My home coffee setup is a complicated manual process, with a hand grinder, and a giant lever with a steampunk-like gauge on it. If you’re not like me, and don’t want to spend 15 minutes every day making your morning latte by hand, you might consider the De’Longhi Rivelia (7/10, WIRED Review) which is currently marked down by $200 on Amazon.
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Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
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Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
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Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
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Courtesy of De’Longhi
Even at its discounted $1,300 price point, the Rivelia isn’t cheap, but it does offer something that most espresso makers don’t. Using the built-in touchscreen, you can select from a huge variety of milk-based coffee drinks, like lattes or flat whites, and the machine will take care of the process from start to finish. After configuring the grinder and settings for your preferred bean, just press the button for a cortado, for example, and a few minutes later you’ll have one ready to go.
One novel feature for homes with multiple coffee drinkers, the hopper is actually easily swappable, so you can keep two different kinds of beans ready to brew. Just let the Rivelia know that you want to make the change, and it will either dump the few leftover beans already in the grinder, or make you a little cup of coffee with them.
While it doesn’t match the potential quality of coffee you’d get from a classic portafilter machine, it’s certainly much easier, which means you’re always going to get at least a good shot, where a more complex process might result in a bad shot if you aren’t awake enough yet. Part of the reason it works so well is the “bean adapt” function, which lets you dial in the settings for each type of bean you use, and even brews you a test cup so that you can fine-tune for your own strength preferences.
Of course, the Rivelia also has its own milk frother, which our reviewer Matthew Korfhage says does a good job of producing silky micro-foam. It doesn’t get quite as hot as a traditional steam wand, but it’s great for giving you that cafe feeling at home, without having to worry about wand height or milk temperature. If you’re tired of grinding your own beans and cleaning levers, this is our favorite automatic latte machine, but there are other good options as well if you’re curious.
