Best coffee makers to buy right now

Best: automatic bean-to-cup coffee maker

The same precision that guides Siemens’ engineering and manufacture of complex medical equipment guides their design of practical household appliances and is very much on show with their range of bean-to-cup coffee makers. This is the EQ.700, a fully automatic machine on the cutting edge. 

It starts with its design, a sleek, smart gunmetal form. The control surface is a swanky ‘iSelect’ touch-screen, with an easy-to-navigate menu and a plethora of fun options to discover. 

Its function carries the theme, with a wide array of different coffee recipes available at the swipe of a finger – facilitated by a built-in milk system (which takes milk from a separate jug via hose, allowing you to keep your milk fridge-fresh between brews) and a smart water pump that perfectly measures pressure and amount for each brew. 

The hopper for the coffee beans is huge – and huger still is the water tank, enabling you to make many faff-free drinks before needing to top everything up. The EQ.700 also benefits from Wi-Fi connectivity with Siemens’ Home Connect app, which allows you to set your coffee brewing from your phone, smartwatch or even a voice assistant like Google Nest. 

Between this, the 11 custom user presets and the pan-global menu of instantly-accessible coffee recipes, the EQ.700 is pure luxury in coffee maker form. The quality of the coffee it produces is incomparable to other automatic bean-to-cup solutions, and its top-dollar functionality is almost excessive. Watch this become an indispensable part of your future kitchen.

Best for: budget bean-to-cup convenience 

Philips is another household brand with fingers in many different domestic pies, including the LatteGo EP2236/40; an automatic coffee maker with all the bells and whistles you’d hope for. There’s a 275g bean reservoir, which connects to a ceramic grinder with 12 coarseness settings; there’s an automatic brewing system giving you up to 15 bars of espresso-pulling pressure; and there’s an on-board milk system there to layer your drink with dense creamy foam. 

The LatteGo EP2236/40 is extremely user-friendly, with three preset beverages – and finer settings to tweak temperature and grind coarseness – accessed by a single button. The unit is also easy-clean, with an easily detached milk system and an internal cleaning cycle (also accessed by a single button press).

With little else required of you than topping up the bean hopper and topping up your milk, this is a great choice for the less technologically adept of us, and at a budget price point.

Best for: effortless black coffees

De’Longhi’s coffee-maker-making expertise has garnered praise from consumers, and its design ethos praise from global design awards. 

The Magnifica ECAM290.22.B Evo cuts a sleek form, marrying De’Longhi’s trademark design with a futurism befitting of a fully automatic bean-to-cup machine. This bean-to-cup machine is, of course, a simple affair to operate. A top-mounted control surface displays the various functions clearly, making espresso-pouring a single-button affair. 

This machine does not have an in-built milk system like other competitors, making it much better suited for black coffee or espresso lovers than for those of a milkier persuasion. However, there is a milk frother unit attached, which is controlled by the swing of a dial. While slightly finicky to use, it satisfies a need well – and makes this an ultimately versatile maker.

Get this for an uncompromisingly good black coffee.

Best: automatic espresso coffee maker

The new Distinctions Espresso Coffee Machine is an ideal worktop machine for the domestic espresso expert.

The Distinctions has distilled the espresso maker down to some highly useful core functions, accessed by satisfyingly clicky buttons on the front of the unit. You can use presets to deliver one-touch espresso shots, or command your own coffee-making destiny with a manual mode that puts you in charge. Either way, the unit boasts a 15-bar pressure pump for concentrated espresso-pulling power.

The steam wand is situated on the right-hand side, and controlled by a side-mounted dial; potential pitfalls arise for the left-handed, but if you perch your unit just right in your kitchen, this becomes a non-issue. The wand is easy to manipulate, and the steam easy to control – giving you every opportunity to perfect your latte art without flat milk to contend with.

Between the simplicity of the unit’s operation, the creaminess of its end results and the reasonable RRP, the Distinctions Espresso Coffee Machine is a winning choice for domestic barista-style coffee.

Best for: turning your kitchen into a cafe

The Breville name stands in high repute amongst other consumer brands across the country. Its mastery of the humble kettle was sure to lead it to the more complex demands of the espresso machine.

The Barista Max is a bean-to-cup affair, featuring a bean grinder with 30 coarseness settings and a controlled heating system that also services a ‘keep-warm’ area atop the unit. There’s a pre-infusion cycle to bloom the coffee in the portafilter, two presets for single and double espresso shots, and a manual mode for the scales-wielding coffee purists amongst us. The temperatures are consistent, and the steam system is surprisingly effective; the steam wand is long and articulable enough to make steaming your milk as easy as anything. The results are practically barista-quality.

Best for: hygge vibes

Swan’s quintessential Britishness pervades even in its recent line of stylish pieces inspired by Northern European. The Nordic range is chock-full of matte colour-ways and wood-effect detailing, reaching for a hygge-ish feel that brings comfort to the kitchen – and includes the Nordic Pump Espresso Coffee Machine amongst its numbers.

This espresso maker has distilled its functionality down to three buttons, a dial, and a temperature gauge. One button turns the unit on, another engages the espresso maker, and a third pre-heats the milk steamer system; the dial controls the steam release valve. Between these simple controls, making a foamy, rich cappuccino is a breeze. The Nordic also comes with two sizes of portafilter basket, so you can make coffees for one or two with ease – and there are no drink presets to contend with, so you can choose whether or not you’d like to over-extract for a longer coffee.

The Nordic Pump Espresso Coffee Machine is simple to use and produces a fine coffee. It doesn’t hurt to look at, either.

Best: pod coffee maker 

Lavazza started in the 19th century as a Turin-based coffee roastery. Its swift ascent to the global coffee market made it a household name, forever attributed with great-quality at-home coffee – and great, accessible barista coffee, too. Lavazza’s A Modo Mio pod coffee products have been lauded since 2007, and continue to be, with new coffee makers greatly expanding the versatility of the brand.

This is the Desea, its latest pod coffee maker and a significant upgrade on its legacy coffee maker devices. Its simple touch-sensitive interface belies a much niftier functionality, which makes this a particularly fun form of pod coffee maker. 

One half of the unit’s interface is devoted to drawing espresso, with four pre-set lengths for one-shot, double-shot, long coffee and a manual pour mode. The other half is dedicated to an exceedingly smart milk-frothing system, with three coffee presets – short cappuccino, long cappuccino and latte macchiato – and a just-milk frothing option. A further button for each section boosts the water temperature and foam amount respectively.

The milk-frothing system is smart on account of its intuitive design. A milk-frothing jug is supplied with the unit, which mates to the machine via lid with attached steam wand and frother. When you insert the jug, the Desea detects it and enables only the milk settings; when the jug is absent, only the coffee settings can be accessed. This makes using the Desea foolproof, even groggily-eyed at the crack of dawn.

The smart, all-in-one functionality of the Desea makes it a phenomenal entry in the pod coffee space, and a mightily satisfying machine to use too. Well-built, sturdy, easy to use and uncompromisingly good at everything it’s designed to do: at this price, the Lavazza A Modo Mio Desea is quite simply a steal.

Best for: Nespresso lovers

De’Longhi has made a name for itself designing sleek coffee-makers for the globally-recognised coffee-pod brand and George Clooney-fronted vehicle Nespresso. The Lattissima One EN510.W is a pod-coffee-upgrading machine as well as a pod coffee machine, giving you the option to turn your cup of Nespresso into a cup of ‘Ncappuccino’, or even ‘Nlatte macchiato’.

The Lattissima One is a Nespresso machine with an added milk system, which automatically froths and delivers milk in accordance with the preset recipes built into the unit. The machine is single-serve by design, but still delivers that familiar Nespresso quality with a milky twist. It’s easy to use, easy to clean and exceedingly easy to look at as well; if you’re a Nespresso adherent, this is undoubtedly for you. 

Best for: pod coffee on a budget

If you haven’t heard of Nescafe, we don’t believe you. Nescafe has all but cornered the instant coffee market, making its pod-coffee forays an understandable next step. True to the affordability of Nescafe instant coffee, Nescafe’s pod coffee and pod coffee makers are eminently affordable – as evidenced by the Dolce Gusto Genio S Pod Coffee Machine.

The Genio S is a simplistic affair, on account of the simplicity of the pods themselves. These coffee pods are all-in-one instant solutions, meaning no separate milk system is required if you find yourself in the mood for a latte. You can adjust how much water is used for each drink, and adjust the cup holder itself to suit your favourite mug. This is a no-nonsense morning coffee machine, and an inexpensive way to get a tasty morning fix.

Best: manual press coffee maker

The Espresso GC Classic Smartshot is a decidedly space-age affair, with a sleek mostly-metal design as elegant as its functionality. 

This is a completely manual espresso maker, which utilises two connected arms as levers to supply the perfect pressure to your coffee. The ‘Smartshot’ bit refers to the versatile portafilter basket included with the unit, which is less demanding with regard to the grind of your coffee. You can use practically any grind of coffee here and your extraction will still succeed – though the flavour, of course, will still change.

Using the Espresso GC is a cinch. Load the portafilter and dock it to the unit with the levers down. Then pour boiled water into the reservoir. Pulling the levers up introduces the water to the machine, and pushing the levers back down forces the water through the portafilter. Twenty-ish seconds of pushing later, you are left with a beautiful-looking, crema-topped double espresso, ready to drink. 

The process is smooth, secure and satisfying, with the tactile response of the machine to your direct movements giving complete control over your brew. The foamy, fruity results are, in a word, astonishing. This is a must-buy for its unique looks alone, but it also happens to pull a better espresso than many electrified alternatives – and without the ecological cost.

Best for: strong coffee with minimal fuss

Barista & Co is an exciting and relatively new coffee-maker start-up, built first around an innovative single-serve coffee-steeping system called the Brew It Stick. The company has developed a team of brew systems, arranged by the strength of the coffee they produce. The Strong Brew Coffee Maker is their Level 03 entry, producing bold and short licks of maximalist coffee. 

The Strong Brew is a hybrid coffee maker, combining immersion brewing with pressure – but with a (literal) twist. This unit uses a nifty screw design to mate its reservoir with its ‘plunger’; lateral force applied to its handles translates to downward pressure, giving you finer control of the pressure you exert on your brew. This makes the Strong Brew a safer coffee maker than the likes of other pressurised brewers like the AeroPress (reviewed shortly), as you aren’t placing a portion of your body weight directly on the vessel receiving your coffee.

In use, other little user-friendly flourishes stand out. The plunger part conceals a handy compartment (for coffee on the go, or various coffee-brewing gubbins) behind a rubber stopper, which doubles as a foot. The lower handle (which holds your filter, and into which the chamber slots) has two lips for gaining a sturdy purchase on your cup. Though the brewing process may be unfamiliar, these touches work to place the Strong Brew in your favour.

Using the Strong Brew takes a couple of tries, if only to perfect the timing with which you create a vacuum seal over the coffee. The resulting short black is powerful and savoury, an ideal early-morning hit or a flavourful base for something milkier. Ultimately, the Strong Brew’s portability and functionality beat out other pressurised manual brewers, and do so at a commendable price too.

Best for: versatility

The AeroPress is an iconic entry in coffee-making history, having partially ushered in a new era of considered coffee brewing. The AeroPress is an ingenious thing, comprising two cylindrical pieces – one, the coffee reservoir with a screw-on filter section at its base, and the other a plunger with a snug-fitting rubber bung at its base. The reservoir is placed over a mug, filled with your dose of coffee and then again with your hot water. The fits over the top, and is pressed downward to extract your finished coffee.

This method is simple, elegant, and multiply versatile. The hybridity of immersion brewing and pressure-led extraction make it possible to select for different flavour profiles in your brew, being unfussy as it is over the size of your grind. The portability of the AeroPress is another boon, allowing you fine control over your coffee wherever you are. As far as completely unplugged coffee makers go, you can’t get much more versatile than this.

Best for: French-pressing

Barista & Co’s range of strength-organised coffee makers also includes a cafetiere coffee maker, or French press. The French press is the quintessential immersion brewer, and practically a staple coffee maker for any kitchen. Where most budget cafetieres keep prices down with flimsy plastic parts, the Core Coffee Press rejects this as a possibility, instead boasting a glass beaker with all-stainless-steel parts. This is a sturdy thing, with weight and substance – much like the coffee it brews.

Given the mesh design of the French press’ filter, French presses tend to prefer coarser grinds, which can lead to weaker brews. The Core Coffee Press’ filter is quite fine by comparison, with Barista & Co recommending a filter grind – finer than the average cafetiere grind, allowing for a shorter brew time and a fruitier end-result. 

The Core is an ideal French press design, combining sturdiness with smart design and winning aesthetics. It is weighty, satisfying to use and holds its contents’ temperature well. Further, it is easy to clean, making your lazy mornings that bit lazier.

In short, if you want a French press - get this one.

Best: stovetop coffee maker

Bialetti is, essentially, the moka pot brand. Bialetti was the first manufacturer of such stovetop wonders, having bought the original patent from its inventor Luigi Di Ponti in 1933. With a history of metalwork, design and innovation stretching back over a century from now, it is no surprise that Bialetti moka pots are the moka pot of choice for most Italian households.

Thanks to the distribution efforts of Brew Italia, we are able to enjoy this quintessential staple of stove-top coffee-maker on British soil. The item under review here is the 2-cup edition of the Bialetti Moka Express, the original, essentially-unchanged and immediately-recognisable moka pot design – with enough capacity for two short, strong licks of black coffee.

The build of the Moka Express is sturdy, and its constituent parts feel good going together. Loading it up and setting it on the stove as an almost-meditative practice, and the resulting nectar unsurprisingly delicious. It is hard to beat the original and best for stove-top coffee.

Best for: chic stovetop style

Lavazza’s Carmencita is a moka pot unlike any other you are likely to see, taking some style cues from a very peculiar source and winning some serious aesthetic points in the process.

The original Carmencita design was completed in 1979 by Marco Zanuso, as an homage to the puppet of the same name (and mid-century Lavazza mascot) from Sixties Italian variety show ‘Carosello’. Carmencita’s big-nosed conical form turned out to be excellent for stovetop coffee-making, and the making of another moka-pot icon.

The Carmencita is pleasingly weighty in-hand, and its outstretched plastic handle is an ergonomic surprise; you have enough of a purchase on the finished coffee to pour it with ease, and your hand is kept reassuringly far from the hot aluminium itself. This is a sleek, chic and eminently user-friendly addition to your kitchen surfaces.

Best for: no-frills coffee-making in the wild

Sometimes, you just want a stovetop coffee maker that serves a bunch of people, and does little else. If you’re less precious about the quality and style of coffee maker in your possession – for example, if you’re camping with family or at a festival with friends, and looking for a bare-bones morning Joe solution – you needn’t look much further than this Royalford moka pot.

This is a six-cup moka pot, allowing you to brew a large amount of coffee on a gas stove in one go. Its £11.99 price point should give you no illusions as to the nature of this product; it is an entry-level coffee maker, and one that will get the job done just fine. If you want hot coffee at your next festival without faffing around with multiple batches, this’ll do it – and withstand a few bangs in the process.