De'Longhi Magnifica Evo review

Good espresso by automatic standards, served a little cool7.1/10

The espresso is the Evo's strong suit and is widely liked. Joe Varacalli calls his a "pretty dang good shot of espresso for a super automatic"1, and Tom's Coffee Corner was impressed by the crema from fresh beans. Once the grind and strength suit your beans, the drinks stay consistent from one morning to the next.

“It makes a genuinely good espresso - not great-cafe good, but consistently better than anything you will get from a pod machine at any price”

The grinder earns some of the credit. It adjusts finer than most automatics allow, and Joe Varacalli names it his favorite grinder among the super-automatics he has covered.2 The over-ice setting also makes a good iced coffee, though the machine brews hot onto your own ice.

The caveats are heat, length and nuance. The thermoblock serves espresso cooler than a traditional boiler does, and the first cup after switching on is the coolest.3 The default long coffee runs dilute; Beard's got more flavor by shortening the pour.4 Light-roast specialty beans will not show their best here.

Sweet, smooth foam in one account, bubbles or plain hot milk in another6.3/10

The milk divides opinion, and the version you buy matters. The Evo listed here has the traditional frother; much of the praise in print is for the pricier LatteCrema carafe version. Read the box before you pay.

At its best the foam is better than an automatic usually manages. Tom's Coffee Corner found that "the texture is actually pretty good and a little sweet"5, while stopping short of calling it true microfoam. Family Pop TV prefers the manual frother to a carafe system, for both foam quality and easier cleaning.

The other side is plain. Balance Journal found the milk slow to heat and reports that "the foam is bubbly rather than glossy microfoam"6. On the carafe version there is one texture with no adjustment and no simple way to get hot milk alone. Gabe's coffee stuff reports a frother that sometimes gives only hot milk until the bottle is pressed firmly back into place.7

For a cappuccino poured straight into a mug, this is enough. For latte art or a flat white, it is not the machine.

Icons anyone can read, and settings buried behind button holds6.3/10

Making a drink is as easy as it gets; changing how the machine makes it is not. The top panel is a row of touch buttons with clear pictograms, and Beard's puts the appeal simply: "There is no complicated screen or long menu to work through."8 Setup is quick, and the machine warns you when water, beans, the tray or the grounds bin need attention.

Past strength and drink choice, things get obscure. Size, temperature and other options need long presses and combinations, and Joe Varacalli warns that "you really have to read the instructions to know what you're changing"9. Gabe's coffee stuff agrees: "it has a lot of functionalities but they're hidden"10.

A few limits are worth knowing. The My Latte custom option keeps only your most recent recipe, there is no extra-shot button, and switching beans means emptying the hopper first. The grinder is loud, noticeably so early in the morning. The 1.8 l tank loads from the front, which helps under low cabinets.

A brew unit for the tap, a milk tube for the sink and a tray that fills quickly6.3/10

The coffee side is easy to keep clean; the milk side is the chore. The brew unit pulls out and rinses under the tap, something Family Pop TV suggests doing monthly.11 The machine rinses itself at startup and shutdown, and the tank, tray and puck container all lift out for a wash.

Milk parts need daily attention. The automatic clean on the carafe version only clears the spout, and Cicada Coffee Bar singles out the rubber milk tube: "You need to clean this by hand after every milk drink you make."12 Beard's found that skipping a day let dried milk collect in the small passages.

Those automatic rinses have a cost. They send enough water into the drip tray to fill it sooner than expected, and the tray is long and awkward to carry when full. Descaling prompts can arrive fairly often even with filtered water; the cycle is guided step by step but takes a while.

Solid-feeling plastic, a short cord and a cup warmer that barely warms7.3/10

Build is widely liked for the price, with the understanding that it is nearly all plastic. Cicada Coffee Bar says it "feels more sturdily built than most super automatics in its price range"13, and adds that this is not a buy-it-for-life machine. Balance Journal expects years of service if the descaling and milk cleaning are kept up.

Not everyone is as kind about the materials. Joe Varacalli's summary is "everything's pretty plasticky on this"14, with the drip tray cover the only exception, and Gabe's coffee stuff handles some of the removable parts gingerly for fear of breaking them.

The smaller gripes are practical. The passive cup warmer on top hardly heats, the power cord is short enough to limit where the machine can sit, and the milk outlet does not reach as high as the coffee spout, so tall cups are awkward for milk drinks. Evidence on long-run reliability is thin.

Hard to beat at $549.95, with descaler and upkeep on the bill8.7/10

Value is the Evo's most consistent strength, praised almost without exception. Cicada Coffee Bar calls it "the best value for money super-automatic espresso machine in my opinion"15, and Cafelista Coffee finds little to criticize for the money.16 A real adjustable grinder, automatic brewing and milk in one compact machine is the argument at $549.95.

The running costs are modest but real. De'Longhi recommends its own branded descaler, which costs more than generic products, and the machine asks for it fairly often. ECS Coffee, a store that sells the machine, points to the warranty as part of the appeal.

The drink list is short beside dearer automatics, at 6 one-touch recipes. If you want less foam or more variety, the step-up models offer it. If espresso and a cappuccino cover your household, the Evo may be all you need.

Our verdict

Buy the Magnifica Evo if you want fresh-ground espresso from a single button and are happy with simple, foamy milk drinks. Skip it if you want control over milk texture, drink light roasts, or need a quiet machine for early mornings. Before paying, check which milk version is in the box, and ask to hear the grinder run. Then spend your first week with the manual open, setting the grind, the strength and a shorter coffee pour.