Best Budget Espresso Machines
Want to cut your coffee shop spending? We evaluated these budget espresso machines to help save you money.
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When I first started analyzing what I was doing with my disposable income, my coffee budget was the first thing I cut back on. For many people who are rethinking how they spend money these days, espresso drinks from your local café may seem like a less-than-necessary indulgence.
But you can still enjoy your espresso—and save money—by buying a moderately priced espresso machine to make your drinks at home.
I checked out espresso machines from top-selling brands for those who are new to making espresso drinks at home or are simply looking for a less expensive machine (espresso machines can cost hundreds, even thousands, of dollars). To help evaluate them, I invited colleagues, including both true espresso connoisseurs and espresso-making novices, to try out the machines.
When CR identified these top sellers, each was priced at around $200 or less. During our evaluations, the price of one model—the KitchenAid—increased significantly. However, if prices drop for the holidays as they did last year, we expect its price to drop back into our budget range.
What Budget Espresso Machines Have in Common
As I unboxed each machine on our list, one thing became clear: Lower-cost espresso machines are made with a lot of plastic. If that is a deal breaker for you, you might want to pay more for a higher-priced machine.
The parts that endure the most direct heat on these less expensive models are made of metal, such as the portafilter and filter baskets you press your ground espresso beans into, and the steam wand for steaming milk, which each model has. (Each machine also came with filter baskets for a single-shot and a double-shot of espresso.) But the handles on these machines’ portafilters are made with plastic—something to consider given the force that’s applied when attaching them to the machine, as well as the short duration of these machines’ warranties (typically one year).
Most tampers, too, were made of plastic and poorly designed, with a measuring spoon on top that made them less than ergonomic. And they felt too flimsy to hold up to tamping grounds as firmly into place as I wanted. I was afraid of breaking them after just a few trials.
Photo: Consumer Reports Photo: Consumer Reports
How We Evaluated Budget Espresso Machines
After priming each machine by running water through it, I pulled a double shot using 16 grams of ground Intelligentsia Black Cat Classic Espresso beans, then repeated the process several times. Several colleagues also tried their hand at making espresso with these machines and reported on their experiences. As we tried out each model, we considered how easy or difficult it was to pull shots of espresso without consulting the appliance’s written instructions because consumers often skip this step.
I’ve included observations from several of those colleagues below to round out my own evaluation: Catherine Roberts, a health writer at CR who enjoys drinking espresso but was new to making it herself; Kathryn Marx, a visual editor at CR who uses an Ascaso Steel Duo machine at home; CR financial systems manager Mary Shmotolocha, who has a Nespresso machine at home; and Brian Soderquist, a senior lab technician whose home espresso maker is a Breville Barista Express.
We used each machine's steam wand to steam both cow's milk and oat milk.
In our evaluations, my colleagues and I tasted the espressos and lattés we made from each machine and noted which produced the best-tasting drinks, grading them from zero to 100. The best machines are capable of maintaining the ideal temperature of between 195° F and 205° F during extraction at 9 to 10 bars of pressure, which is optimal for the best taste, according to the Specialty Coffee Association.
After our taste tests, I noted how easy each machine was to clean, both in terms of light cleanup after use and running a cleaning cycle. All were equally straightforward in that regard: Cleaning all the machines simply involved emptying and washing the drip tray (that should be done regularly to avoid bacterial growth), washing the portafilters, running the machines with clean water, and wiping down and purging the steam wand by producing a small burst of steam.
We know what you might be thinking: What business does Mr. Coffee, a brand known for inexpensive drip coffee makers, have making a machine for fancy espresso drinks? We get it, but with “Coffee” in its name, why shouldn’t it make an espresso machine? But it had better get it right.
Well, it appears it did, in many respects. Out of the box, this machine was very lightweight and simple, though a stainless steel-like metal finish made it look pricier than it was. It has a brew indicator light to show it was ready to make espresso, a steam light to show it was ready to steam, and a dial to turn up the steam from the steam wand.
“It had helpful instructions and useful indicator markings for where to place the portafilter—no guessing about the angle needed,” said Catherine, the health writer, who made espresso for the first time while evaluating the machines for this story. She also gave it high marks for foam. “My best result with a milk frother was on this machine,” she said.
“I found this machine simple and intuitive,” said Kathryn, the visual editor, who has a pricier espresso machine at home. And the flavor, which varied notably across the machines despite using the same beans, stood out. “My espresso was robust and tasted super-fresh. I wasn’t expecting this to be so good,” Kathryn said.
“It’s smoother than expected. A decent shot!” Brian said, giving his espresso an 85 for taste. He’s a discerning espresso drinker with a higher-priced machine at home, and he said the Mr. Coffee produced the best-tasting shot of all the espresso machines he helped evaluate, even beating out pricier models.
Notably, even after priming the machine to remove residue from manufacturing, it still produced bitter-tasting shots several times before my colleagues and I convened for our more thorough evaluations.
When using the frother, I achieved a nice oat milk microfoam without too many large bubbles.
DeLonghi makes a wide variety of products in CR’s ratings, from a slow cooker with a very good rating and a Nespresso machine with an excellent rating to some very good and even excellent single-serve coffee makers and several poorly performing space heaters.
Pulling shots of espresso with this machine was very simple, Catherine said, “though the lack of an automatic stop made it hard to judge when it was finished.” She said this machine’s steam wand gave her great results when foaming milk, but her espresso results were bitter.
Brian, the lab tech, also says his results from this machine were “a little bitter and weak” and gave it a subpar taste score of 55.
Nespresso owner Mary Shmotolocha rated the espresso from this machine 80 out of 100 and called the results "smooth."
Hamilton Beach makes some very good-to-excellent countertop appliances that CR has evaluated (including my own trusty stand mixer), but this espresso machine isn’t one of them. Out of the box, this was easily the cheapest-looking model we evaluated. There were a few pluses, though.
Because these machines are all relatively lightweight, this Hamilton Beach model’s square-ish footprint—which the Mr. Coffee model also had—made it notably easier to lock the portafilter into place without pushing the whole machine over. (Most of the models we tested are narrower than they are deep.)
However, this machine vibrated quite a bit while producing shots, causing the small paper cups we used for testing to travel away from the streams of espresso, which required some cleanup.
“Too bitter!” said Kathryn after tasting her shots, which she gave a 55, saying they tasted burnt. Catherine seemed to agree, and said the espresso she made with this machine was “very bitter, not very flavorful.” She gave the espresso from this machine a 50.
Another negative: This model’s steam wand was possibly the most annoying to clean. It’s metal, with a plastic outer tube that covers the last few inches at the bottom of the wand. During my evaluation, milk seeped in between the two, requiring me to remove the plastic tube, clean it out, and then clean the wand itself. The steam wands on most other models were simply metal with plastic or silicone tabs or rings on them to help you handle them while hot.
This is a popular model on Amazon, and it’s a good-looking one, with an analog pressure gauge on the front. But it came with no manual, just a QR code linking to video tutorials on its website. That was a hassle for all of the evaluators involved because it’s faster to read than to watch a video, so several didn’t even use the instructions.
While evaluating this machine, we encountered two problems known to the manufacturer. First, unlike the other machines, the Casabrew’s portafilter got stuck in place, requiring me to push on it so hard that I nearly knocked over the narrow and lightweight machine. I had to enlist someone to hold the machine while I put some muscle into turning it.
Casabrews recommends a maximum of 15 grams of ground espresso beans for a double shot, as opposed to the 16 we used for each pull. That may be the reason for the difficulty, but the tightness is apparently a known issue because Casabrews, on its website, advises applying a small amount of cooking oil to the top of the portafilter.
Secondly, the portafilter itself was problematic. During our evaluations, the machine stopped expressing espresso through the two-shot filter basket in the portafilter. I switched to the one-shot filter basket, and it worked fine. Some online research revealed that clogging is a common enough issue that Casabrews has a video tutorial on how to handle it: Boil the filter for 5 to 10 minutes, then rinse it.
In its user guide, Casabrews advises using a grind size similar to that of table salt rather than powdered sugar. It could be that using too fine a grind led to the clogging issue, but we used the same grind size across all of the models we evaluated and experienced this problem only with this one.
This model’s price increased dramatically just after we identified it as a popular budget option, but we expect the price to decrease during or before the winter holidays, just like it did last year.
It took a surprising amount of effort to pull this model out of the box, it was so tightly packed. But once I did, it felt like a much more solid, well-built model than the others, with lots of real stainless steel.
“The hefty-feeling portafilter is nice!” Catherine said. (The tamper was heavy as well, unlike those that came with the other machines.) Mary wasn’t as much of a fan of the weight and said she’d likely stick with her Nespresso machine at home. Those with limited hand strength or dexterity may want to keep that in mind.
And this KitchenAid wasn’t quite as easy to use as some of the other budget models. Kathryn, the visual editor, used this model and two others, Mr. Coffee and Hamilton Beach, without consulting the manuals. “It’s not as intuitive, but I figured it out,” she said.
This model came with many more accessories than the others, including a stainless steel jug to steam milk in. Its water reservoir’s carrying handle is on the outside, making it easier to transport from your tap back to the machine. (Other models had handles that were located on the inside of the reservoir, meaning they’d have to be carried while open, which could lead to spilling.)
Catherine said this model produced the best-tasting latté of all the machines, and when tasting the espresso alone, its fruitier notes were revealed, she said.
BEST TIME TO BUY:
