Why The Best Budget Espresso Machines Aren’t 15 Bar. Examples

Updated On: February 13, 2023 at 11:06 am

The fact you’ve landed on this post about the best budget espresso machines would indicate that you’ve decided on taking the plunge, and investing in a home espresso machine – but you don’t want to spend a fortune, hence the budget bit.

Well in my opinion you’re making a great decision getting started in home espresso. Just make sure you figure out which kind of espresso machine user you are first.

If you don’t you could end up with completely the wrong type of machine – which can be very frustrating. For more on this see: 

Best Home Espresso Machines

What Most Alleged Best Budget Espresso Machines Have in Common

In this post, I’m not giving a list of the best budget espresso machines or anything like that, although a bit further in this post I do discuss what I believe to be the best three or four options if you’re looking for a budget espresso machine.

What I’m talking about specifically in this post is the fact that nearly all the alleged “best budget espresso machines” boast 15 bars of pressure, and I’m wanting to arm you with the fact that isn’t a good thing.

Most people are aware that pressure is a key component of espresso, but what most people don’t realise is that more pressure isn’t necessarily better. 

I was inspired to write this post when someone commented on one of my YouTube videos, suggesting that the Sage Bambino Plus wasn’t as good as other entry-level home espresso machines because it only pulls shots at 9 bars of pressure, and some of the other, cheaper espresso machines, have 15 bars or even 19 bars of pressure.

I was a bit confused by this comment at first, but when I did a little bit of research I quickly discovered that many of the folks marketing budget espresso machines are using the 15 bars of pressure as a selling point. Very clever, but also very wrong. 

So there are probably many people who’ve done some browsing on Amazon, Currys, Argos, etc., for espresso machines, who’ve formed an opinion that they should be looking for a 15 bar machine and that machines at 9 bars aren’t as good. This is completely the wrong way around. 

Sage Bambino Plus review

But to explain this properly, let’s have a bit of an espresso history lesson.

The History of Espresso

The history of the espresso machine is a really interesting story, but I’ll just cover the highlights here.

Before espresso, coffee used to take a fairly long time to brew. In the 19th century, you could be waiting up to five minutes for a cup! In order to shorten the wait time for a caffeine hit, people started to investigate ways to use steam machines to speed up the process.

The first recorded attempt, and the precursor to later espresso machines, was a machine patented in 1884.

It used 1.5 bars of pressure to push boiling water through a bed of coffee grounds, making for a faster brew than was previously achievable. But, as we know, it didn’t stop there.

In the early 20th century, Luigi Bezzerra and Desiderio Pavoni came up with a design for a single-shot espresso machine.

Bezzerra’s initial design worked in a similar way, by passing pressurised hot water through coffee grounds, but with an added feature of lowering the water temperature to something friendlier to coffee brewing.

It was a major step forward and could brew a cup of coffee in just seconds, but the main problem with it was consistency. The machine was heated by a flame, making pressure and temperature control incredibly difficult.

Pavoni brought in some quality of life improvements, such as a pressure release valve to prevent unfortunate baristas from being splashed with hot coffee the moment the pressure was released.

Shortly after that, the rise in electricity replaced steam power, making espresso machines significantly more efficient. Even then though, they could only get up to 2 bars of pressure.

It wasn’t until Achille Gaggia, a café owner, invented a machine with a spring-piston lever for added pressurisation of the water, that the possible pressure for a coffee machine leapt from 1.5-2 bars to 8-10.

This lever is also what lead to the term “pulling a shot”, as baristas would pull down on the lever to make the coffee.

Ever since the introduction of Gaggia’s espresso machines, 9 bars has been the industry standard for espresso making.

Best Gaggia Machines review

Why More Pressure Doesn’t Lead to Better Espresso. 

The marketing blurb of many low cost espresso machines will try to give the impression that higher pressure is better, but this isn’t the case at all.

9 bars of pressure is still universally accepted as the perfect pressure for proper extraction. Higher pressure would hinder your chances of getting the best shot, with standard baskets, not improve it. 

Pressurised Baskets vs. Standard Baskets

Standard espresso filter baskets have one layer of metal that is full of holes, the goal being to provide an even flow of extracted espresso through the filter basket, without allowing coffee grinds through into the cup.  

Pressurised or pressured baskets on the other hand (what Sage/Breville refer to as dual walled baskets, as the baskets are made of two layers of metal) force the coffee through one tiny hole, thus building pressure which creates the illusion of crema.

So what pressurised baskets really are, is a way to fake crema. 

Also see:

Pressurised Baskets Vs. Standard Baskets

That lovely crema we crave on top of our espresso is created by getting the extraction spot on, with high quality, freshly roasted, and freshly ground coffee beans. It’s a side effect of well extracted espresso.

If you are looking to purchase great quality coffee beans why not click on the link to my site The Coffeeworks, I offer fantastic blends of beans freshly roasted with a clear roast date unlike shop-bought supermarket beans, so you know how fresh the coffee is. You will receive 25% off your first order and free delivery if you order two or more bags of this delicious coffee.

Use discount code CBNC25 for 25% off your first order at Coffeeworks

But with pressured baskets, you can get great looking crema, without the perfect extraction.

You can get any bag of stale pre-ground supermarket coffee that was roasted and ground who knows when and who knows where and pull a shot which looks perfectly extracted. But looks aren’t everything!

While this may lead to an espresso that looks the part, the only way to get the perfect tasting shot of espresso is to use great coffee beans, freshly roasted, freshly ground, properly dialed in (correct grind size), and to nail the extraction.   

The problem is, while pressured baskets give the appearance of crema, it’s been created by the pressure within the basket, so it looks the part, but it won’t necessarily taste the part. 

I’m not just saying this in theory, by the way.

In this video I experiment with the exact same coffee (thanks to Blue Coffee Box, who sent me the same coffee beans both wholebean and pre ground) pre-ground via the pressurized baskets and freshly ground via the standard baskets to see if there are any difference in taste. 

Also, in this video, I do another experiment testing both baskets with both freshly ground and pre-ground coffee via both baskets. 

What I discovered during these tests, is that even with very high quality speciality coffee beans, freshly roasted, pressured baskets do a good job of making espresso look like it’s been well extracted, but it’s style over substance to quite a large degree, it doesn’t quite taste as good as it looks like it should.

To be fair, I found during my test that with the exact same coffee, pre-ground did taste slightly better via a pressured basket than via a standard basket. This is why I say it’s style over substance “to a large degree” and not completely.

The same coffee freshly ground via the standard basket tasted better as espresso than pre-ground in the pressurized basket, but the one via the pressurized basket was still drinkable, it wasn’t awful, but this is because it was great quality speciality coffee. 

Once you’ve diluted the espresso with a load of milk though, to make a latte, cappuccino, or flat white, I found that while I could still detect the difference, there wasn’t a great deal in it.

It’s worth pointing out that this test was done with the Sage Bambino Plus though, and not one of the cheaper machines which boast 15 bars of pressure. 

Sage Bambino Plus Review

 

So if you’re not a perfectionist, and you’re happy with fairly good tasting cappuccino, flat white or latte, then you may get on OK with pressured baskets, especially with an espresso machine such as the Sage Bambino Plus or the Gaggia Classic Pro.

Home Barista Espresso Machines

There are two grades of espresso machines, domestic espresso machines, and home barista espresso machines. 

Domestic espresso machines are made differently to commercial espresso machines in order to make them more affordable and more simple to use.

These kinds of machines tend to cost between £100-£200.

As discussed, they come with 15 bar pumps, 0r higher, and without an over pressure valve, meaning that they pull shots at this pressure. 

They also usually use on-demand water heaters called thermoblocks instead of using actual brew boilers. 

For more on these kinds of espresso machines see:

Best Cheap Espresso Machines

Home barista machines (often called prosumer machines) follow the same principles as commercial espresso machines, so they’re more expensive, and they’re not as simple to use. 

Home barista machines start at around £400, and there’s almost no limit. The popular La Marzocco Linea Mini, is almost four grand, but this still isn’t among the most expensive home barista machines you could go for.

Check Price – Coffee HitCheck Price – Shop Coffee

 

 

See my Youtube video :

Home barista machines are set to pull shots at 9 bars of pressure, except for the Gaggia Classic Pro – as this is a machine which has been made to straddle both markets, which comes with both standard and pressured baskets, but it’s very easy to tweak this machine to pull shots at 9 bars.

At the lower end though, at around £400 are the Sage Bambino Plus & the Gaggia Classic Pro. 

Sage Bambino Plus ReviewGaggia Classic Pro Review

The above are the machines most commonly chosen as the first home barista espresso machines, along with the integrated grinder espresso machines from Sage, the Sage Barista range.

Using a Cheaper 15 Bar Espresso Machine as a Home Barista Espresso Machine

It is possible to use the cheaper espresso machines as home barista machines, with a bit of modding and a bit of effort. 

The most obvious choice, for me, as a machine like to use as a home barista espresso machine is the DeLonghi Dedica EC685. 

 

Trying to get decent results with any espresso machine when you’re just getting into home espresso isn’t easy, it’s a learning curve.

Trying to do it while getting over the hurdle of the 15 bars of pressure, is even harder – but it’s doable. 

What makes the DeLonghi Dedica more suitable for this kind of use than other 15 bar pump machines, is:

• Adjustable brew temperature.
• Availability of bottomless portafilters.
• Automatic pre-infusion.
• Relatively temp stable.
• Better milk texture than any other similar espresso machine.

For more, see:

Delonghi Dedica Coffee Machine Review

The reason I say it’s harder on the 15 bar machines, is because it’s harder to avoid channeling.

What the Chuff is Channeling? 

Under pressure, if there’s a path of least resistance through the puck of ground coffee beans in the basket, the water will find it. This is known as channeling.

The coffee grounds around the channels won’t extract properly, so you end up with poor tasting espresso.

In fact, channeling is one of the major causes of poor tasting espresso. See this rather humorous video below showing a bloke using a bottomless portafilter and ending up with espresso all over the show, thanks to particularly bad channeling.

This guy is using a bottomless portafilter, which is a great tool as they give you feedback that you wouldn’t usually have. 

This is extreme, usually, you’ll just see multiple streams of espresso, and a few “spurters” – and when you nail it, you’ll get just a single flow from the middle of the basket, of lovely looking tiger-stiped espresso.

Preinfusion can help to reduce channeling, and the Dedica is the only machine I’m aware of, of this kind of lower cost machine, which has pre-infusion, although I can tell you from experience that alone it won’t prevent it. 

You’ll need a capable grinder, this is one of the most important elements. For more see:

Best Coffee Grinders

You’ll need freshly roasted coffee beans, and you’ll need to do a great job of dosing and puck prep. 

For more – subscribe to my YouTube channel, and watch out for my upcoming video on how to do all of this.

If you’re wanting the very best espresso you can possibly make from home, I’d recommend avoiding 15 bar espresso machines altogether and going for something like the Sage Bambino plus if you can. 

It pulls shots at 9 bars of pressure, it has automated low-pressure pre-infusion, it has a PID (automatically controlled temperature), and it comes with both standard baskets and pressured baskets so the user can choose. 

It turns on and heats up within 3 seconds, and steam is also ready almost instantly. Also, it does a great job of milk steaming either manually or automatically.

 

 

There’s also the Sage integrated grinder machines, the Barista Range. 

The Barista Express was the first in this range, and it’s been very successful. Personally though, if you’re looking at one of these machines, I’d look at the Sage Barista Pro, which is basically the updated version of the Barista Express. 

Update: Sage Discount Codes!

If you’re in the UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Switzerland (and most other European countries) and you’re thinking of buying any Sage coffee machine or grinder (or any other product from Sage Appliances) I have an active discount code that works so you might want to drop me an email. Click here to join my “Brew Time” mailing list, and then email me ([email protected]).

Read my post on best discount and sage deals:

Sage best deals and discounts

The Barista Express is great, but the one thing I found with it is that the 18 grind settings meant that you don’t have quite enough ability to finely adjust the grind. 

The Barista Pro has 30 grind settings, so you have a greater ability to finely tune the grind.

Another option other than cheaper 15 bar machines, if you’re on a budget, is going for a used espresso machine.

The most commonly bought used espresso machines are the Gaggia Classic, but you’ll need to do a bit of research to know which model you’ll be buying, as there isn’t just one Gaggia Classic. 

For more, see:

Buying a used espresso machine Kev's Guide

So why are so many budget espresso machines 15 bar or 19 bar machines?

I think it’s a combination of things. For one, a lot of the vibratory pumps which are relatively cheap and accessible, are 15 bar pumps, but they’d usually (in a professional machine or a home barista machine) be combined with an over pressure valve so the pressure can be regulated. Overpressure valves cost money, so this would be a reason a cheaper machine may be lacking an OPV.

Another reason is that these machines are made to work with coffee pods, not Nespresso pods but the ESE pods which look like tea bags for coffee – and I believe these work better with higher pressure. I also believe that the pressurised baskets work better under higher pressure. 

Life is like a box of chocolates, so join my Brew Time list, subscribe to my YouTube Channel, become an accredited coffee botherer (Patreon supporter), try my coffee at The Coffeeworks (use discount code coffeebotherers), follow me on Twitter & Instagram, follow the coffeeblog FaceBook page, and that’s all I have to say about that.