Portafilter machines · review
Fifteen centimetres wide, heats in forty seconds, and makes a decent drink for under 200. It ships with pressurised baskets that fake crema from any grind — which is exactly why it works for beginners and why it stalls after a year.
The bottom line The right answer for a small kitchen and a small budget — and a machine you will honestly outgrow.
The Dedica exists because espresso machines are wide and kitchens are not. At fifteen centimetres it slots into gaps where a Gaggia or a Sage simply will not go, and for a lot of people that is the entire decision. It heats in under a minute, it costs less than a weekend away, and the coffee is meaningfully better than a capsule.
Understanding the pressurised basket is understanding this machine. Behind the mesh you can see is a chamber with one small hole. Water builds pressure against that hole instead of against the coffee, so foam appears on top of the cup no matter how coarse or stale the grounds are. For someone with a supermarket bag of pre-ground and no grinder, that is genuinely useful: the machine works on day one and does not punish ignorance.
It also draws a ceiling. Because pressure is coming from the valve rather than from the puck, changing your grind barely changes the cup. All the levers that make espresso interesting — dose, grind, distribution — are muffled. You can buy non-pressurised 51 mm baskets and the machine responds well to them, but only after you own a grinder capable of fine, consistent adjustment, which costs more than this machine did.
The frother deserves the same honesty. The panarello sleeve pulls in air automatically, so you get stiff bubbly foam rather than the glossy microfoam that pours. Pull the sleeve off and you have a bare wand and a fighting chance, though at this steam pressure it stays hard work.
Buy it for the footprint and the price. Do not buy it expecting to grow into it — this is a machine you grow out of, and that is a fine thing for it to be.
At 200 $, it is the 1 cheapest of the 6 models in this category published here.
| Portafilter | 51 mm |
|---|---|
| Baskets | Pressurised (single & double) |
| Heating | Thermoblock |
| Width | 15 cm |
| Water tank | 1.1 L |
| Frother | Panarello wand |
A pressurised basket has a single tiny hole behind the visible mesh. It builds pressure artificially, so you get crema-looking foam from almost any grind, including supermarket pre-ground. That makes the machine forgiving — and it also means the coffee cannot get much better, because you are no longer extracting properly, you are forcing water through a valve.
Yes, 51 mm bottomless and precision baskets exist and improve the machine noticeably — but only if you already own a grinder that can go fine enough and hold consistency. Fitting one without that grinder gives you sour, gushing shots and a worse machine than you started with.
It will make hot milk with foam on top, which is fine in a mug. The panarello sleeve injects air rather than letting you control it, so genuine microfoam is out of reach. Removing the sleeve and using the bare wand gets you closer, with practice.
7.2/ 10
The right answer for a small kitchen and a small budget — and a machine you will honestly outgrow.
A tiny kitchen, a first espresso machine, or a second machine for an office.
Same category, nearest prices. Only the specifications every one of them states are shown — a half-empty column compares nothing.
| Model | Price | Portafilter | Water tank |
|---|---|---|---|
| De'Longhi Dedica Style EC685 | 200 $ | 51 mm | 1.1 L |
| Lelit Anna PL41TEM | 450 $ | 58 mm commercial | 2.7 L |
| Gaggia Classic Evo Pro | 500 $ | 58 mm commercial | 2.1 L |
| Sage Bambino Plus | 500 $ | 54 mm | 1.9 L |
A reference exists on these Amazon stores: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, United States. Listed is not the same as in stock — availability changes daily.
Details checked on August 8, 2026.
Specifications: manufacturer sheet and Amazon product page. Prices and availability: Keepa. No product on this site has been physically tested.
51 mm · built-in conical grinder · manual wand
De'Longhi's answer to the Barista Express, with a tidier grinder-to-portafilter workflow and better temperature control. Worth comparing directly rather than assuming Sage wins by default.
Best for: A first serious espresso setup where one appliance has to do everything.
≈ $600 / £450 / 480 €
58 mm commercial portafilter · 3-way solenoid · steel body
A 58 mm commercial portafilter, a steel body and a three-way solenoid, in a machine cheap enough to modify. Nothing else at this price is still worth owning in fifteen years, and nothing else has this much of an aftermarket.
Best for: Someone who wants one espresso machine for the next fifteen years and does not mind learning it.
≈ $500 / £400 / 450 €
58 mm · PID temperature control · single boiler
A 58 mm single boiler with a proper PID, which is a specification that normally starts several hundred higher. Temperature you can set and trust, in a machine that costs about what a Gaggia does.
Best for: Someone who wants repeatable brew temperature without stepping up to a dual boiler.
≈ £450 / 480 €
