How to choose a coffee machine, in seven questions
Answer these before you spend anything. Most bad coffee-machine purchases fail question one, three or five.
1. How many cups a day do you actually drink?
Be honest, not what you would like, what you did last week. One or two cups a day, a manual brewer plus a hand grinder is genuinely the best-tasting option under £150. Three-plus cups, especially milk-based, tilts toward bean-to-cup or espresso.
2. Milk or black?
Milk drinks (flat white, cappuccino, latte) narrow the field to espresso machines and bean-to-cup with a proper steam wand or automatic milk system. Black coffee opens everything back up, including filter and manual brewers, which are cheaper and often taste better.
3. How much technique will you actually learn?
A manual espresso machine like the Gaggia Classic is a hobby, not an appliance. You dial in grind, dose, tamp pressure, extraction time. This is either a delight or a chore depending on temperament. Bean-to-cup and capsule machines require none of this.
4. How much counter space?
Bean-to-cup machines are big (typically 25 × 45 × 35 cm) and need daily access to the top for the bean hopper and water tank. Espresso machines take less footprint but still need portafilter and cup clearance. If your only space is a shallow shelf, the De'Longhi Dedica or a manual brewer are your options.
5. Have you budgeted for the grinder?
Non-negotiable if you are buying an espresso machine that is not bean-to-cup. A £600 espresso machine without a proper burr grinder will make coffee worse than a £150 Dedica with a fresh bag of pre-ground. Add £150–£300 to any espresso-machine budget for a grinder.
6. What is your cost-per-cup tolerance?
Capsules: £0.30–£0.60. Fresh beans in a bean-to-cup or espresso setup: £0.15–£0.30. Multiply by 365 days × your daily cup count × 5 years to see the total. Our cost-per-cup guide does the maths for common patterns.
7. Where will you buy beans?
If the answer is "the same supermarket coffee I've always bought", no coffee machine will impress you. Fresh beans from Rave, Union, Assembly or any UK specialty roaster (usually £9–£14 for 250 g, delivered) transform every method. Sort the beans first, then the machine.