Coffee machine help

[Cherrytreat]

I am lost in a sea of coffee machines, please help.

I gave up drinking last year and now have replaced my love/hate relationship with wine for nice black coffee.

I've got a pod machine atm and would like to get rid of pods, but would like a really quick, convenient coffee before work.

My budget is £200 ish. I have an electric coffee grinder, so can be ground coffee. It needs to be small, quick, really easy to use. I'm not too bothered about frothy milk.

Any ideas?

I have a sage barista which admittedly cost more than £200 but it’s fantastic and gets used tons, so worth every penny.

I bought a Timemore C3 burr coffee grinder as an alternative to coffee machines which only lasted me just iver 12 months. The electric bean grinders change the flavour by burning the coffee but this manual grinder preserves the flavours.

I would safe the extra money & go for the Sage Bambino Plus - this is the one we have (i know i wrote Pro instead of Plus in my earlier post) it's a fantastic machine

I would definitely recommend the Aeropress, but it has some downsides.

I only use it for one coffee for myself in the morning (it makes an espresso, although aficionados would maybe claim it's not really a true espresso), which I turn into a latte. I use a hand grinder and grind coffee beans fresh everyday, and use a cheap milk frother I bought on Amazon.

Part of me would love a fancy coffee machine where I could just push a button and it does everything for me, but I personally couldn't deal with having to clean and maintain it, so the Aeropress suits me great.

Aeropress Pros:
It's not expensive
Very easy to use
Easy to clean and maintain
No waste really (I put coffee grounds and papers into my brown bin)
Portable - I brought it with me staying down the country a few months ago, and had a lovely coffee every morning

Cons:
Only makes a small amount of coffee, really only for one or two people.
Doesn't do any fancy extras like the coffee machines

I've had it since the first lockdown a few years ago when my local coffee shop closed and I needed my morning coffee fix, so I bought it and started a coffee subscription with the same supplier of coffee beans that the café uses, and have saved myself a fortune over the years.

Aeropress is quick. Still needs cleaning tho

Eject the paper and grounds into the bin, rinse under the tap - that's all it needs most of the time.

Imo it's worth getting one even if you decide later to get a machine of some sort because you can take it on holiday, camping even - it's lightweight and tough.