De’Longhi is one of the most active coffee brands in the market, and it proves it again with the Magnifica Plus, the latest release from the Italian brand that also becomes the best and most complete of the Magnifica range.
And this is the Magnifica from De’Longhi with the highest number of recipes, in addition to a great touch screen, and a function in the milk tank that we had only seen in the De’Longhi Dinamica: the possibility of choosing three levels of milk frothing.
It is a highly interesting super-automatic coffee machine and I have little doubt that it will sell very well in the coming years, and here I share my experience with it.
De'Longhi Magnifica Plus: My verdict
De'Longhi Magnifica Plus: My verdict
| Pump | 15 bars |
| Thermoblock | 1450W |
| Grinder | 13 grinding settings |
| Screen | Touch and 3.5 inches |
| Coffee bean container | 250 g |
| Ground coffee hopper |  |
| Water tank | 1.9 liters |
| Programmed recipes | 18 |
| Recipe customization | Volume and intensity settings |
| User profiles | 4 |
| Milk container | |
| Type of milk frother | Auto |
| Maximum cup height | 140 mm |
| Dimensions | 24 x 44 x 36 cm |
The most modern and advanced Magnifica
The Magnifica range had always been the low range of De’Longhi, but the Treviso brand has changed that policy this year, with the new Magnifica Evo Next and this Magnifica Plus, coffee machines that have features that until now we had only seen in supposedly superior ranges.
The most obvious of these features is the touch screen, 3.5 inches, touch and full color. The control panel consists only of this screen, the power and profile selection buttons, and buttons to access the catalog of coffee recipes with or without milk.
The screen is accompanied by a very attractive and intuitive visual interface, full of information about each new step in coffee preparation, and animations that give it a very modern touch, unusual in super-automatic coffee machines. The ease of use and the amount of information provided by the menu screens make it a super intuitive coffee machine, even for those who have never used a machine like this.
There are 18 programmed recipes that the Magnifica Plus brings, a considerable number. We have the usual recipes of any super-automatic with a milk tank, such as espresso, lungo, coffee, americano, cappuccino, latte macchiato, caffelatte, flat white, and cortado; but also less common recipes, such as cappuccino mix, doppio+ or espresso macchiato.
There are also two cold coffee recipes, although they are tricky: they are cold coffee and cold americano. The trick is that the machine simply tells you how many ice cubes to put in the glass. During my tests, I tried to find out if the Magnifica Plus performs a slower extraction or at a lower temperature in these two recipes, but no, the coffee is extracted exactly the same as in hot coffee recipes, so don’t expect anything remotely similar to a cold brew which, by the way, other De’Longhi coffee machines do prepare.
A really intense espresso and coffee
The advantage offered by this touch screen is that it allows you to easily and very visually configure the parameters of each drink. De’Longhi offers in most recipes the possibility to select 4 length levels (volume of coffee in the cup) and 5 intensity levels (grinding dose).
Additionally, the My function provides access to greater recipe customization, where we are first given the choice of intensity level, and then we can program the volume you want by pressing the stop button when it reaches the desired amount.
We won’t be able to fine-tune the intensity as much, since the 5 levels the coffee machine gives us are what they are, with no possibility of modifying them even a bit. Also, they are the same for all drinks. However, they have values that are unusual in a super-automatic: the first intensity setting uses a dose of 20 grams of coffee, the second uses 23, the third employs 26, the fourth doses with 28 grams, and the fifth uses 30 grams.
These are doses I hadn’t seen until now in any super-automatic, as the usual range in these coffee machines is between 7 to 18 grams. This large increase in the dose used is undoubtedly a fine-tuning by De’Longhi in the world of specialty coffee, where larger doses are used than in the more traditional culture of the classic Italian espresso.
Even so, those 30 grams at the maximum setting seem too much to me, even if we used them for an americano or a lungo, but those who like strong and intense coffee will enjoy it. The fact that De’Longhi has configured such a high minimum dose makes the espresso and all types of coffee come out really intense.
Moreover, the grinder measures up, and at its lowest settings, it grinds quite fine. It has 13 grinding settings, and by default, the grinder is set at level 8, so you’ll probably want to lower it a bit. In my tests, at grinding level 1 and with intensity level 5, I have pushed the pump beyond its capabilities, and it couldn’t extract coffee, a clear sign that that 30-gram dose is excessive.
Using the same grind at the lowest setting, and with intensity level 1 (20 grams), I obtained a fantastic espresso, one of the best I’ve ever tried in a super-automatic coffee machine, a confirmation that De’Longhi has gone in the right direction with this powerful increase in coffee dosing.
A milk container with many possibilities
Another great attraction of the Magnifica Plus is its milk container, with De’Longhi’s automatic LatteCrema frothing system. The great thing is that we can select between three qualities of milk foam: delicate, creamy, and dense.
In this way, the De’Longhi Magnifica Plus also adapts to the demands of specialty coffee when it comes to milk coffees, as one of the differences between cappuccino, latte macchiato, or flat white lies precisely in the type of milk foam.
The first setting, delicate, heats the milk without frothing it, making it suitable only for caffelatte (coffee with milk). Meanwhile, the creamy setting creates a small and light layer of foam that is ideal for flat white or cortado recipes. The last setting, dense, froths the milk even more for latte macchiato and cappuccino recipes.
The best quality, without a doubt, is offered by the medium, or creamy, setting, as in the dense setting, the texture is too airy, while the medium setting provides a smaller layer but with a texture that integrates better with the coffee, and this is much more important than having a larger or smaller foam layer.
Another great point is being able to modify the coffee and milk ratio through the My menu, selecting exactly the desired volume of milk and coffee, so in practice, we can create totally customized recipes to our liking.
A small drawback of the milk outlet is that it is somewhat separated from the coffee outlet, and if you use a small diameter cup, you will have to reposition it between preparations. It goes without saying that this system makes it impossible to prepare two cups of coffee with milk at the same time.
Otherwise, the milk container has a cleaning system that performs rinses to clean the nozzle. Don’t worry because it is the coffee machine itself that reminds you to move the knob to the Clean position every time you finish serving a coffee, although if you are going to serve a second coffee with milk, you can ignore this reminder.
The container has the advantage of being compact, so it can be placed in the fridge, and it is very easy to assemble and disassemble, as it consists of only three pieces – lid/spout, tube, and container – which can also be placed in the dishwasher. In this sense, it reminds me of the LatteGo from Philips super-automatics, only the milk foam from De’Longhi is somewhat better.
Maintenance made extremely easy
Continuing with the cleaning theme, one of the many advantages of De’Longhi super-automatic coffee machines is that they are easier to clean and maintain than those from other brands. This applies in the same way with the Magnifica Plus, whose maintenance is further facilitated thanks to that screen, which gives alerts whenever there is a problem with the machine.
So, no indicators that require consulting the instruction manual to know what it’s about: the Magnifica Plus clearly tells you on its screen what the problem is, although it doesn’t have to be a problem, as it also alerts you when the water tank needs refilling or when the coffee grounds drawer needs emptying.
Another advantage of De’Longhi: its infuser group can be removed and is one of the easiest to clean on the market: generally, a rinse under the tap is enough to remove any grease and coffee residues it may have.
As I mentioned before, all the pieces of the milk container are dishwasher safe, as is the drip tray grid, but not the drip tray itself, whose plastic parts and paint finishes can be damaged if you put them in the dishwasher.
Like any good super-automatic, the De’Longhi Magnifica Plus also performs automatic rinses every time it is turned off and on, and it has a descaling program that is carried out based on usage and the water hardness you have set. De’Longhi includes a test strip and a water filter, but not descaling liquid, which you can buy on Amazon. You can also buy on Amazon replacement filters, which have a lifespan of between two and three months.
Verdict: How recommendable is this De’Longhi Magnifica Plus?
The De’Longhi Magnifica Plus is one of the super-automatics that has convinced me the most. The quality of the espresso is fantastic, and the adjustment and customization possibilities are very generous, and this also includes milk recipes, with very good quality foam, especially in the medium setting.
In addition, the touch screen is very modern and intuitive, and it is a pleasure to navigate through the menus, while it is very easy to carry out any adjustment or to know if there is any cleaning or maintenance problem, thanks to the continuous warnings that are displayed on the screen. And its design is beautiful, with good finishes and a general feeling of quality. In short, it is an absolutely recommendable superautomatic coffee maker, although it is not one of the cheapest.
You may also have doubts between the Magnifica Plus and the more recent Magnifica Evo Next, and that is why I have prepared this comparison between the two. Even so, if your priority is to enjoy a good coffee, the Magnifica Plus is better than all of them, and for this reason it is now part of my selection of recommended espresso coffee makers.
José Noguera
