What is the De'Longhi Eletta Explore?
The only machine here that makes cold foam, and the only one that brews cold coffee in minutes.
De'Longhi publishes two LatteCrema systems on this machine: LatteCrema Hot, which it says textures milk for latte and cappuccino, and LatteCrema Cool, which it says delivers velvety cold foam for iced drinks. Alongside them are a 13-setting grinder, a 300 gram hopper, a 1.8 litre tank, a 6.24 inch cup clearance, four user profiles and custom recipes through the Coffee Link app. It costs $1,999.95 and is sold in one finish, Silver.
De'Longhi US sells exactly one Eletta Explore, which is a relief after the four Magnifica Starts and two Magnifica Evos.
Two milk systems, which is the reason this machine exists
Hot foam poured over ice collapses. That is the problem being solved.
Every other automatic milk system on this site textures milk with steam, which is to say with heat. Put that foam on an iced drink and it collapses as it meets the ice, which is why an iced latte from most machines is a glass of cold milk with coffee in it rather than the layered thing a cafe serves.
LatteCrema Cool is a separate system for exactly that, and De'Longhi describes it as delivering cold foam at the ideal temperature for cold drinks. Whether it matches a cafe is not something anybody here has tasted, but the engineering reasoning is sound and no other machine in this catalogue attempts it.
Cold brew in minutes, and the two answers De'Longhi gives
Both numbers are De'Longhi's, printed on De'Longhi's own site, and they do not match.
The product page says cold brew in under 3 minutes, from what De'Longhi calls Cold Extraction Technology. The Eletta Explore collection page on the same site says under 5 minutes. We print both rather than choosing, because choosing would mean deciding which of a maker's own statements to believe.
Worth being clear about what the process is not. Traditional cold brew steeps for twelve to twenty-four hours, and the low acidity people buy it for comes from that time. A three or five minute process is doing something else with flow, pressure and temperature. It may be very good and it is not the same drink, and the difference is set out in cold brew against iced coffee.
One claim that is not made here, and is worth noting because a sibling machine does make it: La Specialista Arte Evo's page says its cold extraction was developed with the Specialty Coffee Association. The Eletta Explore's pages say no such thing. Two machines sharing a technology name do not automatically share a claim.
Nineteen bar, and why that number is not what it looks like
Espresso is extracted at about nine bar. Everything above that is the pump's ceiling.
De'Longhi publishes 19 bar for this machine, where most of its range publishes 15. Read on a spec sheet that looks like more of a good thing, and it is not: espresso is brewed at roughly nine bar at the coffee, and a pump rated 15 or 19 is being described at its maximum rather than at its working pressure. A higher rating does not make a better shot and it never has.
This is not a criticism of De'Longhi in particular, because the whole category markets the number the same way. It is simply a figure that should not decide a purchase, and a machine at this price deserves to be judged on the milk systems and the drink list instead.
Fifty plus recipes, or thirty-one
The second place this machine's own page disagrees with itself.
The marketing line is 50+ hot and cold recipes at the touch of a button. The comparison table further down that same page names them, and there are 31: six cold coffees, seven cold milk drinks, seven hot coffees, eight hot milk drinks and three others including a tea function.
Thirty-one is a great many drinks and considerably more than anything else here, so the machine does not need the larger number. What the gap means practically is that you should not buy it expecting a specific fiftieth recipe, and if a particular drink matters to you, it is on the named list or it is not.
Eletta Explore vs the Dinamica LatteCrema
$1,999.95 against roughly $1,399, and the difference is cold.
The Dinamica LatteCrema has one milk system, eighteen recipes of which De'Longhi names seven, and an iced coffee setting that brews hot coffee to survive ice. It is also a machine De'Longhi has stopped pricing on its own site, which is its own warning.
The Eletta answers with the second milk system, the cold foam, a published 31-recipe list, app control and four profiles. If iced drinks are an occasional summer thing, the Dinamica or the cheaper Magnifica Evo covers it. If half the household drinks cold coffee most of the year, this is the only machine here built for that rather than adapted to it.
Is the Eletta Explore worth it?
Worth it for cold drinkers, hard to justify for anyone else.
Two thousand dollars buys a great deal of coffee, and most of what this machine does can be had for half. What cannot be had for half is cold foam and a machine designed around cold drinks, and if that is what your household actually drinks then nothing else on this site competes.
For everyone else the honest answer is that the Magnifica Evo makes the same hot drinks for $899.95 with the same 13-setting grinder, and the difference is the cold half you would not use. Judge it on that question alone and the decision is usually easy.
Who should buy it (and who should not)
Buy it if
- Your household drinks iced coffee most of the year, not just in August.
- You want cold foam rather than hot foam poured onto ice.
- You want to build and save your own recipes from a phone.
Skip it if
- You drink hot coffee; the Magnifica Evo does that for less than half.
- You want real steeped cold brew, which takes hours and not minutes.
- You were buying on the 19 bar figure or the 50+ recipe count.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Eletta Explore make cold foam?
Yes. De'Longhi fits two LatteCrema systems, Hot for latte and cappuccino and Cool for cold foam on iced drinks.
How long does the Eletta Explore take to make cold brew?
De'Longhi says under 3 minutes on the product page and under 5 minutes on its collection page for the same machine. It is not steeped cold brew either way.
How many recipes does the Eletta Explore have?
De'Longhi markets 50+ and names 31 in its own comparison table on the same page.
Does 19 bar make better espresso than 15?
No. Espresso is extracted at about nine bar, and the higher figure is the pump's maximum rather than the pressure at the coffee.
What warranty does the Eletta Explore have?
Two years, plus a third if you register the machine, which De'Longhi advertises as an industry leading three year warranty.
