Nespresso Vertuo Lattissima review: A fantastically frothy capsule coffee delight

If your household consists solely of black coffee drinkers, then you can click the back button now. This is not the coffee machine for you. Go on, shoo. If, on the other hand, your home gladly hosts everything from unctuous shots of espresso to the most indulgently proportioned frothy latte macchiatos, then the Nespresso Vertuo Lattissima may well cause coffee-shop queues in your very own kitchen.

The Vertuo Lattissima occupies the middle ground between Nespresso’s black-coffee-brewing Vertuo machines – the Pop, Next and Plus – and its top of the range, Sage-designed Vertuo Creatista pod machine (£649) with its fancy barista-style steam wand.

Enlisting the milk-frothing technology more regularly found on De’Longhi’s automatic bean-to-cup family of machines, the Vertuo Lattissima is a machine that, at the press of a button, fills everything from dainty cups to travel mugs with densely frothed and optionally caffeinated delight. And, best of all, it still makes a mean long black or espresso, too.

Nespresso Vertuo Lattissima review: What do you get for the money?

Set a Vertuo Next and a Vertuo Lattissima machine side by side and you’ll think you’re seeing double – and, well, you are. The Lattissima is quite clearly a Vertuo Next with a De’Longhi-branded milk frother strapped to the side. This addition means that it’s around 5cm wider than the Vertuo Next, but at 19cm wide and nearly 31cm tall, it slots neatly under a kitchen cupboard. It is quite deep, though, so you’ll need around 45cm of counter space to leave enough clearance at the rear.

The Vertuo Lattissima’s lumpen design isn’t going to set pulses racing, but you can take your pick between Matte Black and White models to better match your kitchen decor. It’s only the lid and ribbed band around the top of the machine that actually change colour, though, and the rest of the machine is finished in plain, matte black plastics.

Practically speaking, the design is pretty sensible. The 1.6l water tank at the rear clips in and out making refilling easy or you can leave it in place, remove the lid and top it up from a jug. There’s no clip-in water filter option though, so if you live in a hard water area or just don’t like the taste of your tap water, you’d be advised to employ a water filter jug.

On the left flank, a tall capsule bin slots in and out with ease and holds around 10 pods before needing emptying. This bin separates into two parts: the top-most section has holes in the base to allow spent capsules to drip through into the bottom part, and prevents the capsules from sitting in a nasty brown puddle. This means you can pop them straight into one of the free recycling bags available from the Nespresso site or nearest boutique. That done, you can send them back via a Royal Mail collection, or drop them off at your nearest store and bask in the glory of your eco-conscious lifestyle.

The heavy, metal-bodied clip-on drip tray is probably the least sensible part of the design. While it’s easy enough to unhook it and position it in any of the three mounting holes to accommodate different sized cups, you’ll definitely need to remove it completely to fit in larger mugs and travel cups. The drip tray itself is tiny, too, so you’ll want to make sure you empty it regularly.

If you’ve come across any of De’Longhi’s coffee machines, then the milk carafe will look familiar. It simply clips into place on the front of the machine, and chrome-effect spout is adjustable so you can ensure that it pours neatly into your choice of cup. It’s not refrigerated, so you’ll need to pop it in the fridge if there’s milk left over after each use and you’ll need to keep on top of regular cleaning. Thankfully, it comes to pieces easily, so you can either sling the parts in the dishwasher or give it a good rinse in the sink

Nespresso Vertuo Lattissima review: What’s it like to use?

Just like the Next, the Vertuo Lattissima supports the full range of Nespresso Vertuo pods, so can deliver anything from a dainty 25ml ristretto to a full sized 535ml carafe of coffee with the appropriate pods. It’s essential to note, however, that the type of pod you use also influences the amount of milk which is added to the milk-based drinks.

Tap the cappuccino button on the top panel and a standard 25ml espresso capsule will produce a 180ml drink; a 40ml espresso capsule, a 270ml drink; and an 80ml capsule will produce a rather large 390ml drink. Hit the Latte Macchiato button, however, and those volumes increase to 270ml, 390ml and a massive 590ml respectively. If you love the idea of a Starbucks Venti-sized Latte Macchiato, then the Lattissima will deliver.

Should you use a larger Lungo (150ml) or Mug-sized (230ml) capsule with either of the milk-based options, the Lattissima will automatically pull a shorter, stronger shot of coffee that’s better suited to a milk-based drink.

And, naturally, if you prefer the longer Lungo and Mug-sized capsules with just a dash of milk on top, you can always just brew a capsule into a mug then manually top it up with as much or as little frothed milk as you prefer. Simply tap the milk button and the Lattissima pours up to 200ml of hot frothy milk into your cup, and you can tap it again to stop.

Cleaning and longer term maintenance is simple and, thankfully, thoroughly explained in the manual. A water hardness tester comes in the box, and this allows you to select from 5 preset water hardness levels. This determines how often the machine will ask for descaling, and a little orange LED will flash when it comes time to run through the descaling process. More regular flushing of the machine or carafe can be carried out at any time that you choose, however.

It’s worth noting that the Vertuo Lattissima has both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, but it’s by no means essential – at least not on a day to day basis. Still, it is worth connecting your machine when you first get it, as it will occasionally download firmware updates overnight. This ensures that the machine recognises the latest capsules and brews them accordingly.

The app also gives quick access to Nespresso’s various Youtube tutorial videos, and you can activate the various cleaning modes for descaling, rinsing, emptying and milk carafe cleaning from the app, which saves you having to memorise the button presses required on the machine itself.

Nespresso Vertuo Lattissima review: What’s the coffee like?

Compared against standard Nespresso capsules, the depth of flavour from Vertuo alternatives is markedly better for every length of coffee, with longer coffees in particular benefitting the most. There isn’t as wide a range of capsules available but the 40-odd capsules on Nespresso’s site serve up everything from short, punchy ristretto (25ml) and espresso (40ml and 80ml) through to lungo (150ml), mug (230ml) and even carafe length (535ml) capsules.

Partner that extra depth of flavour with De’Longhi’s LatteCrema technology and you have a recipe for tasty milk-based coffees at the touch of a button. Be in no doubt, the Lattissima will happily and adeptly serve you a black coffee – in our tests, the dedicated lungo- and mug-sized capsules were a favourite, serving up a piping hot black coffee with a wonderfully rich, caramel-coloured crema – but it’s the milk-based coffees which are the stars of the show here.

If I was going to be picky, then I’d note that the milk froth isn’t as tightly creamy and silken as the best automatic bean-to-cup machines and nowhere near as refined as the sumptuous results you’ll get from a steam wand on a manual espresso machine. That being said, the results are still very, very enjoyable. It’s a more open, fluffy froth than the silken, oily meringue of the most exactingly well textured milk, but it’s pleasant.

The Vertuo Lattissima delivers these drinks rather speedily, too. It takes around 30 seconds to heat up ready for brewing, and after the coffee is brewed, another 30 seconds to prepare the steam for milk frothing. That means that the first latte macchiato takes around a minute and a half to brew in total, but it’s a little quicker for the second or third drinks once everything is up to temperature. You don’t actually have to wait around, however: you can just tap the button and walk off while it does its job.

Nespresso Vertuo Lattissima review: What could be better?

Having used a Vertuo Plus and the Vertuo Lattissima side by side for a few months, it’s fair to say that the Vertuo Next design which the Lattissima is based upon isn’t quite as refined or reliable as the Plus.

Part of the Vertuo magic involves spinning the capsules during the brewing process – the snazzy sounding buzzword is Centrifusion – but I found the Lattissima does this more noisily than the Plus during brewing. I measured the Plus peaking at 54dB from a metre away, while the Lattissima peaked at 60dB, which is much louder.

The capsule mechanism itself is also more clunky and prone to jamming than the Plus. Where the Plus uses a fancy motorised mechanism, which notably hasn’t jammed once during my long-term testing, the Lattissima isn’t so reliable. On occasion – and I couldn’t work out why – the manual lever fails to lock the capsule into place. Upon opening the lid to remedy the issue, the mechanism assumes you’ve successfully finished your brew and flips the capsule into the bin. Digging the unused capsule out of the bin isn’t a terrible chore, but it’s annoying.

One minor annoyance is that I wish you could adjust the level of milk froth. Sometimes I just want a little hot milk on top of a strong black coffee, sometimes I want all the froth, and sometimes I want somewhere in between. Nespresso’s own Aeroccino milk frothers provide enough adjustability to accommodate such requests, and I’ve reviewed De’Longhi automatic bean to cup machines which allow you to adjust this on the carafe itself, but that feature isn’t present here.

Nespresso Vertuo Lattissima review: Should you buy it?

I am genuinely a little bit impressed by the quality of the coffee the Vertuo Lattissima serves up. But there is a but: at this price, buyers should consider the alternatives of an affordable fully automatic bean-to-cup machine or a separate Vertuo machine and milk frother. The former will brew better quality coffee, and the latter would be dramatically cheaper.

Ultimately, though, the question of whether or not the Vertuo Lattissima is the perfect machine for you comes down to how much – or more precisely, how little – time and effort you want to put into your coffee creations. If you’re willing to do no more than lift a single button-pressing finger in the pursuit of indulgently frothy, moreish coffee, then hit that buy button – the Vertuo Lattissima is tough to beat.