The La Specialista Touch is a compact portafilter espresso machine with a built-in 15-setting burr grinder and a colour touchscreen that guides you through dosing, tamping and 10 preset drinks, including cold brew.
The La Specialista Touch is a compact portafilter espresso machine with a built-in 15-setting burr grinder and a colour touchscreen that guides you through dosing, tamping and 10 preset drinks, including cold brew. The steam wand can froth milk automatically or manually. Owners and TechRadar praise the coffee quality, beginner-friendly guidance and milk frothing. The drawbacks are a grinder that cannot be opened for cleaning, limited clearance for tall glasses, no knock box or pressure gauge, and an initial learning curve. It suits newcomers to espresso who want hands-on brewing with guidance, but not people who want push-button convenience or already own a separate grinder. Long-term reliability evidence is limited: one grinder failure after a year has been reported, and the Which? verdict is behind a paywall.
Strengths
Coffee quality and easy, guided operation are praised by most owners
Steam wand with automatic and manual frothing, adjustable temperature and texture, and self-cleaning
Compact and attractive design that fits on a worktop
Show all (4)
Integrated burr grinder with 15 settings and guided dosing
Things to consider
The grinder cannot be opened or removed for cleaning, with one report of a grinder failure after about a year
120 mm cup clearance, so tall latte glasses and flasks don't fit; no knock box or pressure gauge
There is a learning curve at first, and some find the instructions scattered
Show all (5)
Cold brew is only adequate compared with dedicated bean-to-cup rivals
Store ratings are boosted by incentivised reviews
Who is it for, and who is it not for?
Good for
First-time espresso makers who want to grind and tamp themselves with on-screen help
Milk-drink lovers who want automatic frothing with the option of manual control
The UK version is EC9455.M EX:2 in silver/metal (EAN 8004399029101). It is sold by De'Longhi UK, John Lewis, Argos, Amazon.co.uk, Currys, Costco and Harrods.
It is a portafilter espresso machine with a 15-bar pump, 1450 W thermoblock heating and an integrated burr grinder with 15 grind settings. Tamping is manual, using the supplied tamper and dosing guide.
A 3.5" colour touchscreen guides set-up and drink making, with 10 preset drinks including Cold Brew and 8 customisable recipes. Bean Adapt Technology is claimed to optimise grind, dose and temperature for each bean.
TechRadar gave it Editor's Choice and called it a great first espresso machine for small kitchens. It praised the compact size, beginner-friendly dosing, Bean Adapt as a starting point, and an excellent steam wand with automatic and manual modes.
TechRadar found no obvious way to open the grinder for cleaning, no way to rinse the group head between drinks and no grinder purge button. Its grinder felt 'a bit sticky' after a while. One John Lewis reviewer reported the grinder failing after about a year and being impossible to access, and one Amazon UK reviewer noted the grinder cannot be removed for cleaning.
TechRadar rated cold brew as 'fine' but thinner than a Jura J10's and found latte macchiato foam 'a bit too aerated'. Cappuccinos and lattes were consistently good.
Most UK store reviewers praise café-quality coffee and easy, touchscreen-guided operation, including first-time owners and owners switching from Sage machines.
Several reviewers found set-up daunting or confusing at first, made poor coffees early on, or found the instructions scattered. Most say it becomes straightforward once mastered.
Maximum cup height is 120 mm. Reviewers note that tall latte glasses and a thermos do not fit, that removing the portafilter means steadying the machine, and that there is no knock box or integrated tamper.
Isolated reports: milk not reaching the set temperature and weak pressure after 3 months, frequent descale prompts, and one Amazon UK unit that tripped the household fuse.
Many store reviews come from incentivised or sampling programmes. 13 of the 22 John Lewis reviews are tagged as sampled, and 9 of the 10 Argos reviews read say 'Received free product', so the positive ratings may be inflated.
A 3.5" colour touchscreen guides set-up and drink making, with 10 preset drinks including Cold Brew and 8 customisable recipes. Bean Adapt Technology is claimed to optimise grind, dose and temperature for each bean.
TechRadar gave it Editor's Choice and called it a great first espresso machine for small kitchens. It praised the compact size, beginner-friendly dosing, Bean Adapt as a starting point, and an excellent steam wand with automatic and manual modes.
TechRadar found no obvious way to open the grinder for cleaning, no way to rinse the group head between drinks and no grinder purge button. Its grinder felt 'a bit sticky' after a while. One John Lewis reviewer reported the grinder failing after about a year and being impossible to access, and one Amazon UK reviewer noted the grinder cannot be removed for cleaning.
TechRadar rated cold brew as 'fine' but thinner than a Jura J10's and found latte macchiato foam 'a bit too aerated'. Cappuccinos and lattes were consistently good.
Most UK store reviewers praise café-quality coffee and easy, touchscreen-guided operation, including first-time owners and owners switching from Sage machines.
Several reviewers found set-up daunting or confusing at first, made poor coffees early on, or found the instructions scattered. Most say it becomes straightforward once mastered.
Maximum cup height is 120 mm. Reviewers note that tall latte glasses and a thermos do not fit, that removing the portafilter means steadying the machine, and that there is no knock box or integrated tamper.
Isolated reports: milk not reaching the set temperature and weak pressure after 3 months, frequent descale prompts, and one Amazon UK unit that tripped the household fuse.
Many store reviews come from incentivised or sampling programmes. 13 of the 22 John Lewis reviews are tagged as sampled, and 9 of the 10 Argos reviews read say 'Received free product', so the positive ratings may be inflated.
UK owners mostly praise the coffee as café quality and say the touchscreen walks beginners through set-up, dialling in and drink making. Automatic milk frothing, the self-cleaning wand, the grind settings and saved bean profiles are popular, and several owners who switched from Sage machines are pleased. Cold brew is liked as a novelty. The main complaints are a learning curve at first, a grinder that cannot be opened for cleaning (one grinder failed after about a year), tall glasses not fitting, messy puck removal with no knock box, and no pressure gauge. A few isolated reports mention milk not getting hot enough, frequent descale prompts and one faulty unit. Many reviews come from free-product or sampling schemes, so the praise may be somewhat inflated.
What buyers like
Café-quality coffee taste37 reviews
Easy to use, with clear touchscreen guidance33 reviews
Attractive design; fits on a worktop20 reviews
Good automatic/manual milk frothing and self-cleaning wand19 reviews
Useful grind/temperature customisation and Bean Adapt profiles17 reviews
Easy to clean13 reviews
Cold brew function appreciated10 reviews
Common complaints
Learning curve, confusing set-up or scattered instructions at first7 reviews
Grinder cannot be accessed or removed for cleaning; one grinder failure2 reviews
Tall glasses or a thermos don't fit under the spout2 reviews
No knock box or integrated tamper; messy puck removal2 reviews
Milk not reaching the set temperature or weak pressure1 review
Descale message appears too often1 review
No pressure gauge to judge extraction1 review
How was this summary made?
Summarised from 50 reviews; 1 reviews about delivery, packaging or the seller were left out. The summary is drawn from opinions that recur in the reviews read; each theme shows how many reviews mention it. These counts are not a rate and do not apply to every unit.
Distinct reviews with text, deduplicated by author + date + text: John Lewis 22 (API pages 1-2, all reviews), Argos 10 (newest on page), Amazon.co.uk 10 (on the product page; 5 UK, 5 other countries; one duplicate removed), Costco 8 (page data). No rating-only entries. One Amazon review about a used replacement unit was excluded as off-topic. Currys review text was not accessible.
Show reviews (24 of 50)Read the texts as published by the store
24 original reviews can be listed on this page. The number of reviews analysed may differ.
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N***5/530 September 2026John Lewis
I have both recently the coffee machine and I am amazed how good is the coffee. The coffee machine is perfect size and amazing design. It's the perfect one in the kitchen. It's easy to make any coffee and the steam milk maker is not plastic and makes the milk foam and hot. I recommend %100
A*** 6***5/514 June 2026John Lewis
At first the machine appeared daunting. It takes a bit of practice to perfect your coffee. Once mastered it's fairly straight forward
J***1/520 November 2025John Lewis
Worked ok for about a year but then the grinder stopped working properly and it's impossible to access to clean.
L***5/523 November 2025John Lewis
I bought one of these to replace my 4+ year-old Sage Barista Express — and wow. Perfect coffee, and the best flat white I've ever made. The standout feature of this machine is the consistent temperature throughout the extraction process. I'd 100% recommend it!
R***5/513 December 2025John Lewis
This is our first coffee machine and its really easy to set up and use. The on screen prompts make adding different types of bean really easy…
D*** l***4/515 April 2025John Lewis
…I would have given it 5 stars except for the small issue of where to store all the bits that come with it. I just could not find a suitable way to get them all on the machine…
D***5/518 April 2025John Lewis
…Con: the old machine had a pressure dial so we could tell precisely how well the extraction was going. Now we have to judge by watching the coffee flow speed and comparing the crema to photos…a step backwards I'm afraid.
L***5/526 October 2025John Lewis
I've had the La Specialista Touch for a few weeks now, and I'm genuinely blown away by how easy it makes great coffee at home…
G***5/531 May 2026Argos
Simply superb: professional quality coffee at home. Easy to use, easy to configure, easy to clean and a consistently good cup of coffee.
k***5/521 February 2026Argos
I love this coffee machine. This machine is great with the touch screen you can select what coffee you would like to make from a flat white to a cold brew…
L***5/519 February 2026Argos
Lovely looking machine, beautiful finish. Extremely user friendly for beginners like myself. Makes a perfect coffee every time! Love the frothy milk option (personal fave!) Mess free which a great bonus
r***5/518 February 2026Argos
…The setup at first seemed a little confusing but once all done it was easy to use and the instructions on screen to choose what coffee i would like was so helpful…
U***4/54 February 2026Argos
Great little coffee machine. Not too big… The cons: you can't fit a normal/latte glass (not the extremely tall), when you put the coffee machine handle on or off - you have to the whole machine, there is no setting to clean the coffee oils from the brewing unit, a knock box would be appreciated as a part of the package - makes quite a mess - just poking it the coffee out.
T***5/516 February 2026Argos
Great home coffee machine, the quality of coffee you can make is barista style from the comfort of home, easy to use and easy to clean which is a big win, friends have commented on how nice the coffee tastes too which is always nice to hear
L*** G***5/519 August 2026Amazon
…The screen interface is great, responsive and easy to follow. Dialling in new coffee is a breeze. The auto foam wand is also consistently good across everything from latte to flat white and it does well with plant milks…
J***5/529 July 2026Amazon
First off this is a great machine, has smart functions including - will tell you if your espresso grind size is wrong and prompt you to make adjustments. Easy to clean, comes with descaling tablets. Auto milk steam function is good for lattes and cappuccinos… only downside is grinder cannot be removed for cleaning…
d***1/519 March 2026Amazon
I was sent a faulty product that tripped the fuse in my house. I was not offered an exchange and now the cost has gone up but I have not been offered any compensation
M*** E*** A***5/55 May 2026Amazon
It's brilliant. Simple to use. Delicious coffee. Highly recommend.
C***2/529 September 2026costco.co.uk
Had it 3 months, it doesn’t heat the milk up to the set temperature, the pressure is also a bit weak. It’s ok, I wouldn’t buy it again.
A*** M***4/529 September 2026costco.co.uk
Coffee Machine is Good, make quality coffee with lot of options.
Only issue is the descale message pop-in in a week time. I have descaled 4 times in a month but its frequently pop in and annoying.
S*** p***3/529 September 2026costco.co.uk
This machine wasn't easy to set up and work out how to use it .got a lot of awful coffees to start with
G*** J***4/525 September 2026costco.co.uk
Great machine, instructions could be clearer for overall satisfied. It would be helpful if all the instructions were in one place.
m***5/513 October 2026costco.co.uk
Amazing, not sure why some people gave it a bad review. The price was incredible, the quality is great and is super easy to work it.
K***5/52 October 2026costco.co.uk
I bought this a month ago, works brilliantly so far. Great coffee machine and just right for a family home....
Read the summaries; tap a moment to watch the video from that second.
4 videos · Timestamped summary
YouTube · Review
Delonghi La Specialista Touch EC9455 Review - Touchscreen Worth it?
The De'Longhi La Specialista Touch is a capable semi-automatic espresso machine featuring an integrated grinder, Bean Adapt software, and an intuitive touchscreen. It excels at pulling flavourful espresso, making quick cold brew, and frothing milk both manually and automatically with a temperature probe. However, unlike some higher-end models, its bean hopper cannot be removed for cleaning the burrs.
The De'Longhi La Specialista Touch is an attractive, compact, and fast-heating touchscreen espresso machine offered at an accessible price point compared to rivals. However, getting great espresso from fresh beans can be fiddly due to the lack of an OPV and the quirky manual dosing guide tools. Most significantly, the bean hopper and burrs cannot be easily removed for cleaning without dismantling the machine, making it risky to use with dense or oily coffee beans.
Crew Review: DeLonghi La Specialista Touch Superauto Espresso Machine
The DeLonghi La Specialista Touch is an approachable semi-automatic espresso machine suited to beginners and experienced baristas alike. It features a responsive touchscreen interface alongside Bean Adapt technology to guide you through dialing in your coffee with ease. With flexible manual or automated milk steaming options and helpful maintenance prompts, it offers a well-rounded and user-friendly home brewing experience.
La Specialista Touch Review | Smart Espresso, Small Footprint
The DeLonghi La Specialista Touch is a compact semi-automatic espresso machine featuring an onboard grinder, a colour touchscreen, and Bean Adapt technology. It offers both automated and manual milk frothing with real-time temperature monitoring, alongside a helpful set of barista accessories. Although the top storage compartment is rather tight for extra baskets, it delivers high-quality drinks with minimal fuss.
This page is compiled from manufacturer, store, review and video sources; every piece of information links to the source it was read from. Technical values are as stated by the manufacturer or store; user experiences are summarised from the reviews read and do not apply to every unit. We do not test products ourselves.
