Guides
How-to guides
How to Descale an Espresso Machine: Steps and How Often
The step-by-step routine, plus what most guides skip: how often you need to descale depends on your water, and it is usually less often than you are told.
maintenanceHow to Clean a Coffee Grinder Properly
Why old grounds ruin your coffee, plus a quick routine for cleaning burr grinders safely.
buyingEspresso Machine vs Bean-to-Cup: Which Should You Buy?
The honest trade-off between manual espresso machines and fully automatic bean-to-cup machines.
maintenanceHow to Descale a Breville Espresso Machine
The descale routine for Breville (Sage) espresso machines like the Bambino Plus, Barista Express and Barista Pro, step by step.
techniquePour Over Coffee Ratio: The Simple Math for a Better Cup
The coffee-to-water ratios that actually matter for pour over, how to scale them, and when to deviate.
buyingThe Best Espresso Machines According to Reddit (and Where Our Data Agrees)
What r/espresso actually recommends in 2026, distilled from years of threads, compared machine by machine against our Bench Scores.
buyingWhich Smeg Espresso Machine Should You Buy?
Smeg sells four coffee machines that look almost the same and behave very differently. Here is what separates the ECF01, ECF02, ECF03 and BCC02, and which one is worth the money.
buyingWhich De'Longhi Espresso Machine Should You Buy?
De'Longhi sells more espresso machines than any other brand, and the model numbers give away more than the marketing does. Here is how the Stilosa, Dedica, La Specialista, Magnifica, Eletta, Rivelia and PrimaDonna ranges actually differ.
buyingWhich Breville Espresso Machine Should You Buy?
Breville sells eleven espresso machines and the differences that matter are not the ones on the box. Here is what the model numbers mean, which machines share a portafilter size, and where the money stops buying better coffee.
buyingWhich Ninja Espresso Machine Should You Buy?
Ninja sells seven espresso machines under three names that all sound alike. Here is what separates them, why the 9 bar figure on the box is more honest than most, and where each rung of the price ladder buys exactly one thing.
buyingWhich KitchenAid Espresso Machine Should You Buy?
KitchenAid quietly sells the cheapest 58 mm espresso machines in our catalogue, and then a range of automatics where that advantage disappears. Here is what the KF numbers mean, why a higher one is not better, and which half of the range is worth your money.
buyingWhich Jura Coffee Machine Should You Buy?
Jura's own warranty terms void themselves on a machine bought from a reseller it has not authorised, and Amazon carries both Amazon-direct and marketplace listings of the same machines. Here is what we found checking all twelve US models, what the line letters actually mean, and why the C line most reviewers wrote off might be the sturdier buy.
buyingWhich Philips Coffee Machine Should You Buy?
Philips sells three completely different kinds of espresso machine under one brand, and the model number does not tell you which one you are looking at. The Baristina that costs the most is the only one in its family that cannot froth milk. Here is what we found checking the current US range.
maintenanceHow to Clean a Breville Espresso Machine
Cleaning and descaling are not the same job, and on most Breville machines the same light asks for both. Here is what each one does, the cleaning cycle step by step, and the four routines worth keeping.
buyingMoccamaster Coffee Makers: Which Model Should You Buy?
Moccamaster sells seven brewers that look alike and cost $260 to $405. Every full-size one makes identical coffee, so the only real question is which carafe and basket you want. Here is the decoder.
techniqueHow to Make Espresso: A Beginner's Walkthrough
Dose, distribute, tamp, lock in, brew. The five steps that make an espresso, the numbers worth knowing, and how to read a shot that came out wrong.
buyingGifts for Coffee Lovers: What to Buy by Budget, and What to Skip
A gift guide from people who review this gear for a living: what actually lands with a coffee drinker at every budget, the one upgrade almost nobody thinks to give, and the gifts to avoid.
buyingEspresso Machine Black Friday Deals
A discount only means something against a price you trusted beforehand. So here is what we would pay for every machine we have scored, published in August, months before the sale, along with what actually gets discounted and what never does.
techniqueHow to Use a Moka Pot
A moka pot is not an espresso machine and most of its bad reputation is technique, not the pot. Here is how it actually works, the method step by step, and the five reasons your coffee is coming out bitter.
techniqueHow to Make Cold Brew Coffee
Coarse grind, cold water, and a long wait. The method, why the ratios you find online disagree with each other, how long it keeps, and what the published research actually says about caffeine and acidity.
buyingThe Best Cold Brew Coffee Makers
Five cold brew makers worth the money, an honest account of why you might not need one at all, and what the filter type actually changes. Prices are the makers' own US figures, checked 2026-08-18.
techniqueHow to Steam Milk (and How to Froth It Without a Machine)
Air first, then texture. The two phases of steaming milk, the temperature the research supports rather than the one everyone repeats, what to do if you have no steam wand, and why barista oat milk behaves differently.
techniqueHow to Grind Coffee Beans Without a Grinder
Six kitchen methods ranked by what they actually produce, the freezer trick that has real research behind it, and the honest limits: you can make very good cold brew this way and you cannot make espresso.
techniqueHow to Grind Coffee Beans: Grind Size for Every Brew Method
What grind size each brewing method wants, how to judge it by eye and by feel without a micron reading, and how to tell from the cup whether to go finer or coarser.
buyingBest Descaler for an Espresso Machine: Cost per Use Compared
Urnex Dezcal, Breville, De'Longhi EcoDecalk, Durgol and plain citric acid compared on the acid inside, what each descale costs, and which one an aluminium boiler needs.