Smeg Bean Machine Review – Tech Advisor

Best prices today: Smeg bean-to-cup coffee machine

$999.95

Depending on where you are in the world, this device is called an automatic coffee maker or a bean maker. But either way, it does the same thing, making high-quality espressos, ristrettos, and long coffees from whole beans. Thanks to its integrated milk wand, you can also prepare lattes and cappuccinos.

Although nominally in a 50s style, Smeg’s bean to cup coffee machine isn’t in the shiny plastic and faux chrome of the brand’s most famous small appliances. Instead, it has a minimalist design with a brushed aluminum front panel and contrasting body, dispenser and wand.

We’re reviewing the black and aluminum model, but other color options include taupe, emerald green, red, and white. There’s also an all-black option. Color options may vary depending on your location.

Features and Construction

• 1.4 liter water tank
• Dispenser height adjustable
• Removable drip tray with float

At 18 x 33.6 x 43.3cm, the bean maker is relatively narrow but deep, so while it’s easy to find a place to fit in, it will take up most of the depth of your countertop. kitchen. It fits comfortably under my kitchen cabinets, with plenty of room to add beans to the hopper from the top, although filling the water reservoir is another matter.

The 1.4 liter tank is inside the machine at the rear. Personally, I don’t like this placement because you often have to move the machine forward to reload it. The Smeg machine is heavy, at 18.5 pounds, making it a chore.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

To access the water reservoir, you remove a panel on top and lift it by its handle, which is nice. But since the tank is almost as high as the machine, it takes a lot of space to remove it. I could pretty much do it under the overhang of a cabinet, but it’s a bit of a boring job, so if space is limited in your kitchen, this might not be the machine for you should.

At the front is a removable drip tray with a float, and just behind this is the coffee grounds drawer. As with all bean-to-cup machines, remember to empty it regularly because coffee grounds behave like food and if emptying it gets away from you, you’ll end up with a drawer of moldy green discs.

The front dispenser can be slid up and down to accommodate anything from a large latte mug to a no-spill espresso mug. If you need more height, you can remove the drip tray.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

The machine is surprisingly attractive – by far the prettiest bean-to-cup we’ve tested – but unlike rivals from more tech-focused brands, it doesn’t have a screen.

Instead, there’s a sufficiently minimalist control panel on top, comprising five buttons, as well as a power switch on the side.

There are also five indicator lights to alert you to add more beans or water, empty the grounds container, check the brew group head and descale the machine.

The other thing you won’t find on this machine is space to warm cups on top, but that’s not something I missed while testing it.

Make coffee

• Multi-function button control
• No touchscreen
• Coffee can be personalized – but not at the push of a button

Whether or not you miss the screen probably depends on how you brewed your coffee before. My everyday coffee maker is a De’Longhi Dinamica Plus, which has a touch screen. I missed the array of one-press light options when approaching the coffee machine in the morning.

Instead, four of the five buttons are dual-function. The fifth allows you to switch between two menus – orange and white – which are differentiated by a luminous ring around the buttons.

Emma Rowley / Foundry

Choose the white menu and the four buttons will produce ristretto, espresso, coffee and hot water respectively. The orange menu gives you the option of light ristretto, light espresso, long coffee and steam.

It’s a simple and easy to use system, except you have to remember which menu does what. There is no marking on the machine to indicate whether the steam button on the orange setting produces water or steam – so I had to consult the manual a few times.

If the preset coffee volumes aren’t exactly to your liking, you can customize them with the press of a button. Your preferences will be saved unless you restore factory settings.

You can also tune the machine to your local water hardness and adjust the grind size using a dial inside the bean hopper, which has five fineness settings.

All in all, there are plenty of settings you can experiment with to get your perfect espresso, but you’ll have to consult the manual as it’s not immediately obvious how to do it, nor very easy to remember.

The machine heats up quickly and automatically rinses itself before it’s ready. As mentioned above, there’s a float in the drip tray that will let you know when it needs to be emptied, but I personally put a cup under the dispenser when I turn the machine on to minimize the mess. When it begins to dispense, a light behind the spout comes on, illuminating your coffee. It’s a useful and cool little feature.

Once you’ve made your coffee, you can froth some milk to go with it. Select the button (right) and the wand is quickly ready for use. I found the milk wand to be faster, quieter, and less shocking to the system in the morning than many other machines, which are loud and sputtery. It is also very effective. Before long, I was texturing milk – if not like a pro, at least with a reasonable level of skill.

Price and availability

Smeg’s bean-to-cup machine is widely available from Smeg itself and other retailers. In the United States, it is available on sites like Amazon. Look closely if you think you’re getting a bargain, however, for around $150 less there’s a model of the unit that doesn’t come with a built-in milk wand (check out this version on Amazon). However, if you don’t use the milk frother, it’s a good way to save money on the machine.

In the UK you can find it on a number of sites including Smeg itself, Amazon, John Lewis etc. But as of this writing, Currys has the best price. The model without a milk stick is less common, but you can still buy it from European sites, such as Cooking Life, if you want to save money.

Verdict

Smeg small appliances are easy to love, with a counter-enhancing presence you’ll appreciate every time you walk into your kitchen. The bean-to-cup machine is no exception, with simple, attractive lines and a range of coveted color options.

It’s a pretty big device, though, and the location of the water tank means you have to lift and fill it to fill it. This means it’s a better bet if you have plenty of room, rather than a small space with overhanging cabinetry.

It makes great coffee, but the multi-function buttons mean adjusting the blend isn’t intuitive and you can forget which button does what.

For more coffee machine options, take a look at our roundup of the best coffee machines we’ve tested, the best espresso machines and, if you’re considering a simpler option, the best capsule coffee makers we’ve tested. we examined.