2 days Ago
More espresso, less depresso. To be clear, these weren't the words of Angelo Moriondo, the Italian inventor who patented the first espresso machine in 1884, but it's nice to imagine that he shared the sentiment. Without him, and the inventors that refined his creation, our daily lives – the sour-faced commutes and sunny weekend strolls – would be all the poorer.
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Espresso forms the bedrock of many coffee staples – the latte, the cappuccino, the flat white, the americano – but making the perfect shot, or just a rather good one, is a thrillingly contentious topic. Millions of hours of YouTube videos have been dedicated to the craft, and the associated Reddit threads may one day form a voluminous historical artefact. The truth? It's not hard to brew good espresso at home.
It's not even that hard to make a fairly great one – all you need is a decent espresso machine on your worktop, a respectable grinder, some freshly roasted coffee and the patience to do more than press a single button. The new breed of "assisted" models even do most of the hard work for you, if you prefer. Over the past couple of months, I've put a troop of espresso machines, from £100 manual wonders to four-figure assisted wunderkinds, through a highly caffeinated bootcamp to find the best-value espresso machines money can buy.
At a glance Why you should trust me My kitchen has hosted many coffee machines since I started reviewing them seven years ago. I've come to learn why even good coffee beans can make bad coffee, and I've spent hundreds of hours swearing at grinders, measuring scales and coffee machines in the search of bliss in a cup. My ideal? The best possible coffee with the bare minimum of effort.
My attention span is short, my kids noisy and my need for caffeine insatiable. By the time I've decided a machine is worthy of sitting on my kitchen worktop,..
. Sasha Muller.
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