De'Longhi La Specialista Maestro: buy it on clearance or buy the Breville Barista Touch

The short version

The La Specialista Maestro is De’Longhi’s top bean-to-cup semi-automatic: built-in sensor grinder, automatic LatteCrema milk carafe, a manual wand, and on the current EC9885M revision a cold-brew mode. The owner record on it is dominated by one component. The grinder stops delivering a full dose within months, De’Longhi repairs or replaces it, and then it does it again. Add a steam wand that times out after about two minutes and a service network that owners describe in weeks rather than days, and the only price that makes this machine rational is a clearance price. At $1,000 to $1,300, the Breville Barista Touch does the same job for less with a far cleaner record.

What owners report

The longest public record is the Australian review site ProductReview, where the Maestro sits at 3.2 out of 5 across 45 reviews. The grinder complaints there are specific and repeat the same arc. One reviewer, about two years ago, said the grinder failed within a couple of months of purchase and then wrote that “the grinder failed again after another few weeks” following a repair (ProductReview.com.au, checked November 2026). Another, about four years ago, had the grinder replaced and reported it failed again within five days. A third had a whole replacement machine whose grinder broke about three months later. A fourth, three years ago, said the machine “doesn’t grind enough coffee” to fill the portafilter even after troubleshooting, a factory reset and an approved repair, and was told to use a repair centre 100 kilometres away with a four-to-five-week turnaround.

Steam is the second theme. In the same listing, a reviewer four years ago wrote that “the steam wand regularly turns off mid steam,” and a five-year-old review said “the manual steamer only steams for 2 minutes.” The LatteCrema automatic carafe gets its own complaints: one owner said “my milk is not hot enough” on the programmed settings, and a reviewer a year ago said “steaming and warming the milk never works.”

The site’s Q and A section fills in what De’Longhi told people. Two owners asked about the manual wand cutting out after about two minutes, which meant heating milk for two cups took two sessions; De’Longhi’s phone support reportedly said the machine is set up for one cup, and a later reply said the timeout cannot be changed because of the boiler size (ProductReview.com.au Q and A, checked November 2026). An owner whose LatteCrema would not froth was told to check that the “clear plastic tube is inserted all the way in,” consider replacing an o-ring, and re-prime the jug by cycling hot water. Another owner, about a year ago, reported that after power-on the lights go out, the temperature lights flash, the grinder works and nothing else does, including descaling.

Error states and the descale routine come up repeatedly. A reviewer four months ago said a “general alarm fault still could not be resolved” after several parts were replaced. One three years ago said the descale cycle runs about 20 minutes with “no way to temporarily skip it,” and another reported a descale that ran far past the manual’s 40 minutes. On service: one owner’s machine spent 4.5 of 14 months of ownership at a service centre; another described “after almost a month of wait” for a return; another said “NOONE returns your emails.”

Best Buy’s US listing for the Maestro is thin, six reviews with a 50 percent recommend rate, but it rhymes. A one-star review from about four years ago reports “water leaked on our first use of it,” says another buyer had returned the same model three times, and notes that a protection-plan repair was not possible because of parts supply (Best Buy, checked November 2026). A two-star review from five years ago says “steam kept coming out from the over flow,” that a reset fixed it temporarily, and that the problem came back before the unit was returned.

De’Longhi’s own support page for the Maestro’s “does not grind” symptom lists one cause, foreign material blocking the burrs, and one remedy, clean the burrs (De’Longhi Support, checked November 2026). It offers no path to a service request from that page. Owners who did clean the burrs and still got a half-filled portafilter are the ones who ended up in the repair loop above.

For context, the grinder-and-dosing pattern is not new to this platform. Best Buy’s reviews of the original La Specialista EC9335M, the Maestro’s predecessor with the same sensor-grinding concept, include a grinder that kept stopping and a replacement that did not grind enough, a unit that would “not even grind coffee” within 12 days, and one owner who had three units fail in three years (Best Buy, EC9335M reviews page 10, checked November 2026). That is a different model and we are not counting it against the Maestro, but it tells you the grinder design has had years to be fixed.

What actually breaks

The grinder stops or under-doses, then does it again

How common: it is the single most repeated complaint in the largest review pool we could open, and the distinctive feature is recurrence. Four separate ProductReview owners describe a grinder that failed, was repaired or replaced, and failed again, in windows ranging from five days to three months.

When it appears: within the first few months. One owner put the first failure at a couple of months in; others had it on a replacement unit shortly after delivery.

What it costs: nothing in parts if you are inside the warranty, but weeks without a machine. Owners describe four-to-five-week repair windows and a return that took almost a month. Out of warranty, a grinder assembly on a machine at this price is a service-centre job, not a user part.

Does the brand cover it: yes, under warranty, and De’Longhi’s US site advertises up to three years (De’Longhi, checked November 2026). The complaint is not that De’Longhi refuses. It is that the fix does not hold.

Steam cuts out, milk comes out lukewarm

How common: the second most frequent theme, split between the manual wand timing out and the LatteCrema carafe not getting milk hot enough.

When it appears: from the first week, because it is a design limit rather than a wear item. De’Longhi’s own answer, relayed by owners, is that the wand is sized for one cup and the timeout is tied to boiler capacity.

What it costs: time. Two drinks means two steaming sessions with a pause between. If the carafe sputters, the fix is o-rings and re-priming, which De’Longhi walks owners through.

Does the brand cover it: the sputtering, yes. The two-minute limit, no. It is how the machine works.

Alarm lights, air locks and the descale that will not end

How common: less frequent than the first two but the hardest to resolve. One owner’s general alarm persisted after multiple parts were replaced.

When it appears: at any point, often after a descale or a period of disuse. Owners report flashing temperature lights with no water or steam, which is consistent with an air lock in the hydraulic path.

What it costs: a 20-to-40-minute descale cycle you cannot skip, and if that does not clear it, a service visit.

Does the brand cover it: under warranty, yes. Owners describe the time cost, not a refused claim.

Where to buy it, and where not to

The La Specialista Maestro listing we were given is sold and shipped by Amazon, which means Amazon handles returns within its window and De’Longhi handles warranty after that. If you are leaning yes, adding it to your cart within 24 hours of clicking keeps the referral credited for 90 days and locks the price you saw. Check the seller line on the day you buy; this machine has cycled through third-party listings before, and a reseller row means returns and warranty run through the reseller, not Amazon.

On the question of whether it is discontinued: the brief we were handed says several retailers flag it that way. We could not confirm that on De’Longhi’s own US site, which still lists the cold-brew EC9885M at $1,299.95 with an add-to-cart button. What we can say is that the only Maestro De’Longhi’s US site currently lists is the cold-brew EC9885M; the older EC9665M product page did not load when we checked. Any listing below list price should be read as clearance of one revision or the other. Confirm which revision you are getting; the cold-brew model is the current one.

If you still want one

Buy it only at a clearance price, only sold by Amazon, and only if you are prepared to use the warranty. The ladder below gives you a machine that does the same automated-milk job for less, a simpler De’Longhi from the same family for about half, and the four consumables you will need in the first month either way.

Verdict

At $1,300 the Maestro asks you to pay a premium for a grinder that owners say fails and refails, and a milk system that cannot do two drinks in one go. At a deep clearance price it becomes a reasonable gamble, because the hardware is otherwise generous and the warranty is long. Clearance price is the only price that makes sense.