When you start working, you need to wake up early every morning to get into the office on time. But as days go by, it becomes harder and harder for you to wake up as your body becomes more tired from work, especially doing those over time work. That's why a cup of coffee in the morning would greatly help you look forward to waking up and not to mention, keeping you up while you're working in the office. But that should not be any kind of coffee, it needs to taste good and has an aroma that really takes you away!
Coffee afficionado or not, you will certainly get a coffee maker at some point. Some may settle with just drinking instant coffee where you only have to tear the sachet away, pour the coffee powder to a cup and add hot water. There you go, you got a coffee on your hand. And although some these do taste good, the experience is not complete and cannot compare to the taste brewed from real beans done by coffee and espresso machines. That is why I highly recommend you to get one yourself because the value will totally worth it.
But before you head out and go straight to shopping malls, as easy as it may sound, it's not really that easy to buy one and may even take some time. Why? Because, there are sooo many espresso machines out there! You may buy one that works but there's no assurance that it will work long enough for a year or fit your needs. And when a machine doesn't have a high quality, aside from the troubles it will bring you from keep buying or fixing it, the coffee it produces may not also tastes that good, you will be disappointed and the experience will not be as fun as you had hope it to be. So to find one that fits all your needs and preferences, there are few things that you first need to answer yourself and things you need to check so you can narrow down the available machines to choose from.
COMMON FACTORS TO CONSIDER BEFORE BUYING A COFFEE AND ESPRESSO MAKER
1. What is your budget?
Like anything else, when you're out to buy a thing, you always should first consider your budget. How much will you be willing to spend for the machine? You shouldn't go too stingy on your budget because cheap ones usually are the kinds that break easily. The same goes for the opposite, not all the expensive ones are always the best. You can actually buy decent ones that brew great tasting cups and stand for long years of use. But the budget will definitely help cross out all the available models in the market and will make it a lot easier for you to buy one.
Now along with your budget, you would always want to have a machine warranted for years. But be careful, you don't want to have a cheap machine that although it has a long warranty, it can break easily that will trouble you to keep delivering it to the manufacturing office to avail its warranty. It's almost as good as broken and you not having your deserved coffee break. It will save you more trouble if the machine can last for years working properly than one that only last for months even if it has a long warranty.
2. What is your lifestyle?
Now you're lifestyle will greatly affect your buying decision and may sometimes let you go a bit higher than you're supposed budget. We have different lifestyles that will fit better for a specific type of machine.
Now first thing about looking at your lifestyle is whether you're always on the go and in a hurry to use one or do you happen to have your office at home? There are 3 types of espresso machine: Manual, semi-automatic and super automatic. When you've figured out the kind of lifestyle you have, you will figure out the type of machine you will need to buy.
To help you better understand how these 3 works, these affect the complexity of operating the machine and some may affect taste as well. But focusing in relation to one's lifestyle and complexity of these machine, if you want the easiest way to operate the machine then a superautomatic type best fits you. Manual, as you can already see from its name, manual machines lets you set all the things according to your preference. But at the same time, you will have to do all the work and you can't leave it while it makes coffee. And since you have to operate all on your own, manual machine requires more work and complexities when you operate the work. Semi-automatic on the other hand in a gist, can function in auto mode and still let you make according to your preference such as letting you decide how much water to put or fill your glass etc. Superautomatic does all the work and the amount of coffee it pours to a cup is automated, depending on what it is installed with.
So think it this way, does you lifestyle let you take your time in the morning or are you always in a hurry? If you answer the first one, then a manual or semi-automatic machine is for you while if you answer the last one, no doubt a super automatic machine is perfect for you. If you like to make more servings as well, manual and semi-automatic are still better options since these two types allow you to set how much coffee you want since the automatic machines are more limited to adjusting its settings.
On a different note, you should check your house and plan where you would like to put the machine. If you live in smaller apartments you may have to opt for smaller machines.
3. Are you casual drinker or do you want to be a more professional coffee owner?
If you're planning to be like a barista, you would need bigger budget and it would be more complicated to operate. But if you are a casual drinker and don't need all the mumbo-jumbo, you don't want to encounter those complexities, go with simpler machines. This is best for those who are just starting to learn how to use an espresso machine. This also applies whether you're fit to own a manual, semi-auto and super automatic machine.
Along with what kind of drinker are you includes whether you want coffee based or milk-based coffee. Some espresso machines are not available with this option so you would have to expand your budget a bit further to get a machine that all the functions you need. While there are also machines that are solely available to work as a steamer for you.
With those covered, you will surely find an espresso machine that will perfectly fit your needs. But of course, we also have some "wants" that we can also consider such as aesthetics and the like. Some are meticulous to how their kitchen looks. There are some models that are available in different colors while some are only limited and look as they built like stainless steel appliances.
Now that all of these are out of the way, you are now set to go shopping and look forward to waking up to the aroma of brewed coffee.
Michael York is an entrepreneur and blogger. He loves writing and puts health to priority. He hopes to help others as well by promoting use of products that can bring beneficial effects to our health. Because of this, his passion for writing and love for healthy lifestyle lead him to become a regular contributor and writing reviews for Espresso Perfecto .
