Delonghi EC 710

This coffee machine is stylish and versatile but I do have some reservations. I have this machine and a Krups at work and therefore have something to contrast it to.

First the positives - it looks great, is easy for non-coffee hardcore baristas to use and versatile as you can put ground coffee, pods (of different types) and can make one or two-shot expressos. The milk frother has a clever plastic cover and valve which are easy to ...
...stainless pipe that would need scrubbing. It's also relatively cheap when you compare it to brands like a gaggia. The other thing I like is the warm-plate on the top which keeps your cups warm. It also has a big enough water tank to keep you going on coffees for a working day without having to refill.

Now the negatives - this is the second one I have had as I had to take the first one back to the shop as the pipe internally to the ... more

This coffee machine is stylish and versatile but I do have some reservations. I have this machine and a Krups at work and therefore have something to contrast it to.

First the positives - it looks great, is easy for non-coffee hardcore baristas to use and versatile as you can put ground coffee, pods (of different types) and can make one or two-shot expressos. The milk frother has a clever plastic cover and valve which are easy to remove and clean and much more hygenic than a straight stainless pipe that would need scrubbing. It's also relatively cheap when you compare it to brands like a gaggia. The other thing I like is the warm-plate on the top which keeps your cups warm. It also has a big enough water tank to keep you going on coffees for a working day without having to refill.

Now the negatives - this is the second one I have had as I had to take the first one back to the shop as the pipe internally to the steamer must have come adrift (lots of stream out of the back nothing down the pipe). I put that down to the friday-manufactured syndrome as the new one has been perfectly reliable - just a one off I suspect. The main criticism of it is that the coffee it makes is not particularly strong. It gives a good cremer but in my opinion is a little too weak even with the doubleshot adapter in place.

Other things I find annoying are the fact that the steamer pipe is neither directly over the drip tray (which would have made sense as it would catch the milk drops after steaming), nor far enough away from the drip tray to allow you to put a cup under it to catch the drips.

I also find that even when you switch the expresso button off it still drips coffee, not major but irritating compared to my Krups which has a physical manual shutoff valve switch rather than an electronic one.

The heat on demand takes longer to heat up the milk and doesn't maintain temperature whereas the Krups builds up pressure and temperature much quicker and heats the milk much more. If you like your latte's warm rather than piping hot, then this will be fine for you, if you like them really hot (like me) then this will disappoint and you will find yourself dinging the result in the microwave.

There is not enough room under the expresso maker to get a mug, only small expresso cups will fit under here so think about that if you have some fancy coffee mugs you already want to use.

I am left thinking it is a good machine for the money, but there are better machines out there.

With a little better design it could be much better, i.e.

- make the drip tray 0.5 inch wider
- , put an adjustable temperature control on the side to allow you to set the level the heater cuts out
- increase the gap between expresso dispenser and drip tray to get a mug under.

 

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