Best Super-Automatic Espresso Machines

The Philips 3200 grinds, doses, tamps and brews for you, from beans to cup at a touch. Five drinks are on the display: espresso, coffee, americano, cappuccino and latte macchiato, and the strength and amount can be adjusted. Milk goes in the LatteGo jug, a two-part system with no tubes that Philips says rinses clean in 15 seconds or goes in the dishwasher, which is the part of a bean-to-cup machine people stop cleaning. The grinder is ceramic, and with the AquaClean filter changed when the machine asks, Philips says you won't need to descale for up to 5,000 cups. It makes good coffee with no skill at all; what it doesn't give you is the control of a machine you work yourself.

The 2200 is the 3200 with fewer drinks. It makes espresso, coffee and cappuccino at a touch, with three strength and amount settings, and it uses the same LatteGo milk jug and ceramic grinder, so the parts you live with every day are the same. Philips says its Aroma Extract system holds the brew water between 90 and 98°C, and the AquaClean filter means no descaling for up to 5,000 cups when you change it on prompt. If cappuccino is the milk drink you make, it does everything the 3200 does that you'll use.

The Magnifica Evo grinds and brews at a touch: espresso, coffee, americano, iced coffee and a long coffee, each adjustable. Its conical burr grinder has 13 settings, more than most bean-to-cup machines bother with. The milk is the difference from the Philips: this version has a traditional manual steam wand, so you froth the milk yourself, which takes practice and gives you control. The removable parts go in the dishwasher. Buy it if you want bean-to-cup coffee and are happy to steam the milk by hand.

The Jura E4 is built for people who drink coffee black. It makes five drinks at a touch: espresso, ristretto, coffee, and Jura's Café Barista and Lungo Barista, using its Pulse Extraction Process, which pulses the water through the coffee rather than pushing it in one go. The conical burr grinder feeds from a 10oz bean container, and the tank holds 64oz. There is no steam wand or milk system at all, which is both the catch and the point: nothing to clean but the machine itself. It costs far more than the Philips and De'Longhi machines here; what you pay for is the build and the black-coffee focus.

Every all-in-one espresso machine puts the grinder in the box. The Luxe Café also takes over the three jobs that make a beginner’s first month miserable. The conical burr grinder has 25 settings and weighs the dose rather than timing it, so a change of beans doesn’t quietly change how much coffee is in the basket. An assisted tamper presses the puck level without you having to judge the force. A spinning whisk paired with the steam wand textures the milk on four presets, from steamed milk to cold foam, and you can walk away while it does. Ninja’s listing also says the machine adjusts temperature and pressure for the drink you select. On top of that it brews a drip-style coffee in six to eighteen ounces and cold brew, so the person in the house who doesn’t drink espresso uses it too. What it doesn’t do is teach you espresso: the machine makes the decisions, which is the point if you want a latte at 7am.