De'Longhi's petite and powerful coffee machine is a rival for Sage - here's why

As a former barista, it takes a lot for me to get excited about an espresso machine. I don’t discriminate: a Sage machine has merits as much as a Nespresso, but there has to be good design and even better coffee for me to get out of bed for it.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I think De’Longhi makes some of the best coffee machines on the market. They’re easy to use; expert with their brewing; and the attention to detail is next level. The launch of their La Specialista Touch is further proof that my trust in De’Longhi is well placed. 

Whether you’re brand new to home brewing or already a bit of a snob, the De'Longhi La Specialista Touch will deliver an espresso that even an Italian would raise a seductive eyebrow for. It really is that good.

Specifications

Unboxing the De'Longhi La Specialista Touch

I have to hand it to De’Longhi, their packaging is some of the most sustainable and thoughtfully designed out there. For example, rather than opening at the top, the box opens at the sides. This means that you can slide your coffee machine out from the side on the counter rather than attempt to pull it up and out from the floor. If you’ve ever tried to do this — I quite literally do this for a living — it’s hot, sweaty, and not exactly elegant.

Most of the packaging is cardboard and where there are soft plastics, you’ll notice some green writing explaining that the material is actually biodegradable. It's rare that I can give a coffee machine brand full marks for sustainable packaging, but there really isn't any way to fault the De'Longhi.

Aside from the De’Longhi La Specialista Touch itself, you’ll get a stainless steel milk jug; tamping guide; grounds remover; tamping station; tamper; single and double portafilter baskets; a portafilter; cleaning tools; a booster for when you're making espressos; and a water tester. This is everything you need to get set go for making coffee: it’s generous without being superfluous. As an added bonus, you’ll see that some of these accessories can be stored on top of the machine in the storage compartment. It's an easy way to keep things tidy.

Who would the De'Longhi La Specialista Touch suit?

The first thing that I noticed about the De'Longhi La Specialista Touch was its size. Online, it looks every part the substantial centrepiece for your coffee. However, in the context of espresso machines, this is actually very small. In fact, I have been resisting adding an espresso machine to the counter in our tiny London flat, but this is compact and sleek enough to make a compelling case. 

The controls are perfect for beginners. The touchscreen walks you through everything, helping you to make the kind of coffee that your barista serves, just without you having to leave the house. If you like feeling as if you know what you’re doing, you’ll also appreciate the level of detail that the De’Longhi La Specialista Touch dives into. It’ll have you grinding, measuring, and assessing your beans until it’s convinced that it knows you’re getting the perfect extraction. Impatient drinkers who want ‘just a coffee coffee’ might not care to have the difference between a long black and an Americano explained to them, but if you’re itching to know the answers, this coffee machine will be your best friend. 

It also covers the more specialist drinks, from plant based milks through to cold brews really well. You can even set a user profile up so that the machine automatically adjusts its strength, length, temperature, and grind size to suit the different coffee preferences in your house. There’s no debating that this falls into the luxury category, but it’s certainly at the affordable end of the scale.

What is the De'Longhi La Specialista Touch like to use?

In spite of my experience with coffee machines — I’ve been a barista and a coffee tester for nearly ten years now — I hate setting them up. This is one of the first times that my heart rate has stayed stable when sorting out one of these. 

The simple screen talked me through getting the basics sorted: filling with water; setting the hardness; and accessing all the settings. This would be enough to reassure the average coffee drinker, but De'Longhi goes above and beyond. The La Specialista Touch will ask you about your beans: whether they're robusta, what colour they are, and how you like your coffee. Then, it'll use clever measuring tools to work out whether it's getting the right grind and quantity of coffee grounds for your tastes. You'll be involved in the whole process, tamping and trimming, but without having to use any brain power. What you'll end up with is coffee that's uniquely yours. I've never felt in safer hands with a coffee machine.

To help give you a tangible idea of how this plays out there’s a very telling series of tests that I run. You can probably predict how the De’Longhi La Specialista Touch performed, but if you like details, here they are.

Test 1: espresso

Without a good espresso, you’ve got no coffee. The espresso determines the flavour of all of your drinks, which is why it’s the first thing that I test. De’Longhi sends a little booster to sit your espresso cups on — this saves on mess and splashes — and I pulled a single, then a double, and then another single shot back to back. 

The De’Longhi was remarkably consistent. Each single shot took exactly twelve seconds to brew and my doubles took eighteen. You can see that I got a thick crema on top (the way that you tell the oils have been extracted from your beans). Underneath that, the colour was deep and intense too.

The espresso was everything that I would put on a list for the perfect brew. It was warm enough to be flavourful, but cool enough to drink in one gulp, Italian style. Note after note, I could taste the sweet marzipan balanced with a more rich chocolatey tone (you have to let me be a bit pretentious). I said I was making coffee for the purposes of testing, but it’s also for my sake. These espressos were delicious.

 On the screen, I could adjust the temperature and volume of my espresso as well as the grind — although this is better to adjust when you’re setting up the machine — so however you like to drink yours, I’m pretty confident you’ll get a good espresso from the La Specialista Touch.

Test 2: Americano

If you’ve been holding your breath about the Americano vs long black dilemma since I put it out there earlier on, here’s where the De’Longhi will answer your question. It’s all about the order in which you add components: an Americano is coffee then water and a long black is the other way around. I opt for Americanos since they’re more popular in the UK.

This test is all about water temperature and convenience. If the water is too cold, it’ll cool your coffee too quickly, making it taste acidic. If it’s too hot, your coffee will taste burnt and bitter. The water needs to be the perfect temperature and, ideally, dispersed in a similar position to where your espresso comes out. If that's the case you won’t have to move the mug at all. 

As you’ll expect, this is exactly the case with the De’Longhi. It made the perfect Americano: mellow, delicious, and really drinkable. The water dispenser sits right next to the brew head, so you won't have to move your mug around. And, even better, it doesn't splash or create any mess when brewing.

Test 3: cappuccino

The final test that I run on all coffee machines is making a cappuccino or a latte. By now, you and I both know that the machine can brew a delicious espresso and handle its heat. The one thing that we haven’t yet checked is how well it steams milk. 

The De’Longhi La Specialista Touch’s steam wand is clever. You twist the dial to change the angle of the wand: there’s M for manual steaming A for automatic steaming that’ll take your milk to a latte art texture; and then there’s off, which will clean your steam wand too. They’re easy to switch between and then you can also select different controls on the screen: there are five foam levels, a temperature gauge, and an option to switch between dairy and plant-based milks. 

I love my coffee with some milk in, so I’ve been making my way through flat whites, cappuccinos, and lattes. Whilst I tend to manually steam, I wanted to make sure that the auto setting covers the needs of an absolute beginner. It does.

The beauty of having a screen for personalisation means that you get to choose how frothy or hot you want your coffee. The versatility is absolutely there and more than delivered with the kind of expertise I expect from a barista. There’s a distinct difference between each foam setting (I would say about the width of a little finger) and it easily tackled plant based milks. The only thing you’ll need to remember is that a plant based milk will need to be a barista alternative so that you have the protein in the milk to hold the foam structure. 

Cleaning the De'Longhi La Specialista Touch

As you’ll expect from a machine this clever, the De’Longhi looks after itself. In the setup you’ll do a water hardness test, which will establish the scaling reminder timeframe from your machine. There’s a circuit rinse setting, the steam wand automatically empties after each use, and so the only task you need to take on will be wiping down the surfaces and controls. These actually don’t get messy or greasy. I expected the machine to show a lot of fingerprints, but it doesn’t. All in all, the machine will do the hard work and then alert you when it needs some extra input. 

How does the De'Longhi La Specialista Touch compare?

One of the reasons that I was so excited to test this was that it looks like a blend of the Eletta Explore and the La Specialista Maestro. You have all the precision and attention to detail of La Specialista Maestro with the easy screen and controls offered on the Eletta Explore.

If you consider yourself to be more of a hardcore coffee drinker, La Specialista Maestro is bigger and it leaves a lot more of the controls down to you. If you’re after something robust that comes with tinkering potential, this is the better option. If you’re feeling competent, you can adjust the pre-sets, brewing temperatures, and other factors yourself. With the La Specialista Touch, the machine often steps in to lend you a guiding hand. 

If you shy away from any grinding or semi automation, De’Longhi’s Eletta Explore will be your best friend. Again, it’s bigger than the La Specialista Touch, but you get the screen and automatic milk frothing that’ll guide you when making coffee. This one has other 52 different coffee options, which is a lot more than the La Specialista Touch, but you can still make more than a coffee shop’s worth of drinks with the La Specialista Touch.

There is one final comparison that I have to make, which is against the Sage. Their Oracle Jet is a lot like this, but scaled up. Whilst it’s more expensive, I think it warrants the extra spend. De’Longhi has a few plastic finishes where Sage stuck with stainless steel. Similarly, the settings offer a little more nuance: rather than choose between dairy and plant based milks on the De’Longhi, you have specific options on the Sage: almond, oat, and soya too. The Sage certainly takes a lot more faff off your plate and I think takes the edge for milk frothing. In terms of the coffee flavours, the two are neck and neck. 

Should you buy the De'Longhi La Specialista Touch?

If you love all the big and fancy coffee machines, but you’re being held back by the size of your home, the La Specialista Touch is offering up a neat solution. This compact model makes flawless coffee and offers everything from a fully customised espresso through to the perfect cold brew. I like to think I’m hard to impress when it comes to coffee, but I’m full of beans for this machine. 

How we test

If you’re wondering how we test coffee machines at woman&home, you’re in the right place. I have a dedicated page where I go deep into the details of what goes on behind the scenes at our coffee making tests, but I’m going to give you an overview. 

Good coffee is made up of components: your espresso gives the flavour, water will create or reduce the intensity, and milk offers sweetness and creaminess. I make each component with the coffee machine time and time again to make sure the machine can cover the fundamentals. That means that I’ll always make an espresso, cappuccino, and an Americano. I repeat these recipes until I’m happy that the coffee machine under scrutiny can offer delicious consistency. If there’s a special function, I’ll add that into my tests too and put it under the same pressure as the other core tests. 

I’ll look at cleaning, maintenance and other factors too, finally offering you a comparison to other models, so that you get a good idea of where this sits on the market. All in all, I like to think you get a holistic idea of what the coffee machine is like and whether it’s for you. If you still have questions afterwards, email me. I’m always happy to talk about coffee. It’s my favourite kind of conversation.