Quality drinks and espresso mixed with a small body and low price make this a great budget choice. Design and features 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. You can move the spout up and down manually, with the maximum lift allowing for cups up to 12.7cm tall – this covers larger mugs with ease. Coffee quality There’s a good richness to the espresso, with the pronounced acidity of my test beans coming through. The shot is, perhaps, a touch more bitter than from the best coffee machines, but there’s really nothing to complain about. Milk frothing

The final way to froth milk is with a frothing accessory. These are standalone milk frothers that aren’t controlled by the machine itself. This means you’ll need to froth milk manually. Much smaller than the competition and well priced, too, the Beko CEG5301 is a great choice for those who want their coffee simple but good. Design and features

Once you’ve powered on the machine, the touch controls light up to display the options on offer: there are buttons for strong espresso (a regular shot) and mild espresso (the same amount of coffee but a double-shot’s worth of hot water) and a hot water button. That’s it. Insert the external drip tray into the appliance, making sure it is inserted correctly. For a more visual guide, please refer to your appliance’s handbook. All three buttons are programmed to deliver a set amount of liquid, but you can override the defaults by pressing and holding a button, releasing it when you have the desired volume. Once programmed for your cups, set volumes make it easy to do things like make an Americano, which is a shot of espresso added to hot water. Don’t let the professional descriptor put you off either; it’s a thoughtfully designed machine that comes with clear instructions and an intuitive digital interface and controls. You can also adjust the settings to suit your taste.

Claiming joint top spot in our best coffee machine line-up is no small feat, yet De’Longhi’s latest, innovative model deserves its place. Sporting a 3.5” full-touch colour display, 16 automatic drink settings, and a function that gives you a personalised coffee menu for particular times of the day; this coffee machine acts like your own private barista, offering a coffee experience that’s completely tailored to you. Seriously cool. If you enjoy a milk-based coffee (such as a cappuccino, latte or macchiato), then you’ll want to look for a bean-to-cup coffee machine with a milk frother. The Cuisinart Veloce makes some of the more high-end bean-to-cup features relatively accessible. It's by no means cheap, but you do get all the perks of a digital display and complete coffee menu. We enjoyed saving our custom drink preferences onto the menu, which made for easy coffee rounds. The advantage of this system is that you can set levels for your own mugs, making it easy to make an Americano (hot water with a shot of espresso added at the end), for example, with just a couple of taps.

Removable Water Tank

We found that the machine needed adjusting before we got that perfect espresso. It required grind adjustments, which can be done at the top of the machine where you keep your coffee beans. The milk wand can be inserted into the side container via a rubber tube, and this makes fully adjustable lattes or cappuccinos completely hands-free. You can even choose your froth level and the temperature of your drink. This makes this the easiest bean-to-cup coffee machine to use; the controls are very similar to those on the Nespresso CitiZ machine. Of course, the price is astronomical. Anything over than a grand will always require a huge amount of consideration, but what you get in return is a real top-of-the-range machine. It combines everything people love about home brewing with the convenience of a smart machine that will take the guesswork out of every espresso you pull. Once you’ve powered on the machine, you’ll see the touch controls light up. For regular coffee, this machine is as easy to use as a pod machine, such as the Nespresso CitiZ. There are buttons for strong espresso (a regular shot) and mild espresso (a double shot in terms of volume, although the same amount of coffee is used). There’s also a button for topping up with hot water.