Coffee break: they may look fabulous, but spending good money on an upmarket espresso machine won't guarantee you a great-tasting coffee.(TEST: Espresso machines)(Product/Service Evaluation)(Cover Story)

Publication: Choice (Chippendale, Australia)

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COPYRIGHT 2005 Australian Consumers' Association

If you're someone who can't function in the morning without a jolt of coffee, you might've considered getting an automatic espresso machine. Think how easy it'd be--stagger into the kitchen bleary-eyed, press a button, and hey presto! Espresso.

If you're all about convenience and not too fussed about getting a great coffee, this may do. But if it's full bean flavour you're after, the $210 manual BREVILLE Cafe Roma ESP8B that was the Best Buy in last year's test (see Still a bargain buy, page 13) made better-tasting coffee than the automatics we tested, for a fraction of the price. Unlike the automatic models, though, this manual machine won't grind the beans for you. To do this, we can recommend the DELONGHI KGIO0 Coffee Grinder ($169), the best model from last year's coffee grinder test (CHOICE, August 2004).

THE TEST

In our latest coffee makers test our experts assessed nine automatic machines costing between $800 and $1500. We wanted to know how easy they were to use, how the taste and temperature of their coffee rated, how well they frothed milk and how long they took to make a coffee. We also looked at features exclusive to automatic machines (See What to look for, page 11).

Based on our results, it's hard to recommend any of the automatic models tested. If you must have an automatic, the SAECO Incanto S-Class De Luxe, the SAECO Magic De Luxe and the SOLIS Palazzo Rapid Steam are your best bets. The SAECO models ranked highest for the taste of the coffee, but they still rated only 50%. The SOLIS scored well for ease of use and milk-frothing, but was slightly lower in the taste test (45%). The remaining espresso machines only scored 40% for taste.

If you're not such a coffee perfectionist as the highly discerning professional baristas who tasted the coffee for us, you might still enjoy the coffee made by these machines. But if your heart's set on an automatic, try to taste the coffee it produces before buying (see What to look for).

Our taste test compared short blacks, and adding milk would change the taste a bit. Still, given the cost of these machines it's disappointing to have to consider ways to disguise their coffee's taste.

AUTOMATIC VS MANUAL

By 'manual' machine we mean a basic electric espresso maker. You have to do all the work--fill the tank with water, add and tamp the ground coffee in the filter, secure it in the machine, press a switch to start and stop the machine, remove the filter holder and empty the basket. A semi-automatic machine is almost identical, except the pump stops automatically at the end of the coffee-making process so that a preset quantity of coffee gets made every time.

All the machines tested this time are automatic. They're incredibly easy to use--you don't even have to grind the coffee. Once you've poured the beans into the hopper, filled the tank...

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