The Best Espresso Machines

The original espresso machine by Breville, a longtime favorite of ours, is our overall top pick. Easy to use, whether you want to learn more about “dialing in” your ideal shot of espresso or not, this machine with its convenient built-in burr grinder arrives with factory settings that can have you pulling solid espresso shots from the first time you use it. But easy adjustments let you tweak grind size, dose, and brew volume to your taste. Its proprietary thermocoil (a type of thermoblock) with PID temperature control heats fast, so it’s ready to start brewing in less than a minute. Pulling a shot is semi-automatic You still have to put the portafilter under the grinder to dispense grounds, tamp them with the provided metal tamper, transfer the prepared portafilter to the grouphead, and push a button to brew, but the timing of the shot is automatic—the machine pre-infuses and brews and then shuts off water after about 30 seconds. Its traditional steam wand lets you foam milk for lattes and cappuccinos in its included steel milk steaming pitcher, and a large silicone loop helps you manipulate the wand without burning yourself. We liked its interior storage drawer and handy tamper holder that kept accessories organized. In sum: This is a great all-in-one choice.

We loved this model’s performance and compact footprint—it’s basically the Barista Express without the grinder—and we enjoyed its automatic milk frothing option. Simple to use, its thermojet heater (a type of thermoblock that is a bit more advanced than the earlier model Breville Barista Espress’s thermocoil) is extremely quick to get to temperature just 3 seconds. We like that the machine automatically preinfuses coffee grounds for better extraction and automatically shuts off when the preset water volume has been pumped through the coffee. You can adjust the water volume for shots. You can choose temperature and texture settings for automatic steamed milk, which came out perfectly frothed, or you can use the steam wand manually; we appreciated its large, heatproof handle. (Note For an even lower price, the Breville Bambino without the “Plus” is the same model with a manual steam wand, for about $300).

This attractive, compact, Italian-made semiautomatic prosumer machine is straightforward to use, though not the fastest machine in the lineup. Because it has a single boiler, you’ll need to wait for the temperature to rise before steaming milk after brewing a shot, though the prominent display of the self-monitoring PID lets you observe temperature changes in real time. It has no grinder, so you must purchase one separately. As with other prosumer machines, the manual is skimpy and there are no instructional videos, so you will need to teach yourself, but the PID and a pressure gauge provide useful information to help you pull quality shots and steam milk at the proper temperatures. Other details that mattered Its water tank is easy to remove and fill; it has an extra-deep drip tray and a portafilter that slides snugly in and out of the machine without too much struggle. We wish its tamper wasn’t plastic (although it worked acceptably).

Quick, push-button brewing and frothing, with a selection of 12 drinks including espresso, cortado, latte, cappuccino, macchiato, flat white, and more on a user-friendly screen make this Italian-made superautomatic machine an appealing choice for those who don’t want to delve into the intricacies of espresso-making. The quality of espresso and other drinks was good and its thermoblock heater was reasonably fast, which is useful if you want to produce multiple drinks in a row for guests. Easy-access bins on top hold water and beans. This machine grinds, brews, and tips the used coffee puck into a bin to be emptied at your leisure. The removable milk carafe auto-purges the nozzle after dispensing steamed milk and can be popped off the front of the machine to store in the refrigerator for a few days before you need to empty and wash it. The carafe is fairly simple to clean, with few parts. Minor quibble The drip tray pulls out only if you press hidden buttons on either side.

This Italian-made semiautomatic prosumer machine is compact and simple to operate. We liked the easy-pour ramp for filling the tank and that you could monitor the water level from the front of the machine (behind the grouphead) via a large, clear window. Its brass boiler is fairly quick to heat up, and the steam wand is nicely powerful, though its range of motion is limited and the silicone grip is high and small, so we kept scorching our hands. It has no grinder, so you must purchase one separately. The manual is skimpy, and there are no instructional videos. For the first few months, the portafilter often stuck in place after making espresso until the machine cooled down, though this finally improved with use. It also finishes brewing by sending a small but messy spurt of water from behind the grouphead into the drip tray, which makes anything to the left of the machine a bit damp; other machines do this more neatly and unobtrusively.

This simple, compact, fully automatic Italian-made machine makes single or double espresso or lungo shots at the push of a button. It is nearly as fast and easy to operate as a Nespresso machine, but unlike those capsule-style brewers, its built-in burr grinder uses fresh coffee beans, and it steams milk too. The short, straight steam wand is a bit harder to manipulate as you steam milk than other machines’ longer, angled wands, but it froths well for creating milk-based drinks. Bins on top for beans and water make refilling easy. You can simply use factory settings or make limited adjustments to the grind size on its grinder, and you can slightly customize the brew volume. It uses a thermoblock to heat water quickly. Because it was a previous winning model, ATK staff have used this machine in the test kitchen for years—without consulting the manual. We can testify that it’s a tolerant little workhorse. Minor quibble The drip tray pulls out only if you press hidden buttons on either side.

“Miss Silvia” is a classic in the espresso world and one of the first prosumer machines for home users, launched two decades ago by Rancilio, a respected Italian manufacturer of commercial espresso machines. It has no grinder, so you must purchase one separately. Built like a tank, this chunky, powerful machine produces excellent espresso for those willing to work to dial in their ideal shot. It’s beloved by ardent espresso fans, who like to go under the hood to add modifications such as a PID temperature controller. If you’re a beginner, be prepared to go online and teach yourself how it works; the minimalist manual is skimpy, and the maker doesn’t offer instructional videos. Basic switches with lights indicated when it was ready to brew or steam, but we had to wait a long time for its boiler to heat up or between brewing and steaming milk. We loved its very powerful steam wand, which frothed milk with extreme efficiency; long and moveable, with a big silicone grip, it was easy to manipulate. (Note Its double basket looks big but holds less than the standard 18 grams of coffee; start with about 16 grams.) A few quibbles Its heavy, awkwardly angled portafilter fits a bit too tightly, and it’s a struggle to put it on and take it off the machine. Its metal drip tray was very shallow, and you have to tip it up and over a short ledge to empty it, which leads to frequent spills. Also, since there’s no viewing window or water level indicator, it’s hard to know whether there’s water in the tank unless you’re pretty tall.

If you just want to push a button and quickly get a shot of espresso (or larger shot, called a lungo, which adds more water to brew the same small capsule of coffee), there’s no easier or faster way than this model. Its thermoblock heats very quickly. This tiny machine uses proprietary aluminum capsules of preground coffee, so it doesn’t need a grinder. Shots emerge with a big head of foamy crema over espresso with thin body. The quality of the espresso itself was subpar; measurements of its total dissolved solids (TDS) revealed it to be very underextracted. While you can adjust the programmed volume of water per shot, you can’t shrink it enough to reach a desirable TDS percentage; this is the only machine we tested that we couldn’t adjust to the proper TDS level. The capsules are quite small, holding about 5 grams of ground coffee, and sell for $0.85 to $1.10 apiece. You need a separate milk frother to make milk-based drinks. Free postage-paid mailing envelopes allow you to ship used capsules away for recycling.

This big, 3-in-1 machine brewed good espresso, and we enjoyed its automatic milk frothing, but its design struck us as overcomplicated; it also has the ability to brew what we deemed mediocre hot drip and cold-brew coffee. Its thermoblock with built-in PID temperature control heats very quickly. The manual and instructional videos were thorough and helpful, and the machine’s controls direct users through the brewing process fairly clearly. We liked its unique automatic grind-size assistance that weighs the ground coffee dose and assesses the shot it produced, then suggests the best grind size. However, when we set out to use new beans, it changed its mind more than once about the best grind size and made us toss out a few doses of coffee, which felt wasteful. While the grinder offers 25 settings, only about 10 are for espresso; the rest grind larger for drip and cold brew. Minor quibbles Accessory holders were terrific for keeping all the usual bits and pieces contained, but their location on either side of the machine made an already-wide appliance take up even more space. Use heavy cups or be vigilant during brewing the machine’s vibrations tipped our small glass cup sideways into a big open slot on the adjustable platform.