Which coffee maker?

[ifIwerenotanandroid]

I don't have a clue about this. I just want to be able to make fabulous tasting coffee at home & to have restaurant-quality cappuccinos.

Should I go for a bean-to-cup machine? A grinder & a cafetiere (is there some modern equivalent?).

I don't want pods & I've already got a cheapo stand-alone milk frother/heater which solidifies the milk froth instead of leaving it loose & foamy.

Not a clue. All info/ recommendations welcome.

Edited to add: the reason for my ignorance is that I've always been a tea drinker. But now I want coffee!

Grinding beans takes time and adds another step. But… buying whole beans and grinding at home gives a fresher, tastier cup of coffee.

Sage machine. We have bottom of the range bought second hand. It grinds the beans. If you want to use the wand to froth/heat milk you can do that. It makes good coffee. A cheap alternative we used for many years is the Italian hob style coffee maker, hand grinder for the beans. To be honest, I just microwave the milk for speed. Frothing etc is messy for day to day. But good fun for guests/special treat.

Sage The Barista Express

Makes delicious coffee and, once you've got the hang of it, is really very easy

Apart from the above suggestions, if you would like to try something out for not much outlay there is pour over coffee (not for cappuccino, though). You can buy a dripper and filter papers for £10-20. I have excellent pour over coffee every day.

Another vote for sage, we've got the barista pro.

We have a stand alone grinder to grind beans (smells amazing) and a mocca master filter coffee machine 👌

edited to say that we drink black coffee so I guess this won’t appeal as much to those that want to froth milk etc!

Thanks for these recommendations & ideas. Will investigate.❤

Another vote for Sage. If you don’t want pod or capsule machines then it is the only real option.

Depends how much you want to spend. I've gone for a Sage grinder which grinds in seconds, I grind fresh each morning and use a cafetiere. I have a jug milk frother for when I want hot milk, which is not often. The best thing you can do to make good coffee is buy good coffee beans from a company that grinds them in limited dated batches.

Hardly, there is pour over and stovetop pots.

Another vote for Sage, we’ve had a Barista Pro for the last 10 years but upgraded to the Barista Oracle Touch during Black Friday and on a near weekly basis DH or I will still wax lyrical over how it’s the best coffee we’ve had. We managed to get it on an amazing deal refurbished and it arrived like new, so very happy.

Well, while I was musing the options as suggested by you all, DH went out shopping & brought home a £10 cafetiere & some ground coffee. With that & my £10 milk frother from years ago, we've made some delicious coffee! I'm probably a philistine in these matters, but I'm satisfied with that for the moment.