Blaupunkt CMP312 Black Coffee Maker

Product Information

If speed and convenience are the biggest decision drivers for you, a bean-to-cup coffee machine may be an interesting alternative. Some espresso machines – including most of the ones reviewed in this guide – have extra features in addition to coffee extraction. Invest in good coffee beans: A good cup of espresso starts with high-quality coffee beans. When browsing, think about which aromas and flavour profiles you like – medium-to-dark roasts are usually better for making espresso. You can find inspiration in our guide to the best coffee beans.

Well, the answer is highly variable as it depends on exactly how much pressure the water did end up carrying with it at the brew head. For example, if the water reached the brew head at 12 bars of pressure, you would have a very strong and bitter concoction in the pot! At the same time, 10 bars of pressure for a pot of espresso is nothing to worry about. It might make your morning espresso slightly stronger, but the coffee should not taste bitter. If you're using a standard basket, with a capable grinder, and if you have a good temperature surfing routine, then you can probably get around the limitations of these machines. The reason I prefer the Swan Retro to most of the similarly priced machines is that the thermometer makes temperature surfing more doable, and the fact that you can just buy the bottomless portafilter with the standard basket makes it very simple to switch this machine to use standard baskets. Our reviewer rated the coffee from this machine an easy 10/10. Though it took a little getting used to at first, once set up with the perfect grind size and pressure level, the espressos that were made were perfectly well-balanced and creamy. You’ll also need to empty the drip tray – the water from self-cleaning ends up in it. Beyond that, you’ll want to give the machine a proper clean once a week to ensure it’s hygienic and tastes great. Are there any downsides to bean-to-cup machines? Yes, they're plastic fantastic as most of these machines are (although slightly less plastic than some, the cup warmer is metal), but they're the biggest (in turnover) coffee machine manufacturer on the planet, at the time of writing, and they're one of the best brands when it comes to achieving not just low cost machines, but machines that also deliver good long term value for money.

Blog Categories

The updates they've made with the new 2023 model, or the “Evo” model which it's also being called, are:

Molly is the Ecommerce Editor covering appliances at Ideal Home, including all things coffee machine-related. She's a certified Consumer Expert when it comes to coffee machines, which means she's qualified to test coffee machines both at home and at Future's dedicated testing facility, which is a very fun job indeed. Her favourite machine ever, and the one she has at home is the Sage Barista Impress Express – at this point, she couldn't live without it. They have a 15 bar or sometimes even a 19 bar pump, as do most home espresso machines, but while more premium home espresso machines will have an overpressure valve (OPV) set to limit the pressure in the basket to 9 bars, the very cheap machines will either have no OPV, or they'll have the OPV set to something like 12, 13 or 14 bars – simply because this is the maximum pressure in the basket that works with pressurised baskets. For reasons of hygiene and safety, personal grooming products, cosmetics or items of intimate clothing cannot be returned.As you can probably guess by now, consistency is another highly valued attribute that people look for in their 15 bar espresso machines. Whether the final pressure is 8 bars or 10 bars, the machine must be capable of maintaining that same final pressure at the brew head, each and every time someone brews a pot with it. Steam is ready almost instantly after you've pulled the shot, which reduces the time you have to wait for your coffee.

A 9 bar espresso machine can at best force heated water through coffee at 9x the present atmospheric pressure of the earth. By the way, if you're wondering about the Espresso Style Vs Espresso Deluxe, they're about a tenner difference in price (at the time of writing) and the differences are purely aesthetic, slightly different colour options, Deluxe has a metal drip tray cover.Most people choosing a machine like this, though, will probably have no interest in switching to a standard basket, especially given that this means investing in a capable grinder. If you're using this machine using pre-ground coffee, to be honest, I think you'll probably find that the resulting cappuccino or latte, or whatever your favourite milky is, will taste very similar to most one cup bean to cup machines. Many brands put their prices up within 2022, we saw price increases from Sage in September, and several other manufacturers have had to increase their pricing too, most have seen their costs increasing quite a lot over the past couple of years, so it's inevitable I think that any machines that haven't yet gone up in price, will do at some point. So I'm not surprised that they've combined launching a new version, with updating the price.