The De'Longhi Magnifica is similar to the brand's famous Rivelia machine, but with a better price tag — I tried it to see how the two compare

This De'Longhi Magnifica Plus bean-to-cup coffee machine review is an in-depth look at this more affordably priced (but still very expensive!) machine from the brand.

I tried it at the Ideal Home test kitchen alongside a host of other coffee makers, including other De'Longhi machines, to see how it fared. Here's how it ranks for me amongst the best bean-to-cup coffee machines.

In a nutshell

The De'Longhi Magnifica Plus is a fully-automatic bean-to-cup coffee machine for the home, with 18 drinks available at the touch of a button.

It sits in the mid-range of De'Longhi's range of coffee machines, with an RRP of £699.99 at the time of writing. One step up is the Rivelia (which we awarded an easy 5 stars in our De'Longhi Rivelia review), which is more expensive at the RRP of £749.99.

For the lower price, you lose the huge range of customisation and drinks you get with the Rivelia, but in truth the machines still feel remarkably similar. The one-touch element is great for both long black drinks and frothy ones, with the automatic milk wand creating silky lattes with ease.

I'm not a huge fan of the plastic milk carafe that comes with these machines and has to be thoroughly cleaned after every use. They can feel a bit icky to me, but their result is undoubtedly impressive, as our tests showed.

I think this is a great all-automatic choice for people who want an impressive bean-to-cup machine. They can operate it from a (still snazzy) touchscreen and enjoy a huge range of drinks at their fingertips.

Specifications

• Type: bean-to-cup
• Control type: automatic
• Water tank capacity: 1.9 litres
• Bean hopper: 250g hopper
• Pressure: 15 bar
• Dimensions: W24cm x D44cm x H36cm
• Weight: 9.8kg
• Colours available: titanium black, black, silver black
• RRP: £699.99

Getting started

First things first, let's talk about how the Magnifica Plus looks. I don't think it's quite as pretty as the Rivelia, but it's still sleek, fairly compact and comes in a range of colours so you can find the perfect match for your worktop.

The interface that you dial through drinks on is in full colour and features little animations and walkthroughs, as well as the chance to add up to four different user profiles.

The two drinks icons on either side of the machine are stickers, not graphics so they don't disappear on turning the machine off which is a shame, as it forsakes a clean interface. But it's a tiny thing.

The bean hopper and water tank are all otherwise contained within the neat lines of the machine. The milk front sits at the front with a spout that dispenses a 'fine rich milk foam, with 3 textures: dense, creamy or light'.

I don't love the plastic carafe, I always find them a bit tricky and laborious to clean and dry. But again, that is a small detail and for the convenience it brings, perhaps it's worth overlooking. It's also worth noting that the carafe is dishwasher safe, which will be a big benefit for a lot of people.

Making coffee

First up was the obvious: making an espresso. I was using Lost Sheep beans on the testing day, which are a joy. My favourite is the Get To The Hopper blend (from £9.95 at Lost Sheep Coffee).

Everything is straighforwardly simple with this machine. Load the beans in, follow the on-screen instructions to set up user profiles (if you see the benefit, which I do), then scroll through the list of drinks to find the one you want.

For an espresso, all you're instructed to do is pop a cup under the spout.

The screen then lets you know that your espresso is dispensing, with nothing else for you to do but enjoy your drink.

A few technical things to note here: while the machine tells you it's brewing, it doesn't tell you at what pressure. This machine has 15 bar pressure, compared to 19 bar on the Rivelia, but the simple interface of it means you don't get to know which pressure it's pulling the espresso shot at.

Most people interested in this kind of automatic machine probably don't mind that fact, but if you do find your coffee tastes different from how you'd like, being able to see the pressure can be a way to troubleshoot that. It all comes to down to individual preference with those kind of features.

On the Rivelia, you have the brand's BeanAdapt technology, which our reviewer loved. It's a feature that fine tunes your coffee for you (down to the grind size and the infusion time) for the perfect cup of coffee. If you're interested in that, it might be worthwhile paying the extra for the Rivelia.

Back with the Magnifica, though the tweaking isn't as intensive, the resulting espresso was still delicious and full bodied. It had a great taste, and I felt like it was the closest thing to sipping an espresso on a terrace in Italy that I could get on a dreary day in the UK.

It tasted noticeably fruiter than other espressos I drank that day and was a good start for this machine. I moved onto the cold coffee.

Again, all you need to do is scroll through the little coffee animations. I picked an iced black coffee. The interface instructs you how many cubes to pop under the dispenser and using glasses that De'Longhi (£46 from John Lewis) had sent, finding the right cup size was easy.

The cold coffee was actually hot coffee over ice, which is fine. But this isn't a cold brew setting like the other machine (the Opera Specialista) I tried on the same day had.

Hot coffee over ice has always been my go-to in the summer anyways, so I had no qualms with this drink. It was a bit weaker than just a shot of epsresso over ice, of course, so dispense depending on how strong you'd like it to be. Once a splash of milk was added, I thought it would make a great refreshing summer drink.

Next up was a latte, which meant I finally got to see the automatic milk wand in action.

I filled the milk jug and inserted it into the front of machine, which is all straightforward and then selected a latte from the menu. The milk dispenses first and it's easy to see the milk is very finely frothed, similar to the kind of results you get from a micro-foam frother. It looks great and dispenses easily and quickly.

Then the espresso dispenses. It's quite the thing to watch and the ensuing drink (before you give it a stir) looks very impressive with the layers of coffee and milk.

It tasted great too, and really did require just the effort of a push of a button. This is the biggest appeal of this machine to me and I can see how the Magnifica would make a great addition to a morning routine.

After this, I also tried a longer black drink, which is a great feature for this machine to have as I know that's becoming an increasingly popular drink.

All in all, the coffee was delicious and the process was so easy you can't really fault it.

How does it compare to similar coffee machines?

This is a great automatic machine, which would be good if you want something like the Rivelia, but would prefer to pay a bit less. Sales and prices do go up and down though, so be sure to compare the two before you buy.

Alternatively, another automatic De'Longhi machine that we love at Ideal Home is the Eletta Explore, which our expert reviewer gave 5 stars. It has a truly huge menu of drinks and bean adapt technology for getting your espressos to taste just perfect. It won an easy 5 stars in our De'Longhi Eletta Explore review.

The other De'Longhi machine I tried on this testing day was the Opera Specialista, which takes things in a different direction. It's very hands-on, so you grind, tamp and pull your espresso shot yourself, with grind sizes and other settings you can customise. If you do want a more hands-on experience, that machine will suit you well.

Should you buy the Magnifica Plus?

If you've had your eye on an automatic bean-to-cup coffee machine, this is a great choice. It's slightly pared back from some of the other De'Longhi choices out there, but unless you're very particular I don't think you'll miss some of the features (like an enhanced display screen) bearing in mind the money you could save.

Of course, this is still a very expensive pick. But if you'd use it several times a day for coffee, you can see why it would be a good investment for a kitchen that would make your mornings much brighter.