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De’Longhi Maestosa leads the domestic automatics market

De’Longhi Maestosa

The De’Longhi Maestosa provides consumers with the ability to reproduce a barista-quality coffee to their own liking, time and time again.

As a leader in the global domestic coffee machine market, it has long been a goal of De’Longhi to provide consumers with a café-quality experience in their own home.

Since its first fully automatic machine hit the market in 2004, De’Longhi has increased the functionality and performance of its machines as new technology becomes available.

This work culminated in 2019, with the launch of the Maestosa luxury automatic coffee machine. Italian for “majestic”, Jessica Hull, Senior Category Manager for De’Longhi Australia, says there are two key markets for the brand’s flagship model.

“There’s those looking for that pure indulgence, they want to spoil themselves and have that luxury coffee experience at home. Then you’ve also got your entertainers. This machine can make multiple coffees very quickly. It’s easy to use, host a party and give everyone a coffee within a couple of minutes,” Hull says.

“Our focus is providing consumers with the in-home experience of barista-quality coffee. That means adapting the machine to suit their taste, then having it take over and deliver that personalised coffee again and again. It’s all about the coffee, and Maestosa really has been built in every single way to harness the best technology De’Longhi has across all of our coffee machines.”

The Maestosa features two bean hoppers, the first of many features to provide users with added variety. These are equipped with electronic bean sensors to notify the operator when they’re running low. 

Each hopper is connected to its own burr grinder to prevent crossover and provide the best in-cup result. These grinders feature precise Adaptive Grinding Technology easily set and adjusted via the ergonomic display screen. 

Maestosa was developed with versatility and variety in mind.

“It’s even tailored to demonstrate how the coffee crema should look, or whether it’s under or over extracted, and suggests which way you should move that grinder, coarser or finer, to get a better grind out of your coffee,” Hull says.

From the grinder, coffee enters the De’Longhi brewing unit where it is tamped for a consistent extraction. A thermoblock unit heats water for pre-infusion and extraction, while a separate heating system steams the milk.

“This allows us to switch straight from coffee to milk preparation without any waiting time and enables a quick heat-up of the thermoblock too. From turning on the machine, it only takes 25 to 30 seconds before you can hit that espresso button,” Hull says.

A double outlet on the LatteCrema milk system means two milk-based beverages can be prepared at the same time. The desired consistency of milk foam can be selected on the display and saved for each milk drink, or alternatively, the operator can steam milk to their own liking with an attachable steam wand.

But the milk steaming system and stainless-steel thermal carafe provide Maestosa with the tools to make many more beverages than just your standard hot coffees. From hot chocolates and teas to cold foamy milk and iced coffees, Hull says there’s a variety of recipes you can mix with the Mixcarafe.

“It’s not just a home espresso machine. Maestosa takes it to the next level of beverage making,” she says.

While the variety of beverages the machine can produce is extensive, what really elevates Maestosa in the domestic market is the ability to set and store personalised recipes for each of those drinks.

These can be set on the control panel or through the De’Longhi Coffee Link app, which is compatible with all higher-end De’Longhi units. Multiple user profiles can even be set, so different people using the machine can keep track of their own recipes.

Every variable influences the recipe – including grind size and dose, brew length and temperature, and level of milk steaming. De’Longhi Product Trainer Cheryl Bosworth tells Global Coffee Report being able to save the temperature profile in a pre-set profile is a first for De’Longhi and a game changer in the domestic market.

“These are all factors a barista influences while making a coffee. So, to get the barista-level quality out of a fully automatic machine, you need to be able to customise it to the coffee beans you’re using,” Bosworth says.

“It’s all about your personal taste, the one thing that’s really subjective. We all have our own ways we like to drink coffee and there’s more to it than just using the beans you like.”

This feature is a natural progression for De’Longhi, which has always featured customisation in its coffee machines. Bosworth says this desire to be better is a common trait for Italian companies and is part of the culture of De’Longhi.

“I’ve worked for several Italian manufacturers and they all always strive for excellence, without changing so much that the product feels different to the consumer,” she says.

“De’Longhi has mastered the art of that, listened to the feedback of its different global markets, and taken it into account to look at ways to really enhance the experience of the consumer.”

De’Longhi’s Italian origins even influence the sleek and elegant design of Maestosa. Out of 800 staff working at De’Longhi’s plant in Treviso, Hull says only 20 were selected for the special team to handle Maestosa’s production to maintain a high standard and consistency.

“We have one single person handcraft each machine from start to finish, including all quality control, testing, and individual components,” Hull says.

“You can see the standard and materials used are really high class, with an ultra-mirror stainless steel top, striped stainless-steel body and bright black mirrored glass front panel.”

This careful approach to crafting Maestoa makes it a durable machine as well as a versatile one. 

Maestosa was designed and tested to be able to prepare 45,000 beverages over its lifespan. Hull says this durability is shared across the De’Longhi portfolio. 

“Recently, a customer sent us a picture of their De’Longhi fully automatic approximately a decade old that had 20,363 coffees on its stats. It was still performing wonderfully every day,” she says. “It shows how long the machines can last if consumers are looking after them. You can get a lifetime of use out of them.”

COVID-19 has seen a surge in people making coffee at home – one De’Longhi experienced firsthand – with sales of its machines and accessories up in most categories. Bosworth says this has made it more vital for coffee roasters and business to cater to this market and for domestic machines to be able to produce consistent, high-quality coffee. 

“A lot of people think they want a manual, but when they get it home, they’re so overwhelmed by how to use it they get frustrated and don’t want to go through the continual process of making a perfect coffee every time,” Bosworth says.

“They become a fully automatic customer because they find out that from a De’Longhi machine, they can get a quality cup of coffee just by pressing a button.”

For more information, visit www.delonghi.com

This article appears in the November/December 2020 edition of Global Coffee Report. Subscribe HERE.

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