It used to be difficult to make café-quality espresso drinks at home, but the best new models have made it much easier. Better still, you can get a machine capable of producing superb beverages for less than $1,000.
After over 120 hours of study and testing, we believe the Breville Bambino Plus is the perfect choice for both beginning and intermediate aficionados. It’s powerful and simple to use, capable of producing consistent, rich shots and steaming precisely textured milk. The Bambino Plus also boasts a sleek, compact design that makes it ideal for most kitchens.
Best Espresso Machines
- Breville Bambino Plus
- Breville Barista Express Impress
- Gaggia Classic Pro
- Diletta Mio Espresso Machine
- Rancilio Silvia M
Breville Bambino Plus
Capacity: 64 oz (1.9L) – Power: 110-120V – Material: Brushed stainless steel – Pressure: 15 bar Italian pump – Automatic Microfoam Milk Texturing: Yes – Manual Milk Texturing: Yes – Cup Warmer: Yes – Weight: 9.3lbs (4.2kg) – Dimensions: 19.6 x 32 x 31 cm
The Breville Bambino Plus is simple, fast, and enjoyable to use. It allows you to produce really nice espresso beverages at home. The user manual is simple to grasp, and with a little practice, you’ll be able to produce rich and consistent shots while still capturing some of the subtle nuances of premium roasts.
Perhaps most impressive is the Bambino Plus’s capacity to produce velvety milk froth comparable to that of your favorite barista—whether you select the super-quick auto-froth setting or manually steam the milk. The Bambino is also tiny, so it should fit into any kitchen.
Breville Barista Express Impress
Capacity: 2 liters – Material: stainless steel housing – Weight: 24 pounds – Dimensions: 13 x 15 x 16 inches – Accessories: 480ml stainless steel milk jug, 1- and 2-cup single and dual wall filter baskets, water filter holder with filter, the Razor precision trimming tool, cleaning tablets, Allen key, steam wand cleaning tool, cleaning disc, cleaning brush.
Most Breville Barista machines are made with the same internals, so temperature stability and pressure ramping in the Breville Barista Express Impress are similar to the Bambino Plus. Both machines feature a flash-heating system with a PID that regulates temperature and a near-instantaneous switch to steam temperature.
The truly amazing feature of this model, however, is the intelligent dosing system. By adding a built-in tamper, the Barista Express Impress can adjust the amount of coffee it automatically doses to the ideal 18-gram dose. Once the tamper is fully compressed, the gauge gives you immediate feedback if you need to add a little more coffee—or if it’s overdosed the filter basket—and the machine will auto-correct itself the next time it grinds. I found this super helpful during testing, where the machine pulled back-to-back shots consistently without me having to manually weigh out every espresso puck. Its built-in grinder was also easy to adjust.
Gaggia Classic Pro
Capacity: 72 oz (2.1L) – Power: 110-120V – Material: stainless steel housing – Pressure: 15 bar pump – Milk Texturing Capability: Capable of creating microfoam for latte art – Weight: 9.3lbs (4.2kg) – Dimensions: 24 x 20 x 36 cm
The Gaggia Classic Pro is an improved version of the Gaggia Classic, a popular entry-level machine for decades due to its simple, approachable design and ability to produce quality espresso shots. While the Classic Pro’s steam wand is slightly better over the Classic’s, it still lacks precision when compared to the Breville Bambino Plus. It also has difficulty producing silky milk froth (though it can do so after some practice).
The Pro isn’t as simple for beginners to handle as our top recommendation, but it can yield shots with more complexity and acidity—and frequently more intense crema (video). If you prefer straight espresso, the Gaggia’s advantages may exceed its disadvantages.
Diletta Mio Espresso Machine
Capacity: 67oz (2L) – Weight: 28 pounds – Dimensions: 10.75 x 15 x 17 in – PID: Yes – Accessories: Double and single filter baskets, blank backflushing basket, tamper, and grouphead cleaning brush
The Diletta Mio is a newer model that’s designed to add high-end espresso machine functions with a more user-friendly interface. Its customizable PID controller lets the user adjust the brew temperature by a single degree Fahrenheit, and the display doubles as an automatic shot timer. It has a simple three-button interface for power, brewing, and steam, and you can even turn the steam boiler off if you want to save some energy. Its manometer dial on the front gives you real-time feedback on the pressure inside the basket while brewing. Its steam wand is powered by a separate thermoblock so steaming milk won’t affect your brew temperature, and this also means that steam mode kicks on in just a few seconds, like the Breville models I tested. When it came to performance, the Mio pulled consistent, fantastic back-to-back shots.
The biggest downside of this machine is its price—though I think it’s worth it if you want a high-performance machine without having to take out a second mortgage. I also wish the steam wand was a little more powerful.