How we score

What we read

We look for every serious review of a machine or grinder: long-term owners, café-trained testers and in-depth articles from established coffee publications. We skip unboxings, ads and videos that only show the product without judging it. We work hard to filter out promotional and sponsored reviews.

Each model counts as its own product. A Barista Express review never counts toward the Barista Express Impress, and a first-generation grinder's review never counts toward its successor.

How we count

For each thing a buyer cares about, like the shots, the steam wand or the grind, we note whether each source praised it, criticized it, or was mixed. A source counts once per topic, and praise that comes with a stated drawback counts as mixed.

We only count sources that talked about that topic, so a topic score reflects the people who actually discussed it, not everyone who reviewed the product.

Scores out of 10 and 100

Each topic score reflects how many of the sources that discussed it praised it, with mixed opinions counting for less than praise.

The overall score out of 100 weighs the topics by how much they matter day to day: for a machine the shots count most, then steam, ease, build quality and upkeep. When few sources mention a topic, we say so next to its score.

Sources who got the product free

Some channels are sent the machine by the brand, or sell it in their own shop. We note it on every review we list, and we keep a second score without them.

How the stories are written

The stories are our summary of what the reviews say. Every quote is word for word and links to the review it comes from, down to the minute in the video. We don't pull shots ourselves; our job is to read and watch the people who do, so you don't have to. Figures for pressure, temperature and heat-up time are the maker's specs unless a source says it measured them.