Description
The Lavazza BLUE Classy Mini, model LB 300, is a single serve capsule machine built around a proprietary Lavazza system. It pours two drink sizes from touch controls, one preset and one you program yourself, and it is unusually narrow for a machine that produces a pressurised espresso style shot.
The important thing to establish before anything else is what BLUE means here. It is not a colour, despite the attribute table recording the colour as Blue. Lavazza BLUE is the name of a closed capsule system, distinct from Lavazza A Modo Mio, from Nespresso and from the K-Cup format. That single fact determines almost everything about whether this machine makes sense for you, and it is worth more attention than any feature on the spec sheet.
The Closed Capsule System
A closed system means the machine takes one capsule format and only that format. Lavazza BLUE capsules are sold by Lavazza and through office and hospitality suppliers, and the system was designed primarily for workplace use rather than for the supermarket aisle.
The consequences are practical. You cannot use ground coffee, you cannot use K-Cups, and you cannot use Nespresso capsules. Availability and price of BLUE capsules will govern your cost per cup and your convenience for as long as you own the machine, and they are less widely stocked than the mainstream capsule formats. Anyone who wants a capsule machine with the broadest possible supply should be looking at the K-Cup format instead, which the single serve brewers we cover are built around, or at Nespresso, where a machine like the Nespresso Essenza Mini occupies a similar physical footprint.
Drink Selections and Dosing
The machine offers two coffee selections through simple touch controls: one preset dose and one programmable free dose. In practice that means one button gives you the volume Lavazza set at the factory, and the other gives you whatever volume you taught it by holding the button until the cup is where you want it.
That is a modest but genuinely useful arrangement. Capsule machines with fixed volumes force you to accept the manufacturer idea of an espresso, and a programmable dose lets you set a longer lungo or a shorter ristretto to your own taste. What the specification does not say is whether the programmed volume can be reset, whether both buttons are programmable or only one, and what the factory preset volume actually is in millilitres or ounces.
Size and Build
The recorded dimensions are 13 inches deep, 5.3 inches wide and 10.2 inches high, and the same figures appear in the product title, which is a rare case of the data agreeing with itself. At 5.3 inches wide this is one of the narrowest capsule machines available, and the depth is where the water tank and the pump have been packed instead.
The item weight is 7.7 pounds, which is substantial for something this narrow and suggests a real pump and boiler rather than a lightweight thermoblock in a plastic shell. The machine runs on 120 volts and the recorded first availability date is May 2019. The styling is described as Italian with chrome details, which is marketing rather than specification, though the physical proportions do explain why this machine turns up in offices and small kitchens.
The Missing Description
This product has the thinnest source data of anything covered here, and it is worth saying so plainly rather than padding around it. The entire manufacturer description captured for this listing reads: please refer to the user guide or user manual before first use. That is the whole of it.
There is no water tank capacity. No pump pressure figure in bars. No heat up time. No statement of whether there is a used capsule container and how many capsules it holds. No drip tray description. No cup clearance height. No power rating in watts. For a machine that costs what this one costs, that is a remarkable absence, and it means several of the questions you would normally answer from a spec sheet can only be answered by the manual. Compare that with a machine like the Ninja ES601, where the listing runs to several hundred words of specification.
Capsule Cost and Supply
With a closed system the machine price is the smaller half of the decision. Every cup for the life of the machine comes from one supplier at one price, with no competitive pressure from third party manufacturers to hold it down. Lavazza BLUE is distributed mainly through Lavazza itself and through office and hospitality channels rather than through general grocery retail, so ordering tends to mean going direct or buying in bulk online rather than picking a box up with the shopping.
Spec Sheet Errors
Three fields in the attribute table are wrong or misleading. The colour is recorded as Blue, which has picked up the name of the capsule system rather than the finish of the machine. The filter type is recorded as Reusable, which cannot be true of a sealed capsule machine that has no filter you ever touch. And the included components field simply reads NO, which tells you nothing about whether a capsule starter pack or a water hardness strip ships in the box.
The operation mode is recorded as Fully Automatic. On a capsule machine that phrase usually means a super automatic with a grinder and a milk system, which this is not. Here it means the pour stops itself, which is true of essentially every capsule machine ever made.
What the Specifications Do Not Settle
Everything listed in the missing description section above remains unanswered: tank size, bar pressure, heat up time, waste capsule capacity, wattage and cup clearance. Beyond those, nothing states whether there is a hot water function for tea or an Americano, which many capsule machines include, and nothing says whether a milk solution exists for this model.
Capsule availability is the other open question and it is the one most likely to matter in three years. A closed system depends on the manufacturer continuing to supply it, and the Lavazza BLUE format has a narrower retail presence than the mainstream alternatives. That is a risk to weigh rather than a fault to condemn.
Who It Suits
This makes sense for a workplace or a small kitchen that has already committed to the Lavazza BLUE format, or for somebody who specifically wants Lavazza coffee and is content to buy capsules from a narrower set of suppliers. At 5.3 inches wide it fits where almost no other pressurised machine will, and the programmable dose is more control than most capsule machines offer. The Nespresso Inissia EN80B is the comparable machine on a wider capsule system.
It is the wrong machine for anyone who wants capsule choice, because a closed proprietary system is the opposite of choice. It is also the wrong machine if you want milk drinks or the ability to use your own ground coffee. Anyone in that position should look at the wider espresso machines we cover, where a pump machine with a portafilter gives you complete control over what goes in. The De’Longhi ENV150 Nespresso Vertuo is another closed system machine to weigh against it.
