Espresso Machines and Coffee Makers: A Guide
Even the ardent coffee lover can be overwhelmed by the massive selection available when purchasing a new coffee maker; all the different brands, designs, styles, and types are at best mind-boggling. Should you get a standard machine? How about a semi-automatic? Full automatic? Super automatic? What in the world is an espresso machine? Espresso is coffee right? In a panic most will just shake their heads, grab whatever is in front of them, and hope and pray that it will make a cup of delicious coffee with little coaxing.
If nothing else, the discriminating coffee-drinker should be made aware that there exists a tremendous difference in flavor and look between a typical filter-based coffee machine and an espresso machine. While they both make coffee, the filter-based machine creates a final product that is weak and diluted, losing most of the flavor found in the coffee bean. Indeed, most European countries distinguish between what they call “American coffee” and coffee (espresso), feeling that American coffee is a sad attempt at a drink by their standards. The reason for the disparate quality in coffee is largely a result of how the machines work. A filter-based coffee machine consists only of a water reservoir, a carafe, with a filter; an espresso machine, however, is complex. It has a device which forces steam to the pot, a metal filter, and an overall better filtering system which results in a stronger, richer brew than a filter-based maker produces.
Of course, you get what you pay for, and with great quality comes an increase in price. The coffee used by conventional makers is the common, ground stuff you can find most anywhere. It is cheap, abundant, and generally not very good. Espresso ground coffee on the other hand tends to be strong, flavorful and rich, producing a deep, potent brew. As with the actual coffee itself, so too is an espresso maker more expensive than the typical coffee maker, usually by a great deal. However, those mindful of what goes into their body will agree this is an acceptable sacrifice, especially when the difference in quality is so tremendous.