CNN Underscored is constantly testing products – be it coffee machines or office chair – to find the absolute best product in each respective category.
Our testing process is rigorous, including hours of research (consulting with experts, reading editorial reviews, and reviewing user ratings) to find the right products. top products in each category. Once we stabilized the test group, we spent weeks – if not months – testing and retesting each product over and over again in real world settings. All this in an attempt to settle on the absolute best products.
This year, we tested dozens of coffee-related products – from single-serve espresso machines to grinders – to find the best one you need to whip up your coffee with ease. .
If you want to make real espresso at home but save money, then the De’Longhi Stilosa is the machine you should consider if you need to spend as little as possible. It’s a capable machine, although it takes a bit of technique and practice to get the best results – you’ll need to grind the coffee to a powdery level (all espresso machines need to be connected). with a good grinder) and make sure you brew the coffee properly.
Breville Bambino Plus helps you guess the perfect espresso, with automatic features that help you complete every step of the process of making cafe-quality drinks.
The latest update to a 30-year-old design, the Gaggia Classic Pro doesn’t have as many automatic features as some more modern machines, but there’s no better machine for learning barista skills. And it makes great espresso and milk drinks.
If you don’t have a blender or prefer an all-in-one, the Breville Barista Pro has the same great automatic features as the Bambino Plus, along with a quality blender and slightly more programmability.
Beautifully designed, built like a tank and well-suited to serious hobbyists looking for a luxurious machine, the ECM Casa V is a traditional steam heater that will last for many years. years and brings you coffee-quality espresso and steamed milk.
If you’re making a lot of dairy drinks, the Rancilio Silvia Pro – an updated, well-designed version of the classic design – has two boilers to stay on, whether you want to make espresso or latte.
If you want to drink espresso at the touch of a button, the Philips 3200 does everything for you, from grinding to steaming milk without any extra effort. It is always ready to serve a quality espresso, latte or cappuccino.
• Read more of our espresso machine test here.
Baratza Virtuoso+ has a beautiful, intuitive design. It also has 40 settings for you to choose from. There are more options that allow you to customize the grind size to your liking, so you get the exact flavor you want from the beans. It’s easy to quickly customize our grind, from espresso and Turkish coffee to French press or cold brew.
The Bodum Bistro burr grinder comes packaged in a modern look (we especially liked it in the poppy red color) and includes a dozen adjustable settings, a non-static glass bead catcher, and a thread. has enough special features to make it an ideal starter machine.
Best manual coffee grinders and best hand blenders: Porlex Mini Stainless Steel Coffee Grinder ($66.50; amazon.com)
Weighing just 8 ounces, the tiny Porlex Mini handpiece offers precise grinding, with 18 settings, in a travel-friendly size. On a desk or when you’re outdoors or traveling, it’s hard to beat.
• Read more from our coffee grinder test here.
The Hario Mizudashi Cold Brew is a sleek, sophisticated and streamlined carafe that can produce 1 quart (about 4.25 cups) of strong brew in just eight hours. It’s one of the simplest to assemble, it makes an exemplary beer in the shortest amount of time, and it looks great doing it. Plus, it emerges as the second most affordable product in our inventory.
Also easy to use and a nice visual addition to the breakfast table, the RJ3 Ovalware Airtight RJ3 Cold Brew Brewer narrowly loses out to Mizudashi because its glass handle feels a bit flimsy and therefore a bit underpowered. user friendly. As simple as any brew, this is one of the most premium designs, wise without feeling fancy.
The most convenient and travel iced coffee maker: Takeya Cold Brew ($24.99); amazon.com)
The all-plastic Takeya ice-cold coffee machine produces 1.8 quarts of great cold coffee – a volume larger than some of its simple carafe brethren – and is the lightest, easiest model to use. put it in a weekend bag without fear of breaking. – cook takeaway for a larger group or family.
• Read more from our test of cold brewers here.
We’ve brewed countless pots of coffee with the Braun KF6050WH BrewSense drip coffee maker, from light to dark, and each delivers a rich, delicious cup without residue, thanks to its yellow-tone filter , designed to remove bitterness from coffee as well as reduce waste of single-use paper filters. The machine we tested comes in white, but it also comes in black, and it’s compact enough to fit under a cabinet in a smaller space than some of the bulkier machines we’ve tested.
In our opinion, this is the nicest and most minimally designed of the simple automatic brewers, delivering a clean and delicious cup. It loses first place simply because the touch screen may not be for every consumer and the incubation time is considerably longer than in other machines we’ve tried.
In just under five minutes, the Technivorm Moccamaster 59636 KBG Coffee Machine produces both a gorgeous pot of coffee, perfectly brewed, and the process as engaging as a targeted Netflix trailer.
One of the cheapest options we tested, the 12-cup Mr. Coffee is compact, simple to operate and delivers a very competitive cup.
• Read more from our test of the drip coffee maker here.
The Kalita Wave 185 Pour-Over Coffee Dripper has a flat bottom with three drip holes, allowing the coffee grounds to penetrate more evenly and easily. Its flat bottom shape and larger surface produce a strong and rich cup of coffee, and are also the most user-friendly of any dripper that requires swirling, creating out 16 to 26 ounces at a time.
The Oxo Brew Pour-Over coffee machine is perfect for beginners, as it takes the guesswork out of the pouring process by allowing you to simply fill the container with water to the desired amount and so that it controls the flow rate. Just don’t expect the coffee to be as strong as with the Kalita.
For those times when you need to brew several cups at once, you can’t help but use the glass Chemex coffee maker. It delivers a light, flavorful, balanced beer every time. An all-in-one model, no need for a separate carafe.
• Read more from our test of pour-over espresso machines here.
If you’re looking for a coffee machine that can make a great cup of coffee that’s consistently hot, makes espresso, is super easy to use, and looks great on your counter, then you need the Breville. -Nespresso Vertuo Plus. This single-cup coffee maker stands out from the pack in most categories. It produces the hottest coffee of all time, delivers the same great flavor to every cup, allows for multiple brewing options, and really couldn’t be easier to use.
For the best value, we’ve found ourselves smitten with the Sboly Single Serve Coffee Machine. One of the lower priced machines we tested, it scored big for its compact size and ease of use, but especially its ability to brew four different sizes using soil or K. -cup – an option that we really appreciate.
• Read more from our test of the single-serve coffee maker here.
Blue Bottle’s coffee subscription won us over with its balance of variety, customizability, and most importantly, taste. The flavor is complex and rich, yet unmistakably delicious. Aside from coffee, Blue Bottle’s subscription is simple and easy to use, with lots of options to suit your caffeine needs.
Trade has a helpful coffee quiz, lots of customizable settings, and over 400 coffees to choose from. With an endless variety of beans to choose from, there will always be new and exciting coffees for you to try. Plus, Trade lets you choose what coffee is sent to you, giving you more control than many other services.
Signing up for the Black Box from Angel’s Cup will make you feel like a coffee connoisseur in no time. This subscription will send you a box of four different roasts, with only the spin date and a five-digit number to distinguish them. The idea is that each shipment is a blind tasting, so after brewing and drinking each coffee, you can go into an app to rate yourself and jot down any notes.
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