Yeah, I've got a Delonghi - The old model of the EC9255 La Specialista Arte Evo I think. It's been fantastic and given it's usually just for myself more than enough. I think I'll go better next time ... if there is a next time. This thing has made so many coffees. Definitely paid for itself many, many times over.
My only complaint? One of the plastic knobs broke the cover off ... still works, just looks bad.
This [De’Longhi](https://x.com/BestToBuyDeals/status/1938126098836951187) one is really convenient and easy to use. I can’t speak for other brands, but this little machine makes great coffee quickly, is easy to clean, and doesn’t take up much space on the counter.
the specialista line definitely has mid grinders but far from the nightmare you described. it's the higher end of the range where breville throws in the baratza burrs where they pull ahead imo. I had my specialista arte evo next to my barista Express for two weeks making drinks head to head and in those models delonghi has a clear edge, mainly on the milk side. brevilles manual frothing wand is slow and weak enough it struggles to generate a vortex. espresso quality was about as indistinguishable as can be, and I like the espresso/water ratio on the specialista Americano setting as well as the convenience of not needed to use the steam wand control to dispense hot water so the breville got relegated to storage.
yeah the barista pro and touch use baratza burrs, but the express is still brevilles in house design and the only thing it genuinely has over the delonghi model is the ability to pull the hopper(admittedly extremely nice to have).
I will say my specialista audibly complained when I had a dark roast grinding below a level 4
the steam wand on my ES1 is the best I've personally used, they really nailed it imo. I'm getting better milk texture than my bbe, delonghi specialista, and even the oracle dual boiler at work can't match it. it's fast too, sub 30 seconds to steam and froth.
Is this a trend with semi automatic machines? I have the la specialista arte and finding it difficult to get a smooth 20-30 second extraction. I feel like the coffee needs to be finer than the grinder is allowing
aretokas
