Best coffee machines in Australia: the top home espresso machines for all budgets, all tested and approved by trained baristas

The Breville Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction is an attractive machine, and available in a range of colours to blend in well with kitchen decor. It's quite a large machine though, at least when compared to others on this list, so you will need to make sure you actually have space to sit one on your kitchen counter.

This is especially true because the manual lever that's used for assisted tamping is on the left side of the machine, so you'll need to account for space that side so you can use it properly. Plus, the water tank slides onto the rear of the machine, so you'll also need enough space behind (and above if you have wall-mounted cabinets) to get it out when it's time to refill.

The top-mounted bean hopper is tinted, which not only lets you see how many beans are left so you know when to top up, but also reduces the amount of light that reaches them (something that can degrade flavour over time). It also has a good rubber seal to keep beans fresher for longer.

While it might be a pretty big machine, there's no denying the Barista Touch Impress is incredibly simple to use and master. As its name implies, the majority of your input is done via a large colour touchscreen. We found it to be smooth and responsive in use and, rather cleverly, isn't prone to fingerprints.

However, the Barista Touch Impress' real USP is just how well it guides you through the full process of brewing a well-rounded espresso. You'll need to go through some configuration settings on first use, but once that's done, everything gets much simpler. You can adjust the grind size using the large dial on the left, and use the lever to apply the same amount of tamping pressure each time.

If the machine detects the grind size isn't right for the recipe you've selected — it will either pour through too fast or too slow — it will recommend a better grind size for the next drink. All preset recipes are editable, and you can create your own custom drinks too.

The AutoMilq system is also a doddle to master, as all you need to do is lower the steam wand into the included milk pitcher — and leave it standing on the drip tray — select the milk type you're using and the level of micro foam you want, and it will get to work, automatically shutting off when the optimum temperature is reached. You can manually steam milk too if you wish.

The Breville Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction boasts excellent hot and cold coffee brewing. There are 14 preset recipes to choose from, including a couple of coffee-based cocktails. We would have liked to have seen some more common drinks included, such as flat white and macchiato, but since it's possible to create customised drinks, this becomes less of a deal breaker.

We found during testing that results when making cold brew were good, although not quite as full-bodied as you'll get from the Jura J10. It is at least good to know that the Barista Touch Impress pulses cold water over freshly ground coffee in the filter basket, before passing it through at high pressure — this is closer to the authentic method that traditionally take 12 to 24 hours.

And while the AutoMilq system can take away the stress and hassle of properly texturising milk, we found, rather interestingly, that it performed better with plant-based milks than dairy. It's more common for dairy milk to perform better when steaming as it has a higher fat content. Manually steaming dairy milk produced far better results.

The Breville Luxe Brewer Thermal is a thoughtfully designed drip coffee machine that has a small footprint, making it relatively simple to find space for on a kitchen counter. Its removable water tank, with its wide opening, is particularly useful for making refills as easy as possible.

Breville supplies both a cone-shaped and a flat-bottom filter basket, giving you a couple of different methods for making filter coffee. The cone-shaped basket concentrates water flow through the centre, while a flat-bottom basket sees water flowing through at a wider, more even rate.

The insulated carafe is also fantastic. Even when only half-full, it keeps coffee at a perfect drinking temperature for over four hours. Inferior machines will keep it too hot or too cold, to the point where your coffee can spoil.

This super modern-looking filter coffee machine gives you just a handful of options to tinker with. You can adjust the brew temperature, the pre-infusion temperature and pre-infusion time. You'll likely want to experiment with all these settings as they can have a noticeable effect on your brewed coffee. Elsewhere it's a delightfully simple machine to use, just add water, coffee grounds and you're good to go.

The Luxe Brewer Thermal produces a good-tasting coffee, no matter which filter basket you use. You're free to customise the various brewing options to adjust the flavour profile — these include being able to tweak the bloom volume (the amount of hot water dispensed onto the ground coffee for pre-infusion), bloom time (how long the coffee is allowed to pre-infuse), brew temperature, and flow rate (how rapidly the water is dispensed onto the coffee).

We found during testing that the default settings worked well with freshly bought and ground coffee beans (ground using a separate grinder), but it's good to know you can have some manual input.

It's also pleasing to see a cold-brewing mode, and it's one that works a treat, because it makes it the traditional way. You can let your coffee steep for 24 hours and beeps to let you know when it's done. It's incredibly easy, and there's no mess. The delayed start timer is an excellent feature too, letting you wake up to a piping hot brew every morning. It's not cheap, but we think it more than justifies its asking price.

This Ninja coffee machine is big and bulky, measuring 12.99 x 13.39 x 14.57in / 330 x 340 x 370mm (L x W x H), so you'll want to make sure you have space in your kitchen before you commit to a purchase. Its saving grace is that the bulk allows it to integrate the tools necessary to be able to make coffee in a multitude of ways.

When we first reviewed it, it was only available in a stainless steel finish. Having seen pictures of newer colours, Oat Milk is by far my favourite, although the Cyberspace (navy blue) also appears to be a bit of a looker. The machine also exudes premium, more so than its reasonable price tag would suggest.

Another great design touch is the inclusion of a couple of storage compartments for the various tools and accessories, something not always found on other machines. What you need to know is that the water reservoir slots in at the rear of the machine, so getting to it could be fiddly depending on where you have it sat. Thankfully it's relatively large at just over 2 litres, potentially giving you plenty of time between refills.

The main design element the Ninja Luxe Café misses out on is a water line, so you can't pour standalone hot water for a tea, for example.

A big part of the Luxe Café's appeal is that it enables even the most amateur of coffee lovers to be able to pour a great-tasting coffee. Our tester took around 20 minutes from unboxing to pouring their first espresso, and noted that a unique feature of the Ninja machine is that it calibrates itself.

This means you don't need to worry about technicalities such as grind size to get a great espresso, it does all the work for you. Some input is still required for this calibration process, and thankfully there are detailed instruction manuals supplied.

Interacting with the machine is quite pleasant. There's no touchscreen, as Ninja has opted for physical buttons instead. You'll need to press these buttons and turn some dials to customise your drink, with all information being displayed on a bright and clear LED interface. Everything is logically laid out — grind settings are near the grinder, drink and water volume settings are in the centre above where the portafilter inserts, and milk settings are on the right above the steam wand.

The controls and display can feel overwhelming at first, locking the portafilter into place requires a little force, and some grounds can escape during tamping.

The Ninja Luxe Café delivers consistently strong results while making the process of brewing espresso considerably easier than most semi-automatic machines. Its automatic grind-size recommendations and weight-based dosing take much of the trial and error out of dialling in a shot, and after a brief learning curve the machine proves straightforward to use.

Espresso performance is particularly impressive. Double and quad shots are consistently rich and smooth, with a thick golden crema, while the lower-temperature cold-pressed setting works well for iced drinks without rapidly melting the ice. Regular coffee is similarly dependable, producing flavourful, full-bodied brews across a range of sizes.

The automatic milk frother is another highlight, producing convincing steamed milk and microfoam with dairy milk and making lattes, flat whites and cappuccinos easy to prepare. Plant-based milk proves more challenging, though manual steaming is available for greater control.

Overall, the Luxe Café combines very good espresso, capable filter-style coffee and effective automatic milk frothing in one versatile machine, with its guided brewing features making it especially well suited to beginners.

The Philips Baristina is a compact machine, and exhibits smart looks. It's available in two colours, black and white, with matching portafilter handles as standard. While it might be made from plastic, the matte finish does as least help to prevent fingerprints.

The rear-mounted water tank doesn't have an integrated handle, but we found during testing that its ridged surface made it easy to grip to slide in and out.

Do note that there's no steam wand for texturising milk, but if you want to make milk-based drinks, a matching milk frother is also available.

Controlling the Philips Baristina is incredibly simple, as there are only three buttons you need to learn. These are used to brew a single shot of espresso, a lungo (a longer drink with the same amount of coffee and twice as much water); and one to boost the intensity by increasing the dose of ground coffee.

The vast majority of the coffee-making process is handled by the machine itself, which is in many ways, its party piece. Just push the empty portafilter handle into place, and slide it to the right under the coffee grinder. Choose your drink using the aforementioned buttons, hit the extra intensity button if you like, and the machine will get to work.

The Baristina then grinds and tamps the coffee, and will even slide the portafilter over to the left so it sits under the brew group, so the brew your coffee. The handle even unlocks when it's finished, so you can easily remove it and clean it.

The Baristina's biggest strength, its simplicity, can also be seen as a weakness to some. In short, there's no way to customise drinks, since you can't adjust the grind size or change the filter basket. If your drink tastes under- or over-extracted (sour or bitter), you'll need to experiment with different types of coffee until you find something that works with the machine's default setup.

However, if you want to make the jump from a pod coffee machine to one that uses freshly ground beans — and you're not too keen on getting hands on with something a little more complex — the Philips Baristina is ideal.

Despite its lack of personalisation, we found the espresso it did produce was well-extracted and tasty, although as just mentioned, the actual beans you use will have a big influence on the final product.

The KitchenAid KF3's headline feature is its compact size, which makes it incredibly easy to place on a kitchen counter, even those in smaller kitchens. A couple of small wheels on the bottom at the rear, make it possible to slide it forwards and backwards with ease.

Looks-wise, it's boxy, with rounded corners, and is available in either Porcelain White or Matte Black. To cut manufacturing costs, KitchenAid has ditched the predominantly metal build of the larger models, replacing it with plastic. It still looks and feels very much a premium product though.

The clearest indicator that lets you know this is the KF3 is the small 2.4-inch / 6cm color display. The KF2 doesn’t have one at all, while the KF4’s color screen is larger and touch enabled. It’s a relatively low-resolution screen compared to the likes of the Philips Café Aromis, but is still bright and clear, and the use of colour helps to identify the drink you want to make.

The top-mounted hopper is large enough to accommodate 250g of coffee beans and, as with the other compact machines in the series, it features a removable opaque lid with a silicone seal. This means you can’t easily see the amount of leftover beans (there’s a clear audible indication if it doesn’t have any to grind) but, then again, the beans aren’t exposed to light and air, keeping them fresher for longer.

The 1.8L water tank is mounted at the rear, and has an integrated handle to assist with sliding in and out. Its automatic milk system comprises a hose that attaches to the coffee dispenser, while the other end needs to be placed into a glass.

The KF3 is a simple machine to learn and master. Its display is flanked by 10 touch buttons: four that provide quick access to user profiles, drinks menu, rinsing cycles and machine settings; two to initiate and cancel brewing; and four to cycle forward and back through menu options, return and select.

There are four user profiles available, each of which can store customised drinks for quick access. Tweaking settings of the 15+ presets is fuss free and logical, and the coffee dispenser can be moved up and down to accommodate various cup sizes.

The hose-based milk system is a little fiddly, and I do think a steam wand is a better option where usability is concerned. This thought process applies especially to the cleaning process, because you need to run a rinse cycle each time you use it.

The best thing about the KitchenAid KF3 Fully Automatic Espresso Machine is that you can confidently rely on it to deliver an excellent espresso with every use. The IntelliGrind system automatically determines the best grind size depending on your chosen beans to ensure it brews a tasty shot with good crema. I used medium-roast and dark-roast beans during my testing period and I was more than satisfied with the results in each case.

However, iced drinks aren't quite as good. The KF3 says an iced espresso is brewed at a lower temperature, but I used a thermometer to measure and found little difference between it and a regular shot — as a result, it melted ice pretty quickly.

The hose-based milk system delivers good, but not great, results in my opinion. However, it does work well with plant-based milks, despite not having a dedicated option.

The Lavazza A Modo Mio Jolie Evo is one of the smallest coffee machines of any style that we've ever tested, and so is ideal for small kitchens. Of course, it also means it can easily find a home in any kitchen. It measures 4.9 x 8.3 x 13 inches / 124 x 210 x 330mm (W x H x D), making even smaller than the decidedly dinky Nespresso Vertuo Pop.

Some clever touches include a detachable drip tray that allows you to fit cups and mugs under the dispenser, and the internal bin has a grille in the bottom to let the pods drain and dry before you remove them for recycling.

On the subject of recycling, perhaps the biggest issue with Lavazza pods is that they're a lot trickier to recycle compared to Nespresso. You can get a zero waste bag from a foundation such as Terracycle, but they can be expensive (although the cost includes shipping). Nespresso on the other hand, accepts pod drop off in their stores or via Australia Post.

Capsule coffee machines are perhaps the easiest to use. All you need to do is insert a capsule and press the start button, that's it. In the case of the A Modo Mio Jolie Evo, it really is just a single button that's used to begin and stop the brewing process.

To load a A Modo Mio capsule, you need to pull a large chrome handle up to open the chute. It's a smart-looking system that works well in practice, and thanks to it needing little force to move, is also ideal for people with limited strength or mobility.

The slight downside to the Jolie Evo is that there's no timer for the coffee dispenser — i.e. it will continue running water through your coffee pod until you press the button again to stop. Some other A Modo Mio Jolie machines do have a timer, such as the Jolie Plus, but the Jolie Evo doesn't.

While the Lavazza A Modo Mio Jolie Evo is incredibly easy to use, the flavour of your coffee will depend entirely on which pod you select. Unlike Nespresso, there aren't many elaborate flavoured drinks. Instead there are simply various beans, blends and roasts to choose from, with each pod containing only ground coffee with no extras.

We found from testing that Lavazza's coffees are rather delicious and very similar in taste to what you'd get from freshly ground beans. They also taste great either as a black coffee or mixed with milk.

The Jura J10 does, at first glance, appear to be a pretty big coffee machine, especially where width is concerned. At just under 32cm, it's one of the widest on this list. However, given its 34.8cm height and 44.6cm depth are on par with the KitchenAid KF3 and Philips Baristina — both of which are easily considered 'compact' machines — the J10 is actually quite easy to accommodate in most kitchens.

The single top-mounted bean hopper is large enough to fit 280g worth of beans, and it's airtight too to help keep them fresher for longer. The automatic milk-foaming system is one of the better-looking examples out there, comprising a glass container with airtight lid, and a metal sleeve to attach to the main machine — far easier on the eyes than many other hose-based systems.

The only minor negative we found in our review that, as a result of the drip tray being wide and long, it's also quite shallow, so can easily spill when emptying.

With 42 preset drinks to choose from, Jura had to make it as simple as possible to browse them all, and thankfully it's managed it. We found the menu system to be easy to navigate during testing, with clear icons indicating which drinks can be customised. Tweaking and personalising drinks is a fuss-free affair too, so you should have no trouble getting the perfect recipe.

One clever feature is called Coffee Eye that detects which of the two dispensers you've placed a cup under — one in the middle for coffee and hot water for espressos and americanos; another on the right for lattes, cappuccinos, and steamed milk, with optional syrup added as the milk is texturised — and will only show drinks that can be made via that dispenser.

Unfortunately, however, the customisation menus can time out pretty quickly if you don't interact with them. Considering you'll need a bit of time to read each variable and decide what you might want to change, it can be frustrating. It also refers to grind settings from "mild" to "intense", as opposed to number or even automatically adjusting the grind size for you. It just means there's a bit of a learning process.

While the Jura J10 makes delicious drinks no matter your preference, I've chosen it as the best coffee maker for cold brew because the results are "very impressive" according to our review. It's made in a similar fashion to authentic cold brew, but much quicker than the traditional way over the course of many hours.

Another feature of the J10 is called Sweet Foam, which lets you add flavoured syrups when texturising milk. The supplied container lets you control how much syrup is added, and you can use any type or flavour, including sugar-free.

Regular shots of hot espresso are consistently well-extracted with rich crema, and dairy and non-dairy milk types are perfectly foamed. It's no doubt an expensive machine, but you're rewarded with excellent performance.