Americans drink 650 million cups of coffee each day. And while some sleep-deprived folks are just looking for a jolt of anything caffeinated, many of us prefer to savor the good stuff.
Ivica Cvetanovski, the founder of Coffea Circulor, one of the world’s finest coffee producers, roasters, and labs, notes a significant “increase in consumer demand for ultra-luxury coffees, some of them produced in very small quantities.” Coffea Circulor’s small-batch productions of competition-grade Panama Geisha coffee, for example, can cost as much as $1,000 per kilo—and are so sought-after, they were sold out at the time of writing. With this caliber of beans, espresso isn’t something you toss back on your way out the door in the morning. Cvetanovski recommends leaning into the ritual. “Take your time to prepare them for yourself in a manual fashion,” he advises. “This can contribute to a sense of recreation.”
For true coffee lovers, “a manual fashion” means ditching pod machines: Coffee tastes best when the beans are ground seconds before preparation. A coffee grinder and a manual portafilter machine open up a wide sensory world, from smell to sound to sight, that an automatic appliance simply can’t match. Think vintage Ferrari versus modern-day Toyota.
For aficionados, the trickiest part is choosing which manual model to buy. To get the best results, espresso machines must be nimble, offering both infinite variability and incredible precision. There’s a lot of science to making good coffee—and a fair bit of art, too, from grinding and puck preparation to tamping force, flow rate, water pressure, temperature (in increments as small as 0.1 degree), and grams in versus grams out. Luckily, the market has responded to the demand for extremely capable appliances that are also countertop-worthy.
We picked the finest in the world, then asked for input from Cvetanovski and Lance Hedrick—a two-time Coffee Fest Latte Art World Championship Open winner, coffee trainer, and YouTube host—about what makes them so special.
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La Marzocco Linea Mini
Image Credit: Louise Palmberg When you close your eyes and picture an espresso machine, it’s probably a La Marzocco. “La Marzocco is very respected in the community,” Cvetanovski says. Hedrick goes a step further, calling it “the most iconic home espresso machine. It’s for someone who wants a statement piece that will last a long time.”
The venerated brand’s newest edition can be paired with the Brew-by-Weight scale. “That way, you can do stop-by-weight brewing, which is a really nice feature,” says Hedrick. “You can start your shot, and it will stop at the exact gram.” And that’s not all: “It [can do] pre-infusions and stops, so you can do some blooming [a process that intensifies the flavor of the coffee] through the app, which is a really nice thing to be able to dial in, especially for those lighter-roasted coffees.” $5,900; Blomus 11-ounce Nero glass, $34 for two; Hermès Attelage steel coffee spoon, $125.
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Weber Workshops EG-1 Grinder, Moonraker, and Bean Cellar
Image Credit: Louise Palmberg The grinder is as important to your final coffee quality as the actual espresso machine—some would even argue more vital. Head and shoulders above every other grinder, “the Weber is regarded very highly,” says Cvetanovski.
A big, imposing statement piece, it’s a supremely beautiful triumph of design and engineering that’s a joy to use. Thankfully, its beauty is more than skin-deep. “Its retention is the lowest of any grinder,” says Hedrick, referring to the amount of ground coffee that remains in the machine after use. “There are no screw holes in the burrs, which is a big thing because that helps open up the cutting area to allow for a more uniform distribution of the particles.” In fact, he says, “the EG-1 is arguably my favorite grinder to use.”
And don’t forget the accoutrements: Weber’s Moonraker tool distributes, de-clumps, and evens out the grounds. And to avoid having to measure beans in your morning haze, fill the company’s glass bean cellar, which keeps single doses of pre-weighed beans airtight and ready for grinding. EG-1 grinder from $4,095; Moonraker, $475; Bean cellar, $320; Ginori 1735 Diva coffee cups, $300 for two; saucers, $140 for two; pot, $575; milk pitcher, $355; and sugar bowl, $250.
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Sanremo You
Image Credit: Louise Palmberg You may know the Sanremo name from your favorite coffee shop, and the You model is the culmination of all that classic Italian heritage. “It’s a really good machine,” Hedrick says. “It has a unique group head [to which] they added a solenoid and some heating cartridges, so it’s a fast heat-up machine with as good thermal stability as you can get currently.”
On top of that, he adds, “the flow paddle [which increases or limits the flow of water reaching the espresso puck] on it is really responsive and fun,” allowing for high levels of customization when it comes to the final pull. And since Sanremo has the ability to perform software updates and usability improvements coming down the pipeline, Hendrick says, “it’s a great option that can grow with you.” About $7,000; Hering Berling Orbit espresso bowls, $127 each.
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Lelit Bianca
Image Credit: Louise Palmberg Designed and built in Italy, the Lelit Bianca is a countertop attention grabber, all polished stainless steel with wooden knobs and levers. “It’s probably the best machine for the price that’s out there,” says Hedrick. “It has the standard E61 group head [to which] they’ve made a couple of minor modifications, so it’s very easy to maintain.”
The highlight of the Bianca is the recently added needle valve. This feature, Hedrick explains, enables the user “to open and close an aperture inside the jiggler, which allows for flow control as you can control how much water per second is coming out of the group head, so you have pressure profiling.” By controlling the water pressure, you can experiment with the extraction rate of the coffee—for a lungo, you might want a slightly lower flow for a longer duration, whereas for a ristretto you might prefer a short time at a maximum pressure. Having the ability to tinker with your coffee ensures it comes out exactly how you like it—making you your own favorite barista. $3,000; Villeroy & Boch Rock Blanc highball glass, $126 for four; Zanetto Grace tea set, $3,226.
