De'Longhi La Specialista Maestro Espresso Machine with Coffee Grinder

Why it's worth it

The La Specialista Maestro grinds, tamps with a lever, and froths milk automatically with the LatteCrema system. Five temperature settings and eight drink presets mean you can hand it to anyone in the house and get a drinkable cappuccino.

If your household includes people who will never learn to steam milk, this is the machine to get. The LatteCrema Hot system froths automatically at one touch, and there's a commercial-style manual wand alongside it for when you want to practice. Most machines make you choose one or the other. Here you get both, which is genuinely useful in a house with mixed ambitions.

The Smart Tamping lever does the same job as Breville's assisted tamper — even pressure, no mess, no technique required. Combined with 15 grind settings and an automatic dose, you're removing most of the ways a beginner ruins a shot. The pump runs high pressure but steps down to roughly 9 bar during extraction, with a low-pressure pre-infusion phase first that helps water spread evenly through the puck.

From our review of 7 espresso machines for home baristas, by David Sinclair, Managing Editor

What we like

• +If your household includes people who will never learn to steam milk, this is the machine to get
• +The Smart Tamping lever does the same job as Breville's assisted tamper — even pressure, no mess, no technique required
• +Five selectable infusion temperatures is the feature experienced users will appreciate most

What to know

• –It's the biggest machine here — 18.5 inches tall, over 35 pounds — so it eats a serious chunk of counter
• –The automatic milk system has more parts to clean than a bare steam wand