The best coffee machines are on standby to deliver barista-quality brews that rival your favourite cafe. For those of us who indulge in a daily cup (or three) of joe, a pod or bean-to-cup machine is a must-have in your home.
Whether you love syrupy lattes or a double shot of espresso, brewing up your preferred cup daily can add up to a fraction of the price at your local café.
No sure where to start? Well, broadly speaking, there are three types of coffee machines: bean-to-cup, espresso, and coffee pod machines.
Bean-to-cup designs grind the beans, brew your coffee and typically have a function to steam milk. This is often considered the ultimate type of coffee machine. There are automatic bean-to-cup coffee machines – just press a button and they will do everything for you, including frothing your milk. Then there are manual bean-to-cup coffee machines, which require you to get a little more hands-on when it comes to frothing milk.
Espresso machines are similar to the manual bean-to-cup styles, except you insert ground coffee to begin with. These appliances are often a lot smaller than bean-to-cup machines and come at a lower cost but give you slightly less control over your coffee.
When it comes to pod machines, you simply load a coffee pod, press a button and hey presto. They’re convenient, quick and compact but lack any real option to customise your drink of choice (plus, often, the pods aren’t super environmentally friendly).
With all that in mind, I’ve tested dozens of machines across every category – keep scrolling to find the best coffee machine to brighten up your mornings.
How I tested
- Real-world testing: I’m a working mother who’s often reliant on caffeine to help me power through a long day. I tested all the coffee machines in a real-life busy household, looking at all the different types of coffee machines and all the big names.
- Quality: At the end of the day, I wanted a really good cup of coffee that was of barista quality.
- Convenience: I looked for machines that slotted seamlessly into busy mornings and hectic afternoons. I weighed up convenient machines alongside ones that allow more room for creativity. Speaking of space, I looked at how much real estate the coffee machines took up in our kitchen, too.
- Value for money: Of course, price came into the equation, too – I wanted to find out which coffee machines offer good value, and which are simply style over substance.
Why you can trust IndyBest reviews
Zoë Phillimore has reviewed many kitchen appliances for IndyBest, including slow cookers, milk frothers and blenders. She knows which features to look for, including user-friendliness, settings and value for money. Zoë has used all of the coffee machines in this review in real-world conditions and has made a steaming cup of joe in every single one, similarly to how you would in your own home, to bring you her honest opinions.
The best coffee machines for 2025 are:
- Best overall – Dualit three-in-one coffee machine: £179.99, Ce-ces.com
- Best budget buy – Salter professional espirista espresso coffee machine: £99.99, Salter.com
- Best for coffee beans – Sage barista express impress: £729, Johnlewis.com
- Best automatic coffee machine – De’Longhi eletta explore automatic coffee maker: £999, Argos.co.uk
Dualit three-in-one coffee machine
Best: Coffee machine overall
Type: Pod coffee machine
Dimensions: 20.7cm x 28.4cm x 33cm
Colours: One
Milk steam wand: Yes
Tank capacity: 1.5l
Why we love it
- Takes pods and ground beans
- Compatible with Nespresso pods
If you mainly want to use pods, but would also like the option of using ground coffee, this Dualit coffee machine is ideal. It takes ground coffee as well as “easy serve espresso” (ESE) coffee pods – which look similar to tea bags but are filled with coffee – Nespresso pods and Dualit’s own eco-friendly compostable coffee pods.
Setting up this machine is easy – it heats quickly and then it is ready to go. There’s a cup-warming plate as well as extra height under the filter holder, so it can accommodate large cups, and it produced a decent enough coffee with crema – we were impressed. There is also a steam wand to create foams and hot milk – we did find that, perhaps due to the plastic filter, it didn’t warm the milk quite so effectively.
We found that actually using ground coffee or ESE was easier with the Dualit than using Nespresso pods. The pods fit in the filter head using a special adaptor but we felt if we were going to this faff we might as well use ground coffee. However, it would be a handy feature if you wanted to switch between your favourite Nespresso blends.
Buy now £179.99, Ce-ces.com
Salter professional espirista espresso coffee machine
Best: Budget coffee machine
Type: Espresso machine
Dimensions: 15.30cm x 32.00cm x 32.80cm
Colours: One
Milk steam wand: Yes
Tank capacity: 1.4l
Why we love it
- Large water tank
- Good value
- Steam wand is forgiving for beginners
We found this machine fuss-free and easy to use, yet it delivered a good cup of coffee with plenty of flavour. At the price point, we were very impressed. Perhaps it doesn’t look quite as fancy as the chrome-heavy coffee machines but we think, on balance, it’s a great option for those who want great coffee and don’t want a very complicated (or expensive) machine. There’s a 14l water tank at the back, which does make it quite a deep machine, but means you’re not constantly having to refill it.
You can select from single shot or double at the top, and switch on the steamer. There’s also a dial at the side to control the steam wand, allowing you to get creative with making steamed milk and microfoam. We found this wand worked really well and gave us our desired texture of milk, without needing full-on barista training.
Buy now £99.99, Salter.com
De’Longhi eletta explore automatic coffee maker
Best: Automatic coffee machine
Type: Bean-to-cup
Dimensions: 26cm x 45cm x 38.5cm
Colours: One
Milk steam wand: No
Tank capacity: 1.8l
Why we love it
- Simple to use touchscreen
- Cold brew option
Take note
- Expensive
There’s a lot to love about this coffee machine. The price might be a bit hard to swallow but this appliance will wow everyone from those who love milky iced coffees all the way to die-hard coffee fans. Using it is incredibly easy, and it comes with two milk canisters – one for cold milk drinks and one for hot. Select which drink you want from the touchscreen – there are more than 50 to choose from – and it will then advise you how to set up the machine, how much milk to put in the canister and then get on with brewing your coffee. We were provided with amazingly good coffee within moments and felt confident we could create whatever drink anyone could ever ask for.
For cool drinks, there’s cool extraction technology at your fingertips. There’s also a container for beans, and one for ground coffee (you fill it with one scoop a go), so you can do decaf and caffeinated coffees with no stress. There is also a “to-go” function, which remembers what your favourite drink is and delivers it into your travel mug at the size you want. We found this incredibly useful for school runs. Whether you have this at home or in the office, this coffee machine is a sure-fire hit.
Buy now £900.00, Argos.co.uk
Sage barista express impress
Best: Bean-to-cup coffee machine
Type: Bean-to-cup
Dimensions: 33cm x 38cm x 41cm
Colours: Chrome, black, white, navy, almond, red
Milk steam wand: Yes
Tank capacity: 2l
Why we love it
- Bean hopper included
- Smart tamper measures dosage
Sage claims this is an espresso machine but it comes with a whole-bean hopper on top. We loved how easy this machine was to use, and how much fun we had experimenting with making our perfect cup. You can tinker with the settings to your heart’s content, including the grind size of the bean and the volume of coffee, plus, of course, creating microfoam using the steam wand. We liked that, once you grind your coffee, you tamp it on the machine and it tells you when you’ve got the perfect dosage.
There’s a lot of tech under the hood of this machine, which allows it to make sure the water temperature is just right for creating the perfect smooth coffee, without any bitter taste. We found we made dreamy cups of coffee with little fuss right from the get-go. If you want to get your microfoam game perfected, this is probably the best bean-to-cup machine for this.
Although this coffee machine typically costs £729.95, you can pick it up for £692.50 with this exclusive discount.
Buy now £729.95, Johnlewis.com
Smeg espresso coffee machine with coffee grinder
Best: Coffee machine for kitchen decor
Type: Bean-to-cup
Dimensions: 44.3cm x 44.3cm x 34cm
Colours: White, pastel green, pastel blue, cream, red
Milk steam wand: Yes
Tank capacity: 2.4l
Why we love it
- Great design
- Compact size
- Hopper included
Smeg is almost certainly best known for its high-end, retro appliances, and this bean-to-cup coffee machine fits nicely with the rest of the brand’s offerings. The 1950s style of this machine belies some hi-tech innards, though. The easy-to-fill hopper on top grinds beans for the freshest coffee, and the machine produced some of the best-tasting coffee during testing.
It took seconds to set up this machine, and we were able to create barista-quality coffee quickly. The steam wand took moments to get up to temperature and enabled us to create dense microfoam easily in the metal milk jug that’s included. All the accessories felt great quality, right down to the metal weighted tamper. We also liked the small footprint of this appliance – for a bean-to-cup machine, it didn’t take up too much space on our kitchen counter.
Buy now £849.95, Smeguk.com
Miele CM 6390 MilkPerfection coffee machine
Best: Coffee machine for cappuccinos
Type: Bean-to-cup
Dimensions: 25.1cm x 35.9cm x 42.7cm
Colours: One
Milk steam wand: No
Tank capacity: Unspecified
Why we love it
- Fully automated bean-to-cup
- Can make lots of cups quickly
- App-controlled
If you want a coffee machine that will do everything but make your bed for you in the morning, Miele is here to help. The CM coffee machine grinds your beans, makes coffee and froths your milk just so, and all you have to do is tap a button.
It’s almost impossible to include here all the things we liked about this machine. There’s the cup warmer on top, which you can set to work every time. You can adjust just how hard your water is, and the machine tweaks itself to produce the best coffee. It’s also insanely easy to set up, and links via wifi to an app on your phone, from which you can switch on and control the appliance. This means you can ask your machine to have a cup of coffee ready for you in the morning when you come downstairs, or when you get home from work.
At a tap of a button (or click on the app) this appliance delivers perfect coffee-shop quality drinks. From flat whites to cappuccinos, lattes, long coffee and even herbal teas – the Miele machine can make it all. Milk is done via a container on the side, steaming and frothing, so you don’t have to worry about barista training. You do have to remember to remove the leftover milk afterwards, though, to avoid it going grim on the side. Another thing that’s smart is, that after making milky drinks, this machine automatically takes itself through a cleaning process.
The proof is in the cup of coffee, and this machine makes a perfect one. The price is going to be the sticking point here. Even if you’re looking to save money spent at a coffee shop every day, you’re going to need to make a lot of cups of coffee to recover the cost. However, we think this machine would be perfect for office environments, too – you can put it in entertaining mode, so it can gear itself towards making lots of coffee in quick succession.
Buy now £1699.00, Miele.co.uk
Smeg bean to cup coffee machine
Best: Easy-to-use bean to cup machine
Type: Bean-to-cup
Dimensions: 33.6cm x 18cm x43.3cm
Colours: One
Milk steam wand: Yes
Tank capacity: 1.4l
Why we love it
- Classic Smeg design
- Easy to clean
We loved that this Smeg coffee machine looked sleek, and perhaps less intimidating to use than some others we tested. And it is easy to use too. Just pour in the coffee beans and water into separate compartments in the top. From the buttons on top you can then cycle through a “light” and “regular” menu, which includes ristretto, espresso, long coffees and steam. Your coffee is dispensed, and then you can go on to steam your milk for lattes, flat whites, cappuccinos, etc.
We liked that you can programme the machine to create the right volume for your cups. It’s also easy to clean. This isn’t the machine for you if you want to get deep into crafting coffees and really geek out over grinds and extraction. However, if you’re after a really good cup of coffee without too much thought, this is a great choice.
Buy now £549.00, Amazon.co.uk
Nespresso vertuo plus coffee machine
Best: Coffee machine for long coffees
Type: Pod coffee machines
Dimensions: 22cm x 34.9cm x 32.5cm
Colours: White, black, red
Milk steam wand: No
Tank capacity: 1.2l
Why we love it
- Simple to use
- Takes vertuo pods
Nespresso now includes not just the standard pods but the vertuo pods. These only fit in vertuo machines, but have the benefit of coming in different sizes, so you can opt for a shorter or longer coffee. There’s a plethora of blends, including decaf and Starbucks’s own range. The machine itself is designed to fit into most spaces in a kitchen or workplace. Although the water tank is sizeable – great if you’ve got lots of users vying for their morning coffee – you can move it around the machine to fit the available space.
It’s incredibly easy to use: load your pod, shut the lid and press brew. It then automatically detects the size of the pod and delivers your coffee in about 20 seconds. We found the coffee produced was great for a pod machine – there was even a good amount of crema on top. The drawback of this machine is not many brands have adopted vertuo pods yet, so you can’t get quite as wide a range of pods from brands as you can the standard Nespresso. The machine does include a tasting pack of 12 pods, though, so you’re sure to find at least one that works for you.
Buy now £179.00, Nespresso.com
Tassimo Bosch my way coffee machine
Best: Coffee machine for the family
Type: Pod coffee machine
Dimensions: 28.5cm x 22.8cm x 34cm
Colours: Four
Milk steam wand: No
Tank capacity: 1.3l
Why we love it
- Great value
- Fitted with Brita filter
Despite its purse-friendly price, this Tassimo machine has lots of features found on bigger ticket coffee machines. Firstly, it’s made by Bosch, so you know you’re going to get that great German engineering and quality here. As we live in a very hard-water area, we were pleased to see it’s fitted with a Brita water filter, with a timer on it so you know when you need to replace it. This meant yes, it delivered better coffee but also means the life of your machine is extended as it’s not going to get so clogged with limescale.
The Tassimo machine takes the brand’s own pods, rather than those Nespresso caps you might be more familiar with. But Tassimo makes a great range of coffees in its pods, and our kids were delighted that it also makes Cadbury’s hot-chocolate pods.
You can also tweak the temperature, volume and intensity of your coffee easily on the buttons on front. Once you’ve found your perfect blend, you can set it as a favourite – there’s memory for four favourites, so all coffee drinkers in the test house were able to have theirs saved. This machine produced a good cup of coffee – it’s not going to be for die-hard coffee nerds, but for your morning cup (and the kids’ hot chocolate) it’s a purse-friendly option for sure.
Buy now £69.99, Amazon.co.uk
Sage creatisa pro
Best: High-end pod machine
Type: Pod coffee machine
Dimensions: 42.9cm x 19.7cm x 32.8cm
Colours: One
Milk steam wand: Yes
Tank capacity: 2l
Why we love it
- Easy to use touchscreen
- Automatic milk frother
This pod machine is all bells and whistles. It takes traditional Nepresso pods, which you can load in, then the touch-screen menu takes you through all the coffees it can make. As well as espresso and americanos, it can do milk-based coffees such as flat whites, lattes and cappuccinos. We were impressed that it caters for even, ahem, particular coffee drinkers as you can tweak the volume and temperature of your coffee and milk.
You then fill the milk jug and stick it under the wand – there’s a sensor so you know you have it in the right place. Press start, and your coffee is extracted and your milk is frothed at the same time. We loved that this machine offered the convenience of a pod machine with the chance to be creative and a bit extra with making our coffee just the way we like it. The price isn’t going to be for everyone, but if you want the crème de la crème pod machine, then this is the one for you.
Buy now £699.95, Sageappliances.com
Lavazza A modo mio jolie & milk
Best: Space-saving coffee machine
Type: Pod machine
Dimensions: 22cm x 21cm x 23cm
Colours: Two
Steam wand: Milk frother attached
Tank capacity: 600ml
Why we love it
- Super compact design
- Uses eco-friendly Lavazza pods
One of the smallest coffee machines we tested in terms of footprint, the A modo mio jolie and milk is perfect for those with limited space. We loved that this machine comes with a milk frother attached, which keeps things tidy, and you can make a speedy milky coffee without barista training. True, you’re not going to have the same degree of control as you would over a steam wand, but you’ll get a lovely thick latte in minutes.
The A modo mio jolie takes its own coffee pods, not the traditional Nespresso-style capsules, and there’s a decent range of different blends to choose from. Speaking of the pods, we loved that Lavazza’s eco caps can go in your food waste bin – they’re fully compostable, which was a huge draw for us when so many other capsules can be quite difficult to recycle. This little machine is so easy to use, is discreet and can whip up a coffee in minutes. We were big fans of this pocket rocket.
Buy now £169.00, Lavazza.co.uk
Sage bambino
Best: Coffee machine for espresso
Type: Pod coffee machine
Dimensions: 19.5cm x 32cm x 31cm
Colours: Four
Milk steam wand: Yes
Tank capacity: 1.4l
Why we love it
- Delivers barista-grade coffee
- Quick and easy to set up
If you’re looking to hone your barista skills, but don’t quite want a bean-to-cup affair (they do take up a lot of space, after all) then the Sage bambino is a great bet. It’s been designed to deliver barista-level coffees, with all the high-tech specs to match. It is quick and easy to set up, and can make a coffee in seconds thanks to the quick-warming action. The machine then makes sure there’s a fine balance of everything – water pressure, temperature, coffee dosage – to deliver top notch coffee.
We are certainly not quite barista level, but we found we were able to create fantastic coffees on this machine – wowing ourselves and passing visitors. The degree of flexibility on this machine means you can get creative within certain bounds. For instance the steam wand feels professional level, and lets you get into creating microfoams and seeing what works for you. Who knows perhaps one day you’ll be creating latte art…
Buy now £279.95, Johnlewis.com
KitchenAid espresso machine
Best: High-end espresso machine
Type: Espresso machine
Dimensions: 28.6cm x 16.2cm x 33.4cm
Colours: Four
Milk steam wand: Yes
Tank capacity: 1.4l
Why we love it
- Looks great
- Slim profile
Everything about this KitchenAid coffee machine is clearly well made and built to last, from the heavy-duty portafilter to the very weighty tamper and, of course, the machine itself. It comes with single and double wall filters for both one and two shots, which isn’t something all espresso machines include, and lets you tinker with your espresso as well as be able to create americanos, cappuccinos, flat whites, lattes and so on. There’s even a recipe card included for espresso martinis. The steam wand, as well as allowing you to create microfoams and steam your milk, dispenses hot water to make long-coffee drinks.
Looking great on our kitchen surface, and has quite a slim profile, so would fit in even smaller kitchens, this is the machine for coffee aficionados and those who want to be able to enjoy coffees that have a bit more punch than your average coffee.
Buy now £329.00, Lakeland.co.uk
Breville One-Touch CoffeeHouse coffee machine
Best: Coffee machine for vegan milks
Type: Espresso machine
Dimensions: 32.4cm x 22.1cm x 37.1cm
Colours: One
Milk steam wand: No
Capacity: 1.4l
Why we love it
- Takes ground coffee or ESE pods
- Milk cannister can be stored in fridge
We don’t reckon this machine is going to win any prizes for looks – it’s grey and slightly plastic-tastic compared to others on our list. But before you scroll on, it’s on this round up for a reason so let’s delve deeper than looks.
The portafilter can take ground coffee or ESE pods, if you can’t stand the mess of ground coffee. From the controls you can choose from espresso, latte or cappuccino and the milk is frothed automatically. Fill the container with whatever milk you choose – this machine has been designed to work both with dairy milks and plant-based alternatives – and then you can tweak how much foam and steamed milk is added to your coffee. We also liked that the milk canister can be stored in the fridge to keep it fresh, rather than faffing about with decanting it back into the bottle each time.
Buy now £169.99, Currys.co.uk
Melitta TS smart automatic coffee machine
Best: Smart coffee machine
Type : Bean-to-cup
Dimensions : 25.9cm x 46.7cm x 37.2cm
Colours : Silver
Steam wand: No
Tank capacity: 1.8l
Why we love it
- App controlled
- Easy to use
- Easy to clean
- Two-cup mode
- Great for busy households and workplaces
Take note
- Expensive
- On the larger side
If you want your coffee as soon as you hit the kitchen in the morning, this high-end machine Melitta can be controlled via an app on your phone. That means you can get on with making breakfast and answering emails while your machine gets your caffeine fix going. There are also two bean chambers – you can have two different roasts and switch between them, we found this to be super handy in our household where some people take decaf.
If you have a busy house or are using this machine in a work environment, then you can set four profiles and the machine will remember each of your favourite drinks. During testing, we also found the two-cup mode handy as it means you can make two cups in one go.
To make sure you get the ideal cup each time, in the app, you can tweak the volume, how frothy the milk is and the amount of hot water added.
Buy now £599.95, Amazon.co.uk
Jura S8 bean to cup machine
Best: Coffee machine for flavoured coffees
Type : Espresso machine
Dimensions: 28cm × 34.8cm × 44.6 cm
Colours: Black
Steam wand: Yes
Tank capacity: 1.9l
Why we love it
- Great for sweet-coffee lovers
- Good self cleaning
Take note
- Takes a while to warm up
- Pretty pricey
The one bone to pick with this machine is that it got us absolutely addicted to caramel lattes – and we were previously die-hard no-syrup coffee snobs. The USP with the S8 is that you can add syrup to a little capsule, and it’ll combine your steamed milk with the syrup to create god-tier coffee. Of course, if you don’t like or don’t want syrupy coffee, it does the hard stuff too, which is also great. You just select what you want from the touchscreen.
We were super impressed with how well the machine cleans itself after use. The machine goes through a very long process to flush everything out, including the milk tube. This is a bit annoying if you want to switch it off quickly, but it leaves everything sparkling clean which means the machine should stay in good shape for a long time. One thing we would say is that it’s a bit plastic-y looking for an appliance that is over £1,500.
Buy now £1695.00, Uk.jura.com
Melitta barista SE
Best: Dual-bean coffee machine
Type : Espresso machine
Dimensions: 372mm x 259mm x 467mm
Colours: Black
Steam wand: No
Tank capacity: 1.8l
Why we love it
- Two bean chambers
- Easy-to-use milk function
- Plenty of types of coffee choice
Take note
- Slightly noisy
- Not for those who love a hands-on barista experience
Despite this being a near-entry-point bean-to-cup machine for Melitta, it still packs a punch. Set up was pretty easy – the screen takes you through the stages. And there’s loads to like here. There are two bean chambers, so you can have two different beans – great for those who switch to decaf halfway through the day. You can choose from 18 different types of coffee, and then also select the strength and grind you want. The clever machine even puts the milk and coffee into your cup in the traditional order – for example, milk and then coffee for a macchiato.
It makes a solid coffee – a great flavour profile. However, we found it slightly on the noisy side during operation. At first, we were perplexed as to how the milk function works. It turns out that you put a tube into your milk carton and the machine sucks it up to create the foam. We weren’t sure if we loved this, but on realising we didn’t have more milk apparatus to clean afterwards we decided it was a fab feature.
Buy now £499.00, Melitta.co.uk
KitchenAid KF8 fully automatic espresso machine
Best: Bean-to-cup coffee machine for plant-based milks
Type : Espresso machine
Dimensions: 36.3cm x 26cm x 47.3cm
Colours: Silver, black and grey
Steam wand: Yes
Tank capacity: 2.2l
Why we love it
- Plant milk setting
- Large touchscreen
- Easy for coffee novices to use
- Two input options
Take note
- Expensive
- Needs a lot of space
This KitchenAid coffee machine is fairly industrial-looking, in a space-age kind of way. It even beeps in a satisfyingly sci-fi kind of way. And make no mistake - she’s hefty. This is not a machine for small kitchens. We found it a bit of a head-scratcher at first to get it set up (mainly where the “on” button is), but once you do it once it’s fairly easy. The touchscreen takes you through how to load up water and coffee. We loved that it takes both beans and ground coffee. As decaf coffee drinkers, this allowed us to add pre-ground caffeinated coffee when we had guests.
You can select from 15 coffee drinks, and from there decide on the strength and volume of your coffee. Vegans and plant milk fans rejoice – there are even settings to use plant-based milk so you don’t need to compromise on milk texture here. There was a lot we really liked about this machine. It’s easy to use, quiet to operate and looks great.
Buy now £1899.00, Kitchenaid.co.uk
Delonghi magnifica plus bean-to-cup machine
Best: Mid-range bean-to-cup coffee machine
Type : Espresso machine
Dimensions: 44cm x 24cm x 36cm
Colours: Silver
Steam wand: No
Tank capacity: N/A
Why we love it
- Up to four profiles
- Great for busy households
- Reliable decent coffee
Take note
- Not suitable for small kitchens
- Takes a while to get going
Delonghi has designed this with simplicity in mind. The idea is it makes it as quick and easy as possible to get your favourite drink. There’s the option to add up to four profiles which will remember your order. The colour touchscreen makes ordering easy, and the machine froths your milk for you. If you’re a die-hard coffee nerd, you might not appreciate the lack of refinement you have over your milk with this automatic machine – but we found it made a great coffee, and you can tweak the intensity of your coffee to suit. It’s definitely worth training up your machine to know just how you like your coffee - this is done by trial and error, and slowly adjusting the presets. Certainly, you can choose from a good array of coffee styles - 15, in fact.
We found the initial warming-up process a bit long-winded each time we switched it on. In a busy household with lots of users, the first person making the coffee bears the brunt of this. But as we were only really making one coffee at a time, it was slightly frustrating. Perhaps that’s just us being impatient though. This is a more affordable option that has loads of similar features to the Delonghi Eletta Explore (also in this roundup). It takes up marginally less space too.
Buy now £599.01, Amazon.co.uk
Your questions about coffee machine answered
Which is the best coffee machine?
The Dualit three-in-one machine takes our top spot, thanks to its amazing versatility. It takes pod and ground coffee, so you can have the best of both worlds. It's also aesthetically pleasing in the kitchen and isn't too pricey, either. If you’re after something that allows for more creativity, the Sage barista express impress is a lot of fun – and makes a perfect cup, of course.
What is a bean-to-cup coffee machine?
It grinds whole coffee beans on demand to produce a range of espresso-based drinks at the touch of a button. Grinding on demand allows the maximum flavour, aroma and freshness of the bean to be preserved, resulting in a superior cup of coffee that showcases the crema of the coffee – the natural “creamy” textured layer – sometimes lost in pod-based coffee machines or in manual brewing. Some of the more advanced bean-to-cup machines allow you to save your personal coffee preferences and can even be controlled via apps or your own home tech networks.
Are bean-to-cup coffee machines easy to clean?
Yes and no. Each machine is different, so do some research, using online videos and tutorials, for any you have your eye on. Pure coffee machines are very easy to clean, requiring you to manually clear the coffee grinds from a removable panel, empty the drip tray and usually run a descaling or cleaning program when prompted. Machines comprising milk pipes, tanks and steamers mean some more manual cleaning is required more often, though some machines do have automatic programs for this, too.
How to choose the best coffee pod machine for you
In recent years, the coffee pod machine and capsule market has exploded – meaning lots of choice for the consumer and, well, confusion.
Before choosing your coffee pod machine, it is important to consider how the features fit with your lifestyle. Do you have a lot of counter space for an all-singing, all-frothing coffee machine? Or do you have only room for a compact design? Are you strictly an espresso person? Or do you not wake up until you’ve had your latte? How many people in your household will be using your machine, and how many cups a day will they consume? Will nothing short of a 1.5l water tank cut it? Make sure to research your options, to find the best coffee machine for you.
What is the difference between cheaper and more expensive espresso machines?
The main differences between more affordable and expensive espresso machines are the pressure control and temperature control features. Unlike cheaper machines, expensive models use a pump to deliver more precise pressure, and dedicated heaters to ensure water is delivered at a specific temperature – helping to ensure a consistent espresso every time.
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