Lavazza Jolie Evo review: Espressos and americanos without the faff
A compact, easy to use capsule machine that makes simple, tasty coffee – one of our affordable favourites
Pros
- Compact, stylish design
- Tasty long and short coffees
- Easy to use
Cons
- Capsule bin is small
- Cup clearance could be more generous
- Limited capsule selection
Lavazza’s original Jolie has long been one of my favourite capsule coffee machines. Its ease-of-use, quirky styling and compact design is a great fit for even the smallest kitchen worktops and it makes simple, tasty black coffees ranging from ristretto to long blacks. Now, for 2024, Lavazza has released the Jolie Evo, a minor update to the original Jolie coffee pod machine with a few energy-saving and eco-friendly tweaks to the original blueprint.
Lavazza Jolie Evo review: What do you get for the money?
For people who are new to the Jolie, this is one of Lavazza’s smallest and most affordable capsule machines, costing just £99. I say one of, as it’s slightly bigger than the smallest, cheapest model in the range, the Tiny Evo. Not that the Jolie or Jolie Evo are large by any stretch: the Jolie Evo’s dimensions are unchanged, and it measures a dainty 124 x 330 x 210mm (WDH). It’s fairly long but you’re unlikely to notice once it’s slotted onto your kitchen worktop.
The design is rather distinctive. There’s a pleasingly retro, old-school feel to the domed front which, for me, subtly evokes the old school Italian espresso machines, and I personally love the look of the large chrome-effect lever. There’s only so much novelty a manufacturer can bring to a simple capsule machine, but Lavazza has made a decent effort here.
Evolution is probably too strong a word for the changes Lavazza has made, but they’re welcome nonetheless. The Jolie Evo’s body is now made from 36% recycled plastics – not that you’d be able to tell by looking at it – and while I can’t recall how much of the original model’s packaging was comprised of plastics or non-recyclables, the Jolie Evo now comes in plastic-free, 100% recyclable packing materials.
Another nod towards bolstering the Evo’s eco credentials are its shorter automatic switch off time – reduced from nine minutes on the original Jolie to two here. That doesn’t sound like much, but it adds up. Even if you only used the machine once a day, every day for a whole year, the old model would sit idle for a total of nearly 55 hours compared to just over 12 hours on the new model. To be fair, it doesn’t draw much power at all when idling; there’s only the odd, short-lived blip up to a few hundred watts every minute or so. While that’s not much, it may add up over the year, and in these days of sky-high energy costs, every penny counts.
Design-wise, it’s otherwise identical to its predecessor. At the rear, there’s the removable 0.6l water tank, and at the front there’s a tiny removable drip tray that clips loosely into a plastic base. With the front drip tray in place, you’ll be able to squeeze in cups up to around 75mm in height, but take it off and you can get 110mm tall mugs in there. Any taller, though, and you’ll struggle: my 115mm-tall Bodum Pavina glass just barely squeezed in. Give the bottom tray a firm tug and you can slide out the little capsule bin, which is rated for 5 capsules and a small secondary drip tray for catching drips from the used pods.
If there’s a catch with the Lavazza machines, it’s that you don’t get a particularly large choice of capsules. At the time of writing, there are only nine types to choose from on Lavazza’s site, which pales in comparison to the vast selection of official Nespresso capsules – not to mention the ever-increasing number of Nespresso compatible pods out there. Whether that matters depends entirely on if you’re a creature of habit who likes to stick to one or two favourites or if you’re a caffeine-powered butterfly flitting between different capsules as the mood takes you. Personally, I’m a fan of the Lavazza pods and the lack of choice is a plus: decision making isn’t my strong point first thing in the morning.
Lavazza Jolie Evo review: What’s it like to use?
Operation is as simple as it gets. The single button on top powers the machine on and off, and also starts and stops the brewing process. Turn the machine on and it heats up in around 30 seconds, the single button on top flashing steadily to indicate that it’s getting ready to brew. Once the light illuminates constantly, it’s ready. Push back the large chrome lever and drop a capsule into the slot. That done, the lever presses down with a soft, satisfying squidge as it locks the capsule into place.
Lavazza’s Stop & Go design means you can pour anything from the shortest ristretto shot, to a double espresso, all the way through to a long black. Press the button and brewing starts. Press it again, it stops. Simple. The maximum drink length is 160ml, but if you push the lever back, allow the pod to drop into the bin and press the lever down again, you can tap the button to add hot water to your cup. One mild annoyance here is that the capsules can occasionally need a prod to drop into the bin after brewing – that’s something Lavazza could remedy for next year’s Evo model, perhaps.
Bear in mind that there’s no milk frothing on the cards here – it’s only black coffee. Although you can consider upgrading to the pricier Jolie Evo and Milk model, I’d generally advise against it, as it’s essentially Lavazza’s A Modo Mio MilkEasy frother bolted onto the side of a Jolie Evo. There’s no one-touch coffee option: you still have to brew the coffee and heat the milk separately then combine them yourself, so there’s precious little benefit in having the two appliances permanently attached at the waist. In any case, it’s nice to have the option to bung the milk frother in a cupboard and save some precious worktop space.
Lavazza Jolie Evo review: What is the coffee like?
If you’ve ever had Lavazza coffee – whether that’s pre-ground or coffee beans – you know what to expect here. I often have a bag or two of Lavazza Qualita Rossa or Oro beans lying around for emergencies, and the Lavazza Qualita Rossa pods I had for testing were exactly what I’d expect. Shorter shots of espresso delivered that typically unsubtle slam of nutty, bitter chocolate flavour which, for me, Lavazza is synonymous with, while longer blacks made for a fairly strong, intense americano or milky coffee. Temperatures are nice and hot, with espresso exiting the pouring spout at around 82ºC. If you like your coffee really hot, my advice is to prewarm your cups with a splash of hot water before brewing.
One thing I found was that, for longer coffees, the bitterness became rather too pronounced if I just pressed the button and let the machine pour a full 160ml through the capsule. This is no surprise – there’s only 7.5g of actual coffee in each capsule, so pulling that much water through has the effect of over-extracting all the bitter flavours from the coffee. I’d be interested to know if longer coffees are improved with Lavazza’s Lungo Dolce capsules, but I didn’t have any to hand to test it out.
In my experience with both the Jolie and the Jolie Evo, a better solution for long blacks – at least with the Lavazza Qualita Rossa pods I had for testing – is to pour a shorter length of coffee, just enough to extract all the good flavours, then simply top the remainder up with hot water. You could also replace the capsule with a new one and run it again. There’s no dedicated hot water button but you can dispense more hot water through the main spout once you’ve ejected the pod. It doesn’t come out quite as hot as when a capsule is in place, but I measured it around 75ºC from the spout which is about right for a drinkable, not lip-searing coffee. Tasted side-by-side, the result is a far smoother, less bitter and more pleasingly flavourful cup of coffee.
Lavazza Jolie Evo review: Should you buy it?
The quick answer is yes. It’s small, simple and makes consistently tasty coffee at the touch of a button – for under £100, and often nearer £50 during sale periods, it’s a great value capsule coffee machine.
The slightly longer answer is: yes, but only if you can live with the limited choice of capsules. Personally, I can. None of the A Modo Mio capsules I’ve tried are especially subtle – but the nutty, bitter chocolate flavours remind me of cheap, moreish, unrefined Italian espresso, and sometimes that’s exactly what I want. If that sounds like your kind of thing, then chances are you’ll like the Lavazza Jolie Evo as much as I do.