What are Traditional Espresso Machines?
For those that love a labor of love, these hands-on machines require a little more skill to create your coffee. Some, like the Saeco Aroma, simplify it with pressurized portafilters and steam wands that inject air & steam at the same time to easily produce foam for lattes and cappuccinos. Others, such as the Rocket Giotto, require grinding your coffee freshly for each shot and mastering the art of stretching milk to pour beautiful latte art. There are manual levers (you're the pump), semi-automatics (you start &stop the shot) and automatics (you program shot volume) and single, heat exchange and double boiler machines. Pro: Ultimate control over your coffee quality. Con: Takes time to learn how produce consistently great coffee.
What are Superautomatic Espresso Machines?
At the touch of a button, you can have a consistently good espresso, latte or cappuccino. With an integrated grinder, these machines will grind, dose, tamp and extract your espresso for you - and, in some cases, also automatically froth your milk. A basic model such as the Saeco Talea Giro Plus doesn't feature programming, but has a bi-pass doser for pre-ground decaf and the option for automatic frothing via a milk island. A top of the line model like the Jura Capresso Impressa Z7 or the Saeco Xelsis allows you to program a one-touch cappuccino and several other drinks, as well as control temperature, dosage and shot volume. Pro: Incredibly easy to use and mess-free. Con: Consistently good espresso and milk frothing, but won't blow your mind. Visit product pages for espresso machine reviews and videos.
