Catalog
Everything we cover, organized by category. Start with a category, or jump into a full review.
The enthusiast's entry point, because almost nothing about it is a dead end: a 58mm commercial portafilter, a real steam wand, and simple internals people happily mod for years. It asks more of you — bring your own grinder, your own timing — but every skill and accessory you build on it carries straight up the ladder.
Baratza took the grinder that taught a generation to make good drip and re-geared it to actually reach espresso, which makes the ESP a rare do-it-all first grinder. It won't out-clarity a flat-burr single-doser, but it's honest, easy to live with, and backed by a company that famously sells you a $10 replacement part instead of a new grinder.
The batch brewer people keep for a decade and then hand down: it holds the SCA brew-temperature window, fills a full carafe in about six minutes, and is built to be repaired rather than replaced. It isn't programmable and it won't make espresso — it does one thing, a proper pot of filter coffee, better than machines with ten more buttons.
The best 'just make me good espresso' machine for a first-timer: it's up to temperature in a few seconds and steams milk automatically, so a drinkable flat white is genuinely a week-one skill. The catch is the 54mm portafilter and the pressurized basket it leans on — comfortable now, but a ceiling you'll feel once you start chasing café-level shots.