Once we’d made those first eight cups and perfected the settings, it was easy to produce consistently great espresso every time. The machine takes around 40 seconds to warm up when first switched on, then for us it took 17 seconds to grind and dispense the coffee, but this’ll vary depending on your settings. As you’d expect, grinding is the loudest part of the process and hit 80dB on our noise meter. Most machines have certain standard features, like a keep warm option or the ‘pause and pour’ option that allows you to pour a cup before the brewing process has finished, as well as the option to set a timer so it starts automatically, but some do have the extra bells and whistles, like a grinder or customisation options, so it depends how far you’re willing to go and how much you want to spend. In a coffee shop, the coffee gets ground from whole beans just before your coffee is made. The coffee is ground into a portafilter and is then compressed in a certain way to ensure the best possible coffee extraction. The portafilter with the ground coffee is then manually inserted into the espresso machine and a double shot of espresso is extracted ready to be served as it is or have milk added for a cappuccino or a latte. If you like cold brew it will also do that for you and it even adapts to a V60 or your own pour over method if that’s what you want. There are multiple settings for grind quantity as well so you get just the right amount of coffee in the portafilter and the tamper is magnetically attached to the machine so its always at hand for you to compress the coffee before attaching it to the machine ready for the shot to be pulled.

It is installed with the technology for you to be able to hook up an app operated by BILT to guide you through the process in 3D. The Lavazza Voicy is the best smart coffee machine we've reviewed. It has an Alexa smart speaker front and centre, which will make you a fresh brew if you simply command it to make you a coffee. You can also ask for a hot coffee, which will boost the temperature, and a long coffee, which will deliver a lungo instead of a cappuccino. We really like this mid-range model from Russell Hobbs. It produces 1.25l of really, really hot, quite strong coffee on demand – via the 24 hour programmable timer should you wish – in far less time than it takes to boil a kettle. The hotplate also stays warm for 40 minutes to preserve the temperature and having the choice of dishwasher safe reusable filter, or paper is great. But, personally, we found the fine mesh of the filter provided was perfect for filtering our grinds. If we have a complaint, it's that the filter hangs quite low and can get in the way of some taller mugs. We did have to fill up a smaller mug and then pour into a longer latte mug to make some drinks. For the money, this is a brilliant coffee machine.We liked having the pressure gauge during the initial setup process, the correct pressure range is very clearly marked and it’s a helpful indicator that you can watch as your espresso pours, to see whether it’s being extracted at the correct pressure. The manual then advises what adjustments you’ll need to make to correct an under or over extracted espresso, which is usually either the grind size or the amount of pressure you use when tamping. These are the all-singing, all-dancing ultimate indulgence home coffee machines. These coffee machines do everything that the mid-range machines do and then some. It also has an auto-purge system that reduces the internal temperature of the coffee machine after each espresso delivery so that the next espresso is delivered at 93 degrees. Again, cheaper machines do not have this feature and can be prone to overheating the water which in turn affects the flavour of the coffee. If you are on a budget but you want a high-quality espresso machine then this is worth a look but for us it’s a little too manual as you need to turn it on to start coffee delivery and turn it off when you are happy with the amount of coffee in your cup. The Sage precision brewer coffee machine is a top of the range coffee maker that uses the filter brewing method.

When it comes to choosing the best filter coffee machine, it really does depend on what you want. If you’re after something cheap and easy that just brews coffee when you want, then one of the simpler, cheaper versions might be best. If you are a coffee aficionado who wants to customise your brew, or opt for different strengths of brew at different times, you might want to spend more on a higher spec versions.It’s a lot more expensive than most others but once you taste the coffee it produces and you understand the level of personalisation that it offers then it’s not hard to give this top marks for value for money. If you're in the market for a pod coffee machine and you're looking to splash some cash, this is our standout first choice. It looks the part, makes excellent-tasting coffee and actually has more adjustability than you could imagine, especially thanks to the numerous milk frothing settings. If you love coffee but you're always in a rush, or you're just looking for something that's basically hands-free, you can't go wrong here. With most filter machines you add some coffee and water, press a button and you let the machine do its thing. You don’t have any control over the strength of the coffee it will deliver or the temperature of the water being used. We fell in love with this filter coffee machine from KitchenAid the moment we saw it. It's a very neat, simple design which is available in a suite of colours to match the best stand mixer. However, it's surprisingly large and will take up space in the kitchen, so beware before you buy.

It performs in the same way as a professional machine in a coffee shop. As the name suggests it has two boilers so you can steam your milk at the same time as you deliver your espresso and with two separate high-quality pumps you will be delivering café quality coffee for years to come with this machine. It’s not a big jump in price from the Dup Temp Pro to The Bambino Plus and in our opinion, the extra features are well worth the small upgrade price. As with anything coffee-related, the Sage machine has all the bells and whistles. It’s got a more industrial feel with its stainless steel brewing basket and large 1.8l carafe, but would still make a pretty striking addition to your kitchen counter. The steam nozzle is very powerful to get coffee shop quality milk froth and you can heat it to the right temperature using the included milk jug with thermometer strip so you never overheat and burn your milk. This small feature ensures the exact temperature and pressure are achieved during extraction of espresso.If you REALLY want to be able to make a coffee at home that will taste the same or better than any coffee shop then you should give serious consideration to a Sage coffee machine. Apologies to the vegetarians out there but a good analogy would be a rump steak compared to a 30 day aged sirloin or a nice fillet steak. We tested each filter coffee machine in the same way, assembling them from boxed then following the instructions to brew a carafe of coffee. We tested each machine (where possible) on both the immediate process as well as setting it up to start automatically. Testing involved looking at the appearance of the machine and how it would fit in your kitchen at home, as well as ease of use, practicality, and the finished product for its taste and flavour profile. We spoke to Luke Powell, Manager - Speciality Coffee EMEA at Sage Appliances, to find out more about the difference between filter coffee and other types of coffee that you might get from one of the best pod coffee machines, or an espresso machine."Espresso is any coffee brewed at pressure, often nine bars but pretty much anything above two bars can be termed espresso. Filter coffee is anything below involving a filter, so at regular atmospheric pressure." With The Duo Temp Pro, you benefit from features like pre-infusion which soaks the beans in water first before pumping water through them and into the cup. This pre-infusion process does not take place on cheaper machines.