Ninja AutoBarista Pro: two-minute review

The Ninja AutoBarista Pro makes crafting coffee and espresso drinks easy. The espresso is the real deal, a true 9-bar espresso brew with crema. It also brews regular drip coffee and a kind of rapid cold brew for iced drinks. From there you can froth your milk of choice, dairy or non-dairy, hot or cold, to create the beverage you get out of bed for.

A dozen pre-sets give you one-touch simplicity. Grind iQ chooses the grind size and dose based your beans. But if you prefer to tweak your settings to your personal taste (strength, grind, temperature, size, froth type,) you can save up to two separate user profiles. The Ninja AutoBarista Pro comes with two bean hoppers so you can easily swap out two different kinds of beans in seconds. Plus there is a chute just for pre-ground coffee, so you always have that option.

I tested out all 12 of the espresso and coffee drinks on the pre-set menu: Espresso, Lungo, Americano, Latte, Cortado, Cappuccino, Flat White, Drip Coffee, Over Ice (coffee), Iced Latte, Cold-Brew (coffee) and Cold-Pressed (espresso). They all came out great, though I noticed that the hot coffee drinks aren't super hot. I'd say they are immediate drinking temperature, not blow-on-it-and-sip temperature.

There is some simple cleaning and maintenance involved, but the machine does perform automatic rinses and has an interior fan to keep things as clean as possible before you have to do anything.

Wake up and have an incredible barista-style coffee drink with just the touch of a button or two. I don't know about you, but this is all I can manage before having coffee in the morning!

Ninja AutoBarista Pro: price and availability

• Available at Ninja's website and Best Buy
• Retails for $949.99 (£718 / AU$1,354)
• Will come in several color options

As of this writing, you can buy the Ninja AutoBarista Pro on Ninja's own website and third-party stores for $949.99/ £899.99. That works out at about AU$1,350, but at the time of writing it's not yet available in Australia. The color shown in my photos, stainless steel, is the only color currently available, but three other colors are coming: Midnight Blue, Oat Milk, and Bronze.

Ninja AutoBarista Pro: specs

Ninja AutoBarista Pro: design

• Professional barista look
• All-inclusive machine
• Touch screen

The Ninja AutoBarista Pro looks like what its name would suggest: an automatic professional barista. Which is pretty much exactly what it is. It's designed to be simple to use and the most efficient way to get the coffee or espresso drink you crave.

The coffee hopper clicks into place on top of the machine. The Ninja AutoBarista Pro comes with two hoppers, so you can keep two different kinds of coffee on hand and easily swap out the hoppers as needed. Each time you put new beans in the hopper, you can run a "Grind iQ" cycle, which allows the machine to automatically dial in the perfect grind size for your beans. There is also a pre-ground coffee chute.

From the top, you can access the water reservoir if you prefer to add water that way as opposed to removing the whole tank and bringing it to your water source.

A large 80-ounce water reservoir sits on the right side of the machine. Inside the reservoir is a water filtration tablet, which should be changed out every two months. The tablet holder has a dial you can set, visible from the outside of the tank, as a reminder of when to change out the filtration tablet.

The left side of the machine has a removable door; inside the door is the brew unit. About once a month, you'll need to pull out the brew unit and give that a thorough rinse and the machine interior a wipe-down.

On the front of the machine is a large touch screen where you make your selections. Underneath that are the dual dispensing spouts, adjustable coffee cup platform, milk wand, and milk jug. The machine does rinse itself regularly, and the milk wand purges itself after use, but you'll need to empty out the drip tray once every few brews. Of course you need to clean the milk jug, steam wand, puck bin, and bean hoppers as needed. Periodically, you'll also need to run a cleaning cycle and descale cycle.

Before using the machine for the first time, you'll need to test your water's hardness with the included test strip. You'll have the opportunity to enter your water's hardness level during setup.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Ninja AutoBarista Pro: performance

• Create just about any hot or cold coffee or espresso drink
• Froth your hot or cold dairy or non-dairy milk
• Very easy to create custom beverages

When I wake up in the morning, what gets me out of bed is the thought of that first cup of coffee. The last thing I want to do is have to go through a multi-step process to get that caffeine kick. The Ninja AutoBarista Pro makes it so easy to get an excellent cup of joe quickly. There are 12 preset coffee and espresso drinks, but each one can be customized to your preferred bean strength, brewing temperature, and drink size. I tried all 12 of the drinks at least once and they were all very good. I used a dark roast coffee for my testing and started with the default settings on everything.

The temperature on the hot drinks was not what I'd call super hot. I found it immediately drinkable, but if you like your coffee to come out hotter than that, you might be disappointed.

I started with just a standard espresso using the default settings, which is a 2.5:1 water to grounds ratio. This was very strong, as expected. The Ninja AutoBarista Pro does produce a crema on its espresso drinks. I made a cold-pressed espresso, which you brew over ice. It brews at a lower temperature and does take longer than brewing a standard espresso, which makes it taste a bit smoother and less bitter. It's still a very strong espresso drink. I tried a lungo, which is a longer pull than the standard espresso, but still a very strong drink with the default settings. I made an americano, which is an espresso with extra water added. This was still strong but good.

When you make milky drinks, you pour your milk of choice into the jug, choose dairy or non-dairy, and the Ninja AutoBarista Pro properly steams and/or froths your milk for your selected beverage. Then it's up to you to actually pour the milk into your espresso.

I made a cortado, which is espresso plus enough steamed milk to cut the bitterness. It does indeed do that, it's very good even with the almond milk I used. I made a flat white, which is an espresso plus steamed milk, more milk than a cortado but less than a latte. I also made this with almond milk and it was good. Then I made a latte, which has a bit more steamed milk plus a bit of froth. I used skim dairy milk this time with great results.

The cappuccino, which is espresso plus equal parts steamed milk and froth, was foamy and amazing. I used the default settings and skim dairy milk. This might have been my favorite hot beverage. I also made an iced latte, which is cold-pressed espresso plus lightly frothed milk. This turned out slightly foamier than I expected for an iced drink, but it was delicious.

In addition to the espresso-based drinks above, the Ninja AutoBarista Pro also makes drip coffee. The standard size cup is eight ounces, but you can make it larger or smaller as you like.

The default drip coffee setting was a little weak to my tastes, but that was easily adjusted and I made a stronger brew the next time.

The Ninja's AutoBarista Pro's cold-brew setting isn't a true cold brew. That would take hours. It does, however, brew at a lower temperature for a smoother, sweeter taste and a still-warm-but-cooler brew. The first time I tried this, I thought I selected 4 ounces but it seems to have been 40 ounces. I just stopped it before my mug overflowed. The taste was very nice and smooth. I did it again and brewed six ounces, which came out great.

I made an Over Ice coffee and it wasn't bad, but kind of weak compared to the Cold-Brew.

• Performance score: 5/5

Should you buy the Ninja AutoBarista Pro?

Buy it if

Don't buy it if

Ninja AutoBarista Pro: also consider

How I tested the Ninja AutoBarista Pro

I spent a couple of weeks in a very caffeinated state. I brewed and drank every beverage on the touch-screen menu at least once: espresso, lungo, americano, latte, cortado, cappuccino, flat white, drip coffee, cver ice (coffee), iced latte, cold-brew (coffee) and cold-pressed (espresso). I performed standard maintenance on the machine, such as emptying the drip tray every few brews, cleaning the milk wand and frothing jug after every use, and removing and rinsing the brew unit.

First reviewed June 2026

• The process makes espresso-strength coffee in under three minutes
• It brews at room temperature via ultrasonic waves
• The process reduces energy use by up to 75%

Scientists have come up with a way of making coffee at room temperature, and it's much faster than any cold brew: where that takes 12 to 24 hours, this new method makes espresso in less than three minutes. The secret? Ultrasound.

As Francisco Trujillo, senior lecturer at the School of Chemical Engineering in Sydney, explains, "As someone from Colombia, I like to think coffee is in my blood — and I'm proud to come from a country known for producing some of the best coffee beans in the world. So perhaps that's why I have spent a lot of time in my laboratory with my team asking a simple question: does espresso really need hot water?"

The answer, it seems, might be no. According to Trujillo, the ultrasonic espresso has "the same richness, the same boldness," and a quarter of the energy usage. In taste tests 100 coffee drinkers couldn't tell the difference between traditional and ultrasonic espresso, and in some cases they preferred the latter.

How does an ultrasonic coffee machine work?

Instead of heat, Trujillo's coffee machine uses ultrasound: sound waves at a frequency much higher than our ears can hear. By placing a transducer against the side of a traditional espresso basket and vibrating it at high frequency, the vibrations create a phenomenon called acoustic cavitation where little bubbles form and collapse in the water.

As Trujillo explains, "When these bubbles collapse near coffee particles, they produce microscopic jets and forces that act a little like scrubbing brushes. They pit and fracture the surface of the coffee grounds, helping flavor compounds, oils and caffeine move into the water much faster than they normally would at room temperature."

It's not quite a simple as giving your coffee a good shake. The team found that the brewing ratio was crucial, with too much water making too weak an espresso and too little making espresso extraction difficult. The size of the coffee grind also made a difference.

For now this is just an experiment, but Trujillo can see multiple applications for the technology: in coffee machines at home and in small coffee shops to save energy, but also in ready to drink coffee priducts. "A concentrated room-temperature coffee could be used directly in bottled drinks, milk-based beverages or cold coffee products. It can also be shipped as a concentrate and diluted later."

I don't think the best bean-to-cup coffee makers have anything to worry about just yet, and in all honesty I'd rather stick with my thermoblock coffee machine because three minutes to make a coffee is about two minutes too long for me first thing in the morning. But it's fascinating and could mean a whole new generation of to-go drinks in the not too distant future.

KitchenAid KF4: two-minute review

The KitchenAid Fully Automatic Espresso Machine KF4 is a new addition to the company’s lineup, and though it looks very similar to earlier models like the KF3 and KF6, it’s considerably smaller and a great choice for compact kitchens. It also offers particularly good noise shielding, and during my tests it proved quieter than its siblings when grinding and brewing.

It has the same Intelligrind system as KitchenAid’s larger machines, making it easy to achieve the correct dosage for your chosen coffee. With just a few manual tweaks of the grinder (which can be adjusted via a dial), you’ll soon be enjoying consistently delicious, well-extracted espresso.

The KF4’s automatic milk system lets you use that espresso in delicious lattes and cappuccinos, and while it’s optimized for dairy, it worked perfectly well with barista-style oat milk as well, producing foam that was almost as thick and creamy, and just the right temperature.

It’s a shame, then, that the KF4’s ‘iced’ espresso and coffee options didn’t deliver the results I’d hoped. Many espresso machines offer cold extraction, which takes longer to brew but delivers a drink with a mellow flavor that’s easily turned into an iced latte or enjoyed on its own. The KF4 brews its ‘iced’ drinks at a lower temperature than usual, but the resulting coffee is still hot enough to melt ice within a minute or two, leaving you with a drink that’s diluted and lukewarm.

Otherwise, this is an excellent mid-range automatic espresso machine that’s solidly made, easy to use, and simple to keep clean. Its components aren’t dishwasher-safe, but its excellent set of maintenance programs means keeping everything hygienic (including the milk system) is a piece of cake.

KitchenAid KF4: specifications

KitchenAid KF4: price and availability

• Launched April 2026
• Available in US and UK
• List price $1,299.99 / £899 (about AU$1,850)

The KitchenAid Fully Automatic Espresso Machine KF4 launched in April 2026 with a list price of $1,299.99 / £899, putting it in the middle of KitchenAid’s range of automatic coffee makers. That’s about AU$1,850, but the KF4 isn’t yet available in Australia.

If you like the look of the KF4 but your budget won’t quite stretch that far, take a look at the KitchenAid KF3. It's very similar to the KF4 but has a slightly smaller range of drinks and no milk carafe. Instead, you place the end of the milk tube in a glass or cup, which is a less elegant solution, but one that cuts the price to $999.99 / £749 (about AU$1,420).

For comparison, KitchenAid’s top-end fully automatic espresso machine, the KF8, is priced at $1,999.99 / £1,899 / AU$2,599, while the lower-specced KF2 is $799.99 / £699 (about AU$1,140).

• Value score: 4/5

KitchenAid KF4: design

• Smaller than previous KitchenAid automatic espresso machines
• Milk system is easy to use and clean
• No components are dishwasher-safe

The KF4 looks very much like KitchenAid’s previous automatic coffee makers, but with one significant difference: it’s much more compact. The KF6 measures 10.2 x 14.3 x 18.6 inches / 260 x 363 x 473mm, while the new KF4 is 7.68 x 6.3 x 18.7 inches / 195 x 160 x 475mm (H x W x D). This allows it to slide into a much narrower space, making it a great option for bijou kitchens.

Otherwise, the KF4 follows the same design language as other KitchenAid machines with its boxy shape and rounded corners, and a choice of porcelain white or matt black finishes. However, the company has made a few thoughtful tweaks here. The brushed stainless steel at the top of earlier models has been replaced with plastic, for example, and the metal around the edge of the drip tray has a satin finish. The overall look is sleeker and more modern, and the area surrounding the display is no longer susceptible to gathering unsightly fingerprints.

The 3.5 inch / 8.8cm color touchscreen is supplemented by six buttons: four that provide quick access to the menu, profiles, rinsing cycles, and machine settings; one that initiates brewing; and one that cancels the current drink. The screen has a noticeably lower resolution than other espresso machines I’ve tested recently, such as the Philips Café Aromis, but it’s clear and responsive.

The bean hopper is generously sized, and unlike many other brands, KitchenAid’s designers have opted for an opaque lid with a silicone seal. This means you can’t check how many beans are left at a glance, but ensures that your coffee isn’t exposed to unnecessary light and air, thereby keeping it fresh longer. The lid is fully removable rather than hinged, which makes the hopper easier to access if you keep your coffee maker underneath a wall cabinet, and it has a chute for a scoop of pre-ground coffee if you want to mix things up. A suitably-sized scoop is provided with the machine.

The drip tray is deep, helping prevent spills, and has a large spout at the back for easy emptying. Used coffee grounds drop into a removable bin in the center, and during testing I was pleased to see that this was a very tidy process. Some espresso machines manage to spread wet grounds all over the drip tray and the interior of the case, but not the KF4.

The water tank is large too, and feels very sturdy. It has a hinged lid and a recessed handle, making it easy to remove, carry, and slide back into place without spilling. The KF4 is also supplied with a water-testing strip and water filter. The tank is quite narrow, so reaching inside to fit the filter can be tricky, but this doesn’t need to be done too often.

The KF4’s milk system is the same as that of the KF8, with a lidded carafe that connects to the machine via a silicone tube. Lift a small cover on the side of the KF4’s coffee dispenser to reveal a socket, push one end of the hose into place, then attach the other to the carafe. It’s not as neat as the Philips LatteGo system, where the milk carafes are made from three simple pieces of hard plastic, but the KF4’s rinsing and cleaning programs help keep everything hygienic. The milk carafe can be stored in the fridge between uses, but none of the removable parts — including the milk system, drip tray, and grounds container — are dishwasher-safe.

The height of the dispenser can be adjusted to accommodate different-sized cups, with a good range of movement that suits everything from an espresso cup to a 350ml coffee mug. The movement isn’t as smooth as with the latest machines from Philips and De’Longhi, which is a shame, but that's a minor quibble.

• Design score: 4.5/5

KitchenAid KF4: performance

• Consistently well-extracted espresso
• Good milk foaming, despite lack of dedicated plant milk mode
• Four user profiles, which can store four custom drinks each
• ‘Iced’ drinks are brewed at a lower temperature, but are still hot

Most importantly, the KitchenAid KF4 brews an excellent espresso. Its Intelligrind system selects the best dose for your coffee beans, and it’s easy to tweak the grind size for the optimum extraction. It produced very consistent results during my tests, and once I’d dialled in the best grind size for each type of coffee, I could be confident that it would always taste great.

Milk-foaming is great as well. Although there’s no option specifically for foaming plant milk, as there is with the KF8, I found it performed perfectly well using barista-style oat milk. I got the thickest, silkiest foam when using full-fat dairy milk, but plant and semi-skimmed milk were both fine as alternatives. However, it’s worth knowing that, unlike some other coffee makers I’ve tested recently (including the De’Longhi Primadonna Aromatic and Philips Café Aromis), the KitchenAid KF4 can only produce hot milk foam, so iced lattes and cappuccinos are off the menu.

There are four user profiles, which will be plenty for most households. The downside is that each profile can only store four custom drinks. I found that the default volumes of espresso and milk were quite small, so I would have preferred to be able to create a lot more bespoke presets for quick access.

I was disappointed with the KF4’s two iced drink options (iced coffee and iced espresso). Many modern coffee makers — from the budget-friendly De’Longhi Dedica Duo through to the prosumer Jura J10 — offer cold-extracted espresso. This uses ambient temperature water direct from the tank and produces a drink with a more mellow flavor than hot espresso, which is ideal for iced drinks with or without milk.

The KF4, on the other hand, takes the same approach as the Philips LatteGo 5500 Series by asking you to add a handful of ice to your cup and then pouring a shot of hot espresso over the top. KitchenAid says that the ‘iced’ espresso and coffee are brewed at a lower temperature than usual, but during my tests they were still hot enough to quickly melt the ice in my cup, leaving me with a diluted, lukewarm drink. I’ve come to expect better results from KitchenAid’s machines, and it was disappointing.

These two ‘iced’ options occupy two spots in the KF4’s menu that could be used for other drinks. The KF4 doesn’t have a preset for brewing a cortado, for example, which is a shame since it’s a favorite of mine.

There’s better news when it comes to noise shielding. KitchenAid’s fully automatic coffee makers are some of the quietest on the market, and the KF4 is no exception. In fact, it’s one of the quietest machines I’ve ever used, averaging 72dB while grinding and 60dB while brewing.

Maintenance is refreshingly simple and thorough as well, with a choice of quick and deep cleaning options. The machine rinses itself upon startup and shutdown, prompts you to empty the drip tray and grounds container regularly, and asks you to rinse the milk system after each use. When it’s time for a more intensive clean, open the settings menu, and you’ll find options for washing the milk system and brewing unit with special cleaners. The KF4 is supplied with cleaning tablets for the brew unit, though you’ll need to buy descaler and milk system cleaner separately. There’s also an option for evaporating all the water in the machine, which is a brilliant feature I wish all automatic coffee machines had. It makes it easy to keep everything hygienically dry, and is particularly helpful if you’re going to be storing or shipping it.

• Performance score: 4/5

Should you buy the KitchenAid KF4?

Buy it if

Don't buy it if

KitchenAid KF4: also consider

If you're not sure whether the KitchenAid KF8 is the right espresso machine for you, here are two other options to keep in mind.

KitchenAid KF4: how I tested

I used the KitchenAid KF4 for two weeks, in place of my usual espresso machine. I used it to prepare a wide range of drinks with and without milk, using two different types of coffee to see how the machine would adapt, and how easy it was to dial in the grinder. I tested the milk system with barista-style oat milk, and both semi-skimmed and whole dairy milk. I ran the machine's cleaning programs as directed after each use, and used the brew unit cleaning and evaporation cycles at the end of testing.

First reviewed June 2026

Last month, AeroPress launched a new premium manual coffee grinder with an all-metal construction, titanium-coated burrs, and 60 grind sizes so you can get the perfect extraction whether you make your coffee with an AeroPress or not.

The AeroPress Manual Coffee Grinder (which is available from AeroPress in the UK and the US) looks stunning, and after using it for a week to prepare my usual drinks (including espresso and drip coffee), I can say with confidence that its performance matches its style.

Once you remove the grinder from its cushioned box, you'll be struck by just how solid it feels. This is clearly a device that's built to last, and it's beautifully engineered inside and out. The package also includes a soft case to protect it in transit (though it won't scuff easily), and a dual-ended cleaning brush for everyday maintenance.

You'll also find a small metal attachment that you can use to turn the grinder with an electric drill. I've not tried this yet, and it sounds a little extreme, but I can definitely imagine it being useful if you have limited strength or mobility in your hands.

Remove the catch container from the bottom of the grinder, and you'll find a gold-toned dial for adjusting the grind size. Not sure which to use? The manual includes a chart showing the ideal size for different brewing methods (though it comes preset to a medium/fine grade ideal for an AeroPress).

The hopper can hold up to 25g of beans, so you can easily make drip coffee for one or espresso for two, and its wide opening makes loading easy. AeroPress advises against using frozen beans, as these are harder to grind.

The easy-turn handle is magnetically held against the body of the grinder, keeping it secure in transit. When it's time to grind, just lift it off, slot the arm onto the top of the grinder, add your beans, and you're ready to begin.

The large, circular hand-piece makes grinding near-effortless, providing a large surface to spread the pressure as you turn it, and rotating smoothly so you don't need to reposition your grip.

Each time I open the catch after grinding, I'm amazed by the evenness of the grind — easily on a par with much more expensive electric burr grinders. I've used my share of hand-cranked grinders before, and I've never seen results this good before, particularly from a grinder this compact.

When you've finished, use the brush to sweep stray grounds out of the catch and off the burrs. The grinder unscrews so you can access them easily and keep them rolling smoothly for years to come.

Everything packs neatly into the storage bag, but if you're an AeroPress fan, it also fits snugly inside the body of your favorite coffee maker (with the exception of the AeroPress Premium). The resulting package might not be light enough for backpacking, but it's certainly easy enough to carry when car camping, picnicking, or on vacation.

The AeroPress Manual Coffee Grinder has a list price of $199 / £199 (about AU$372), though I'm hoping that we might see a discount for Amazon Prime Day in just a few days' time. You'll find all of today's best deals below.

De’Longhi Eletta Ultra: two-minute review

The De’Longhi Eletta Ultra is a fully automatic bean-to-cup coffee machine. Not only does it offer a range of more than 50 drink presets, it's capable of cold extraction, enabling it to produce cold brew in just a few minutes. And with up to four user profiles, you can save your drink preferences for the morning, lunch or afternoon, ensuring your coffee is tailored to your taste at different times of day.

Not only is its 3.82 x 2.20 inch / 97 x 56mm touchscreen bright and crisp, it’s incredibly easy to navigate, making selecting your coffee a cinch. Thanks to its 1.9 quart / 1.8 liter water tank and 8.82oz / 250g bean hopper you can brew a fair few drinks before needing to top it up. Its design is a little boxy for my tastes but its clean lines and brushed metal finish means it will look relatively unobtrusive in most kitchens.

One of the first things that struck me about the Eletta Ultra is that it has an impressive array of features. First off, it has 52 different drinks presets, which is truly wild: that includes everything from a ristretto through a babyccino to cold extracted coffees like cold brew. It even offers regional specialities I’ve not seen from some of the best bean-to-cup coffee makers like the Portuguese galão or the heart-hammering black eye.

The vast majority of these presets are also customizable, allowing you to tweak things like their length, intensity or even add an extra shot, then save it to one of four personal profiles. Not only that but should you prefer a stronger coffee in the morning or a little bit less intensity in the afternoon the Eletta Ultra lets you save custom preferences to each profile for Morning, Lunchtime and Later in the Day. That’s an impressive level of personalization available.

But how does the De’Longhi Eletta Ultra perform? Well, it’s certainly got a decent engine under that hood. I found its boiler usually warms up in the morning within around 30 seconds, which is faster than a lot of bean-to-cup machines and a fraction of the time many prosumer devices take. And unlike some coffee makers, it doesn’t make an absolute din when in use; using a sound level meter, I clocked it at about 58dB, which is honestly very quiet compared to most of the competition.

Despite how easy the Eletta is to use on paper, it honestly took me quite a while to dial in the right settings — the machine felt a little mercurial at first, flipping straight from underextracting to overextracting as I refined the grind. Eventually though, I hit on the right grind size, intensity and length to start pulling consistent shots and the resulting espresso was certainly satisfying enough, albeit lacking a bit in some of the richness and full body I’d expect from a machine at this price.

I’m not an expert milk frother, I’ll readily admit, so I definitely appreciate how simple the Eletta Ultra makes steaming the white stuff. To whip up milky coffees, all I had to do was hook up the hot or cold carafe to match the drink I was making, set it to Light, Creamy or Thick and the machine did the rest. But while this made whipping up cappuccinos and lattes for my colleagues a snap, the resultant foam wasn’t quite as velvety smooth as from some machines, leaving some larger air bubbles intact.

One of the big draws of the Eletta Ultra for me is that cold extraction functionality. As someone who regularly has to spend an interminable 18 hours waiting for my home-made cold brew to steep, discovering I can make cold brew on demand is like a cat learning how a can opener works. But while the cold brew this machine extracts looks delightful, it’s far too watery for my tastes, lacking the complex fruitiness and natural sweetness I’ve come to expect from a great cold brew.

Fundamentally, if you’re looking for convenience or a cornucopia of different kinds of coffees, the De’Longhi Eletta Ultra is an appealing package. You can dial up your preferred take on a whole host of drinks in seconds and trust that you’ll get a pleasurable beverage out of it. But if you have exacting standards for your coffee, you might find it falls just a few inches short of the wonderfully extracted espresso a machine like the Breville Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction (known under the brand name Sage in the UK) can offer.

De’Longhi Eletta Ultra review: price & availability

• Launched on February 26, 2026
• Available in the UK but not yet in US or Australia
• List price of £1,149.99 (around $1,550 / AU$2,260)

The De’Longhi Eletta Ultra in the UK on February 26, 2026 — it’s not yet available in either the US or Australia but given other Eletta models are available in those regions, it’s probably safe to assume it will make it there eventually.

Currently you can pick it up for a list price of £1,149.99 (around $1,550 / AU$2,260). As far as bean-to-cup machines go, that’s definitely up the pricier end of the market but it’s not excessive given its feature set. The similarly full-featured Breville Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction retails from $1,499.95 / £1,199.95 / AU$1,999, while the fully automatic Siemens EQ900 Plus has a list price of £2,199 (about $2,800 / AU$4,300). So the Eletta Ultra is roughly what I’d expect to pay for a machine of this spec.

De’Longhi Eletta Ultra review: specs

De’Longhi Eletta Ultra review: design

• 52 drink presets that can be customised across four profiles
• Bright, easy-to-navigate touchscreen display
• Fairly unremarkable looks

The De’Longhi Eletta Ultra is a big machine without necessarily being hulking — at a size of 9.25 x 17.91 x 14.96 inches / 235 x 455 x 380mm, I’d say it appears slap bang in the middle of the best bean-to-cup coffee makers. And it’s similarly average in terms of its capacity: you can fit up to 1.9 quarts / 1.8 liters into the Eletta Ultra’s water tank, meaning you should get a fair few brews out of it before you have to refill it.

Meanwhile, loading its hopper could not be easier — you can squeeze up to 8.82oz / 250g of beans into it just by pouring them into the top of the machine. My only slight reservation here is I generally like to mix and match my beans from day to day and these kinds of integrated hoppers are almost impossible to empty, which stands in sharp contrast to machines with a screw-in hopper like the Breville Oracle Touch. You can at least add a dose of grounds in the chute at the front of the hopper should you fancy a one-off taste of something different.

When it comes to aesthetics, I find the Eletta Ultra clean and sharp, if a bit bland. On the one hand, its 3.82 x 2.20 inch / 97 x 56mm touchscreen display is impressively bright and detailed, making swiping through settings and drinks profiles a breeze, while its metallic finish certainly would fit in well with most kitchens. However, its looks are a little boxy for my taste and I prefer the more traditional barista-style look offered by something like the Breville Oracle Touch or Ninja Luxe Café.

As this is a fully automatic bean-to-cup machine, there’s not really a huge number of additional accessories you need — the huge toolkit of portafilters, tamps and brushes that manual machines ship with doesn’t really apply. However, the Eletta Ultra does come with warm and cold milk-steaming carafes, ensuring your hot drinks stay piping hot and your cold drinks don’t come out lukewarm.

One thing the De’Longhi Eletta Ultra does have in spades, however, is features. It offers an almost overwhelming selection of drinks, with 52 available in total — whether you fancy classics like an espresso or a flat white, regional specialties like milchkaffee or cafe con leche or even cold drinks like cold brew or iced cappuccino, you should find your ideal tipple here. And, as is increasingly common with automatic machines, each of these is fully customizable, allowing you to set your ideal length and intensity and save them to one of four personalized profiles.

But the smart features don’t stop there. De’Longhi’s Bean Sense feature is designed to help you get the best out of your beans; dial in whether you’re using Arabica or a blend, your bean roast level, current grinder level and the Eletta Ultra will pour a test espresso, before tweaking its boiler temperature and suggesting the ideal grind to tailor extraction to your coffee. Additionally, each personalized profile allows you to tweak your settings for three different times of day — you can save different preferences for individual drinks for Morning, Lunchtime and Later in the Day.

I definitely appreciated being able to tailor my coffee this way. My tastes tend bolder for most drinks, so I liked being able to set the intensity and boiler temperature a little higher for my personalised versions, while there’s no version of me throughout the multiverse that would drink a cold brew in any size that isn’t large. While my biggest shift from AM to PM — the fact I switch from caffeine to decaf — isn’t something a machine without dual or interchangeable hoppers can cater to, I can see for a lot of people it would be useful to add extra shots earlier or dial down the intensity later. So all-in-all, I’ve got a lot of praise for the De’Longhi’s feature set.

• Design score: 4.5 / 5

De’Longhi Eletta Ultra review: performance

• Heats up fast and runs quiet
• Produces competent but not exceptional coffee
• Super easy to use and clean

Producing your favorite coffees using the De’Longhi Eletta Ultra is an absolute breeze. Punching in your preferences and selecting your brew really only requires a few taps and swipes, which is fantastically convenient when you’re in a hurry. And the range of drinks available is impressive. But I do think some of this breadth comes at the expense of producing core coffees with substantial depth of flavor.

Heating up the Eletta Ultra’s boiler for the first time took around 30 seconds. That’s pretty fast, all told, with many machines of its ilk taking closer to a minute, although some would argue it’s worth allowing these machines a little longer to fully warm their components. De’Longhi has also made a lot of noise (ironically) about how much quieter the Eletta Ultra is than other machines — and it is not wrong. Using a sound level meter, I clocked it at roughly 58dB, which is a fair margin quieter than a lot of machines I’ve tested.

Quick though the machine is to run, it can take a little longer to optimize its output. I’m used to a bit of dialling in when first getting used to the quirks of a coffee machine but I did find the Eletta Ultra more idiosyncratic than even the most eccentric barista.

The first shot I poured was massively underextracted: it had a beige crema and I could see the bottom of the mug, which does not scream ‘rich espresso’ to me. After refining the grind in stages, I managed to get it from Miller Lite flavorlessness to the level of gas station coffee, where it was running a little too fast and still not quite hitting enough pressure to eke out more robust flavors. But when I upped the intensity and dropped the length of the shot to 30ml, it started dribbling out… then stalled entirely. The only way I could get it to extract properly again was slowly increasing the coarseness of the grind until I ended up back where I started.

Weirdly, at this point, the Eletta Ultra began extracting pretty decent coffee. Even with a relatively cheap supermarket brand of beans, it started pouring rich, consistent espresso with that nice buff-color crema I’m used to. Trying it out with some mid-range beans, Pact’s Decaf Casa Loma, the resultant espresso was a pleasant caramel flavor with a velvety mouthfeel. Don’t get me wrong — it’s not quite the powerful punch I’ve come to expect from some manual machines but it’s not bad either.

Milk-based drinks were a similar story. I whipped up a range of drinks for some of my colleagues down at TechRadar’s testing labs, including a cappuccino, a macchiato and a flat white. The process could not be more straightforward: once you’ve selected your drink profile, all you need to do is set the hot or cold milk carafe to either Light, Creamy or Thick and it will pump out frothy milk to order. But the general reception to these drinks was good rather than great — for example, the cappuccino foam landed slightly on the frothy side, with slightly too large bubbles to create a beautifully smooth foam.

As a big cold brew drinker, I was most excited about trying out the Eletta Ultra’s cold extraction presets. And it does produce some absolutely gorgeous-looking cold brew — pumping out a little at a time, it produces a subtle gradient from light to dense toward the bottom of the glass. But when I made my first batch, the ice was fully melted by the time the machine had finished pouring, suggesting it’s more lukewarm brew than truly cold. And I honestly wasn’t wowed by the finished product — I’ll admit that my standards for cold brew are Gordon-Ramsey-esque so it is a high bar to clear but, even on intense mode, it lacked the smooth, fruity potency I’ve come to expect from my cold coffee.

As someone who spends half his time tweaking variables to get the best out of his beans, I could definitely see the allure of the Eletta Ultra’s Bean Sense tech. However, I sometimes found in practice that, far from improving the coffee, the settings it selected marred its flavor. For example, because I was using a relatively dark roast, the Bean Sense process automatically set the boiler temperature to medium and recommended I used a coarser grind — but this just led the coffee to taste weak and underextracted. I’m sure it sometimes offers useful insights but if you have a specific flavor profile in mind, you may find yourself overruling it as much as you do following its guidance.

Keeping the Eletta Ultra clean is a breeze, although a full, internal clean is a slightly more involved process. In regular use, you really only need to remember to empty its purged coffee grounds box each day and it automatically purges its steam wand after every use. For a more thorough clean, its drip tray and milk carafes can be disassembled and washed by hand or in a dishwasher, while the water tank requires cleaning by hand. Deep cleaning requires cleaning tabs but the machine will provide a QR code for ordering them and guide you through the steps on screen.

All told, I think the Eletta Ultra’s approach to coffee is workmanlike, rather than artisanal. It’s able to produce a fantastic array of drinks with very little fuss and it’ll knock you up a well-constructed coffee without an enormous investment on your part. But you’re getting a townhouse, not the Guggenheim, and so you need to set your expectations accordingly.

• Performance score: 3.5 / 5

Should I buy the De’Longhi Eletta Ultra?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

De’Longhi Eletta Ultra review: also consider

How I tested the De’Longhi Eletta Ultra review

• Tested it over several weeks
• Created and customized a range of drinks
• Tried it out with a range of different beans

I tested the De’Longhi Eletta Ultra over a period of several weeks. After calibrating the machine’s boiler temperature and grind size by extracting multiple shots of espresso, I tested out its capabilities by brewing a wide range of drinks, including espressos, Americanos, lattes, cappuccinos and cold brew. I also tried it with a range of beans, from mass-market supermarket beans to higher-quality microlot coffee.

On top of this, I tested many of its smart features. Not only did I experiment with creating personalized settings for each drink, changing its length, intensity and number of shots, but I also tried out the De’Longhi’s Bean Sense feature to see how it impacted multiple different drinks. Finally, I measured the Eletta Ultra’s noise output when extracting coffee with a sound level meter.

In terms of my own experience, I’ve been a daily coffee drinker for more than 20 years. I’ve experimented with countless different brewing methods during that time, whether that’s manual espresso, a stove-top moka pot, an Aeropress or cold brewed in mason jars. When it comes to testing experience, I’ve been reviewing and writing about tech for over a decade.

• First reviewed: June 2026
• For more details, see how we test, review, and rate products at TechRadar.

Automatic coffee makers are a brilliant time-saver, preparing your favorite latte or lungo at the press of a button, and handling all the grinding, brewing, and steaming while you get on with making your breakfast, styling your hair, or just chilling on the sofa for a couple of minutes. Unfortunately, you can easily lose that time later on when the machine needs cleaning.

Handling the whole coffee-making process inside a plastic box seems like a great idea (out of sight, out of mind), but the heat, moisture, and organic matter (i.e., coffee grounds) make the dark, steamy interior of your espresso machine an ideal breeding ground for bacteria and mold.

Got a strong stomach? Here's what an unloved, unwashed brew unit will eventually look like, courtesy of the aptly-named subreddit r/MoldlyInteresting. "Heirloom culture fermented brew," observed one Redditor. "Aged in the dark. Price per cup: $35.00 USD."

It doesn't have to be that way, though. Emptying the drip tray and grounds bin daily and cleaning the machine according to the instructions in the manual are the first and most obvious steps.

However, manufacturers are now starting to add features that will help even further. Ninja just launched a coffee maker with a built-in fan, as you'd find in a PC case, which provides ventilation, and the KitchenAid KF4 has an excellent maintenance option that evaporates all water from the system in a satisfying cloud of steam.

It's a feature I wish all coffee makers had, and it's fantastic if you're planning to put your automatic espresso machine in storage, are moving house, or just want to be sure it's not full of stagnating water for two weeks while you're away on vacation.

After choosing the 'evaporate' option from the KF4's menu, you'll be prompted to remove the water tank (which you can wash and leave to air dry), then attach the hose for the milk system to the side of the coffee dispenser, push the other end into a hole in the drip tray, and place a large container under the dispenser spout. Then, stand back and watch as a surprising amount of water boils away, leaving everything perfectly dry and inhospitable to microorganisms.

I'm currently testing the KF4, and will publish a full review very soon. Stay tuned to see whether it can earn a place in our roundup of the best espresso machines.

Last week, Ninja launched its first automatic espresso machine — the Ninja AutoBarista Pro. It offers a menu of 13 customizable drinks, with hot and cold brewing and automatic milk frothing. However, it's also much more expensive than the company's previous flagship coffee maker, the Ninja Luxe Café. Not sure which one is right for you? I'm here to sketch out the key differences between the two, so you can make the best choice. I'd also recommend taking a look at TechRadar's complete guide to the best coffee makers, so you can weigh up your options from other brands, such as De'Longhi, Breville, KitchenAid and Philips.

Price and availability

• Ninja Luxe Café Premier: $599.99 / £549.99 / AU$799.99
• Ninja Luxe Café Pro: $749.99 / £699.99 (about AU$1,040)
• Ninja AutoBarista Pro: $949.99 / £899.99 (about AU$1,320)

There are two Ninja Luxe Café models, one of which costs considerably more than the other. The original Ninja Luxe Café launched in June 2024, and was followed a few months later by the Luxe Café Pro, which has a lever on the side for tamping down your coffee grounds, plus extra coffee- and milk-frothing options.

To differentiate between this new machine and the original, the company renamed the original coffee maker the Ninja Luxe Café Premier.

The Ninja Luxe Café Premier has a list price of $599.99 / £549.99 / AU$799.99, while the Ninja Luxe Café Pro is $749.99 / £699.99. That works out at approximately AU$1,040, but at the time of writing the Ninja Luxe Café Pro isn't available in Australia.

Now that they're a couple of years old, you'll often find both models at a discount, particularly during sales events like Amazon Prime Day — Amazon just confirmed its next Prime Day event for June 23-26 — and Black Friday.

The Ninja AutoBarista Pro was released in May 2026, priced at $949.99 / £899.99. That's about AU$1,320, but again, this machine isn't yet sold in Australia. At the time of writing (June 2026) the AutoBarista Pro is brand new, so it hasn't received any price cuts yet. You'll find today's best deals on all three coffee makers below.

Features

• Ninja AutoBarista Pro brews coffee at the press of a button
• Ninja Luxe Café requires you to get a bit more hands-on
• Both steam milk automatically, but you need to pour it yourself

The Ninja Luxe Café is a semi-automatic coffee maker, while the Ninja AutoBarista Pro is fully automatic. Both take whole beans and let you make coffee with no prior experience, but the Luxe Café is a little more hands-on.

The Ninja Luxe Café grinds your coffee into a portafilter, which you then move under the brewing group (the part of the machine that dispenses hot, pressurized water). With the AutoBarista Pro, the entire brewing process happens inside the machine, so you only have to press a button and wait for your drink to be dispensed.

The Ninja AutoBarista Pro has two bean hoppers, so you can switch between coffee types on the fly (particularly handy if, like me, you prefer to drink decaf in the afternoon), whereas the Ninja Luxe Café only has one.

Both machines have steel burr grinders. The Ninja Luxe Café has 25 grind settings, while the AutoBarista Pro has 50 settings, giving you more control over the rate at which your coffee is extracted — and therefore the final flavor. Both machines guide you to help achieve the optimal grind size for your chosen coffee, but the AutoBarista Pro takes into account extra factors such as the age of the beans, tweaking the settings accordingly.

Both machines are capable of brewing espresso and drip coffee (which is quite unusual), as well as cold-brewed coffee. Both can also produce creamy foamed milk for lattes and cappuccinos, with different texture settings. Alternatively, you can raise the steam wand of either machine a few degrees and steam milk manually.

Neither coffee maker will dispense milk into your cup; whether you use the auto foaming function or use the steam wand manually, you'll need to pour it in yourself. This is particularly unusual for a fully automatic coffee maker, but has the advantage that you can experiment with pouring latte art.

Maintenance

• Both machines are designed for easy cleaning
• AutoBarista Pro has a fan to keep components cool and dry
• Both have user-friendly descaling programs

Fully automatic coffee makers usually take more effort to maintain than semi-automatic models because of the heat, moisture, and coffee grounds inside the case, but all of the AutoBarista Pro's removable components are dishwasher-safe, and there's a fan inside to keep everything cool and dry (something I've never seen before on a coffee machine).

The Ninja Luxe Café is also easy to keep clean; just wash the portafilter and basket, clean the drip tray, purge and wipe down the steam wand, and flush the group set with hot water to keep it fresh.

Conclusion

• Ninja Luxe Café for price
• Ninja AutoBarista Pro for convenience

If price is the most important factor, then you can't go wrong with the Ninja Luxe Café. It's an excellent coffee maker that gives you far more features than many other models in the same price range. Personally I'd choose the Premier model rather than the Pro. Although the tamping lever is a nice addition that's satisfying to use, and means you're never in contact with loose coffee grounds, tamping coffee by hand isn't hard and I don't think it's worth an extra $150 / £150.

If time is more valuable to you, and you want a machine that can brew your coffee while you tackle other tasks, the Ninja AutoBarista Pro is a better choice, handling the whole process for you. It's also easier to keep clean and hygienic than most automatic coffee makers, so you won't have to sacrifice time later in the day washing components by hand and drying the interior.

I test a lot of coffee machines here at TechRadar - over a dozen every year - and there's one thing that always frustrates me. Although automatic coffee makers save you time and effort when you want to brew your drink (just press a button, wait a minute, and enjoy), the time and effort required to clean them means you lose that time later on.

With automatic coffee makers, the entire brewing process happens inside the case: grinding beans, tamping grounds, heating water, and pulling the shot. On the outside, everything looks neat and tidy, but take the maintenance panel off the side after preparing a drink, and you'll find a warm, steamy environment with at least some condensation and stray coffee grounds clinging to the surfaces. If you don't dedicate time to cleaning it all carefully and allow it to dry properly overnight, it's a recipe for mold.

It's as disgusting as it sounds — see this Reddit post if you have a strong stomach). To quote one Redditor, "If the apocalypse happens tomorrow and we’ve forgotten how to make penicillin, you’ve got that in a ready-to-drink form now!"

The new Ninja AutoBarista Pro will still need regular cleaning, but the company's engineers have specifically targeted this gross and time-consuming problem.

Wash and blow-dry

Firstly, Ninja says that the brew unit, drip and cup trays, milk jug, bean hopper, and puck bin are all removable and, even more importantly, dishwasher-safe. It's normal to be able to remove all of these components except for the bean hopper, but I've never seen a coffee maker where they're all dishwasher-safe as well. The pitcher may be, but certainly not the drip trays, let alone the brew unit. This won't just be faster and easier than hand-washing, it will be more hygienic as well.

Even better, the AutoBarista Pro has a fan fitted inside the case (just like the one in your desktop PC) that helps keep things cool and dry between brews. It's such a great idea, I'm surprised it's never been done before. Usually, I recommend leaving the side panel off your machine as long as possible to let moisture evaporate and avoid turning your expensive coffee maker into a cozy petri dish, but this will help keep things hygienic without the hassle.

The AutoBarista Pro also automatically rinses itself after each brew to keep the dispenser clear of residue and ensure your coffee tastes as good as possible.

We'll be testing the AutoBarista Pro very soon here at TechRadar, and will bring you a full review once we've put it through its paces and determined whether it can earn a place in our roundup of the best espresso machines.

Philips Café Aromis 8000 Series: two-minute review

The Philips Café Aromis 8000 Series is a premium automatic coffee maker that works brilliantly by itself, and even better when paired with the Philips HomeID mobile app.

The Café Aromis offers a huge menu of over 50 different hot and cold drinks, and encourages you to tinker with brew settings to achieve the flavor you prefer with your chosen beans. You can do this via the large, bright touchscreen, or better yet, through the mobile app, which guides you through your options with an interface styled like an AI chatbot, and saves your preferences to your profile for quick access later. You can even start brewing remotely through the app.

Once you’ve got the brew settings nailed down (including tweaking the grind size using a dial inside the bean hopper), you’ll enjoy consistently delicious hot and cold drinks, with thick and creamy hot or cold milk. The machine has two milk carafes (one for each temperature) and each one disassembles into three pieces of hard plastic that are extremely easy to keep clean without any special tools or solutions.

The Café Aromis is quiet too, and during my tests it was very similar to the Quiet Mark certified KitchenAid KF6 when heating, grinding, and brewing.

It’s hard to find fault with the Café Aromis, and I only noticed a few small quirks during testing. The chute for adding pre-ground coffee and bypassing the grinder has a tendency to steam up during brewing, and must be dried carefully to avoid coffee grounds sticking to the lid. You also have to take care to allow everything to cool down thoroughly before preparing an iced drink, otherwise the milk will be dispensed with a jet of steam and the drink will turn out warm — which isn’t a problem I experienced with the Jura J10 coffee maker.

Overall, the Café Aromis doesn’t just brew excellent coffee — it makes the process fun as well, even if you have no barista experience and don’t know which brew settings you need to change to alter the taste of your coffee. As long as you can describe the flavor you like, the machine will do the rest for you and make it effortless.

Philips Café Aromis 8000 Series: specifications

Philips Café Aromis 8000 Series: price and availability

• Available in the US and UK, but not yet in Australia
• List price of $1,699.99 / £849.99 (about AU$2,380)
• Cheaper than many similarly-specced automatic coffee makers

Philips unveiled the Café Aromis 8000 Series in March 2026, priced at $1,699.99 / £849.99. That converts to about AU$2,380, but at the time of writing (May 2026) it's not yet available in Australia.

That's certainly not cheap, but nor is it excessively expensive considering how much the Aromis has to offer. It costs around the same as the De'Longhi La Specialista Touch, which currently sits at the top of our roundup of the best coffee makers, and is a semi-automatic model without the automation and customization as the Aromis, or the connectivity.

In terms of features, the Aromis is closer to the Siemens EQ900 Plus, which has a list price of £2,199 (about $2,800 / AU$4,300) and isn't widely available outside Europe. In that contect, the Aromis represents very good value for money.

• Value score: 5/5

Philips Café Aromis 8000 Series: design

• Premium look and feel
• Large, bright touchscreen
• Thoughtful design touches

The Cafe Aromis is one of the best-looking coffee machines I’ve ever tested, with a smart brushed metal case, a huge color touchscreen, and even a little real wood on top of the coffee dispenser — a small touch that adds to the premium feel.

There are two carafes — one for foaming hot milk and one for cold — which can be disassembled into three pieces of hard plastic for easy cleaning. There are no awkward tubes to wash, and milk never enters the body of the machine, avoiding buildup of bacteria.

Every part of the machine feels solid and well-engineered. For example, the coffee dispenser moves smoothly up and down to accommodate different sized cups, and can slide extra high if you want to brew directly into a travel mug (one of the options you’ll find in the machine’s extensive menus). The drip tray is deep enough to prevent spills, and has a pouring spout at the back for easy emptying. The case doesn’t attract fingerprints like many I’ve tested.

Even the maintenance hatch is nicely designed, with a hinge so you don’t have to remove it entirely, plus a brewing unit that’s easy to lift out for cleaning. Sometimes I’ve spent a long time wondering how to replace the brew unit in automatic coffee makers, but with the Aromis it only fits one way and slides right into place.

The water tank is easy to remove and replace too, and comes with a water hardness testing strip and a water filter. The machine walks you through the process of testing your tap water and installing the filter during setup, to ensure it’s configured correctly.

The hopper sits on top of the machine, so make sure you have plenty of clearance overhead to access it. It has a tinted plastic lid with a rubber seal, which keeps out air and allows you to check how much coffee is remaining without admitting too much light, helping to keep everything fresh.

You’ll also find a chute at the front of the hopper, where you can add pre-ground coffee if you want a break from your usual beans. Just use the measuring scoop provided to ensure you get the correct dosage, and remember that you can’t adjust the strength of your drink if you do so — just the volume and temperature.

• Design score: 5/5

Philips Café Aromis 8000 Series: performance

• Hot and cold espresso and milk foam
• Consistent results
• Excellent mobile app
• Quiet heating, grinding, and brewing

As I’ve come to expect from Philips, the Café Aromis 8000 Series produces consistently excellent coffee, and although you’re spoilt for choice with a menu of over 50 hot and cold drinks, they are all broken down into sub-menus so it’s easy to find exactly what you want. Start by picking hot or cold coffee with or without milk, then peruse the various options.

You’ll be prompted to select the type of beans you’re using (arabica or robusta, and the roast level), but you can always tinker with the strength and brew temperature later, tweak the grind size, and adjust the proportions of espresso, water, and milk in longer drinks.

One of the biggest selling points of the Café Aromis is its noise shielding, and during my tests it reached a maximum of 74dB while heating, 68dB when grinding, and 73dB when pumping. It’s certainly not silent, but ranks among the quietest bean-to-cup coffee makers I’ve tested; very similar to the Quiet Mark certified KitchenAid KF6.

Using pre-ground coffee worked well too, though I found that the lid of the chute tended to steam up during brewing, with water condensing on the lid, so I ended up leaving it open between brews so it could dry. It’s not a serious problem, but ground coffee will stick to any residual water, so it’s a little annoying. It’s also worth noting that, unlike some other coffee makers, the Café Aromis can’t detect when you’ve added grounds, so you’ll need to select the option manually before you begin brewing.

The hot and cold milk carafes both produce thick, creamy foam, and during my tests they worked equally well with dairy, oat, and soy milks, which is always good to see. The carafes are very similar to the one used by the Philips LatteGo 5500, but it seems that the designers have solved the problem of milk occasionally missing the cup, as I never experienced this problem with the Café Aromis. Milk arced neatly into the cup even when I didn’t place it perfectly.

The machine’s touchscreen is large, bright, and easy to operate, but for me, the Cafe Aromis really comes into its own when connected to the Philips HomeID app. In my experience, mobile apps don’t usually add much to the experience of using a coffee machine — at most, they typically give usage and maintenance instructions that you could just as easily find in the paper instruction manual. HomeID is different though, and although you can create profiles and customize your favorite drinks using the machine’s interface directly, using the app makes it much easier.

Connecting the Philips Café Aromis to HomeID is straightforward: register yourself with HomeID (or allow it to use your Google account), then give it permission to search for nearby appliances, and add the coffee maker when it’s detected. Enter your Wi-Fi password to complete the pairing, and you’re ready to go. I was prompted to give the coffee maker access to call history, which was a little strange, so I declined and there didn’t seem to be any impact on the app’s functionality.

That done, it’s time to create a profile. After entering your name and choosing a color for easy identification, pick at least four of your favorite drinks, then customize them to suit your tastes and the size of your cups. Next time you want to brew, these will all be available via quick access shortcuts, so you don’t need to spend time poking at the machine’s screen.

Unlike many mobile apps for coffee machines, HomeID also lets you start brewing remotely, which is great if you’re feeling lazy and don’t want to get off the sofa until absolutely necessary. You’ll need to verify that the Café Aromis is positioned in such a way that this will be safe, but once that’s done (and provided you have a cup in place), you can prepare a drink with a couple of taps.

It’s all very well designed, but my favorite app feature is the Barista Assistant, which helps you tinker with the taste of your drinks, even if you don’t have any coffee-making experience. The Assistant looks like an AI chatbot, and asks questions about how you’d like your coffee to taste, then changes the machine’s internal settings for you. I confess that I found my first espresso a little too strong, but I was easily able to tweak it using the Barista Assistant, which then saved my preference for future use.

The only thing that the Barista Assistant can’t control remotely is the grind size, which you can adjust yourself using a dial inside the bean hopper. This has a significant effect on flavor, so it’s worth taking some time to tinker with it if your drink tastes too sour and ‘thin’ (under-extracted) or bitter (over-extracted).

It’s important to take care when brewing cold drinks, however, and ensure the machine has had a chance to cool down if you’ve recently prepared something hot. The first time I tried to make an iced latte macchiato, the drink turned out warm because I started making it too soon after a hot espresso, and the brew group was still hot.

That, and the condensation in the coffee grounds chute, were my only two quibbles with the Café Aromis, and in my opinion they weren't significant enough to stop it earning a full five stars.

• Performance score: 5/5

Should you buy the Philips Café Aromis 8000 Series

Buy it if

Don't buy it if

Philips Café Aromis 8000 Series: also consider

If you're not sure whether the Philips Café Aromis is the right coffee maker for you, here are two other options to add to your shortlist.

How I tested the Philips Café Aromis 8000 Series

I used the Philips Café Aromis 8000 Series for two weeks with my usual regular and decaffeinated coffee beans, freshly bought from a local coffee roaster. I also used Lavazza ground coffee to test the hopper-bypass function. I used the hot and cold milk carafes with full-fat dairy, and barista-style oat and soy milks.

I tested my tap water using the hardness testing strip included with the coffee maker and adjusted the hardness setting accordingly. I also installed the water filter following the manufacturer's instructions.

I made a wide range of hot and cold coffee drinks, with and without milk, and experimented with customizing them using the settings on board the machine itself, and the Barista Assistant in the mobile app.

For more details, see how we test, review, and rate products at TechRadar.

First reviewed May 2026

Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2: two-minute review

The Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2 is a manual coffee machine that sits more at the prosumer end of the market. Its whole raison d'être is around helping you make barista-quality coffee by hand and, it achieves this thanks to the assistance of some smart features that help streamline the process, while leaving control fully in your hands.

As a complete package, the Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2 is an undeniably polished product. It has a silhouette just sleek enough to fulfil its prosumer aspirations and its tiltable touchscreen is super easy to use. It also comes with almost every accessory you could want and each is engineered to such a high standard that they’re a real pleasure to use, especially the hefty tamper and coffee distributor.

Beneath the hood, it has hardware as impressive as any of the best coffee makers we’ve tested. Its rotary pump maintains pressure better than the vibration pump many mass market machines rock, while its dual boilers ensure the steam wand won’t start to sputter out part way through foaming your milk.

It’s the Meraki’s smart features that really set it apart from other machines though — rather than automating every part of your coffee making routine, it augments them. For example, its built-in scale allows you to grind coffee to a specific weight every time, while a second scale lets you brew your coffee by weight, making it far easier to dial in a very specific grind to extraction ratio. Meanwhile, an integrated temperature sensor in the steam wand means you can set it to cut out when your milk hits your target heat, which is easier than relying on temperature alone.

So what’s it like in use? Honestly, pretty slick. Dialing in your perfect grind and dose feels far more granular than usual, thanks to the integrated scales. Those solidly built accessories make transferring, evening out and tamping your coffee far easier, then you can easily set to extract a ristretto or long black depending on your preference. Frothing milk is rarely my favorite part of making a coffee, yet that temperature sensor allowed me to concentrate more on honing my technique.

As a result, the whole manual process felt as rewarding as ever, while producing delicious and exceedingly consistent coffee. I was able to extract just the right flavor profile out of even cheaper beans over and over, while the one brew I produced with a more premium batch really let its exquisite mango tasting notes shine through. Despite the fact I’m not a major fan of milk in coffee, even the macchiato I whipped up using its steaming wand tasted great, with just the right amount of foam to add texture without overpowering the flavor of the coffee.

Really my only substantial criticism of the Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2 is its cost. Coming in at $1,799 / £1,599 / AU$2,799, it resides firmly at the premium end of the market and I imagine there will be quite a few people who balk at the idea of dropping that much on a manual coffee maker. However, cost is not the same as value: the experience of using this machine and the quality results you’ll get out of it totally warrant that price for those that can stretch to it.

Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2 review: price & availability

• Available now
• List price of $1,799 / £1,599 / AU$2,799
• Available in white and black colorways

Having first been available for pre-order in March 2026, the Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2 is available now. It comes in two colorways: black or white. And barring a knock box, it comes with pretty much every accessory you could need, whether that’s a tamper, coffee distributor, cleaning brush, or blind portafilter basket for backflushing.

You’ll pay a premium for this premium device though. At a list price of $1,799 / £1,599 / AU$2,799, this is an undeniably prosumer device that comes in at the top price range of the best bean-to-cup makers we’ve featured. While it’s not quite as spendy as something like the $2,799.95 / £1,915 (around AU$3,865) Breville Oracle Touch (known under the brand name Sage in the UK) or the £2,199 (around $2,970 / AU$4,100) Siemens EQ900 Plus, it’s an expensive machine and doesn’t come with as many automated features as some machines. I’d argue it’s well worth the price you’ll pay but such a premium manual machine won’t be for everyone.

Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2 review: specs

Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2 review: design

• Attractive, suitably professional-looking design
• Well-made accessories
• CoffeeSense only useful for Meraki beans

I’ll be upfront here: I flat out love the way the Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2 looks. At 14.57 x 14.57 x 16.34 inches / 370 x 370 x 415mm, it’s hardly the sveltest machine I’ve ever tested. But the fact its water tank, bean hopper and boilers are all separate towers prevents it from looking too hulking on my countertop, while the combo of its chrome fixtures and pivotable touch screen give it just enough flair to stand out from your average coffee machine.

But it’s not just the Meraki’s aesthetics that are finished to a high standard. All the accessories packaged with it feel seriously premium, and there weren’t any glaring omissions. Everything has a reassuring solidity to it: the portafilter has a wonderfully tactile wooden handle, while the solid metal of both the coffee distributor and tamp has sufficient heft to give you real confidence when producing the perfect puck of grounds. Extra little touches like the wooden box for storing the accessories on just add that final polish to the experience.

Don’t be fooled by this focus on looks though. Underneath the Meraki’s sleek exterior beats the ferocious industrial heart of a prosumer espresso machine. Discrete boilers for the brew system and steam wand should mean that you don’t have to worry about the wand’s pressure giving out part way through steaming, while its rotary pump maintains nine bars of pressure more consistently than the vibration pump used by many home machines.

The Meraki also has a decent amount of capacity. The water tank itself has a volume of 2.1qt / 2,000ml, which I’d say is pretty average for a coffee maker — you’ll get plenty of brews out of that, even if it’s not as colossal as something like the huge 2.6qt / 2.5L Breville Oracle Touch. Meanwhile, the Meraki’s bean hopper measures 2.36 inches high by 4.06 inches diameter / 60 x 103mm. Generally I found that was sufficient to fuel around four double espressos but, naturally, your mileage will vary depending on how you like to dose your grounds.

One of the things I love about the Meraki is that it sits firmly in the camp of a manual espresso machine — there’s no bean-to-cup function here — but it comes crammed with features to make you better at pulling shots and foaming milks.

Perhaps the most explicitly ‘smart’ function is its CoffeeSense feature. This allows you to scan a tag on compatible Meraki coffee bags and it will suggest the recommended grind size, dosing weight and extraction temperature for those beans to help you get the best result out of those beans. I can definitely see how that would be a neat feature for someone who’s happy to stick with one brand of beans but part of the joy of coffee for me is trying different varieties and growers, so I’m not sure I’d get as much use out of this as some.

But it also offers other ways to make dialing in your perfect brew easier. Built-in scales beneath both the grinder and grouphead allow you to grind your beans and express your coffee by weight, giving you really precise control over each. Meanwhile, Auto mode calculates the right brew weight based on how much coffee you’ve ground, making it easy to manually fix yourself a coffee without needing too much trial and error balancing brew time and grind. These are fantastic as a guide, allowing you to really build confidence before you start improvising like a true manual maestro.

Another impressive element of the Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2’s design is its steam wand. It has a cool-touch design — although the head still gets hot so careful not to brush against it — and it’s super flexible, making it easy to get it at a perfect angle for frothing your milk. More innovatively, it has a built-in temperature sensor that allows you to stop steaming milk at the perfect temperature, rather than having to rely on touch alone.

None of these features are forced on you and they’re suitably light touch that it’s really easy to start trusting your own instincts once you’re ready. But I’ve never used an espresso machine that’s helped guide me so well between amateur and prosumer coffee making before — it’s just the right amount of support without making you dependent on its help.

• Design score: 4.5 / 5

Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2 review: performance

• Great automated features that don’t take away your control
• Steams milk with constant pressure and to your chosen temperature
• Produces wonderfully well-extracted, consistent coffee

So how easy is it to make coffee using the Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2? Well, honestly, at first I found it a little unpredictable. Tiny variations in tamping pressure seemed to produce wildly different results — the first brew ran through the puck incontinently despite the fine grind I’d used, while the second over-extracted to such an extreme it made my mouth pucker like I’d licked an ibuprofen. Then I realized my mistake.

Turns out I’d slightly underestimated the Meraki’s grinder — as it’s calibrated for espresso, my default instinct to whack the grinder on one of the lowest settings was producing a silt that easily channeled or clogged the portafilter basket depending on how firmly it was tamped. After a bit of experimentation, I was able to dial in on my perfect results though, settling on a grind of 10.

Fortunately, the Meraki’s grinder perfectly suits this kind of tinkering. Not only do you have very granular control over the fineness of your grind, but the fact that you can dose using the built-in scale beneath the grinder makes tweaking the exact quantity of coffee you want super-repeatable. In automatic mode, I could simply dial in 18g for a double shot and it would stop grinding once it hit my desired dose, or I could go off-piste and simply grind it up manually using my best judgement.

Preparing the puck always felt like a breeze — all I had to do was place the portafilter on top of the dosing cup, flip it and then give it a few taps to transfer my grounds. A few twists of the coffee distributor and the grounds would be nicely distributed, meaning all I had to do was tamp it down with that wonderfully sturdy tamper. Each tool is so well put together that it’s a really satisfying process and it feels easy to get professional results.

And with that, I was ready to go — or at least once the water was heated up. While the two minutes and 10 seconds it took the dual boiler to heat up the first time is slower than some consumer coffee machines, it’s actually pretty fast compared to many prosumer units, which can sometimes take upwards of 15 minutes. Additionally, another neat feature of the Meraki is your ability to set the boiler to come on at a specific time of day, meaning it can be all warmed up and ready to go for your first coffee of the day.

Once I’d actually properly calibrated my grind and dosing, extracting properly was a breeze. In Automatic mode, I simply had to set the weight of my drink — for example, 36g for an espresso — and set it to run, whereas in Manual mode I could simply run it until I was happy with the quantity. Thanks to that rotary pump, it produced a steady stream of espresso, neither hemorrhaging coffee too fast nor letting it dribble out in fits and starts. It’s also pretty quiet, hitting just 65dB and making more of a whir than the juddering noise I’m used to from vibration-pumped machines.

Steaming milk has never really been my forte. As a black coffee drinker, I’ve never had much need to develop the knack. But the Meraki also makes this a lot easier. Not only does its dual boiler mean that it maintained constant pressure throughout steaming but, thanks to its built-in thermostat, the steam wand clicked off when my milk had reached my target temperature, meaning I could just focus on creating the right level of foam and getting it swirling. Not only did this help me whip up a passable macchiato but, when I’d gained a bit more confidence, I was able to make a decent manual latte using touch alone.

So what were the results like? Pretty sensational. Even trying with some relatively affordable decaf beans, the coffee the Meraki produced had a stable, beautifully caramel crema, just the right velvety texture and not straying too far into bitterness or acidity. Each shot I poured remained consistent, showing how easy it is to keep getting these great results. And when I tested it out with a premium bag of Dahwe beans from Ritual Coffee Roasters, the results genuinely blew me away: the flavor was flat out gorgeous, maintaining a pitch perfect balance of not being aggressively floral but confidently communicating its mango overtones.

I’ll admit that I much prefer making coffee than scrubbing up the mess I’ve made but cleaning up here is pretty straightforward. Everyday use really only requires you to purge the steam wand, then give it, the portafilter and the grouphead a wipedown with a damp cloth. Even doing the deep clean at the end of my review wasn’t particularly arduous. Cleaning the steam wand involves running it for bursts of 10 seconds multiple times while submerged in cold water. Making sure the machine’s innards stay squeaky clean is even easier — just pop in the blind portafilter basket, pop it in the machine and then select the cleaning option and a tutorial will walk you through the rest.

There’s always something deeply satisfying about making coffee yourself and that’s why I’ve always been a big fan of manual machines. But what I like most about the Meraki Espresso Machine is that it makes it much easier to take your hand-crafted coffee to the next level. Automated features don’t remove your agency — they instead support it, allowing you to freestyle more and more as your skills grow. And the end result is wonderfully extracted and thoroughly consistent coffee. So ultimately, if you like getting hands on with your coffee and money’s not an object, you’re going to get great results out of the Meraki.

• Performance score: 5 / 5

Should I buy the Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2 review: also consider

How I tested the Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2

• Tested it over two weeks
• Tried a variety of drinks, beans and milks
• Measured how long it took to warm up and how loud the pump is

When testing the Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2, I used it over the course of several weeks. I experimented with different grind levels, used different varieties of beans and tamped at a range of pressures to see how consistent its results were. I also tried to make a variety of drinks and steamed several different varieties of milk to see how the steam wand performed.

To understand how well the Meraki worked as a manual machine, I made sure to extract several coffees without using the automatic dosing and steamed milk using touch alone, rather than relying purely on the steam wand’s temperature sensor. When assessing the performance of the boiler and pump, I not only timed how long it took to heat up in the morning but I also used a sound level meter to record how much noise it made during extraction.

When it comes to my own experience, I’ve been making and drinking coffee on a daily basis for well over two decades. I’ve also gotten hands on with a wide range of machines, whether they’re De’longhi, Breville or Gaggia. My preferred tipple to make with a machine is a double espresso or long black, although any time the weather is not positively arctic, cold brew is my go-to.

• For more details, see how we test, review, and rate products at TechRadar.
• First reviewed: May 2026

Capsule coffee makers get a bad rap, but if you choose the right machine and the right pods, you can enjoy genuinely delicious espresso drinks at home in two minutes flat. I'm TechRadar's resident coffee expert, and I've put together a list of the top four capsule machines I recommend if you need your coffee in a hurry.

When picking a capsule coffee maker, it's important to consider not only the price of the machine itself, but also the ongoing cost of the pods, as some brands are much more expensive than others, and unless you pick one that takes Nespresso Original style capsules (the ones shaped like a top hat), you'll be tied into a specific brand. More on that shortly.

Also take a look at the types of pods available for each machine. Some will include lots of fancy flavors, while others will just give you different espresso beans and roasts.

Finally, consider how easily you'll be able to recycle the pods. Capsules made of aluminum are much easier to process and will be more widely accepted than ones made from plastic, or a combination of materials.

Nespresso

Ninja Prestige DualBrew System

I test over a dozen coffee makers every year here at TechRadar, and the Ninja Prestige DualBrew System (known as the Ninja Espresso and Coffee Maker Barista System in the US) is one of the most versatile I've ever used. If you're an omnivorous coffee fan who loves both filter and espresso, it's a great option (albeit a little large).

On one side you have a fully-featured drip coffee maker, complete with timer (ideal for busy mornings), a large glass carafe, a drip-stop valve, and a smart hotplate that keeps your brew warm without stewing it. There's even a flip-down drip tray behind the carafe so you can brew directly into your travel mug in the morning.

On the right, you have a capsule espresso machine, which uses Nespresso Original capsules and can brew in various different sizes. Nestlé no longer owns the patent on this style of pod, so you can get them anywhere; I used the DualBrew System with pods of fresh decaf from one of my local coffee roasters, and it was almost as good as brewing with beans.

The milk whisk around the back of the machine isn't as good as using a proper steam wand (it whips in air, but doesn't heat the milk) but the rest of this capsule coffee maker is so good, I wouldn't dock it points for that. You could always pick up a standalone milk frother like the Philips Baristina Milk Frother or Smeg Mini Milk Frother if you're a latte-lover.

Read our full Ninja Prestige DualBrew System review

Keurig

Keurig K-Mini Mate

Keurig is one of the biggest names in capsule coffee makers in the US, and the K-Mini Mate (a US-exclusive model) is its smallest machine to date. It's slim enough to fit into even the tiniest kitchen (and tuck into a cupboard when not in use), but still generates enough pressure to extract full-bodied, tasty coffee from K-Cup pods.

When we tested the K-Mini Mate, we were pleasantly surprised by how rich its coffee tasted, even though it took less than two minutes to prepare from start to sip. It's very reasonably priced as well, and although it has a list price of around $90, it's often on sale for as little as $60.

This is really a coffee maker for one person, and you'll need to refill the water tank between drinks if you're brewing for a group, which can be a hassle. We also noticed some splashing as the coffee poured into our cup, but not enough to be a serious issue. If you like the sound of the various coffees and roasts available in K-Cup form, this could be the machine for you.

Read our full Keurig K-Mini Mate review

Lavazza

Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg

Lavazza is known for its great quality coffee, and Smeg for its iconic retro-style designs. Put them both together and you get a cute little capsule coffee maker that looks fabulous and brews a superb espresso in two minutes flat.

This is one of the more expensive coffee makers in this roundup, but the Lavazza A Modo Mio pods are much cheaper than some other brands. Lavazza doesn't offer fancy flavors like cinnamon bun or gingerbread — just a good selection of different beans and roasts for you to experiment with.

For me, the biggest downside of this cute little coffee maker is the fact that the pods are harder to recycle than K-Cups or Nespresso pods. Although they are compostable, they can only be processed at specialized facilities, which are relatively rare.

Read our full Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg review

Tassimo

Bosch Tassimo Finesse Friendly

Capsule coffee makers are always easy to use, but the Bosch Tassimo Finesse Friendly is even simpler than most thanks to its orange 'maintenance disc', which makes backwashing the machine effortless, keeping it clean and hygienic.

That's particularly important because unlike most coffee pod machines, the Finesse Friendly can create rich foam using pods of long-life milk. You can get plain milk for regular cappuccinos and lattes, or capsules of flavored milk designed to pair with a particular coffee capsule (like cinnamon roll latte, for example). I'm not usually a great fan of flavored coffee capsules, but Tassimo pods are genuinely tasty, and not overwhelmingly sweet.

The Finesse Friendly is cheap too, and is often discounted to £49.99 (about $70 / AU$100). The downside is that the capsules can be quite expensive, particularly for drinks that require two pods (one for coffee and one for milk). It still works out cheaper than an elaborate takeout habit, but bear in mind that this machine isn't currently available outside Europe.

Read our full Bosch Tassimo Finesse Friendly review

• The new AeroPress Manual Coffee Grinder has 60 grind settings and titanium-coated burrs
• It's so compact, it fits in the chamber of a standard AeroPress
• It costs $199 / £199 (about AU$372)

AeroPress has launched a new manual coffee grinder to match its iconic ground coffee maker – and if you're the impatient kind of coffee drinker or need a bit of help with the grinding you can attach a power drill for super-speedy, freshly ground coffee.

The new AeroPress Manual Coffee Grinder is a smart-looking thing, with an all-metal construction and titanium-coated mechanical burrs, and like the AeroPress it's a very compact and portable cylinder – so much so that you can store it inside your standard AeroPress coffee maker.

AeroPress Manual Coffee Grinder: key features and pricing

The Manual Coffee Grinder features an aluminium hopper with 25g ground capacity for single-dose bean-to-cup brewing. The burrs come with a lifetime guarantee and Easy-Grind technology, which AeroPress says delivers "exceptional precision" without tons of effort thanks to the extra-long handle, which folds away into a slim groove on the side when you're done grinding.

There are 60 adjustable grind settings and the default is factory set to medium-fine for "optimal AeroPress compatibility".

Although this is a manual grinder, there's an optional power drill adapter that does exactly what you'd expect. I can't think of a single reason why I'd want to grind with a power drill but if I had one of these I'm pretty sure I'd do the drill thing every single morning just to start the day with a smile.

More sensibly, this looks like a really good option for travel, camping and other adventures where you can't exactly take a bean-to-cup machine with you.

The AeroPress Manual Coffee Grinder is available now with a list price of $199 / £199 (about AU$372).

• Ducati's new coffee maker celebrates "100 years of Italian engineering"
• The machine takes Nespresso pods, and is made by a Swiss company
• It's available to pre-order now for about $2,000 / £1,500 / AU$2,800

To mark its 100th anniversary, motorcycle brand Ducati has launched a premium espresso machine bedecked with dials and badges. At first glance it's a fun novelty, but one that makes sense — Italy is the home of espresso, after all — but the closer you look, the stranger it gets.

First of all, despite its size and heft, the Ducati Barista M3 1926 Limited Edition Carbon Fiber (as it's catchily named) isn't a manual espresso machine, or a super automatic. It doesn't use fresh beans at all. Instead, it uses Nespresso Original pods. Those can be fine, if you choose the right ones, but aren't the typical choice for coffee connoisseurs.

Secondly, the company that Ducati has commissioned to "celebrate 100 years of Italian engineering" isn't Italian at all. Cuisine Barista (which specializes in premium Nespresso machines) is Swiss.

Something else that strikes me as strange is the claim that the M 1926 has the "world's first integrated milk frother", which can "elevate your lattes and cappuccinos with perfectly frothed milk right in the cup that comes with your machine." Perhaps Cuisine Barista's system works in a different way, but the Lavazza Assoluta I tested last year also steams and foams milk directly inside a special cup.

In a YouTube video marking the launch, Cuisine Barista proudly proclaims that "the Barista M3 1926 Limited Edition Carbon Fiber by Ducati is the only true carbon-fiber capsule coffee machine in the world," which is so specific it's almost certainly true.

It does have some appealing features though, including a PID controller to maintain the ideal water temperature, a descaling alarm, and a heating time of just seven seconds.

Get your motor running

It's not the first time I've seen a motorcycle brand release a coffee maker. Last year, BMW released an espresso machine built around an R 18 Big Boxer motorcycle engine. It looked frankly bizarre, but underneath the surface lay a properly specced brewer, with dual boilers (one for coffee and one for steam) and a pressure dial for each one, professional-grade steam and hot water valves, and a shot counter so you can see when it's time to backflush the brew group to remove residue.

It's something that could sit quite happily and usefully on the bar of a small and very expensive coffee shop, if the owner had €7,900 (about $9,100 / £6,900 / AU$14,000) burning a hole in the pocket of their leathers.

Compared to the Big Boxer, the Ducati Barista M3 1926 Limited Edition Carbon Fiber is downright affordable, with a price tag of 1,599 Swiss Francs, which equates to about $2,000 / £1,500 / AU$2,800. Tempted? You can pre-order one now (in white, red, or black) for a deposit of about $130 / £100 / AU$190 for delivery in October.

Alternatively, take a look at our roundup of the best Nespresso machines for some more modestly-priced options.

Coffee pods are OK in a pinch, but in my experience even the best ones can't compare with the rounded, full flavor you get from freshly-ground beans. I test over a dozen coffee makers a year, of all different types, and none of the capsules I've tried can match the taste of traditionally-made espresso.

A recent survey of TechRadar readers' coffee-brewing habits revealed that although 52% of people agree with me and brew their morning drink with beans, 25% are committed to their pods. I can see why — pods are definitely convenient, and there's no grinding or measuring necessary — but they also produce waste, you're limited to one particular type of pod, and the pods can be expensive. But there is an alternative.

I recently had the opportunity to test a new espresso machine that makes brewing with whole coffee beans as easy as using pods, is very reasonably priced, and is a piece of cake to keep clean. It's called the Philips Baristina, and if you want to break away from coffee capsules, it's perfect.

At first glance the Baristina looks a bit like a manual espresso machine, with a portafilter (the tool with a handle that holds the coffee grounds), but don't be intimidated - all you need to do is push that into the machine and slide it a few inches to the right, then press a button for either a single or double shot of espresso. That's it — there are no barista skills needed at all.

After you press the button, the Baristina will measure and grind the appropriate quantity of coffee directly into the filter basket. The machine will then tamp it down, and the portafilter will move to the left all by itself and pour hot water through it at high pressure to produce your drink.

At the end, just pull out the portafilter, knock the used coffee grounds out into your food waste bin (they will come out in a solid puck, with no mess), wipe the filter basket and you're done. It's much easier and less hassle than using a super-automatic espresso machine (where all the brewing happens inside the case) for a fraction of the price. It's so good, I didn't hesitate to award it a full five stars.

The only downside is that, like most capsule coffee makers, the Baristina doesn't have a steam wand for foaming milk — but don't worry. The machine is also available bundled with a separate milk frother, which my colleague Max Langridge gave four stars out of five in his review.

If you're one of the 25% of our readers still brewing with pods, the Baristina will open up a whole world of speciality coffees, letting you brew with any beans you like, experimenting with new beans, roasts, and blends. If you'd like to move away from the limits of pods, I don't think you'll look back.

The Philips Café Aromis is one of the most exciting new coffee makers I've seen this year, thanks to its 'conversational' assistant that guides you through making the perfect brew. It's impressive stuff, but after using it for a few days, what really impressed me was its ability to handle plant milks, producing the creamiest oat latte I've ever had.

The Café Aromis is a premium coffee maker, and it certainly looks the part with its brushed steel case with a tasteful touch of wood on top of the dispenser, and a screen so large and bright, it's a shame you can't use it to watch YouTube videos while enjoying your morning espresso.

After using the water-testing strip included in the box to determine the hardness of your water, you will be prompted to install the water filter in the tank, run a quick rinse, and then load up your beans. The Café Aromis has a large hopper on top, with an extra chute for adding a scoop of ground coffee when you want to try something different, please a particularly picky guest, or switch to decaf in the afternoon.

That done, the coffee maker will quiz you about your beans and set its own brew settings accordingly, making a pleasing soft mechanical sound as it does so. This is the 'conversational' part of the experience, and you can complete it on the huge screen or using the Philips HomeID app. You can also tweak the grind size yourself using a dial inside the hopper to get the extraction rate just right.

Once the chit-chat is over, it's time to brew. Take your pick from the vast array of drinks, and pour your preferred milk into either the hot or cold carafe. I enjoy the taste of dairy and oat equally, but automatic coffee makers are usually optimized for dairy, so that's become my go-to.

I picked my usual morning brew — a latte macchiato — and watched as the Café Aromis steamed the appropriate portion of milk, then poured a double shot of espresso through the foam. It looked perfect, with clearly defined layers of milk, coffee, and foam, but when I tasted it I was shocked to realise I'd accidentally grabbed the wrong bottle from the fridge. The Aromis had done such a superb job with the oat milk I'd accidentally used, I couldn't tell the difference. The foam was thick, creamy, and stable — an impressive achievement.

I'll be putting the Philips Café Aromis through my usual battery of tests over the coming days, and will bring you a full review very soon, but my first impressions are definitely positive. If it can handle different coffee beans and roasts as easily as it does different milks, it might just earn a coveted place in our roundup of the best espresso machines.

If your daily latte habit is burning a hole in your wallet, preparing your own coffee at home is a sensible idea. With a good quality coffee machine, preparing perfectly extracted espresso and silky milk foam is as simple as pressing a button — and you don't have to wait in line, either.

I test over a dozen coffee makers every year here at TechRadar, and I've picked out my top three recommendations for preparing delicious lattes in the comfort of your kitchen. One of them can prepare chilled lattes with cold milk foam as well, giving you even more options.

All three coffee makers in this list are fully automatic, but if you're looking for something cheaper and don't mind doing some of the work yourself, there are some excellent compact espresso machines with quality steam wands, such as the De'Longhi Dedica Duo and Breville Bambino. Want an easier option? There are also excellent standalone milk frothers like the Dreo Baristamaker and Smeg Mini Milk Frother, which handle the hard work for you.

Philips LatteGo 5500 Series

If you're the only latte-lover in your household, this compact coffee maker is the perfect option. It's small enough to tuck into even the smallest kitchen, and holds just the right amount of water, beans, and milk for one person.

Espresso is consistently well-extracted, and I'm a particularly big fan of its excellent ceramic grinder, which offers extra-fine grind settings to make it easier to find exactly the right grind size for your preferred coffee.

The LatteGo milk system is unlike anything I've used before, but it's ingenious. You attach the milk carafe to the front of the machine, then fill it with milk while it's in situ. Measuring lines on the side help you add just the right amount of milk for your drink so there's nothing left over at the end, reducing potential waste. Then, when you've finished, you can disassemble the carafe into just a few pieces of dishwasher-safe plastic. Milk never enters the body of the machine, and there are no awkward pipes and tubes to keep clean.

For me, the only downside was that the milk dispenser isn't height-adjustable, so you need to position your cup just right to avoid missing it. That's a minor quibble, though, and this is otherwise a superb little coffee maker that'll let you make café-quality lattes at home, without the café prices.

Read my full Philips LatteGo 5500 Series review

Siemens EQ900 Plus

The Siemens EQ900 Plus isn't cheap, but it makes the best latte macchiato I've had from a home coffee maker — and I've tried a lot. This version is the EQ900 Plus, which has a chamber that holds a cleaning tablet ready for use when the machine needs maintenance. If that's not something you need, then you can pick up the standard EQ900 for considerably less.

Like all the coffee makers in this guide, the EQ900 Plus brews exceptional espresso, but for me, the standout feature is its ability to turn any type of milk into silky, creamy foam just as well as a professional barista. Just make your selection using the sharp 6.8-inch color touchscreen, customize the beverage to suit your preferences, then let the machine handle the rest.

Another of my favorite features here is the dual hopper, which lets you load up two different types of coffee at the same time, and switch between them on the fly. For me, that means switching to decaf in the afternoon is now a piece of cake, and each hopper has its own grinder so you don't need to worry about resetting the grind size for the different beans. You could also fill one with a fruity coffee for espressos and americanos, and one with more chocolatey, caramel-like notes for lattes and cappuccinos.

Maintaining bean-to-cup coffee machines can be a chore, but the EQ900 Plus has an excellent set of automatic cleaning programs to make life easier. Highly recommended.

Read my full Siemens EQ900 Plus review

Jura J10

If your usual latte order brings baristas out in a cold sweat, the Jura J10 is the coffee maker for you. It carries a premium price tag, but you're getting a machine that brews a stellar espresso (with crema so good, my colleagues couldn't stop commenting on it), foams hot or cold milk to perfection, and even infuses that foam with your choice of syrup. It's a very impressive package, and during my tests I found it refreshingly simple to use.

The J10 can brew hot or cold, and has a huge menu array of drinks to choose from. You can filter the options by temperature, and there's even a feature called Coffee Eye that detects which of the machine's two dispensers your cup is underneath (the one that only dispenses coffee, or the one that also froths milk), and tailors the menu accordingly.

I'm not usually a great fan of syrup in coffee, because it tends to sink to the bottom of the cup, meaning you can barely taste it at first, and your drink gets sweeter and sweeter towards the bottom. The Jura J10 has a system called 'Sweetfoam' that adds syrup to foamed milk as it's dispensed into your cup, meaning it's evenly spread throughout every sip and you don't need to use as much.

Sweetfoam works with any type of coffee syrup, and I found that it actually stabilizes the foam so it lasts to the final sip. The J10 works with any plant-based or dairy milk too, so the pumpkin spice oat latte of your dreams is only a button-press away.

Read my full Jura J10 review

KitchenAid Semi-Automatic Espresso Machine two-minute review

In a crowded market where there are so many fantastic coffee machines, the KitchenAid Semi-Automatic Espresso Machine stands out by being one of the better-looking options on the market. Not only does it look premium, but it feels it too. This machine is solidly built, and the supplied accessories including the removable bean hopper, porta filter and tamper, have a decent amount of weight to them, further adding to the overall premiumness of the machine.

It’s available in a range of colors, but I feel my review unit in Porcelain (white) will be the easiest to match with kitchen decor (although I have to admit taking a fancy to the Juniper green, too).

If you want to get hands-on with your coffee-making process, it makes the process easier by way of a flat-bottom porta filter that I think should become customary on all coffee machines of this type. This design choice is a stroke of genius, giving you a far greater ability to apply a good amount of tamping pressure, essential for extracting a good shot of espresso.

While it does have ‘semi-automatic’ in its name, this only really applies to the amount of coffee grounds it will dispense into the porta filter. You decide how much that is, the grind size and, if you want milk with your coffee, that’s a manual process too.

Figuring out the optimal settings for your personal taste will, therefore, require some trial and error, but if you’re considering buying a coffee machine like this one, that’s likely something you’ve already considered and are happy to get involved with.

Some assistance is given, such as an ideal window of pressure shown in a pressure gauge, so you’ll know if you’ve put the right amount of coffee and applied the right amount of pressure when tamping. Once you’ve completed these steps, the KitchenAid Semi-Auto produces a wonderful shot of espresso. Taking all of this into account, I consider it to be one of the best bean-to-cup coffee makers.

It’s not short of competition in terms of price and features, and there are other models that offer greater usability, such as smart tamping and dosing systems — the De’Longhi La Specialista Touch, for example. Despite that, I think it’s competitively priced and can regularly be found with a discount, which only adds to its value.

KitchenAid Semi Automatic Espresso Machine review: Price & availability

• Launched in 2024
• List price of $699.99 / £699 / AU$899
• Often available with a discount

The KitchenAid Semi-Automatic Espresso Machine launched worldwide a couple of years ago in 2024. It remains on sale today and more often than not, for the same price as when it launched. With a list price of $699.99 / £699 / AU$899, it’s fairly priced, but is arguably better value in Australia if you take direct currency conversions into account.

This KitchenAid machine is relatively light on features, offering just the basics of at-home coffee making, in the form of an integrated burr grinder, steam wand and hot water spout. In terms of price, it’s not short of competition, but some price-comparable alternatives offer more in the way of features.

These include the Breville Barista Express (Sage Barista Express in the UK) for $699.95 / £629 / AU$599, the Ninja Luxe Cafe with a price tag of $599.90 / £549.99 / AU$799.99 and the De’Longhi La Specialista Arte Evo costing $699.95 / £499 / AU$649. In Australia, it gains another competitor in the form of the Sunbeam Origins Sense, which is now regularly available for under AU$700.

All offer a built-in grinder, varying levels of customization and a built-in steam wand. The Ninja and De’Longhi machines are able to produce cold-brew coffee, for example, something not on the KitchenAid’s menu. The Ninja Cafe Luxe also takes care of the grinding and tamping process for you, offering a more hands-off approach.

However, at the time of writing, this KitchenAid machine is on the receiving end of discounts of up to 30% direct from the maker in the US, UK and Australia.

• Value score: 4 / 5

KitchenAid Semi Automatic Espresso Machine review: Specs

KitchenAid Semi Automatic Espresso Machine review: Design

• Flat-bottom porta filter is a revelation
• Attractive, retro looks in a range of colors
• Clear controls

The KitchenAid Semi-Automatic Espresso Machine is a relatively compact appliance with dimensions measuring 39.5 x 33.5 x 28.1cm (HWD), making it ideal for small kitchens or those who simply can’t spare the countertop space. At 23.6lbs / 10.7kg it’s quite a heavy unit, though, but its weight gives it added stability that prevents it from moving around when inserting and removing the porta filter.

KitchenAid is known for its chic color choices across its wider range of appliances and that’s the case here too. My review unit was the Porcelain (white) color with gloss finish, which is a standout for me, being easily matched with any kitchen decor. Other colors include Cast Iron Black, Candy Apple (red), Juniper and Stainless Steel.

This espresso machine is relatively light on button count, with the few available serving more than one purpose. The power button is on the left, while the start/stop button is on the opposite side. The middle is where most of the magic happens. The top left button will likely be used the most as it cycles through functions to pour the espresso shot, pour hot water and activate the steam wand.

There are also buttons to select a single or double shot, and to adjust the temperature of the water. Finally there’s a button to use when cleaning the machine.

The other main control is a silver dial that sets the dosage amount of coffee to be ground into the porta filter, and a lever to adjust the grind size. Pressing the central button begins dispensing the selected amount of coffee.

As with all coffee machines that require a hands-on approach, figuring out the grind size and grind amount for both single and double espresso is part of the fun, but requires plenty of trial and error. This is because the type of coffee beans you use will have an effect on the yield and, further to that, how they behave when being brewed. For example, a darker roast tends to perform better with a coarser setting than a medium roast due to the way it breaks apart when going through the grinder.

I used medium-dark roast coffee beans for this review and found turning the double shot dial to around 4 o’clock, and the grind setting to five lines from the right, yielded good results. While you can invest in scales to ensure you get the ideal amount — around 8g of ground coffee is often considered a good starting point for a single shot of espresso and 18g is considered optimal for a double — KitchenAid has added a small line in the porta filter baskets to indicate the ideal point where the coffee should line up once it’s been tamped.

You don’t want to go over this line, as doing so will create too much pressure during the brewing process, resulting in your coffee dripping out of the porta filter. A pressure gauge on the front of the machine shows an ideal window for a good espresso shot and, on a couple of occasions during my testing, the needle did go beyond it, resulting in the aforementioned drip pour.

Speaking of the porta filter, I didn’t realize that a totally flat-bottomed one could be such a revelation! Every other porta filter I’ve used has two spouts protruding out the bottom; here, they’re integrated. This small design touch meant I could be a lot more confident when tamping, planting the porta filter firmly on a table and allowing me to apply force to pack the coffee grounds tightly enough. Porta filters with protruding spouts, however, require careful balancing when tamping.

This flat-bottomed porta filter is a commercial-size 58mm, and is satisfyingly weighty, which gave me added peace of mind that the KitchenAid machine has been made with care. The 58mm size has several benefits, including being used with a variety of tools and accessories — such as weighted tampers — to help achieve a well-extracted shot.

The 2.5L water tank at the rear of the machine features an integrated handle to help you remove it. This is one of the largest water tanks I’ve personally come across in a coffee machine, bigger than the Breville Oracle Jet’s (Sage in the UK) 2.3L tank. A water filter is supplied, which clips into a separate plastic handle. I had a little trouble at first getting the two pieces that hold the filter in place to clip together, despite following the instructions to leave the filter soaking in water for 5 minutes. I left it out of the water for a few days, after which it all clipped together as intended.

The KitchenAid Semi Automatic Espresso Machine also features an integrated steam wand with a silicone handle for safer handling, and a hot water spout. The steam wand is a traditional one, that meaning there’s no built-in thermometer like you’ll find on other machines such as the De’Longhi La Specialista Touch and Sunbeam Origins Sense, so you’ll need to rely on physical touch with the milk pitcher, or a use a separate food-grade thermometer, to determine when your milk is ready.

In the box is also a removable bean hopper, tamper (which is also well weighted), a 355ml milk pitcher (which does admittedly feel cheaper compared to the other accessories), single- and double-wall filter baskets in single- and double-shot sizes, and a cleaning brush.

A walnut wood accessory kit is available to buy separately for $249.99 / £229 / AU$349. This kit includes a bean hopper with a walnut-wood lid, and porta filter and tamper set with walnut-wood handles.

• Design score: 5 / 5

KitchenAid Semi Automatic Espresso Machine review: Performance

• Well-extracted espresso achievable after some experimentation
• Intuitive controls with visual aids
• Quick heat-up time

The KitchenAid Semi-Automatic Espresso Machine is a very capable machine, and will brew a well-extracted espresso shot with a good crema — it just requires a fair amount of trial and error to achieve it. Virtually all manual and semi-auto machines will need that little experimentation, though, so it’s by no means a dealbreaker. However, where some machines like the aforementioned De’Longhi or the Ninja Luxe Cafe will assist you in recommending the ideal grind and dosage settings, the KitchenAid leaves you to your own devices.

After loading your beans in the hopper on top of the machine — which fits up to 225g worth — you’ll need to adjust the dosage amount and grind size. If you’re brewing a single shot of espresso, you’ll move the front-mounted round to the left to adjust dosage, and to the right for a double (icons are on hand to signify this). A lever just below this dial will adjust the grind size, from coarse on the left to fine on the right. Note that the dial and lever have to be perfectly aligned with the graphic dots; if they’re not, the machine won’t operate.

You are able to personalize the amount of coffee grounds produced by pressing and holding the central button until it reaches the desired amount.

Once you’ve selected your settings, press the button integrated into the dosage dial to set the grinder in action. This KitchenAid machine, like the brand's fully automatic models such as the KF8, is QuietMark certified, meaning it should be whisper quiet when the grinder is in motion. And sure enough, it is. The Philips LatteGo 4400 that I use daily is ‘SilentBrew’ certified but, in truth, I find it to be relatively noisy, and measured 69dB using the Decibel X app compared to 64dB registered by the KitchenAid when the grinder was in motion.

Once the grinder has finished, give the porta filter a little wiggle to help settle the ground coffee before removing it. This machine uses anti-static technology to help ensure nothing spills over the edge and it works like a dream, unlike the Sunbeam Origins Sense that dribbled some coffee during my testing despite claiming to also benefit from similar tech.

One of the key highlights of this machine is its flat-bottomed porta filter, which allows you to plant it on a flat surface to apply tamping pressure using the supplied tamper without disbalancing it. Once you’ve inserted and locked the porta filter in place for brewing — which is another simple and fuss-free process — use the buttons on the front of the machine to select a single or double shot, then set the water temperature to one of three settings. Finally, press the play/start button and your coffee will begin brewing.

Another key highlight of this machine is that it pre-infuses before brewing. This wets the coffee puck before full pressure hits it, which makes the water flow through the grounds more uniformly for better extraction.

If you’ve adjusted the dosage and grind settings correctly and provided enough tamping pressure, you’ll be rewarded with a beautiful shot of espresso with a lovely crema. It’s unlikely you’ll get the best settings on your first try (I certainly didn’t), so be prepared for some trial and error.

As with the grind settings, you can personalize the amount of water used for both single and double shots by pressing and holding the start/stop button until the desired espresso amount is reached in your cup. These water volume settings will be saved for future use. To reset to factory settings, press and hold the dose button for three seconds. All indicator lights will blink to indicate settings are restored.

However, the machine doesn’t have profiles, nor can it store different settings. If you have multiple coffee drinkers at home who prefer different beverage types, then you’ll need to manually set the grind and dosage amounts each time. If so, I’d recommend keeping a note of the optimum settings somewhere.

If you want to use the steam wand for milk foaming, you’ll first need to wait until the espresso has finished brewing as this machine doesn’t feature a dual boiler. Then press the button to switch from espresso to steam and wait a few seconds for the boiler to reheat. You’ll know when it’s done by way of a white LED on the left of the machine’s front panel. When it turns solid, you’re good to go. From here, press the same play/start button and steam will begin coming out of the wand.

As mentioned earlier, the steam wand here doesn’t have a built-in thermometer, so you’ll need to rely on touch to determine when the milk is done. I’ve had mixed results with ‘basic’ steam wands like this in the past, as some don’t provide enough pressure to effectively foam milk. That’s not the case here. I used both full-fat cow’s milk and oat milk during my testing and I was able to create a lovely textured foam each time. As with any steam wand, you need to angle it in the milk pitcher for the best results, but if you have the technique right, you’ll once again be rewarded with perfect milk.

The KitchenAid Semi-Automatic Espresso Machine has a descaling program to help keep it working at its best. You’ll know when it’s time, as a Clean Cycle light will blink. This didn’t happen during my testing, so I was unable to test the feature, but full instructions are provided in the user manual.

• Performance score: 5 / 5

Should you buy the KitchenAid Semi Automatic Espresso Machine?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

KitchenAid Semi Automatic Espresso Machine review: Also consider

KitchenAid Semi Automatic Espresso Machine review: How I tested

I tested the KitchenAid Semi-Automatic Espresso Machine over the course of a couple of weeks, using medium-dark roast coffee beans I picked up from my local supermarket. I’ve tested a few manual and semi-automatic coffee machines before, including the Sunbeam Origins Sense, so I was familiar with the process required for hands-on coffee making.

I had to experiment with the grind and dosage settings to find the ideal yield to ensure the espresso shots brewed with optimal results. I used the built-in steam wand to foam cow’s milk and oat milk, and found it produced excellent results with the correct technique.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed May 2026

I'm TechRadar's resident coffee expert and trained barista, and I've put together a list of three affordable coffee makers to help you break your expensive takeout latte habit. I've personally tested each of these machines, and would happily recommend any one of them to my family and friends.

If you buy takeaway coffee regularly, you'll have noticed your caffeine habit becoming increasingly expensive. As Acorns Coffee Roastery notes, the price you pay at a coffee shop is influenced by factors including climate pressures and growing shipping costs, all of which filter down to your wallet.

Buying your own coffee maker is a smart choice, and if you pick the right model, it could save you a lot of cash in the long term . All the options here offer exceptional value for money and, if you regularly grab a latte on the way to work, will quickly pay for themselves.

1. Philips Baristina

I test a lot of coffee machines, but the little Philips Baristina is my favorite of 2026 so far. It offers the convenience of a bean-to-cup machine with the easy cleanup of a manual espresso machine, and it isn't expensive either.

Bean-to-cup espresso machines are great for beginners — just tap a button and your favorite drink will be stood before you, ready to drink in just a couple of minutes — but they have two key drawbacks. The first is the price, which is usually several times that of a manual machine. The second is the amount of cleanup required between drinks and at the end of the day. Since all the grinding and brewing happens inside a typical bean-to-cup machine, you'll need to dedicate considerable time to cleaning stray coffee grounds and moisture to avoid mold and keep things fresh.

With the Baristina, neither are a problem. Not only is it the cheapest bean-to-cup machine I've used, it's also the easiest to clean because it uses a portafilter and basket just like a manual coffee maker. Just load the hopper with beans, fill the water tank, place the filter handle underneath, and slide it to the right. The Baristina will grind the perfect dose of coffee directly into the filter basket, tamp it down, then slide the handle to the left and begin brewing. It's an ingenious system — and when it's done, cleanup is just a matter of running a little hot water through the brew group, wiping out the filter basket, and emptying the drip tray. There's no need to remove panels or reach inside anything with a cloth.

Of course, that ease of use would mean nothing if the Baristina didn't brew good coffee, but it does that well, too, sustaining the steady temperature and pressure necessary for consistent results.

The only thing it's missing is a steam wand, but if you're a latte fiend, you can buy it bundled with a standalone milk frother (which my colleague Max Langridge called "a standout choice for milk-based coffee drinkers").

Read my full Philips Baristina review

2. De'Longhi Dedica Duo

The De'Longhi Dedica Duo is the cheapest of the three options here — and if you're in the UK, there are some great deals available right now that knock down the price even further. This is a compact manual espresso machine, so unlike the Philips Baristina above, it requires you to either grind the coffee beans yourself, or buy them ready-ground. Don't let that put you off, though, because this little coffee maker is super simple to use, and you don't need any prior knowledge to get going.

Most of the coffee makers I've tested at this price point really aren't worth considering. Poor build quality and inconsistent pressure and temperature mean wildly unpredictable results – even if you're using the same beans and grind size. The result is bad-tasting coffee, wasted beans, and an overall sense of buyer's remorse.

That isn't the case with the Dedica Duo: not only is it just as well made as De'Longhi's premium coffee makers, but it brews consistently excellent coffee once you've settled on the ideal grind size for your beans. I drank so much delicious espresso during testing that I suffered many a wakeful night — but I have no regrets.

The Dedica Duo also features a cold-extraction mode, which takes longer to brew a hot espresso, but produces a mellow, less harsh flavor — similar to what you'd get from allowing coffee to steep in the fridge overnight. Add a splash of your preferred milk, toss in a couple of ice cubes, and enjoy.

This model also has a great little steam wand, with enough freedom of movement to make texturizing milk a breeze. All in all, a fabulous little espresso machine at a bargain price.

Read my full De'Longhi Dedica Duo review

3. Ninja Prestige DualBrew System

Ninja Prestige DualBrew System

Can't decide whether you want an espresso machine or a drip coffee maker? The Ninja Prestige DualBrew System (known as the Ninja DualBrew Pro in the US) is the one for you. It packs a full drip coffee maker, a capsule espresso machine, and even a milk-frothing whisk into one surprisingly compact package, and it's a lot cheaper than buying two similarly specced coffee makers separately.

The drip coffee maker alone is worth the asking price, arriving with a timer, customizable brew options, and thoughtful little touches such as a drip-stop feature to prevent coffee leaking out if you get impatient and remove the carafe partway through brewing.

The carafe is made from non-insulated glass, but your freshly brewed coffee is kept warm by a smart hotplate that retains a steady temperature, turns off when the carafe is removed, and doesn't allow your coffee to stew. This smart temperature control is a great feature and not one I've seen in any other coffee makers I've tested to date.

Want a coffee to take to work? No problem — just remove the carafe and you'll find a pull-down drip tray designed to accommodate a travel mug. No more temptation to hit Starbucks on your way to the office.

The capsule espresso maker is excellent, too. It takes Nespresso Original-style pods (the small, top hat-shaped capsules), which gives you access to a huge range of brands, beans and roasts, since Nestlé no longer owns the design patent. You can also customize the drink size and adjust the height of the drip tray to fit your favorite cup.

For me, the weakest part of this machine is the milk frother: it's an electric whisk rather than a steam wand, so whips air into the milk but doesn't heat it. You can heat your milk in the microwave beforehand, but you still won't achieve the fine texture of an authentic cappuccino or latte. Still, there's a lot to love here, and even without the wand, it's still spectacular value .

Read my full Ninja Prestige DualBrew System review

Melitta AromaFresh Therm Pro: one-minute review

The Melitta AromaFresh Therm Pro has one big advantage over most drip coffee makers: a built-in grinder. This means one less appliance on your kitchen counter, but also that you’ll wake to fresher, better-tasting coffee on using the machine’s timer to begin brewing automatically first thing in the morning. At least, that’s the theory.

In practice, however, I found the coffee maker’s ceramic grinder ground coffee unevenly. Drip coffee is much more forgiving than espresso when it comes to the consistency of the grind, but the irregularity surprised me.

It’s unfortunate, because the AromaFresh Therm Pro is otherwise a very good drip coffee maker. Its thermal carafe keeps even a small quantity of coffee hot for hours. In addition, it has an excellent drip-stop function that prevents leaks after you remove the carafe, and it’s remarkably quiet during both grinding and brewing.

I like the idea of the AromaFresh Therm Pro, and if it had a better grinder it would be easy to recommend. As it is, however, I think you’d be better off using a standalone grinder and a simpler, cheaper machine in which to brew it. Take a look at our roundup of the best drip coffee makers for some great options.

Melitta AromaFresh Therm Pro: price and availability

• List price: £289.95 (about $390 / AU$550)
• Available in Europe, but not the US or Australia

The Melitta AromaFresh Therm Pro is available direct from Melitta and from a handful of third-party retailers, with a list price of £289.95 (about $390 / AU$550). There are several similar-looking coffee makers in the AromaFresh series, but this is the one with the model number 1030-11, so make sure to check before buying.

At the time of writing (April 2026), the AromaFresh Therm Pro is available in Europe, but not the US or Australia.

That price is about standard for a home drip coffee maker. For comparison, the Sage/Breville Luxe Brewer Thermal (which is a similar drip coffee maker that has a cold brew mode, but no grinder) costs $349.95 / £249.95 / AU$579.

• Value score: 4/5

Melitta AromaFresh Therm Pro: design

• Built-in grinder
• Smart-looking design for a modern kitchen
• Too tall to fit underneath wall cabinets

The Melitta AromaFresh Therm Pro is a smart-looking drip coffee maker, with a matte black finish and a brushed stainless steel pitcher. It has a small footprint (10.6 x 10 inches / 26.8 x 25.2cm), which makes it handy for kitchens where countertop space is at a premium; however, the grinder on top of the brew basket means the whole machine stands a towering 18.23 inches / 46.3cm tall.

That’s much too high to fit under my standard-height kitchen cabinets, and even if I could just about slide it underneath, I wouldn’t be able to open the bean hopper. This coffee maker will only really work on counters with nothing above them (like a kitchen island).

The hopper has a tinted plastic lid, which allows you to see how many beans remain without allowing in too much light (which will degrade the quality of your beans), and a dial on the top allows you to set the grind size.

The hopper matches the water tank, which can hold enough water for up to eight small cups. The tank is removable, which is always a welcome feature because it means you don’t have to pour water with the machine in situ and risk spillages. The AromaFresh Therm Pro’s tank doesn’t have a handle, unlike those of some other machines I’ve tested, but its oval shape is easy to grip, and it has a detachable lid to keep your water fresh.

The AromaFresh Therm Prod doesn’t have a hot plate to keep your coffee warm after brewing; instead, it has a double-walled insulated carafe with a smart brushed stainless steel finish – which I personally prefer, since it doesn’t alter the taste of your drink by allowing water to evaporate, or overheating it.

The machine is controlled using a set of simple buttons on the right-hand side, underneath the water tank, which allow you to set a timer, adjust the aroma (settings 1-5), and program the number of cups (1-8). It’s important to ensure this number matches the amount of water in the tank. The machine will use all the water it has, regardless of which setting you choose, so you need to use the correct amount to get the right ratio of coffee to water.

• Design score: 3.5/5

Melitta AromaFresh Therm Pro: performance

• Grind size is uneven
• Very quiet in operation
• Carafe is well-insulated

The biggest selling point of the AromaFresh Therm Pro is its integrated grinder. Usually, when you’re setting up a drip coffee machine before bed and setting a timer to start brewing in the morning, you have to add scoops of ground coffee to the filter basket and leave it overnight. This means the coffee’s flavor compounds start to degrade, and it won’t taste quite as good when the machine begins brewing the following day.

Instead, the AromaFresh Therm Pro takes whole beans, and grinds them only when it’s ready to brew. This should mean better flavor first thing in the morning; however, in my tests, this didn’t quite work as I’d hoped.

I started out using the middle grind setting, and brew intensity three out of five, but found that my brewed coffee didn’t taste as full-bodied as I'd have liked. Upon examining the brew basket, I found that the coffee grounds were surprisingly irregular, and very dry, suggesting that the water had passed through them very quickly, despite me folding over the seamed edge of the Melitta filter paper as instructed in the manual.

I opened the ceramic grinder and cleaned its burrs with a small brush to ensure there was no debris getting in the way, and reduced the grind size to ensure the next dose of coffee was finer, so would take longer for hot water to pass through. This yielded a better flavor (as did turning the brew intensity option all the way up to five), but the coffee was still unevenly ground. Drip coffee is a lot more forgiving than espresso if the grind isn’t ideal, but I was still surprised at how chunky it was.

The machine was very quiet when both grinding and brewing coffee, which is a real bonus if it’s going to start working by itself while you’re still waking up. During my tests it briefly reached a maximum of 75dB during grinding, but averaged 65dB, which is similar to a normal conversation. It was around 45dB while brewing, which is quieter than an ordinary refrigerator.

The drip-stop feature worked extremely well, with not a single drop of coffee escaping the machine after I had removed the insulated carafe. The carafe retains heat very well; after two hours, half a pot of coffee still measured 158ºF / 70ºC, which is ideal for drinking. A full pot stays hot even longer, so you can prepare a brew at the start of the day and savor it throughout the morning. However, I did find that the shape of the jug meant I had to turn it almost upside down to pour out the last half a cup.

The Melitta AromaFresh Therm Pro is an excellent idea, and extremely easy to use, but it’s really let down by the quality of its built-in grinder. Given the choice, I’d opt for the Sage Luxe Brewer Thermal with a standalone coffee grinder instead, which would be available for a similar price during a sales event.

• Performance score: 3.5/5

Should you buy the Melitta AromaFresh Therm Pro?

Buy it if

Don't buy it if

Melitta AromaFresh Therm Pro: also consider

If you're not sure whether the Melitta AromaFresh Therm Pro is the right drip coffee maker for you, here are two other well-rated options to consider:

How I tested the Melitta AromaFresh Therm Pro

I used the Melitta AromaFresh Therm Pro instead of my usual drip coffee maker for two weeks. I used Melitta’s own conical filter papers (folded according to the instructions in the manual), and my regular decaf coffee beans. I used fresh, cold tap water (again, as instructed in the manual), and made sure that the amount in the tank matched my chosen brew quantity.

I measured the noise emitted by the machine in operation with a decibel meter app on my phone, and used a thermometer to check the temperature of brewed coffee in the insulated carafe.

I washed the carafe and brew basket by hand using warm water and dish detergent, and ran a rinse cycle to clean out the coffee maker at the end of each day.

First reviewed April 2026

Philips Baristina Milk Frother: Two-minute review

The Philips Baristina milk frother is designed to be partnered with the company’s Baristina bean-to-cup espresso machine, and it works an absolute treat. As it’s available as an optional extra for the Baristina machine, I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks alongside my Philips LatteGo 4400 Series espresso machine, and have found it to deliver much more pleasing results compared to my machine where milk foam is concerned.

It has three modes: hot milk foam, hot milk and cold milk foam. It’s incredibly easy to control, with just a single button that you press for no more than one second for hot milk foam, or you can hold it for three seconds to activate the cold milk foam mode. If you want hot milk, you need to remove the coil from the whisk before starting up the machine. Once the button is pressed, the Philips Baristina Milk Frother will spring into action to deliver you a foamy result. There’s no audible beep to let you know it’s finished, but the light on the button will go out.

In use, I found the Philips Baristina Milk Frother to be extremely quiet, measuring around 40dB using the decibelX app on my iPhone, and standing right next to it while it was working. It’s much quieter than using a steam wand on a coffee machine, or the automatic LatteGo system on my Philips machine.

The good thing about the Philips Baristina Milk Frother is that it’s been designed to work with any type of milk, including non-dairy varieties. This can’t be said of all milk frothers, including the Smeg Mini Milk Frother, which is intended to be used only with chilled full-fat dairy milk, and is a feature I find particularly appealing, being an oat milk drinker.

In tests, hot milk foam was very thick, making it well-suited for topping a cappuccino or even an espresso macchiato. Realistically though — and if you’re particularly specific about milk in your coffee — it’s just too thick to make a caffe latte or flat white. For me, personally, whose regular order is an oat milk flat white, I didn’t mind the thickness of the foam, especially as some other milk-foaming systems I’ve used aren’t as effective.

The exact results you achieve will depend on the specific milk you put in. I tried a couple of different oat milk brands and achieved similar results each time — this being a high level of foam, but without much gloss.

With that being said, if you want to be able to adjust the foam texture when frothing milk using a device such as this, the Dreo Baristamaker or Smeg Multi Milk Frother give you the option. It’s a similar story with cold milk foam too, with the Philips Baristina Milk Frother returning a thick, stable foam that is ideal for iced cappuccinos.

The carafe itself has a non-stick coating that helps your milk pour out easily, and it makes washing up as easy as possible. All it took during my use was a rinse under the tap to remove any leftovers. The whisk is removable to help ensure nothing is caught in it, and this, along with the lid, are both dishwasher safe.

While I was consistently pleased with results, given the fact you can’t specify the level of foam you’d prefer, and you can find more affordable options that do have such function, I have to dock some points from the Philips Baristina Milk Frother.

Philips Baristina Milk Frother review: Price & Availability

• List price: $99.99 / AU$149 (£79.99)
• ‘Coming soon’ in the UK as a standalone unit

The Philips Baristina Milk Frother has a list price of $99.99 in the US and AU$149 in Australia. In the UK, it’s currently only available when bundled with the matching Baristina bean-to-cup coffee machine.

At the time of writing, the Black set including the milk frother can be had for the same £299.99 as the Baristina coffee machine on its own. The White set is currently selling for £359.99. Given the fact the Baristina coffee machine doesn’t have a built-in milk frother, adding the matching one makes total sense. There is a listing on the Philips UK website for the milk frother as a solo unit, but it currently says “out of stock”.

Its list price places the Philips milk frother in mid-range territory. The Nespresso Aeroccino 3, which has previously been the milk frother I’ve used at home and which offers the same limited range of features, retails for $99 / £79 / AU$109, making it cheaper only in Australia.

If you want a milk frother that offers more features, Smeg Multi Milk Frother, which has six functions and is also suitable for making drinks like hot chocolate, costs $249.95 / £179.95 / AU$299 and is available globally.

Philips Baristina Milk Frother review: Specs

Philips Baristina Milk Frother review: Design & performance

• Attractive matte finish in two colors
• Non-stick lining for simple cleaning
• Thick milk foam from all milk types

The Philips Baristina Milk Frother has been designed to perfectly match its recently released Baristina bean-to-cup espresso machine. My colleague, Cat, has already reviewed that machine, where she awarded it a full five stars, claiming it to be the best budget espresso machine currently available.

One of the only negatives she could find was that there was no built-in steam wand for frothing milk, making this standalone milk frother a necessity for milk-based coffee drinkers. It comes in the same two color choices of white or black, and adopts the same ribbed aesthetic as the main body of the matching machine.

It comprises a cylindrical carafe, a translucent plastic lid, a removable whisk that’s held in place magnetically and a base that powers the frother. The carafe has a non-stick lining, with raised markings indicating the maximum fill level. There’s no minimum fill level marking, and Philips doesn’t list one on its website — it just mentions a capacity of 4 fl oz / 120ml — but I rarely filled up to the maximum fill line, and was still able to return a large amount of milk foam.

To activate the milk frother, you just need to press the button once to activate hot milk foam, or hold it for roughly three seconds for cold milk foam. You’ll know you’ve activated cold milk foam mode correctly because the ring light around the power button will turn blue. If you just want hot milk with no foam, you can unclip the coil from the whisk handle.

There’s no dedicated pouring spout on the Baristina Milk Frother, you’re free to pour out wherever you want. However, do note that the lack of spout, combined with the sheer thickness of milk foam produced does mean you can forget about creating latte art.

I found the Philips Baristina to be relatively quick to finish foaming milk, taking around 90 seconds with oat milk filled to the maximum fill line. The Nespresso Aeroccino 3 that I’ve previously used takes closer to two minutes to heat at full capacity, and the level of foam isn’t always as consistent.

While I primarily used oat milk during my testing, I did also use full-fat dairy milk and, as expected, the results were similarly impressive. Full-fat dairy milk is higher in protein, which is essential when frothing milk to achieve the desired results. Non-dairy milks don’t always have similar levels, so for the Baristina Milk Frother to deliver the level of foam it did with oat milk, is mightily impressive.

I was also impressed by the machine's ability to consistently heat milk up to around 140ºF / 60ºC, which is ideal for most milk varieties.

Cleaning up is an absolute walk in the park, as the non-stick lining means you only need to rinse the milk frother under the tap to remove any leftovers.

Philips Baristina Milk Frother review: Should you buy it?

Buy it if…

Don't buy it if...

Philips Baristina Milk Frother review: Also consider

Philips Baristina Milk Frother review: How I tested

I tested each of the Philips Baristina Milk Frother’s modes using chilled oat milk and fresh full-fat milk, in accordance with Philips’ instructions.

As part of my testing, I used an oat milk that I’ve previously had trouble generating froth with when using a Nespresso milk frother. The Philips machine fared much better.

I cleaned the non-stick carafe under a tap and used a cloth to wipe away any stains, as per the instructions in the user manual.

First reviewed April 2026

For more details, see how we test, review, and rate products on TechRadar.

• KitchenAid has announced a new range of three espresso machines
• They brew at lower temperatures, making them perfect for over-ice drinks
• They'll be available to purchase online from May 4

KitchenAid, the brand behind some of our favorite kitchen appliances, including some of the best coffee makers, has unveiled its new range of instant espresso machines — and if you’re like me and can’t get enough of iced coffee, you’ll want to check them out.

The Fully Automatic Espresso Machine with Iced Coffee range consists of three models, the KF2, KF3, and KF4, which will be available to order from KitchenAid’s online store from May 4. They differ from the brand’s existing lineup of fully automatic espresso machines in a couple of ways, but like those models are designed to suit both novices and more experienced coffee aficionados.

Each model is noticeably more compact than the likes of the KitchenAid KF6 or the KitchenAid KF8 — they’re around 25% smaller. They also brew at lower temperatures than those models, so that you can enjoy both hot coffee and iced drinks, and offer a generous menu of presets featuring up to 24 drinks, depending on the model.

Chadwick Ries, Global Head of Product, Brand, and Insights shared "From perfectly brewed iced coffee to classic espresso drinks, this compact machine delivers variety, performance and quiet operation in a format that fits effortlessly into any home and everyday life”.

The KF2 starts at $799.99, the KF3 at $999.99, and the KF4 at $1,299.99 with international pricing to be confirmed. All are Quiet Mark-certified, meaning they won’t make a racket while you brew your beverages, and all three include KitchenAid’s IntelliGrind and Aroma Balance systems allowing each machine to adjust its brew settings to suit your coffee beans.

There are two ways to steam milk across the three models. The KF2 is fitted with a Panarello Auto Steam Wand, which is ideal for practicing your barista skills and perfecting your latte art, while the KF3 and KF4 feature KitchenAid’s AutoMilk System, which enables you to froth milk to the perfect consistency at the touch of a button, be that smooth and glossy foam for lattes, or more frothy foam for a cappuccino.

As mentioned, you'll be able to purchase the KF2, KF3, and KF4 models from May 4. You can also sign up to KitchenAid's mailing list to be the first to know when new models drop.

If you love a well-crafted latte or cappuccino but struggle to create the right milk texture at home, help is at hand. Jura has just released a new Automatic Milk Frother, which creates silky hot or cold microfoam at the press of a button.

Jura is a Swiss company known for its premium coffee machines, such as the Jura J10, which earned a place in our roundup of the best coffee makers thanks to its consistently great brewing and top-notch milk frothing system. I called the J10 "the next best thing to having a barista in your kitchen", but if it's outside your budget, the Automatic Milk Frother will help you take your coffee to the next level for a much more affordable price.

A standalone milk frother is a great addition to your kitchen if your coffee maker doesn't have a steam wand (like most capsule coffee makers), or you just can't quite get the hang of steaming milk by hand.

Your milk, your way

Some of the models I've tested are optimized for use with dairy milk, but the Jura Automatic Milk Frother can also handle plant-based alternatives like oat and soy, provided the fat content is high enough. It has four settings: hot foam, cold foam, hot milk, and hot chocolate — which you can make extra indulgent by using real chocolate pieces rather than powder.

If you're feeling adventurous, its fine pouring spout will let you experiment with creating your own latte art as well.

When you're done, the frother is easy to clean thanks to its stainless steel interior and curved lines, which mean there are no nooks and crannies to collect residue.

The Jura Automatic Milk Frother is available now for direct from Jura £99.95 and third-party retailers in Australia, including The Good Guys, for AU$189 (about $130), and will soon pay for itself by replacing expensive takeout coffee. I'll be testing it soon to see how it compares with the Smeg Mini Milk Frother and Dreo BaristaMaker, so stick with TechRadar to find out which is the best one for you.

• Smeg's Mini Milk Frother is now available with a smart matte finish
• It froths hot and cold, and works with both dairy and plant-based milk
• It's on sale now for £129.95 (about $170 / AUS$250) direct from Smeg

If you enjoy a shot of espresso, but long for a luxurious latte in the morning, you'll be pleased to know that Smeg has given its compact Mini Milk Frother a fresh new look for 2026. The tiny appliance, which was originally available with a glossy black or white finish, is now also available with a satiny matte finish that looks smarter and is less prone to attracting fingerprints.

Manual espresso machines usually have a steam wand for frothing your milk, compact bean-to-cup machines (like the excellent Philips Baristina I reviewed recently) may not, leaving you with a perfectly brewed espresso but no means of turning it into a latte or cappuccino. It's the same story with even the best Nespresso machines; without anything extra, foam is out of the question.

That's where a standalone milk frother comes in. I've tested quite a few of these little gadgets as TechRadar's Homes Editor, and the Smeg Mini Milk Frother remains my favorite. It's particularly easy to use.

This little frother can be used with dairy or plant-based milk, which it heats to a consistent temperature of 140F / 60C while whisking it into a creamy foam. This is an ideal temperature for drinking, and means your coffee never tastes scalded or 'custardy'.

The Mini Milk Frother gives you the option to foam milk cold as well, which is excellent considering how many espresso machines now give you the option to brew with cold water rather than hot. Just add cold foam and a couple of ice cubes, and you've got an iced cappuccino in no time, at a fraction of the price of coffee shop drinks.

It's also a lot easier to use than a steam wand, making it a great option for anyone with limited mobility in their hands. Just pour in your milk, hit the large button, and away you go. When you're done, its non-stick coating makes it easy to clean; a quick rinse and wipe, and it's ready to use again.

My only complaints were that the fill level markings inside can be difficult to see, depending on the lighting in your kitchen, and unlike the more advanced (but also more expensive) Dreo Baristamaker, you can't choose the texture of your finished foam.

The new-look Mini Milk Frother is available now direct from Smeg for £129.95 (about $170 / AU$250. If you'd rather stick with the original glossy finish, there's a choice of colors, including red, cream, and pastel green for $200 / £99.95 / AU$169.

• The De'Longhi Eletta Ultra can brew over 50 drinks, split into seven menus
• It's much quieter than most bean-to-cup coffee makers
• It's available now for for £1,149.99 (about $1,500 / AU$2,200)

De'Longhi has released a new premium coffee maker with a menu of over 50 drinks, which are grouped by "mood and style" to help you find exactly what you want.

The De'Longhi Eletta Ultra is a successor to the Eletta Explore, which our reviewer Josephine Watson awarded four and a half stars out of five in 2024, but makes it even easier to find the right drink by splitting them into seven themed menus.

It brews hot and cold, and has a milk system with two swappable carafes that allow you to create hot or cold milk foam using your choice of dairy or plant-based milk. The system (called LatteCrema Hot & Cool) is easy to use, and from my experience with other De'Longhi coffee makers, extremely simple to clean as well.

The machine can adjust its own brew settings to suit your chosen coffee using a system called Bean Adapt, and you can create and save your own recipes using De'Longhi's Coffee Link mobile app.

The Eletta Ultra is supposedly quieter than its predecessor as well, thanks to what De'Longhi calls 'Silent Technology'. which the company claims can reduce noise by up to 65% compared to its standard coffee makers.

In fact, it's one of the few coffee makers to receive Quiet Mark certification, alongside machines like the Jura J10 and KitchenAid KF8.

The Eletta Ultra is available to order in the UK direct from De'Longhi for £1,149.99 (about $1,500 / AU$2,200). I'll be testing it soon to see how it compares with the Eletta Explore, and whether it can earn a place in our roundups of the best coffee makers and the best espresso machines.

• The premium Aarke Coffee Maker is available in a new finish called Sand
• The soft beige is more subtle than stainless steel and is on-trend for 2026
• It's on sale in the US for $400, and can be pre-ordered for £300 in the UK

The Aarke Coffee Maker is one of the best drip coffee makers we've tested here at TechRadar, and it's just received a chic new look with a soft matt finish called Sand. It makes a refreshing change from the original industrial-looking stainless steel, and will fit particularly well in kitchens featuring wood and earthy tones, both of which are "set to dominate" this year, according to our colleagues at Ideal Home.

"'Colour is quietening," says Richard Davenport, CEO of luxury kitchen design company Davenport Kitchen and Home. "We are seeing fewer stark whites or cool greys and far more mineral tones that shift gently with the light."

When we reviewed the Aarke Coffee Maker (which can be connected to a grinder to create a full coffee system), our tester Chris Rowlands called it a "stunning" and "distinctly premium" machine that "brews in style". He praised its clean lines and streamlined controls, and noted that it "makes a statement on any counter".

His only complaint about the original stainless steel coffee maker was the fact that its glossy surface has a tendency to show fingerprints, but that's not an issue with the new Sand finish, keeping your appliance looking spotless.

The Aarke Coffee Maker isn't just attractive though; it's also an excellent brewer with thoughtful features including a grind size guide on the lid of the bean hopper, which helps you dial in your grinder, a drip-stop valve that prevents coffee leaking once the carafe has been removed, and a smart hotplate that keeps your freshly brewed coffee warm, and detects when the pot has been removed.

The Aarke Coffee Maker in Sand is on sale now in the US for $400 and available to pre-order in the UK for £300, where it will begin shipping in May. It's not yet available in Australia, but the coordinating Aarke Kettle is on sale for AU$399.

Russell Hobbs Everyday Espresso Machine: one-minute review

The Russell Hobbs Everyday Espresso Machine is an entry-level coffee maker with an unusual twist: in addition to a regular portafilter for ground coffee, it comes with a holder for Nespresso Original style coffee capsules. A handy option if you’re making the switch from pods to fresh beans, or sharing a kitchen with someone who prefers a different brewing method.

It’s very cheap too, with a list price of just £149.99 / AU$189.95 (about $200). For comparison, my two top-rated budget coffee makers, the De’Longhi Dedica Duo, and Philips Baristina, are $299.95 / £279.99 (about AU$600) and $449.99 / £299.99 / AU$599. respectively.

At that price it’s no surprise that the Everyday Espresso Machine is made almost entirely from plastic, but it still looks smart on your kitchen counter with its silver and matt black finish, and guests won’t guess how little you spent.

The budget price is reflected in the accessories though, which are quite bare-bones. In addition to the two portafilters, you get just two filter baskets, a lightweight scoop/tamper combo, and a pin tool for clearing the steam wand. There’s no milk pitcher, water filter, or water hardness testing strip included in the box.

What really matters is performance, and I was pleased to find that the Everyday Espresso Machine could brew a decent shot with fresh coffee once I’d identified the best grind size, and extraction was consistent. However, I found I had to grind my coffee much coarser than I would usually to avoid under-extraction, and the puck of coffee grounds was always quite wet at the end, which suggests that although the pressure was lower than optimal.

Brewing with coffee capsules was easy, but again, it was a soggier experience than I’d like, and the used pod ended up sitting in a puddle in the portafilter after brewing.

The steam wand is the real problem, though. It feels flimsy, wobbling as you move it into position, and its lower section is too short, making it hard to submerge in your milk pitcher. Worst of all, it has an air intake hole that creates so much foam, I had to stop steaming my milk while it was still cold to prevent the jug overflowing. The large bubbles aren’t fine or stable enough for a latte, which is a shame when you’ve just brewed a perfectly good shot of espresso.

If you take your coffee black and want to shift between pods and grounds, this might be a good option for you. Otherwise though, I’d recommend saving up a little more cash and opting for the much more solidly-made De’Longhi Dedica Duo instead.

Russell Hobbs Everyday Espresso Machine: price and availability

• Available in the UK and Australia for £149.99 / AU$189.95
• Not currently sold in the US
• One of the cheapest espresso machines I've tested

The Russell Hobbs Everyday Espresso Machine is available in the UK direct from Russell Hobbs for £149.99 (about $200). It’s known as the Russell Hobbs Heaton Espresso Machine in Australia, where it retails for AU$189.95. It’s not sold in the US at the time of writing.

It’s one of the most affordable coffee makers I’ve tested here at TechRadar, and even cheaper than my favorite budget espresso machine, the De’Longhi Dedica Duo, which has a list price of $299.95 / £279.99 (about AU$600).

• Value score: 4/5

Russell Hobbs Everyday Espresso Machine: specifications

Russell Hobbs Everyday Espresso Machine: design

• Accepts ground coffee and Nespresso Original capsules
• Steam wand is disappointing
• Plastic components have a strong odor

The Russell Hobbs Everyday Espresso Machine is compact, and exceptionally lightweight. Upon weighing it, I found that the whole unit is just 6lbs / 2.74kg, including the plug and water tank, which could be a real advantage if you need a coffee maker you can tuck away in a cupboard between uses.

The Everyday Espresso Machine’s exterior is entirely plastic except for the drip tray and steam wand, but as you can see from the photos here, it doesn’t look cheap, and the silver-colored panels on the front give a convincing look of brushed steel.

It does, however, have a noticeable plastic odor when new. The instructions running the machine without any coffee to rinse it before making your first drink, but I'd actually suggest doing this a few times to wash away any taste (and flushing the steam wand thoroughly as well to avoid tainting your milk).

As with all coffee makers, you should wash the water tank, portafilters and baskets before use. These are safe to hand-wash with soapy water, and the tank has a reassuringly solid-feeling handle for easy carrying, which is a welcome touch.

The Everyday Espresso Machine comes with two portafilters: one for ground coffee and one for Nespresso Original style coffee capsules. The one for capsules has a conical insert, which holds the coffee pod and pierces the bottom when pressure is applied so water can penetrate.

There are just two filter baskets for ground coffee (single and double shot size). Both of these are pressurized, which makes sense for a beginner-level machine because they're more forgiving than single-walled baskets if your grind isn't perfect.

You get a double-ended tamper/coffee scoop, which is standard issue for a budget espresso machine. It doesn't feel very satisfying to hold, and it's not as easy to use as a more solid tamper with a smooth metal finish, but it gets the job done.

The Everyday Espresso Machine's steam wand pivots out from the left-hand side of the machine, and is controlled using a large, tactile dial. Unfortunately, during testing I found that the bottom part of the wand was too short, meaning it couldn’t reach far enough down into my milk pitcher.

The wand also has a pinhole in the side, which is intended to create extra foam when you steam your milk. Unfortunately,during my tests I found it created lots of very large bubbles, and made it impossible to create smooth, pourable microfoam. In fact, it created so much foam, I had to stop steaming before my milk was hot to avoid it overflowing.

• Design score: 3/5

Russell Hobbs Everyday Espresso Machine: performance

• Consistent results when grinder is dialled in
• Water pressure seems to be lower than usual
• Doesn't heat or foam milk properly

The Everyday Espresso Machine is simple to use, with just two brew buttons, but unlike most espresso machines, these don’t correlate to a single or double shot. Instead, the first button brews a double shot, and the second a quad (intended to be divided between two cups). The drink volume is customizable, but it's something to be aware of.

The machine heats quickly, though the cup-warmer on top isn't very practical. Like the rest of the machine's chassis, it's made from insulating plastic, so it'll barely be warm even half an hour after the machine has come to temperatures.

I was pleased to find that, although some components feel flimsy, the Everyday Espresso Machine does feel more robust than the Casabrews 5418 Pro. The filter baskets fit into the portafilter handle properly without feeling loose, and the handle locks nicely into place.

My first few shots of espresso pulled very slowly, and I found that I had to grind my coffee much more coarsely than usual to get good results. The puck of ground coffee was still quite wet once I'd finished brewing, which suggests that the pressure was low, but once I'd found the best size, the results were consistent.

Brewing with a Nespresso capsule is straightforward; just place it in the conical holder provided, put the holder in the portafilter handle, and carry on as though you were using coffee grounds. The process is quick and easy, but messier than using a standard Nespresso machine. Usually brewing with pods is a neat process, but the Everyday Espresso Machine leaves water in the portafilter that tends to spill when you release the handle.

If you’re only really interested in brewing from capsules, I’d recommend picking a simple dedicated Nespresso machine instead. The Nespresso Vertuo Pop (for Nespresso Vertuo pods) or the Nespresso Pixie (for Nespresso Original capsules) are both affordable options.

For me, though, the steam wand is the weakest point. As mentioned previously, this is an espresso machine with a dairy intolerance; it incorporates too much air into the milk, so you have to stop steaming before it’s sufficiently heated, and it’s too short to use comfortably. The heat-resistant silicone handle is a nice addition, but the whole wand wobbles when you move it.

Whether I chose oat or dairy, the wand simply made lots of very large bubbles, which might look impressive if you've not used a coffee maker before, but are no practical use. This might be an entry-level machine, but new users need proper tools too, and this steam wand misses the mark.

• Performance score: 3 / 5

Should you buy the Russell Hobbs Everyday Espresso Machine?

Buy it if

Don't buy it if

Russell Hobbs Everyday Espresso Machine: also consider

If you're not sure whether the Russell Hobbs Everyday Espresso Machine is the right coffee maker for you, here are two other options for your shortlist. For more recommendations, take a look at my complete guides to the best espresso machines and best Nespresso machines.

How I tested the Russell Hobbs Everyday Espresso Machine

I used the Russell Hobbs Everyday Espresso Machine in my kitchen for a week, comparing it with my usual Gaggia Classic coffee maker.

I used it with freshly roasted coffee beans, ground using a Sage Dose Control Pro coffee grinder, and I adjusted the grind size until a double shot of espresso dispensed in around 30 seconds. I used the steam wand with fresh fat dairy and oat milk.

For more details, see how we test, review, and rate products on TechRadar.

• The Philips Café Aromis is a premium bean-to-cup coffee maker
• It has a menu of 50 drinks, including cold brew, plus hot and cold milk foam
• Its 'conversational' Barista Assistant tool adjusts brew settings for you, and can be accessed through the machine or a mobile app

Looking for a coffee maker that will make your morning brew just as well as your favorite coffee shop? The new Philips Café Aromis is a premium espresso machine that promises exactly that, with a menu of 50 different drinks (including cold brew) that can be tailored using what Philips is calling a "conversational Barista Assistant".

You can access the Barista Assistant through the coffee maker itself, or via the Philips HomeID mobile app. Follow the prompts on-screen, and the Barista Assistant will tweak the machine's internal brew settings to create the flavor you prefer using your chosen beans — with no barista experience necessary on your part.

There are five user profiles too, so you don't need to worry about anyone accidentally changing your custom latte settings.

Not getting as much flavor as you'd like? The Café Aromis offers seven different intensity settings, which increase the dosage of coffee to give your drink a boost. Most bean-to-cup coffee makers only give you two or three intensity options, so it'll be interesting to see how much punch the Aromis can deliver.

Philips makes some of the best espresso machines I've tested, so I have high expectations for the Café Aromis. Just a few weeks ago, the compact Philips Baristina impressed me with its clever 'one-swipe' brewing system, which makes brewing with fresh coffee beans as simple as using pods (with much less waste). I'm hoping to put the Café Aromis through its paces soon, and find out whether it deserves a place in my roundup of the best coffee makers.

The Café Aromis is available to pre-order now for $1,699.99 (about £1,300 / AU$2,400) in the US. I've asked the company whether it has plans for an international launch, and will update this story when I know more.

I test new coffee makers every month here at TechRadar, and Smeg is one brand I can always trust to impress me with its balance of style and performance. The company, which was founded in Italy in 1948, has made a name for itself in luxe kitchen appliances, and its espresso machines are no exception — and if you're looking for a statement piece for your breakfast nook, I'm here to help you find exactly the right one for your taste and budget.

Here I've rounded up my three favorite Smeg coffee makers for preparing consistently delicious espresso. Whether you want a manual barista experience or prefer to take a hands-off approach and let the machine do the work, there's a machine here with your name on it.

All the Smeg coffee makers I've picked here are espresso machines, but the company also caters to other brewing styles. If you're looking for a drip coffee maker, the Smeg Drip Filter Coffee Machine comes highly recommended, and if you'd rather make your morning brew using capsules, I found the Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg a great alternative to a Nespresso machine. The only thing it's lacking is a steam wand, so take a look at the coordinating Smeg Mini Milk Frother if you're interested in lattes and cappuccinos.

Smeg ECF03 Cold Brew Espresso Coffee Machine

I fell in love with the Smeg ECF03 — a charming coffee maker that brews consistently delicious espresso while adding a dash of "chic 1950s-inspired design" to your kitchen. During testing, I particularly appreciated its handy central pressure gauge, which lets you see at a glance whether your shot is going to be correctly extracted without needing to time the pour.

All the accessories feel reassuringly solid, including the portafilter handle, tamper, and collection of four filter baskets (single-walled and pressurized for single and double shots). Pressurized baskets are more forgiving, producing thick crema even if your grinder isn't perfectly dialed in.

The steam wand is a pleasure to use as well, with a good range of movement as it pivots out from the machine, and it has a cool-touch silicone grip. It's just a shame that you don't get a milk pitcher included in the box; a strange omission at this price point.

Like all big-brand espresso machines released over the last couple of years, the Smeg ECF03 also offers cold extraction, bypassing the boiler and using ambient-temperature water for a drink with a milder taste than the same beans brewed hot. It takes a little longer than preparing a regular espresso, but the results are worth the wait. If that's not a feature you're going to use, take a look at the Smeg ECF02 instead, which only brews hot and is considerably cheaper.

Smeg appliances are never cheap, but this is the most affordable espresso machine in this list. Interestingly, it's also the loudest; it reached a maximum of 72dB during my tests, which isn't unusual for a coffee maker, but is much noisier than the two below.

Read our full Smeg ECF03 review

Smeg Mini Pro Espresso Coffee Machine

The Smeg Mini Pro has a crisper, modern look than the ECF03, plus premium features like an independently heated group head (the part of the machine that passes hot water through the coffee grounds), meaning the coffee is kept at a more consistent temperature throughout the brewing process. Consistency is the key to great coffee, so this is a very welcome feature.

The machine offers buttons for pouring a single or double shot, but if you'd rather take manual control, it also has a physical lever that you can pull to control the pour yourself. This doesn't require much effort to use, and makes the ECF03 pleasantly tactile.

Like the ECF03, the Smeg Mini Pro shows the pressure while you pull a shot, but here the reading appears as a number on the machine's circular LED display, rather than on an analog dial. The display also shows when the Mini Pro has reached temperature (it's set to 92C by default, but you can change this if you like).

This machine has a particularly large water tank, making it a good choice for households with multiple coffee drinkers who'll be preparing lots of shots every day — and who can split the considerable cost between them.

Overall, brewing with the Smeg Mini Pro is an absolute pleasure; every part of the experience has feels premium, with no expense spared. It's also exceptionally quiet, reaching only 30dB during brewing.

Read our full Smeg MinI Pro review

Smeg BCC13 Bean to Cup Coffee Machine

I first reviewed the Smeg BCC13 back in September 2024, and it remains one of the best bean-to-cup coffee makers I've used thanks to its compact size, clear interface, impeccable build quality, and (of course) superb brewing. In my review, I said that it "produces consistently well-extracted coffee time after time" — and a year and a half later, I still stand by that.

Unlike some other automatic coffee makers, the BCC13 makes it easy to adjust the grind size of your coffee, and tailor the volume of each drink on the menu to suit your tastes. During my tests I soon found a grind size that worked well with my preferred beans, but there are only eight settings to choose from. If you're very particular about your espresso then you might prefer to choose one of the two machines above and use a separate coffee grinder that will give you finer control. It reached a maximum of 67dB during brewing, which isn't excessive at all for a fully automatic espresso machine.

It has an automatic milk system rather than a manual steam wand for totally hands-off brewing. During my tests it produced creamier foam using dairy milk than with plant-based alternatives, but you'll still be able to make a very respectable cappuccino with oat or soya if that's your preference.

Maintenance is a breeze, too. Some bean-to-cup coffee makers are a nuisance to clean inside, but the BCC13 has no awkward nooks and crannies to trap stray grounds or water. A quick wipe will leave its interior spotless, while its automatic cleaning programs keep the milk and brewing systems fresh and hygienic.

It's a minor quibble, but I found that the set of minimalist buttons on top of the machine wasn't very self-explanatory, and I needed to keep referring back to the BCC13's manual to remind myself how to access all nine drink options during my first few days with the machine. I did get used to them eventually, though.

Read our full Smeg BCC13 review

Making coffee at home from scratch doesn't have to be difficult, or involve a lot of equipment. An espresso machine with a built-in grinder (also known as a "bean-to-cup" machines) makes using fresh coffee beans as simple as pods, with no mess or hassle.

I've tested over a dozen coffee makers in the past year here at TechRadar, including stacks of bean-to-cup machines, and here I've picked out my top three recommendations for quick and convenient home-brewing from scratch. There's an option for every price bracket — from the Philips Baristina, which is perfect if you're switching from a Nespresso machine, to the premium Siemens EQ900 Plus, which is the closest you can get to your own personal barista.

Whichever coffee maker you choose, just make sure that you keep your coffee beans in an airtight container in a cool, dark place. Sunlight, air, and moisture all cause the flavor compounds in coffee to degrade, so proper storage is essential. Now, lets get on with the daily grind.

Best budget coffee maker

Philips Baristina

The Philips Baristina is the most affordable bean-to-cup coffee maker I've tested, and it's extremely impressive. Fill the bean hopper and water tank, then push the portafilter handle into the slot under the brew group, and slide it to the right. Pick a drink (either espresso or lungo, which has twice as much water) and the Baristina will grind the appropriate dose of coffee into the filter basket, tamp it down for you, and then slide the portafilter handle to the left and brew your drink. Philips calls it a "one-swipe" system, and it's unlike anything I've seen before.

During my tests, the Baristina brewed consistently delicious coffee with my usual light-roasted arabica beans. However, it's worth being aware that this machine doesn't offer any way to change the grind size. If you find that your espresso is under- or over-extracted then you'll need to try different beans until you find something that works with the Baristina's settings.

You should also be aware that the Baristina doesn't have a steam wand for texturizing milk. If you're drinks of choice are lattes and cappuccinos, there's a bundle available that also includes a standalone Philips milk frother to create the perfect silky foam.

All in all, this is an excellent little coffee maker that's a cinch to use and keep clean. It's the perfect option if you want to make the jump from coffee pods to fresh beans, and just as easy to operate (with no annoying capsules to recycle when you're done).

Read my full Philips Baristina review

Best mid-range coffee maker

Breville Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction

This coffee maker (known as the Sage Barista Touch Impress in the UK) has its own grinder, but unlike the other two here, it doesn't just do all the work for you. Instead, it can teach you how to dial in a grinder, work out the best amount of coffee to use (the dosage), and then tamp it down evenly. It's a great option if you're interested in the coffee-making process but a little daunted by the idea of making coffee from scratch using a manual machine.

The Barista Touch Impress will suggest a suitable grind size for your coffee based on its type and roast, and direct you to set the size yourself. It will then grind a quantity of coffee into the filter basket for you, and invite you to pull down the lever on the left-hand side to tamp it down (something I found very satisfying). The machine will detect how much pressure has been applied and suggest grinding a little more coffee, or scraping some off the top with the trimming tool provided.

Once your coffee is ready, lock the portafilter handle under the brewing group and the Barista Touch Impress will pull a shot, timing it to see whether it's extracting at the ideal rate, too quickly, or too slowly. It will then invite you to test the espresso — and if you like it, save the settings to use in future.

It's a very thoughtfully designed system, and I particularly appreciated the fact that it encourages you to decide what tastes best to you. It can make recommendations but, ultimately, it's your coffee and your choice. Th automatic milk-frothing system works very well, too, delivering impressive results when I tested it with both dairy and oat milks.

Overall, then, it's an excellent coffee maker that encourages you to experiment with grinding your own beans, and helps you see how much difference the grind size can make to extraction time and flavor (and as the name suggests, it can make cold brew as well).

Read my full Breville Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction review

Best premium coffee maker

Siemens EQ900 Plus

At the premium end of the scale, the Siemens EQ900 Plus is a luxury coffee maker with a ceramic grinder that can be set to work manually or automatically. The machine has two modes, "barista" and "comfort" – the first gives you the option to tinker with brew settings yourself, while the second requires you to make just a few simple choices about how you'd like your espresso to taste and machine handles the rest.

There's a huge menu of 36 hot and cold drinks to choose from, including options with and without milk. During my tests, the drinks the EQ900 Plus made were consistently delicious, and it produced the best latte macchiato I've had from a home coffee maker. Best of all, every drink in the list is customizable, so you can adjust the strength, drink volume, and proportions of coffee and milk to suit your tastebuds.

Your custom drinks are saved under your bespoke profile, so you don't need to worry about anyone else accidentally overwriting them.

Cleaning up is a piece of cake, too. The EQ900 Plus holds a cleaning tablet at all times, so when the system needs a thorough wash, all you need to do is place an empty cup under the dispenser and allow the machine to do the rest.

If this particular model is a bit too pricey, take a look at the standard Siemens EQ900, which has all the same features except for the space for a cleaning tablet.

Read our full Siemens EQ900 Plus review

Want a coffee maker, but not sure whether you have the space? Worry not, there are lots of great quality options that can brew exceptional espresso, and only take up a tiny sliver of space on your kitchen counter. I test new coffee makers every month here at TechRadar, and here I've put together a roundup of the three best tiny brewers that pack a punch.

I've included something for everyone, whatever your level of brewing experience: a manual coffee maker if you want to hone your barista skills, a fully automatic option that does all the work for you, from bean to cup, and a capsule machine for those times when you just want a coffee right away, with no fuss.

These compact coffee makers are all very reasonably priced as well, and prove that you don't have to splash out serious cash to make great-tasting espresso.

Automatic

Philips Baristina

The Philips Baristina is the most compact and affordable bean-to-cup coffee maker I've tested, but it doesn't skimp on quality. Stylish and well made, it proves that big flavor comes in small packages, and is particularly good choice for anyone thinking of making the switch from coffee pods to whole beans.

It uses what Philips calls a "one-swipe" system. Push the portafilter handle into place, choose your drink (espresso or lungo, the latter of which has twice as much water) and the Baristina will measure, grind, tamp, and then extract it for you. It's incredibly easy, and practically mess-free. When the Baristina is done, just remove the portafilter handle, tap out the puck of used coffee, and give the filter basket a clean.

It's easy to love this little coffee maker, and it worked perfectly during my tests. The only real downside is that, unlike pricier espresso machines, it doesn't let you adjust the grind size. That means you can't adjust the extraction rate, so if your coffee tastes over- or under-extracted, you'll just have to try a different coffee bean until you find one that works.

There's no steam wand here either, but if you're fond of a latte you can pick up the Baristina bundled with a standalone milk frother. Overall, it's an excellent compact coffee maker that's affordable, makes consistently great coffee, and is a total breeze to use. Highly recommended.

Read our full Philips Baristina review

Manual

De'Longhi Dedica Duo

Another of my favorite compact coffee makers, the De'Longhi Dedica Duo is the right machine if you're willing to try honing your own barista skills, and want a manual espresso machine rather than an automatic one.

The Dedica Duo is super affordable, with a list price of $299.95 / £279.99 / AU$349, and you can often find it even cheaper if you shop around (you'll find all today's best prices listed below). Most espresso machines in this price bracket are quite poorly made and deliver inconsistent results, but De'Longhi has a reputation to maintain, and the little Dedica Duo is just as solid and reliable as any of the company's premium coffee makers.

All the components are high quality, and unlike most compact espresso machines, the Dedica Duo can achieve and maintain the steady pressure necessary to extract your coffee properly and consistently. It has an excellent steam wand too, and although the machine's boiler is small, it generates enough steam to create perfect microfoam with dairy or plant-based milk.

The 'Duo' part of the name refers to the ability to make cold-extracted espresso, and the little Dedica does this extremely well too. Cold extraction takes longer than hot because the flavor compounds in coffee don't dissolve as readily in cool water, but the results are worth the (brief) wait — smooth and well-rounded. I loved using this cute compact coffee maker, and I think you will too.

Read our full De'Longhi Dedica Duo review

Capsule

Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg

If you're looking for a compact capsule coffee maker, Nespresso might be the first name that comes to mind, but it's not your only option. Lavazza also makes some excellent pod-based brewers, and its collaboration with the Italian appliance gurus at Smeg is my favorite.

Not only does it looks great (naturally for anything bearing the Smeg brand), it makes delicious espresso quickly, easily, and remarkably quietly. Just drop in the pod, wait a few seconds while the machine pierces it about 22 times (I counted) and forces hot water through, then enjoy.

This Smeg collab uses Lavazza's own A Modo Mio capsules. These come in a variety of types and roasts, but you won't find any added flavors or powdered milk here; all the capsules are roasted, ground coffee and nothing else. That's just fine with me — I find that flavored coffee pods often taste a little strange — and these capsules are very reasonably priced. They're compostable too, though you'll have to take them to a special drop-off point. If you want something you can compost at home, scroll back up to the Philips Baristina, which takes whole beans.

Like the Baristina, the Smeg/Lavazza machine only prepares espresso — there's no steam wand or milk system, so if you want a cappuccino then you'll need a separate milk frother. The Smeg Mini Milk Frother, which I tested last year, would be ideal, and comes in the same colors as the Lavazza machine, so you can pick one that matches.

Read our full Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg review

• The De'Longhi Eletta Ultra is a new fully automatic espresso machine
• De'Longhi claims it's up to 65% quieter than its previous coffee makers
• It's on sale now in the UK for £1,149.99 (about $1,600 / AU$2,200)

De'Longhi has launched a new automatic coffee maker, which it says is up to 65% quieter than its previous models. The De'Longhi Eletta Ultra features something the company calls 'Silent Technology', which muffles the sound of preparing your morning espresso so it doesn't wake your family or give you a pre-caffeine headache.

The Eletta Ultra offers a menu of 50 drinks, including customizable options. If that much choice sounds overwhelming, you can split them into hot and cold options, or see them divided into seven curated menus, which should make it easier to find something you'll enjoy.

There are two swappable milk carafes with different nozzles so you can choose between hot and cold milk foam, and the option to use a scoop of pre-ground coffee as an alternative to the beans in the hopper.

In terms of features, the Eletta Ultra is a successor to the De'Longhi Eletta Explore, but with its updated design, it looks more like the premium De'Longhi Primadonna Aromatic. Confused? I've rounded up each machine's key specifications below to make things clearer.

The Eletta Explore Ultra is available to buy now direct from De'Longhi for £1,149.99 in the UK (about $1,600 / AU$2,200). Prices and release dates for the US and Australia are yet to be announced.

I'm hoping to test it soon to see how it compares with the best espresso machines in terms of performance, ease of use, and noise — and whether it can earn a place in TechRadar's full roundup of the best coffee makers.

Philips Baristina: one-minute review

With the Philips Baristina, brewing espresso using freshly roasted beans is as easy as using coffee pods. Unlike most of the best bean-to-cup coffee makers, where the entire brewing process takes place within the case, the Baristina uses a portafilter handle much like a manual espresso machine. Push the empty handle into place, select your drink, and the Baristina will grind the right dose of coffee into the filter basket, tamp it down, then move it to the brewing group automatically for the shot to be extracted.

It's a clever design that's unlike any other bean-to-cup machine I've tested, and because the Baristina uses a portafilter, cleaning up is a piece of cake. There's no need to take the side off the machine, empty messy internal bins, remove components, or wipe up stray coffee grounds that have escaped.

It's a good-looking little coffee maker as well. Although its case is plastic, its matt finish and choice of tasteful colors mean it doesn't look cheap or attract fingerprints. The portafilter handle even arrives in a choice of colors and natural wood finishes (the exact options available will depend on where you buy your machine).

During my tests, coffee was consistently well extracted using my usual freshly roasted beans, with the pressurized filter basket producing a thick layer of crema.

In my opinion, the biggest drawback is that the Philips Baristina doesn't allow you to adjust the grind size, which means you have no control over how quickly your coffee is extracted. You can adjust the volume of your brew, but that's all. If your coffee tastes over- or under-extracted, you'll need to try different beans until you find something that works well with the standard settings.

You should also be aware that the Baristina doesn't have a steam wand or any other means of foaming milk, although it's available bundled with a standalone milk frother if cappuccinos and lattes are your thing.

All in all, it's an excellent beginner-friendly espresso machine that's ideal if you're new to using fresh beans and want to keep things as simple as possible. It's remarkably affordable, too, with a list price of just $299.95 / £279.99 (about AU$600).

Philips Baristina: price and availability

• Very cheap for a bean-to-cup coffee maker
• Sold in North America, Europe and Australia
• Often available at a discounted price

The Philips Baristina is the most affordable bean-to-cup coffee maker I've tested to date, with a list price of $449.99 / £299.99 / AU$599. You can pick up a good-quality manual espresso machine for around the same price — the five-star rated De'Longhi Dedica Duo for $299.95 / £279.99 (about AU$550), for example — but if you're after an automatic coffee maker, I haven't seen another model that delivers better in terms of value for money.

It's often available at a discount at major retailers, making it even better value. You'll find all today's best deals below.

The Baristina is available in North America, throughout Europe and has recently made its way to Australia.

• Value score: 5/5

Philips Baristina: specifications

Philips Baristina: design

• Sleek design with matt finish
• Clever "one swipe" portafilter design
• No steam wand (although separate milk frother is available)

The Philips Baristina is a compact coffee maker with a smart, minimalist design. It comes in two colors, black and white, with matching portafilter handles as standard. Some retailers also offer a selection of contrasting portafilter shades (including red, green, and yellow), plus light and dark wood options so you can pick something that suits your kitchen décor. Whichever color you choose, the portafilter is fitted with a non-removeable pressurized basket.

All in all, it's a good-looking machine, and although its case is made from plastic, its matt finish means it doesn't appear cheap or attract fingerprints like some more expensive coffee makers I've tested.

The Baristina is controlled using a simple set of three buttons: one for a single shot of espresso; one for 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 bean hopper is quite small, but that isn't a problem unless you're preparing coffee for a crowd; it's best to keep your coffee in a dark, cool, airtight place until you're ready to grind it and refill your coffee machine little and often.

The Baristina's water tank slides onto the back of the machine, and although I'd have liked to see a handle, its ridged surface makes it easy to grip when filling and replacing. It has a robust lid that fits firmly in place to avoid accidental spills, but do note that there's no water filter provided, so if you live in a hard water area then you might want to use a separate water filtration pitcher.

There's a removable plastic drip tray for your espresso cup, which slots into place below the groupset. It's nicely made — but, unfortunately, it isn't designed to accommodate a larger cup if you want to use your espresso as the foundation for a long drink.

The Baristina doesn't have a steam wand or automatic milk-frothing system. However, if you want to make milky drinks such as lattes and cappuccinos, it's available bundled with a standalone milk frother.

The standard Philips Baristina (which I tested here) has a single hopper, but there's also a model called the Baristina Variety, which has a larger dual hopper so you can choose between two different beans or roasts on-the-fly.

• Design score: 5/5

Philips Baristina: performance

• Super easy to use, with no need to weigh or measure
• Produced well-extracted espresso in tests
• Easier to keep clean than a typical bean-to-cup machine
• Grind size can't be changed

The Philips Baristina is a beginner-friendly espresso machine that combines the convenience of a bean-to-cup coffee maker with the easy cleanup of a manual one. To use it, just fill the water tank and bean hopper, gently push the empty portafilter handle into place, and slide it to the right under the coffee grinder. Choose your drink (espresso or lungo), hit the extra intensity button if you like, and the machine will get to work.

The appropriate dosage of coffee will be ground and dispensed directly into the filter basket, then tamped down evenly. Once it's ready, the machine will slide the handle to the left so it sits under the brew group, and extract your drink into your waiting espresso cup. You never touch the coffee grounds yourself, and there's no need to weigh or measure anything.

When the Baristina is done and your coffee is ready, the handle will be unlocked so you can pull it out, knock the puck of used coffee grounds into your food waste bin, and clean the basket. It's a lot easier than cleaning up a conventional bean-to-cup coffee maker, which involves pulling out the drip tray to clean out used coffee grounds, removing a side panel to take out and rinse the brew group, wiping up any stray coffee grounds inside the machine's casing, and leaving the whole thing open to dry so it doesn't grow mold.

The biggest drawback of the Baristina is that there's no way to change the grind size, so 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.

It's also worth noting that while manual coffee makers give you a choice of single and double filter baskets, with double (pressurized) and single walls, the Baristina's basket is integrated into the handle and can't be removed. Again, this limits customization, but it's unlikely to be a concern for those looking for their first espresso machine, or upgrading from a capsule coffee maker.

• Performance score: 4.5/5

Should you buy the Philips Baristina?

Buy it if

Don't buy it if

Philips Baristina: also consider

If the Philips Baristina doesn't sound like the right coffee maker for you, take a look at these two highly rated alternatives:

How I tested the Philips Baristina

I used the Philips Baristina for two weeks with my usual regular and decaffeinated coffee beans, freshly bought from a local coffee roaster. I used fresh tap water, and compared the taste of the coffee with that from my usual Gaggia Classic espresso machine. I used both the regular espresso and lungo options, with and without the "intensity boost" feature. I cleaned the portafilter between each drink, and flushed the brewing group with hot water by pressing and holding one of the control buttons.

• The AeroPress Steel is the company's first all-metal coffee brewer
• It's vacuum-insulated and comes in two colors: Stainless and Black Stainless
• It's available now direct from AeroPress for $169.95 (about £130 / AU$240)

There's a new AeroPress coffee brewer in town, with a tough metal build and extra-large brewing capacity. The AeroPress Steel is made from corrosion-resistant 304 stainless steel (including the body of the brewer, the measuring scoop, and the stirrer), with double-walled insulation to keep your drink hot, and prevent the outside of the brewing chamber getting warm.

The AeroPress Steel is also bigger than your typical brewer, with a 20% greater capacity than the original AeroPress or AeroPress Go. It comes in two color options: original Stainless and Black Stainless.

The AeroPress is one of my all-time favorite coffee makers for brewing on the move (it features highly in my roundup of the best coffee makers for camping). It's light, packs down small, and is super-simple to use, requiring nothing more than ground coffee, hot water, and a small filter paper (readily available online, and from outdoor gear stores).

To use your AeroPress, just place a filter paper in the perforated filter cap, screw it onto the brewing chamber, and place it on top of your cup. Add coffee grounds and hot water, allow it to brew, then place the plunger on top and push down firmly.

The feel of steel

Unlike some other portable coffee makers, there's no pumping necessary to create pressure, and the resulting brew is strong and smooth. You can tinker with grind size and brew time to get the optimum flavor from your beans, and AeroPress even sells a hand-cranked grinder with titanium burrs for grinding on the move.

The AeroPress Steel feels reassuringly sturdy, and its vacuum-insulated chamber provides better heat retention than other models. It's even dishwasher-safe for convenient cleaning.

That durability doesn't come cheap, though; the AeroPress Steel is on sale now direct from AeroPress for $169.95 in the US. It will go on sale in the UK a little later.

That's still less than the AeroPress Premium though, which is made from a combination of glass, stainless steel and aluminum, and is priced at $199.95 / £169.95 / AU$299.

A fitness influencer has disgusted caffeine-lovers by describing how she washes her underwear in a hotel-room coffee maker. In a video that went viral after being posted on X, Tara Woodcox instructs viewers to "put your underwear where you would put the coffee grounds," then "press brew and it puts scorching hot water through it." Once the underwear has, er, brewed, Woodcox advises using the hotel's hairdryer to "blow dry those bad boys."

She claims she learned this 'hack' from a friend who's a flight attendant, and she "did not realize how many people already knew this." I certainly didn't, and I'm never going to look at a pour-over machine the same way again.

From now on, I'm taking my own coffee maker with me, and thankfully, there are lots of options to choose from. I've rounded up a selection of my favorites below, all of which work without electricity, so you don't need to worry about the voltage in the country you're visiting.

These coffee makers require a source of hot water, but if your room doesn't have a kettle, or you're worried a previous guest might have used it to boil their tighty whities, rechargeable travel kettles are widely available. I'd recommend picking something like the Jettle, which is shaped like a thermos flask and easier to carry than a conventionally-shaped kettle. Now, let's start brewing.

1. Aeropress

The trusty Aeropress is easy to use, extremely tough, and weighs only 7.75oz / 220g including the cap, scoop, and stirrer. Once only available in black-tinted plastic (shown above), the Aeropress now comes in an array of candy colors, plus an XL version that can brew enough for two people. If you're often on the road, it's worth taking a look at the Aeropress Go, which includes a holder for 20 filter papers and a mug that doubles as a carry case.

Place the filter inside the perforated bottom part of the Aeropress (dampening it will help it stick), then screw it onto the tube section. Place this assembly on top of your camping mug and add coffee using the long-handled scoop. Pour in your hot water and gently agitate the grounds using the T-shaped stirrer. After a couple of minutes, place the plunger into the top of the tube and press down to force the coffee through the filter.

When you're done, just unscrew the bottom of the Aeropress and push the plunger all the way to eject the used grounds. You can get away with just rinsing the press in your hotel room, then giving it a thorough clean when you get home.

2. Barista & Co Strong Brew

The Strong Brew coffee maker from Barista & Co works in a very similar way to the Aeropress, but its design means you only need to gently twist its two handles to extract your coffee, rather than exert strong downward pressure. You may find that easier if you don't have a stable, flat surface to use (perfect for hotel rooms with wobbly furniture).

To brew, place the filter paper in the bottom section, screw on the middle part (it locks into place without too much force), then place it on top of your cup and add coffee grounds. The Strong Brew makes a single serving approximately the same as a double espresso, so about 18g will work well.

Now you're ready to pour in your hot water, taking care not to overfill the brewer (if you do, it'll overflow when you tighten it). Put the top plunger section in place and begin to twist it, stopping when it starts to turn. Leave the coffee to brew for a couple of minutes before pushing the two handles together to force the coffee through the filter. The result: a strong, tasty brew, without a hint of underpants.

3. Yeti Rambler Pour-Over

In her video, Woodcox appears to be describing how to wash underwear in a pour-over coffee maker (cramming it into an espresso portafilter would be a challenge). If this is your preferred brewing style and you're planning to never touch a hotel machine again, consider packing a coffee dripper and a pack of filters for your next vacation.

The Yeti Rambler Pour-Over, made from kitchen-grade stainless steel, is puncture- and rust-proof, and should survive even the roughest of airport baggage handlers. It's dishwasher-safe, but is so easy to clean by hand that there's no need to wait until you get home to wash it. Just rinse it in clean water, and it's good to go again.

At 9.6oz / 272g, it's relatively hefty, so if you're travelling as light as possible, a simple plastic V60 will be a more practical option. However, if you can afford the additional weight, then it comes highly recommended.

• Baratza has launched a new coffee grinder, the Encore ESP Pro
• Its stepless mechanism can adjust the burrs in increments of 2.2 microns
• It also features ion-generating tech to prevent static build-up while grinding

Baratza, which specializes in premium coffee grinders, has just launched a new stepless model that makes it easier to dial in precisely for your chosen brew type — whether that's espresso, Aeropress, or pour-over. The Baratza Encore ESP Pro has the same Baratza M2 steel burrs as the company's previous models, but with a new stepless mechanism that allows for 2.2 microns of vertical burr movement per degree of adjustment rotation.

Finding the right grind size for your coffee (dialing in) is the trickiest part of preparing a good brew. A tiny incremental change can be the difference between an espresso that's perfectly well-rounded, and one that's ever so slightly bitter or sour.

The ideal grind size for a particular bean and brew type doesn't stay consistent, either; the age of your beans and even the ambient temperature can affect the extraction rate, so being able to make tiny adjustments is a big advantage.

The Encore ESP Pro should also make grinding tidier thanks to ion-generating tech that helps prevent static, which is created by friction during grinding and can cause coffee to stick to the grinder. Less static means less mess, and less waste.

LED downlights help you see exactly what you're doing (and watch the coffee falling neatly into your filter), and you can choose whether to grind all the beans in the hopper, or just a single dose.

If the name Baratza is familiar but you can't quite place it, you might already be using some of its hardware. The company was acquired by Breville in 2020, and you'll find its grinder burrs inside many of Breville's best coffee makers — including the top-rated Breville Barista Touch Impress.

I've tested dozens of coffee makers for TechRadar, but the Philips Baristina surprised me with a feature I've never seen before. Automatic espresso machines work by taking the coffee-making process out of your hands, but none do it as literally as the Baristina, which physically moves its own portafilter handle so you don't have to touch it.

When I first heard about the Philips Baristina, I was intrigued. It combines the convenience of an automatic espresso machine with the easy cleanup of a manual one. Add your coffee and water, select your drink (espresso or lungo, with the option to increase the dose for a stronger brew), and the Baristina will grind the beans and tamp them down, then extract your shot using water at the optimum temperature and pressure. Easy.

Unlike most automatic machines, however, this doesn't happen within the machine's case. Instead, the Baristina uses a portafilter handle like a manual espresso machine. When it's done, just pull out the handle, knock out the puck of used coffee and clean the basket, then rinse the machine's brewing group by holding one of its buttons for a few seconds. At the end of the day, empty and wash the drip tray.

Unlike brewing with a manual coffee maker, you don't need to worry about weighing out the right dosage of beans, choosing the optimum grind size, avoiding spilling the ground coffee, or tamping it down correctly.

A typical automatic coffee maker is a lot more hassle to maintain. The whole brewing process takes place inside the machine's chassis, which can become damp, warm, dirty — an ideal breeding ground for mold if it's not thoroughly cleaned at the end of each day.

To keep it fresh you need to empty and wash the waste coffee box and drip tray, remove and rinse the brew unit, and wipe out any stray coffee grounds from inside the case. To ensure everything can dry properly, it's good practice to leave the side off the case overnight so any water can evaporate.

Look, no hands!

I was pleased to find that the Philips Baristina's 'one swipe' system means it does exactly what I'd hoped, giving the convenience of an automatic coffee machine without the time-consuming (and messy) clean-up at the end of the day. What I hadn't expected was that it also takes the brewing process out of your hands quite literally.

To start brewing with the Baristina, you need to position the empty portafilter basket under the grinder. To do this, just push it into the slot on the right, then slide it across. Now choose your drink and whether to boost the flavor with a larger dose of coffee, and the machine will get to work.

The instructions for the machine (which are available via a QR code provided in the box) use IKEA-style diagrams, and I assumed that I'd need to move the handle across to the brew unit myself once it had finished grinding and tamping, but no — once the coffee grounds are perfectly prepared, the machine whisks the handle into position itself. Call me easily amused, but I was surprised and delighted.

Despite its endlessly entertaining magic portafilter, the Baristina isn't quite perfect. There's not much scope for customizing your drinks, and it lacks a steam wand for foaming milk. If you're into lattes and cappuccinos, look out for the bundle option, which also includes a standalone Philips milk frother.

It's a fabulous entry-level espresso machine though, and far more affordable than your typical bean-to-cup coffee maker too. I'll bring you a full review within the next few days, but I already feel confident recommending it if you're shopping for your first espresso machine and wants something that will — literally — take the tricky parts out of your hands.

• The Jura Z10 is a new premium bean-to-cup coffee maker
• In addition to coffee, it can make milk foam infused with syrup or chocolate
• It's available now direct from Jura for £2,500 (about $3,400 / AU$4,800)

Swiss company Jura, known for its high-end coffee makers, has released a premium automatic espresso machine that offers a menu of 51 different drinks, including hot and cold-brewed coffee, plus luxurious chocolate drinks.

The new Jura Z10 is a successor the the Jura J10, which has long held a place in my guide to the best coffee makers thanks to its consistently excellent coffee brewing and milk frothing, plus its ability to incorporate any type of syrup (with or without sugar) into your chosen milk via its clever Sweetfoam system.

This uses a small container, which you fill with syrup and attach to the milk dispenser. As milk passes through, the syrup is added a little at a time so it's distributed evenly throughout the drink. The result is an intense flavor with every sip (rather than concentrated at the bottom of the cup, as it would be if you pumped syrup in before brewing your coffee), and surprisingly stable foam that remains to the last drop of coffee.

The Jura Z10 has all the same coffee-brewing features as the J10, plus a new system that makes creamy chocolate foam using either syrup or powder. It's ideal for mochaccinos, and other coffee and chocolate drinks.

The Jura Z10 can produce perfectly extracted coffee thanks to its precision grinder, which can automatically fine-tune the grind size to suit your chosen beans and drink (a rare feature, since most bean-to-cup machines require manual adjustment).

Other features include Coffee Timer, Caffeine Regulator, Milk Assistant and Quality Assistant, all of which help you achieve consistent results with each brew, and tailor the taste to your preferences.

The machine is Wi-Fi enabled, and can be controlled via a bright 4.3-inch touchscreen, or remotely via Jura's smartphone app.

As with the J10, this kind of versatility doesn't come cheap. The Z10 is available direct from Jura for £2,500 (about $3,400 / AU$4,800). I'm hoping to test it soon, and bring you a full review so you can decide for yourself whether it justifies the investment.

If you're just using your espresso machine to make coffee, you might be missing out. Social media is packed with suggestions for crafty hacks and alternative ways to use its steam wand, from the practical to the bizarre, so I put five of them to the test to find out how well they actually work.

Some ideas suggested online are clearly non-starters (like somehow using an espresso machine to steam wallpaper), while others just sound a bit gross. I'm sure you can make gravy with it, as suggested by a posted on Reddit, but the thought of failing to clean it thoroughly enough and making a slightly meaty-tasting latte turns my stomach. I decided to try five options that sounded both feasible and useful, and rated each one out of 10 based on its effectiveness.

I used a Gaggia Classic for this experiment, but if you're thinking of investing in a new espresso machine (for making lattes or anything else), take a look at my full roundup of the best coffee makers. Now, let's start steaming.

1. Making hot chocolate

Your coffee maker's steam wand can make delicious, creamy hot chocolate. Just fill the milk pitcher as usual, then stir in a spoonful of drinking chocolate powder. Tilt the pitcher towards you, insert the steam wand just under the surface of the milk, and start the steam to begin incorporating air. After a few seconds, lower the wand into the milk to create a whirlpool effect, which will heat it while mixing the chocolate in thoroughly.

This worked perfectly in my tests, and unlike some of the other hacks here, it's a good alternative to using a pan, particularly if you're only preparing hot chocolate for one person. I found that cleaning chocolate off the steam wand takes a bit more work than wiping away milk residue, but that's the only drawback.

You might also want to give the wand a thorough cleaning more frequently if you're using it for chocolate. Unscrew it and let it soak in warm, soapy water to loosen any dried residue, then rinse thoroughly before reattaching,

Score: 9/10

2. Warming cups

A cold cup will sap the heat from your freshly brewed coffee, so it's always a good idea to warm up your preferred drinking vessel before using it. Give the inside a quick blast of hot steam before you begin brewing and it'll be the ideal temperature.

It's pretty much impossible to go wrong here. Just make sure you have a clean towel on hand to wipe the moisture out of the cup and it'll be ready to go. If your coffee maker doesn't have a hotplate on top specifically for warming cups, it's a great solution.

Score: 10/10

3. Poaching eggs

There are two possible ways to cook eggs with a steam wand: poaching and scrambling. Personally I think poaching makes a lot more sense;. Crack an egg into a small dish, then fill your milk pitcher to the bottom of the spout with water, and add a little white vinegar (to help the egg set faster). Use your coffee maker's steam wand to create a whirlpool and heat the water, then drop the egg into the center. Provided the water is hot enough, the white should cook and the yolk should be left nicely runny.

Does it work? Well yes – but you have to be careful. Unless you have four hands you'll need to take your pitcher away from the steam to drop in your egg, then reinsert the wand. When I did so, the egg white immediately foamed up, creating a meringue-like froth. I pushed the wand down further to avoid incorporating any more air, and managed to burst the yolk.

I wouldn't call it a failure though. Although I certainly wouldn't serve the frothy results to anyone else, the egg was indeed cooked, and the yolk was still somehow mostly intact. Most surprisingly of all, the steam wand wasn't an absolute nightmare to clean afterwards (possibly helped by the vinegar in the water). Would I try it again? Perhaps, to see if I could do it better and for the sake of novelty, but I won't be ditching my saucepan any time soon.

Score: 5/10

4. Cleaning jewelry

Jewellers sometimes use high-pressure jets of steam to clean fine jewelry including gold and diamonds. Hold the piece of jewelry securely using tweezers or tongs, then use short jets of steam to dislodge dirt.

You should never use steam on semi-precious stones though, as some (such as amber and turquoise) are porous and can be cracked or made permanently dull by steam. Plated jewelry can also be damaged.

I chickened out of this particular hack. Although steam should theoretically be safe for my engagement ring, I didn't want to take a chance. If, like me, you don't like the idea of steaming your most precious possessions, it's safer to use a dish of warm water and a small, soft-bristled brush, or take them to a jeweller for professional cleaning.

Score: N/A

5. Melting chocolate

Some coffee fans suggest using your espresso machine's steam wand to melt chocolate for baking. The idea is not to touch the chocolate with the wand, but hold a dish containing a few pieces just above the jet of steam to warm it gently.

To give this hack the best chance of working, I used chocolate chips (their larger surface area means they should melt more easily than the same amount of chocolate as a block) and a metal ladle (to conduct heat better than a ceramic dish).

The results were unimpressive, and the chocolate had only just begun to melt at the bottom of the ladle when the pressure ran out. Holding the ladle next to the steam was also a bit awkward, and you have to take care not to let the steam make contact with the chocolate. Getting moisture in melting chocolate makes it liable to seize (ie turn thick and lumpy). Once that's happened you can try to rescue the chocolate by transferring it to a pan and gently heating it with cream to make a ganache, but it'll never be the same again – and you'll wish you'd used a stove in the first place.

A microwave is even easier. Just put your chocolate in a dish and heat it in bursts of a few seconds at a time.

Rating: 1/10

Preparing drip coffee is fundamentally a very simple process, but with the right drip coffee maker it's even easier. The best machines will heat water to precisely the right temperature, allow the ground coffee to pre-infuse for the perfect length of time, and ensure it filters through at the right speed for optimum flavor.

I'm TechRadar's resident coffee expert, and I've put together this list of my three favorite drip coffee makers that will make preparing perfect pour-over a breeze. Features I look out for include customizable brew settings, a simple interface, a timer, and either a well-insulated carafe or a hotplate to keep your finished drink at the ideal drinking temperature.

All of the options below come highly recommended, and after testing them all thoroughly, I'd happily give any of them a space on my kitchen counter.

Best all-round

Breville Luxe Brewer Thermal

If I was buying a drip coffee maker for my own kitchen right now, the Breville Luxe Brewer Thermal (sold under the brand name 'Sage' in the UK) would be my number one choice. It's not packed with flashy features and extras – it just brews consistently great coffee with zero effort.

For me this coffee maker's best feature is its insulated carafe. During my tests, it kept my freshly brewed coffee at the ideal drinking temperature for over four hours, even when I hadn't preheated or completely filled it.

The Luxe Brewer Thermal also offers a cold brew mode, which lets your coffee infuse in cold water for a full 12 hours. This brewing mode doesn't make a full pitcher (it's limited by the size of the brew basket) but it's an easy way to prepare old-fashioned cold brew without taking up valuable space in your fridge.

During testing, I also appreciated the ability to lift off the water tank for filling. Many other drop coffee makers require you to fill the carafe and pour it into a fixed tank on the machine, which means a risk of spillage, but there's no such problem here. My only complaint would be that the tank's handle is quite small, which can make it tricky to hold when full and means you have to support it with both hands. A larger, more ergonomic handle like the one on the carafe would have been preferable.

In all other ways though, this drip coffee maker is hard to fault. It doesn't over-complicate the fundamentally simple process of brewing drip coffee, but gives you just enough brewing options to make meaningful changes to your finished drink, and keeps it at the ideal temperature for an astonishingly long time. It's dropped in price since launch too, making it a great deal (and you'll find today's best prices from around the web below).

Read our full Breville Luxe Brewer Thermal review

Two-in-one

Ninja Espresso and Coffee Barista System

This two-in-one appliance (called the Ninja Prestige DualBrew System in the UK) is part drip coffee maker, part Nespresso machine – and it's ideal for mornings when you're feeling groggy and want to enjoy a fresh brew as quickly as possible.

The drip coffee maker on the left-hand side offers a choice of brew sizes, three profiles (normal, rich, and over ice), and a timer so you can prepare everything last thing at night. When you wake, the double-walled carafe will be full of fresh coffee, kept at the ideal temperature by a smart hot plate designed to avoid overheating your drink and spoiling its flavor – and it works.

The Nespresso machine on the right-hand side uses Nespresso Original pods (the ones shaped like a little top hat) and again offers a choice of three brew sizes. Once it's reached temperature (both parts of the Barista System use the same water tank), it can brew a very nicely balanced espresso in about a minute.

It's not the most attractive coffee maker I've ever used (especially compared to the stunning Smeg appliance below), but there's not an inch of wasted space. Look around the sides and you'll find a measuring scoop clipped into a recess, a chart showing 'recipes' for different drinks; remove the carafe to find a flip-down drip tray so you can dispense coffee into a cup instead; reach around the back and there's a whisk for foaming milk (although it doesn't heat it).

If you're more of a coffee purist then you'll prefer the Ninja Luxe Café, which is another two-in-one machine, but uses fresh coffee grounds rather than pods. It also has a steam wand rather than a whisk, with both automatic and manual settings.

Read our full Ninja Espresso and Coffee Barista System review

Compact

Smeg Drip Filter Coffee Machine

Smeg has brought its signature 60s-influenced style to this compact drop coffee maker, which comes in an array of pastel colors, and is often available at a discount in certain hues, making it surprisingly affordable.

There are just a few brew modes to choose from, and you can prepare either a full carafe or a four-cup portion. The timer (which, surprisingly, isn't a feature of all the drip coffee makers I've tested) allows you to prepare your brew the night before, and there's a hotplate to maintain the temperature once it's ready. It's worth bearing in mind, however, that this doesn't have the 'smart' temperature control of the Ninja coffee maker above, and it will time out after 40 minutes.

I appreciated the inclusion of a reusable filter, which saves on waste if you don't mind the effort of scraping out the used coffee and washing the mesh between brews, though you can also use a paper filter if you prefer.

If you're looking for a capsule coffee maker that will complement this drip machine, take a look at the Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg, which makes some of the best espresso I've had from a pod machine, and would work particularly well paired with the Smeg Mini Milk Frother for preparing lattes and cappuccinos.

Overall, this is a well-made and uncomplicated drip coffee maker, which is elevated by a striking design that will make it a real talking point on your kitchen counter.

Read our full Smeg Drip Filter Coffee Machine review

Drip coffee accessories

Picking up a new drip coffee maker? These essentials will help make sure you get the most out of it.

• The Philips Baristina is a new compact espresso machine
• It claims to brew coffee from beans in one minute with a 'single swipe'
• It should be much easier to maintain than a typical automatic coffee maker

Philips has launched a new coffee maker that promises to make authentic espresso using fresh beans with the speed and convenience of coffee pods - but without the expense.

According to the company, the Baristina will prepare your drink "with one simple swipe of the portafilter handle". I've yet to see it in action, but judging by the description and photos shown, it sounds as though it works in a similar way to a bean-to-cup coffee makerbut without the hassle of having to disassemble the machine to clean the brewing group and empty the bin of used grounds.

Instead, the Baristina uses the same type of portafilter handle as a manual espresso machine. Push this into place, an the machine will grind the appropriate dosage of coffee directly into the filter, tamp it down, and then extract your shot of espresso once the boiler has reached the ideal temperature and pressure.

The whole process apparently takes just one minute, after which you simply remove the portafilter handle and tap our the used coffee grinds, just as you would with a conventional coffee maker.

There's no steam wand, but if you want to prepare lattes and cappuccinos, there is a separate Baristina milk frother that can produce hot and cold milk foam.

Espresso without the mess-o

I'm not sure how many customization options the Baristina will offer, (hopefully you will be able to at least adjust the grind size to suit different coffees) but it certainly looks intriguing. My biggest problem with super-automatic coffee makers is that although they save you time and effort in the short term, they take much more effort to keep clean than a manual espresso machine.

It sounds as though the Baristina will give you the best of both worlds, handling all the technical and potentially tricky parts of the brewing process for you, without any coffee mess inside.

I'll be testing the Philips Baristina soon, and will bring you a full review once I've put it through its paces. If it works as well as Philips claims, it might even earn a place in our roundup of the best espresso machines.

Opting for the convenience of a capsule coffee machine doesn't mean settling for sub-par espresso. I test over a dozen coffee makers every year, and I've found that pod machines from brands like Nespresso and Tassimo have come a long way in recent years, offering a much wider range of drinks, including speciality coffees as well as interesting infusions and milk-based beverages.

Here I've picked out my three favorite capsule coffee makers, all of which can make delicious espresso in under a minute, and are compact enough for even a tiny kitchen.

All of them come highly recommended, but when making your choice, bear in mind that some coffee pods are more expensive than others, and even if the machine itself is cheap, you might end up paying more in the long run if it only accepts expensive capsules.

Nespresso

Ninja Prestige DualBrew System

The Ninja DualBrew is brilliant hybrid appliance, and gives you every coffee-making option you could wish for in one chunky package. On the left you have a traditional-style drip coffee maker, with a programmable timer so you can set it to begin brewing first thing in the morning, and a smart hot plate that keeps your drink warm without stewing it. On the right, you have a capsule espresso machine for making stronger, shorter drinks in an instant, and at the side there's an electric whisk for whipping up cappuccinos and lattes.

This machine uses Nespresso Original capsules (the ones shaped like little top hats). Nestlé no longer owns the patent on this design, so you'll find a huge range of compatible options from big brands and tiny independent coffee roasters alike. Nespresso Vertuo pods (which are dome-shaped) are only available direct from Nespresso. Although there's still an impressive selection, including lots of tasty limited-edition options, you don't get all the third-party options.

It might not be the prettiest machine, but it's packed with thoughtful features. These include a height-adjustable drip tray for the espresso machine, so you can use any cup, and the option to dispense drip coffee into a travel mug rather than the carafe so you can enjoy it on your morning commute.

It's not perfect (the whisk doesn't heat milk like a steam wand, so you'll need to microwave it), but it's very close.

Read our full Ninja Prestige DualBrew System review

Tassimo

Bosch Tassimo Finesse Friendly

The Bosch Tassimo Finesse Friendly is (as its name suggests) extremely easy to both use and clean, and it can make a surprisingly authentic latte macchiato. You can find third-party Nespresso Original capsules containing powdered milk, but Tassimo produces its own proprietary pods full of long-life milk, which your machine will steam to creamy perfection.

Just fill the water tank, pop your pod in the holder barcode-down (so the machine can read it), place your cup under the dispenser and hit the button. Cleaning the machine is equally straightforward. Just slide the orange maintenance disc out of its slot near the Finesse Friendly's base

The machine itself is the cheapest in this guide, but before you grab one, bear in mind the cost of the capsules. Basic Tassimo T-Pods that only contain coffee are reasonably priced, but more elaborate drinks are decidedly expensive. That's particularly true for drinks with milk, which are made using two T-Pods each. For example, a pack of Costa Caramel Latte T-Pods contains enough capsules to make just eight drinks, and has a list price of £7.25 (about $10 / AU$15).

On the plus side, T-Pods are readily recycled. In the UK they're processed via the Podback scheme, and if you order them direct from the Tassimo online store, you'll receive a bag that you can use to collect them in, then send off for processing once it's full. There are also collection bins at many recycling centers and supermarkets.

Read our full Bosch Tassimo Finesse Friendly review

Lavazza a Modo Mio

Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg

This stylish little capsule coffee maker has the smart looks you'd expect from a Smeg appliance, and would look great alongside the Smeg Mini Milk Frother in your coffee-making corner. Color options include black, white and red, all with a glossy finish and chrome accents.

Unlike the Lavazza A Modo Mio Gusto, which has a built-in milk frothing system, this Smeg-branded coffee machine only makes espresso – and it does so very well, producing a rich and well-extracted shot of coffee in less than a minute, and with remarkably little noise. If you want a coffee maker that you can use first thing in the morning without waking the rest of the household, this could be the one for you.

One thing that sets this coffee maker apart from its rivals is the price of its coffee capsules. The A Modo Mio series is all about the beans – there are no fancy added flavors or milk options here – and the pods are very reasonably priced. They're far cheaper than Tassimo capsules, so although this Smeg-branded machine costs more at the outset, it could work out less expensive in the long run.

The downside is that although the capsules are compostable, they can only be processed industrially, in specific facilities. In the UK they're accepted as part of the Podback scheme, but there aren't many collection points where you can drop them off and individuals can't order their own recycling bags. If there's no drop-off point near you, you'll need to start your own.

Read our full Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg review

Fellow makes sophisticated coffee equipment including a drip coffee maker, digital scales, and variable-temperature kettles. They're made for coffee afficionados, but it's not all serious business at Fellow HQ – each appliance has a hidden retro-style video game that you can play while enjoying your morning brew.

It's not at all obvious where to find these games, and they aren't mentioned in Fellow's manuals. When I tested the Fellow Aiden Precision Drip Coffee Maker in 2024, I had no idea what I was missing until someone mentioned it at a barista skills workshop I attended. At first I thought they were joking, but the games are quite real.

In fact, for its 10-year anniversary in 2023, the company held a two-day competition where it invited coffee-lovers to send photos of their high scores for the chance to win a top prize of "a $500 Fellow gift Card, a cape, a crown, and once-in-a-decade glory". Runner-up prizes included smaller gift cards and insulated tumblers.

There's a different game for each coffee-making appliance. The Aiden Precision Drip Coffee Maker has a Space Invaders lookalike called Spacey, Stagg EKG and Corvo EKG kettles have Wormy (which is very similar to the Snake game on old Nokia phones), Stagg EKG Pro kettles have Bricky (a remake of Breakout), and the Tally Pro Precision Scale has Jumpy (similar to Jump Man, or the Google Chrome Dinosaur Game).

Will the forthcoming Fellow Espresso Series 1 give you something new to play while sipping a cortado? We'll have to wait and see (it's currently available for pre-order) but I expect so. Here's how to play all the current games – and possibly prepare for the 2033 championships

1. Spacey

The Fellow Aiden Precision Brewer isn't your average drip coffee maker. It has several customizable user profiles, and a menu of dedicated brewing profiles for different types of coffee – and this is where you'll find the secret game Spacey.

Using the coffee maker's large dial, scroll through the menu to 'Edit profiles' and press the dial once to select it. Scroll through the next menu to 'Light roast' and press the dial again. Now scroll to 'Name | Light Roast' and press the dial three times in quick succession.

You're now at the helm of a tiny spaceship, which you can move left and right using the control dial. Shoot at enemies to destroy them, and collect as many Fellow logos as possible while you do.

2. Bricky

Fellow's EKG Pro kettles are designed for making perfect pour-over. You can set the temperature to the degree Celsius or Fahrenheit (many temperature-controlled kettles can only be adjusted in increments of five degrees), and the kettle will keep the water at that temperature until you're ready to pour.

EKG Pro kettles also have a hidden Breakout-style game to enjoy. To find it, turn on your kettle and remove it from its base. Press the menu button (beside the dial) once, then turn the dial at least six full rotations in either direction to launch the game.

Use your kettle's dial to move your paddle left and right, bouncing the ball to clear bricks. The game has multiple levels, which get faster as you progress. You have three lives, and your kettle will save your score for each level in your current session.

These scores will be cleared when you want to start brewing coffee again, though, so Fellow recommends taking a quick picture with your phone to remember your achievements. To exit the game, press the menu button once.

3. Wormy

If you ever owned a Nokia 'brick' phone, you'll remember Snake – the game where you control a tiny serpent that eat blocks, and must avoiding crossing over its own tail as it becomes longer. It's the first game Fellow ever built into one of its products, and it's hidden away in the Stagg EKG and Corvo EKG kettles.

As with Bricky, you begin by turning your kettle on and removing it from its base. Now just flick the Centigrade / Fahrenheit toggle back and forth, and eventually the game will load on its small circular screen.

Use the dial as a joystick to move the snake (sorry, worm) left, right, up, and down, and try to 'eat' as many Fellow logos as you can, as quickly as possible.

4. Jumpy

The Fellow Tally Pro Precision Scale might be small, but it's also hiding its own retro-style game. Jumpy takes its name from Jump Man, but it plays more like the Chrome web browser's built-in dinosaur game (which you can access by typing chrome://dino into the address bar).

You control a spaceman-like character (the titular Jumpy) as he runs along, dodging flying coffee mugs and jumping over Stagg tasting glasses. The longer you run without hitting an obstacle, the higher your score.

To start playing, turn on your scale, use the button above the dial to pick the 'Brew Assist' option, then turn the dial until you reach the ratio 1:42. Tap the timer button, and get ready to jump.

If you've got a Nespresso machine recently, you might be looking at the bewildering array of different coffee pods available and wondering where to start. The best Nespresso machines often come with a sample pack to try, which is a great starting point, but those barely scratch the surface.

You could take a chance and just pick a few boxes that sound appealing, but there's no escaping the fact that although they're a lot cheaper per cup than a takeout coffee, the cost of coffee pods adds up pretty fast. You don't want to be left with several boxes of capsules that you don't really enjoy, but feel obliged to drink because you've paid good money for them.

That's where I come in. I've had the opportunity to try lots of Nespresso's most interesting coffees over the last few months, and here I've picked three that I think are most likely to be people-pleasers.

Unfortunately, many of Nespresso's most interesting flavors are limited-edition, and although I thoroughly enjoyed Pistachio Vanilla, Coconut Vanilla, White Chocolate and Strawberry, and Cinnamon and Candied Tamarind, they have now been discontinued. All the options below are still available though, and I've provided links to today's best prices so you can snag a box of any that sound particularly tasty.

1. Nespresso Sweet Vanilla Decaffeinato

I test a lot of coffee makers for TechRadar, and I love doing it, but it does mean consuming a lot of caffeine, which isn't always great for the quality of my sleep. I was therefore delighted to try this creamy, decaffeinated vanilla brew, which you can safely enjoy after dinner without setting yourself up for a restless night.

The caffeine is extracted by simply soaking the beans in hot water, or soaking them long enough to become porous, then placing them in a pressurized container and exposing them to carbon dioxide. The caffeine is re-used in some of Nespresso's Coffee+ 'functional' energy-boosting capsules, so nothing is wasted.

Coffee can have notes of vanilla by itself, but these pods dial things up with a little added flavoring. During my barista training, my tutor referred to drinks like this as 'cheating coffee', but to be honest I'm not such a purist, especially when the results are as smooth and easy-drinking as this.

The vanilla flavor doesn't overpower the taste of the coffee, but does add a mellow sweetness. Each pod makes a mug-sized portion, and I found I liked it best with a splash of oat milk. It's so calming and tasty, it might even replace herbal tea as your bedtime drink of choice.

2. Nespresso Coffee+ Ginseng Delight

This unusual flavor is part of Nespresso's Coffee+ range, which are 'functional' drinks with various added nutrients to boost your energy levels.

This particular pod contains ginseng, which is known to have quite a bitter flavor. It's mixed with a blend of robusta and arabica beans, the former of which are also known for their bitterness, so I was pleasantly surprised to find the brewed drink was actually well-rounded and fruity due to the addition of a splash of caramel to even out the flavor.

Nespresso's directions recommend enjoying Ginseng Delight on its own, but I found that the caramel flavor lent itself well to a latte. I don't know whether the ginseng had any effect (it's said to boost brain function and increase energy) but it was certainly delicious.

I'm not alone in thinking so, either – after I first wrote about these pods, a reader told me they were her favorites too, and asked when she might be able to buy them in France. Nespresso told me they'd be coming soon, so hopefully that reader is enjoying a tasty mug of Ginseng Delight right now.

3. Nespresso Coffee+ Vivida

Another Nespresso Coffee+ variety, Vivada (the large pink pod in the photo above) aims to give your energy levels a boost with a dose of vitamin B12. As the NHS explains, this vitamin is necessary to make red blood cells, keep your nervous system healthy, and release energy from food.

Each Vivida capsule contains 0.63μg of vitamin B12, which is well within the limits of what the NHS suggests is safe for a supplement. Animal products (meat and dairy) are good sources, but it's possible for vegans to be deficient.

What I was most interested in, however, was the taste, and the Vivida didn't disappoint. Unlike the two other pods in this guide, this capsule doesn't have any added flavorings. Instead, its biscuity aroma comes from a blend of light and medium-roasted arabica beans. Like the Sweet Vanilla, I found it paired well with oat milk, which adds some sweetness and brings out the cereal notes in the coffee.

Like all the coffee capsules here, it's available in both Nespresso Original and Nespresso Vertuo capsules.

Lavazza A Mio Modo Deséa: one-minute review

The Lavazza A Modo Mio Deséa is a compact capsule coffee maker with optional milk-frothing for cappuccinos and macchiatos, plus hot and cold milk foam. It's excellent at the fundamentals, and Lavazza's A Modo Mio pods are superb – affordably priced and packed with great quality coffee, with no flavored or sweetened options.

The Deséa is simple to use, as you'd expect from a capsule coffee maker, and is exceptionally quiet. During the testing period, it reached a maximum of only 50dB during brewing, making it the quietest machine I've tested to date.

It uses the same milk-frothing system as the Lavazza Assoluta (an automatic coffee maker that adapts its own settings to suit your chosen beans). This comprises a large glass cup with a lid containing a rotating electric whisk and a steam pipe. It works reasonably well with full-fat dairy milk, but in tests it produced very little foam when used with oat milk. This was very different to my experience with the Assoluta, so I suspect the much smaller Deséa may not be able to generate the same level of steam pressure.

Overall, it's a likeable little espresso machine that would be a good option for small kitchens, particularly if you're the lone coffee-drinker. The price of its capsules won't make you sweat, even if you enjoy several cups a day.

Lavazza A Mio Modo Deséa: specifications

Lavazza A Mio Modo Deséa: price and availability

• Similar price to other capsule coffee makers with milk foaming
• Available in Europe and Australia, but not currently sold in the US
• A Modo Mio coffee pods are much cheaper than alternatives

The Lavazza A Modo Mio Deséa has a list price of £249 / AU$349 (about $330), but is often available at a discount. For example, at the time of writing, it could be found on sale for £199 in the UK in Lavazza’s online store, and $261.75 in Australia. Currently, this model isn't available in the US.

That price is about standard for a capsule coffee maker with a built-in milk frother. For comparison, the De'Longhi Lattissima One is currently priced at $429.99 / £259.99 / AU$519.

What sets the Deséa apart from the competition is the price of its capsules. A pack of 16 Lavazza A Modo Mio capsules retails for £6.45 / AU$15 (about $9), and the cost per drink drops significantly if you buy a bundle instead. That makes the A Modo Mio capsules some of the cheapest around, and much less expensive than Nespresso Vertuo or Tassimo alternatives.

A Modo Mio pods offer up lots of choice when it comes to coffee blends, roasts and terroir, but you won’t find any hot chocolate or coffee with added flavors. Your options are espresso, espresso, and more espresso. During testing, I found the freshly ground and vacuum-sealed beans excellent – but note that if your drink of choice is pumpkin spice, you won’t find it here.

• Value score: 4.5/5

Lavazza A Mio Modo Deséa: design

• Compact and smart-looking
• Includes milk-frothing system
• Milk frother only works with supplied mug
• Dishwasher-safe components

The Lavazza A Modo Mio Deséa is available in black, white, cream and a deep burgundy (different retailers keep different colors in stock). It has a robust-feeling, glossy case with the company logo embossed on the side, and although it isn't quite as sleek as the Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg, it certainly isn't a slouch in the looks department. Gloss finishes can sometimes be a magnet for fingerprints, but I was pleased to find that this wasn’t an issue with the cream-colored model I tested.

The Deséa is particularly compact, even for a capsule coffee maker. At just 11 x 5.7 x 15 inches / 280 x 145 x 380mm (H x W x D), it will easily tuck away into the smallest of kitchens – and can be stashed in a cupboard when not in use (provided it’s properly cleaned and dried beforehand). Despite this, it has a larger water tank than most pod coffee machines, holding 37oz / 1.1 liters. That’s because this isn’t just an espresso machine; it can also foam milk for lattes and cappuccinos using high-pressure steam.

The Deséa has an unusual milk-frothing system that uses a special glass mug with a lid containing a steam tube and a whisk. It's the same system used by the Lavazza Assoluta I tested a couple of months ago, and although it isn't as effective as a proper steam wand, it works reasonably well – provided you use the right type of milk.

However, bear in mind that you can only make milk-based drinks in the glass mug; the special lid doesn't fit onto other cups. Unless you buy a second (they are $22.70 / £15 each), you and your partner won't be able to enjoy lattes as the same time.

Most removable components (including the cup, drip tray and used pod container) can be safely cleaned in the top rack of your dishwasher, although they take only a moment to wash by hand, too.

The drip tray can be detached and positioned higher up to avoid splashes if you’re using an espresso cup, which is a welcome touch. Used pods drop into a bin that can be accessed by removing the tray and pulling out a drawer on the front of the machine.

• Design score: 4/5

Lavazza A Mio Modo Deséa: performance

• Produces excellent espresso
• Extensive drinks menu
• Milk system doesn't work as well as a steam wand
• Performs better with dairy than plant-based milk

The Lavazza A Modo Mio Deséa has a cleverly designed control panel that displays the different menu options depending on the cup you’re using. Place an ordinary cup of any size under the dispenser and you’ll see options for brewing an espresso, long espresso (lungo), and long coffee. Push the milk-foaming cup into place and the options for milk-based drinks will light up. The full menu includes:

• Espresso
• Long espresso (lungo)
• Long coffee (Americano)
• Cappuccino (regular or large)
• Latte macchiato
• Hot milk foam
• Cold milk foam

You can adjust the volume of your coffee pour, which is a nice feature that you won’t find on many capsule coffee machines. All the drink size options are customizable; just hold the appropriate button on the control panel for three seconds to begin dispensing, then press it again once you have the desired volume. When you hear two beeps, you know the new setting has been saved successfully, ready to use next time.

Like the Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg coffee maker I tested recently, the Deséa brews excellent, well-rounded espresso in just a few seconds, and does so extremely quietly. Using a decibel meter, I measured an average volume of 50dB when extracting coffee, which is about the same as the murmur of a quiet office (although Lavazza claims the volume doesn't exceed 43dB).

After your coffee has brewed and the lights on the front panel have re-illuminated, lift the lid and after a second or two you’ll hear the used pod drop into the collection bin.

The milk system is a little louder when injecting steam, reaching a maximum of 70dB for a couple of seconds as it incorporates air, but it's quieter than the squeal and rip of a manual steam wand, and the whisk is whisper-quiet.

When you want to use the milk system, take a good look at the fill lines on the side of the glass cup that indicate how much milk to add for different drink sizes. Add too much milk and it risks splashing; too little and it won’t foam properly.

During tests, the Deséa didn’t fare very well when texturizing oat milk, which was very different from my experience with the Lavazza Assoluta. Despite the two machines using the same cup-and-lid system, the Assoluta produced inches of creamy oat foam, whereas the Deséa heated the milk (a little too much – it reached 70ºC, whereas the optimum for coffee is about 60-65ºC), but didn’t actually create any froth, even with the "extra foam" option selected.

The Deséa’s milk system worked much better with full-fat dairy milk, although I found that it still didn’t produce quite as much foam as the Assoluta. This might be because the smaller Deséa can’t generate as much pressure and inject as much steam into the liquid.

The Deséa can also prepare cold milk foam. To do this, add your cup of milk, drop in a coffee pod if required, hold the temperature +/- button on the front of the machine until the foam and latte lights turn blue, then press the one you want. Again, during my tests this worked better with dairy milk. It’s a nice feature, but bear in mind that the Deséa can only brew hot coffee, so if you want to make a cold latte then you’ll need to add a shot of hot espresso when the milk is ready, which will raise the temperature. You might like to add a few ice cubes to the drink once it’s made (but not before, as they could damage the whisk).

Finally, a word on waste. Lavazza’s A Modo Mio capsules are compostable, but you can’t simply toss them into your household waste or add them to a compost pile. They have to be processed in an industrial facility; currently Terracycle is the only service that offers this in the UK. There’sno home collection or postage system as there is with plastic and foil coffee pods, so you’ll need to gather your used capsules and take them to a drop-off point. If there isn’t one near you, you can apply to create one.

• Performance score: 3.5/5

Should you buy the Lavazza A Mio Modo Deséa?

Buy it if

Don't buy it if

Lavazza A Mio Modo Deséa: also consider

If you're not sure whether the Lavazza A Modo Mio Deséa is the best coffee maker for you, here are two other options for your shortlist:

How I tested the Lavazza A Mio Modo Deséa

I used the Lavazza A Mio Deséa for two weeks, making at least two drinks per day and using all of the available drink options (including hot and cold milk foam). I used it with dairy and oat milk, both of which were freshly purchased and chilled. I used two different types of Lavazza A Modo Mio coffee capsules, with different intensities.

I measured the temperature of the prepared milk with a food thermometer, and used a decibel meter app to measure the machine's volume.

For more details, see how we test, rate, and review at TechRadar.

Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg: one-minute review

The Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg combines the convenience of coffee capsules with Smeg's signature retro style. It's a cut above your typical espresso machine in terms of looks, and it performs brilliantly as well.

This is an appliance that does one thing, and does it well: making espresso. There are just two options to choose from – standard or lungo (long) – and the controls couldn't be simpler to operate. You barely need the manual to get started; just rinse the machine as directed and you're ready to make your first drink.

Lavazza's A Modo Mio capsules are remarkably affordable (much cheaper than similar Nespresso Vertuo or Tassimo pods), and offer a great variety of coffees and roasts, each of which is labelled with an intensity rating. There are no fancy added flavors here; just good coffee, freshly packed in an airtight package, ready to brew in seconds.

The pods themselves are compostable, although it's worth bearing in mind that you can't toss them in your home food waste or compost heap. Instead, you'll need to take them to a Terracycle collection point, which might be a little inconvenient, depending on where you live.

The A Modo Mio Smeg also has a tendency to accumulate finger marks as a result of its glossy plastic chassis. I had a damp cloth on hand to ensure it remained looking smart; but it's one of the best coffee makers around – if you like your drinks short, strong, and fast.

Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg: specifications

Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg: price and availability

• Relatively expensive for a capsule coffee maker
• Currently not available in the US
• Pods are much cheaper than Nespresso or Tassimo capsules

The Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg has a list price of £249 / AU$349 (about $350), but can sometimes be found at a discount – for example, at the time of writing, it was available in Australia for 25% off. At full price, it's expensive for a capsule coffee maker – particularly one without a milk frother – but the capsules themselves are so affordable that this coffee maker could actually work out cheaper than a budget Nespresso or Tassimo machine in the long run.

Lavazza A Modo Mio capsules are available directly from Lavazza as a one-off purchase or via subscription. You can also find them on various specialty coffee websites, on Amazon, and in some supermarkets. A pack of 16 capsules retails for £6.45 / AU$15 (about $9), and the cost per drink drops significantly if you buy a bundle instead. That makes A Modo Mio pods some of the cheapest coffee pods around, and much less expensive than Nespresso Vertuo capsules or Tassimo T-Pods.

• Value score: 4/5

Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg: design

• Compact and lightweight
• Gloss finish tends to attract fingerprints
• Very simple controls
• Small drip tray

This is an attractive little coffee maker with the same 1960s-influenced retro styling as many of Smeg's other products. It’s purely an espresso machine; it lets you choose between long (lungo) and regular shots, but these are the extent of your options. However, it would look great alongside the Smeg Mini Milk Frother, giving you a perfect little setup for making cappuccinos and lattes.

It’s available in black, white, and cream (different retailers stock different colors), all of which have a gloss finish and chrome accents. The black machine I tested looked very attractive, but I found that the shiny plastic chassis tended to attract fingerprints easily, and I had to keep a cloth on hand to keep it looking good.

The water tank is robust, and has a well-fitting lid that won’t slide off when the tank is full. That’s particularly helpful because the maximum fill line is only about half an inch from the top. It has a convenient handle, and the whole assembly slides easily onto the back of the machine.

The drip tray is only really large enough to accommodate espresso cups. While you can remove the main platform to fit a larger cup beneath (such as demi-tasse), a standard 300ml coffee mug will hang over the edge.

Used capsules drop into a container that’s accessed by pulling out a drawer on the front of the machine, and which has an internal drip tray so the pods can dry (although I recommend always emptying used capsules at the end of each day for hygiene, washing out the drawer, and allowing it to air-dry overnight).

• Design score: 4/5

Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg: performance

• Very simple to use
• Pump is especially quiet
• Espresso tastes rounded and well-extracted
• No flavored coffee capsules available

The Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg is exceptionally simple to use, even for a capsule espresso machine. The first time you use it, you’re instructed to wash out the water tank, place a cup under the dispenser, and run the "lungo" program with no pod inserted to thoroughly rinse the interior components with hot water. Continue doing this until the tank is empty, and the machine will be ready to use.

Lift up the chrome-colored lid and you’ll find a slot to insert your A Modo Mio capsule. It takes a little effort to push the lid back down afterwards – the machine uses this force to pierce the pod about 22 times – but you can use your whole hand to apply the necessary pressure.

Capsule coffee machines are rarely loud, but the Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg is quieter than most. Measured with a decibel meter, it briefly reached a maximum of 70dB during brewing – about the same as a hairdryer – but was only around 50dB throughout the whole brewing process.

Once you’re done, rinse the dispenser again without a capsule to remove residue from the dispenser.

During my tests, the espresso didn’t have as much crema as you might get from a Nespresso Vertuo pod, but the flavor from Lavazza’s capsules was considerably better; it tasted more rounded and balanced. I tested two different arabica capsules of different strengths, and was very impressed by both.

Unlike some other coffee pods, A Modo Mio capsules aren’t available in different flavors and with sweeteners – but, personally, I don't think that's a bad thing. Instead, the capsules vary by roast, variety and terroir. This is a capsule machine for people who want good-tasting espresso quickly, and aren’t interested in added fruit, syrup, or spice flavorings. Whether that appeals to you is a matter of personal preference.

Lavazza A Modo Mio capsules are compostable, but you can't toss them in your home food waste. If you're in the UK, you should take them to a public Terracycle drop-off point. If there isn't a drop-off point nearby (they're mostly concentrated around south England and the Midlands), you can register to run one, but you can't have personal collection boxes sent to your home.

• Performance score: 5/5

Should you buy the Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg?

Buy it if

Don't buy it if

Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg: also consider

If you're not sure whether the Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg is the right coffee maker for you, here are two other options to consider:

How I tested the Lavazza A Moda Mio Smeg

I tested the Lavazza A Modo Mio Smeg coffee maker for two weeks, making at least two drinks every day using two different types of espresso pods. I followed the setup instructions in the manual, prepared each drink using fresh tap water, and rinsed the dispenser between brews. I emptied and washed out the machine's bin and drip tray at the end of each day, and allowed everything to air-dry overnight. I cleaned the exterior of the machine with a damp microfiber cloth.

For more details, see how we test, rate, and review products at TechRadar.

A Nespresso machine is one of the quickest, easiest, and cleanest ways to prepare a cup of coffee in the morning. Just slide in a pod, press a button, and you've got a steaming hot brew within a minute – right?

Well, yes, those are the fundamentals, but if you want to get the best flavor from your pods (and you should, since they're not cheap), there are a few extra things you should know that will help improve the flavor of every cup. None of these things takes very long, but they can make a real difference to your daily brew.

These tips apply to all Nespresso coffee makers, including ones from brands like De'Longhi and Breville, as well as Nespresso's own models. Take a look at my full roundup of the best Nespresso machines for my top recommendations if you don't yet own one, or are thinking about upgrading.

Pre-heat your machine

Is your coffee coming out too cold? Don't worry, there's an easy fix. Although the machine's boiler heats water to the ideal temperature, the freshly brewed coffee can lose heat as it passes through the outlet. Running a quick rinse cycle to preheat it will ensure this doesn't happen.

The exact method for doing this will depend on which Nespresso machine you have. For example, the Nespresso Vertuo Pop will rinse itself with hot water if the 'brew' button is pressed three times in quick succession. The De'Longhi Lattissima One can be rinsed by running the 'Lungo' cycle without a coffee pod inserted. Check your Nespresso machine's manual for instructions.

Place your coffee cup under the outlet when rinsing the machine, and it'll be nicely warmed as well. When everything is ready, just dump out the hot water and you're ready to start brewing.

Use fresh water

Would you drink a glass of water that had been sitting out overnight – or for a few nights? Probably not, and it won't make great coffee either. Empty your Nespresso machine's water tank at the end of every day, give it a wash with warm, soapy water, rinse it clean, and allow it to dry overnight. In the morning, fill it with fresh water.

Nespresso machines don't typically have water filters, so if you live in a hard water area, then you might like to use a water filter to improve the taste of your coffee, and help avoid limescale building up in your coffee maker too quickly.

Keep it clean

There are some real horror stories online about coffee makers (including pod machines) growing mold. It's easy to see how it can happen; forget to empty the bin of used pods, especially if you only make drinks occasionally, and the warm, wet used coffee grounds make a great habitat for airborne mold spores. You can guess what happens next.

It's a problem that's easily avoided, though. Just empty the used pods at the end of each day (stick a reminder on your fridge if you need to), wash out the bin and the drip tray with warm, soapy water, and leave everything out to air dry overnight. Pop open your machine's lid and wipe it with a damp cloth, then leave it open so any moisture can evaporate. This will also ensure you don't accidentally leave a used pod sitting in the brewing chamber, getting stinky and gross.

3. Consider a milk frother

If you're thinking about upgrading your basic Nespresso machine to one with a built-in milk system, hold it right there. Buying a separate milk frother will let you make lattes, cappuccinos, and macchiatos without the need to replace your existing coffee maker. The Nespresso Aeroccino, Smeg Mini Milk Frother, and Dreo Baristamaker are all great options. You'll find today's best prices below.

4. Keep tabs on your pods

Whether your machine uses Nespresso Original capsules (the ones shaped like a top hat) or Vertuo pods (shaped like a dome), there's an incredible array of flavors to choose from. Your machine probably came with a selection pack to get you started, and possibly the ability to claim a few packs by registering it online, so this is the perfect time to start keeping a record of the tasting notes included on the pack for the ones you like most.

Do you prefer something fruity or something with notes of cereal? Dark or light roast? Arabica or robusta? The pods can be pricey, but knowing what flavors tickle your palate will help ensure you don't buy a pack you don't like.

It's also worth keeping a record of how much you're spending on coffee pods. If you're powering through a box in a week, it might be worth asking the other members of your household to exercise a little moderation.

5. Recycle responsibly

Coffee tastes better when you have a clear conscience, so don't toss your used Nespresso pods in the trash. Instead, check out which recycling facilities are available near you.

For example, in the UK, Nespresso has a scheme that lets you send used pods back for recycling. You'll receive a recycling bag when you order capsules from the Nespresso online store to make this as easy as possible. There's also the Podback scheme, which handles coffee capsules from Nespresso, Illy, and Tassimo.

Nespresso also offers pre-paid recycling bags in the US. You can take your used pods to a Nespresso boutique, too, and there are special bins for them if you happen to live in NYC or Jersey City.

There are few ways to recycle pods in Australia, too, from dropping them off at a Nespresso Boutique near you, checking if your local council or a business near you is involved in the recycling scheme or even post it back using an Australia Post Recycling Satchel.

Want to know more? I interviewed Mary O'Rourke, Sustainability Manager at Nespresso UK and Ireland, to find out how Nespresso pods are recycled.

Even the best coffee makers need regular maintenance, and the new year is the perfect time to give yours a thorough clean to make sure it's running like new. Yes, it takes a little time, but the results are well worth the effort.

Every part of your coffee maker that comes into contact with water, milk, or coffee is a potential breeding ground for bacteria, and needs thorough cleaning to stay fresh and hygienic. Over time, limescale can also build up inside the boiler and brewing group, causing problems with the machine's pressure, so descaling is essential as well.

How you clean each coffee maker depends on which type you have, but we’ve included some tips for how to clean every element of any machine so that you can pick and choose what’s relevant for you. Thorough cleaning is particularly important if you have an automatic coffee maker, which have lots of enclosed spaces that get warm and damp, and can even get moldy without proper maintenance.

You should clean your coffee maker each time you use it, and give it a deep clean at the end of the day, so it doesn't sit around dirty overnight. You should also descale it every month or 100 cups of coffee (whichever comes first).

Before you begin though, take a look at the manual for your coffee maker to see whether the manufacturer has any specific advice for your particular model. They may recommend certain cleaning products, for example, or advise avoiding others. If you don't have the paper manual, search for your coffee maker model on the manufacturer's website, and you should be able to find it as a PDF.

Daily maintenance

If you have a manual or semi-automatic coffee maker (one that uses a portafilter handle), make sure you rinse the brewing group with hot water after making an espresso. The machine may have a special button for this, or you might need to press the 'brew' button for a few seconds without the portafilter in place. This will wash coffee oils and grounds from the group and screen. Wipe out the portafilter basket with a damp cloth, and hand-wash the handle and basket at the end of the day. You might be surprised by just how much residue builds up.

At the end of the day, you should also empty and hand-wash the drip tray. Either dry it with a clean towel or allow it to air dry overnight before replacing it in the machine.

Every time you use your machine's steam wand, wipe the outside with a damp cloth while it's still warm to remove milk residue, then purge it by running it onto the cloth for a few seconds. This will keep the inside clear, and purging it onto a cloth will avoid making a puddle on your kitchen counter.

If you have an automatic coffee machine, it will recommend running a cleaning cycle each time you make a milky drink, which you should do without fail. It will probably also rinse its own brewing group (either immediately after making a drink, or after it's been idle for a few minutes). If not, open the machine's settings menu and look for an everyday cleaning program.

At the end of the day, remove and wash the drip tray and the container that holds waste coffee grounds. Also open the side of your coffee maker and remove the brewing unit, then rinse it according to the manufacturer's instructions. Leave everything out to air dry overnight. This will also give the inside of the machine a chance to cool and dry.

Clean the water tank

Using fresh water is the single biggest thing you can do to improve the taste of your espresso, but even the best water filter won't help if your coffee maker's tank isn't sparkling clean. The tank might look all right at first glance, but it’s important to stay on top of cleaning this thoroughly because it can harbor bacteria, and suffer limescale build-up in hard water areas.

No matter what type of coffee maker you have, you should always empty the water tank at the end of each day. I recommend leaving it out of the machine overnight to give it a chance to air dry. This will also allow water to evaporate from the soft rubber valve at the bottom of the tank, which can be difficult to dry with a towel.

When it's time to give your water reservoir a deep clean, remove it from the maker itself and empty it out making sure there’s nothing inside. Next, half fill the reservoir with white vinegar and the other half with water – leave it to soak for an hour or so. This solution helps to loosen any limescale from the walls of the tank. If you don’t fancy using this vinegar solution or the manufacturer warns against it) you can purchase descaler sachets, which are normally used in kettles, as these are also great at removing limescale with very little effort.

If you’re using an espresso machine or a drip machine, let the vinegar solution run through the pipes and out of the maker. This will treat the limescale and any grime left in the tubes. Once that’s all done, rinse the water reservoir in warm soapy water and swill to make sure there are no lingering odors. Let the water tank fully dry before you place it back into the machine.

Clean the steam wand (or milk system)

Wiping and purging your steam wand during the day is essential. but at the end of each day, I recommend removing it, soaking it in warm, soapy water for a few minutes, and then giving the outside a scrub and rinsing it through. Leave it out overnight to dry. Most coffee machines come with a pin-shaped tool designed for cleaning blockages in the steam wand tip, but with regular cleaning you should never have to use this.

If you have an automatic coffee maker, the manufacturer may recommend using certain products to clean the milk system (some machines I've tested require particular cleaning solutions). The manual will explain the necessary products. If nothing specific is recommended, the vinegar solution mentioned above should do the trick.

Clean the hopper and grinder

If your coffee machine has a built-in burr grinder, you should be able to access the inside by unscrewing the hopper (the container that holds the beans), then unscrewing the top portion of the grinder and lifting it out of the machine. Once that's done, you can use a small brush to remove debris that may be causing the grinder to stick. For hygiene reasons, don't use your vacuum cleaner's crevice tool.

You can also wipe the inside of the hopper with a damp cloth while it's removed from the machine. Let it dry thoroughly before replacing it.

Clean the exterior

Keep the outside of your coffee maker looking great by giving it a thorough wipe down with a damp cloth that has been soaked in soapy water. Even if it’s tempting to use a scouring pad to scrape off any dried-on coffee or milk, don’t use anything abrasive as this will damage the coating on the machine. To prevent water marks, dry your machine with a clean towel.

One more thing...

To make sure your coffee tastes as good as possible, avoid keeping lots of beans in the hopper. Although it might be convenient not to refill it frequently, light and oxygen cause coffee to degrade quickly. Only add the beans you need for the day, and keep the rest in an airtight container in a cool, dark place.

I’ve been TechRadar’s reviews editor for 18 months now. During that time, I’ve gotten to test some truly fantastic gadgets across a wide range of product categories. This year in particular, I’ve tried out some really exciting tech, which is why I wanted to share my personal highlights with you.

From the best wireless speakers you can hear, the best coffee machines for apprentice Americano brewers and cappuccino connoisseurs alike, to the best drawing tablets for sketching up a storm, I’ve thoroughly tested a real range of tech this year. Now I want to share some of that experience with you all.

If you're curious about some of the greatest gadgets from the past year, I’ve got the hands-on experience to make personal recommendations. So if you want to know what the top five gadgets I tested in 2025 are, read on below.

Gaggia Classic E24 Evo Pro

As an inveterate caffeine addict, the one thing I care about more than anything when I’m using a coffee machine is reliable, repeatable results. And that’s why I loved using this machine.

When testing for my Gaggia Classic E24 Evo Pro review, I found it easy to produce shot after shot of consistent, polished espresso. While other machines require a heap of variable tweaking to ensure the coffee expresses correctly, it was super simple to hit the right grind size and tamping pressure to get great results out of the Gaggia. As a result, I was rewarded with delicious espresso topped with a light yet enduring crema.

If you prefer a machine that holds your hand every step of the way, though, this isn’t it. There are no automatic, bean-to-cup buttons or personalizable profiles here. And the milk steamer is anything but high-tech, requiring a bit of a knack to get consistently frothy results. But if what you’re looking for is a workman-like espresso machine that will help you bash out brilliant brews, this will definitely get you there.

TCL C8K

OK, hands up: I’ll admit I’m cheating a bit here. I didn’t technically test this TV; the actual TCL C8K review was carried out by my colleague James Davidson. But I do own it, which effectively means I’ve been testing it in real-world conditions for the past five weeks now.

I’ve never owned a TCL TV before this – previously, I would have gone straight for a big brand like Samsung or LG. But I’ll definitely always consider them in the future. This mini-LED marvel is just flat-out gorgeous. It’s seriously bright and offers very competent contrast, thanks to its 1,680 local dimming zones.

However, my favorite thing about it is the color reproduction. Honestly, feed it a movie or nature documentary, and the hues it produces are so vibrant they make the real world seem like a pale imitation. It can happily rival more premium TVs for richness, making it a pretty tempting purchase at a list price that runs from £1,599 / AU$2,495 for the 65-inch version.

That’s not to say I don’t have any reservations about it. The version of the Google TV OS it runs is missing at least one streaming service, while my phone is utterly unable to connect to it in AirPlay mode, which is a touch irritating. However, if you’re mostly worried about using the big streaming services and your main priority is getting the best picture performance for your buck, this definitely gets my thumbs up.

Oh and if you’re based in the US, don’t worry: the equivalent where you are, the TCL QM8K, is just as stellar and at the time of writing is available at Best Buy from just $1,499.99 (was $2,449.99).

Pexar Starlight 15.6-inch

A more unusual product category I’ve been testing out over the last year is the best digital photo frames. The Pexar Starlight 15.6-inch is certainly one of my top photo frame picks, following on from the similarly stellar – if you’ll excuse the pun – Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame that I tested back in November 2024.

My photos always looked great on the Pexar Starlight. While its pixel density is a little lower than its predecessor, the Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame – 141 PPI compared to the latter’s 212 PPI – it still made my monochrome shots look crisp and detailed. Colors are perhaps a bit more muted here than on the smaller frame, but they’re still pretty faithful, all things considered.

So it’s a strong performer, with a couple of caveats. Then why am I including it on this list of my best items I’ve reviewed this year? Well, what lifts it into the top-tier category for me is the design.

It has gorgeous, textured bevels that look like mounting board and a wood-grain effect frame. But the most innovative element is its rear-facing light, which lights up the wall behind it like it’s a painting in a gallery. I love how this makes the frame feel much more integrated into your home decor, especially in the evenings. All in all, it’s a seriously stunning frame with some groundbreaking features.

We Are Rewind GB-001

While the We Are Rewind GB-001 is a great speaker, the main reason I’m including it here is that it’s unlike almost anything else on the market. Combining retro-styling, old-school tape playback, and modern features, it sits at the apex of a category of one.

First off, that tape deck. It offers great-quality playback of both Type-1 and Type-2 cassettes. I tried it with an old tape that had been knocking around since the early 1990s and I was honestly impressed with how little wow or flutter there is, which is those pitch fluctuations you might remember from listening to some older tapes. Recording also offers very creditable quality – when I recorded an impromptu mixtape, I liked how there was just the right amount of old-school tape hiss without much degradation to the overall sound.

It's a pretty nifty speaker in its own right, too. It offers both Bluetooth and Aux connectivity, a suitably epic 15-hour max battery life and VU meters that pump in time with the signal level of your music. Moreover, even though its mid-range is less expressive, it’ll submerge you in buckets of bass – perfect for breakers and skaters who want to relive their glory days or younger people falling in love with that tape hiss for the first time.

XPPen Artist Pro 19 Gen 2

On top of being a tech nerd during my professional life, I’m also a bit of an amateur artist in my free time. Given that they combine two of my biggest passions, you won’t be surprised to hear that I’m a fan of graphics tablets. And probably the best I’ve tested this past year has been the XPPen Artist Pro 19 Gen 2.

First off, it comes with an extremely expansive 18.4-inch screen that makes sketching large-scale artworks a breeze. On top of this, the display is impressively bright, at an average of 250 nits, while simultaneously capable of serving up beautifully rich hues, offering 1.07 billion colors across its 99.8% sRGB, 96% Adobe RGB and 98% Display P3 color gamut.

The drawing experience is first-rate. I found both its more premium X3 Pro Roller Stylus and X3 Pro Slim Stylus to be wonderfully well-weighted, easy to pivot and spin as I drew strokes across the screen. And while their 16K pressure levels are probably overkill – being way more than most people can realistically detect – the styluses are remarkably responsive.

Finally, despite its enormous size and impressive performance, the XPPen is actually surprisingly affordable. Its original list price of $899.99 / £899.99 / AU$1,499.99 was already pretty impressive, but at the time of writing this piece, it was available for $629.99 / £674.99 from Amazon, so it’s worth looking out for bargains.

There's never been a better time to invest in a new home coffee maker – I've been fortunate enough to test over a dozen new models this year, and there's a lot to be excited about, for all budgets. At the budget end of the market, machines like the De'Longhi Dedica Duo have proved that quality, consistency, and style don't have to cost the earth, while at the premium end, super-automatic machines like the Jura J10 and Siemens EQ900 are the next best thing to having a tame barista on your kitchen counter.

Cold-brewing was the hottest development, with machines at all price levels promising smooth-tasting chilled drip coffee and espresso in as little as two minutes – and many delivering exactly that. A couple of brands cheated by creating 'cold brew' options that simply dump a shot of hot espresso over a cup of ice (absolutely not the same thing) but for the most part, the results have been nicely rounded and mellow.

In fact, there have been so many excellent new coffee makers released this year that it was hard to narrow down my favorites. However, after poring over my reviews from throughout the year, there are three that really stood out, and that I'd gladly give a place in my own kitchen – and here they are...

Best espresso machine

Jura J10

I've been lucky enough to test a huge assortment of espresso machines throughout 2025, but if money was no object then the Jura J10 is the one I'd most like to give a home in my kitchen. When Is say this is a premium coffee maker, I'm not kidding – it has a list price of £1,795 / AU$3,990 (about $2,300) and the review sample arrived in a rigid plastic flight case lined with foam rather than the usual cardboard box. My expectations were high, and the J10 met them with ease.

First of all the J10 brews exceptional espresso with minimal input, calculating the optimum grind size and brew time for your beans, grinding surprisingly quietly, and dispensing a perfectly extracted shot every time. My usual beans have never tasted so good.

If you want a shot of espresso or an Americano, place your cup under the main dispenser in the center of the machine and the menu will display a list of drinks without milk. Place it under the milk dispenser on the right, and the menu will change to show a full array of lattes, cappuccinos, and other dairy delights. It's a system called Coffee Eye, and it's a great little addition.

You can also choose to filter the menu by hot and cold beverages. Cold-brew was the hottest thing in home coffee machines this year, and the J10 is the best around, infusing the puck of freshly ground coffee with cold water straight from the tank, then finishing the job by pushing more water through in high-pressure pulses. The result is mellow but still full-bodied, and absolutely delicious.

Finally, we come to the J10's party piece: the SweetFoam system, which infuses milk (plant or dairy, hot or cold) with any kind of syrup as it's dispensed into your cup. It works fantastically well, and because the syrup is evenly distributed throughout your drink, you don't need very much to get the full flavor with every sip. During my tests, adding syrup seemed to make the foam even more stable too, which is great for tricky plant alternatives that usually have a tendency to collapse.

It's very expensive, but if your takeout coffee order is so complex it makes baristas cry, this is the coffee maker for you.

Read my full Jura J10 review

Best budget coffee maker

The Jura J10 blew me away with its performance and price, but not all of this year's best coffee makers will require you to take out a second mortgage. The little De'Longhi Dedica Duo (a successor to the excellent De'Longhi Dedica Style) can be yours for a tiny fraction of the price, and punches well, well above its weight.

The Dedica Duo has a list price of just $299.95 / £279.99 (about AU$600), and can now be found even more cheaply if you shop around (or just check the list below for all today's best offers). Most espresso machines in this price range are, frankly, quite awful, but De'Longhi has a reputation to uphold and top-rate engineers at its disposal, and has managed to make a sub-$300 espresso machine that actually works well.

The problem with most budget coffee makers is consistency. You might manage to brew a perfectly good espresso once, but inconsistent temperature and pressure can mean that your next drink turns out over- or under-extracted for no good reason. You can be using exactly the same beans and the same grind size on the same day, and have totally different results.

That's not the case here. The Dedica Style does an admirable job of maintaining both heat and pressure so your espresso is extracted consistently every time. The steam wand is excellent too, and despite the machine's small boiler, generates enough steal to give you plenty of time to create creamy microfoam for your coffee creations.

The Dedica Duo looks frankly adorable too. De'Longhi has stuck with a similar look to the Dedica Style, but given its slightly sleeker lines, nice touches like a knurled dial for the steam wand, and a top-mounted control panel. The drip tray is wider too, meaning we no longer struggle to fit two espresso cups under the portafilter handle at once.

Rad my full De'Longhi Dedica Duo review

Best drip coffee maker

Breville/Sage Luxe Brewer Thermal

The Breville Luxe Brewer Thermal (known as the Sage Luxe Brewer Thermal in the UK for complicated reasons) is a five-star drip coffee maker, and one that I thoroughly enjoyed using.

As much as I love a good shot of espresso or a lovely layered latte macchiato, sometimes you just can't beat a big pot of pour-over, and that's exactly what the Luxe Brewer Thermal delivers, with only a couple of optional adjustments if you want to tweak the flavor of your brew (temperature and brew time, specifically).

Like all good drip coffee makers, it has a timer so you can prepare everything the night before and wake up the smell of freshly brewed coffee, and since it's 2025, there's a cold-brew mode that allows water to sit in the brew basket for 24 hours before dispensing it. Old school.

The star here, however, is the thermal pitcher, which keeps your coffee at the ideal temperature for over five hours. Yes, really. It doesn't need to be completely full, either. During my tests even half a pot stayed hot for half a day. Naturally it will work just as well with iced coffee too (in fact, it will keep your cold brew chilled for even longer).

The Luxe Brewer Thermal isn't the only excellent drip coffee maker I've tested this year though, and the Ninja DualBrew Pro deserves an honorable mention. This unusual-looking machine has a great filter coffee maker on one side, and an espresso machine on the other, which accepts Nespresso Original style pods, and will prepare you a short, strong coffee in around a minute. It's a great way to get your morning coffee with virtually no effort, whether you use an espresso pod or set up the drip brewer the night before. Its smart hotplate is another nice touch, and helps avoid accidentally stewing your fresh brew.

Read my full Breville/Sage Luxe Brewer Thermal review

I test more than a dozen coffee makers a year here at TechRadar, and De'Longhi's espresso machines are consistently among the best. If you're looking for a new machine to grace your kitchen, the brand has something for every budget, all equally well designed and built. You can't go wrong with any of them, but if you're overwhelmed by the sheer number of options available, I've put together this shortlist of my three favorites.

All of these machines were released within the past year, so you can be sure you're getting all the latest features – including cold extraction, which was the biggest trend in home coffee makers in 2026. This capability bypasses your coffee machine's boiler and pumps water straight from the tank over your freshly ground coffee for a smoother taste, similar to coffee that has been steeped overnight in the fridge. It's great as a base for iced lattes and americanos, espresso martinis, or desserts such as affogato.

There's something here for every budget and every size of kitchen, with all three models drawing plenty of compliments when I was testing them. Lets get on with the recommendations.

Best budget

De'Longhi Dedica Duo

De'Longhi has released some truly excellent coffee makers this year (in fact, it earned the prize for Home Brand of the Year in the TechRadar Choice Awards), and the Dedica Duo is a prime example. It's a compact manual espresso machine that arrives with a reasonable price tag, yet far outstrips others in the same price bracket.

Most budget-friendly espresso machines I've tested offer poor quality, and are unable to maintain the constant temperature and pressure necessary to make reliably good espresso. After testing a few similarly priced machines from a lesser brand, I was questioning my ability to even make a basic latte... until the Dedica Duo restored my faith in my own abilities.

It's a truly excellent little espresso machine – and once you've worked out the correct grind size for your coffee, you can trust it to deliver delicious results time after time. Its steam wand is particularly good, and despite the Duo's small boiler, it sustains plenty of pressure for you to create perfect microfoam for cappuccinos and lattes.

There's even a cold extraction mode for those occasions when you're craving an iced coffee and don't want to wait 24 hours for it to infuse in the fridge. Some espresso machines I've tested recently ask you to prepare a cup of ice and then dump a shot of hot coffee over the top, but the Duo uses cold water direct from the tank, pulsing it slowly through your ground coffee over the course of two minutes.

If the Dedica Duo is beyond your budget, take a look at its predecessor, the De'Longhi Dedica Style. It doesn't have the Duo's cold brew mode, plus the design is slightly less convenient – we found it hard to fit two espresso cups on its small drip tray – but you can often pick it up for a third off the RRP.

Read my full De'Longhi Dedica Duo review

Best mid-range

De'Longhi La Specialista Touch

The De'Longhi La Specialista Touch is a superb semi-automatic espresso machine that doesn't just make delicious coffee with perfectly foamed milk – it also teaches you how to do it yourself, and helps you understand the effects of making even small changes to the flavor of your finished drinks.

It starts off by introducing the importance of grind size. Enter the type of coffee bean you're using (arabica or robusta, and the darkness of the roast) and it will estimate an appropriate grind size for you, and dispense the ground coffee into the portafilter handle. If there's too little (which might happen if the grind size is quite fine) then it will suggest dispensing a bit more to get a suitable dose. If the filter is too full, the machine will prompt you to remove a little with the trimming tool provided. Either way, it will adjust its own settings and save the correct dosage for next time.

You'll then tamp the coffee using the spring-loaded "calibrated" tamper, which is designed to apply just the right amount of pressure, and do so evenly to create a neat puck of coffee with no cracks. Insert the handle into the machine as instructed (you'll be guided through every step) and tap a button to begin pulling your shot. The machine will time how long this takes, and recommend adjusting the grind size if it's too fast or slow. You're also encouraged to taste the espresso to see what you think, even if it's likely to be a little over- or under-extracted.

Finally, you can either foam the milk yourself (the machine comes with an excellent steam wand), or use the automatic steaming system and let the La Specialista Touch do the work.

During testing, I wasn't the biggest fan of the spring-loaded tamper (I'm used to tamping coffee with an ordinary one); but you can just swap it out for an ordinary one, as I did, with the machine otherwise hard to fault. This is a coffee maker that will grow with you as you develop your coffee-making skills, and it comes highly recommended.

Read my full De'Longhi La Specialista Touch review

Best premium

De'Longhi Primadonna Aromatic

If you're looking for a fully automatic espresso machine – one that will do all the work for you and prepare perfect drinks at the tap of a button – may I recommend the De'Longhi Primadonna Aromatic. It's easily one of the best automatic coffee makers I've tested this year, and a lot of fun to use too.

It produces consistently well-extracted espresso and creamy milk foam (either hot or cold), as you'd expect for a machine in this price bracket. However, what impressed me most about the Primadonna Aromatic was its ability to "learn" what you like to drink at what time of day, and push those options to the top of its extensive drinks menu, so you don't have to flick through to find your favorites. It also saves your preferences (it supports up to four user profiles), so you don't have to tweak the settings each time – and there's no risk of another member of your household overwriting your preferred latte options.

It's definitely a big machine (there wasn't much clearance to open the bean hopper when it was underneath my kitchen cabinets), but it looks stylish and its five-inch touchscreen is bright and easy to navigate.

Like all the De'Longhi coffee makers in this roundup, the Primadonna Aromatic can brew hot and cold espresso (and very tasty they are too) – but, unlike the others, it can also produce chilled milk foam using a dedicated carafe with a special nozzle. It worked brilliantly in my tests, with both dairy and plant milk (I do love a good iced latte macchiato), and you can store the carafe in the fridge between uses.

This is definitely a premium espresso machine with a price tag to match, but the cost has dropped a little since I first reviewed it in June, making it a more tempting proposition. If your budget will stretch to it, you won't be disappointed.

Read my full De'Longhi Primadonna Aromatic review