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.
• Shop the full Amazon Black Friday sale
If you’re on a tight budget or have a particularly small kitchen, you’ll love the De’Longhi Dedica Duo, which is on sale for just $199.95 (was $299.95) at Amazon. This tiny manual espresso machine blew me away with performance I’d expect from a much more expensive machine.
Another superb De’Longhi espresso machine that I gave a full five stars is the De’Longhi La Specialista Touch, which is now $699.95 (was $999.95) at Amazon. It’s the perfect coffee maker for developing your barista skills, and during my time with it in the TechRadar kitchen, I was impressed by the way it can take over as much or as little of the brewing process as you like.
Finally, we have the Philips LatteGo 5500 Series for $989.99 (was $1299.99) at Amazon. This fully automatic espresso machine is just the right size for one or two coffee-drinkers, and I particularly like the innovative LatteGo system, which produces super creamy microfoam and is incredibly easy to clean. Read on for more details of each machine, plus links to my full reviews.
Quick list
The Dedica Duo only launched a couple of months ago, so I was pleasantly surprised to see it receive such a big price cut for Black Friday, with a third off the list price. I firmly believe it’s the best espresso machine you can buy for this price (and gave it a full five stars in my review).
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De’Longhi espresso machines have received huge price cuts this Black Friday, and this is one of the very best. In fact, it’s so good it took the prize for Best Coffee Maker in this year’s TechRadar Choice Awards. With $300 off, it’s a Black Friday bargain.
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It’s an even bigger discount for the LatteGo 5500, which has received a $310 price cut in Amazon’s Black Friday sale. I was sad to return this fantastic little automatic espresso machine after I’d finished testing. It brews a superb hot or cold espresso, and its milk system is one of the best I’ve used.
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Best manual
De’Longhi Dedica Duo
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
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
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.
This stunning coffee maker is almost identical to the BCC13 I reviewed last year, with the only significant difference being that this model has a manual steam wand rather than an auto-steaming system. This deal applies to the lovely soft green colorway only, which appears to be exclusive to Crate & Barrel.View Deal
The stunning KF6 is one of the best automatic machines I’ve reviewed this year, and has received a $250 price cut for Black Friday. It produces consistently excellent espresso, and during my tests, I found that its milk-frothing system works particularly well with dairy. This deal applies to the Porcelain White colorway, which only launched a few months ago. The plain white version is also discounted for Black Friday, but not as steeply.View Deal
If you’d rather make your espresso using capsules than whole coffee beans, this is the best Black Friday deal for you, with a huge $340.95 off the list price. The Creatista Pro takes Nespresso Original pods (the ones shaped like top hats), which are more widely available than dome-shaped Vertuo capsules, and give you a lot more choice when it comes to brands and flavors.View Deal
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
