Customer Ratings & Reviews

Wow. I freaking love this. The price tag seems prohibitive at first but once you use it, you’ll never go out for coffee again. I’m truly hooked. Everything is easy to use and understand. Be patient your first few tries pulling espresso. Practice and waste a few pulls to get comfortable- the guide that’s given isn’t very good as far as grind coarseness and dose level- use the guide for temp controls for sure. The pictures are what you need to look at- color and speed. I use the filtered water from my fridge to fill the basin- in my experience- if you have hard water- you absolutely want to use filtered water to reduce the amount of descalings you do. A++++++ product.

De’Longhi La Specialista Prestigio is a hybrid semi-automatic espresso machine designed with more features like active temperature control, sensor grinding technology, smart tamping station, dynamic pre-infusion, My LatteArt steam wand for milk frothing that gives home baristas handcraft the best espresso, Americano, and coffee. I tried different coffee beans from local coffee stores, Starbucks espresso beans, Lavazza Barista Gran Crema Espresso Medium roast beans for this review. What’s in the box: La Specialista Prestigio Espresso Machine with Dual Heating System, Single Portafilter, Double basket portafilter, Descaler packet 100ml, Water hardness test strip, cleaning brush, Stainless Steel Milk pitcher for frothing, Manuals in 2 languages. Out of the box, the design and quality of the machine is very good and attactvie with its shiny stainless-steel look with black control panel and modern knobs and center pressure gauge. After assembling the grinder chute, the machine is quite heavy at around 29 pounds. Water tank holds around 2 liters or 67.7 ounces of water. On the left side of the machine, it has a dedicated grinder for grinding beans and smart tamper, while the right side it where you have the brew head, hot waterspout, and milk frothing wand. It also has a shelf that can be opened or closed for small cup shots. For the first time, you need to flush the system by pressing the hot water button twice and running it for some time and hitting the ok button. You may also run the steam through the wand for few minutes. Dialing this machine for a perfect espresso or coffee takes time initially. It took more than 5 or 6 attempts before achieving the desired results with good crema. So, keep in mind, it won’t be perfect on the first try and many factors play a major role like coffee bean roast, age, temperature and so on. Once dialed, you can make great coffee everyday morning with no issues until you shift to different brand of beans or variety. Control panel has notifications like low bean light that flashes when the hopper runs low on beans or the water light notification when the water on the reservoir is low. The grind hopper has eight grinding levels to grind from coarse to fine consistency. Level 1 provides the fine grind setting for espresso and level 8 for coarse for coffee. Suggest trying at 6 and slowly increase if needed. Portafilter docks into place with a click which activates the grinder, and the ground coffee is dispensed depending on the dose level set on the dial. Try to keep the dosage level at the middle and try increasing it. Smart Tamping on this machine is the best feature to avoid the guess work of manual tamping and compacting. Tamping lever allows to achieve consistent pressure and avoids the mess of ground coffee spills on the countertop. Suggest tamping the lever twice or thrice and try holding the lever down when removing the portafilter for best tamping results. By default, you get a single shot and if you need double shot, you need to push or select the X2 button before grinding. You also have 3 different infusion temperature settings ranging from 92 degrees to 96 degrees to select from on the control panel. Select the temperature to min (1) for dark roasted beans, medium (2) for dark or medium roast and max (3) for light to medium roasted beans. Water temperature is precisely controlled for extraction consistency. This is one of the important steps for best tasting coffee to have the temperature and grind consistency in right settings. Once dialed, insert the portafilter into the coffee brew head and hit the ok button to start a perfect espresso. Pressure gauge has an optimal zone which is a great tool to indicate perfect extraction. Its better to aim for the needle to be in middle range or little higher. This machine has a dedicated wand for hot water and is dispensed for americano or for making Tea without the need of pitcher. Milk steam wand is easy to use and creates silky smooth textured micro foam. Menu Settings: If you wish to change any of the settings that was defaulted by manufacturer, follow the instruction. You can change the energy savings option, extra grinding adjustment, water hardness and so on. For quick setup on menu settings and to get it started, suggest watching YouTube videos posted by the manufacturer and is very well explained instead of reading the manual. Pros: Active temperature control, sensor grinding technology, dynamic pre-infusion, smart Tamping station to avoid spills, sensor grinding technology, three one touch recipes (espresso, americano, coffee), dedicated hot waterspout, LatteArt steam wand, 1 second quick start, Intuitive setting functions, easy cleaning, quiet operation, 3-year warranty (2 year + 1 year after registration), Cons: Dialing in takes time to get a perfect tasting coffee and need work to fine tune settings, Height of the machine is around 18 inches to the tip of the grinder hopper and may not fit under the most of kitchen cabinets unless you have a clearance of 20-21 inches from your countertop. Verdict: Prestigio espresso machine is a solid hybrid well-made machine for home baristas to make best tasting espresso, coffee, americano, latte and other drinks. It does take some skill and time to dial this machine initially for best results. I would greatly recommend to anyone who needs better tasting coffee drink and a hybrid machine (not manual or fully automatic).

- Delonghi La Specialista Prestigio is such a beautiful machine, it’s a mid rage coffee machine and it’s a user friendly machine that is easy to use and clean. Prestigio is not a light machine, it’s beautiful design with stainless body and a little bit of plastic from the back and the bottom tray. - Prestigio also comes with built in coffee grinder, it felt very intimidating to me the first I finally opened the box, since my previews latte machine didn’t have its own grinder and I didn’t have this much button to understand in front of me, but after all the buttons are fairly simple and straight forward - from the front of the machine you have the power button on the top left, but keep in mind to make sure you turned on the switch behind the machine - button left you have your dose level for your coffee grind, this can be adjusted to the type of brew you want, from light roast , medium roast, medium dark and dark roast. i’m more of a light roast kind of guy so my gauge will stay around the minimum area - moving to the next section is the x2 button for double shot of espresso, and beside that is the temperature button, on of the most useful setting in Prestigio is the temperature button. this could effect the type of coffee you would to brew, keep it on its right temperature could improve your coffee tasting pleasure. - light roast will need 3 light temperature bar, medium roast and medium dark will be 2 light temperature, while dark roast will require 1 light bar temperature. - you have an OK button which it’s your “start” button to start brewing. you will also have a dedicated button for hot water and buttons for the type of brewing you would like to make, from espresso to americano and coffee settings - comes with single wall basket holds 12g, and double basket that should 20g of coffee - when it comes to grinding the coffee the machine will automatically start once you have the portafilter on the lock position, it will grind on which setting you have it set. - the machine also include its own tamping station, this is such an amazing that benefits coffee lover, you wouldn’t have to press the espresso manually and have that chance on causing coffee grinds to be spilled, less mess and helps for a better cleaner coffee area to work with. now it’s part of the machine, just makes things a lot easier at that point - at the bottom when it’s time to brew, the machine also come with its espresso tray - if you’re new to making espresso there’s couple things to understand about how you are extracting, at the middle of the machine you will see that there’s a pressure gauge, depending on how you extracted the espresso gauge will change depending if you have it on perfect, under extracted or over extracted. you will need the gauge to stay about in the center area, if it’s below to the left it’s under extracted and if it’s over to right near the red meaning it’s over extracted ( you will get a quick start guide to help you understand about extracting a lot better with pictures to provide as well ) - now to the right we have a triple hole steam want in not that great when it comes to creating latte art, my previous steamer was alot shorter, very happy that Prestigio have a much longer want to work with. - I didn’t experience any brewing inconsistency at all, from past few days of watch the device it was brewing the same I amount I would expect and haven’t disappoint. - Delonghi have created an amazing coffee machine, the built in grinder works, for me the grind size is enough to choose from, I doubt i’ll be changing it much since i mainly stay with light/medium roast. the ease of use and having less mess from making your coffee make this a machine a solid buy, not only that the look of the machine is such an eye catcher. my only tip about using this machine is to discale first, i’ve noticed some debris came out of the tube after doing so, overall i’m very happy how simple this machine works, it brews perfectly, solid recommendations.

Having an espresso machine at home is really a game changer for coffee and latte lovers - but having one like the De’Longhi La Specialista is a real treat. So far my time with this has been quite enjoyable. SETUP & UNBOXING: - Taking this out of the box you realize this thing is legit. It’s big and heavy, but not small enough to look nice on your counter and light enough that I could carry it myself. - Like any actual espresso machine, it takes a little bit to set up but that doesn’t mean its difficult! Just make sure it’s assembled properly, fill it with beans & water, and let it run through some cleaning cycles first. - The most important and vital part of setting up an espresso machine is getting the grind down correctly. Basically espresso beans are not all the same so you might have to mess with the grind level on if it needs to be more coarse or fine. So that being said you will likely have to run a few shots of espresso through to make sure you are brewing it in the “optimal zone” as DeLonghi puts it. - After that initial setup though, you are ready to go and use it everyday! PROS: - I really like the look of this machine! It’s sleek, its modern, and the touch of black on the stainless steel looks really good. - The most important part of any espresso machine is, does it make good espresso? And the answer is yes! The color, consistency, and smell are all fantastic. It really makes you a great espresso. - The bean grinding is really nice on this, its essential to have fresh ground beans and this does the trick perfectly. - The machine is also very high tech! So because of the dual heating system, it is ready to go immediately and doesn’t need much time to boot up like some other machines do. - Probably my favorite part of this is the Smart Tamping station. It self contains all of the beans that have been ground into the portafilter, and then it has a lever you pull to tamp everything! This just makes it so the beans are all compacted together nicely and everything is level and even. It’s so much easier than doing it on your own as that can be a little bit messy at times. - Another perk of the dual heating system is that you can brew espresso and froth milk at the same time! The steam wand is really great and easy to use. Once again its something you will get the hang of and its just so nice to be able to make frothy warm milk for your latte all from your own home with one machine. - I also like the hot water “tea” feature. Basically saying it you just want to use your espresso machine to brew you some hot water for tea you can do that. It’s nice that Delonghi recognized that people do that with their espresso machines. - Lastly, its easy to clean! With the self tamping and the self cleaning functions, it just makes for an easy clean up after use. CONS: - I do wish they had more options on grind level. The machine has 1-8 as coarse - fine options, and the selection gauge is a little clunky. It still works fine but for the price point you would think it would be something with a greater range and smoother operation. - The machine does not come with the 2 glass espresso shot glasses that are shown in the retail pictures. It just seems like such an inexpensive thing to provide the customers, but instead you have to buy them on your own. BOTTOM LINE: - Any true espresso lover will know, having a machine like this is the way to go. It grinds your beans fresh and gives you a perfect espresso shot every time. Yes it may seem intimidating at first but once you get the machine down you are really going to enjoy making espresso as a part of your day. It’s a high end look in your kitchen and will definitely be used everyday!

great coffee, just like starbucks. very complex - only technically minded need apply

Quick Review ------------------ Looks stylish beautifully designed and rich, Also, makes Expresso, Coffee and Cappuccino which tastes so good, it will remind you of your "All Inclusive Cancun" Resort coffee! Its that good. The sensor grinder delivers precise and consistent grind for optimum coffee/expresso. If you really long for a no frill superb tasting coffee (americano, European), expresso or cappuccino, this is the one to get. What's included ---------------------- Espresso Machine Portafilter Single & Double Filter Basket Milk Pitcher Descaling Solution Cleaning Brush Instruction Manual & Quick Start Guide 2 Year Warranty + 1 addition year if you register your product (Make sure you do!! ) Pros ------ 1. It’s a grinder, Americano, European coffee maker , tea and cappuccino maker. 2. Different coffee strength settings. 3. It's beautiful, you can show off to your friends 4. It has a milk frothier 5. Perfect sensory grinder 6. Support double expresso 7. Heats up in matter of seconds. 8. Smart tamping 9. Independent heating system for coffee and milk Build Quality ----------------- The design is truly professionally inspired. It looks like straight out of a movie or a replica of your Mexican riviera hotel! It will go well with your modern kitchen. It's not too tall so you won't have issues putting in coffee into the grinder but it will take some sizeable space on your countertop. But now everyone has larger kitchens so it should be fine. Usage -------- First is preparing the coffee grinder, put the setting at 3-medium and then use the filter like C2 or C3 (stronger) in the portafilter and place the portafilter below the grinder then close it. Once the grinding it done, you tamp it using the tamping lever and remove the portafilter. Use the mode selector to select the desired coffee and attach the portafilter to the appliance and close it then just push the OK button to make the beverage you selected. You can see that the operation is pretty straight forward. The coffee machine also lets you program your settings which is a great feature… The flat/froth milk dispenser is a great feature for making coffees and cappuccinos! The expresso shots and cappuccinos are really comparable to store quality! Delonghi makes quality product and this one is no exception. It is a little pricey but its well worth considering the high end aesthetics and the taste.

I’ve been a K Cup user at home for many years and have always been happy with it. For higher-end coffee I would venture out to the local Starbucks or higher end coffee houses. That has all changed since receiving my De’Longhi Las Speicalista Prestigio Espresso Machine with Dual Heating System. Now I’m able to enjoy top-shelf espresso and coffee drinks at home! When initially opening the box, my first impression was it’s a big unit and there are a lot of pieces and parts. I was a little hesitant until reading through the directions and starting the setup process. Although it is a relatively large unit, it was quite simple to setup and use with just a little guidance from the manual, online resources and practice. I also ran a cleaning cycle before use. This is an impressive machine that is built with quality and looks great at the same time. It is perfect for home or office use based on the quality and ease of use. In the box is the system itself, hardness test strips, a cleaning brush, descaler, single and double coffee filters and a stainless steel milk frothing jug. All you need to be up and brewing are beans and appropriate glasses. Using the system if relatively straight forward, the bean grinder is integrated into the top of the machine and has 8 different grind sizes. Proprietary Smart Tamping technology tamps perfectly every time to provide a more consistent extraction and it also keeps the mess down. There’s a number of settings on the face of the systems for dosage, 2X for a double shot, temperature control (3 levels, not specific temperature setting), tea or hot water selector, drink selection type (espresso, Americano and coffee), the OK or start button and “my” drink selector. The coffee output is so far off the charts from what I have been drinking over the years, I was actually a bit regretful that I hadn’t moved to a system like the Prestigio sooner. I’ve only tried two different beans so far but can say without a doubt the coffee drinks will rival any of the fancy coffee shops and in the long run will be much more cost effective as well. Pros: - Solid build of the machine and accessories – this system should last for years to come. - Single walled (non-pressurized) filter baskets create a much more rich and tasteful extraction. - Integrated bean grinder with 8 grind settings – fine tune your grind based on bean type/roast - Dual Heating System cuts down the time to create drinks including steamed milk, etc. - Double walled and insulated LatteArt Steam Wand is easy to use and protects against accidental burns and is also easy to clean. - Active Temperature Control – allows for dialing in the perfect temp for your specific brew. - Easy to Clean – removable spill tray and Smart Tamping technology alone help to make this the neatest machine I’ve ever owned. Cons: - Onboard grinder provides fresh ground flavor but limits the ability to change beans quickly…may be nitpicking on this one! Overall the De'Longhi La Specialista Prestigio is an incredible system for producing “fancy” coffee drinks or the perfect Cup of Joe. It’s overall ease of use, combination of manual adjustability and programmability make it a great choice for home use by coffee lovers or a small office environment that needs a coffee upgrade. I can honestly say after using this system for just a few days, I am completely comfortable making most espresso/coffee drinks. My decoration skills need a little work, but I’ll get practice every day! The taste is definitely worth the purchase!

This is my second DeLonghi LaSpecialista machine. The first was the standard LaSpecialista and it has been excellent, making very nice espressos, cappuccinos, and lattes at a fraction of the coffee shop price. I’ve had it for about two years with absolutely no issues other than the occasional descaling maintenance, which is an automated process. The machine alerts you when it’s time to descale, and you simply add their “Ecodecalk” solution to the water tank, turn a knob and press a button, then repeat with clean water, and you’re done. So maintenance is really easy. My first machine has been great, and expect nothing less from this one! The LaSpecialista Prestigio is nearly identical to the original, but includes a few key upgrades. There is now a three level temperature control, which allows adjusting for different bean types to optimize your extraction. There is a new steaming wand, which is more traditional, but also works better than the auto-frothing wand of the original machine. And there is a dual heating element, which allows the machine to heat up faster and hotter, providing better extraction and better steam. Finally, the portafilter design uses improved filter cups, which work better and are easier to clean. Both machines feature a built-in grinder and tamper. When the portafilter is locked into the left side, the grinder automatically starts, grinding the beans in the desired quantity and to the consistency that you set, then a quick pull of the tamping lever, and you have a perfect dose ready for extracting. The quick start guide helps you setup the grinding and dosing by providing guidelines based on bean type. So far it has been very accurate providing great results. The espresso is very nice with excellent crema. Overall these are simply fantastic machines. I thought the original LaSpecialista was an amazing machine. Hats off to DeLonghi for improving things that worked quite well and introducing the LaSpecialista Prestigio at the same price point. If you’re a serious coffee lover, you need this machine!