The Nespresso Essenza Mini has proven to be a particularly amazing coffee machine, especially with its compact size. It can fit in tiny spaces on your kitchen counter or workstation, ready to brew flavorful cups quick. The newer Nespresso Essenza Plus adds several features with a slight increase in bulk. So do these new features simply make the Essenza Plus a better Essenza Mini? Check out our comparison between the De’Longhi Nespresso Essenza Plus and the Breville Nespresso Essenza Mini below.
The Nespresso Essenza Mini is the smallest single-serve coffee and espresso machine from Nespresso by Breville. Create barista-quality beverages every time with a single button.
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Nespresso Essenza Plus vs Mini Coffee Maker Comparison Chart
| Model | Nespresso Essenza Plus (De’Longhi) | Nespresso Essenza Mini (Breville) |
 | | |
| Price | Check Price at Amazon | Check Price at Amazon |
| Dimensions | 15.6 x 4.7 x 10.1 inches | 12 x 3.3 x 8.03 inches |
| Weight | 7.17 lb | 5.1 lb |
| Water Tank Capacity | 33.8 oz | 20.3 oz |
| Container Capacity | 11 | 6 |
| Auto Shut-off | Yes | Yes |
| Pump Pressure | 19 bars | 19 bars |
| Serving Sizes | Espresso, Lungo, Americano, Americano XL | Espresso, Lungo |
| Flow Stop | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile App | Yes | No |
| Bluetooth & Wi-Fi | Yes | No |
Design
The Nespresso Essenza Mini is more compact than the Essenza Plus.
With such a small profile, the Breville Nespresso Essenza Mini takes up very little space on your counter top. It has a boxy design with a narrow base, allowing it to fit in snugly with other kitchen top appliances. That does make its water tank much smaller though, which means more frequent refilling.
In comparison, the De’Longhi Nespresso Essenza Plus is bigger in every way. It’s still quite small compared to other Nespresso machines though. Its water tank is roughly 50% larger than the Essenza Mini, which is nice if you favor larger capsule sizes. Moreover, it can keep up to 11 used capsules in its container, compared to 6 in the Mini.
Both trays can be removed if you want to use bigger coffee mugs. The Essenza Plus coffee machine offered by De’Longhi looks a bit more impressive with its stainless steel build with easy-to-grip plastic sections. The metal and plastic build of the Essenza Mini by Breville is minimalist and can blend much better with modern designs.
Features
The Nespresso Essenza Plus has a hot water function unlike the Essenza Mini.
The biggest addition to the Nespresso Essenza Plus is a hot water function that allows for tea preparation or just to add a bit more to your Nespresso coffee. Unlike other coffee machines with this feature, the Essenza Plus has a dedicated pipe and spout for hot water, so there’s no residue from previously prepared coffee pods.
This also allows the De’Longhi Nespresso Essenza Plus to offer four coffee sizes: Espresso (1.35 oz), Lungo (3.7 oz), Americano (0.85 espresso, 4.2 oz hot water), and Americano XL (1.35 oz coffee and 5.4 oz hot water). You can brew Espresso and Lungo sizes with the dedicated buttons on top of the machine. To get the Americano blends, you simply press the hot water button at the same time as either the Espresso or Lungo button.
Delicious coffee beverages are only seconds away with the Nespresso Essenza Plus. Features programmable buttons for different cup sizes along with a hot water option for tea.
The Breville Nespresso Essenza Mini only has two programmable cup sizes, so it’s a no-go if you want Americano. It has the same energy-saving features as the Essenza Plus, which has an Eco Mode for low energy usage as well as automatic switchoff after 9 minutes of inactivity.
Finally, the Essenza Plus has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, allowing you to use the Nespresso mobile app to adjust recipe settings, get capsule supply alerts, and firmware updates.
Coffee Quality
Both Nespresso Essenza Plus and Mini produce excellent coffee.
As both are Nespresso Essenza coffee makers, you can expect the same quality of coffee from both Plus and Mini machines. You can try any of the 16 varieties of Espresso Grands Crus pods and find no significant difference in their tastes. These OriginalLine capsules come included with either machine as a complimentary welcome set, so you can discover which flavors you like best.
This simply makes the Nespresso Essenza Mini a lot more impressive. Considering its more compact size, it can deliver the same outstanding coffee quality just as quickly. Both take only 30 seconds or so to heat up water to the right temperature before dripping espresso and rich crema into your mug. Still, the Nespresso Essenza Plus does have the edge in being able to offer Americano coffee, if that’s what you prefer.
Verdict
The Nespresso Essenza Mini is better value than the Essenza Plus.
Delicious coffee beverages are only seconds away with the Nespresso Essenza Plus. Features programmable buttons for different cup sizes along with a hot water option for tea.
The Nespresso Essenza Mini is the smallest single-serve coffee and espresso machine from Nespresso by Breville. Create barista-quality beverages every time with a single button.
Despite the additional features of the Essenza Plus, we’d still recommend the Breville Nespresso Essenza Mini to those who wish to try the Nespresso pod-based coffee system. Not only is it lighter and more compact, the Essenza Mini also costs about half the price of the Essenza Plus. Since coffee quality is the same, you’ll be saving quite a bit by going for the Mini while still enjoying flavorful coffee every time.
If you like Americano cups or want a more flexible coffee machine, the De’Longhi Nespresso Essenza Plus can be worth the extra cost. You’ll be able to get pure hot water at the tap of a button, and you can look into the extra features and settings available on the mobile app. This can be handy if you need reminding if your capsule stock gets low, since the app lets you make one-touch orders.
FAQs
Two things: size and a dedicated hot water function. The Nespresso Essenza Plus is bigger than the Essenza Mini, with a 50% larger water tank and capsule container. It also has hot water function that lets you get pure hot water from a dedicated spout as well as brew Americano coffee blends.
Breville has a slight edge over De’Longhi in temperature control, which affects overall espresso taste. Both manufacturers use mostly the same technologies and components for each Nespresso coffee machine variant though. For example, a Nespresso Essenza Plus by De’Longhi will be very similar to one made by Breville.
Starbucks by Nespresso capsules are configured to work with all single-serve Nespresso Original Line machines (Essenza, Pixie, CitiZ, Expert, Lattissima, KitchenAid and Creatista). Nespresso VertuoLine machines, however, use a different pod design.
Yes, there are other coffee pods or capsules produced by other manufacturers aside from Nespresso. As long as they’re Nespresso-compatible, they will work perfectly with a Nespresso coffee maker. Check out compatible pods made by Starbucks, Hotel Chocolat, Real Coffee, Gourmesso, etc.