Melitta Barista TS Smart review: an intermediate-level bean-to-cup maker with a stunning touchscreen

Due to the insane prices that you can now expect to pay at your local coffee shop, the best bean-to-cup coffee machines are now in high demand. Sure, you’ll have to part with a fair bit of cash to buy one, but once it’s in your home, you’d be surprised by how much money you save on takeaway lattes – plus a bean-to-cup machine makes far superior coffee.

I’m a bean-to-cup coffee machine fan, and have tried plenty as my time as Home Editor for T3, from the likes of Sage, Smeg and Siemens. Most of the models I’ve tried are semi-automatic or manual, so I was excited to try the Melitta Barista TS Smart, a fully-automatic bean-to-cup coffee machine which seemed to do absolutely everything for you.

I put the Melitta Barista TS Smart to the test, and might have found the best bean-to-cup coffee machine for intermediate and aspiring baristas – keep reading to find out why.

Melitta Barista TS Smart review: price and availability

The Melitta Barista TS Smart is priced at £999.99 and is available to buy at Melitta and select retailers like Amazon, Currys and AO.com. It comes in black, silver and stainless steel colours.

Melitta Barista TS Smart review: unboxing and setup

The Melitta Barista TS Smart arrived mostly put together, but the parts that needed to be assembled were simple to do. I added the filter to the water tank before filling it with water and putting it into place. Next, I slotted in the drip day which already had the coffee grounds collector attached – if you only want to use the Melitta Barista TS Smart for espressos, you can finish here.

For milky coffees, the Melitta Barista TS Smart came with a separate milk tank that connected to the machine via a tube. To do this, I pushed up the All-in-One outlet – the silver Melitta-branded part located at the front of the machine – and inserted the tube into the hole on the side.

One thing I noticed about the Melitta Barista TS Smart when I unboxed it and set it up was that it was quite big and heavy. Once I got it in place, I didn’t need to move it much but it took up a lot of countertop space due to its chunky size.

Melitta Barista TS Smart review: design and features

The Melitta Barista TS Smart is an advanced fully-automatic bean-to-cup coffee machine that can make 21 different coffees. On the left side of the machine is where the water tank sits, while the top right of houses the two bean hoppers and grinders, as well as a separate compartment where you can directly scoop pre-ground coffee into it, for a quicker hot drink.

The Melitta Barista TS Smart has a clever touchscreen display that has main drink icons scattered across the top, bean grinder selection and a strength bar which you can slide across to change the amount of coffee or milk you want. The machine automatically picks the right beans from the chamber due to its Automatic Bean Select, either because of the fullness of the hoppers or your drink of choice – but you can flip between the two grinders.

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For ultimate customisation, the Melitta Barista TS Smart has five brewing strength settings and five grind settings. Users can also adjust the temperature, coffee quantity and brewing profile. Across the top, there are espresso, cafe crema, cappuccino and latte macchiato options, and a milk-only setting.

The All-in-One outlet is underneath the controls, and is where the coffee, water and milk comes out, and you can move it up and down for different mug sizes. As it has two spouts, you can also make two drinks at a time. Everything you select on the Melitta Barista TS Smart is displayed via the touchscreen, which not only tells you the coffee you’re making, but various other information, like when your water and hoppers are empty, and the cleaning processes.

Melitta Barista TS Smart review: performance

I found the Melitta Barista TS Smart easy to put together and relatively simple to control. I appreciated the touch controls and the screen in particular, as it displayed everything I needed to know about the coffees I was making and the steps I needed to help with, like refilling the water and emptying the drip tray.

I enjoyed the two bean containers, as I like putting different beans on either side of the hopper, and selecting the one I wanted throughout the day. The customisable grind was also handy for the many different drinks I wanted to make, including espresso, flat white and lattes, and I also appreciated the independent slot for pre-ground coffee which sped up the coffee-making process if I was in a rush to make a meeting.

I found the Melitta Barista TS Smart to make delicious coffees, although I did find that the cafe crema selection seemed to burn the coffee a bit, and gave it a bitter flavour. I mostly enjoyed the espresso selection before frothing the milk afterwards with the milk tank as I found this gave the best tasting results – I also found that the Melitta Barista TS Smart heated up surprisingly quickly so I wasn’t waiting around for too long.

The touchscreen of the Melitta Barista TS Smart is definitely the main attraction. While it took me a while to get the hang of – which is why I’d recommend it for intermediate coffee-makers rather than beginners – the screen was very helpful and I didn’t find that you had to press too hard to get it to select things.

Cleaning coffee machines isn’t particularly fun, but the Melitta Barista TS Smart might be the cleanest coffee maker I’ve ever used. It rinses before and after every use, as well as the milk tube, and it gets it all done very quickly. All you have to do for the cleaning is to empty the drip tray which it reminds you to do. The tray itself is very expansive so you can go a while without emptying it – although I wouldn’t recommend leaving it for too long obviously!

A couple of negatives I had with the Melitta Barista TS Smart was its noise and size. It does make a fair amount of noise when in action, and it’s not a small machine by any stretch of the imagination. While easy to attach, the milk tank on the side felt like an afterthought but aside from that, the Melitta Barista TS Smart had a nice and helpful design.

Melitta Barista TS Smart review: verdict

I’d definitely recommend the Melitta Barista TS Smart if you’re an intermediate coffee maker and drinker. While the Melitta Barista TS Smart does take care of everything for you, it can take a while to get used to which might put beginners off.

But in general, the Melitta Barista TS Smart has thought of absolutely everything, from the built-in bean hoppers and grinders, to the coffee options and even the drip tray. It might be big and heavy, but the Melitta Barista TS Smart has great touchscreen controls and makes tasty coffees in record time – plus if you want coffee even quicker, the pre-ground section speeds things up.

Melitta Barista TS Smart review: alternatives to consider

The Jura E8 has a similar design to the Melitta Barista TS Smart but we rated it as a great compact fully-automatic option in our best bean-to-cup coffee machine guide. It’s more expensive than the Melitta Barista TS Smart, but it makes delicious espresso and milky coffees, and doesn’t take up too much space.

The De’Longhi Eletta Explore is another alternative we’d recommend. While both models have cumbersome milk tanks and carafes, they both have similar styles and offer tailored coffee experiences.