Best Steam Espresso Machines
Espresso perfection requires precision temperature and pressure control, consistently, every time. The espresso boiler, for the espresso shot, is PID temperature controlled, while a separate steam boiler offers instant and powerful steam on demand. So you can extract your shot at the right temperature, delivering optimal flavor, while simultaneously steaming your milk to cafe quality. The Dual Boiler also features an Over Pressure Valve (OPV) which limits the maximum pressure throughout the extraction, preventing bitter flavors in the shot. Backlit LCD displays brew temperature, shot clock or time.We recommend using cold, filtered water.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This review is from the viewpoint of a home espresso and latte maker who wants a solid machine that is a decent value. Breville has added the ability to drain the boiler for shipping and at-home descaling to this version, plus a few minor other tweaks. To be more specific, my first 900xl lasted about a year and then the pump slowly lost power so that the machines maxed out at five bars. Then a few months later, a plastic piece around the group head failed, chipping so that the machine could no longer maintain pressure, and sprayed hot water and grounds everywhere. To be as specific as possible, the portafilter has the two metal notches that slide into the group head to lock it into place. However, I feel like Breville has opted for cheaper internal parts and components to keep this thing in this price range. For my next espresso machine, I will definitely do some research and see if I can find a solidly-constructed alternative that might feature fewer nifty perks, but which might last much longer. For example, they new include "THE RAZOR" (cue dramatic sting music), a gold-colored metal piece you run over the loaded portafilter in order to ensure your dose isn't too large. In this price range, the Breville reigns as a machine that can consistently put out shots that are 95% as good as those Italian cafe espressos. The "rejected" roasts might be a new blend we try from Kuma Coffee or a local roaster, and then find the crema is a little thin or the flavor flat. For me personally, because this is a dual boiler I find I can start the steaming while I tamp and grind, and it doesn't really slow me down. Features. I've owned several Breville appliances, and I find that one of the most unique aspects to their design process is that they really think a machine through. This holds true in the Breville Dual Boiler 920XL, and the features combined make this a fun little machine to own. You can read Breville's advertising for comprehensive info, but these are the features that I personally appreciate when I'm making espresso: Dual boiler: you really can pull shots and steam simultaneously, and when I'm making after dinner espressos/cappuccinos/lattes for a dinner party the Breville brews and steams as fast as I can grind and tamp, ha. Make sure to measure before buying, ESPECIALLY if you want to take advantage of heating cups on top of the unit. A full-size mug easily fits under the portafilter during brewing, so I can pull a shot right into the drinking cup and then add milk for a cappuccino or espresso. However, if I turn my 920xl on at the same time I'm using my Breville Smart Toaster Oven (also awesome), I KNOW I'm risking a blown breaker, ha. I went to use the Oracle a couple of times to see if I wanted to upgrade, and I don't find it worth the extra money, honestly."
"Since we got this machine about 1 month ago, we have completely eliminated sweetener from our diet."
"Had been considering getting an automatic machine but so happy I decided to stick with getting a new Breville (my old one was about 8-9 years old)."
"Worth every penny."
"I've used this espresso machine for about two months daily and I absolutely love it."
"This replaced a Gaggia Titanium automated espresso machine, and even though we loved the old one, the BES920XL blows it out of the water."
"I love it."
"I was talked into getting my own quality espresso machine by a co-worker and after doing the math of getting a daily coffee at a coffee shop or just having my own machine at home that can pull shots almost as good, I realized the machine would pay for itself in months in terms of the savings ($4/day at coffee shop or $1/day at home). What it comes down to is this, the machine makes great coffee. My first machine lasted about 10 months, then it started spewing water uncontrollably until the tank emptied out. --- UPDATE -- 1/2017. So just thought I would update this as the machine started misbehaving once again. Customer support told me it was likely due to some coffee grounds stuck inside and that doing repeated cleaning cycles back to back would fix it. I should mention that I make 2 espressos a day and do a backflush every weekend, as well as do a cleaning cycles every time the machine prompts me. I wasn't charged for the repair even though I bought my original machine way before the 2 year warranty period, though at the same time, none of the repaired/replacement machines ever lasted a full 2 years. I still love the machine, but I think after the next breakage I will be upgrading to a non Breville brand."
If water tank is not inserted correctly when in operation could leak few drops of water, make sure the water tank is secure in place. Thermo block technology allows the machine to heat up to the ideal temperature in a quick 40 seconds.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you want a genuinely excellent, attractive espresso maker at a reasonable price but don't have a lot of room for one of the behemoth "standard" machines, the De'Longhi EC680 is exactly what you've been looking for. Technically, it's only 2/3 the width of a typical Keurig, but you want to leave a little room on the right so that the steam wand remains easily accessible. The boiler on this is preconfigured to produce water that is exactly 190F, and the pump is hard-wired for 15 BAR... both of which are perfect for espresso. With just a little trial and error, I was able to not only produce espresso that matches theirs exactly, but tweak them to my own taste (generally by pulling the lower end of a Normale, thereby de-emphasizing the acid). It's impressively fast... and that's a good thing when you consider that you still have to spend a little time doing the "warming ritual" (i.e. running hot water through everything to ensure you get a great, consistent pull). In fact, it feels higher quality than many espresso makers that are much larger and/or more expensive. Also, prior to buying this model, I read some reviews that complained about a lack of crema. I move my machine in and out from a little nook on my counter, and each time I do so I make sure I push down on the reservoir to ensure it's properly seated/sealed. ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS. Although the machine has generally blown me away with it's sturdiness, attractiveness, construction quality, and brew quality, you have to keep in mind that if you are new to espresso making, you are going to need a little extra gear to make this investment worth your time, money, and counter space. Now, slowly add your grinds to the portafilter while it sits on the scale to ensure precise measurements. 4) Tamper. The espresso maker does include a plastic combination spoon/tamper thing, but it is both awful and useless. Alternatively, you can buy an Espro 51mm Calibrated Tamper which is MUCH more expensive but clicks when you hit exactly 30lbs for a perfect tamp every time. I love my Bormioli Rocco Verdi Espresso Cup set (pictured) - these 3.5oz glasses are great for double shots and/or mini cappuccinos. In any case, I highly recommend transparent glass/crystal cups - espresso is a layered drink, and you want glasses that let you appreciate that. SUMMARY & FINAL NOTES. This is an excellent machine... and all the more astounding because of it's compact size and extremely competitive price. These tips aren't specific to this machine, so much as espresso making in general... and a lot of the complaints I see on here (lack of crema, issues with using the steam wand, etc) are easily avoidable user error."
"Several years ago my sister-in-law got a De'Longhi Espresso Maker, a large fancy model with all kinds of bells and whistles. When visiting her for a few days she served double espressos every morning with breakfast and I thought it was the most wonderful coffee I had ever tasted. Besides espresso, it has a milk frother so we can make lattes or cappacino and instructions for those. Call me "frothing challenged" but it always turned out less than optimal and sometimes made a big mess. I'm making lattes and cappacinos that look like they come out of some fancy coffee place or restaurant. For me, another big advantage is that It takes up very little space on my counter which already has several appliances which we use daily. (Easy Serving Espresso) Pods which you can purchase if you want to avoid the mess of coffee grounds."
The best coffeehouse in town is on your countertop with the Ninja Coffee Bar coffee maker. Auto-iQ One-Touch Intelligence knows how to deliver the perfect amount of water at the right time for the size and brew type you select. Glass Carafe and Intelligent Warming Plate keep your coffee at the ideal drinking temperature with 2-hour auto shutoff.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I noticed too that you can't get a full pot of coffee as the water doesn't completely drain from the reservoir unless after you pour a cup, you go back and hit the classic brew again, and turn the knob to the partial pot. I love the reservoir for the water because you don't have to use the carafe to fill it, and you can just take it off the machine, fill it, then place it back on. Meaning you don't have to move the whole coffee machine out on the counter and then push it back like you do other coffee makers."
"Let’s face it, coffee at the local Starbucks and pretty much any boutique coffee house make great tasting coffee because they have an arsenal of ingredient at their disposal, and they have the machine to turn multiple ingredients into one great looking and tasty treat. With the Ninja Coffee Bar, now you can! After looking at our coffee expenditure and noting we’ve spent $50 each at Starbucks in a month, we figured it’s time to upgrade our Keurig 1.0 and invest in a multi-purpose coffee system that we could use for the long stretch. With 5 years exceptional warranty, I mean we can’t lose! And by the time I am ready to hit the door, a fresh hot cup of coffee is waiting for me!"
"We're just starting to try brewing the single cup and using the frother and we now feel like we'll be saving a lot of money by not going to Starbucks!"
"Having a delay brew feature is quite important to me since I get up for work early so unfortunately we had to send the product back to Amazon."
Best Manual Espresso Machines
Please brew water to clean the water tank for the first use or after using for a long time. It takes 3 minutes to get a cup of fresh coffee with fast brew technology. EASY TO USE- Simple one touch button design and auto shut off, It makes a cup of tasty coffee in a few minutes with just a push of a button, and the wider water tank mouth makes it more convenient to fill water and clean up.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I placed 1.5 tablespoons of my favorite coffee inside (not sure how much it should hold) and out came 11oz of delicious coffee. UPDATE 05-30-16. I am still searching for a reusable coffee filter, but so far no success. 2) Melitta Javajig: While it fits well the paper filter holds only enough coffee for a 6oz cup, otherwise the unprotected bottom will be punctured and you have grounds in your coffee. ( I found this to be the most common theme why reusable k-cups are not compatible with this coffee maker) Some reusable cups also have little tabs on the side to help in the removal process, but they too can prevent proper seating I of the k-cup. 5) Brew and Save: Same issue as outlined in number 3. 6) EZ-CUP 2.0: Same issue as outlined in number 3. Now one reviewer mentioned using the Cafejo Single Serve Reusable Filter, while it may work and I have not tried this product, it appears to make only a 6-8oz cup of coffee vs a 12oz mug which I prefer. The only downside is you can only place one tablespoon of ground coffee inside the kcup, maybe a bit more, which gives you a 6-8 ounce cup of coffee. UPDATE 06-17-16. Finally found a reusable pod, in fact two different pods that are very similar here on Amazon. Filip Coffee - Refillable K-Cup Pods for Keurig Machines - 8ml Scoop Included - Set of 3 Pods (Red). Brewooze - Reusable cups, Refillable Pods , compatible with Keurig 1.0 and 2.0 Brewers, Cuisinart and most individual cup brewers. Both work identical, the only difference is the accessories that come with the pods. 1) Modify the inside to that will allow the use of the popular reusable pods on the market. 2) Remove the bulky coffee cup stand and lower the cup stand with the same construction concept (removable metal screen for drips) so it will allow taller mugs to sit properly."
"I was delighted that this coffee maker arrived by 7:35 am in time for that morning's coffee. First of all this coffee maker is not nearly as bulky as the Keurig had been on the Mr. Coffee k-cup brewer I had had before the Keurig. Another thing I like, different from my previous coffee makers is that you add fresh water for each cup."
"My biggest disappointment was it would not fit taller mugs or my most favorite Aladdin travel cup. So in search of a replacement that would accommodate a taller cup/travel mug, I purchased the flex-brew from Hamilton Beach. The flex-brew was narrower than the Keurig and did fit my travel cup, but it only holds 10 oz of water not nearly close to the 16 oz cup."
Best Semi-Automatic Espresso Machines
Purge Function: Automatically adjusts water temperature after steam for optimal espresso extraction temperature.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Every day it makes amazing espresso, and as long as I keep it clean it preforms beautifully. This thing is also easier to maintain and requires less cleaning than other cheaper espresso machines I've tried. If the machine keeps going over or under on the pressure gauge, try cleaning the grinder. And remember to clean with those desolvable tablets when the clean me light comes on! I chose Urnex Cafiza Espresso Machine Cleaning Tablets here on amazon, and they work great! I know many would rather use a separate burr grinder, but this thing works perfectly fine, and is easy to clean. Many complained about the coffee machine heating up the beans too much if you leave them inside the hopper, but I actually store my beans in a special container outside of the hopper, and use the included the scoop to pour in the beans when I grind them. 12) Has an automated cleaning cycle to clean the insides of the grouphead. 15) Includes tools to clean out the filters. Some things that bother me (Cons)*. 1)The top of the machine is plastic. 2) The bottom sides of the machine is plastic. 3) The water tank needs to be refilled often. 4) The bottom water catcher thing (sorry) needs to be emptied often, but its not too bad. Edit: It seems quite a few people had problems with the machine dying on them, If your machine died on your please comment on this review with any information you think may help, such as the level of maintenance you preformed while your machine was working, the brand of water filters and cleaning tablets you used, etc."
"I had a $30 Mr Coffee machine, then when that started acting up replaced it with a $150 Cuisinart that served well for about 6 years. I did work at a coffee cart for a couple years in college, though I was the first employee, so my training may have been lacking. If you're looking for a mess free experience, you may want to double or triple your spending and look at fully automated machines. I am the only coffee drinker in the house, so it is harder for me to justify spending money on high end separate components. So when I purchased this machine, I only spent a couple hundred out of pocket for it (if it breaks after 18 months, I'll be sad, but I'll probably buy it again since I didn't `pay' full price for it). I've seen some people say they had issues with it not registering any pressure, but it's hard to know their circumstances- beans, grind, tamp, broken gauge, etc. If you want to minimize the amount of grounds falling onto the counter, you can rest your index finger cross ways on the front exposed lip of the filter when the grinding process is halfway done. When you turn the steam off, there is supposed to be an 8 second wait before the machine purges, I think it's closer to 5 from my experience. On occasion the filter basket will get stuck to the shower head, mostly when it's an empty shot, once in a while when there are coffee grounds in it. If that happens, I just put the portafilter back over the filter about half way up, then give it a little tug and it usually pops off easily. If you're looking for dry pucks, the key to that is to steam the milk after getting the shot of espresso with the portafilter in place. The steaming process directs pressure to the filter basket, which will squeeze out more water from the grounds. I have dumped grounds without steaming afterwards, and while they were noticeably wetter, when the puck dropped it stayed together as one formed piece instead of falling into pile of mush. (I did that last week, knocked over my travel mug while steaming milk, so I needed to do a second shot, now my 2 year old gives me a friendly reminder to not spill my coffee every morning). For maintenance, I perform the clean cycle with a tablet every 2 months (I average using the machine once a day). I have been very happy with this machine with very few complaints (some issues have been self-inflicted, like forgetting to add water to the tank, it survived). The prices on most of the pieces are not outrageous, so that leaves me hope that a year or two down the road as components wear out, it should be possible to replace them yourself and keep the machine running. Sorry this got long... Hopefully someone finds this information useful, and if you're looking for an easy to use machine that still gives you room to play around with, this is a good one to consider, I highly recommend it. Also, I stepped away one time with the steam wand in milk to finish heating it up, and ended up getting distracted and forgetting it. I had quite the mess and felt a little dumb, but cycled the machine off and on and started over to heat the milk appropriately this time. I've continued to have good luck with it, just needing to adjust the grinding settings on occasion when switching beans or seasonal changes that affect the house temp and humidity. It did seem the frothing wand was not expressing its usual amount of steam at one point, so I cleaned with it a small little pin, inserting it in the tip (I can't recall if one of those came with this machine or if it was from a previous one, I think one came with it tho, little metal stick in a black plastic thumb drive looking thingy)."
Best Super-Automatic Espresso Machines
With one simple touch, Mr. Coffee Café Barista Premium Espresso & Cappuccino System brews espresso and automatically froths milk for cappuccino and latté selections. Semi-automatic 3-in-1 espresso maker, cappuccino maker, and latte maker.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I am an average person who likes mochas from the coffee shop, but I live 80 miles from town, so I don't get them very often and wanted to try making them at home. I read a lot of blogs and watched online videos from real baristas giving tips how to make good espresso drinks at home before purchasing this. The call: In short, customer service told me to run a cleaning cycle per directions from page 16 in the user manual. Anyway, after a couple times running the double shot espresso button the temperature went from consistent 157*F to 175-182*F. Wahoo! BTW, I was using a good quality quick, calibrated thermometer that I use for caramel making, which is a very exacting process to do right. So I figured it could accurately measure the espresso before it cooled from air temperature, which by the way is mere seconds I found out. NOTE: The higher temperature is NOT for drinking comfort (how hot you like it) it is what the espresso NEEDS to properly extract and not be bitter. You can let it sit a few minutes if you don't like it that hot, personally I don't want a burned tongue, so I wait a little. Honestly though it's faster shipping it back and waiting for a replacement machine because it doesn't get hot enough, this WORKS. You can use the hand held cone burr grinders for the most accurate fine ground. Too fine (Turkish grind, which is like flour) and it clogs the filter making the machine unable to push all the water through. Too course (regular coffee machine grind) and the water goes through too fast making it bitter. However, in the morning I am cranky and impatient, I'm also lazy, so I've ordered a couple different electric burr grinders to see if that works as well. Also, but a metal tamper, the plastic one isn't sturdy enough for 30 lbs pressure, it bents and packs unevenly. Before you make your cup each morning, warm the machine as directions indicate, but ALSO run a shot of plain water through first. You can open the lid and fill the reservoir with it ON the machine with a pitcher if taking it on and off is too hard. This is a good machine for the average espresso based specialty coffee drinker."
"Several days I spent reviewing 'all in one' espresso machines, and there's a lot to filter through (get it? What I REALLY like about it is that it's pretty much an all in one system without the thousand dollars plus all in one cost. I push one button and all the magic happens, and it's quite entertaining to watch the espresso cascade through the milk and create separate layers. Just hold the top button for the coffee grind connector (w/e you call it) to get cleaned and hold the bottom button for the milk frother to get cleaned... that's pretty simple! I did notice that the milk froth cleaner doesn't get all the milk out of the metal tube, but since it slides right off and is pretty easy to clean it's not that big of a deal to me."
"I also have a Mr. Coffee burr grinder Mr. Coffee BVMC-BMH23 Automatic Burr Mill Grinder, Black/Silver so that I am making the freshest coffee possible and I buy my coffee freshly roasted from a local company. The milk container lid is where it connects to the main part of machine. Before going out and buying another machine if one of the parts fails... see if they carry a replacement. I was impressed with the reasonable prices and quick shipping on the Mr. Coffee website. I had another machine that had great reviews made by Hamilton Beach back in the day, but it was really lacking compared to this machine."