Welcome to BeanToCupCoffeeMachine.com – your guide to some amazing coffee makers the UK stores have to offer. We’ve scoured the web to bring together the best machines we can find – and so that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel by reading it all too – we’ve pulled it all together into this simple to use website.
Quite simply there are tons of coffee machines out there, from the state of the art bean to cup coffee machines like the Delonghi ECAM44.660.b and the Sage Barista Express, down to the cheap and cheerful percolators we associate with days gone by. Yes, you can still buy them too!
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Best Bean To Cup Coffee Machines
We’re far more interested in the really impressive machines though, and the great news is, they’re not always the most expensive ones. Here’s a quick run down of some of the machines we really like:
| Image | Name & Price |
|---|---|
| Delonghi Eletta |
| Sage Barista Express |
| Melitta Caffeo Barista TS |
| Krups Evidence |
On this page, we’ll simply look at our favourite coffee machines. You’ll also find a menu at the top of the site going into lots more detail too. For example, there’s the run down of Delonghi coffee machines along with other manufacturers, and we similarly assess them by their recommended price.
Let’s start then with our favourite model – the Delonghi ECAM44.660.B.
The Delonghi Eletta
First and foremost, let’s make the point that this isn’t the cheapest machine on the market, but it’s not the most expensive either. It also happens to be the very machine that I’ve chosen to take pride of place in my own kitchen (as you can see in the picture!) – in itself that should be quite a recommendation given that I write this website!
What I really love about this Eletta series machine is that it caters not only for my love of good quality coffee, but also everyone that comes through the house too. The milk carafe provides an extra dimension over a lot of other machines, as it allows you to either use the automatic programmes – think cappuccino, latte and flat white, or alternatively to experiment with your own creations. I tend to do both – the automatic flat white setting made a little stronger with an extra dash of coffee hits the mark perfectly. You could use the programming of the machine to autoate this of course, but it’s really easy to do out of the box.
You can read much more detail about the Eletta ECAM44.660.B by Delonghi in our full review, but that’s the quick rundown for now and our recommendation is that you check the current price on Amazon, where it’s often available at a great price with fast delivery.
Sage Barista Express
This is a machine that sells well, as demonstrated by the Amazon best seller list. As far as I know, for as long as I’ve been writing about coffee machines (which is measured in terms of years), it’s been in one of their top spots.
The Sage brand is heavily associated with Heston Blumenthal in the UK (although much of the marketing around that association has now ended), but in America is marketed under the name Breville.
Melitta Caffeo Barista TS
Like the Delonghi Eletta above, the Melitta includes automated coffee with milk. For all you cappuccino and latte fans that should be great news and be a huge draw to this machine. It’s better overall than the Delonghi, but also more expensive too.
Krups Evidence
Krups are a slightly lesser known brand in the UK than the first three, but they do have a fast growing following. As a result you can get a good machine for a really good price. They tend to align more with the Delonghis and Sages than the Melittas in the quality stakes, but they’re included here to give you an additional option to consider.
Bean To Cup Coffee Machine FAQ
Many of our visitors are new to bean to cup, and might not have owned a home coffee machine at all before, let alone something at the more expensive and luxurious end of the spectrum.
For that reason, we wanted to go into a little bit more detail about what you can expect if you by a bean to cup machine.
What Is Bean To Cup Coffee?
Let’s start with the absolute basics! When we refer to a bean to cup coffee machine (like you see on this website), we mean a coffee maker that you load coffee beans in at one end and fresh, ready to drink coffee comes out the other end. What that means in reality is that there’s a grinding mechanism built into the machine, and that allows the whole process to be automated, although not every machine does so. The machines that complete the whole process for you are referred to as automatic.
As a side note, people sometimes ask “What is the best coffee machine with a built in grinder?”, which essentially means they’re asking about bean to cup.
Which Machine Is Best?
This is probably the most common question people ask, and there’s no simple answer. What we can tell you is it’s not as simple as just buying the most expensive machine for the average person. Those really high end machines tend to appeal to the real coffee buffs, who like to drink espresso out of tiny cups. That’s probably not you!
To buy the best machine for your home, you need to think about what coffee you like to drink. If it’s espresso (but you’re not an obsessive sort), take a look at the Barista Express above. Of course, you can add milk manually to black coffee from any machine, but if you prefer a cappuccino or latte, try the Eletta or the Caffeo Barista TS instead.
No matter how much you twist our arm we’re not going to be any more specific than that, as it’s such a personal choice. Our best advice is to go through lots of reviews, and learn more for yourself. If that’s too much hassle, you’ve got three great picks there as a starting point!
How Do You Use A Bean To Cup Coffee Maker?
That’s a very vague question, so we’ll assume it to refer to typical use, rather than getting it out of the box and setting it up. That second part can come later.
The automatic machines are very easy to use, you just turn on the machine, and put your cup or mug under the nozzle, usually on top of a drip tray. Then it’s as simple as choosing the drink you want. Of course, there’s a little more to it than that, as you’ll sometimes need to refill the water tank, empty out coffee grounds or add more beans, but on the whole that’s as hard as it gets.
With the machines that are designed to involve a bit more manual intervention, you’ll do something like you’ll see in a coffee shop, so manually frothing milk for example and tamping coffee (the bit where they look like they’re squashing the ground coffee into a cylinder). As a rule of thumb, if you need to ask, get an automatic machine!
What Machines Are For Home Use?
Unless we specifically say otherwise, all machines on this site are suitable to use in a normal residential kitchen. That means that they plug into a typical UK plug socket, and require no plumbing or additional work other than taking them out of the box. There have been some machines on sale that can optionally be plumbed in, but it’s not a requirement.
How Much Is An Espresso Machine?
This is another one of those ‘it depends what you want’ questions. You can get a machine for less than £100, but we wouldn’t recommend it unless there are some crazy promotions running. Generally, you should be able to get a good quality starter machine for less than £300 or a higher quality model around the £500 mark.
Do You Need Special Beans For Espresso?
Technically speaking, your machine can make espresso with any beans – in the sense that a machine with an espresso program will work regardless of the beans. However most coffee drinkers will prefer a certain brand of bean. For example, if you like Starbucks coffee, you can buy Starbucks Espresso branded beans to go in your machine at home.
We’ll add to the FAQ section in time as more questions come up, but for now, head over to read some reviews if you’re still unsure about which machine will best suit you!