Coffee and espresso aficionados, we know you have questions about the expensive machines out on the market. Like you, we take our coffee and espresso very, very seriously. That’s why we use and review so many coffee makers and espresso machines. Why should you spend your hard earned money to learn the good, the bad, and the mediocre of these machines? That’s why you have us!
This review is about the Delonghi ECAM28465M Prima Donna Fully Automatic Espresso Machine. Here’s what you need to know about pricy little silver beauty!
Features of the Delonghi Prima Donna Fully Automatic Espresso Machine
When you spend a certain amount of money on a product, you expect to get what you pay for. The Delonghi Prima Donna does come with quite a few nice features particularly when we look at similarly priced espresso machines.
- One Touch Latte – Other similarly priced models make you work for the creamy delicious foam, but not the Delonghi. It has one touch latte. Delonghi knows that their Latte Cream System is so impressive, that they actually decided to patent it. And we don’t blame them. At all. By the way, this function also has a cleaning function. Yeah, we thought you’d like that, too!
- LED Display Panel – Easy to read and use, the LED digital display is a nice touch. Buttons are easy to read and makes it much easier to use. It also has a memory bank. It has four 1-touch drinks, a timer to plan when you want your drinks and to turn off the machine, auto-shut off, and temperature adjustment. Oh, and if you have hard water? No problem. The Delonghi will help with that.
- Memory Feature – The memory feature is extremely impressive…so much so that we want to highlight it. There are five strength settings for your coffee in addition to the four 1-touch drinks we mentioned above. That’s right – your machine makes your custom drinks…and with the timer, it ca make it when you want it.
- Let’s Talk about Water – Earlier here in the features, we mentioned how this machine can even be used if you have hard water. In addition to that (which by itself is fairly impressive), the Delonghi Prima Donna Fully Automatic Espresso Machine has a 2-liter water tank. Yes, you read that right…2-liters. That’s a lot of coffee and espresso. But, don’t worry – you can change it up. This machine has a hot water spout that you can use to make hot chocolate or tea. See? Fun for the whole family!
Lots of Machines Make Latte – What’s So Impressive Here?
Well, aside from the fact that the machine does it for you with the push of a button, you don’t have to worry about using all the milk in a single day. We hope you’re sitting down for this because we don’t want you to spill your coffee and burn yourself. That lady who was burned by McDonald’s coffee had some pretty gnarly burns…so, sit down and put your coffee down where you won’t knock it over. Ready now? Great. You can remove the milk carafe and put it into your refrigerator for later. Yes, that’s right. You won’t be wasting milk.
Pros of the Delonghi ECAM28465M Prima Donna Fully Automatic Espresso Machine
The Delonghi ECAM28465M Prima Donna Fully Automatic Espresso Machine has a lot of great features. If you’re looking for a compact yet elegant and perfect for daily use espresso machine, this is the one to consider. Here are some of the best things about the Delonghi Prima Donna:
- It’s beautiful. The Delonghi Prima Donna is a beautiful silver machine. It will look great in a kitchen with stainless steel appliances…or in any other kitchen, really. It is eye catching and elegant.
- You get a lot of options for strength. One of our favorite features about this machine is that you can pick the strength of your coffee. That and the instant 1-touch drinks makes the machine easy and convenient to use. If you’re extremely busy and want to make a fantastic cup of coffee or espresso, this is a great machine.
- It lets you know when it needs you. Another great feature is that it will tell you if your water tank is low or if the grounds you have in the machine should be tossed into the trash.
- Self-contained burr grinder. Because the Delonghi Prima Donna Fully Automatic Espresso Machine has a self-contained burr grinder, coffee and espresso making has never been easier. No more using a stand-alone grinder and then transferring the grounds into your machine. Nope. This machine does it for you. It’s also quieter than you might expect.
Cons of the Delonghi ECAM28465M Prima Donna Fully Automatic Espresso Machine
Now that we’ve talked about some of the great features, let’s look at some of the things that made us not so happy. No machine is perfect. It’s important that you take the good features and the things that make you question why you bought the machine and weigh them against your own needs and wants because of the fairly sizeable chunk of money you’re thinking about investing into making espresso and coffee.
- Set-up can be a pain. It’s great that set-up can be done through the LED panel, but we learned that it’s not just a light touch of the button when it asks which language you want to use. Nope. It will keep cycling through the available languages unless you hold the button down for a full three seconds. The Delonghi ECAM28465M Prima Donna Fully Automatic Espresso Machine comes with a DVD. Do yourself a favor and watch the DVD. This machine isn’t totally ready to use out of the box. Oh, and if necessary, make sure that you jump onto YouTube and watch the videos associated with set-up. Trust us.
- Temperature of the water and milk. So, let’s say you rush through the DVD and get the Delonghi set up. You toss in your water and milk and you stand in anticipation to have your first steaming hot cup…and instead, you get something only slightly warm. Yes, initially the water and milk temperature aren’t that great. However, we went back and watched the DVD again and found that you can, indeed, change the temperatures on the water and milk.
- You can’t make much at one time. If you just need one or two impressive cups of coffee or espresso, great. Yet, if you’re having company…you’re going to spend a lot of time with the Delonghi. Yeah, it only makes a couple of cups at a time (depending on the size of the cup). So, your visitors may have to wait in line.
Final Verdict
So, is the Delonghi ECAM28465M Prima Donna Fully Automatic Espresso Machine worth the price? It’s certainly a front runner if you’re looking to invest in a sleek, smart machine. The features are great. You can use the memory storage to make great drinks. It has a large milk carafe that is removable and can be stored in the fridge.
However, the temperature could be hotter and it can be hard to set up the first time. Yet, in our opinion the Delonghi ECAN28465M Prima Donna Fully Automatic Espresso Machine is a great investment.
Other great choices include the Gaggia RI8762 Anima Prestige and the Cuisinart (yes, really) EM-600 Buona Tazza Espresso Cappuccino Machine.