Bean to Cup Coffee Machines, otherwise known as Automatic Coffee Makers, make as many cups of coffee straight from your roasted beans as you wish. They used to be the preserve of commercial customers. Now many are bought for domestic use as well.
What do you need to look for?
Capacity
Commercial models are usually divided into one of three types:
- Light volume – serving around 40 -100 cups a day
- Medium volume – serving 100 – 250 cups a day
- High volume – 250+ cups per day
Domestic models will be for light volumes – but 100+ cups a day is not recommended for even the largest household!
Milk Frother
The more expensive models will have a built in milk frother, sometimes with refrigerated milk storage as well. Given the high number of cappuccinos and other frothy drinks served, this will almost certainly be needed for the commercial sector.
Domestic customers may not want to pay extra for this feature, particularly if they rarely drink frothy drinks. A separate froth maker can be bought.
Manufacturer
It is safer to buy from a manufacturer who has been designing and selling coffee machines for a long time – de’Longhi, Krups and Gaggia are three of the most well known brands. Our best buy is a de’Longhi – the review of the Magnfica EAM 3200 is here
Bean Hoppers
Commercial machines and the more expensive domestic ones, will have more than one container to put your beans in. This allows for different choices of beans.
Looks
This is largely a personal matter. Some have large digital displays – even showing the number of cups served for commercial models. A wide choice of colours and styles are available – check them out here.
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