Coffee machine buying guide

If you love a coffee, it only makes sense that you’d want your very own machine to help you wake up in the mornings. 

With so many coffee machines available, it’s important to pick the right one for your tastebuds. After all, it will soon pay for itself if it replaces the habit of buying a daily coffee at your local coffee shop. With this in mind, we’ve created our buying guides to help you understand some of the key points to think about.

Pod machines use small vacuum-sealed capsules or discs that contain pre-measured amounts of fresh coffee and ingredients to create professional tasting drinks at home. The pod ranges provide something for everyone with barista-style Lattes, Hot Chocolates, and everything in-between. Just pop the pod into the machine and let it do the hard work for you; producing a delicious cup of coffee in no time at all.


  • Tassimo - Bosch uses a T-DISC to make a single cup with more than 35 drinks to choose from. These machines are great if you like variety and don’t want to stick to just coffee.

  • Dolce Gusto – Nescafe’s Dolce Gusto machines, made by Krups and De'Longhi, offer a great range of 30+ drinks to suit everyone’s tastebuds.

  • Nespresso - Some Nespresso machines come with built-in milk frothers while others simply brew a super-fast short espresso, but with more than 25 different drinks and seasonal limited edition launches, there’s plenty to choose from.

There are three other main types of coffee machines, which allow you to tailor your coffee to your individual taste and strength.


  • Espresso - Espresso machines allow you to grind your own blend of coffee or use widely available pre-ground coffee. Pack the coffee in a tamper and showcase your barista skills with your own espresso, lungo or ristretto creation.

  • Bean-to-Cup – Fill your kitchen with the aroma of freshly-ground coffee as whole beans are ground to create the perfect cup of coffee at the touch of a button.

  • Filter - Filter machines use disposable or reusable filters and pre-ground coffee to create a large jug of freshly-filtered hot coffee. This makes it the perfect choice when you’re making coffee for a number of people.

If you like your drinks anything other than plain, look out for additional features like milk frothers, drink strength control, grinders and temperature gauges.