TechRadar Picks Three Bean-to-Cup Espresso Machines for International Coffee Day

The expert describes the Philips Baristina as the most affordable bean-to-cup coffee maker they have ever tested and easily one of the best. They recommend it so frequently that colleagues are probably tired of hearing about it, according to the article. The machine is positioned for people on a tight budget or those moving from coffee capsules to whole beans.

To use the Baristina, a user loads coffee beans into the top, fills the water tank, pushes the filter handle into the machine and hits start. The machine automatically grinds the right amount of coffee, tamps it down and slides the handle underneath the brewing group, which extracts the shot using the ideal water temperature and pressure. When the process is finished, the user taps out the used coffee grounds and wipes out the filter. Unlike most bean-to-cup machines, the Baristina does not have a case covering everything, a design the expert says helps keep it clean and hygienic and makes maintenance easy.

The biggest downside of the original Baristina is the lack of a steam wand, which means there is no way to prepare lattes and cappuccinos. The machine is available bundled with a good quality standalone milk frother for a small additional cost, and earlier this year Philips launched the Baristina Latte, which has an integrated steam wand.

At the other end of the range is the Philips Café Aromis 8000 Series, the company's flagship bean-to-cup coffee machine. It offers a large array of hot and cold drinks, excellent milk frothing and app compatibility. The machine has a silver chassis, a touchscreen and a natural wood cap on top of the dispenser. Its drinks are almost infinitely customizable, and the cold menu is a particular highlight. Unlike some bean-to-cup coffee makers that just dump a shot of hot espresso over ice, the Aromis can extract coffee using water straight from its tank for a mellow flavor akin to traditionally made cold-brew. It has separate milk carafes for frothing hot and cold milk, and each can be disassembled into three dishwasher-safe parts. The Philips HomeID app makes it easy to create personalized user profiles and includes a chatbot-style feature that asks about flavor preferences and then tweaks the coffee maker's settings accordingly. The expert says the Aromis is one of the more expensive espresso machines they reviewed this year, but its price tag is not excessive considering how much it offers, and an alternative from a different brand could easily cost half as much again.

The Sage Barista Touch Impress With Cold Extraction is sold under the Sage brand in the UK and under Breville elsewhere. It is an upgraded version of the original Barista Touch Impress and, like the Philips Café Aromis, offers genuine cold extraction for smooth-tasting iced coffees as well as hot-brewed espresso. Unlike the other two bean-to-cup machines in the list, it is semi-automatic, meaning users do not have to get their hands dirty but can control the coffee-making process if they want, introducing them to barista skills.