When you refer to the person to be a “prima donna chances are you’re not referring to their role as the most prominent female singer of the opera house. However, De’Longhi clearly didn’t have the negative connotations they had in mind when they chose the PrimaDonna Soul.
If we were to make an assumption that the name was meant to invoke a machine that could awaken the soul using its barista skills, and then use its many abilities to make a stunning variety of coffee-based drinks. Perhaps they simply liked the idea and wanted to find out more.
What you should be aware of
PrimaDonna Soul PrimaDonna Soul is a fully automated bean-to-cup maker; an elegant barista to your kitchen. With the milk carafe with an insulated lid that attaches to the left side, it’s able to create anything from simple espressos to an array of milk-based drinks. There are 21 distinct drinks to pick from and those suffering from decision paralysis might want to use their traditional cafetiere.
There’s nothing striking regarding it. There’s nothing particularly striking about PrimaDonna Soul’s design, aside of the vibrant 4.3in LCD touchscreen that is at the centre of. It may seem like a bit of a gimmick however it’s a perfect device for a machine that has the wide range of drink-making capabilities All it takes is just a couple of taps to go through the extensive list of drinks and customize each one to your tastes and preferences.
Naturally, there’s Bluetooth control with De’Longhi’s Coffee Link application. It’s not terribly useful and you’ll never have to worry the need to order coffee from your bed and the reasons will be clearer in the future however, the app is a vital component that makes up the machines Bean Adapt mode. You can input some essential information regarding the roast and type that you’re using for your beans and the machine chooses the right infusion temperature and grind, as well as a dosage that will maximize the benefits of these beans. This isn’t an enticement: it performed very well during our tests.
Pricing and competitors
If you’re willing to shell out $1199 for a coffee maker and you’re adamant about an automatic model, then get PrimaDonna Soul. PrimaDonna Soul. It’s as intelligent as it’s supposed to be and can make a great cup of almost any kind of coffee that you could think of. It’s particularly well-suited for households that have multiple coffee drinkers who have different preferences and tastes. The touchscreen interface learns automatically about the preferences of each user’s favorite drink to avoid the effort of having to switch between different drinks.
If however you’re looking for a top bean-to-cup maker but don’t want to spend this kind of amount, then you should upgrade to the Melitta Barista TS Smart. For about PS750 it can make an excellent selection of milk-based coffee drinks. And it comes with some useful innovative features too.
The other option is far more dramatic: put your money on a manual coffee maker instead. With only a small amount of effort, a manual machine like Gaggia Classic (PS425) Gaggia Classic (PS425) coupled with a high-quality grinder can produce much better coffee than the most expensive automated machine, that’s the PrimaDonna Soul included.
If the process of making espresso manually seems daunting or too to much hassle If so, it’s definitely worth looking at something similar to an espresso machine like the Sage Bambino Plus (PS399) or the Sage Barista Touch (PS995) before dismissing the idea entirely. The Bambino Plus and Barista Touch are espresso machines that can be manually operated with a semi-automatic features, and although the Plus features a useful automatic milk frothing function The Touch comes with a huge touch screen that can assist novices in the process of making espresso manually. In either situation, it’s worthwhile.
Design and features
There’s a limit on the attractiveness of a coffee bean-to-cup machine can look, but this PrimaDonna Soul is one of the most elegant models out there. The curving profile and silver trim are elegant and the quality of the construction attachments, accessories and other parts all contribute to the luxurious experience. Its water tank the grounds bin and milk carafe are easily removed and inserted with an uplifting slam Think BMW door, not the one on a Skoda – and it’s simple to reach the internal components to clean the brew group whenever you’re in need of.
At the upper part of the machine, an enormous bean hopper can take 500g of coffee beans and the lid with silver has an airtight seal. If you do not have enough beans there is a small opening behind the hopper permits you to add one teaspoon of coffee ground. it isn’t able to be taken out in advance it is necessary to manually add a dose using the included coffee scoop for every drink.
A massive 2.2-litre water tank sits on the machine’s right-hand side and just as you’d expect from the price the water filter is included in the package.
The drip tray and the grounds bin are easily removed as one unit however, they are separated into separate parts for easier cleaning. While it is not necessary to remove the water tank in order to gain access to them, you’ll have to take off the milk carafe to empty them when they are needed.
The carafe for milk is set in the tray’s left edge, and it clips to the docking connector of the machine. The carafe itself doesn’t have refrigeration and its double-walled design offers just enough insulation to keep milk inside at the room temperature for a few hours. Be careful not to keep it in the fridge for a long time you’re likely to curdle unless the temperature at your home is extremely cold.
Also included is an insulated filter jug for coffee in the package: the PrimaDonna Soul is also capable of converting its hand to filter coffee if the demand arises.
User-friendly
On it on the PrimeDonna Soul and, after a brief warm-up as well as self-cleaning process, it’s now ready to drink. The interface is extremely user-friendly and if you’ve ever used a touchscreen device previously, you’ll feel at ease browsing through and selecting drinks using the crisp, clear icons. It’s as easy as it gets Tap the drink you want to drink icon to begin the process of making it or press the + button under each drink icon to open the customization options.
The display also gives helpful reminders to clear the ground bin or fill the tank with water. Each time you drink a milk-based beverage, the display will remind you to manually turn the dial that sits on inside the cup back to its cleaning position. This makes use of a steam jet to get rid of milk residue but you can also deactivate this in case you’d rather carry forward with the second beverage. In addition, the display shows you the best place to set the carafe’s dial in order to achieve the best amount of milk froth that will suit the drink you’ve chosen. It’s enough to say that there is no need to study the manual for using the PrimaDonna or even need to, which is.
User profiles are beneficial as well. Every household member can create their own profile and this will automatically sort the menus for home use in accordance with the types of drinks they prefer for instance, if you are a regular drinker of espressos, lattes and black coffees for example, those are the first drinks that appear on your profile’s home screen. Profiles also permit customization of drinks per drink: based on the type of drink you can adjust various settings, including strength, temperature, and the amount of milk or coffee you’d like to put in your drink.
Performance
To begin the test, we filled the PrimaDonna’s hopper up with Black Cat’s Signature Blend coffee beans, and then selected as the standard Espresso option. The result was a decent but rather sloppy shot of espresso. We tried another couple of shots to give the grinder and machine time to settle, and although the results were improved however the overall flavor and texture remained dull and thin.
Our first option was to decrease the size of the grinding as, unlike other bean-to-cup machines, this can be adjustable by using in the setting menu, or application, not manual controls. However, very logically, the menu explains that it’s better to adjust the size of the grind by one step at a given time and also stops users from pushing the machine too much in one direction, causing more issues. When the size of the grind was reduced by one step it was noticed that the espresso had more flavor and more rounded texture. Like always, minor adjustments can yield a huge improvement.
Next step is using this software’s Bean Adapt wizard to tailor the machine’s settings to the medium roast coffee beans. This must be done within the app and cannot be done by the machine by itself. It’s the Bean Adapt wizard asks a couple of questions regarding the type of beans as well as their roast profiles. After that, we clicked to activate the Espresso Soul drinks option on the machine, and was waiting.
The result was impressive The espresso improved from good to excellent. The aroma and texture of the espresso changed and the chocolatey, nutty taste notes of the beans began to shine through. The cup was not as smooth the cup that our manual machine could produce however, it was the best we’ve had from any automated machine we’ve had in recent memory.
A great espresso is the base of a variety of beverages, so it’s not surprising that the PrimaDonna performs a lively performance in other places. Macchiatos, macchiatos, and lattes are infused with a wonderful creamy texture and lots of flavor, and the hand-held froth knob on the milk cup makes it simple to adjust how much milk you that froths to your personal preferences.
In terms of foam it’s the PrimaDonna performs well in this regard, too. It’s not the silky microfoam that you can make with a steam wand. But when you have an automated machine, it’s quite a good choice.
The most appealing feature for most is PrimaDonna’s wide range of beverage options. We frequently used this option for hot milk to swiftly make a rich, smooth hot chocolate. the tea setting also works well, with a variety of temperature settings, each of which comes with suggestions on which type of tea is most suitable for various brewing temperatures.
The PrimaDonna could even be used to substitute your filter coffee machine The jug is placed on the drip tray, and it will make filter coffee with the click of an button.
Verdict
No matter how great it is, it’s a amount of money to invest on a coffee maker. The truth is it’s about as sophisticated as a bean-to-cup machine can get until you begin to look at machines like De’Longhi’s pricey PS2,799 Maestosa. It’s not a bad thing with it’s Bean Adapt feature, the PrimaDonna Soul produces coffee that surpasses the best automatic machines as well as the wildly expensive Maestosa is included.
The place where it is that the PrimaDonna Soul really shines is its ease of use in the process of making great coffee. It’s a great job of adapting to various coffee beans – a feature that is frequently lacking in bean-to-cup machines. Additionally, the user profiles ensure that everyone living in the home has their favorite drinks just a one tap away. There’s no better combination of quality and convenience to be discovered in a machine for coffee we’ve not found it yet.
