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Home espresso coffee machine reviews

The right espresso machine can turn out an impressive coffee hit at home.
 
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  • Updated:19 Jan 2011
  • Author:Matthew Steen
  • rateraterateraterate: Member rating
 

01.Introduction

Breville ESP8C Café Roma espresso machine

Test results for 27 manual and semi-automatic espresso machines, priced from $159 to $1800

A 30mL shot of espresso forms the base of any coffee. You should use fresh coffee beans and grind them just before use, which means you'll need a coffee grinder. In our taste test we used a popular and easy-to-access supermarket brand of coffee; however, if you experiment with premium fresh coffees you may find they give even better results. See our ground coffee test article to find which coffees were our best buys and green buys.

In this test CHOICE looked at 27 espresso machines, which we’ve added to those models still available from our previous test.

For more information on Coffee machines, see Kitchen.

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A quick guide to getting the best espresso out of your new coffee machine.

2009_12_espresso_guide


How we test

Our expert tester scores the manual and semi-automatic coffee machines on:

  • Coffee temperature
  • Frothing milk for lattes and cappuccinos
  • Ease of use
  • Ease of programming
  • Taste (rated in a blind taste test by three coffee experts). 

Coffee Machine Models Tested 

  • Breville 800ES
  • Breville BarVista BES200
  • Breville Café Modena BES230
  • Breville Café Roma ESP8C
  • Breville Café Venezia BES250
  • Breville Fresca BES860
  • Bugatti Diva-B15
  • DeLonghi Nespresso EN265CWAE Citiz and Milk
  • DeLonghi Nespresso Essenza EN95R 
  • Gaggia Baby Twin
  • Gaggia Classic
  • Ilve by Ascaso Dream MF Versatile
  • Ilve by Ascaso DU 16 (A)
  • Krups XP 5280
  • La Pavoni Stradivari SPL
  • La Pavoni Stradivari STL
  • Lavazza A Modo Mio Extra
  • Lavazza A Modo Mio Premium
  • Nuova Simonelli Oscar Professional
  • Rancilio Miss Silvia
  • Saeco Via Venezia Espresso
  • Sunbeam Café Espresso EM3600
  • Sunbeam Artista EM 5900
  • Sunbeam Café Crema EM4800C
  • Sunbeam Café Espresso EM3800
  • Sunbeam Café Latte EM5600
  • Sunbeam Café Series Twin EM6910

(A) Discontinued, but may still be available in some stores.

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Related tags: Caffeine | Espresso | Kitchen appliances | Coffee | Nespresso
 
 
 
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