The Best Kind of Coffee Machine For You.
If you're looking for a "coffee machine", let me ask you something, the last time you were shopping for a car, did you just look for a "car"?
You probably didn't, and if you did, you'd still be looking ;-).
As with cars, there are just too many types of coffee machines to just be looking for a coffee machine, you really need to know specifically what kind of coffee machine you're shopping for.
So, which is the best kind of coffee machine for you? Keep reading, and you'll find out :-).
There are really four types of home coffee machine:
- Bean to cup, "automatic" espresso machines
- Manual espresso machines
- Filter coffee machines
- Nespresso machines, and other disk & pod machines
Automatic / Bean To Cup Coffee Machines
If you want to use fresh coffee beans, and you want as much convenience and as little faff as possible, you'll probably be looking for a bean to cup machine, also known as an automatic coffee machine.
Bean to cup coffee machines are espresso machines, so they make espresso and all of the coffee shop favourites, cappuccino, Americano, latte etc., and they do it from freshly ground coffee beans.
They differ from traditional espresso machines not only because of the integrated grinder, but mainly because instead of using a traditional basket with a handle (portafilter) and a traditional group for extracting the espresso, they have what's known as a brewing unit, sometimes called the "infuser".
So you just put coffee beans in the top, and thanks to the integrated grinder and the brewing unit, you get espresso out of the bottom, which you mix with hot water for Americano / long black, and with steamed milk for latte & cappuccino.
They start from a few hundred pounds, and you can spend a heck of a lot more on them, if you like, but it's worth keeping in mind that the coffee quality is likely to be around the same whether you're spending a few hundred or several times more, as they're all very similar where the coffee side of things are concerned.
For my bean to cup coffee machine suggestions, see:
Best Bean To Cup Coffee Machines
Manual Espresso Machines
When we talk about manual espresso machines, we're mainly talking about semi-automatic espresso machines these days, which simply means they have a pump to deliver the pressure, vs the fully manual espresso machines which have a lever.
Fully manual espresso machines are still a thing, in fact some people consider them to be the pinnacle of espresso machines, where espresso quality is concerned.
The La Pavoni Europiccola is probably the most popular lever espresso machine, they're amazing machines, although they're not for everyone.
So the majority of manual espresso machines are semi auto, meaning that they have a pump, instead of a lever and a piston.
At the entry level, are machines like the Gaggia Classic Pro & Sage Bambino plus, and integrated grinder machines including the Sage Barista Express and Barista Pro.
Just keep in mind that the Barista Express, Barista Pro and other integrated grinder machines are commonly put in bean to cup machine categories by retailers, but they're not actually bean to cup coffee machines.
All these machines share with bean to cup machines is the integrated grinder.As I mentioned earlier, bean to cup coffee machines have a brewing unit, this is what makes them bean to cup coffee machines.
The "Bean to Cup" phrase was coined in the 80s when Saeco launched the first machine of this type, and it explains the fact that you just put beans in the top, the machine does the rest.
Espresso machines like the Barista Pro, Barista Express, Barista Express Impress and so on, don't have a brewing unit, so they're simply traditional espresso machines with integrated grinders.
Sage do a few machines now that are integrated grinder espresso machines that I do think actually belong in the bean to cup category, simply because they produce traditional espresso quality with all of the convenience of bean to cup coffee machines, the Sage Oracle Touch & Barista Touch.
These machines aren't simply espresso machines with integrated grinders, they take away all of the skill requirement and most of the faff, as with bean to cup coffee machines, but they deliver cup quality which is on par with traditional machines.
I prefer the standard oracle over the touch, personally, as I'm not a huge fan of touch screens, I actually think that where coffee machines are concerned they make things harder, not easier, but maybe that's just me, I'm not a big fan of touch screen phones either, if Blackberry was still a thing I'd have one of them still, with a proper keyboard.
For my traditional espresso machine suggestions, see:
Filter Coffee Machines
Filter coffee machines don't really need much of an introduction, most people will be familiar with them - although, many people won't be familiar with the modern filter machines, which tend to have a lot more features, some of which include integrated grinders.
The main thing to keep in mind with filter coffee machines, is that they produce filter coffee, that is, coffee that has been filtered either through a paper filter, or through a reusable mesh filter, which modern filter coffee machines come with.
This may seem obvious, but many people accidentally buy an espresso machine who actually wanted filter coffee, or buy a filter coffee machine when they wanted Americano, which is espresso mixed with hot water.
Nespresso Machines
Nespresso machines don't need to much of an introduction, either.
There are various other pod coffee machines of course, but I prefer Nespresso (original line) among the various pod machines based on the sheer amount of compatible pods that are available for Nespresso machines now, including some great small batch roasters.
There are some really interesting, new Nespresso machines on the market, there's also the new Nespresso Vertuo line. There are various other coffee pod machines on the market of course, namely Lavazza, Nespresso Dolce Gusto & Tassimo.
But for me, Nespresso Original Line machines are the best pod machines, mainly because of the huge number of compatible pods available.
If you want to, you can spend a fortune on a pod machine, the Sage Creatista Pro or Creatista Plus are very clever machines, also the Morning Coffee Nespresso machine has some great features.
If you just want a small, inexpensive and durable Nespresso machine, I'd recommend having a look at the Philips L'Or machine, I've got one, and I'm very surprised by how good it is for the very low price.
