The Best Espresso Machine Under £1,500

For more information on each of the machines:

Chapter timecodes:
0:00 Intro & overview of selection
01:05 Heat exchangers & dual boilers
02:44 Review structure
03:08 AESTHETICS & DESIGN
03:10 Rocket Appartamento
06:54 Lelit MaraX
11:11 Rancilio Silvia Pro
15:11 Profitec Pro 500
18:39 Sage Dual Boiler
22:26 ESPRESSO
22:27 Rocket Appartamento
24:59 Lelit MaraX
26:48 Rancilio Silvia Pro
28:12 Profitec Pro 500
29:25 Sage Dual Boiler
31:29 THE STEAMING MILK TEST
31:54 Rocket Appartamento
32:07 Lelit MaraX
33:06 Rancilio Silvia Pro
33:26 Profitec Pro 500
33:53 Sage Dual Boiler
34:02 Summary

My video on The Best Espresso Machine Under £500:

My video on The Best Espresso Machines Under £100:

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[bigalxyz]

I’ve just spent nearly 40 minutes watching reviews of 5 espresso machines that I can’t afford. And I liked it.

[ruisearts]

Words can't explain how much I appreciate 40 minutes of James talking about espresso machines.

[TheNinnyfee]

What bothers me is that 1, 500 is treated by manufacturers as if it was an IKEA building set. James, you are right, at this price point you should not have to dial in anything if you don't have out of the norm preferences that the manufacturer cannot guess. At this price point you can expect perfect settings and more.

[jameshoffmann]

A couple of points. The first, and most important is an error on my part:
I didn’t discuss the two modes on the Lelit MaraX - its Brew Priority and Steam Priority. This was an oversight and my part and a mistake, which I regret.
It is another strong positive for that machine, especially at its price point. I still prefer the Profitec in the HX category, but if I was space constrained then the MaraX would be an excellent choice. I’d still want the pressure to be correct though.
Secondly, just for clarity again, is the discussion around pressure on a Scace device. You want the gauge to read around 8 bars (around 115psi) because the gauge is seeing both incoming pressure and the loss of pressure from water flowing out. Initially a lot of people misunderstood the gauge and were setting the machines for 9 bars on the Scace which is more like 10 bars at the pump. This is not recommended and 9 bars at pump is generally considered ideal (or lower in many cases).
UPDATE 2: I also got unnecessarily annoyed about the lid on the Silvia Pro. This was user error and has been removed from the video. I am an idiot, and embarrassed by the error!

[georgegardner]

10:32 “9 Bars on the Gauge- 8 Bars on the Group Head” is the name of James’s upcoming hip-hop album

[JohnBrinkman]

Is so refreshing to have an equipment review that doesn't sound like an infomercial, thank you for giving us such an honest take on these machines James.

[juts]

Using a switch as a button is against the Geneva conventions.

[fabio]

Dear James, after seeing your video, I have finally realized why the coffee from my Rocket Appartemento had so much channeling and was not tasting as I wanted/expected it to. After modding the opv I got no more channeling and my coffee tasted significantly better. Thank you so much, because of you I made one of the biggest steps forward in my coffee game!

[bpitotbrett]

I drink coffee out of a $40 Mr Coffee and I’m on my 20th James Hoffman video. Balanced humor, articulate, extremely informative, entertaining. I’ll have a coffee, eggs over easy, with a Hoffman video, please.

[kvg]

Regardless of the fact that it will attract fingerprints. Can we just admire the reflection on the side of the Profitec Pro 500. It's just perfect.

[kunkprime]

We have had our Rancilio Silvia for almost 20 years. It has made our Lattes every morning and never had a problem. It makes a great cup of espresso or Latte with ease. I like the fact that it's built like a tank and will probably last far longer than we'll be around to use it. I appreciate equipment that's built to last rather than the iPhone approach where you have to change it out every few years the cost of 1000 dollars. The Rancilio Silvia that we have is obviously an earlier model. I believe we paid ~$500 USD for the machine in execelent condition. I purchased a PID kit from Aubern at $150 USD that eliminates the need to temperature surf the machine. It could probably also benefit from a "competition" filter basket at $50 USD. I don't mind making these mods because the machine has a very solid basis to build from. I would much rather have a Sylvia and make the mods than have another machine that had perhaps a tighter temperature bandwidth but did not hold up. My vote is for the Rancilio Sylvia as the best prosumer" espresso machine. At a total cost of ~ $700 USD. We also have a Rancilio Rocky grinder that has been just as reliable as the Sylvia and does a great job grinding. It was only $500 and is a great match for Sylvia. Most vendors offer the current Sylvia with a PID. When you add a high end filter basket to the porta-filter you end up with a world class competition machine that will last you almost forever. Simply put it's Reliable it makes a great shot it's a joy to use and it steams the crap out of milk.

[MaxHollowaay]

Barista of 13 years here, I have had all these machines and many more, and i can tell you without a doubt, the Breville dual boiler is by far the best non commercial machine I've owned, if you know what you're doing, it will never let you down

[shivasingh]

Sage DB owner here, and I think you've hit the nail on the head here. The one thing I appreciate every morning is how how quickly it gets up to temperature once you turn it on.

[kevingordon]

I just found James on my search for a new espresso machine. I ended up watching like twenty of his videos. Kudos for being one of the most credible and useful reviewers that I've ever watched.

[kevinn]

My parents bought me a Faema machine 26 yrs ago and it has been incredible. I once had the pump replaced and the tech said that this machine as all metal inside, never throw this away. You have to spend 3 times the amount to get this kind off quality now. That made me very happy as both my parents have passed away now and it's turned into a reminder of them every morning. I love the look of the Profitec machine, and would love to own one but I think my Faema would have to explode into a hundred bits for me to move on.

[LindySellsHomes]

An Old school Silvia paired with Sir Rocky has been in my kitchen for 11 years, no issues ever. 11 years of daily espressos, brewed perfectly. I descale once per quarter, empty the drip tray once per week. The others look beautiful and would be fun to take for a ride like the new boy at school. But my Mack truck Silvia gets the job done and continues to make me smile every morning.

[benanderson]

"I can forsee someone making a terrible mess of their kitchen counter"

Yes. Me. I have the regular Silvia and I ended up with one such mess to the point where I had to move the machine and mop everything up. It's the one thing about the Silvia I actively hate.

[feralferret]

ECM Synchronika owner here for over a year, which effectively has the same innards as a Profitec Pro 700. Gets used every day, love it. Build quality is rock solid.

[michaeldavis]

I don't own the Rancillo but I am an electrical engineer and understand why their engineers chose to use the Momentary Switches. The engineers actually improved the reliability because the control voltages can be much lower and that can eliminat- the arcing between the contacts of the switch. This machine apparently makes use of PID controllers and electronic Latches. When the Momentary switch is depressed the latch 'Holds" that signal for use by the electronic controller which is basically a computer-based system.

[garydyke]

The pressure issue with the Sage : you can run the entire shot at any start pressure you like, simply set Preinfusion time to 60 seconds and adjust the pp . pp66 is roughly 6BAR on my machine.