Coffee Machines for Cafés - A Realistic Look in 2025

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The coffee machine is probably the most important piece of equipment in any café, but
choosing one isn’t straightforward. There’s a lot of marketing noise on the internet, so here
are a few key points below on what actually matters when running a café.

The Reality of Café Coffee Machines

Your espresso machine basically dictates how your café operates. It determines how quickly
You can serve customers, what drinks you can offer, and how much stress your baristas are under during rush periods.

We’ve seen cafés struggle because they picked the wrong machine for their situation. A
beautiful Italian espresso machine that looks amazing, but takes forever to steam milk?
Great for Instagram, but terrible when you’ve got 20 people waiting for takeaway coffees at 8
am.

What Actually Matters

Volume is everything. If you’re serving 50 coffees a day, your needs are completely different
from those of a place pushing 300+. Undersized machines will slow you down and frustrate
customers. Oversized ones waste money and counter space.

The number and training level of your baristas matter more than you’d think. Experienced
baristas can handle temperamental machines that produce amazing coffee. New hires or
high turnover? You need something more forgiving that won’t fall apart when someone
doesn’t follow the exact procedure.

Space constraints are real. London café counters aren’t exactly spacious. Measure properly
and consider your workflow – where are your cups, milk fridge, and grinder? The machine
has to fit into that puzzle.

Maintenance reality check. Every machine needs daily cleaning and regular servicing. Some
are genuinely easier than others. If closing-time cleanup takes an hour every night, that’s
significant over the course of a year.

What's Actually Available

The market isn’t as varied as the marketing suggests. Most café machines fall into a few categories:

Traditional espresso machines dominate for good reason. Manual control, proven reliability,
and they can handle volume when properly specified. Brands like Rancilio and La Marzocco
have been around for a long time because they work.

Super-automatic machines are suitable for some café settings and some specific
situations, such as chain stores, places with untrained staff, or environments with very high
volume.

Compact machines are suitable for smaller operations where space is limited, such as food trucks, small bakeries, or smaller cafes. The EX2
compact 2 group is ideal for these types of sites, as the machine doesn’t take up much space.
space and can still make two coffees at once.

Common Mistakes

Buying on aesthetics. That gorgeous copper machine might look perfect for your industrial-
chic café, but if it can’t handle your morning rush, your business will suffer.

Ignoring your water. London water is hard in most areas. Factor in filtration and descaling
costs, or you’ll be calling engineers constantly.

Underestimating training time. Even ‘simple’ machines require proper training— Caffia
Provide comprehensive training at no cost with all machines.

Realistic Options

CREM machines offer a good return on investment with a range of machine sizes
from compact 2 groups to full size 3 groups. The EX2 2 group is as

a well respected brand straightforward, reliable, and handles moderate volume without drama.
The EX3 3 group can handle fast-pace environments, making 3 cups of coffee at a time
and up to 500 cups per day.

Rancilio Classe 5 is popular for a reason. Proven design, good build quality and, aesthetic
branding. There is also an Eco version which can help reduce energy costs.

Larger operations might consider three-group machines, but honestly, most cafés would be
better served by a well-maintained two-group machine than a larger machine that's
neglected.

The Money Reality

Making the DecisionA Good commercial espresso machine typically starts at around £2,500 for a
compact machine and £3,000 for a full-size, and increase from there up to £12,000. That’s
including installation, training, and warranty, you then need to consider
initial a service contract, which can be done at the time or at a later stage after your warranty
runs out.

Financing is an option for coffee machines, which
many people consider the cost of a machine that breaks down, plus lost business, can
It may often be more than just a new machine, especially if your machine is over 5 years old.

Making the Decision

Visit working cafés and see machines in action during busy periods. Discuss with owners
their experience, not just the sales pitch they received.

Consider your business plans, but avoid over-specifying where you might be in three years.
It’s better to start with something appropriate and upgrade at a later stage than struggle with
an oversized machine from the start.

Most importantly, consider your total ecosystem, including the grinder, water treatment,
service support, and staff training. The machine is just one part of a consistently good coffee
service.

Conclusions

There's no perfect machine, just machines that work better for specific situations. Focus on
reliability, appropriate capacity, and realistic maintenance requirements rather than
impressive feature lists.

The best machine is often the most consistent one – the one that works consistently, day
after day, without drama. Your customers care about their coffee being ready quickly and
tasting good, not whether your machine has the latest gadgets.

Coffee Machines for Cafés – A Realistic Look in 2025