This is the ultimate luxury coffee machine - it's a true treat for coffee geeks

De'Longhi is coffee royalty. They taught me everything I know and love about modern home coffee machines and their latest launch, the De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine is an education in delicious coffee. They call it the "ultra" and, really, I think it takes the meaning to a whole new, caffeinated level.

The best coffee machines, in my eyes, should cover three elements. First, they should make delicious coffee. That's a non-negotiable. They should also give you space to play with flavours, combinations, temperatures, and strengths. And they should look good. It's a difficult trifecta to master, but the Eletta Ultra makes it look effortless.

From simple espressos through to elaborate affogatos, cold brews, and red wrens, this machine proves that you really can have it all. Here's more on what it was like to live with..

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De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine review

• Dimensions: Approximately 26 cm W x 45 cm D x 38.5 cm H.
• Weight: 11.3 kg.
• Capacity: 1.8L water tank, 300g bean container, and 14-cup grounds container.
• Power & Pressure: 1450W, 19-bar pump pressure.
• Milk System: LatteCrema Hot & Cool technologies for hot or cold, silky milk foam.
• Cold Brew: Special Cold Extraction Technology creates cold brew in under 5 minutes.
• Coffee Customization: 13-setting grinder, 4 user profiles, and customizable coffee strength, temperature, and size.

Who would the De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine suit?

The De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine is made for the coffee drinkers who want variety, quality, and convenience all wrapped into one sleek appliance. If your order changes with your mood, from a flat white in the morning to an iced latte in the afternoon, this delivers that coffee shop breadth without any of the effort. With dozens of drinks available at the tap of a touchscreen, it’s ideal for busy households, serial coffee sippers, or anyone who wants consistently good results without learning the ropes of a manual machine.

It’s also a brilliant fit for milk-based coffee lovers and design-conscious homes. The automatic milk system takes care of frothing, hot or cold, so you get that silky, barista-style finish without hovering over a steam wand, while the quieter operation makes it unobtrusive in open-plan spaces or early mornings. Given the premium price, it’s best suited to those who’ll use it daily, whether you’re replacing regular coffee shop trips or simply want your kitchen to be your favourite café, just a lot more convenient.

Unboxing the De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine

Coffee machines are big and bulky machines, so the way that they arrive at your door is important. I actually love testing De'Longhi machines because they package them so well. The boxes are big, but they have handle spaces on both sides which make the heavy box easy to lift and carry around.

The box does come with some soft plastics, including plastic wraps and films that will need to be peeled off. This means that the machine arrives in sparkling condition without any scratches. I would love De'Longhi to find some sustainable, recyclable alternatives in the future, which is why this coffee machine didn't score a full 100%, five star score, but aside from that, it's wonderful.

De'Longhi also strike a lovely balance of being generous, without burdening you with clutter. They send a hot and cold milk frother carafe (which are the perfect size to keep in the fridge door), they also put a scoop and brush on the top storage compartment of the machine, and send you all the usual paraphernalia. You get a water filter, hardness tester, and cleaning fluid too. It's a generous offering that gets you started really smoothly.

What is the De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine like to use?

The controls on the De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine are really simple and sensitive in ways that make the machine feel ultra-premium. When you first set the machine up, the screen will talk you through user profiles. bean preferences, coffee flavours, water hardness, and all the other custom features on your machine. If you're already a coffee whizz, you're free to skip these, but they're important to take a few more seconds over if you want to make the most of your machine. Doing the process to the fullest, most rigorous standards didn't take me any more than three minutes, so it's no arduous process.

Can the De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine make a good espresso?

The espresso test is important for looking at the fundamentals of how a machine extracts flavour from the beans that you're using. Behind the scenes, the machine has to find the right grind size for the beans, the right temperature and pressure for extraction, and use the right water temperature too.

I played around with different espresso types, sizes, temperatures, and strengths and was really impressed with the De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine. It's sensitive enough to make notable changes, depending on what is requested, but also really consistent. I churned out 10 espressos, back to back, and the flavours across all were close to identical (and the machine didn't overheat).

Each shot had a thick, caramel crema, which is a visual indication of all the coffee oils that have been extracted from the beans. The espressos were punchy in flavour with bold notes and a wonderfully strong tone coming through. It was like drinking liquid gold.

Can the De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine make a good black coffee?

With the espresso test nailed, I wanted to see how well the De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine could handle water. If the water is too hot, it will scald the coffee, giving it an acidic and sour flavour, if the water is too cold, the coffee might taste a little flat. You can customise the temperature of the water that you add in, as well as how much water you want and the order in which you want to add water (before or after the espresso).

As you may have suspected, the De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine makes a brilliant Americano. It adds in water at the perfect temperature for preserving the delicately extracted flavours of the coffee beans. I clocked the Americano temperature as averaging around 72 degrees, which is perfectly drinkable, just blow on it forst if you want to guzzle straight from the brew head.

Can the De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine make a good cappuccino?

The last element that I like to test is how well the De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine can steam milk. I always test dairy and non-dairy milks, which you can select for on the machine. You can also adjust the amount of froth you get with your milk, temperature and quantity too.

I was really impressed with the versatility on offer from the De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine: the cappuccino foam, on default, took up about one third of my coffee, whilst the latte foam was about a finger's width down. The texture was smooth and glossy, rather than bubbly and foamy, even on my non-dairy milk tests, which are notoriously tricky.

When I moved across to the iced coffee functions and the cold foam carafe, I was equally impressed. The De'Longhi didn't hesitate to steam this milk in the same way, with impressive textures and versatility still.

Can the De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine make cold brew?

I love cold brew coffee and it's a function that increasing numbers of luxury coffee machines are offering. Traditionally, they should take 24 hours to brew, but the De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine makes it in minutes (and you can make up to a full carafe of cold brew, not just one glass).

It's as true to form as artisan cold brew would be: the flavours are smoother and sweeter than any other cold coffee, because there's no (or minimal) heat in the extraction. I loved the cold brew made in the De'Longhi, because it's one of the most gentle recipes that coffee machines follow. It was well-balanced, gentle, and light. I could have guzzled more of this than any other cold brew I've tested.

Cleaning and maintaining the De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine

The De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine does as much of the cleaning and maintenance as is possible for a machine to do for you. The milk carafes clean themselves, it does rinses, and keeps you up to date on bean and water levels. If elements need cleaning or attention, the screen will flag it for you and then take you on a step-by-step instruction process for cleaning or troubleshooting the machine. I'm not one for following instructions, but the De'Longhi makes it easy.

Should you buy the De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine?

Yes, the De'Longhi Eletta Ultra Coffee Machine is an investment, but if you're really serious about craft coffee, it's a no-brainer. Sleek, chic, and simple, it's any coffee geek's dream come true.