Best Smart Coffee Machines

My favourite smart coffee machine is from Smarter Coffee. They have combined great tasting coffee, customisation, and smart technology into a great product, plus it’s very affordable compared to the other machines currently available in the UK.

It’s a bean-to-cup filter coffee machine so takes longer than an espresso machine, this is why having added smarts is so beneficial as you can use the app to ensure your coffee is brewing and waiting for you when you want it.

It’s a very simple coffee machine with limited customisation. You can choose between using coffee beans in the hopper or ground coffee. If you’re using beans, you can also adjust the strength and coarseness to your liking, but this is about all of the customisation so the machine wouldn’t be suited to coffee connoisseurs looking for optimum taste.

However, where the machine excels and the reason for it winning my top spot is the smart technology inside. The companion app is easy to use and can be controlled from multiple apps so works well for sharing with the family or flatmates. It can be used to change the settings and initiate a brew.

You’ll have no problem integrating it into your smart home thanks to Alexa, Google Home, and IFTTT support. Geolocation mode can start the brewing when you get close to home so you can have a drink as soon as you get home.

The machine has a 1.5L water tank, the water meter shows when it needs refilling or you can see this in the app too. The machine is easy to maintain, the mesh coffee filter is washable which saves investing in new filters and there are clear cleaning instructions in the app.

Two bean hoppers which you can select when choosing your coffee and there’s also space for pre-ground beans if that’s your preference.

There are quick select buttons on the front which you can configure to your favourite coffee and you can create multip;e user profiles. However, smart home geeks will be more intrigued to learn about the companion app Melitta® Connect app.

This allows you to access all the settings for user-profiles and quick select buttons, provides helpful cleaning instructions, and allows you to initiate a coffee. The app has had bad ratings as it struggled to maintain a connection to the machine, however, an update in early 2021 appears to have resolved this.

It has an integrated milk frother which will automatically froth the milk and add it to your drink without any intervention from the user.

The machine will warn you when the beans are low, although I would have liked to see similar warnings for water and milk, especially if you’ll be making the coffee remotely via the app.

The Italian brand, De’longhi, is one of the most popular coffee machine brands in the UK.

If top-notch coffee is a priority, the DELONGHI Prima Donna Soul is a great pick. However, this does come at the expense of smart features which are somewhat limited compared to the previous two devices.

You can use the machine with both coffee beans or pre-ground coffee. The included bean selection cards are very helpful to ensure you use the correct types of beans for the settings.

It connects to your phone with the DELONGHI coffee link app. It’s one of the simplest coffee machines to use and comes with everything you need to set it up and maintain it.

Similar to the Melitta machine above, it has an integrated milk frother. The machine will adjust the froth temperature and settings according to the drink. I like that the machine is suitable for dairy-free milk too which is a growing trend.

The Delonghi will customise the bean aroma and strength according to your preference thanks to their bean adapt technology. I love that you can set individual profiles once you have found a coffee that suits you, it’s possible to set up to 5 per machine so everyone in the house can have one.

Unfortunately, the machine does not have Wi-Fi so connects to your phone via Bluetooth. This means that you need to be within range to control the machine so you can’t set it to make you a coffee while you’re on your way home. There’s also no voice assistant support such as Alexa or Google Home which is a real shame for such an expensive machine.

If you’re looking for a built-in coffee machine that will seamlessly blend in with your kitchen, Bosch is the brand to turn to. Their CTL636ES6 Serie 8 coffee machine has been designed to fit neatly in your kitchen amongst your other appliances and it looks very

It has a mammoth 2.4L tank which far exceeds the previous devices I’ve shared, however, it’s also much larger and would need to be planned into your kitchen set up well in advance.

As for smarts, it can be controlled via the Home Connect app which is also used for other Bosch connected appliances such as their fridges and ovens. The app allows you to

Similar to the Smarter Coffee machine that was awarded the top spot, this Bosch device also uses Wi-Fi rather than Bluetooth. That means you can control the machine remotely and also allows it to be controlled with voice assistants.

For example, you can say “Alexa, ask my coffee machine for an espresso” or “Alexa, tell my coffee machine to make a large, strong cappuccino”.