Coffee machines are now cheaper than they’ve ever been before, especially at the premium end of the market. You can pick up coffee makers that would be up to the standard of high end restaurants for under a thousand pounds today, when a few years ago it would have set you back several thousand pounds.
Just like other purchases that are infrequent, though, you should always put at least a little time into choosing the best machine for your needs, your home, and your tastes. You wouldn’t go and buy a car without asking questions first, like finding out how much insurance will cost you, the number of miles to the gallon you will be expecting and so forth, so the same applies to a coffee maker.
Premium Bean-To-Cup Coffee Machines
If you’re a coffee nerd, you probably know a fair amount already about coffee, and also that you’re highly likely to be looking for a bean-to-cup coffee machine. These are the sort you’ll see in cafes and restaurants, where the beans tend to be in a hopper at the top, and they’re ground to order as each drink is made. That guarantees a really good, fresh aroma and flavour to coffee – something that you’re likely to value above anything else.
Pod Machines
Coffee pod machines and K-cups are very common to see in kitchens across the UK, as they were incredibly popular about five or six years ago. It’s less true today, because the bean-to-cup alternatives have tumbled so much in price. Let’s face it, why would you spend almost as much on an inferior product for your kitchen – it just doesn’t make sense! What’s more, you’ll often find that the capsules to use with these types of coffee machines are very expensive, compared to the coffee beans used with bean-to-cup alternatives, so any extra you spend buying a better machine will be made back over time through savings on consumables.
How To Research Coffee Machines – Reviews, Reviews, Reviews!
Reviews are the solution to narrowing down your options. You’ll find sites full of detailed information by just searching Google – for example, a quick search for bean to cup coffee machines threw up a review site in the top five that you can see here. You can use that information to cross reference when you buy, comparing the real world review with the information provided by the manufacturers and retailers like Delonghi (here) and Debenhams (here). As you’ll see – the level of detail you can get from a dedicated review site is much improved over either of those examples. It’s a common mistake buyers make – you wouldn’t go to a car sales showroom to ask about the technical specifications of a vehicle, the people working there are sales experts. In the same way, retail sales staff will know everything about the features and benefits of a given coffee machine (or at least a few headline facts), but going into detail and they’ll soon flounder (or make it up on the spot in some lesser stores).
All in all, you’re going to be spending at least a few hundred pounds on your new coffee machine, so it pays to do your homework. A little time spent reading a few reviews and familiarising yourself with what you need, what you’d like and what’s available to buy will hugely reduce the chance of a bad buy, and looking back later regretting a hasty decision!
Here at the Machines Superstore, we’re baristas first, and sales people second. Yes we sell coffee, we love coffee! What we don’t do, though, is have slick sales people to sell machines – sales is not our expertise, which is why we’d rather give you someone to talk to that can really help you, and makes coffee every day (and not from a jar). For what we’re good at, pop in again soon for a coffee – you’ll be well looked after!