But testing espresso makers is a little different than testing, say, nonstick pans or toasters. Even asking “what is the best espresso machine” is sort of like asking “who is the best painter.” There’s not a single answer to that question because people want very different things from their espresso machines. Some want the full, hands-on barista experience of a prosumer machine, some need an affordable and easy-to-use option, and some need something completely self-contained with one-button operation. So we picked options that accommodate a range of prices and experience levels.
What to look for in an espresso maker
Does it make tasty coffee?
Perhaps this goes without saying, but it’s table stakes for an espresso machine to make a shot of espresso that has nuanced flavors, full body, and a rich crema on top. Machines achieve that with the right mix of temperature (about 200℉) and pressure (about 9 bars). Don’t be fooled by listings that say an espresso maker has enough power to reach 20 bars of pressure. Typically that kind of claim is code for the fact that it doesn’t actually regulate its pressure very well.
Besides pulling shots, these machines’ other main job is steaming milk. A good steam wand should produce smooth, rich milk, without large bubbles. It should also heat the milk evenly; you don’t want some milk scalded while some of it’s barely warm (we’ve had it, it’s gross). Finally, we prefer wands that can handle alternative milks in addition to dairy.
Making espresso drinks can be a finicky process—weighing your coffee beans, getting the grind right, tamping the beans with the right amount of pressure, and that’s before you even get to brewing. Anything a machine can offer to make the process easier and more reliable is welcome. That could be a quick heat up time, brewing on a timer so you don’t have to start and stop the process, or an easy-to-control steam wand for texturing milk.
The one exception to this is a built-in grinder. With super-automatic machines, you don’t have a choice, but we’ve tested several semiautomatic machines with built-in grinders, like the Breville Barista Express, and found that they’re often underpowered compared to stand-alone grinders. You’d be better off spending part of your budget on a good coffee grinder.
Here’s the bad news: With espresso makers, you get what you pay for. According to Isaiah Sheese, owner of the three Archetype Coffee shops and roasteries in Omaha, Nebraska, “anything under $500 and you’re not going to get that great of a machine.” Generally, that’s because those machines lack things like PIDs. The Breville Bambino Plus sneaks in under the $500 mark, but it’s the exception rather than the rule.
This sounds superficial, but whatever espresso maker you pick, it’s going to be sitting on your counter for everyone to see for years, so you should like the way it looks.
Why we don’t recommend espresso machines with built-in grinders
Getting a precise grind is one of the most important parts of brewing great espresso, and after testing lots machines that include built-in grinders, like the Breville Barista series and the De’Longhi Specialista series, we found the grinders often didn’t provide as much precision as stand-alone burr grinders do. They also lacked power and were prone to jamming up. And, because they’re attached to the machines, if the grinder has a problem, you may have to replace the entire machine, even if it can still brew effectively.
All that said, built-in grinders are improving. Breville purchased Baratza several years ago and uses the same burrs in its Barista Touch and Oracle models. Breville also acquired Italian brand Lelit and has made its built-in grinder model, the Anita, more widely available. While those all represent big steps up, we still think you’ll get better coffee if you use a separate grinder.
If you’re thinking about a Breville machine, here’s our complete guide to their whole lineup.
Other espresso machines we tested and liked
We liked all these machines; in fact, several were winning picks in earlier versions of our testing. They span styles and price points, and we think they all represent good buys, even if they aren’t our top picks.
We’re splitting hairs in naming the Lelit MaraX our top pick over this machine, the Bello+. The Bello+ has a few features the MaraX doesn’t, like an adjustable digital PID, a shot timer to help you hone your shots, and programmable pre-infusion. It also heated up faster than the MaraX, clocking in at around 11 minutes compared to 20. But to us, those bells and whistles are nice to have, not essential. You can get a shot timer from an affordable espresso scale, and pre-infusion can be done manually on many machines, including the MaraX.
Where the Bello+ fell short was its steam wand. It was the most powerful we tested, which made it too easy to overwork the milk. It’s also more expensive than the MaraX, which is ultimately why it didn’t earn a top spot. That said, it’s still an excellent and consistent espresso machine.
A favorite of Bon Appétit food director (and fellow traveler in coffee nerdom) Chris Morocco, the Rancilio Silvia Pro X is a lovely machine to use. It’s a dual boiler (unlike the Lelit MaraX, which has a heat exchanger setup), so the water used to steam milk is always at the ready and at a different temperature than the brewing water. It has a useful pressure gauge, which a previous Rancilio model did not, and an adjustable PID controller you can set to the degree.
Ultimately, we thought both the coffee tasted better and the milk frothed a bit better using the Lelit, but we are willing to admit some subjectivity there. The Rancilio also has a more industrial look that may not fit quite as nicely in your home coffee bar. In terms of performance, though, we have no issues with the Rancilio Silvia Pro X and recommend it.
A step down from the Diletta Bello+, the Mio is another prosumer machine that pulls a nice shot and makes a nice cappuccino. The Diletta Mio uses a thermoblock heater for steam instead of the heat exchanger of the Lelit or the dual boiler of the Rancilio, which keeps both the cost and the weight a bit lower than they otherwise might be. This machine also heats up much more quickly than its competitors—under 10 minutes, which is super speedy for a higher-end espresso machine.
However, we had an issue with longevity. After about six months of use, we started having trouble with the water temperature dropping. It took very regular flushing to keep things on the up and up. One other issue with this Diletta is very low cup clearance, which meant that for milk drinks, we needed to brew into a shot glass instead of the cup we intended to drink out of.
Cuisinart EM-320
Cuisinart EM-320 Espresso Machine
After more than half a decade of espresso machine testing, one idea has become almost axiomatic: Cheap espresso machines are just bad. But with this Cuisinart, that miraculously isn’t the case. At under $400 at the time of writing (and often on sale for even less), this petite machine pulled relatively rich espresso shots with a 15–20 second extraction time that outperformed everything else in the sub-$400 range. The EM-320 even comes with a bottomless portafilter, which is unheard of for a machine this cheap, likely because it makes it impossible to hide any cut corners or shortcomings. It’s a bold choice, and one that’s mostly backed up by the machine’s performance.
Other nice features include a removable water tank that pulls out from the front and enough cup clearance to fit a 20-ounce travel mug. It also has a cold extraction option, which works about as well as any we tested. That said, these settings across the board still can’t match the flavor quality of more time-consuming methods like immersion cold brew or flash chilling.
The main reason the Cuisinart didn’t make our list of top picks is its steam wand, which didn’t perform nearly as well as its brewing operation. The milk texture came out uneven and typically quite thin. We still think that, for anyone who finds $500 for the Breville Bambino Plus high, this makes a good entry into the world of espresso machines, but making cappuccinos will take a bit more patience.
Solis Barista Perfetta Plus
Solis Barista Perfetta Plus
The Solis Barista Perfetta Plus is a tremendous budget machine. It has an adaptive PID (though setting it requires pushing a combination of buttons a la a cheat code in an old Sega Genesis game), which is practically unheard of at this price point. The built-in pressure gauge provides useful feedback, and we have to give a hat tip to its powerful steam wand, which outperformed some machines that cost hundreds of dollars more. And finally, it has one of the smallest countertop footprints of any machine we’ve seen.
Why don’t we have it recommended up at the top? We’ve seen it out of stock for long stretches, and don’t want to leave you in a lurch.
Breville Barista Touch Impress
Breville Barista Touch Impress
The Touch Impress is not quite a super automatic machine, but it’s pretty close. It uses the same smart grinding and tamping as the Express Impress, though instead of dials and buttons, there’s an LED touchscreen. You can select which drink you’d like, and the machine will guide you through the steps one by one.
The coffee is delicious, but we think that if you want this level of automation, you may just want to go full super-auto and spring for the Bosch machine, especially because this one costs (at the time of writing) $1500. If you’re open to a more hands-on espresso experience, there are prosumer machines in the same price range as the Touch Impress or less expensive Breville machines that will give it to you.
De’Longhi La Specialista Touch
De’Longhi La Specialista Touch
Besides Breville, De’Longhi is the other big name you’ll see again and again in the $500–$1000 home espresso machine category. The La Specialista Touch is De’Longhi’s latest answer to the Breville Barista Touch, and in our opinion, is the best offering from the brand yet. It brews nine different coffee drinks, both espresso-based and not.
It helps you dial in the grind using its built-in burr grinder and measures extraction time to guide you. You can also save settings for different beans, making it easy to switch between blends and maintain consistency. The machine features automatic milk texturing, though you can switch the steam wand to manual if you prefer full control. If we had to choose, we’d say Breville’s auto-steaming works a bit better, but the Specialista Touch reliably produces five distinct milk drinks: cappuccino, flat white, latte, and latte macchiato.