You can choose between a semi-automatic machine or an automatic device. Breville allows you to get your caffeine fix in seconds with a touch of a button, or do all the work yourself and learn how to brew delicious espresso. The Oracle and Oracle Touch are fascinating machines, but I don’t quite understand who they are made for. Maybe they are ideal for a tiny office or a big family of coffee drinkers? However, the idea of spending thousands of dollars on a machine with a subpar grinder is something I can’t fully endorse.
You are paying for convenience and the technology required to deliver that convenience. If you’re a coffee lover of simple needs and modest means, the Cafe Roma could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Introduced in 2019, the Barista Pro is a relatively new addition to the Breville line-up. starbucks mocha It is very similar to everybody’s longtime favorite, the Breville Barista Express, but with a few extra bells and whistles that we think make it worthy of the top spot on our list this year. When you buy via the links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you.
Even Eureka’s most affordable flat burr grinder would take the espresso flavors to a new level compared to the built-in grinder here. There’s an automatic tamping station and a nifty display giving you feedback on your dose. Plus, the Barista Express Impress has a whopping 25 grind settings on board. I’d recommend changing the water filter more frequently than absolutely necessary. I enjoy a challenge, which is why I had a great time during my Breville Barista Express review!
On more of a downside, the removable water tank has a wacky and awkward double-articulated handle that spans the width of the machine. More annoying, when the tank reads “min,” what it really means is “pretty empty,” and there’s no alarm to alert you that there’s not enough water for a shot. For example, to decrease the water temperature by 2 degrees Fahrenheit, you turn the machine off, hold three buttons down as you turn it back on, then wait for a beep and press the manual dose button. Many home baristas will want to take the training wheels off at some point, and those workarounds will be annoying. The Rancilio Silvia made the best shot we were able to get from any of the machines we tested in 2016. At over $700, it also costs much more than either the Gaggia Classic Pro or the Breville Bambino Plus.
This model offers an easy-to-navigate touchscreen with one-shot, two-shot, hot water and steam options. Measure out your ground espresso with the included scoop to ensure that you pull a great shot each time. While this machine offers a steaming wand to whip up your favorite coffee shop beverage, you will need to purchase a starbucks mocha steaming pitcher for whipping up frothed milk. The La Specialista Prestigio has a built-in tamping mechanism, which helps pack your grounds perfectly. A pressure gauge helps ensure you selected the right grind and you’re pulling the perfect shot. We loved the espresso it produced; it was full-bodied with thin, silky crema.
Unlike those of the other models we tested, the Classic Pro’s water tank fits underneath the boiler, not behind it. (Watch your hands if you do this right after pulling a shot, since you don’t want to inadvertently brush them against the extremely hot group head!) Finally, the manual is a bit hard on the eyes. Compared with Breville’s cleanly segmented instructions, the directions for setting up the Classic Pro feel like an afterthought. The Gaggia Classic Pro was the only machine we tested in its price range that regularly yielded shots with dark, leopard-like speckling in the crema, which is a sign of depth and complexity.
A good super automatic machine will get you most of the way to excellent espresso. We say most of the way because with all that ease of use comes some compromise in flavor. Tasting notes are often muted compared to other types of machines and you can’t zero in the specific flavors you might like. But for lots of people that trade off is not so large as to be disqualifying. If you like what you get at Starbucks, for example, this will still be an improvement on that and it will require very little effort on your part. These are also great for people who hate cleaning up because everything happens inside the machine—very few stray coffee grounds or coffee drips happen here.
Let’s briefly summarize these three modes of espresso machine operation and then decide which is right for you. This new display, plus a few other aesthetic changes, gives this espresso machine a more refined look than the Express. If you have a Starbucks or Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf habit that you’re committed to kicking, it’ll pay for itself within about a year or two. You’ll also find that by the end of that year (or two), you’ll probably be dialing far better drinks to your liking than any barista could. A gauge, apart from offering a nostalgia-inducing aesthetic, is generally pretty helpful. The coffee from the Gaggia was on the same level as the Espressione, but again, the machine is just very limited in what it can do when compared to the more robust Delonghi Eletta Explore and the Jura E8.
The Breville Barista Express is among the more user-friendly espresso machines on the market — semi-automatic or otherwise. The Magnifica is sort of a slimmed down version of the Eletta Explore both physically (it has a smaller footprint) and in terms of what it can do (it only makes seven different drinks). It made very nice espresso, but the milk didn’t come out quite as smooth as it did on the Eletta Explore. If you do want something fully automatic, you get a lot more machine by leveling up to the Eletta (or the Jura for that matter). Super automatic machines can make a lot of noise (they’re working hard!), but the decibel level of the grinding and brewing in the Jura was on the low side.
Assuming that is true, getting hot water from a kettle is a small trade off to make. The drip tray is quite close to the group head (the opposite problem from the Barista Express Impress), which doesn’t allow for regular-size coffee mugs. You can either get lower profile mugs like these, or brew shots into shot glasses and pour them into mugs if you’re making cappuccinos or Americanos.