Entry Level Machines

In this article, we’ll look at entry level machines in 3 categories: single boiler dual use (SBDU) and thermoblock pump machines, manual levers, and machine-and-grinder combinations. While it is more complicated down in the details, the easiest way to approach this with no background knowledge is to answer one question: Do you want a project, or do you just want to make coffee with minimal faff?

Other characteristics are important too: Are you okay with a used purchase? Do you prefer the looks of an appliance-like Breville or a commercially styled Italian machine? Are you expecting to steam milk? Do you need it right now, or can you deal-hunt for a bit prior to purchasing?

“I found [machine not on this list], is it good?”

Probably not. Most consumer grade machines that are not Breville are better off ignored, and even some of Breville’s are not worth buying. Some companies will white-label an existing espresso machine, usually from a Chinese manufacturer, as their own; these are almost always worth avoiding as quality is quite variable and often corners are cut either in build or in user experience. Generally: If a pump machine is less than about $300 new, it probably isn’t worth spending your money on.

Pump Machines

Pump machines are, obviously enough, espresso machines that use pumps to create the brew pressure. In the entry level price range, they tend to fall into one of two categories: Single Boiler, Dual Use (SBDU) and Thermoblock. SBDUs are a category of espresso machines which use one boiler to maintain water for brewing espresso or making steam for frothing and heating milk. They cannot do both simultaneously. Thermoblock machines operate in basically the same manner, but instead of holding water in a tank-style boiler, they heat water on-the-fly like a tankless water heater. Subsets of the thermoblock include the thermocoil and thermojet, which are more advanced versions.

Many of these units are configured poorly for high quality espresso out of the box, so an adjustment to the overpressure valve (OPV) is beneficial to avoid excessive pressure. Multiple shots back to back with milk steaming can be tough as the same boiler is used for both operations. Thermoblocks take less time to transition from brew to steam and back, but often suffer from poor temperature stability and/or weak steam.

The pump machines on this list range from as low as $150 used all the way up to about $1050 new.

SBDUs:

These machines all use a traditional tank-style boiler. They generally have stronger steam and can have better temperature control, but take longer to heat up and change over to steam from brew (and vice versa). They’re usually Italian made, and tend to be pretty hardy machines that are hard to break if they are fed good water and are used responsibly.

Gaggia Classic (~$449)

Generally not recommended stock. Only buy used if you want to tinker.

Pros:

  • Large modding community
  • Well built, common to have machines 20+ years old
  • 3-way solenoid group valve to dump pressure to drip tray post shot
  • Stainless steel frame does not rust
  • Water tank slides out and can be filled from the front
  • Likely the cheapest Italian-made machine on the market

Cons:

  • Needs modifications to shine:
    • PID for temperature control
    • OPV Adjustment requires spring replacement NB: 2024 onwards in the US market has a 9 bar OPV
  • Difficult to fit a scale and cup with stock drip tray, especially with spouted portafilter
  • Aluminum boiler prone to scale formation - watch the water you use. NB: The “E24” version of this machine uses a brass boiler
  • If buying used you need to check what year it was made; the European market 2015-2018 models are to be avoided as they lack a 3-way valve
  • Poor steam power
  • Bad steam wand
  • Poor value new
  • Steam valve prone to leaking over time
  • Included accessories (baskets, tamper) essentially worthless, budget at least another $60 for aftermarket stuff.

Rancillo Silvia (~$900)

Pros:

  • Large community surrounding it and aftermarket parts and mod kits easily available
  • Been around a long time, common to find used
  • Relatively large 300ml boiler
  • Built like a tank
  • Good steam wand (from V3 onward)
  • Surprisingly decent steam power
  • Included accessories (baskets, tamper, etc) are surprisingly decent and totally usable

Cons:

  • Temperature is controlled by thermostats and wanders around; very much worth PID modding
  • Many different versions, takes some research to understand what the differences are
    • check the “Silvia of All Varieties” thread under Pump Machines in the Discord server for more information
  • Frame sometimes can rust
  • Immersion element can burn out if you’re not careful about refilling the boiler post-steam
  • Group head has a screw that protrudes, limiting basket fill.
    • Countersunk screws and screens are available and are relatively easy to mod into place
  • Depreciates in price immediately
  • Rather expensive for what it is new

Similar machines to the Silvia include the Bezzera New Hobby ($835), ECM Casa V ($1000), and Quick Mill Pippa ($1000) - their feature sets are basically identical and are similarly priced.

Lelit Anna ($499[No PID] - $629[With PID])

Pros:

  • Larger boiler compared to the GCP, creating better temperature stability during a shot
  • Still pretty cheap
  • Has a pressure gauge

Cons:

  • Oddball 57mm group makes finding accessories more difficult
  • Temperature wanders around on the non-PID model.
  • Included plastic tamper is bad
  • Immersion element can burn out if you’re not careful about refilling the boiler post-steam

Lelit Victoria ($999)

Pros:

  • Comes with a PID installed
  • Feature rich, includes programmable pre-infusion option
  • 58mm group means it’s easy to find accessories, especially better baskets and tampers
  • Larger boiler for better temperature stability in shots
  • Good quality included baskets
  • lots of space for cups and scales under the portafilter
  • comparable to the Silvia with mods already added and then some

Cons:

  • Expensive, competing with used heat exchangers and dual boilers
  • Included plastic tamper is straight up bad, especially for the price
  • Immersion element can burn out if you’re not careful about refilling the boiler post-steam

Profitec Go ($1059)

Pros:

  • Comes with a PID installed
  • OPV set correctly from factory, but adjustable from the outside if you want to experiment
  • 58mm group means it’s easy to find accessories, especially better baskets and tampers
  • Larger boiler for better temperature stability in shots
  • Good quality included baskets and tamper
  • Lots of color options
  • comparable to the Silvia with PID already added

Cons:

  • Expensive, competing with used heat exchangers and dual boilers
  • Lacks space between drip tray and group; can be hard to fit larger cups with a scale and a spouted portafilter.
  • Immersion element can burn out if you’re not careful about refilling the boiler post-steam

Thermoblock:

These machines use thermoblocks to heat water - they heat faster and have much faster changeover between brew and steam, but can have temperature stability issues as temperature is also dictated by the rate at which water flows through the heater. Thermocoils and thermojets are subsets of thermoblocks - coils are

Breville Bambino ($300)

Pros:

  • Very affordable; lowest cost for a new pump machine that can produce great espresso
  • PID Controlled temp (single setting, 200F)
  • Integrated OPV set to 9 bar from factory
  • Steam is very good for the class
  • Comes with single and dual wall baskets
  • 54mm group is common so accessories are easily available
  • Extremely fast (3 second) heatup and steam changeover
  • Plenty of space for cup and scale
  • Very small

Cons:

  • Pre-infusion is not as flexible as Breville thermoblock machines (limited to 10 seconds) and tends to run hot
  • Tiny drip tray
  • Temperature is quite variable throughout a shot - starts very hot then drops off a cliff
    • This behavior is repeatable and consistent, so you are able to dial around it to a degree
  • No true semiautomatic mode; programming mode is the workaround.
  • Lacks 3-way group valve to release pressure
  • Thermojet has a very small pipe and is prone to clogging from scale - make sure you use good water
  • Internal and external build quality is lacking
  • Light codes for cleaning and descaling not particularly obvious

Breville Bambino Plus ($500)

Pros:

  • Same as the Bambino, but with the addition of:
    • A robust automatic steaming wand that makes steaming milk easy, if you don’t want to learn how
    • 64oz water reservoir compared to 47 oz of the Bambino
    • A 3-way solenoid group valve to release pressure post-shot

Cons:

  • Higher cost than the regular Bambino
  • 3 way valve does not open immediately at pump shut-off, which is a little hard to learn
  • otherwise shares the same cons as the Bambino

Breville Infuser ($599)

Generally the best value Breville, if you’re focused on espresso quality and steam is less important.

Pros:

  • Works decently out of the box
  • PID Controlled temp (5 settings at 2F increments, 196-204F) and fairly stable
  • True semiautomatic mode available as well as auto-volumetric
  • Widely available, new or used
  • Huge community of users
  • Manual preinfusion
  • A step up in build compared to the Bambino
  • Has a dedicated hot water spout

Cons:

  • 15 bar OPV can be hard to manage; it can be tuned to 9 bar with relatively minimal effort, or ignored by using the Pre-Infusion Mode only trick
    • this has been rectified to a 9 bar limit on newer (2022-) machines, to my understanding
  • rather slow, weak steam
  • First shot or two is cool - run a blank shot to heat the group and portafilter
  • Amazon-only in the US, often not available elsewhere
  • Auto-volumetric mode is poorly implemented and basically not worth using
  • Water-waster, the OPV dumps to the drip tray

Manual Levers:

Instead of using a pump to create pressure, lever machines use a lever actuated piston. The machines on this list are all direct levers which means that the user controls the force on the piston directly. Most on this list do not include a boiler.

Note: for the manual levers that don’t include a milk steamer, you can froth milk by heating it up then frothing in a French press, using a spinny-thingy like a Nanofoamer, or buying the Bellman stovetop milk steamer. Whether that’s worth the price and effort for your workflow is up to you.

Flair (Neo, Classic, Pro 2) ($160 - $319)

The most affordable entry point to true espresso, but it is just a piston on a lever.

Pros:

  • Highest espresso quality at its price range due to profiling ability
  • Portable
  • Durable
  • No need to worry about scaling or backflushing

Cons:

  • Tedious workflow, especially for multiple shots
  • Requires a kettle to heat water
  • No ability to steam milk or heat water
  • Maximum temperature reaches ~200F and tapers from there, limiting shot time and the ability to pull light roasts
  • Lof non-proprietary accessories due to portafilter size

Flair 58 (58X, 58, 58+) ($500-$720

Pros:

  • Totally user controlled direct lever
  • Portable
  • Durable
  • No need to worry about scaling or backflushing
  • 58 and 58+ include group heaters so they can run higher temperatures than the cheaper Flairs
  • Standard 58mm baskets and portafilter so compatible accessories are commonplace.

Cons:

  • Tedious workflow, especially for multiple shots
  • Requires a kettle to heat water
  • No ability to steam milk or heat water
  • Rather larger than the cheaper Flairs
  • Rather more expensive than most of the other levers
  • 58X still requires preheating routine

Cafelat Robot ($310 - $449)

Similar to the Flair but with higher build quality and an easier workflow

Pros:

  • Preheating somewhat optional with medium-dark roasts due to low thermal mass
  • Looks cool with googly eyes
  • Two levers arguably easier to use than single larger
  • All the control you could ever want

Cons:

  • A bit more expensive than the similar Flair options
  • Oddball basket design limits options for accessories

La Pavoni Europiccola ($989)

Classic and basically indestructible closed boiler lever machine made since the 1960s, but a poor value at its current new price.

Pros:

  • Can make amazing espresso
  • Small footprint
  • Basically indestructible
  • Can be had for relatively cheap used
  • Fairly strong steam
  • Repairable with aftermarket parts

Cons:

  • Difficult to use, lots of quirks; not beginner friendly at all
  • Low shot volume; requires “Fellini” (i.e., refilling the group) to pull longer ratio shots
  • Only good for 1-3 shots in quick succession before the group head overheats
  • Differences in baskets between generations; some are 49mm, some are 51mm.
  • Extremely poor value new
  • Must be cool to refill boiler

Combo Machines (Machine + Grinder All-In-One)

These machines are similar to the Single Boiler/Dual Use machines listed above but have a grinder built in. They are great for space saving, but it is not uncommon to outgrow the grinder quickly as they are generally pretty poor quality. Generally not recommended.

Breville Barista Express ($699 [Commonly on sale for $599])

Breville Infuser, but with a grinder. The Express Impress adds an assisted tamp feature, but is otherwise the same. The Barista Pro and Touch are also very similar but with a thermojet heater instead of a thermocoil.

Pros:

  • Comes with a grinder
  • Incredibly common new and used
  • similar pros to Infuser otherwise

Cons:

  • Similar cons to the Infuser
  • Grinder is not particularly easy to dial in and is faily unreliable