De’Longhi dedica electric coffee grinder review: An investment in your inner barista

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When it comes to coffee, De’Longhi is one of the big names out there, making them the go-to for quality equipment that will help you make that barista-standard brew at home.

Of course, it’s arguably easier to buy your coffee pre-ground than buy beans and do it yourself at home, but our growing obsession with coffee means more of us want to have control over the whole process from start to finish.

Cue the De’Longhi dedica electric coffee grinder. This electric conical burr grinder offers a whole variety of settings, allowing you to customise your grind depending on how you’re making your coffee, what aroma you prefer, and how much you need.

Naturally, it is one of the more expensive ones on the market, so we put it to the test to see if it was worth your hard earned cash.

We put the De’Longhi dedica through hours of testing, analysing how easy it is to use, how it performs, its design, and more, to help you decide if it’s the right coffee grinder for you.

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The De’Longhi dedica can cater for a whole range of coffee preferences, whether you want to make an espresso or use a French press. It offers 18 grind settings, allowing you to adjust the coarseness for the right purpose, and lets you stipulate your desired aroma so you get exactly the right grind for your taste.

A slider under the bean hopper offers an easy guide to the 18 settings and a dial helps you set the cup size. There’s also a LCD display which allows you to adjust the aroma preference and to switch between whether you’re grinding directly into a portafilter using the special cradle, or whether you want your grounds to go into the airtight pot that comes with the machine, meaning you can store them or transport them somewhere else.

Read more: We reviewed Wilfa’s WSCG-2 burr coffee grinder

It’s all very hi-tech, but does take a while to get the hang of to make sure you know what settings you’re changing and how everything works. We got there in the end, but it didn’t feel quite as straightforward as some other machines.

Once you’ve got your settings right, the process is fairly simple, and being able to grind straight into your machine’s portafilter is handy – as is the neat-fitting container to store your grounds. It’s fairly easy to clean, with a removable bottom tray, and comes with a brush for cleaning. It also has a neat little extra compartment to hold accessories, which is a nice touch.

The De’Longhi dedica certainly looks like the real deal, and isn’t far off something you’d see in a coffee shop or cafe. The shiny metal appearance is pleasing on the eye and its sleek lines mean it’s aesthetically pleasing if you wanted to keep it on your kitchen side. It’s slightly bulkier than other similarly-priced grinders, and slightly taller, which might make it a bit awkward if you wanted to put it away or store in a cupboard, but it’s not a deal-breaker.

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It feels like a quality product, though again perhaps not quite as hard-wearing as others in a similar price range. Overall though, it’s a good-looking bit of kit that you’d be proud to see perched on your counter at home.

The De’Longhi dedica is a burr grinder which means the beans are ground between two grinding plates, ensuring the best aroma and a consistent grind. It certainly achieves that, producing even grounds in a whole range of coarseness, allowing you to create the aroma you want regardless of whether you’re using an espresso machine or a French press.

It produces up to 14 cups, allowing you to produce good coffee for far more than just one person, and maintains its quality throughout, or similarly making sure you’re only grinding what you need. It’s no noisier than others on the market and works efficiently once it’s set up, allowing you to grind to your requirements at the push of a button without too much messing around.

The De’Longhi dedica coffee grinder is up there with the more expensive coffee grinders on the market. It offers a wide variety of options, making it a good choice for people who want to invest both time and money into the initial stage of their home coffee-making process. It doesn’t have quite as many choices as some other grinders on the market, and isn’t quite as intuitive when it comes to ease of use, but performs well and produces a consistent quality grind.

It looks good, with an air of a commercial machine that’s a definite step up from some of the cheaper options on the market. Yes, it’s not cheap, but it’s in line with other grinders that offer a similar level of choice, quality and performance.