a filter?
Anyone have a view on whether to go with an all in one like the Sage Barista Express vs the Bambino Plus + Smart Grinder Pro? The latter works out about £20 cheaper.
Yup - that is filter coffee, but not a patch on an espresso machine (or BtC espresso)
We have 3 Sage Barista Express machines in our family.
We love them - very simple to use and the coffee produced is worth the effort.
Pete
New Sage machine arrived today.
I've had a Delonghi Magnifica S for about 10 years which is still going strong but wanted to change to a more manual espresso type machine.
I've done the setup and calibration just using the normal supermarket beans and the difference in the brew from the Delonghi is very noticeable. Now getting a much smoother and rounded coffee, it also seems to be giving more of a caffeine hit which was I wasn't expecting.
I did go down the rabbit hole and spent quite a bit more than I initially intended to but I'm very happy with how its performing already.
I'd go for separates because the standalone grinder is probably better to fine tune your espresso, but in the end it depends on kitchen counter space I suppose.
What does an espresso machine do differently? I would like to get a machine but the only time I would get to use it is weekends which seems a waste.
Anyone used an aeropress with bought ground coffee?
Try a Moka pot as an interim. Not espresso but much better than filter/french press IMO.
That's just personal preference, we always drink BtC filter in our house.
Not sure what BtC filter coffee is?
Do you start with whole beans, grind them to order - then use the grounds in a filter machine?
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