What to look for in an espresso machine

The price of these machines relates to the strength of the pump inside of the machine. When you press the button to make a cup of coffee, the pump forces hot water through the ground coffee, extracting the flavour and giving you a cup of coffee. The rate at which the water passes through the coffee, the fineness of the grounds, and the temperature of the water are all critical to the strength of your cup of coffee.

If the pump is not particularly powerful, you will have to use coarser ground coffee than is ideal for true espresso, to allow the water to pass through the coffee. This means it is almost impossible to get that great full strength espresso taste.

So we don't believe that it is worthwhile spending anything less than £100 on an Espresso machine. This will buy you a machine that will achieve 8-10 bar pressure and will deliver great espresso coffee.

Bean to cup machines are the ultimate in convenience. When you press the button on the front of the machine for a coffee the first noise you hear is the coffee being ground. The machine then doses the correct amount of ground coffee (this is adjustable according to taste), compacts it, and pumps the water through the grounds.

The machine dispenses the correct amount of liquid (again this is adjustable) into your cup, and then disposes of the used grounds into an internal waste drawer. Really quite a superb piece of technology.