Delonghi EN520.R Nespresso Lattissima Plus Coffee Maker, Red

Assuming that you're already convinced by the whole nespresso idea, this isn't a bad coffee machine. If you're not sure what nespresso is, it's basically a proprietary coffee making 'system' marketed by Nestle. It's very clean and simple to use, but you're tied into Nestlé's range of coffee which is very expensive and limited in choice. If you're undecided, I'd reccomend a bean to cup machine over this one. They are more expensive but will save you money in the long run as you can buy coffee by the bean, with infinitely more choice. Delonghi does this one De'Longhi Magnifica ESAM4200 15-Bar Bean To Cup Espresso/Cappuccino Maker, Silver

However, one advantage that this machine does have over more traditional ones is it takes the work out of making frothy coffees, like cappucino or macchiato. Press one button and it will froth the milk, pour it into the cup, top up with espresso and it's done. A neat dial control lets you choose the amount of froth, and it's really quite clever. If you can't be doing with the faff of more traditional machines you'll love this. That said, you still have a degree of faff in keeping it clean. There is a button to automatically clean the milk section but really it needs a rinse under the tap after each use. You can detach the milk tank to store in the fridge, and it's easy to attach and detach.

It's a very small and tidy little machine, bright red, and full of hidden little compartments for used coffee pods or adjusting the height of the cups you'll use and so on. One small niggle is that the water tank is right at the back of the machine and is a bit difficult to get to if you have it under a wall cupboard. It's also a bit hard to see if you've locked it into place properly. It does hold a deceptively large amount of water though, and is transparent so easy to check water level. Build is a bit flimsy, it feels VERY plasticky and a bit cheap. There is no stylish italian chrome here and it's actually a little ugly.

The coffee is tasty, but a little cool. If you like your coffee really hot then you'll be frustrated by this as it just won't get that hot. It is very tasty though, with a quality crema on espressos although a little watery for my taste. Again, a limitation of nespresso is you can't adjust the grind or amount of coffee goes into your cup, although for some that is an advantage as it's one less choice to worry about. Still, you can find yourself drinking far too much - especially as you don't need to wait for it to cool down!

The machine comes with 12 nespresso pods to get started and an impressive looking brochure of what other coffees are available, or at least I assume that is what it is as my copy was printed entirely in German. It's hard to know what blend is what, as they are all under nestlé's own brand names - again, you'll be out of luck if you love a Lavazza Rosso or a Monsoon Malabar..

I'm not entirely convinced by the whole nespresso idea, but if you want a incredible easy to use machine which will produce consistent results then you could do a lot worse than this.

I bought this as my previous espresso maker from Krups was on the way out. I've had it for nearly 5 years. In that time it'd dispensed many hundreds of coffees but it was a very manual machine.

If I was going to replace it I wanted something equally as impressive but I was looking for an automatic machine this time round. I had looked at the previous generation of nespresso latissima machines but most of them seemed to get unfavourable reviews with regards the hotness of the drinks they dispensed.

I was a little nervous about this fact when ordering this machine but I'm happy to save the drinks are plenty hot enough although sometimes I think they could be a little hotter.

I'm happy to report that this machine is easy to clean something that was a little problematic on my previous machine, not helped by the fact that now and again I would forget that there was a capsule loaded and they would burst when passing steam through the milk frother.

The automatic cleaning sequence on this is very easy and very short, also the separate milk container needs cleaning separately, and all the intricate parts of the milk container can be dismantled for easy cleaning. Although when you do run the milk cleaning sequence make sure that you're at the end of the milk in the container because as somebody else pointed out it does pass water into the milk container. I haven't yet had to descaled the machine but it looks like a fast process is quite easy to although they do recommend you use nespresso branded descaling kits at 7 pounds each this could end up being expensive. The automatic power down function is great as I no longer have to think about whether I turned my coffee machine off when I'm half way to work.

I do like the fact that you can tailor the drinks to your own specifications in terms of the amount of water used and the amount of milk. There is also an adjustment on the milk container to change how frothy the milk is, I like mine pretty frothy thing in the morning.

The quality of the plastics on this machine look really good although it isn't a patch on my previous machine in terms of build quality that thing weighed a ton. One thing I really don't get is why the silver version of this machine is so much more expensive than the others, I bought the red one and I wasn't prepared to spend so much extra on the silver version it's not as if it's even made out of metal, it's just silver painted plastic!

I was a bit apprehensive when I first got this machine. I was worried by the fact that it comes with coffee pods rather then 'real' coffee and that would mean it would taste horrible but I was pleasantly surprised. The coffee tastes great and the fact that you just pop in a pod and press a button means that it's really handy to enjoy high quality coffee in mere seconds.
I will say that as this machine is a hefty price I would only recommend it to people who really likes coffee and would like to try a variety of different types regularly. The machine comes with a small selection of different pods to try and the rest are sold separately. I would say have a look on the Nespresso website for the range and if you really like the sound of them then by all means get it. You can get the pods directly from Nespresso, they're actually not that expensive, only a few pounds for a box of ten, or you can go to a Nespresso shop. They aren't common and my nearest one is in the Trafford Center. Where the staff can go through all the different types with you before you can commit to a machine.
The machine itself is nice and compact and sits nicely in the corner of my kitchen. The milk compartment it also compact and lives in my fridge without taking up much room. The machine is also very easy to clean as all I do is give it a wipe down with a cloth every week and it's fine. The used pods drop into a concealed compartment which you can take out without any fuss.
If I was being critical I will say the when you first get it out of the box you have to set the levels-how much you want in a mug, which can be a bit confusing as it dispenses the milk first, which led to a few very milky coffees before I got it right. Saying that once you've done it, it's done and you don't have to do it again.
Overall I would really recommend this machine to coffee lovers and those who want to regularly drink different types of coffee. If you're after just a quick brew in the morning then perhaps you should go for a cheeper model.