The Best Espresso Machines of 2017

This is a very pricey item, but worth it. I had never made Latte Machiattos at home before and within ten minutes, I had brewed my first one. It tasted as good as any I had at coffe shops. It was easy to clean as well. I have put the Keurig away and now I use this exclusively in the morning for my coffee. It also brews very quickly for heating up the water, milk and brewing the coffee. I use skim milk as the instructions recommend and get a great frothy milk layer on top.

As someone who has tinkered around with lower end Delonghi and Mr. Coffee models, I can safely say this is the real shebang. As someone with friends in the local coffee scene, this machine came highly recommended. If you're reading this, allow me to be frank with you: unless you're willing to spend top dollar on a classy machine, this is as good as it gets. Everything else is trash. I'm considering getting the rancilio wand, but the one the gaggia comes equipped with really isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Do yourself a favor and get this is you are passionate about your espresso.

The machine itself is perfect for one or two people and it's small enough that it sits on my counter without consuming all the space around it. It comes to life fairly quickly in the morning and then freshly grinds and makes my americano. I get a really nice crema top and the coffee is robust without being bitter or too heavy. When I ordered it, I also ordered the medium roast from Lavazza - Crema e Aroma. Clean up is easy - you empty the pucks after eight coffees and the lights come on when you're low on water or beans. Really like the Vapore!

The Jura machines make good coffee. With espresso, it's all about the steam pressure and the beans. Higher end machines may have more pressure, but my Jura machines have had enough. The beans you use in a semi-automatic machine make all the difference. I've experimented with many types of beans, and have found that a robust, dry (not oily) bean works best. French roast and most espresso roast beans don't work well because they are too sticky to move through the machine well. The best beans I have found have been Kirkland (i.e. Costco) Signature Espresso Beans. They are roasted by Starbucks, and better for these machines than even the Starbucks-brand espresso roast beans.

I can't say enough for how amazing this machine is. I use it three times or more per day since I bought it. When it first arrived I spent the whole week being a barista for the family. No one can get enough. The coffee fill container is really convenient at the top, the lid closes evenly making sure the coffee isn't exposed to too much air. There's a setting in there for how finely you want your beans ground. The water container at the back is easy to fill, you don't even have to remove it I just fill it as I go. The unit comes with a filter & the milk frother attachments. The side tray and bin are just a pull, dump, and push back in type cleaning method. It's just so easy.

The design is spiffy, with that gleaming chrome and purposeful looking lever for inserting and removing the cartridges. And there is something quite socially smooth about offering a guest an espresso produced with a single touch of a button. These are more expensive than they might be at around a half dollar each. Women and people with smaller forearms might find the lever for cartridge removal to be hard to operate. These limitations aside, the machine is solidly built, functions well, and is quietly elegant. A 'must have' for the discerning caffein addict.

This is an excellent espresso machine for the starter or the advanced barista. Heats up quickly and the heavy brass boiler, brass head and filter holder keep the machine ready for use. Consistently pulls espresso with a nice crema. The steam function provides plenty of steam to whip up thick frothed milk for cappuccinos. The grinder is easy to adjust maybe a little loud and holds enough beans for about 14 shots. The grinder isn't centered over the filter so you need to hold the filter tipped towards the back to keep the coffee in the holder. The machine is solid stainless steel, the drip trays are plastic but good enough. The reservoir holds 3 liters and is a little tight to remove and replace. The pump supplies plenty of pressure. I use the grinder setting between 5 - 4 depending on the bean.

This machine is truly fun to own if you are interested in making your "own" coffee. If you want to skip ahead of adjusting parameters almost every time you make your cup of coffee and about to complaint that his machine is too difficult to use, please buy a super-automatic machine. Super-automatic does average job all the time by just a press of a button.

It is a great machine. It is much more solidly built than our original Nespresso machine, looks fabulous, works perfectly and is a much, much better machine than our original Nespresso machine. The product quality that KicthenAid brought to the table (who doesn't love their KitchenAid mixer?) and the coffee making knowledge Nespress brought to the table has resulted in a first class coffee maker. And after having Nespresso coffee, any other coffee tastes like brown swill. So we recommend this machine without hesitation. It's a fantastic machine!!!

The idea of the capsules rather than using coffee beans requires some trade offs, but has lots of huge advantages. The capsules are super convenient, fast, clean and neat, attractive, and allow you to easily serve a variety of coffee blends (decaf, latin american, african, pure arabica, etc, which is fun). A big advantage is that they stay fresh for months at a time, so you can always have them on hand when you need them. Comparing the Nespresso system with the conventional system shows the value of convenience.