For those who want to invest in a good coffee machine, it is sometimes difficult to navigate among all the brands and all types of machines.
Little by little, this kind of coffee machine is becoming more democratic, being in an average range of 300 to 800 euros.
Before making the decision to make this purchase, ask yourself some questions to find the one that will match your freshly ground coffee lover profile, and I’m here to help you!
A Coffee Machine with Grinder, What Are We Talking About?
The bean machine, also called automatic coffee maker, super auto, is an espresso coffee maker with an integrated bean grinder. This is the consumer version of the professional machines from Adam Milani found in bars.
Just pour the coffee beans into the grinder, press the button, and collect your coffee in the cup. The big advantage is that you choose the quality of your coffee beans, and you enjoy, in addition to tasting in the cup, the intoxicating smell of freshly ground coffee.
How Does It Work Exactly?
When you watch the coffee flow it seems so simple, it is a more complicated process: you fill the bean container and you put water in the container. When you press the button, some of the beans fall into the built-in grinder, which grinds them.
Depending on the chosen preparation (long coffee, espresso, cappuccino), the exact dose of beans is ground. The grind obtained is sent to the percolation chamber and pressed to have a homogeneous distribution.
At the same time, the water, measured by a flow meter, is sucked by a pump towards the boiler. When the water is hot, it is sent under pressure to the percolation chamber.
It then passes through the coffee which has been compressed, takes on its aromas, before being sent to the cup. When the cup is filled, the solenoid valve cuts out and the circuit bleeds, releasing a little water which falls into the water collection tray.
When the process is complete, the grounds are evacuated to a grounds collection container.
It is therefore the machine that is responsible for calibrating the grind and heating the water to the temperature corresponding to the chosen preparation. The coffee maker takes care of everything.
No need to be a coffee expert. You can intervene upstream on the choice of coffee, on the calibre of the grind according to your tastes, and the length of the coffee in cup.
Some machines are equipped with a steam nozzle to prepare milk froth, and/or a milk tank to produce various preparations.
What Are the Advantages?
- The preservation of coffee aroma
- Its great simplicity
- The possibility of making different types of coffee
- Possibility to personalize your coffee
- Coffee is ground just before extraction
- No pods to throw away
- Very quickly profitable
What Are the Disadvantages?
- The mill is often noisy
- REGULAR maintenance is mandatory
- Latte art is not possible
- It represents a certain cost to purchase
- Espresso may lack strength
Does The Espresso Grinder Really Make Espresso?
As much to be clear from the beginning, the answer is no. No, according to strict espresso standards your automatic machine cannot produce real espresso.
But, because there is a bit, it comes very close. And even manages to imitate him.
Which brings me to an important point here. If you are an espresso lover, you are ready to invest yourself and you want to be able to precisely adjust the extraction of your coffee, you will have to turn to a real espresso machine with portafilter.
Do not forget that the financial investment in this case will be more consequent, that you will need a powerful mill. On the other hand, the result in a cup (with a little practice) will be incomparable.
