I've owned a Delonghi Magnifica eam3200s coffee machine for a while now.
I was initially underwhelmed with the purchase: it made coffee slickly but it just didn't taste all that good. (I drink white-without normally, but am partial to the odd espresso when the time is right.) Either too bitter, or too weak.
Anyway, I went through a phase of trying various settings and various beans. (I remember: Illy, some stuff from Whittards, some freshly roasted stuff from www.hasbean .co.uk.)
I finally managed to get a decent, consistent shot from the thing that's good enough to drink neat and good enough that, if I'm walking past a coffee shop on the way home, I'll walk on by - because my stuff's better.
So...
Recommended coffee beans: Waitrose Espresso. (Black tin, red lid. I think they're still £2.99.)
Recommended water setting: third dot from minimum.
Recommended coffee quantity setting: Max.
Recommended grinder setting: 4-ish.
That produces a smallish shot of coffee (apparently you can't make *real* espresso with these things... I did try to get it to take the recommended 20-25 seconds to make the shot but it really doesn't produce much worth drinking). Top it up with hot water from the spout to make a nice Americano.
[I guess that post was java-related?]
