Best Coffee Beans for the De'Longhi Rivelia: A Caffé Prima Guide to the Dual Hopper System

The De'Longhi Rivelia is a compact bean-to-cup machine built around two interchangeable 250g bean hoppers, called the Bean Switch system. Most bean-to-cup machines only need you to choose one bean. The Rivelia has two hoppers, so most owners keep one bean for everyday drinks and load something different into the second, such as a decaf for evenings or a single origin for weekends. The machine pairs this with Bean Adapt Technology, a touchscreen feature that adjusts grind, dose, and temperature once you tell it what kind of bean you've loaded. It sits toward the premium end of De'Longhi's bean-to-cup range, well above the Magnifica Evo, and is widely stocked through major UK retailers including Currys and John Lewis.

This guide covers which Caffé Prima beans suit each hopper, how the Bean Switch and Bean Adapt systems work in practice, and how to keep the conical steel grinder in good shape over years of daily use.

Which Caffé Prima Beans Work Best in the De'Longhi Rivelia?

With two hoppers instead of one, the better approach is to choose two different beans, each suited to what that hopper is mainly used for, rather than searching for one bean that does everything well. Four Caffé Prima beans cover the pairings that come up most often.

1. Espresso Blend: the default for hopper one

Caffé Prima Espresso Blend is the right starting bean for whichever hopper handles daily volume. It's a medium roast of Brazilian and Guatemalan Arabica with Vietnamese Robusta, and the cup is dark chocolate and nutty with a golden-brown crema. Low surface oil means it moves cleanly through the feed chute and leaves less residue on the steel burrs than a darker, oilier bean would. It also extracts forgivingly, so the Rivelia's Bean Adapt settings don't need much fine-tuning to get a good result. It's also sold in 6kg cases for cafés and offices buying in bulk.

2. Continental Blend: the milk-drinks specialist

Caffé Prima Continental Blend is the better choice if the hopper you're filling mostly makes flat whites, lattes, and cappuccinos through the LatteCrema Hot system. It's a medium-dark roast of Brazilian Arabica and Vietnamese Robusta, and its Robusta content gives it a thicker, longer-lasting crema than a pure Arabica bean at the same roast level. That matters more on the Rivelia than it might elsewhere. The LatteCrema Hot carafe froths milk separately from the espresso, so the coffee needs a crema strong enough to hold its own once milk is added.

3. 100% Colombian: the pairing for the adventurous hopper

Caffé Prima 100% Colombian is the bean to load into the second hopper once you're comfortable with the machine. It's a single-origin, mountain-grown Arabica with caramel, hazelnut, and almond notes, and at 56 reviews it's the highest-reviewed non-decaf bean in the Caffé Prima range. This is exactly the kind of bean the Rivelia's Bean Adapt Technology is built for. Enter the roast level and character on the touchscreen, and the machine adjusts grind and temperature to suit it, rather than making you guess. It needs a touch more attention than the blends do, so give it four or five drinks after switching before judging the result. It's also available in a 6kg case.

4. Decaffeinated Brazilian Arabica: the caffeine-and-decaf pairing

Caffé Prima Decaffeinated Brazilian Arabica is decaffeinated using the CO2 process, a chemical-free method that removes 99.9% of the caffeine and keeps the milk chocolate flavour and silky body intact. At 68 reviews, it's the highest-reviewed bean in the entire range. This is the bean multi-person households tend to load into the second hopper, switching to it in the evening or for anyone in the house who's cutting back on caffeine. Having a genuine full-flavour decaf one hopper-swap away removes the usual excuse to skip it. It runs on the Rivelia at the same settings as Espresso Blend, with no separate setup needed.

How Does the Bean Switch Dual Hopper System Actually Work?

Each of the two included hoppers holds 250g of beans and clicks into a single slot on top of the machine, so only one is in use at a time. Switching between them is a manual swap, not an automatic in-machine selector. You activate Switch Mode on the touchscreen, the machine runs the current beans out of the grinder, and you then lift off one hopper and click the other into place. What happens automatically is the software side. Once the new hopper is in, the Rivelia recalls the drink settings already saved for those beans, so strength, dose, and temperature don't need reconfiguring every time you swap.

Grind coarseness is set separately, using a rotating ring built into the hopper mount rather than a dial on the machine body. Each hopper effectively keeps its own grind setting as a result, which suits the pairing approach: a medium-dark blend and a single origin rarely want the exact same grind.

What Is Bean Adapt Technology, and Does It Change Which Bean You Should Buy?

Bean Adapt Technology is a genuine De'Longhi feature, not a marketing label for something the machine already did anyway. Tap the bean icon on the touchscreen, enter details about the beans you've loaded such as roast level, and the machine recommends a grind and temperature setting based on that input, then lets you save the result as a named profile. It saves you the trial and error of switching between a forgiving blend and a fussier single origin.

Which Beans Suit the LatteCrema Hot Milk System?

The LatteCrema Hot carafe heats milk to a silky microfoam at roughly 60°C, which is warm rather than scalding. That's a deliberate choice: milk texture holds up better below boiling point, and most UK owners are used to café-style temperatures rather than the near-boiling milk some older machines produce. Because the milk itself runs slightly cooler, the espresso underneath needs a crema that won't collapse the moment milk is poured on top. Continental Blend and Espresso Blend both hold their crema well through this process. If the second hopper is running a single origin like the Colombian, expect a thinner crema in milk drinks and better results drunk black or with a smaller amount of milk.

How Do You Keep the Rivelia's Grinder in Good Condition?

The Rivelia uses a conical steel grinder, the same type found in the De'Longhi Magnifica Evo. Steel burrs run warmer than ceramic ones during grinding, which draws surface oil out of the beans faster. Over time, that oil combines with fine coffee dust and coats the burrs, eventually narrowing the feed chute. Medium and medium-dark roasts like Espresso Blend, Continental Blend, and the Colombian carry less surface oil than a true dark roast and are the safer long-term choice for a hopper that gets filled and refilled every week.

Choose a dry dark roast over a glossy, oily one if a darker bean is going into one of the two hoppers. A dry dark roast has a matte surface with no visible sheen. Run a grinder cleaning cycle more often, roughly every four weeks rather than every six to eight, if a dark roast is in regular rotation. 

How Fresh Should Coffee Beans Be for the De'Longhi Rivelia?

Beans need a short rest after roasting before they hit their best-tasting stage: about 3 to 7 days for lighter roasts and 10 to 14 days for darker ones, while the CO2 released during roasting settles down. Caffé Prima typically delivers within four weeks of the roast date, which usually lands beans right as they finish resting, with several more weeks of good flavour still ahead.

Each 250g hopper on the Rivelia is small enough that it should be topped up little and often rather than filled from a fresh 1kg bag in one go. Beans sitting in the hopper are exposed to warmth from the machine and to light, both of which speed up staleness. Keep the rest of the bag sealed in its foil-lined, degassing-valve packaging between refills.

Which Caffé Prima Beans Should You Avoid on the De'Longhi Rivelia?

Brazilian 100% Arabica is a light roast built for filter, pour over, and cold brew. It produces a thin, mild cup through the Rivelia's espresso-style extraction rather than the body most owners expect from a bean-to-cup machine. It's better suited to a pour over or AeroPress than either of the Rivelia's two hoppers.

How Does the Rivelia Compare to the De'Longhi Magnifica Evo?

Both machines use the same type of conical steel grinder and share the same bean-oil caution, but the Rivelia sits a step above the Magnifica Evo in nearly everything else. The Magnifica Evo has a single fixed 250g hopper and one saved drink profile. The Rivelia has two swappable hoppers, four user profiles, and Bean Adapt Technology to help each bean extract closer to its best. Anyone deciding between the two machines rather than choosing beans for one they already own can see our De'Longhi Magnifica Evo bean guide for how the single-hopper version compares.

De'Longhi Rivelia Bean Suitability Quick Reference

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best coffee bean for the De'Longhi Rivelia? Caffé Prima Espresso Blend is the best all-round bean for daily use in either hopper. It's a low-oil medium roast that extracts forgivingly and works well across the Rivelia's preset drinks. Continental Blend is the better pick if the hopper mostly makes milk-based drinks.

How does the Bean Switch dual hopper system work? Each of the two included 250g hoppers clicks into a single slot on the machine. Switching between them means activating Switch Mode on the touchscreen, letting the machine clear the current beans from the grinder, then swapping the physical hopper. The Rivelia automatically recalls the saved drink settings for whichever beans are loaded.

What is Bean Adapt Technology? It's a genuine De'Longhi feature where you enter details about your beans on the touchscreen, and the machine recommends a grind, dose, and temperature setting to suit them. It's designed for exactly the situation the dual-hopper system creates: switching between different beans without redoing the settings from scratch each time.

Can you use dark roast beans in the De'Longhi Rivelia? Yes, but choose a dry dark roast with a matte, non-oily surface rather than a glossy one. Caffé Prima Italian Mahogany works well as an occasional dark roast in one hopper, though the grinder should be cleaned roughly every four weeks if a dark roast is in regular rotation.

How fresh should beans be for the Rivelia? Caffé Prima beans typically arrive within four weeks of roasting, which lands them right as they finish resting and settle into their best-tasting stage. Fill each 250g hopper little and often rather than emptying a full 1kg bag in at once, since beans sitting in the hopper are exposed to heat and light that speed up staleness.

Does the Rivelia's milk system need a particular kind of bean? Not a different bean, but crema matters more than usual. The LatteCrema Hot carafe heats milk to around 60°C rather than scalding, so the espresso underneath needs a crema strong enough to hold up once milk is poured on top. Continental Blend and Espresso Blend both perform well here.

Getting Started

Most Rivelia owners get the most out of the Bean Switch system by loading Espresso Blend or Continental Blend into the daily-use hopper and Decaf Brazilian Arabica or 100% Colombian into the second. All are available with free next-day delivery on orders over £45 and no minimum order. 

See the full Caffé Prima coffee bean range for home buyers, or order 6kg cases from the wholesale collection for offices and hospitality buyers running a Rivelia for staff or customers.