Coffee lovers are always more involved and more knowledgeable—to the point that it’s hard to tell between a coffee lover and a barista sometimes.
This has given way to terms like “home barista”; although not everyone who makes good coffee at home wants to be called that.
By Marcelo.
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The truth is that making coffee at home that is as good—if not more—than the coffee you buy at the coffee shop. Making great coffee at home is not just doable, it’s also affordable.
For that, you’d want to get a “semi professional” espresso machine. These usually have the same horsepower than commercial machines but are sized down to a more kitchen-friendly model.
Here are 9 of the very best semi professional coffee and espresso machines that you can get.
Top Three Semi Professional Coffee Makers
Here’s a quick sneak peek of the top three.
De’Longhi La Specialista Maestro
De’Longhi La Specialista Maestro – The ultimate next-gen machine offering great features to take your coffee to the next level.
Breville Barista Express
Breville Barista Express – Breville’s most powerful machine, packed of features and able to make extremely high-quality espresso.
Rancilio Silvia
Rancilio Silvia – A classic, incredibly powerful machine that will last you for years.
Breville Barista Express
If you’ve been following Breville before, you’ll see straight away that the Barista Express is a machine that takes all of their previous ones’ best qualities and puts them together here.
And of course, the specs are just what you’d expect from a semi professional machine.
The most important feature in this machine, arguably, is the Precise Espresso Extraction (PID).
This means that the water temperature is monitored constantly and delivered at exactly the ideal temperature for an espresso.
Not one degree over nor one less. It’ll give you the exact temperature. Every time.
That means perfect espresso. Every time.
4 Extra Coffee Gear & Coffee Recommendations
- Breville Barista Pro – An excellent manual espresso machine for home use
- Philips 3200 Series Espresso Machine – Easy-to-use fully automatic coffee machine for small office or home use
- Rancilio Egro ONE Touch – High capacity fully automatic commercial coffee machine for professional use
- Koa Coffee – Premium hand-picked Hawaiian coffee. Have you tried American coffee yet?
De’Longhi La Specialista Prestigio
De’Longhi La Specialista Prestigio
Strangely, the La Specialista looks quite similar to the Barista Express.
The grinder is also on the top-left side of the machine, and since they’re both stainless steel, they look a little similar.
The main difference is that the brewing space is, for lack of a better word, more spacious.
There’s plenty of space for you to move around with the portafilter, which really goes a long way. It makes you feel more comfortable when using it.
The most salient feature here is the Tamping Station—a feature that tamps coffee for you and aims to minimize mess and maximize efficiency.
And seeing as how tamping can be quite messy and complicated, this is a big plus!
Breville Infuser
It feels like Barista Express, but lighter and more compact.
The Infuser was in fact one of the most popular home espresso machines at the time it came out because it offers very decent semi-professional specs while keeping things rather inexpensive.
The design is also quite compact, which is great for those of us who may not have enough counter space for a bigger machine.
The Infuser has almost all the same features that the Barista Express does.
That’s including PID, which you can adjust in 4-degree increments to personalize the flavor of your coffee.
Hotter coffee will mean stronger flavor; colder, more subtle flavor.
De’Longhi La Specialista Americano
De’Longhi La Specialista Americano
For only a little price difference, the Americano offers both a glow-up and a bunch of small, but very welcome features that the Prestigio doesn’t.
One of these features is Dynamic Pre-Infusion.
This feature, which is present in most professional-grade coffee machines, works by wetting all the grounds before the brewing process starts.
This ensures that all grounds are wet before brewing. It guarantees optimal water flow through the coffee bed, which in turn means a perfect brew every time. No over or under extraction.
De’Longhi La Specialista Americano (Red)
De’Longhi La Specialista Americano (Red)
Exactly the same machine as the one above—except it’s red. It’s very classy, too: they’re not messing around.
Same features, same specs, same price. Only red.
De’Longhi La Specialista Maestro
De’Longhi La Specialista Maestro
A monumental rework of the La Specialista that adds incredible new features that you didn’t even know you needed in your life.
For example: dosing.
Dosing is important and some machines with built-in grinders, most of them come with preset doses that you just can’t change.
And that is really a bummer, because dosing affects the taste of your coffee.
The Maestro lets you set your dose however you like it. And it does so via a super cool digital display.
It also offers both a steam wand and an automatic milk frothing system that makes great beverages with just the touch of a button.
De’Longhi La Specialista
This is the same exact model as the La Specialista Prestigio, but it comes with a knock box.
A knock box, for those who don’t know, is a tool they use at coffee shops for quickly disposing of coffee pucks.
It is a great tool for home baristas to have; specially if they make more than one coffee at a time.
For big households, the knock box is a real time saver.
And it really adds to the whole coffee shop aesthetic.
Rancilio Silvia
Mind-boggling is the fact that Rancilio Silvia hasn’t had to introduce any sort of change, new feature, or new design every two minutes like many other companies do.
No; their espresso machine has remained the same for about fifteen years.
How do they manage to keep being one of the most popular ones without introducing anything new?
Well, it’s easy. They made a home espresso machine so good that actually coffee shops use it, too.
The idea behind their machine was simple: use all the specs of a standard commercial machine and cram them into a small one.
And that’s what they did. And it works, and it has worked for a lot of years. And it will probably continue working for a long time!
Brim Tazza Perfetto
The Brim Tazza Perfetto is… What it is.
And what it is, is a coffee maker that is strikingly similar to the Breville Infuser. Way too similar.
Beyond its appearance, though, it is an excellent machine.
It’s got all the makings of a semi professional home espresso machine, down to the 19-bar pressure power, and a specialized microfoam wand.
It doesn’t have more subtle functions like PID, but it does a phenomenal job for what it is.
And it is ridiculously cheap for a machine with these specs!
Buying Tips
The list is long and full of really good options. So what should you buy? It can be really hard to make a decision when there are so many actual good choices.
Well, it helps to consider different aspects. For example: price, specs, and aesthetics.
Price
If you have a very specific budget, then it’s really not helpful to fixate on specs. Rather, look through this list paying close attention to the price of each machine.
Money isn’t everything, sure, but it’s still quite important.
Going for the cheapest option isn’t wise, either.
See the video by James Hoofman below, why.
Rather, make a top three of the best options you see that are in your budget and then let your gut decide between the three carefully selected ones.
It’s a good compromise between logic and emotion that always pays off.
Video by James Hoffmann.
Specs
If price isn’t really an issue for you, then your best bet is to compare specs.
This can get really annoying, so one way to filter them out is to go with a higher price.
Beware, however, that higher price doesn’t always mean better specs.
Compile a list of at least three different machines that are the most expensive and only then start comparing those side by side.
Aesthetics
Say what you will, but once you buy a machine like this, you’re married to it. You can’t simply buy a machine that’ll stick out like a sore thumb in your house, kitchen, office.
Beyond that, it’s important that we like it, visually. Some designs will resonate with some people more than others.
For example, the red La Specialista? An amazing choice for those that are bored to the bone by stainless steel finishes.
Once you’ve considered these three things, you’ll probably have a clear idea of which machine is the best for you.
