De'Longhi La Specialista Arte EC9155: the grinder built in

A machine that assumes you grind fresh

Other makers hedge. Sage, for instance, packs pressurised baskets alongside the single-wall ones and assigns them to pre-ground coffee. De’Longhi lists only single-wall baskets for La Specialista Arte, for one and two cups, and puts a grinder in the same body. The two decisions belong together: a non-pressurised basket depends on coffee that is fresh and finely ground, and this machine makes its own.

The consequences run both ways. If you want to learn espresso on proper baskets, you buy one appliance and you are equipped. If you sometimes use a bag of pre-ground decaf, or like the idea of ESE pods, nothing in the box is meant for them: the product page rules pods out, and no pressurised basket is listed to forgive a grind that is too coarse.

Fifteen settings: how fine is the ladder?

Inside is a conical-burr grinder with 15 settings. Set that beside the other grinders you might consider:

• De'Longhi La Specialista Arte Manual espresso maker EC9155.MB15
• Sage the Barista Express (SES875)16
• Ninja Luxe Café Premier (ES601UK)25
• Sage the Smart Grinder Pro (SCG820)60

It is one step short of the Sage Barista Express, ten short of the Ninja Luxe Café Premier, and a long way short of a separate grinder such as the Sage Smart Grinder Pro. Fewer steps mean bigger jumps between one shot and the next when you correct a shot that ran fast or slow. They say nothing about the evenness of the grind, which nobody publishes and we have yet to measure. The grind size guide shows how to work through the steps without wasting coffee.

A gauge and three temperatures: feedback while you learn

Two items on the sheet matter more to a learner than the headline numbers. De’Longhi lists a pressure gauge, so each shot shows you whether your grind and tamp offered too little or too much resistance, and 3 brew temperature settings. A dosing and tamping kit is supplied.

The rest is conventional: a thermoblock, 1,400 W, a pump with the customary 15 bar rating, and 3 preset drinks by De’Longhi’s count. Milk is steamed with a manual wand. If you want that done for you, the Ninja and the Sage Bambino Plus both list an automatic frother.

28.5 cm for the work of two appliances

De’Longhi’s product data gives 28.5 cm wide, 36.5 cm deep and 40 cm high. Height is the figure to check: the gap under your wall cupboards has to take the machine and still leave you room to fill the bean hopper.

Do not expect to save width, though. A Dedica EC685 next to a Baratza Encore ESP comes to about 28 cm, the same as this machine alone. What you save is a second purchase, a second plug and a second thing to clean. The 1.7 l tank is larger than the Dedica’s by more than half a litre: 28 doubles at 60 ml apiece, less whatever steam and rinsing use.

Where its bracket comes from

Our mid-range label reflects the selling prices recorded in our market study. De’Longhi’s list price is one bracket higher, which is where its two rivals sit:

• The Barista Express has 16 settings, a 2 l tank, a stated 54 mm portafilter and both kinds of basket. Sage documents the hopper size and the burr material; De’Longhi documents neither.
• The Ninja Luxe Café Premier has 25 settings, weighs the dose, froths milk automatically and adds filter coffee and cold brew.

The third route is two appliances: a Sage Bambino and a grinder of your choosing. Our machine-and-grinder pairings put it next to the all-in-one, and the espresso machine comparison has every machine in one table.

Three figures we left out

Guarantee: two years at least, by the coffee machine care pages on De’Longhi’s UK site.