Best Super Automatic Espresso Machine:
A Complete Guide [2024]

If you’re on the hunt for the best super automatic espresso machine, then you’re in the right place. You already know there’s no better way to start the day than with the smell (and flavor) of a freshly brewed espresso. So, after years of in-depth testing, we’re sharing our picks of the best bean-to-cup coffee makers that deliver the greatest quality drinks with maximum ease.

Short for time? You can’t go wrong with the Jura Z10. As a top performer and all-around incredible espresso maker, it’s our top pick for good reason (more on that later). But it also comes with a top-tier price tag. For something a little more budget-friendly, we recommend the Philips 3200. You’ll also love the Breville Oracle Touch if you don’t want to compromise on perfecting your espresso shots (but still want the ease of a super-automatic).

That said, great espresso machines come and go over time. That’s why we’re constantly testing and sharing our unbiased feedback with you. And it’s why we’ve revamped this list with all the top models for 2024. Read on as we break down our favorites, why they made our list of the top fully automatic espresso machines, and who they’re best suited to.

So to help you make the decision, we’ve tested all the top options on the market right now and whittled it down to this list of the 11 best machines currently available. Take an in-depth look at each option using our unfiltered, unbiased reviews, the pros and cons, and information as to who each model is best suited to. Let’s get to the good stuff:

Jura Z10: Our Top Pick

The Jura coffee machine range is very impressive and the Jura Z10 is the best of the bunch for us. It offers great quality coffee with a huge array of drinks and customization options in a very nice-looking and easy-to-use package.

Yes, this package is expensive. But getting high-quality hot and cold coffees, perfectly adjusted to your tastes, at a touch is worth a hefty price tag. Especially as the cold coffees are actually brewed “cold” and not just designed to be poured over ice. Though you can of course do that if you prefer iced coffee/iced latte.

The touch screen is a little too sensitive for our liking but you can also use the dial to scroll through the 32 drinks options and choose your perfect strength, temperature, and volume. Or the J.O.E. app on your phone will let you select and customize drinks to your heart’s content.

If you want the ultimate “do-it-all” super automatic espresso machine then the Jura Z10 is the best option out there.

Breville Oracle Touch: Best for Perfectionists

The Breville Oracle Touch is a serious piece of espresso engineering.

Everything has been designed to give you as much control as possible, without having to learn to be a barista-level espresso puller. 45 grind settings, up to 22g dose, precise temperature, shot length adjustment, milk temperature, and milk foam.

While there are only 5 drinks pre-programmed, with this many options to choose from, you can save basically any coffee you can dream up.

This “classic” design does require you to move the portafilter from the dosing/tamping area to the brew head. But if you can cope with this mammoth task, you’re rewarded with so many options.

This machine is best suited to perfectionists as it’s only really worth the money if you plan to spend time digging deep into the settings for perfect espresso and milk. If you’re looking to just adjust a few things to make your coffee the right size or strength, then you’re paying a lot for things you don’t need.

This is true of most coffee machines from Breville. They’re for people who want to put in some time to get their coffee absolutely perfect. You can also go fully manual with the Oracle Touch if you want complete control. This is the opposite style to Jura who believes ease is everything so comparing Jura and Breville is tough – their philosophy is so different.

Maybe you’re an espresso enthusiast but others in your house want to simply push a button? The Oracle Touch could be a perfect compromise to keep everyone caffeinated and happy.

Just be warned: it’s big, it’s heavy, and it’s quite expensive. But we love it and if you can afford it, buy it. Buy it now. You will be so happy you did.

Philips 3200 LatteGo: Best Super Automatic on a Budget

The Philips LatteGo 3200 delivers a lot for an affordable price.

It’s aimed at the casual coffee drinker who wants to swap out their daily café habit for home coffee making. And it seriously delivers:

It’s incredibly easy to use and clean (especially the milk system). Plus the button layout means the instructions can be safely ignored without issues.

What makes this a particularly impressive super automatic espresso machine is the inclusion of a flat ceramic burr grinder. That’s incredibly rare at this price point (though we find it a bit loud).

The milk foam works nicely for cappuccino and latte. That said, when making a cappuccino, the foam is a little too dense and the espresso is added after the milk, which is confusing.

As an entry-level machine, it offers quality coffee with minimal effort. This is all we can ask for at the lower price bracket so it gets our vote. Plus, it’s regularly discounted from $1000 to $800 throughout the year for an even better bargain.

Anyone looking to upgrade from a pod machine or quit their daily cafe journey will love the LatteGo3200.

Saeco Xelsis: Best Bang for Your Buck

The flagship of Philips’ Saeco superautomatic espresso machine range, the Xelsis (SM7684/04) aims to be the ultimate coffee companion for your home.

It comes with 15 pre-programmed drinks options, plus various customization settings. You can also set up 6 profiles so everyone can save their personal favorites.

Pretty much everything you’d want to customize about your coffee can be: if you can think it, you can do it. Some of these changes are done with a nice visual “coffee equalizer” which is designed to look like the equalizer on a sound system.

We’re big fans of the ceramic burr grinder – it’s very high quality, quiet, and has 12 grind settings.

The milk container comes as a separate unit that can be stored in the fridge. This is handy, reduces waste, and makes cleaning easier – cleaning is something Saeco has made a real effort to make easy. The water filters make descaling an incredibly rare task, which is always appreciated!

On the negative side, this machine isn’t as insanely customizable as the Breville Oracle Touch. But then it’s also quite a bit cheaper.

Overall this is one of the best automatic espresso machines that will almost certainly improve your daily coffee routine.

Jura E8: Best Mid-Range Fully Automatic Machine

Here we have a sleek, modern design, packed with technology designed to get the best out of your coffee beans.

The Jura E8 is a “one-touch” coffee lover’s dream, especially if you prefer a modern design. Super automatic espresso machines are expensive and the E8 sits roughly in the middle of the pack in terms of price.

For us, the E8 is the best Jura espresso machine. It has the perfect blend of price, looks, and performance. While it isn’t as good as the Z10, it is considerably cheaper and if you don’t drink cold coffees, it’s by far the better choice.

The updated model comes with 15 specialty coffee options, Jura’s superb professional aroma grinder, and up to 16g dose for rich and full-flavored espresso. All of this plus the excellent customization options will keep all your varied coffee lovers happy.

Great looks, great coffee, great options, and simple to use. Sounds like a perfect coffee recipe to us.

Gaggia Brera: Best Entry-Level

If you’re looking through this list of the best super automatic espresso machines and despairing at the cost, Gaggia has the answer:

The Gaggia Brera is often under $500, which is an absolute bargain for this kind of espresso machine. Ok, maybe it isn’t the best-looking machine in the world and the user interface is quite dated, but these are small issues considering the knocked-down price.

What you do get is a nice ceramic flat burr grinder, some good options for customizing your espresso, and it’s simple to operate. All this leads to a decent shot of espresso being pulled with little effort from you.

The milk frother is also powerful and can generate a good microfoam, but it does rely on you doing it all yourself. This isn’t for everyone but it’s also not that complex so, for us, it’s not a deal breaker.

You can play with the strength and grind size, though there aren’t many options for either. But you’ll definitely get an enjoyable espresso or lungo from the Brera with the option to add nicely foamed milk if you wish.

For this price, the Gaggia Brera really delivers. If you currently use a single-serve machine or are just starting out on your espresso making journey, this is a great upgrade.

Jura Giga 10: Best for Offices

We hesitated to include the Jura Giga 10 on our list of the best super-automatic espresso machines as it costs so much money. It offers way more features than the majority of households would ever need, but if you have a massive family or small office, this could be a great pick for you.

Basically every coffee you could ever want is pre-programmed into the Giga 10, including cold brewed coffees. These drinks can be customized, saved, or ‘ordered’ via the JOE app which we love.

It has 2 grinders with individual hoppers. This means you can use 2 totally different roasts, origins, or caffeine levels and switch between them at any time.

The biggest downside is the obvious one: it’s a serious investment. Plus, the cleaning and maintenance are a little more involved since you have 2 of everything. You’ll also need a lot of space as it’s enormous: 12.6 inches wide x 16.3 inches high and 19.5 inches deep.

If you have a spare couple of thousand dollars lying around, it’s an incredible super-automatic espresso machine. It’s like hiring a personal barista for the office but much cheaper.

DeLonghi Eletta Explore: Best Drinks Choice

If you want as much choice as possible in hot, cold, and large form then the DeLonghi Eletta Explore is the machine for you. You have over 50 options to choose from with hot and cold milk foam options.

The Eletta Explore has such an insane number of options as most are available hot, cold, or XL (for travel mugs). So it’s not that they’ve managed to think up 50+ different coffees, which would be nuts. It’s that most coffees have 3 options. The menu is split into hot, cold, and XL to make navigating this huge array easier too.

Giving you as many options as possible for a bargain price is sort of DeLonghi’s thing. We looked at how DeLonghi’s strategy compares to Breville’s more stripped-back and quality-driven approach.

If you love having a cold coffee in summer but hot in winter, and you want the option to have a travel mug-sized drink for commuting then this is absolutely perfect. You get all the usual customization options and there are also user profiles so everyone can save their favorites.

The espresso quality is still really good and the milk foam is decent. But it isn’t up to the quality of some of the other super automatic machines here. We’re looking at quantity over quality. But if that sounds perfect for you then it’s a brilliant machine.

Gaggia Accademia: Best Looking Super Automatic Espresso Machine

The Gaggia Accademia has had a serious glow-up over the previous model. The black glass with the LCD screen and red accent is absolutely stunning making it comfortably the best-looking machine available right now and the best Gaggia espresso maker.

But this isn’t a beauty pageant.

You also get 15 coffee options, including some niche Italian drinks like melange. Then you can adjust the strength, length, temperature, pre-infusion, flow rate, milk volume, and milk foam. When you’re happy with your choices, simply save them to one of 4 profiles, keeping everyone’s perfect drinks just a touch away.

We have slight niggles though. Like the max dose being 11.5g but the minimum espresso size being 1oz (28ml) so we can’t get the 1:2 ratio that we want for espresso.

That said, the coffee quality is great and the flow control dial helps to nail extraction for espresso and longer drinks like lungo. As you can adjust your milk foam or steam it yourself, basically any coffee you can imagine is achievable, which is amazing.

The Gaggia Accademia is gorgeous, makes great coffee, and is built to last. Okay, it might not excel at any one thing like some of the others but it’s a good all-rounder in the prettiest package.

Jura E4: Best for Black Coffee Drinkers

The Jura E4 is the perfect “treat yo’self” super automatic espresso machine. It isn’t cheap, and it doesn’t do a lot BUT it does make incredible espresso, lungo, and Americano. With all the best Jura tech and a max dose of 16g, you can get a seriously impressive and nuanced shot with just a touch.

The obvious downside is that it only does this and it isn’t exactly cheap.

But if you’re an exclusively black coffee drinker and want a great coffee at a touch that is lightyears ahead of the best single-serve machines, then the Jura E4 delivers. And it delivers in spades.

If you purchase the additional WiFi Connect adapter then you get an additional 2 drink options via the app (they’re both americano variations). There’s also a hot water dispenser if you want to go solo.

A perfect black coffee drinker’s dream.

Gaggia Magenta Prestige: Best Value for Money

For such a reasonable price, the Gaggia Magenta packs a lot in. Not only does it look fantastic but it also makes great espresso and milk foam, has a ceramic flat burr grinder, and offers a good selection of coffee and customization options.

The value for money on offer here is pretty ridiculous as the Magenta Prestige outperforms much of the competition.

The only downside is that grinding and brewing are quite loud. So if you were looking to surprise your husband in bed with coffee (just leaving hints for my wife here…), you might wake them up in the process! Though if you have teenagers, you might find the caffeinated alarm clock a good thing!

Overall, you’ll not find better “bang for your buck” in super automatic land (outside of the slightly pricier Saeco Xelsis).

Often called a bean-to-cup machine, at just one touch of a button, you can enjoy true barista-level coffee. The espresso drinks are as easy to make and are consistent. They take over everything for you, automatically.

At just the press of a button, the machine will grind and tamp the perfect amount of ground coffee. Then, it will pour the perfect length of coffee, at the perfect temperature. Every. Single. Time.

All you have to worry about is pressing the right button. And keeping your super-automatic coffee machine topped up with coffee beans, water, and milk.

So, it kind of makes sense as to why they’re so expensive. And also why they’re so desirable. They are your own personal plug-in barista – feel free to write the wrong name on your cup too.

Let’s do some math:

Say you grab a coffee from your local coffee shop every day for around $4. So that’s $4, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year. That adds up to $1000 dollars a year on coffee. Now multiply that by the 5-10 years your super-automatic machine would last.

That’s quite a saving, even on an expensive machine.

Plus you get to show off your shiny new machine on your countertop. You don’t have to wait in queues. Nor are you limited by the bean and milk choices in your local coffee shop or performance variation in the baristas who happen to be working each day.

So, whilst fully automatic espresso machines do come with high price tags, they are definitely investment pieces that will save you time and money in the future.

To help save some pennies, you could look for a refurbished super automatic espresso machine from our list.

Jura

Jura is a Swiss coffee machine company that only makes superautomatic espresso machines. They exclusively produce top-of-the-range machines with very easy-to-use interfaces and a boatload of technology built-in.

Their range starts around $1000 and goes up well past $5000 for some machines that are better suited to busy offices rather than your home.

So, if you want a beautifully designed, easy-to-use, and extremely high-quality super automatic espresso machine then Jura is for you. Just as long you can swallow the price tag.

De’Longhi

De’Longhi is an Italian company that has been making coffee machines since 1993 – so they kinda know what they’re doing. Recently, they pivoted to being more of a high-end super automatic brand, moving away from the entry-level machines that used to dominate their lineup.

The result has been a lot of excellent espresso machines at great prices. Whilst they often prioritize function over form and use more plastic than we’d like, they do make great coffee at very reasonable prices.

The cheapest De’Longhi super automatics start around $700 which is great value for this type of machine.

Saeco/Philips

Saeco and Philips are two names for the same company:

Philips bought Saeco in 2009 and uses this brand for their high-end super-automatic machines. The improvement to Philips espresso machines has mostly been due to the influence of Saeco in the manufacturing process.

When you buy a Saeco espresso machine, you can expect high-quality. But, most likely, high prices too. However, their commitment to quality engineering makes them a firm favorite in the espresso world. They’re a bit sleeker looking than De’Longhi machines and packed with features too.

They also focus on making everything as easy as possible, including cleaning. We’re big fans of this and it’s a huge reason why they’re so popular.

Gaggia

Gaggia is another Italian espresso machine maker that has been in the game for a long time – since 1947. Their super-automatic selection is steadily growing and they have one thing that many people crave: lots of stainless steel in their designs.

Gaggia seems less interested in “gimmicky” features such as touchscreens. Instead, they focus more on creating easy-to-use machines that produce quality espressos.

This means they don’t always look as great as some other options and the buttons can look a little dated. But they’re good where it counts and offer value for money.

Breville

The Australian company Breville is much newer to espresso machine making and has gone in a slightly different direction from these other top brands:

They don’t make many “super automatic” espresso machines. Instead, they focus on classic designs with portafilters and giving the user maximum control.

This makes them firm favorites with serious espresso nerds who want to control as much of the process as possible.

From their super-automatic offerings, you get a dizzying level of customization and are often able to take the reigns yourself, if so desired. They’re not cheap machines by any stretch but the classic looks and focus on user input make them great for espresso obsessives.

Well, that all depends on what you’re looking for.

What Type of Coffee do you Drink?

Flat white? Espresso? Latte?

Depending on your usual coffee order, the first thing you need to do is ensure that the machine you buy makes the type of coffee you want.

And, maybe it goes without saying, but if you don’t drink espresso-based drinks, an espresso coffee machine isn’t right for you!

If you’re a black coffee drinker, whilst your guests might be impressed by your many milky coffee options, it’s not worth paying the extra just for milk frothing.

If you love your milky coffee, you will want to make sure you can adjust the milk foam levels so it’s just right. Most super-automatics will have an automatic milk frother, but some have a separate milk wand. For total ease, you want one that’s built-in.

How Many People Will Use It?

Will you be making coffee just for 1? 2? Or, the whole office?

Some machines only have one boiler so it takes time to switch from coffee to milk. This is slightly annoying if a few people want to make a cortado or cappuccino in the morning.

However, if it’s just for 1 coffee drinker then paying extra for an espresso machine that can do 2 drinks at once is a bit redundant.

At the other end of the spectrum, if your super-automatic will be caffeinating en masse, it needs to be up to the task. In this case, you will need one of the heavy lifters near the top of the market. Take note of the water tank capacity too to save you running back and forth to the faucet.

How Much Control do you Want?

Are you just looking to press the button and go? Or are you an amateur barista looking to perfect every aspect of your coffee-drinking experience?

You can get an excellent espresso for less than half the price of some of the top-end machines if you aren’t interested in playing with it.

But if you want to adjust everything from grind to water temperature, you’ll have to spring for something a bit more advanced. Check out the machine’s programmability and available customization options if this is you.

Check the Quality of the Grinder

If there’s one thing that will take a mediocre coffee to a great one, it’s the quality and consistency of your grinder. So it’s one of the first things you should look at.

There are many different types of coffee grinders but on super-automatics, you will most likely see stainless steel conical burr grinders though there’s a growing number of ceramic burr grinders. Stainless steel can get hot while grinding which damages the flavor of the beans. Ceramics avoid this problem but the burrs are brittle and can chip, destroying the grinder.

We recommend prioritizing a stainless steel burr grinder as they generally don’t grind fast enough to damage the beans with heat.

You should also check how many grind settings the machine has, and what setting the manufacturer recommends you start on. We find you almost always have to grind finer than the standard setting so there needs to be room for adjustment there. There’s no use having 15 grind settings if they recommend starting on the second finest setting.

Every espresso coffee machine on this list puts up a strong argument for the top spot. But, the overall winner for us has to be the Jura Z10. The quality, ease of use, and customization make it second to none.

But, the price tag of your bean-to-cup machine has to be a consideration. As a more affordable super automatic espresso machine, we love the Philips 3200 LatteGo. Or if you’re an espresso perfectionist then the superb Breville Oracle Touch.

Take the time to consider what features you really need before taking the plunge. Buying the best super automatic espresso machine doesn’t come cheap, so you want to make sure your machine is perfect for you and will stand the test of time. So use each espresso machine review here to weigh up your needs to what it offers. 

Matt Woodburn-Simmonds

Matt's coffee obsession started in 2006 when working as a Barista. A tendency to turn up to work hungover kickstarted his coffee journey which quickly turned into a love affair. As he moved on to work as a Restaurant Manager and Sommelier, the obsession continued to grow. Now, his passion is helping others to enjoy better coffee at home.