I’ve tested over a dozen coffee makers over the last 12 months, and I’ve combed through all of this year’s best Black Friday deals to bring you a definitive list of the top three that deserve your full attention, whatever your budget and level of experience.
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Quick list
Best manual
De’Longhi Dedica Duo
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The De’Longhi Dedica Duo is a successor to the De’Longhi Dedica Style and has taken its place as the ultimate budget option in my complete roundup of the best espresso machines. De’Longhi has made several smart upgrades, including a wider drip tray that offers enough space for two espresso cups (one of our key issues with the Style), and an overall more streamlined and modern look, but the biggest difference is the Duo’s ability to brew both hot and cold espresso – and it does so very well.
Cold brew has been the biggest trend in home coffee makers this year, but not all machines can really do it. Some offer a menu of ‘cold’ beverages, but when you actually make one, you’re instructed to place a cup of ice under the groupset, and the machine dumps a shot of hot espresso on top. The flavor isn’t as smooth as you’d get from properly cold-extracted coffee, and it’s diluted by all that melted ice. Not great.
The Duo actually uses pulses of cold water straight from the tank, which takes a little longer, but produces a much more mellow flavor profile and is perfect with milk. No watery drinks here.
Traditional espresso is excellent too, and unlike some budget espresso machines I’ve tested this year (ahem, Casabrews), it can sustain the pressure necessary to extract a good shot consistently once you’ve dialled in your grinder. With $100 off at Amazon for Black Friday, it’s an incredible value.
Read my full De’Longhi Dedica Duo review
Best semi-automatic
De’Longhi La Specialista Touch
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De’Longhi has spoiled us with superb espresso machines this year, releasing a whole heap of superb models for every coffee lover and every budget, then knocking hundreds of dollars off the price for Black Friday. It’d be tough to choose a favorite, but the La Specialista Touch just about takes the win thanks to its sheer versatility (in fact, it took the prize for Best Coffee Maker in this year’s TechRadar Choice Awards, while De’Longhi won Home Tech Brand of the Year).
The La Specialista Touch is semi-automatic, meaning it handles some of the espresso-making process for you, but there’s a little user involvement. It will grind your coffee beans (choosing the optimum grind size and dose using its Bean Adapt tech if you like) and extract the shot, but you’ll have to tamp down the grinds and transfer the portafilter to the brewing group. The steam wand can froth your milk to perfection automatically, or you can lift it a few degrees, set it to manual mode, and have fun creating the ideal texture yourself.
If you’re new to espresso-making, the smart dosing system is particularly helpful, helping you get the right amount of coffee in the portafilter. Bean Adapt is smart too, and gives a great starting point if you’re not sure how coarsely or finely to grind your beans. Just enter the type of coffee you’re using (robusta or arabica), take a look at the images on screen, and choose the roast that best matches the color of the beans, and the La Specialista will adjust its settings to suit. If the flavor isn’t quite to your liking, you can always tweak the settings later (in fact, it’s positively encouraged).
It’s a great-looking machine, and attracted a lot of admiring glances in the TechRadar test kitchen, but it is surprisingly compact too, and doesn’t weigh a ton.
Read my full De’Longhi La Specialista Touch review
Best automatic
Philips LatteGo 5500 Series
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Want a coffee maker that will prepare perfect espresso, Americanos, cappuccinos, and (my personal favorite) latte macchiatos at the tap of a button? You want the Philips LatteGo 5500 Series – especially now that Amazon has knocked a generous $310 off the MSRP, bringing it down to a record-low price.
It’s a superb machine that’s ideally sized for households with one or two coffee-lovers. Its bean hopper, water tank, and milk carafe are all relatively small, so you won’t have anything hanging around going stale if you only make a few drinks a day. In fact, the milk container only holds enough for one or two drinks at a time. Once you’ve finished, it separates into two pieces of hard plastic, both of which are dishwasher-safe. Milk never enters the machine itself, so there’s no need to worry about anything building up there. It’s a superb system, effortless to keep clean, and makes great foam too.
Espresso is consistently great as well, and the ceramic grinder has more fine options than most other machines in this price bracket. The grinder and pump are surprisingly quiet as well, which is refreshing.
The only thing you have to watch is the position of your cup on the drip tray, which needs to be quite far forward. You can’t adjust the angle of the LatteGo system’s milk spout, and if you push your cup too far back, the milk will miss and run down the edge. That’s the smallest of quibbles, though.
Read my full Philips LatteGo 5500 Series review
Also check out
If none of the espresso machines above is exactly what you’re looking for, I’ve put together some more of the best deals available in this year’s Black Friday sales, with discounts of up to $400.
More of today’s best Black Friday deals
- Amazon: 45% off TVs, AirPods, air fryers & vacuums
- Apple: iPads, AirPods & MacBooks from $119
- Best Buy: $1,000 off TVs, laptops & headphones
- Dell: laptop deals from $249.99
- Home Depot: 40% off appliances, furniture, grills & tools
- Lenovo: 45% off laptops & tablets
- Lowe’s: up to 30% off appliances, holiday decor & tools
- Samsung: up to $2,000 off appliances, TVs & phones
- Target: 40% off Christmas decor, clothing & furniture
- T-Mobile: up to $1,100 off latest iPhone 17
- Walmart: furniture, cheap TVs & vacs from $69
- Wayfair: 54% off Christmas, furniture & decor
