Finding the best coffee machine for your particular needs can be like finding a needle in a haystack, there are such a huge number of options!
If you’re on the hunt for your perfect coffee machine, if you’re not already finding yourself overwhelmed and confused, that probably means you’ve only just started looking, so just be prepared. It’s probably not as straightforward as you thought it was going to be.
But fear not, I’ve broken everything down into an easy to understand guide so that anyone can simply read this guide and easily identify the best coffee machine for their budget and lifestyle.
Before I get into the different options, let’s first answer the question:
Why buy a coffee machine?
In short, the reason you’d buy a coffee machine is to allow you to enjoy better quality, freshly brewed coffee, at home.
There may be certain factors that would determine what kind of machine you’d go for, but the overall reason you’d want to invest in a coffee machine is to improve the quality of your coffee at home.
The UK has largely been a nation of instant coffee drinkers since the 1950s, at least when it comes to coffee at home – but there has been a gradual movement away from instant and towards freshly brewed coffee over the past few years. This movement has been sped up enormously lately, one of the many side-effects of the recent situation.
For many people, coffee at home has changed from being just a habitual quick caffeine fix on the way out of the door to a replacement for their regular visits to their favourite coffee shop, as something to really savour and enjoy.
If this describes you, then you may be in for a real surprise when it comes to just how great coffee at home can actually be.
Maybe I’m preaching to the converted, you’ve already left instant coffee behind, and you’re already enjoying freshly brewed coffee at home via a coffee machine or manual coffee maker, but you’re just looking for an upgrade?
Wherever you are on your coffee journey I’ll help you understand how to get the most out of the money you have available to spend on a coffee machine. On that note let’s discuss the first important part of the coffee machine buying process.
Budget
Most of us would love to trot down to the Porsche showroom and point to a brand new 911 turbo and tell the salesman that you’ll take one for you and one for your partner. But then you either wake up, or realise you could barely afford a set of tyres for a Porsche 911 ;-).
It can be a similar situation when considering buying a coffee machine.
Commercial coffee machines cost thousands, and if you wanted – I could point you in the direction of home coffee machines costing from four to five grand, or much more – not including the grinder! Believe it or not, there are people who have ten thousand pound (or more) coffee machine setups.
You may expect these people to also have a Bentley and/or Lamborghini on their (huge, gated) driveway, but you may be surprised. People who get serious about a hobby can end up increasing their budget over time, often a case of finding it easier to justify such expense, to themselves and probably more importantly to significant others…
The good news is that you don’t have to go to these extremes to up your home coffee game. Generally speaking, you’d expect the quality potential to improve along with the price of the coffee machine, but this doesn’t always hold true.
You can easily pay £1000 for a coffee machine that doesn’t produce coffee any better than one that costs £500, and you can get a machine that produces great coffee for way less than that too.
I think the most practical approach is to decide first how much you’re prepared to spend, and then you can immediately rule out any that don’t fit with the budget you’ve allocated. Don’t forget, you can always upgrade over time, and most coffee machines at least retain some value – so if you buy a lower cost machine now and decide to upgrade in a year, you’ll be able to sell your machine and buy another one.
It’s also important to understand that the type of coffee you’re wanting to make with your coffee machine also makes an impact on how much you’re going to have to fork out, but keep reading for more advice on budget, as I’ll talk about rough price ranges for each type of coffee machine shortly.
By the way, if you’re looking at producing freshly brewed coffee at home, but you don’t really want to invest in a “machine” – you don’t have to. Just grab a manual coffee grinder, and an Aeropress, and hey presto, you have cracking quality freshly brewed coffee from home. Or if you prefer filter, just get an inexpensive Hario V60.
Hario V60 Review Aeropress Review Best Manual Coffee Grinders
In fact, if you already have a cafetiere lurking in a kitchen cupboard somewhere, this is another way to brew brilliant quality coffee – get yourself a grinder, and look up some of the more modern cafetiere techniques, and you’ll be amazed by what the humble cafetiere can produce. Check out this method below from world barista champion James Hoffman.
So no matter what your budget is, you’ll find something you’ll be able to afford in order to take your home coffee game up by several notches.
Before you scroll down though just have a read of the next very important thing to take into consideration before you spend your hard-earned cash.
Types of coffee drinkers
There’s one hugely important thing that I think many people don’t understand, which can lead to poor decisions when buying coffee machines, and that is that there are actually two distinctly different kinds of coffee drinkers, when it comes to coffee at home.
There are normal coffee drinkers, and there are home baristas.
These really are completely different kinds of people, when it comes to their attitude towards coffee and how much time and effort they’re willing to invest on making coffee.
The thing is, there are coffee machines which are made for home baristas, and there are coffee machines which definitely aren’t, and it’s very common for people to misunderstand this, and end up with completely the wrong kind of coffee machine for them. Don’t worry though, you won’t make that mistake as you’re reading this article 🙂
A home barista (and I definitely put myself in this category) is someone who is willing to invest time, energy and money into making coffee. It’s not just means to an end, it’s a hobby. They’re constantly upgrading their gear and their skills, and they commit a lot of time to making coffee.
Normal coffee drinkers see coffee machines as means to an end, and coffee simply as a beverage they like to drink.
While a home barista will get out the scales, and do everything meticulously to get the perfect coffee, really enjoying the experience – a normal everyday coffee drinker just wants coffee.
If you’re looking for a hobby, and you can see yourself really enjoying the learning curve & continually improving your coffee making abilities, then when it comes to coffee machines I’d be looking at an espresso machine, and a separate coffee grinder. This is what I’d refer to as a home barista espresso setup.
There are also integrated grinder espresso machines such as the Sage Barista Express and Barista Pro, which I’ll get to shortly – but just keep in mind that most other espressos machines with integrated grinders are bean to cup machines, and you’ll probably want to steer clear of bean to cup machines if you’re going down the home barista hobby route.
If you’re more into filter coffee, then there only really a couple of options for true home barista filter coffee machines, so it’s an easier decision, but most home baristas are mainly into espresso making.
If you’re definitely a more normal coffee drinker, and you think anyone who weighs their coffee or spends an hour making their coffee in the morning is nuts, then I’d steer you towards either a bean to cup coffee machine, a pod coffee machine or a filter coffee machine, just depending on the kind of coffee you want to drink at home.
Again, when it comes to bean to cup machines, just make sure you’re actually looking at a true bean to cup coffee machine and not a traditional espresso machine with an integrated grinder, as these kinds of espresso machines are often categorized as bean to cup machines simply due to the integrated grinder.
Bean to cup coffee machines do most of the work for you, beans go in the top, coffee comes out of the bottom, and everything in between is done by the machine. If you go into a restaurant or hotel and use a self serve coffee machine for example, these are bean to cup coffee machines (just commercial versions).
There is one exception to this, which is the Sage Oracle range. These are bean to cup machines in the sense that they have integrated grinders and they do nearly everything for you, but they also allow the user to take more of an active role, so you get to look and feel like a home barista, but all of the skilled stuff (dosing, tamping, perfectly steaming the milk) is taken care of by the very clever machines.
Sage Oracle & Oracle Touch Review
Type of coffee machine
When it comes to coffee machines, meaning electric machines and excluding manual coffee makers, there are really only three kinds of coffee machine: Bean to cup coffee machines, espresso machines, filter coffee machines and pod or disk coffee machines.
Bean to cup coffee machines
These are currently the fastest growing sector of the coffee machine market as more and more people are looking to recreate a coffee shop experience at home particularly since the COVID pandemic where everyone was robbed of their latte’s and cappuccinos and these machines allow you to enjoy these at home without having to become a barista.
Nearly all bean to cup coffee machines are espresso machines, with the exception of a couple of machines on the market which are bean to cup filter coffee machines.
This is where things can get a bit confusing, because not everyone buying a bean to cup machine understands that they’re actually (usually) buying an espresso machine, and some people buying more traditional espresso machines (to be discussed shortly) think they’re buying bean to cup coffee machines.
It doesn’t help when websites wrongly categorize coffee machines, which happens quite often.
So just keep in mind, most bean to cup coffee machines are espresso machines, and they’re for making espresso and espresso based coffees such as Americano, lungo, flat white, cappuccino, latte & so on.
As I mentioned a bit earlier, bean to cup coffee machines are really the domain of the more “normal” coffee drinker, someone who wants great coffee but doesn’t want the hobby side of things.
A bean to cup coffee machine has the potential of completely transforming your home coffee experience, and the main reason for that : freshly ground coffee.
Coffee always, always tastes (and smells) better when it’s freshly ground – and with bean to cup coffee machines, your coffee is ground just before the shot is pulled and your Americano, cappuccino or Latte is made.
You simply drop the whole coffee beans to the hopper (the technical name for the container on the top that holds the beans), then when you press the button to tell the machine to make your coffee, it grinds it and then brews it – you can’t get much fresher than that.
Yes it’s fair to say that there’s a bit more to it than that, even with a bean to cup machine, if you want the best quality coffee. The most important thing here is the quality of the coffee. No matter how great your machine, if you put muck in, you’ll get muck out.
If you buy coffee beans from the supermarket, especially if it’s one of the better known household names, most of this coffee is what’s known as commodity coffee. It’s priced not based on quality, but by the stock market just like any other commodity such as sugar or salt. The best quality coffee beans don’t sell via this same channel, and isn’t priced in the same way.
The better quality coffee is grown by specialist coffee farmers, usually at much higher altitudes, in specific areas under very specific conditions, and is also processed with the same kind of focus on quality. There’s no way someone growing quality coffee would be able to sell their coffee as commodity coffee. Even the producers of commodity coffee, with lower production costs, often make losses due to the market price dropping.
Instead, high quality coffee which we usually refer to as speciality coffee, is purchased based on quality, by specialists. It also ends up being roasted by specialists, usually in small batches.
So every single process starting from planting the seedlings all the way through to roasting, is done with only one goal in mind, to get the very best quality cup of coffee at the end.
This is such a different kind of coffee to the “normal” coffee most people are familiar with. There’s really no suitable analogy I can think of to separate the two, even cheap plonk vs fine wines isn’t a close enough comparison.
So, buy great quality coffee beans, that’s the first step – whether you’re using a bean to cup coffee machine, traditional espresso machine, filter coffee machine or a manual brew method.
Best Coffee Beans
The other thing to mention is grind size. While bean to cup users don’t tend to focus on grind size to the same degree as home baristas do with traditional espresso machines, you’ll still be able to adjust the grind size to improve the extraction and therefore the taste of your coffee.
This isn’t the place for a tutorial ;-), but in a nutshell – if your coffee tastes sharp or sour, it’s probably under extracting, so try making the grind finer.
If your coffee is tasting bitter and astringent, watery, and you’re finding it dries out your tongue, these are signs of over extraction, which means you need to make the grind more coarse.
With home barista espresso machines you’d usually focus on flow time in order to gauge whether you’re in the sweet spot of extraction, but it’s not quite as easy to do that with bean to cup machines, so I’d recommend adjusting things based on taste.
Many “normal” coffee drinkers will be more than happy with the results of their machine with a little bit of grind adjustment, but if you wanted to try to get a bit closer to perfection, you can also play around with brew ratio – which simply means coffee in vs the espresso out.
With most bean to cup machines it’s possible to find out how much coffee is being ground depending on the setting you choose, and you can measure the coffee output using brew scales or a measured cup or glass. For instance, with the Gaggia Brera, the 2 bean setting is 9 grams so if you pull a double shot at the 2 bean setting that’s 18 grams (I’m great at maths).
So 36ml of espresso out from 18 in, is a 1:2 ratio. 45ml out from 18 in is 1:2.5, and 54 out from 18 in is a 1:3 ratio. Wow, is there no limit to my mathematical genius? ;-). As long as you can figure out how much your machine is grinding, and have some way to measure the shot, you can experiment with ratios.
Some of the higher cost bean to cup machines will allow you to adjust the brew temperature too, which gives you an additional element of control if you want it.
You’ll see that some of the bean to cup machines on the market will have a steam wand, while some have a milk carafe or a little gizmo called a cappuccinatore, and these machines handle the milk steaming and pouring for you too, these kinds of machines are also known as cappuccino makers or “one touch” bean to cup coffee machines.
If this sounds like the perfect kind of coffee machine for you, this post is all about bean to cup machines:
Best Bean To Cup Coffee Machine
Espresso Machines
Aside from bean to cup coffee machines, there are essentially two main types of espresso machines, domestic espresso machines and home barista espresso machines, also known as prosumer espresso machines.
Starting with home barista or prosumer machines, these are smaller, home versions of commercial espresso machines.
These machines are based on professional machines you’d find in a coffee shop, but they’re made in a way which makes them more suitable for home use – smaller, usually tank fed rather than plumbed in, and usually (but not always) cheaper than commercial machines.
As with commercial machines, these kinds of coffee machines require barista skills, which is why I’m referring to them as “home barista” espresso machines. They pull shots at the preferred 9 bars of pressure & they use standard espresso filter baskets and need to be paired with coffee grinders capable of grinding for espresso.
These kinds of espresso machines start at around £400 at RRP, but remember this is just the espresso machine, you’ll need a capable espresso grinder too, with the entry level being the likes of the Sage Dose Control Pro and Smart Grinder Pro.
Best Coffee Grinder
You’ll notice the name “Sage” cropping up several times during this post. Sage are one of the most prolific manufacturers when it comes to prosumer or home barista espresso machines, and they make traditional espresso machines, and bean to cup coffee machines. For more on Sage, see:
Best Sage Espresso Machine
Domestic espresso machines on the other hand, are made more for the standard domestic user. They’re made to require minimum barista skills, they’re made to work with pre-ground coffee or with cheaper coffee grinders, and they’re made in a way which makes them more affordable.
If you imagine a bean to cup coffee machine without the grinder, this is – generally speaking – a fairly good description of this kind of espresso machine.
As with most bean to cup coffee machines, they usually pull shots at 15 bars of pressure vs the preferred 9 bars, and they do so via pressurized baskets, and not the standard espresso filter baskets.
The filter basket is the metal cup with holes in the bottom which holds the ground coffee. Standard baskets are full of uniform sized holes, while pressurized baskets force the coffee through a single hole.
These kinds of baskets were initially introduced by Gaggia, as “perfect crema” baskets, and that name makes a lot of sense, as pressurised baskets are more about visuals than anything else. They give the espresso a better look, as they produce a foam which looks like the crema we associate with a great shot of espresso.
The problem is, these baskets don’t do as good a job when it comes to taste as they do when it comes to looks. They can produce a shot which looks the part, without the expense and the skills, but they don’t quite do the same job where taste is concerned.
Having said that, once again it comes down to whether you’re a “normal” coffee drinker or a home Barista, because it depends on whether you have the palate to detect much of a difference. Home baristas tend to develop their coffee palate along with their home barista skill, which spoils them over time.
It also depends on what you’re doing with your shots of espresso, once you’ve pulled them. If you’re making caramel lattes or cappuccino with a boat load of sugar, for example, it’s less likely that you’d be able to tell the difference between a shot pulled via a pressurized basket vs a shot pulled via a standard basket.
I don’t have an issue with domestic espresso machines, or pressurized baskets. As long as you’re using great quality coffee, I still think you’re going to experience great tasting coffee even with a £100 – £200 domestic espresso machine with pressurized baskets, and if you do reach a stage where your palate develops beyond the capabilities of that machine, and you start to catch the home barista bug, you can then look at upgrading.
I’m going to introduce a couple of what I think are the best choices among the lower cost domestic espresso machines below, but if you think this kind of machine is for you, then hopefully this post will help:
Best Cheap Espresso Machine
Pod or capsule coffee machines
These are pretty much the opposite of espresso machines in terms of the effort required.
If you want something (much) better than instant coffee but you constantly have 100 things on your to-do list and none of them are to do with making coffee then this type of machine will be right up your street.
My main problem with pod machines is that the business model of pod machine manufacturers is to sell you a cheap machine (usually sold at their cost or close) in order to then lock you into paying over the odds for their pods for as long as you own the coffee machine.
Most people will be familiar with this business model when it comes to printers. Many people buy a printer that costs £30-£60 and think that it’s a good deal only to find that the ink cartridges contain hardly any ink and cost £20 each so no wonder they were happy to sell you the printer for such a low price in the first place!
It’s not quite as bad with pod coffee machines but with the likes of Dolce Gusto and Tassimo you can expect to pay about 80p for a cappuccino or latte and you need to bear in mind that the milk in the capsule is either powdered milk (Dolce Gusto) or liquid milk creamer (Tassimo) which is never going to be as good as using fresh milk from a taste perspective.
However, if time is of the essence then you can’t get quicker than a pod machine. Open the lid, add the pod, press one button and you’re done.
If you like milk-based drinks such as cappuccino or latte and you choose to froth your own milk for the best taste then Nespresso is the way to go as some of their machines have built-in steam wands so you can froth your own milk or even milk carafes that use fresh milk to automatically froth and heat your milk so you don’t have to.
Also, thanks to Dualit taking Nespresso to court in a David vs Goliath type affair, and winning, there is a huge range of Nespresso compatible pods available, so you’re no longer locked in to using genuine Nespresso pods.
If you do decide to go down the Dolce Gusto or Tassimo route I would recommend that you use their espresso capsules and then buy a separate milk frother so that you give yourself the best chance of a decent tasting coffee by avoiding the powdered milk pods.
For more on milk frothers see:
Best Milk Frother
And this article goes into detail on Nespresso pod machines specifically:
Best Nespresso Coffee Machine
Filter coffee machines
This type of coffee machine, while very popular in the US, isn’t particularly popular in the UK, probably because it is incorrectly associated with only making big pots of coffee, sitting on a hot plate getting bitter.
But I think this is a very underrated way of making good coffee easily especially if you are on a budget and you are not interested in spending hundreds of pounds on a coffee machine as you can pick up a decent one for around £50-£70
You can also make as little as a couple of cups of coffee if it’s just for you or several if you have people over or you want to do an all-nighter!
Here’s a more detailed post on filter coffee machines:
Best Filter Coffee Machine
So, hopefully you have a bit more of an understanding now of the various kinds of machines, and a better understanding of which kind of coffee machine might be best for you. Here are what I believe to be the best coffee machines to consider, within each category:
Bean to Cup Coffee Machines
Check Price – Amazon UK
The De’Longhi Magnifica S is a hugely popular coffee machine from De’Longhi, and it’s no surprise to me to be honest, for such a low priced machine.
This is an auto machine, vs fully auto. To explain, there are super automatic or fully automatic machines, AKA “one touch” or “cappuccino maker” bean to cup machines which handle everything for you at the touch of a button, including the milk side of things.
Then, there are the standard bean to cup machines which come with a steam wand for you to steam the milk yourself.
Except for the Sage Oracle range, and the Gaggia Magenta (both of which feature below) most standard bean to cup machines with a steam wand, have what are known as panarello wands.
These are a sheath of metal or plastic around a steam pipe, and they introduce the air into the milk via a hole on the side, which means anyone can foam milk without developing any home barista skills.
The emphasis here, though, is on the word “foam”, as nearly all panarello wands are only capable of thick, spoonable foam for old school cappuccino.
There’s nothing wrong with this of course if this is how you like your milkies, but if like me you want velvety microfoam for flat white and third wave cappuccino and latte, you won’t get on well with panarello wands. It’s not a huge deal though, you can just pull the panarello off with most machines, and use the pipe below as a pro steam wand.
But if you’re all about milkies, just have a look at the Gaggia Magenta and the oracle coffee machines below.
Getting back to the Magnifica S, I’ve not used this model, but I have used the slightly older and slightly cheaper model (which features below) – and given that this appears to be a slight improvement on that machine (which I was impressed with) and is often available for only slightly more, I have a very positive opinion of this machine.
In terms of the main features, it has a handy front-loading water reservoir which will take 1.8 Litres, so not a bad capacity at all for such a low priced machine.
It has an adjustable group, meaning you can adjust the height for different cups, and it has 13 grind settings, which is actually fairly impressive for a bean to cup machine.
It’s a tad quieter, it would seem than its slightly older sibling (which is known for being a bit on the noisy side), and the controls just appear to be a bit more well thought. This was my only real criticism of the earlier model, I didn’t think the strength and volume settings quite made sense.
If you’re wanting a low-cost but reliable machine which will do everything for you except to steam and pour the milk, I don’t think this is a bad choice at all.
Check Price - Amazon UK
This is the aforementioned older and usually lower cost sibling of the DeLonghi Magnifica S, above.
DeLonghi sent this to me a while back, to review, and to be honest, I wasn’t expecting to be overly impressed given the price of this machine, but I was proven wrong.
It’s a great little machine for the money, and if I needed a bean to cup machine on a very tight budget, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy this machine.
It’s not perfect, you can’t expect perfection for this price – but it’ll make just as good quality espresso and espresso-based coffees as most machines costing up to around five times the cost.
The only niggles I had really was that it’s a little bit on the loud side (the pump on the Magnifica S appears to be slightly quieter), and I thought the settings needed a bit of a re-think, but once you’re set up to make your coffee how you like it, you don’t really need to mess with these anyway.
It has a smaller 1.2L water tank, but it’s the same front-loading style tank so very easy to re-fill. It has the same 13 grind settings, which gives you more adjustment than most bean to cup machines costing up to around 5-6 times the price.
If you’re wondering which you should go for, Magnifica S Vs Magnifica ESAM 4200, I’d say that depends.
Personally, I’d probably go for the Magnifica S if the price difference wasn’t an issue.
I always think when there’s a version of a newer machine, you’re benefiting from the experience of the users of that machine and the manufacturer’s response to what they’ve learned from feedback and research.
This is one of the benefits of buying a machine from a firm like DeLonghi, they’re enormous, they sell more espresso machines than any other manufacturer, and they spend over 40 million Euros per year in product development – so this is a company who has the resources to improve their machines over time.
But if budget is of supreme importance, and around £80 makes a big difference – then the ESAM is fine. I know plenty of people who’ve had this machine for years, and it’s rare to find anyone with anything particularly negative to say.
If you catch the home Barista bug, and you want to start working on perfecting your espresso, then no bean to cup machines are going to cut the mustard (weird saying…). But if you just want “decent” espresso and espresso-based coffees at the touch of a button, and you’re on a tight budget, the ESAM 4200 is very much a valid option.
If you want to read about this machine in a bit more detail then this article will help:
My full review of the Delonghi ESAM4200
Check Price – Gaggia Direct
Another very well known brand in coffee machines (Gaggia invented espresso machines as we know them) Gaggia make decent, reliable espresso machines, and I’d feel I was doing readers a disservice by not including the Brera in this post.
The Brera is a notch up in price vs the DeLonghi machines above, and in my opinion you’re mainly getting a bit more refinement for the extra cash.
The Brera is a lovely looking little machine, in my humble opinion, it’s really easy to use, the controls I found to be really well thought out, and I really couldn’t find much wrong with this coffee machine.
I used the Brera for a while as my main coffee machine (which is what I do when manufacturers send me machines to review), and I enjoyed using it. I was impressed with the quality of the coffee, the steam power, and how simple it is to use.
I found it a bit quieter than the Delonghi ESAM 4200, a bit more straightforward to control the volume and strength, and overall to look and feel higher quality, but it’s a bit more money, don’t forget.
It has a 1.2L water tank (same as the DeLonghi ESAM 4200, but 600ml smaller than the Magnifica S water tank), and it has a low level drip tray which is cleverly quite a bit bigger than it looks, as its capacity goes all the way under the machine.
If you’re asking the question Gaggia Brera Vs DeLonghi Magnifica S – I don’t think there’s a massive amount in it, when it comes to coffee quality.
The Brera features more stainless steel in the build than plastic, so it feels and looks a bit better quality. The Brera controls with the LCD display are a bit nicer.
The DeLonghi coffee machines (both the Magnifica S and the cheaper ESAM 4200) have the edge when it comes to grind settings.
The Brera has 5 grind settings, while the DeLonghi coffee machines have 7 settings with half step increments, giving them more fine-tuning ability than the Brera and most other bean to cup coffee machines until you get into the much more expensive machines.
So the choice is yours, but either way I don’t think you’re making a bad choice.
Check Price – Amazon UK
Another huge seller from DeLonghi (there’s a reason they’re the world’s biggest coffee machine manufacturer) the Eletta range, which features two one-touch options, and a steam wand version.
The currently available versions of the Eletta are the Eletta plus, Eletta Cappuccino & Eletta Cappuccino Top.
The Eletta Cappuccino (ECAM 44.660.B) is the version above, and it’s the base level of the one touch Eletta coffee machines.
It produces one-touch espresso, ristretto, lungo, cafe macchiato, latte machiatto, cappuccino & latte. It also produces Americano & flat white, but not via the one-touch selection.
Eletta Cappuccino TOP (ECAM 45.760.W) is the benchmark version of the Eletta, It’s a higher quality looking machine with more metal than plastic.
Check Price – Amazon UK
The difference is mainly esthetics, other than the fact that the “Top” has a one touch flat white button too, although some would argue that one touch machines can’t really do flat whites anyway.
I’d agree to be perfectly honest, but to be fair the same can probably be said of most coffee shops. That’s a discussion for another post ;-).
The Eletta Plus (ECAM 44.620.S) is practically the same machine as the 44.660 cappuccino above, except it has a steam wand, so it’s not a one-touch or “cappuccino maker” machine.
The Eletta plus features the same amazing panarello steam wand as the DeLonghi Dedica.
Panarello wands are a sheath over a steam pipe which delivers steam into the milk via a hole on the side, nearly all domestic espresso machines have these kinds of wands.
They ensure anyone can create milk foam, but no one can create great milk texture with them – except, that is, with the clever panarello which features on the DeLonghi Dedica and the Eletta Plus. This panarello has two settings, which makes it possible to create great micro foam.
In my humble opinion, most one-touch bean to cup machines produce a similar kind of milk texture as with standard panarello wands.
I’ve not come across a one touch machine so far which produces the same kind of velvety micro foam texture that you can achieve with a pro steam wand – but you can achieve the same kind of quality texture with the steam wand on the Eletta plus.
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Check Price – Gaggia Direct
If you want the convenience of bean to cup, but milkies (cappuccino, latte, cortado etc., and flat white in particular) are of prime importance to you, and if you don’t have the budget for the Oracle range I’ll talk about shortly, I’d be looking at either the DeLonghi Eletta Plus, above, or the Gaggia Magenta Plus.
Personally, because I much prefer using proper pro steam wands to panarello wands (even though as I mentioned above, the Eletta Plus panarello is capable of great texture) my choice would probably be the Magenta plus.
So the Gaggia Magenta Plus is impressive as a bean to cup coffee machine, featuring automatic preinfusion, full-colour LCD controls, completely button-free, fully customized drinks, adjustable brew head hight, stainless steel boiler, 1.8L water tank & 250g hopper capacity.
But what really makes it stand out, for me, is the pro steam wand. This is a low to mid range bean to cup coffee machine in terms of price, and it’s the only bean to cup coffee machine within this kind of range I’m aware of which has a pro steam wand.
There are two other Magenta versions, the “Magenta Milk” which is a one-touch coffee machine via a cappuccinatore and the “Magenta Prestige” which has a milk carafe, which makes it a more standard one-touch bean to cup coffee machine.
A cappuccinatore is a device which is fed with milk via a tube which you put into your milk jug or bottle, it froths the milk and dispenses it into your cup. Many of the Gaggia bean to cup coffee machines have a slightly cheaper “milk” option which froth via a cappuccinatore vs a milk carafe.
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The Sage Oracle range are the mutts nuts of bean to cup coffee machines, in my humble opinion.
You may say they should be, for the price – and yes OK they’re not cheap, but they’re not the most expensive bean to cup machines either, and they are – at the time of writing, in my opinion, the best.
The Sage Oracle was the first espresso machine I ever used! Years back when I first started coffee blog, Sage sent me the Oracle on loan for a few weeks so I could review it. I didn’t know anything about espresso machines, or much about coffee machines in general at that point to be honest, but the impression the Oracle mad on me will last forever.
Sage (or Breville, in most other countries, they can’t use the Breville name over here as it was sold in the 80s) are very clever manufacturers, who have a habit of reinventing things, and that’s basically what they did with the Oracle range, they reinvented the bean to cup coffee machine.
They solved one of the main issues manufacturers are faced with when making coffee machines like this, while simultaneously solving another problem I’m not sure they were even aware existed, but the popularity of the machines have shown that it does.
Bean to cup machines need to be able to dump the waste coffee grounds internally, without the moisture coming from the dumped grounds causing issues internally, and without the waste grounds container being able to overflow.
Sage overcame this issue in a completely unique way, by building the Oracle machines with a portafilter (filter holder) as with a traditional espresso machine, meaning that the user is therefore responsible for moving the coffee around.
Not only does this solve that issue, but it also solves the other issue I’ve alluded to, which perhaps wasn’t as obvious an issue, which is that some would-be bean to cup coffee machine users are put off by the lack of authentic espresso-making experience offered by bean to cup coffee machines.
Not everyone who wants home espresso wants the home barista hobby associated with using a traditional espresso machine, but not all of these people want to just press a button.
Many coffee lovers would prefer to have some of the same theatre of espresso-making, without the same barista skills needed to use a traditional machine, and this is what the Oracle range uniquely offer.
The user handles the portafilter as a barista would, putting it into the grinding area for the “Barista Inside” to grind, dose and tamp. The user then locks the portafilter into the group, and once the shot is pulled, unlocks the portafilter and nocks the puck of coffee out into the knock box.
It’s a similar deal with the milk side of things.
The “Barista Inside” auto steams the milk, but the user has control over the milk texture and temperature, and it’s done via a (technologically advanced) steam wand, with a milk jug.
This eliminates the learning curve required for producing great quality textured milk with a standard steam wand, and I can tell you, there really is a learning curve – I’ve been learning for years, and I’m still an amateur!
But unlike most of the one touch machines, the oracle machines produce barista quality microfoam, which as well as enabling you to produce true third wave milkies, also enables you to work on your latte art skills, if this is something you’d like to be able to do.
So with little in terms of learning, an owner of one of the Oracle machines can look and feel like a true home barista, even creating coffees with latte art. There is a real learning curve involved there too though, don’t expect to be pouring tulips straight out of the gate.
These aren’t gimmicky coffee machines though, in any way shape or form, they’re really serious bits of kit.
They’re dual boiler machines, meaning that you can steam milk and pull shots at the same time. Only the most expensive home barista or “prosumer” espresso machines, and commercial espresso machines are usually dual boiler.
Not only do they have a PID (digital temperature control) but it’s an adjustable PID, meaning you can control the brew temperature.
They feature heated groups for exceptional temperature stability, preinfusion, auto on and off settings, they’re really high-end espresso machines – they simply feature some additional features that reduce the home barista skill required.
The Oracle Touch is the newest Oracle machine which is, obviously, the touch screen version.
While
the original oracle is practically the same machine, without the touch screen selection – and the lack of this feature is reflected in the lower price.
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Espresso machines
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OK, so we’re now moving on to traditional espresso machines, so let’s begin at the entry level, with the Swan Retro espresso machine.
So these are semi-automatic traditional espresso machines. The “semi automatic” bit, means that they have a pump to create the pressure to pull the shot, vs fully manual espresso machines such as the La Pavoni Europiccola, which create the pressure via a lever.
And at this end of the price range, we’re specifically talking about “domestic” espresso machines.
As I mentioned earlier, these kinds of machines have 15 bar pumps, which are often boasted about in marketing blurb – giving the impression that more pressure is better. This is a myth, though. 15 bars of pressure simply works better when building a cheaper machine like this. For more see:
Why 15 Bars of Pressure Isn’t Best.
The other thing specific to domestic espresso machines is the use of pressurized filter baskets. Along with 15 bars of pressure, pressurized baskets are something you’re only going to find in the lower cost espresso machines.
As I mentioned earlier, pressurized baskets make home espresso more accessible, but they’re more about making the espresso look the part, than taste the part.
For more see:
Pressurised Baskets Vs. Standard Baskets
So the Swan Retro is a 15 bar pressurized basket machine, it’s among the cheapest espresso machines on the market, but from my experience, it’s not that bad at all.
This machine sells all over the world under different brand names, including Aldi Ambiano, K Mart Anko, Cookworks espresso machine & Klarstein Espressionata Gusto.
It’s a very popular machine at this price point, and I suspect this is largely down to the thermometre, which is something this machine has which is very rare in an espresso machine.
While I found that, as with all these kinds of domestic espresso machines, there’s a tendency for overheating – and some work required to combat it, what’s great with the Swan Retro is that you know what the temperature is (there or thereabouts) and that’s half the battle won.
Moving on from the thermometre, overall it’s a fairly impressive machine for the money. The steam is fairly powerful, it’s really simple to use, and I really don’t think you can go far wrong with this machine, taking the cost into account.
For more see:
Swan Retro Espresso Machine Review
DeLonghi Dedica Style EC685M
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The DeLonghi Dedica is one of the best ever selling home espresso machines.
It’s towards the top of the price range for these kind of machines, but I have to say that I think it’s worth every penny.
OK, it’s not quite a home barista machine – mainly due to the fact that there’s nothing you can do to reduce the pressure down to 9 bar, but it’s about as close as you’ll get without spending another one to two hundred pounds.
It’s quite a high quality build for the price, it has auto pre-infusion, and the only domestic espresso machine I’m aware of which does, it’s also the only machine of its kind I know of which features adjustable brew temperature.
Many people use the Dedica as their first home barista espresso machine.
It’s possible to do this because you can fairly easily make this a standard basket machine, and you can also mod the steam wand with a pro Rancilio silvia steam wand if you wish.
Although as I discuss in my video below, the panarello wand (specifically with the newer version, the EC685) is capable of great milk texture, or you can remove the wand and use the steam pipe below as a steam wand, as long as you secure it with a tie wrap.
It’s quite straight forward to use the Dedica as a home barista espresso machine, you can simply get hold of a bottomless portafilter, like this one, and a capable espresso grinder. For more on using the Dedica as a home barista espresso machine, see my second video in the series on the DeLonghi Dedica below.
For more on the DeLonghi Dedica, see:
DeLonghi Dedica Espresso Machine Review
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OK so we’re moving on from the domestic espresso machines now and onto what I consider to be the entry level home barista or prosumer espresso machines.
There’s no way I could talk about espresso machines, and not mention the Sage Bambino Plus. What a great little espresso machine this is!
I could go on and on about this machine, so I’ll try to hold back – but in a nutshell:
This is a relatively inexpensive espresso machine, at the very entry level for home barista machines, and it features:
- PID temperature control (factory pre-set, not user adjustable).
- 9 bars of pressure
- Low pressure pre-infusion, auto or manual.
- 3 second warm up time.
- Pro steam wand, which can be used manually, or fully automatic.
- 1.9 L water tank
To me, this is an amazing set of features for the price.
OK this PID (temperature control) isn’t adjustable, but the fact that there’s a PID which is factory pre-set means that the temperature isn’t flying all over the place, which is a common issue with entry level espresso machines even at a higher cost than this, such as the Rancilio Silvia, which is over a hundred quid more, and needs a PID mod (for about another hundred quid or so) to overcome this known issue.
This is a great machine to learn to steam milk with, but if you can’t be bothered with that, the auto milk steaming feature is very good.
For more on the Sage Bambino Plus see:
Sage Bambino Plus Review
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Probably the joint most popular entry level home barista machine at present along side the Sage Bambino Plus, is the Gaggia Classic Pro.
The Gaggia Classic has been around for a long time (30 years at the time of writing), and it’s developed a great reputation over the years, even developing somewhat of a cult following.
They were built like tanks, good old fashioned engineering, very little to go wrong, and very simple and inexpensive to maintain. In fact, if you look for used Classics, you’ll find many still going strong, and holding their value very well too, from the 90s & 00s.
The first home barista espresso machine I bought was the Gaggia classic – and I still have it now, it’s a 2003 model, and it’s still absolutely fine.
For more on the original “old model” classics, see:
Gaggia Classic Old Model Review
Philips bought Gaggia in 2009, and the classic gradually fell out of favour with the majority of the more hardcore Gaggia Classic fanbase, lacking some of the things this community had come to expect from the Classic, including the 3 way solenoid valve, and the adjustable over pressure valve.
But then came the Gaggia Classic Pro came along and turned heads.
The 3 way solenoid valve is back. The adjustable OPV isn’t there but it’s very easy to mod the pressure, for anyone who wants to do that. It’s back to the original configuration with the small, high powered aluminium boiler, but what’s more, the new classic pro features a pro steam wand!
The original classic featured a panarello, which many people modded with a Rancilio Silvia steam wand, and while that was fine – I think it’s great that the new classic comes with a pro wand, so no need to faff around trying to make another wand fit.
For more, see:
Gaggia Classic Pro Review
If you like the sound of both the Gaggia Classic Pro and the Sage Bambino plus, and you can’t decide between the two (which is very common) see:
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The last suggestion here for semi auto traditional espresso machines is the Barista range of espresso range from Sage.
Not to be confused with bean to cup coffee machines, the Sage Barista range which started out with the Barista Express above, are integrated grinder espresso machines, but that’s where the similarity with bean to cup coffee machines end.
Using the Barista express is exactly the same as using any other espresso machine, other than the fact that the grinder is integrated, so you don’t need a separate grinder.
I first reviewed the Barista Express a while back, and I was really impressed with it in many ways.
The only negative for me vs using a separate espresso machine was the relatively few grind settings on the Barista Express, at 18 grind settings, which made it tricky for precisely dialling in, meaning to finely adjust the grind size to improve the extraction.
The newer Barista Pro, though, is much better in that regard with 30 grind settings. The pro also features the newer “ThermoJet” system for faster heat up time and steam ready time.
I think the Barista Express is very good for the money, especially when you can find a deal. I do prefer the Barista Pro, though.
It’s about a hundred quid more at RRP, but that ability to finely tune the grind I do think is needed if you’re wanting to get the best possible results with each bean. The Barista pro is only a hundred quid more at RRP, and you will sometimes find it on offer if you shop around.
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Pod coffee machines
Starting off with Tassimo machines – these are among the most popular coffee capsule machine options in the UK.
They’re inexpensive machines with some crowd-pleasing disk options including flavoured lattes (caramel, vanilla etc.), iced lattes, chai latte, hot chocolates & so on, and the inclusion brands such as Costa, L’or, Jacobs, Bailey’s, Orio & Cadbury I reckon is a pretty big selling point, too.
Being completely honest, if I were a “normal” coffee drinker, I’d buy a Tassimo machine. I can say that quite confidently because I was, and I did.
By “normal”, I mean you mainly drink instant coffee, freshly brewed only on a special occasion or when at a coffee shop. If this is you, you’ll probably be more than happy with the quality of most of the pods available from any of the pod or disk coffee machines.
This was me, completely, just a few years ago before I caught the speciality coffee bug. I thought the best quality coffee would come from a pod or disk machine, and being pragmatic about it, given that “best” is a very subjective thing, I was probably right.
This is really a subject for a post all of its own, but in a nutshell – my palate right now is very different than it was back in the early to mid-00s when I bought a Tassimo machine.
Back then I was as happy as a pig in muck with the quality of the pod based coffees I was drinking, these days I’d probably prefer to drink pig muck.
If you’d have given me a glass of Hardys Crest Cab Sav Merlot when I was 20, I’d have winced and told you I’ll stick to my £4 bottle of fruity red whatever from the corner shop. Now, the Hardys is my favourite every day (from wine o’clock onwards, obviously), and I wouldn’t dream of drinking the rubbish I would have enjoyed back then.
How times and tastebuds change!
As I mentioned earlier, if I was going to use a Tassimo these days, I’d definitely just buy the espresso pods and steam my own milk using a milk frother, but if you do decide to buy a Tassimo machine, try the milk pods for yourself and see what you think, you might love them – I prefer fresh milk.
If you’re thinking of going for a Tassimo machine, have a look at this:
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The Bosch Sunny is the no1 best-selling capsule coffee machine on Amazon UK at the time of writing, and I’m not surprised given the price.
You can pay more for a Tassimo machine if you want to:
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Personally though, I can’t figure out what you’re actually getting for the extra investment. As far as I’m concerned the essence of Tassimo is the disks, and the bar coding system which tells the machines what to do.
I can’t actually see any clear benefits to be had other than aesthetics, from stumping up the extra cash. I may be missing something!
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Another pod coffee machine that doesn’t require much introduction, is the Dolce Gusto machines from Nescafé.
Again, this isn’t a machine I’d be buying these days, but back when I was a standard coffee drinker, no doubt I’d have been as happy as Larry (my father-in-law) with a machine like this.
One of the good things about Dolce Gusto vs Bosch Tassimo, is that there are compatible pods available for the Dolce Gusto coffee machines, meaning you’re not forced to buy Nescafé pods, so you have more choice.
This particular model the Piccolo XS is the best-selling Dolce Gusto machine and the second best selling pod machine on Amazon at the time of writing.
The Piccolo XS is a compact machine, w:25 d:32 h:25 cm, and has an 800ml water tank – and this is a manual machine, which means you manually set the machine to the bars displayed on the pods you’re using.
Unlike with the Tassimo machines above, I can see some benefits from going for the slightly higher priced Dolce Gusto machines. The more expensive machines are automatic vs manual, and there are other features that you may decide are worth investing a bit extra in.
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The Infinissima is similar to the Piccolo XS, it has a bigger 1.2L water tank, and is 10cm wider at 33 d:32 h:27 cm. It’s a manual machine as the Piccolo XS, and it features a rising drip tray to adjust the cup height vs taking the drip tray off on the Piccolo XS and clipping it on higher.
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The Genio S Plus is currently the best seller on Amazon in the bean to cup coffee machines category, which is slightly odd, as a bean to cup coffee machine it ain’t ;-), it’s a pod machine of course.
Moving on from that, this is an automatic machine, so you just slap the pod in and the machine knows how much water to pass through the pod, although that’s adjustable, so if you want a bigger (weaker) coffee, you can.
As with the Piccolo XS, there’s an 800ml water tank, and in terms of size, this is very slim at w:12 d:32 h:27 cm. In terms of more impressive features, the Genio S has the “Espresso Boost” technology for stronger espressos, and temperature control.
Now let’s move on to Nespresso Machines.
While I’ve said that if I were going to buy a pod machine back when I was a “normal” coffee drinker, these days if I was going to buy a pod machine, it would be a Nespresso machine. I can prove this by the fact that I do actually own one ;-).
At home, I value taste over convenience, so I have no need to use a pod machine.
When this convenience does come in extremely useful though, for me, is when I’m rehearsing with my band. We have a rehearsal room in an old mill, and if I (or anyone else) wants a coffee during a break, there’s no time for anything but a pod machine.
The reason I use a Nespresso machine as my ultra-convenient coffee delivery method when required, well there are a few:
Firstly, in my humble opinion, Nespresso machines are the pod machines capable of the best-tasting coffee. Actually, I think first prize here would need to be shared with the Lavazza a Modo Mio machines.
By the way, did you know these two machines (what’s known as the Lavazza machine, and Nespresso) were invented by the same guy?
It’s a really cool story actually, I’m surprised it hasn’t been turned into a movie. He played the long game, got himself a job in packaging at Nescafe just to learn the workings of the company, and to eventually get the chance to pitch his invention.
Nespresso vs Lavazza A Modo Mio
Just to quickly discuss the Lavazza A Modo Mio machines, I’ve used them side by side, and I found the Lavazza machines to produce slightly hotter coffee, and slightly stronger, so from that perspective I preferred Lavazza.
But, there isn’t the same variety of machines, and more importantly, there isn’t the variety of compatible pods. There are compatible pods, but there are more for Nespresso machines.
That said, if the slightly hotter and slightly stronger Lavazza sounds more up your street, check this out:
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It’s a fairly nice looking little machine, similar in looks to the Nespresso Inissia.
It has a quick heat up time, around 25 seconds, a capsules bin which will take 4 of 5 pods, an adjustable cup height with two settings, and – well, there’s not much more to say about it really.
But if you’re looking for a small, cheap pod machine – as I said, from my experience the pods will be slightly stronger and slightly hotter than with the original Nespresso machines.
I say original because there are the newer Vurtuo Nespresso machines, too, which are quite a bit different to the original Nespresso machines, and feature a bigger range of pod sizes and strengths.
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This is the Nespresso machine I have, and I think it’s a fairly impressive machine, for the cost. Not that it does anything that any of the other machines won’t do, I was just struck by how good quality it looks and feels, when I got it, compared to some of the slightly cheaper machines.
It has a 1L removable water tank, fairly big for a pod machine. It has a folding trip tray, which means you can use a bigger cup on the drip tray or a smaller cup on the fold-down tray.
Max cup height, if you were wondering, is just over 15cm, and it’ll fit up to 12 capsules in the pods bin.
The only quirk I’ve noticed with this machine is that the pump is quite aggressive, so if you’re using a small espresso glass on the fold-out tray, you have to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t vibrate it right off the edge.
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This is a one-touch Nespresso machine, meaning that you just press the cappuccino, latte, or latte macchiato button & the machine does it all for you.
You can even adjust the milk texture settings, and personalise the coffees to your liking.
The only thing that would put me off with this machine, though, is it looks a bit fiddly when it comes to cleaning. You have to press and hold the clean button for around 16 seconds after every milk drink to rinse it, and this is just the cleaning in between drinks.
Cleaning the milk carafe, which is recommended every couple of days, involves dismantling the carafe, which does seem like a bit of a faff.
It does have an impressive overall review score on Amazon, there are some negs but it’s mainly positive – the negatives are mainly about cleaning and low milk temperature.
It has mainly positive reviews on Amazon though, there are a few complaints about cleaning,
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If you subscribe to my YouTube channel, you’ll know that I talk about Sage Coffee machines quite a bit, simply because they produce some of the most innovative, user friendly espresso machines available.
They don’t tend to approach manufacturing machines in the same way as most other manufacturers.
They like to take a step back and look at how things should work rather than just following the norm, which often leads to quite remarkable innovations, such as the Bambino Plus espresso machine with its 3 second heat up time, and quite incredible abilities for such a low cost espresso machine.
Sage Bambino Plus Review
And the Creatista Nespresso machines from Sage are based on the Bambino plus.
The creatista uno has the same new thermoset heating system as with the Bambino plus, which means it heats up almost instantly, and also means that the steam is ready almost instantly.
If you’re set on Nespresso, but milkies are really important to you – personally, I’d be thinking about one of the Sage Creatista machines vs a one touch nespresso machine or a nespresso machine with an aeroccino, simply because you’re going to have so much more control over milk texture and milk temperature.
Filter coffee machines
Filter coffee machines while hugely popular in the states, aren’t quite as mainstream in the UK as they once were, and they might not be all that exciting, but if you enjoy filter coffee, a filter coffee machine is an obvious choice.
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This is one of the best selling filter coffee machines in the UK at the moment, and I can see why – it’s very cheap, and seems to have some decent features for the cost.
It has a max brew volume of 1.5L, it comes with a reusable mesh filter (you can use paper filters too of course), it has what is described as a durable glass carafe.
From what I can gather, as long as you’re unlucky & receive a faulty unit (and that’s one of the great things about buying from Amazon, it’s very easy to return a machine if it’s faulty), you should have a good filter machine here for such a low cost.
The Amazon listing is a bit odd, though, it describes this as being capable of making espresso and macchiato, which of course it isn’t – this is a filter coffee machine…
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If you’re wanting a cheap filter coffee machine for making single cups, this machine from Morphy Richards is worth a look.
It comes with a travel cup, so if you’re looking for a machine to produce a travel cup full of coffee for when you’re heading out of the door, this is what this machine is aimed at, although you can use it for normal cups, too. So you could have this on your desk, for example, to keep you caffeinated while working.
There’s no doubt it’s a cheap machine, don’t expect solid build quality and quirk-free brewing, any machine at this kind of price is going to feel cheap, as it is, and is going to come with some imperfections as you’ll discover if you read the reviews, but you do need to take into account just what a low cost machine this is.
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The Buckingham filter coffee machine from Russell Hobbs, has been one of the best selling filter coffee machines in the UK for a while. It’s an inexpensive machine, it’ll brew from 250ml to 1.25L of coffee in one go, and it has a timed brewing function for fresh coffee when you wake up, so it has everything most people would be looking for in a filter coffee machine.
It comes with a reuseable mesh filter, but if you prefer paper filters as I do, that’s fine too.
Ignore how many cups of coffee the sales blurb says it’ll make – coffee machine manufacturers all appear to use thimble-sized cups… It won’t make ten cups – well, it will, but only if those cups are 125ml, or just over 4 ounces, which is a very small cup. It’ll make up to around four or maybe five “normal” sized cups of coffee.
My only worry about this machine is that there are a lot of people saying you need to be careful with the glass carafe, as it’s quite brittle, and the replacement is about half the price of the machine.
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Sage (known as Breville outside of the UK) don’t just make coffee machines – they’re known for re-thinking the way things are done, and making game changing coffee machines, and that’s what they’ve done with the Precision Brewer.
This is a large capacity filter coffee machine, while it’s listed as 1.7L, it’s actually 60 ounce, so almost 1.8L.
It comes with both flat bottomed and conical filter baskets, it has single cup detection for allowing single cups to be brewed, and you can even switch out the filter basket for your favourite pourover device, such as Kalita Wave or Hario V60 (you have to buy a separate adapter for that, though).
Instead of a glass carafe and a warmer plate, the precision brewer uses a hefty insulated stainless steel carafe which will keep your coffee hot for a good few hours.
It has a PID for temperature regulation, and it has really easily selectable pre-set brewing options, and a completely customizable setting called “My Brew”, which you can tweak to your hearts desire, to end up with your perfect coffee.
The “My Brew” setting allows you to customize bloom time and volume, brewing temperature and flow rate, so really clever stuff – but I wouldn’t expect anything else from Sage.
If you just want the best quality filter coffee possible without the faff, just select “Gold”. This uses a preset bloom time & volume, flow rate and brew temp as approved by the gold cup standards of the ECBC (European Coffee Brewing Centre). Once you’ve found your perfect setting, you can program it (and it’s very simple to do) to be ready for you when you wake up, brewed to your specific settings, or to one of the pre-sets.
This machine will even do cold brew for you!
I’ve been using this machine recently as I’m in the process of reviewing it, and it’s an amazing machine. It’s versatile, it’s suitable for the seasoned home barista and for the complete novice and everyone in between, it’s really simple to use, and it’s capable of making great filter coffee.
My only criticism is that as the measurements on the water tank were converted from ounces to ml, there’s no measurement for 1L, the closest is 900ml, which I find a bit irritating. I’m going to keep this one, though, as I love it (I’m going to buy another one to give away to one of my patreon supporters), so I’ll just pour 1L in and then mark it off myself.
Forgetting that little quirk, which to be fair really doesn’t matter ;-), I think this is probably the most clever filter coffee machine ever made, such a great machine.
Don’t take my word for it though, ex world Barista champion and coffee legend James Hoffman uses this as his day to day coffee maker, which speaks volumes!
Best Coffee Machine – Conclusion.
I really hope you’ve found this post helpful, and that by this stage you’ve at least figured out which kind of coffee machine may be best for you, even if you’ve not yet decided on which machine you’re going to go for.
Just remember, coffee is key, so no matter what decision you make on the coffee machine, go for great quality coffee beans and you can’t go far wrong.
Now just a few commonly asked questions before I sign off:
Are home coffee machines worth it?
In a word, yes. If you’re even asking the question, then you obviously want to enjoy the coffee you drink at home, and you’re no longer regarding coffee as just a quick caffeine fix.
If you want to really enjoy every cup of coffee you drink at home, then yes, I definitely believe it’s worth getting a home coffee machine. I’ll let you in on a secret, too. While there are some amazing indy coffee shops out there, there are also many coffee shops producing coffee which you could easily rival with a home coffee machine.
There are cafe’s that have never dialled in their grinders after the initial install.
There are cafes where the steam wands are white because they’re completely caked in old, rotting milk!
There are cafes where the staff just haven’t been properly trained, and it may as well be anyone else walking in off the street and operating their commercial espresso machine.
And these cafe’s will all have one thing in common, they’ll have the look of a high quality coffee shop, and the prices of a high quality coffee shop, meaning you’re paying through the nose for coffee that you could easily beat at home for a fraction of the cost!
If you drink instant coffee and you have never owned a coffee machine and you are not sure if it’s for you then try spending £15-£30 on a cafetiere or an Aeropress so you are not risking more than the price of a couple of Pizzas to find out if you can make something you drink everyday taste delicious (you will) every time.
Are expensive coffee makers worth it?
Buying an expensive coffee machine doesn’t guarantee that you will get great coffee that is proportionate to buying a cheap one.
What I mean by that is that if you spend £1000 on a coffee machine it doesn’t mean you will get coffee that tastes 10 times better than one that costs £100.
You have to make sure that you choose one that is right for your needs and lifestyle and you may well be better off with a cheaper machine that doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of a more expensive one if you’ll never use the features that it offers.
However much you decide to spend and whichever brewing method you choose to use I hope this article has equipped you with everything you need in order to make an informed choice.
If there is anything else you would like my help with drop me a comment below and I’ll come back to you as soon as I can.
Life is like a box of chocolates, so join my Brew Time list, subscribe to my YouTube Channel, try my coffee at The Coffeeworks (use discount code coffeebotherers), follow me on Twitter & Instagram, follow the coffeeblog FaceBook page, and that’s all I have to say about that.
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This article firstly appeared at Coffee Blog – The UK Specialty Coffee Blog – For Lovers of REAL Coffee!
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