Taking into account the yearly quantity of funds that people all over the world spend to get coffee at cafes, supermarkets, and smaller grocery stores, nobody should wonder the fact that the popularity of home coffee makers is growing.
Some pick a coffee maker under $100 and feel satisfied enough. Others may need to spend several times more money to get professional equipment installed. The truth is, the manufacturing companies seem to be able to meet even the most unexpected demands of customers.
Still, the choice of devices mentioned above is a source of a certain problem. When you want to buy a coffee machine to use at home, a question arises: Which one is worth your funds? And, speaking more generally, how to choose that coffee machine?
Here, you won’t find complicated tech definitions, terms, coffee machine types, or particular models. This guide exists to give you a basic understanding of key points to take into account when buying a device. To see something more precise, you might want to check these budget coffee makers review.
Functions: With or Without Milk
For those who can’t imagine their day without a classical espresso-based coffee drink (mainly, espresso itself, café crema, etc.), a coffee machine without milk frothing automation will work well enough. This category includes a wide range of devices belonging to all classes, from budget to high-end.
But an increasing number of machines have manual frothing nods included. So, there won’t be a problem to make any espresso-based drinks with hot or frothed milk included.
Still, those who are rare to drink espresso with milk should be attentive with frothers: there are models without steam generators at all. Checking twice before you buy is recommended unless you want to face disappointment.
Functions: Frothing Automation Level
Those preferring mainly “espresso-plus-milk” coffee recipes to make drinks would most probably be happy to have milk jugs combined with auto-frothers. The level of automation is usually full in such models: a device can mix up hot steam with pre-cooled and frothed milk from a jug and then bring it to your mug or pitcher at once.
Coffee machines with high frothing automation levels (or even able to make great milk coffee on their own) are a lot more complicated to produce, assemble, and maintain. Consequently, their price is significantly higher compared to machines without auto-frothing devices for milk.
Plus, you’ll always have to keep milk inside your fridge. So, some users may find the “ultimate” automation to be a doubtful advantage.
Functions: Ground Coffee
Simpler and cheaper coffee machines can make espresso with coffee beans only. A bit more complex devices provide their user with the opportunity to make drinks with preliminary ground coffee. For example, if you drink coffee with no caffeine because of taste preferences or health requirements, you would definitely be happy to have a machine with the latter functional feature.
Moreover, it gives you more choices when choosing coffee to drink at every particular moment. With the advanced machine not obligatory grinding beans on its own, you can switch the basis whenever you want.
Controls: Buttons, Sensors, LED, Displays…
Modern coffee making machines have two types of their control panels: those with buttons, or with touch sensors. Your comfort is the only factor influencing the choice here. Not everyone feels comfortable enough with “next-gen” touch panels, while other users may not be pleased with buttons that are hard to press.
The messaging interface of a contemporary coffee machine is mostly based on one of two options: LED indication lamps, and a regular monochrome or colored display. A display can “communicate” with the user through images or text messages. Usually, image-based communication is less time-taking and more ergonomic compared to a text-based alternative. Think about that: seeing a single image showing there is no sufficient amount of water inside takes you less than a second to react even with a small display, which is impossible when it comes to displaying readable text messages on screens of comparable sizes.
LED indicators are used in simpler and cheaper coffee machine models. Reading manuals more than once might be required for you to understand and remember the device’s messages. It’s your call whether or not to overpay for advanced controls and displays.
Special & Experimental Functions
Every element of household equipment is in the process of non-stop development and evolution. Nowadays, there already exist models with two built-in coffee grinders. They let the user get two different espresso drinks with relatively fresh-ground coffee beans.
Additionally, such advanced devices offer the function of simple grind coffee blending. Such models are quite expensive both to buy and maintain.
And finally, wireless “smart home” technologies couldn’t leave coffee machines aside. For example, there are models you can program to make drinks according to some schedule. Moreover, you might want to try out a coffee maker able to connect to your home Wi-Fi network and offer you remote control options via your tablet or smartphone.
The variety of coffee machines on the market is huge. Make sure you pick the device you really need without overpaying for unnecessary features.
