Bosch vs De’Longhi: which super-automatic espresso machine should you buy?

Bosch vs De'Longhi at a glance

Head to head

The better result in each row is marked, based on my testing and the manufacturer specs. Rows where the machines are identical have no winner.

Keep in mind that the tally is not my verdict. Some rows matter far more than others, and which ones matter depends on what you drink.

Two different philosophies

Bosch and De’Longhi both make fully automatic machines that grind, tamp, brew and froth at the touch of a button. They get there in noticeably different ways, and that shapes everything from the taste to the cleaning.

Bosch is an appliance maker first. Its VeroCafe machines feel like they were designed by people who also make dishwashers: tidy, quiet, easy to wipe, with a removable brew unit and milk parts that go straight in the rack.

De’Longhi is a coffee specialist. Its machines put more effort into the grinder and the dose, so even the cheaper models pull a fuller, sweeter shot.

I used all four machines as my everyday coffee maker for four weeks each, with the same medium-dark blend, the same milk and the same cups. By the end, I could tell the brands apart with my eyes closed.

The Bosch machines were the quieter, cleaner companions. The De’Longhi machines were the better coffee for the money, especially at the entry level.

Our tip: Decide first whether you value easy cleaning or grinder range more, because that single choice usually picks the brand for you.

Design, size and build

Three of these four are remarkably slim. The Bosch 300 Series is just 9.75 inches wide, the Magnifica Evo 9.45 inches and the Rivelia about 9.6 inches, so all three squeeze into a narrow gap between a toaster and a wall.

The Bosch 800 is the outlier. At about 13.9 inches wide and 18.4 inches deep, it uses the full depth of a standard counter and needs a little space behind for air.

The Bosch 800 is the biggest machine here, and its 5-inch screen is the friendliest.

Height is less of a worry. Every machine sits between about 14 and 15.2 inches tall, so all four fit under standard wall cabinets, which usually hang about 18 inches above the counter.

What changes is how you reach the water. The Bosch 300 fills from the back, the Evo from the front, the Rivelia from the side and the Bosch 800 from a big removable tank.

Width on the counter

Narrower is easier to place. Three of the four are under 10 inches wide.

Build quality felt solid on all four, but in different ways. The Bosch 300 has a brushed front panel on a black body and felt light at about 14.7 pounds, which made it easy to slide forward for cleaning.

The Evo and Rivelia both weigh about 21 pounds and feel planted. The Rivelia’s rounded, modern look got the most compliments from guests, while the Evo looks more traditional with its silver front and buttons.

The Bosch 800 is heavier at about 22 pounds. Parts of its body are plastic, which surprised me at this level, but nothing creaked or flexed during my month with it.

Our tip: Measure the space in front of the machine too, because the drip trays on the Rivelia and Evo need room to slide out.

Grinder and dose

This is the biggest technical difference between the two brands, and you can taste it.

Both De’Longhi machines use stainless steel conical burrs✕Conical burrsTwo cone-shaped grinding parts, one inside the other. Beans are crushed between them, and the gap between the burrs sets how fine the coffee is. with 13 settings. Every Bosch here uses ceramic grinding discs, which stay sharp for a long time and run quietly, but offer fewer steps.

On the Bosch 300 Series, the grinder has just a few fineness steps. That kept things simple, but with lighter roasts I ran out of room to go finer before the shot tasted as sweet as I wanted.

The Bosch 800 uses an insulated version of the ceramic grinder. It was the quietest grinder of the four, and its range was wide enough for every bean I tried.

Grind settings

Counted from each machine’s grinder dial. More steps make it easier to dial in a new bag of beans.

Dose matters just as much. The dose✕DoseThe amount of ground coffee used for one drink, usually measured in grams. A bigger dose gives a stronger, fuller cup without simply adding bitterness. is how much ground coffee goes into each shot, and a bigger dose means more body without over-extracting.

The Evo offers three levels, about 9, 12 and 15 grams. On the Rivelia, intensity 5 ground for about 10 seconds and gave me roughly 15 grams on my scale, which is generous for an automatic machine.

The Evo’s 13-step steel grinder gave me more room to tune than any Bosch.

Bosch handles strength differently. On the 300 you set it with the bean button, and on the 500 you get Mild, Regular, Strong and a clever Double Shot, which grinds and brews twice for a bolder cup without harsh bitterness.

I liked the Double Shot idea a lot. It is Bosch’s answer to a small brew chamber, and on the 800 it made my morning americano noticeably richer.

Our tip: Turn the grind dial only while the grinder is running, because adjusting it with the burrs stopped can jam beans on every machine here.

Espresso quality

I pulled dozens of shots on each machine with the same medium-dark blend, then tasted them side by side in warmed cups. The ranking surprised me a little.

The Bosch 800 Series pulled the richest espresso of the four. Its 19-bar pump and wide grinder range gave a thick crema and a chocolatey body that held up well in milk.

The Magnifica Evo came a very close second. At the 15-gram dose, the shot had real body and sweetness, with toasted nut and cocoa notes and very little bitterness.

The Rivelia was full-bodied too, thanks to the same generous dose, but a touch softer and rounder. It suited medium roasts best.

The Bosch 300 was pleasant but lighter. In a cappuccino nobody noticed, but as a straight espresso it lacked the depth of the other three.

My espresso ratings

My scores out of 10 for body, crema, flavor and consistency, taken from my single reviews of each machine.

All four use a thermoblock✕ThermoblockA compact heater that warms water on its way through a metal block, instead of keeping a boiler hot. It heats up fast and switches between tasks quickly., so they heat quickly and are ready in well under a minute. The Evo was ready in about 38 seconds from cold, including a short automatic rinse.

Every machine also runs a short pre-infusion✕Pre-infusionA short soak of the ground coffee before full pressure starts, so the water flows through the puck evenly. before full pressure. That helps the water flow evenly and is part of why even the cheapest machine here pulls a decent shot.

If straight espresso is your main drink, the shortlist is the Bosch 800 or the Magnifica Evo. The 800 wins by a hair, and the Evo wins by a mile on value.

Milk drinks

This is where the four machines are most different, because each one uses its own milk system.

The Bosch 300 Series uses a clip-on in-cup frother. It froths straight into your cup, then the whole frother goes in the dishwasher, which is wonderfully simple but less precise.

The Bosch 800 has a clear milk container of about 24 ounces that clips onto the side. You can put it straight in the fridge between drinks, and the machine rinses the milk path automatically with its AutoMilk Clean program.

De’Longhi’s Magnifica Evo uses the LatteCrema carafe. It made dense, glossy microfoam✕MicrofoamMilk foam with bubbles so small you can barely see them. It feels silky and glossy, which is what a good flat white or cappuccino needs. at one touch, and the carafe goes in the fridge too.

The LatteCrema carafe made the best foam of the two entry-level machines.

The Rivelia’s hot milk carafe is just as easy. My milk consistently came out between 140°F and 149°F, which is right where milk tastes sweetest.

The Evo’s clever extra is MyLatte. You pour in the milk you want, and the machine uses exactly that amount, so a small cup and a tall glass both come out right.

Measured milk temperature

Midpoints of my probe readings in the cup. Baristas usually aim for about 140 to 155°F for the sweetest milk.

Temperature is worth a moment. Milk sugars taste sweetest at around 140°F, and most baristas stop steaming somewhere between 140 and 155°F, because hotter milk starts to lose its sweetness.

So the De’Longhi machines aim for sweetness, while the Bosch 800 aims for heat. If you like a latte you can sip slowly, the 800 suits you better.

Foam quality followed the same pattern. Whole milk was best on all four, barista oat milk came a close second, and skim milk gave the stiffest but driest foam.

Our tip: Use milk straight from the fridge on all four, because milk that warms on the counter makes big, soapy bubbles that collapse in the cup.

Drink menu, screens and controls

The menus range from five drinks to dozens, and the controls follow the same curve.

The Bosch 300 Series has one button per drink: espresso, coffee, cappuccino, latte macchiato and milk froth. Nobody in my house needed a single instruction.

The Magnifica Evo adds Over Ice, MyLatte and hot water for seven drinks, still controlled with clear icons and buttons. There is no screen and no user profile, which keeps it simple but means everyone shares the same settings.

The Rivelia moves to a 3.5-inch color touchscreen with 18 recipes and four profiles. The screen sits flat on top, which looked elegant but was awkward for my kids and for anyone sitting at the counter.

One-touch drinks on the machine

The Bosch 800 reaches 36 drinks through the Home Connect app.

The Bosch 800 Series is the clear winner for families. Its 5-inch touchscreen shows large drink images you swipe through like a phone, and it saves up to 30 favorites, so everyone’s drink is one tap away.

It is also the only one here with an app. Home Connect let me start a drink from my phone and unlock extra recipes, though I used the touchscreen far more often.

The Rivelia’s top screen looks great, but it suits standing adults best.

Our tip: Save each person’s drink as a favorite or profile in the first week, so nobody ends up changing someone else’s settings.

How hot is the coffee?

Coffee brews best with water between about 195 and 205°F, according to the National Coffee Association. What ends up in your cup is cooler, because the cup, the spouts and the air all take some heat.

In my tests, the Bosch 800’s milk drinks landed around 150 to 160°F, with espresso a little higher. That is warm rather than scalding, and if you like coffee above 175°F you will notice it.

The De’Longhi machines aim a little lower for milk, around 140 to 149°F, but their hot water is hotter. The Rivelia’s hot water read 194 to 203°F, which is hot enough for black tea.

The Evo’s first drink of the day was the coolest of the session, because its cup warmer on top is passive. A quick rinse of the cup with hot water fixed it.

Our tip: Pre-warm your cup with a splash of hot water on any of these machines, because a cold ceramic mug can steal 10°F or more from a small drink.

Cleaning and upkeep

On cleaning, Bosch has the edge, and it is the main reason I would recommend a Bosch to someone who hates chores.

Every machine here has a removable brew unit✕Brew unitThe part that compresses the ground coffee, holds it while water passes through and then ejects the used puck. A removable one can be rinsed under the tap., which is a big deal. You can pull it out once a week, rinse old coffee off under the tap and let it dry, instead of relying on cleaning tablets alone.

The Bosch 300 Series makes it easiest. The brew unit slides out the front, and the clip-on milk frother goes straight in the dishwasher, so daily cleaning took me about two minutes.

The Bosch 500 and 800 add AutoMilk Clean, which steams the milk path after each session. You still need to rinse the hose or container, but there is less to scrub.

The De’Longhi carafes have more parts. The Evo’s LatteCrema carafe has a Clean setting that flushes it with steam, and I took it apart and rinsed it every couple of days.

Descaling is guided on all four. Bosch calls its program Calc’n Clean and combines descaling and cleaning in one cycle, while a full descale on the Evo took about 45 minutes, most of it hands-off.

My daily hands-on cleaning time

My estimate with daily milk drinks, not counting automatic rinses.

The Bosch 300’s brew unit slides out the front, which makes weekly rinsing quick.

Our tip: Rinse the brew unit on any of these machines every week and let it air-dry overnight before you slide it back in.

Water, beans and capacity

Capacity is where the Bosch 800 pulls far ahead, and where the Bosch 300 falls behind.

The Bosch 800 Series holds 81 ounces of water and 11 ounces of beans, so a family of four could go a couple of days between refills. The Bosch 300 holds just 45 ounces, which meant a daily refill in my house.

Water tank size

From manufacturer specifications. A 64-ounce tank is a good middle ground for two people.

The Rivelia’s 47-ounce tank sounds small, but its two hoppers are the real story. Each holds about 8.8 ounces, so you can keep a bold blend in one and decaf or a lighter roast in the other.

Switching works well, with one catch. The brew chamber holds leftover grounds, and on my machine about 10 grams of the previous bean ended up in the next shot, roughly two-thirds of a single dose.

Drinks per full tank, my estimate

Rough maths allowing for rinse water. Your numbers depend on cup size.

Use fresh whole beans within a few weeks of the roast date on all four. Avoid very oily or flavored beans, which can clog the grinder and the chute over time.

Our tip: Buy a bag of beans you can finish in two or three weeks, because every grinder here tastes better with fresh coffee.

Real-life scenarios

Specs only go so far. These are the situations where one machine clearly pulled ahead during my testing.

For a two-coffee household, the Rivelia was the machine nobody wanted to give back.

My scorecard

These are my own scores out of 10. The first four come from my single reviews of each machine, and I added capacity because it decides this matchup for many families.

De'Longhi Magnifica Evo

Bosch 800 Series

Bosch 300 Series

De'Longhi Rivelia

Overall, I rate the Bosch 800 and Rivelia 8.5, the Magnifica Evo 8.3 and the Bosch 300 7.7. The Evo is the value champion, because it gets within a whisker of the top two for much less.

Which one should you buy?

It comes down to two questions: do you care more about the coffee or the cleaning, and how many people will use the machine? If none of these is quite right for you, my guide to the best De’Longhi super-automatic machines covers the rest of the range I’ve tested.

If you want to go deeper, see my best Bosch espresso machines guide, or my head-to-heads of the Rivelia vs Magnifica Evo and the Magnifica Evo vs Magnifica Start. If you are still choosing a brand, my De’Longhi vs Philips comparison covers the other big name.

For a busy family kitchen, the Bosch 800 earns its extra counter space.

Bosch vs De'Longhi specifications

From manufacturer specifications and my own testing.

How I tested and compared them

I used each machine as my everyday coffee maker for four weeks, making espresso, long coffee, americanos, cappuccinos and latte macchiatos, plus hot water for tea.

I weighed doses and yields, measured milk and hot water temperatures with a probe thermometer, worked through every grind range and frothed whole, 2%, skim and barista oat milk.

I ran every cleaning and descaling routine, timed my daily hands-on cleaning, and then compared my notes with manufacturer specifications and owner documentation. At the end of each four-week run, I wrote up my notes and measurements together.

• Coffee: dose, crema, body and consistency
• Milk: foam texture, temperature and drink range
• Workflow: controls, screens, profiles and apps
• Ownership: cleaning, capacity, noise and footprint