DeLonghi Lattissima One review

One minute review

Neat and compact in design, the De’Longhi Lattissima One coffee machine gives you the taste of Nespresso and is ideal for kitchens where space is tight. This design is just one in a large range of some of the best Nespresso machines offered by the De’Longhi Group, which is known for making stylish domestic appliances. 

In 1993, De’Longhi branched out into producing ground and bean-to-cup coffee machines, and by 2004 had established an agreement with Nespresso to distribute its capsule coffee machines. De’Longhi now sells a wide range of bean-to-cup, manual and filter/drip coffee machines, as well as its Nespresso range that includes the Lattissima One. 

It may be the smallest in the Nepresso lineup at De’Longhi, but the Lattissima One comes with everything you need on board to create delicious coffee; from thick and creamy espressos to tall, creamy lattes. You'll have to buy into the Nespresso "club" to use this machine, and the pods can be recycled via one of Nespresso’s recycling schemes, for which you'll find details online.  

The body of the Lattissima One is sleek and feels premium in its finish, and you can opt for either an eye-catching white or black design. The 19-bar pressure pump is designed to deliver the correct amount of pressure and water flow for the coffee selected, while the milk dispenser uses up all the milk in the container so there's no waste. 

A quick read of the manual will see you able to programme the coffee machine to dispense your preferred quantity of espresso and enjoy cappuccinos, lattes and espressos – the latter of which have a satisfyingly thick and smooth crema. 

Read on to discover how we got on making a number of coffees with the Lattissima One, then check out our best coffee machine guide to see how it compares to the other coffee makers on the market.

De’Longhi Lattissima One price and availability

• List price: $229 / £219 / AU $449

There are currently seven Nespresso coffee machines available to buy in the De’Longhi range on its site. At the time of writing, the De’Longhi Lattissima One was priced from $229 / £179 / AU$449. Note that you'll pay slighter more for the black model, although its features are identical to the white coffee machine. 

If you’re after a Nespresso machine with touchscreen control that can produce a wider range of coffee options – such as a ristretto or a taller latte – then you may want to consider the more expensive De’Longhi Nespresso Lattissima Pro, from $625 / £449.  It's no longer available in Australia.

• Value: 4.5 / 5

De’Longhi Lattissima One design

•  Choose from a wide range of delicious Nespresso pod flavors 
•  Space-saving design is great for countertops short on space
•  Stylish black and white finishes  

Measuring just 14.17 x 14.96 x 7.6in / 36 x 38 x 19.5cm (h x w x d), the Lattissima One is noticeably smaller than your average pod machine. At 33.8fl oz / 1 litre, its water container is equally compact, but this is sufficient for around nine 110ml lungo coffees before you need to refill. While its suitable enough for a single cup of coffee at a time, we feel that this machine may be too limited for larger households; you’ll find yourself having to regularly fill it up and clean the milk dispenser. While the water tank is easy to lift in and out of the machine for refilling, we found its opening a little narrow for our liking.    

The machine's interface is easy to navigate with three icons to illustrate a 110ml lungo coffee option, a 40ml espresso and a milk drink. The Rapid Cappuccino System milk dispenser offers three options for milky coffees, with 30ml to 165ml milk plus the 40ml espresso. There isn’t a power off button, so we had to read the instruction manual to work out how to turn it off: you press the espresso and lungo buttons simultaneously. 

The design caters to a range of milks, and you can insert up to 135ml of dairy (or dairy-free options, such as oat, soy or almond) into the milk dispenser. The idea is that the machine will use up all the milk in one go, so there's no wastage. We referred to the instruction manual to work out how much milk to put in for each drink: 30ml for an espresso macchiato; 60ml for a cappuccino; and 135ml for a latte, for example. We liked being able to top up the milk via the lid, without having to remove the entire Rapid Cappuccino System compartment.  

he machine arrives with a removable step that can be placed on the drip tray to ensure your espresso cup is nearer to the coffee spout. While this was useful for espresso cups, we found that our tea and coffee cups felt a little too large in relation to the rest of the design.

• Design: 4 / 5

De’Longhi Lattissima One performance

• Makes espresso and lungo coffee with ease  
• Optical sensor technology limits milk waste 
• Relatively fast and quiet  

The Lattissima One can make espresso, lungo coffee and milky drinks tailored to your taste. The machine takes Nespresso pods that can make espresso or longer milky drinks in under a minute. The plus side of using pods is that you can enjoy the benefits of Nespresso’s large portfolio of coffees, including the popular Livanto, Volluto, Roma and Arpeggio options, with minimal mess to clear up after. On the downside, this machine won’t allow you to experiment with freshly ground beans and artisan filter flavors. 

The three main control buttons on the top of the machine light up when they're ready to use. These aren’t labelled with text, so you’ll have to refer to the manual to work out what the icons mean since they perform functions in addition to their standard 40ml espresso, 110ml lungo coffee and milky drink options. 

Without a touchscreen that simplifies the process of setting up the Lattissima One, making coffee and turning the machine on and off, we had to resort to the manual to figure out how the machine works. 

On first use, we needed to confirm the water hardness using a test strip that comes with the machine. After running the strip under the tap, we checked the manual to see which buttons we needed to press to set the desired water hardness value – a bit of a long-winded process. Next, we programmed the coffee quantity. While the lungo and espresso controls are pre-programmed with factory settings, you can tailor the strength of your coffee by following the instructions in the manual. This setting will then be stored for your next coffee. Again, we found this relatively straightforward to do, but would have preferred the use of a touchscreen to make it easier – and/or another button, separate from the main functions. 

To test the Lattissima One, we made an espresso and a cappuccino and timed how long it took to make, measured the noise level in use, as well as whether the coffees reached optimum temperature. We were keen to see how well the espresso crema held together and, ultimately, if it tasted any good.  

We started by making a 40ml espresso, which was delivered at a surprisingly fast rate in under 10 seconds. Meanwhile, the 110ml lungo was delivered in under 15 seconds. In use, we were pleased to find the machine surprisingly quiet, measuring a mere 61db on the Decibel Meter app. The espresso came out impressively hot, too – at an optimum 68ºC. Once the espresso was made, we gently tipped a teaspoon of sugar in to see how well the crema held together; it did well for a few seconds before falling in. The espresso was satisfying in strength and smooth to drink. We found that the smaller the coffee cup, the thicker and tastier the crema.    

It’s worth noting that this machine doesn’t have a separate steam wand for making micro foam and hot milk by hand, but it does have its own automatic Rapid Cappuccino System to dispense milk straight into your cup. And this is where De'Longhi's built-in optical sensor technology comes into its own. You simply insert your milk and the machine will make coffee using that exact measure, resulting in less waste. We enjoyed using this functionality to make milky coffees; the machine does all the hard work for you and the clean-up process is straightforward. 

Next we tried making a cappuccino – first with oat milk, and then with dairy – and each of our drinks was dispensed in under 45 seconds. The milk dispenses into the cup first, so if you wanted to prepare hot milk without coffee, you'd have to stop the machine manually once the milk was dispensed. We didn’t really notice a difference in the textures of the oat and dairy milks in our cups of cappuccino once dispensed, either. The milk came out hot and a little frothy, with a temperature of 59ºC. While it tasted smooth and slightly lighter than usual, the amount of foam and froth delivered is less than you could expect with a manual steam wand. You won’t be able to make any impressive latte art, either. 

Once each coffee has been dispensed, the cleaning indicator lights up to nudge you to clean the Rapid Cappuccino System. We got away with rinsing it under the tap a few times after making coffees simultaneously, but a deeper hand-wash would be equally easy and is recommended when using regularly.

Having made a milky coffee, the machine blinked to tell us it was time to clean the Rapid Cappuccino System. While you can override this a few times, it’s unadvisable to exceed five milk drinks before cleaning it. This involved taking apart the six pieces that make up the container and cleaning all the individual pieces by hand or in the dishwasher. Cleaning the rest of the machine is relatively straightforward, too, since many of the surfaces require just a wipe. The drip tray is easy to remove, as is the pod bin for emptying. 

When it's time to descale, you'll see the descaling light blink orange. Simply add descaling agent to the water container, connect to the Rapid Cappuccino System, and press the espresso button. 

• Performance: 4 / 5

De’Longhi Lattissima One score card

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• First reviewed: September 2022