A bean-to-cup coffee machine is the quickest and easiest way to enjoy a fresh brew, particularly when you're in a hurry, but the more they automate the coffee-making process, the more carefully you need to choose one.
The best bean-to-cup coffee machines have a good quality grinder that offers lots of settings (ideally with flat, ceramic burrs for grinding espresso nice and fine) and a boiler that keeps the water temperature stable (and ideally lets you control it too). It should also generate an optimal nine bars of pressure, and have a quality automatic steam wand with temperature control. It's a lot to ask.
That's where I come in. I've tested 13 of the best coffee makers over the last year (and have another one ready to go on my kitchen counter), so I know what makes a great bean-to-cup machine, and have compiled this list of my top three recommendations to help you make the right choice.
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Best bean-to-cup coffee machine overall
1. Breville/Sage the Barista Touch Impress
If someone asks me to recommend a bean-to-cup coffee maker, the Barista Touch Impress is my top choice every time. It's a mid-priced machine with top-class performance, offering features you'd normally expect to see on something much more expensive.
It's one of Breville's most advanced coffee machines, and guides you through as much of the espresso-making process as you want. For novice users it can handle pretty much everything, from grinding (with its compact stainless steel burr grinder) to pulling a shot, and foaming milk. If you already have some barista skills, or have grown in confidence, you can start to take control manually for optimum results (though you'll need to be at the top of your game to do better than the machine).
The bright color touchscreen makes the Barista Touch Impress a piece of cake to use, and its menus and settings are intuitively designed.
Note that Breville products are branded as Sage in the UK. It's a bit complicated, but there's a different, unrelated British company called Breville (which also makes kitchen appliances, just to make things confusing).
Read our full Breville/Sage Barista Touch Impress review
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Best compact bean-to-cup coffee machine
De'Longhi La Specialista Touch
It's hard to overstate just how impressed I was by this little bean-to-cup machine, which has a tiny footprint but is just as capable as much larger, heavier, and more expensive alternatives.
It looks like a miniature version of high-end machines from the likes of Breville, but doesn't skimp on features and guides you through the process of brewing a beautifully extracted coffee so you learn along the way.
In my opinion, it's perfect if you're shopping for your first coffee machine because, like the Barista Express above, it can handle as much or as little of the process for you as you like.
If you've never pulled a shot before, it will choose the optimum brewing options for you (just select the type of beans you're using, and choose the roast according to their color) then let the machine handle the subtleties.
The steam wand has both manual and automatic settings, and unlike many bean-to-cup machines, the La Specialista Touch partners it with a temperature probe so your milk will be heated just enough to release its sweetness without being scalded (which makes it taste custardy).
It's a good-looking piece of kit, too, and drew a lot of admiring glances in the test kitchen TechRadar shares with Tom's Guide and T3. Our reviews editor was very impressed by the quality of the espresso made using it (he commented that he couldn't get results that good with his manual machine at home). Praise indeed.
Read our full De'Longhi La Specialista Touch review
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Best fully automatic bean-to-cup coffee machine
Siemens EQ900 Plus
I love a good latte macchiato, and the Siemens EQ900 Plus makes the best one I've ever had from a home bean-to-cup coffee machine. Unlike the other two here, this machine is fully automatic, meaning all you have to do is take your pick from its extensive menu of beverages, and tap your preferred option to begin brewing.
That doesn't mean you don't have choices, though. One of my favorite features is the hopper, which is split into two sections so you can alternate between two beans whenever you like (don't worry, the grinder will purge between drinks to avoid mixing them). Some coffee makers I've tested have a scoop so you can add a dose of pre-ground coffee and bypass the main hopper if you want to use something different, but this is a much better setup if, like me, you want to switch to decaf after lunch.
When it comes to brewing your drink, the machine gives you a choice of two modes: Barista and Comfort. As the names suggest, Barista gives you full control over factors like pre-infusion time and water temperature, while Comfort handles it all for you, only asking you to select the aroma (mild, balanced, or distinctive), strength (light, normal, strong, or extra strong), and cup size.
Milk is steamed beautifully, with whole dairy milk turning into rich, stable foam that's a perfect foundation for lattes. If your wallet can take the hit, it's an excellent pick.
Read our full Siemens EQ900 Plus review
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