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Espresso machines: pump, boiler, and what the bar figure hides

An espresso machine forces hot water through a puck of fine coffee at about 9 bar. Three kinds of machine do that — semi-automatic, super-automatic and capsule — and the specification sheet leads with the one number that tells you least.

What the category is

Semi-automatic machines have a portafilter you fill and lock in, a pump, a boiler or thermoblock, and a steam wand; you grind, dose, tamp and stop the shot. Super-automatic machines hold beans in a hopper and grind, tamp, brew and often froth at a button. Capsule machines take a sealed pod and do everything for you, and are covered on the single-serve hub as well. Machines with a built-in grinder and a portafilter sit in the first group.

How to read the spec sheet

Bar pressure is the headline and the least useful line. Espresso extracts at about 9 bar; a pump rated 15 or 20 bar is throttled by a valve to roughly that. The number is not a quality figure and a review does not treat it as one. A machine that states its brewing pressure, or a PID controller, is saying something more.

Boiler type is the line that matters. A thermoblock heats water on the way through and is quick and cheap; a single boiler brews or steams but not both at once; a heat-exchange or dual-boiler machine does both together and costs accordingly. For milk drinks the boiler type decides the morning.

Steam wand: a panarello sleeve froths for you and limits texture; a bare wand needs technique and gives better milk. The sheet names which, and whether the wand articulates.

Portafilter size: 51, 54 or 58 mm. It decides which baskets and tampers fit and how forgiving the dose is; 58 mm is the commercial standard.

Pre-infusion, PID and pressure gauge are the features that separate a machine you can adjust from one you cannot, and each is on the sheet or not.

Reservoir, drip tray, cup clearance read as plumbing: how often you fill, how often you empty, whether a tall mug fits.

Super-automatics add their own lines: bean hopper size, grinder type, number of drink presets, and whether the milk system is a carafe or a wand.

Who it suits

A semi-automatic for someone who wants to learn and enjoys the process; a super-automatic for a household that wants a latte at a button and will pay for it; a capsule machine for one person who wants a consistent shot in a minute and accepts the pod cost.

Who should skip it

Anyone who drinks mugs of black coffee: a drip machine or a French press makes that better and cheaper. And a semi-automatic without a decent grinder beside it is a disappointment waiting to be unboxed.

Where to start

Six of the 192 espresso machines brewing appliances reviewed on this site, one per model, across manufacturers. Every review is written from the manufacturer’s published specifications — how, and what that leaves out.

All 192 espresso machines coffee maker reviews

Newest first. Consumables, accessories and parts that were once filed here are excluded.