You’re tired of the tasteless jars of instant coffee you buy every month. You’re fed up with the blandness. You want to replicate the rich aroma, the irresistible taste of the real coffee served in your favorite café. But can you afford it? How much should you pay for an espresso coffee maker?

It’s pretty simple – it’s all about features.

Here’s a quick look at your choices from the cheapest to the most expensive –

Non-Pump Espresso or Steam Boiler machines are the cheapest espresso coffee makers on the market. They produce a little amount of pressure in the boiler and use that pressure (3 bar) to pass hot water through the coffee powder. The resulting brew is weak.

Pump Espresso Makers – Regular Pump machines are pricier but are miniature versions of the larger commercial machines you see in your local café. These are the kind of espresso coffee makers you find in most European homes. The built-in pump ensures a pressure of 15 bar to give you full flavor extraction.

Pump Espresso Makers – Capsule machines are generally more expensive than regular pump machines, but restrict you to using coffee capsules manufactured to work only with the range of machines of that particular brand. Also the cost of the capsules can be as much as 10 times more than the coffee powder you can source from your local coffee vendor or buy online.

Bean-To-Cup Pump Espresso Makers are the most expensive of the lot. Some serious engineering goes into these machines. A built-in grinder dispenses the exact amount of coffee powder from the bean chamber and a separate chamber for milk dispenses frothed milk. These machines are large and also high on maintenance.

So, now you are armed with sufficient information to make the correct choice that fits your budget and delivers the coffee experience you want at home.

Enjoy!