Boston-based Theo Chan, founder of leading coffee-roasting review site Coffee Roast and a “sort-of coffee sommelier,” knows good coffee. His go-to machine? Lucca’s A53 Mini V2 Espresso Machine, which he has on his counter in the maple version. 

It’s a “prosumer-grade, dual-boiler machine that delivers extremely consistent espresso and excellent milk steaming once fully warmed up,” Chan says. “It reliably pulls shots at a true nine bars and has just enough programmability to be fast and versatile without introducing the reliability issues common in heavily digitized machines.” 

It’s maybe not for true beginners, but if you’ve pulled a few shots in your time and are serious about coffee, this might be what you need for your daily wake-up call. 

“For experienced home baristas, it offers commercial-level results without unnecessary complexity,” Chan says. “And I think it looks pretty slick, too.” 

If you’re on a budget, “this is a machine that still gets the job done,” says Eric Gantz, co-founder and co-owner of Dubuque, Iowa’s Verena Street Coffee. “I recommend it to beginners who want cafe-style drinks at home without blowing the budget.”

Beginner? You’ll get a great shot of espresso with this machine. But if you want to get fancy once you get the hang of it, there are a surprising number of ways to customize its components so you get your dream shot every time.   

“The 51-millimeter portafilter means easy upgrades,” Gantz says, meaning you can replace pressurized components to enhance the extraction quality to your liking. 

And although the stock dual-wall basket is perfectly adequate on its own, “you can also swap to a single-wall or bottomless basket, and the flavor jumps,” he says. 

“The best at-home espresso machine that I would recommend based on technology, ease of use, and variety of drinks that the machine can make is the Ninja Luxe Café Pro,” says Mekayla Bramlett, owner and head barista at North Carolina’s Charlotte Mobile Coffee. “You can up your espresso game while still enjoying all the other coffee drinks you love with this all-in-one machine.” 

Bramlett’s impressed by its grinder, which calibrates the grind automatically to the kind of beverage you want to wind up sipping, whether that’s a pure shot or an iced latte. It doses out beans based on weight without you lifting a finger, giving you “a perfectly dialed in coffee drink,” she says.  

This machine goes beyond espresso, and you can make “hot tea, cold brew, and drip coffee as well as frothed milk, making it ideal for entertaining friends and family,” Bramlett says.  

When she was looking for an at-home espresso machine, Jodie Thorz Dawson, owner of Montclair, New Jersey’s Java Love Coffee Roasting Co., wasn’t about to let it take up her whole counter.  

“Call it laziness or just a desire for an ease of use machine,” says the Specialty Coffee Association-certified brewer. “I was looking for something with a push-button, fully automatic situation.”  

“Everything is at your fingertips with a push of a button,” Dawson says. To use it, you can simply press a button and choose between popular recipes like classic espresso, black coffee, iced coffee, and more. “You can also control the size and amount of water used in each drink. A win-win!”

“It even has a built-in grinder, which was important to me,” Dawson says. 

Plus, “the beauty of the milk-steaming container is that it is easy to clean and can even go in the dishwasher,” making your espresso and coffee experience at home as effortless as it can be.

“The Breville Barista Express is great for beginners and those learning to make espresso drinks,” says Janice Yuen, general manager at Toronto’s ESPRO Coffee Bar. 

With a choice of preset and customizable settings at every step (we’re talking grind size, water temperature, and more!), she says “it gives you enough control to experiment, but it’s still consistent and delivers quality espresso each time.”

“Having the grinder included makes dialing in shots much less intimidating,” Yuen adds. It also includes two dual-wall filters so beginners can make a foolproof espresso, and two single-wall filters so expert baristas can experiment until they reach brewed perfection.

“It’s the machine I recommend to people who want great espresso drinks in one compact unit,” Yuen says. 

“This machine is the closest you can get to true, cafe-quality espresso at home,” says Allie Boutwell, coffee educator and barista at San Francisco and West Hollywood’s Sightglass Coffee. 

“I love that you can choose between a hands-on approach or guided precision,” she says, making this machine a prime starting point for those looking to start their at-home brewing journey. 

“It offers full manual features for those who want to be in control of every variable,” Boutwell says, from the convertible portafilter to the full temperature control feature as your skills blossom. There's also a “manual steam wand that allows users to perfect their steaming skills and control their temperature and foam level.” 

Want to get techy? It “also pairs seamlessly with an app and compatible scale to support consistency and repeatability with every shot,” Boutwell says.