Help me find a coffee machine so that I am not embarrassed when I have guests!!!

[MsFogi]

We drink a LOT of tea but not coffee. I am becoming increasingly embarrassed when people come over to only offer them instant (or, at a push, cafetière coffee) so I'm going to get a coffee machine. I'm happy to spend a up to about £250 (obviously less would be better ), I want something that is pretty easy to use and not a massive faff to clean. So wise coffee-drinking-MNers can anyone suggest what I should get to be able to offer visitors a decent cup of coffee?

Save a load of money and get some coffee bags!

I LOVE coffee and make mine either on the stove top or in a cafetière but when I had these at a friends they were a revelation as the taste was great.

The pod machines are a lot of ongoing cost and IMO not all that great tasting. And the coffee still isn't "fresh", or as fresh as a coffee shop one.

@Donotgogentle

www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-partners-3-cup-espresso-maker-silver/p3967437

You could save yourself £237.50 and get a stovetop espresso maker or as pp have said use a cafetière.

My go to ground coffee is Lavazza or Illy. DH grinds beans but i find it too much faffing.

This. A bialetti is cheap and authentic! What matters most is the beans you use. Buy an electric grinder and some good coffee beans. All that will be cheaper than a fancy machine.

You can’t get better than a
£3ish drip filter or cafetiers as second.
If YOU want a machine then do it for you not what ‘friends’ will think.

I am at the idea of spending £250 on a machine to make coffee when you don't even drink it yourselves! And the waste of counter surface too!

We use either filter come & papers (DH swears this makes the best coffee) or a stovetop espresso machine. Also have a cafetiete but it gets used less often.

A machine is utterly unnecessary even if you drink coffee, but even more so if you dont.

^ filter cone & papers, that should say.

As a black coffee drinker, the “pod” coffee is better than instant but I’d prefer good quality coffee in a cafetière. We use a mokka pot (stove top) with good coffee as easier to clean than cafetière (you make espresso then top up with hot water). I have a family member who has a pod machine but always gets a cafetière out for me because he knows I actually like coffee.

@OverByYer

Stick to a cafetière , pod coffee is rank

Yep, this.

The Mokka pots are pretty much what Italians use to make coffee. They don’t have fancy machines at home. The benefit of these us that the coffee is hot and the water is forced through the coffee at high temperatures so it produces a better flavour.

I have a coffee machine and a cafetière bug use a mokka pot most days.

Our Russell Hobbs perc is perfect and only about £30- and you can put it on timer!

Cafetière preferred here too.

Much more personal and thoughtful so don’t bother with a machine. I’m a coffee lover but hate coffee from pods - always seems wasteful and plastic tasting. I hate being offered a pod coffee. Your guests will love you more for a cafetière.

I actually prefer instant.

I can’t stand the stuff that comes out of a cafetière or a machine. It always seems to have a mixture of being too strong (I have 2 tapes of instant) then have a watery taste
Friend has spent years trying to get me to like her coffee machine. I now bring my own jar of instant with me

I came on to say coffee and oven top cafetierre. Coffee fanatic friend in spain uses this. You absolutely done need rocsownd good money on a coffee machine to impress friends. Use it on therapy to explore your insecurity...(honeatky it may help) . You dont drink coffee.. .having some at home for guests, with a a cafetiere, is more than enough.

Honestly? Just use the cafetiere! Coffee machines are bad for the environment anyway.

Drip filter, aeropress, stove top and cafetiere all make great coffee - fresh ground beans are important so get a small grinder or buy small bags. Or store ready ground in the freezer.

My top tip for frothy milk is to warm milk in the microwave in the glass bit of a small cafetiere, then push the plunger up and down really quickly - it creates the best foam for cappuccinos etc, better than anything else I've used.

If your not drinking yourselves go with Taylor coffee bags available in supermarkets. Just like coffee from a cafetiere but quick and easy. I love coffee and take these if going overnight as I can't stand instant.

If you're going to be making it regularly then for convenience something like this machine ...

Otherwise cafetière is fine.

@Allaboutyou222

All those coffee pods for a Nespresso creates a load of waste. Plus you can only make one cup at a time. A cafetière can do a few cups.

They are are aluminium so can be recycled and they offer a service when you can return them for free for Nespresso to recycle.

We have an aeropress, and a stove top, mostly use the aeropress [several times a day], but please don't spend unnecessary £ just for show. You already have a perfectly good coffee maker in your cafetiere. Absolutely no need to spend loads on a fancy machine that doesn't make coffee any better than what you have.

I do recommend just spending some on a good milk frother. We have the lavazza one. If you pop some milk in, with a teaspoon of a decent instant, and then froth, it makes a decent drink if you haven't got time to set up the aeropress/stove top.

There’s pod coffee and pod coffee. Nespresso is consistently good; Dolce Vita and Taissimo are generally rank.

Bialleti stovetop I don’t like at all because it’s so bitter.

Cafetière is great but not espresso based - I drink both at different times of day

OP, the responses here are almost unanimous, with seasoned coffee drinkers telling you that cafetière coffee is your best option (especially as otherwise you’ll have an expensive gadget sitting on your worktop unused most of the time).

Yet you still seem set on spending hundreds on a coffee machine. Why? Is it more about trying to impress your guests with an expensive gadget than giving them the kind of coffee they would like?

They are are aluminium so can be recycled and they offer a service when you can return them for free for Nespresso to recycle

You’re talking about recycling something that didn’t need to exist in the first place and isn’t superior to any of the other options mentioned ( plus works out more expensive for the initial outlay and the coffee per cup) It’s a lose lose.

We've had our nespresso citi for years and are very happy with it. The capsules are returned for recycling.

Don’t get a Nespresso etc. Yes the capsules can be recycled now but you don’t need that waste in the first place?
Cafetière coffee is fine, I love it and drink a lot of coffee. Buy posh coffee

They are are aluminium so can be recycled

You knows what's a 1000 times better than recycling? Not producing the stuff in the first place.

We just have the classic Italian stovetop coffee pot. Costs a few pounds. It’s perfect. Fancy coffee machines are ridiculous, in my opinion. I’d be embarrassed to have one of them.