Krups Automatic Espresso EA9000 review

The Krups Automatic Espresso EA9000 Series coffee machine makes several varieties of coffee and includes self-cleaning tech. T3 got stuck into the caffeine...

Coffee machines have come a long way from those 70's teasmades, and putting up with a jug of stewed brown water on a hotplate have long gone. We've been in the era of bean-to-cup for a while now, and the Krups EA9000 is one of the best coffee machines around.

Krups EA9000: Features

First up you're confronted with a 4:3 TFT colour touch screen display, which comes with handy pre-sets for latte, ristretto, espresso and cappuccino built in. The screen prompts are super-clear and easy to follow, so much so that the user manual stayed safely in the box during our multi-week test.

Krups EA9000: Size and weight

The machine is a relatively svelte L x W x H (cm): 49.6 x 37.9 x 57.8 in size, so it'll fit on most kitchen worktops without a fight. It's also mainly accessed from the front, so can be slotted into narrow gaps if needs be – a feature that not all similar machines can boast of.

The Automatic Espresso EA 9000 Series can personalise drinks to each member of the household using the 'Favourites menu' setting, allowing you to configure your coffee tastes throughout the day.

Krups EA9000: Coffee

The Krups EA9000 requires minimal faffery to set up. Plug in, fill with water, your choice of beans and the cleaning solution supplied, and flick the switch. After a short water heating period, you're good to go. Krups reckon the machines top loading bean bin is good for an average of 12 coffees, which we found about right, depending on the amount of espresso the T3 office was consuming that day.

Espresso and black coffee is dispensed with aplomb, but the real win is where milk is concerned. Many other machines require a separate jug or container to be filled, which inevitably creates milk-related mess.

With the Krups EA9000, simply fill your mug/cup/glass with the desired amount of milk, hit the latte button, and the machine not only delivers your brew, but then cleans the nozzle automatically after heating and frothing the milk.

Krups EA9000: Auto clean

The automatic cleaning is the real key here, making the whole process seem very luxurious. There's literally no point where you're involved in the raw materials required to make professional cappuccinos, lattes or espressos.

There is of course a price for this – not just the wallet-quaking £1299.99 RRP, but also all this auto-rinsing and cleaning means the water tank empties at an impressive rate.

In an unsurprising twist, this also means that the drip tray fills up at a rate of knots too, so we were constantly attending to the machine's various emptying wants (this admittedly in a busy office).

However, this is a minor gripe, and actually is the point of a machine like this. You're paying a premium, and in return you get Rolls Royce-style delivery with no actual cleaning up to do.

Krups EA9000: Verdict

The price loses it points, but in tech terms this is king of hassle-free fresh coffee. The only limit is the quality of the bean you choose.

Krups EA9000 release date: Out now

Krups EA9000 price: £1299.99