I Tested Four Smart Coffee Makers and Here’s What I Found
I have a simple dream: I wake up in the morning, and somewhere in the kitchen a coffee maker starts brewing strong espresso or latte. When I arrive in the kitchen a few minutes later, this cup is already waiting for me, so my legs barely stop moving as I grab it and move to the couch to start the day. A smart espresso maker feels like he can make this dream a reality, right? Having tested brands that make smart coffee makers, I can say that they are not always the perfect realization of my dream, but these machines are all exceptionally well made. (And expensive. And not without its eccentricities.)
Miele Milky Perfection 6360
Price: $2,715.99. Water capacity: 60 oz. Milk steamer: Glass container with lid, metal and silicone tube, additional metal tube for milk container. What drinks it produces : ristretto, espresso, coffee, long coffee, cappuccino, latte machiato, hot milk, milk foam. , espresso macchiato, Italian cappuccino, flat white, café au lait, café latte, hot water Works with: Alexa, Google Home
The name Miele is synonymous with high-quality home appliances. I tested their most expensive autonomous car with Wi-Fi capability. In my review of the Miele Milk Perfection, I noted how much I liked the coffee itself. While the list of drink options wasn’t endless, it covered all the bases you’d expect or need to use to create your own drink, and it did it flawlessly and quickly—probably faster than any other machine I’ve tested. While all machines produce hot water for tea, only Miele has four special settings for different types of tea. I really liked the quality of the milk container and how easy it is to store in the refrigerator between uses. The grinder had five different settings, and you could influence the thickness of the coffee not only by grinding, but also by adjusting the amount of coffee in any drink. Of all the machines I’ve tried, this one produced the best milk of all, creating impressive foam, as well as the ability to make hot milk separately, which meant a variety of drinks like hot chocolate.
I didn’t like the UX of the machine itself. Even though the machine itself is beautiful, the unlabeled buttons were cumbersome. The screen was not touch-sensitive and was difficult to use due to the very small buttons. Changing the serving size or canceling the drink halfway was too difficult—another side effect of poor UX design.
The Miele app isn’t as useful as we’d like, but it does allow you to turn on the machine, get status reports, and set up coffee profiles that you can send to your machine. But ultimately, you had to be at the machine to make any drink, regardless of the application. I also didn’t like that after changing the settings for one drink, they changed everywhere. If you and your partner both like ristretto but with different settings, good luck.
While I was generally annoyed by how often Miele insisted on cleaning every part of it, this ultimately proved true for most of the machines I tested. Miele actually had the best milk tube cleaner: you could attach the tubes to a drip tray and the machine would clean them for you. Of all the drip trays I’ve emptied, this one was probably the least annoying.
Yura ENA8
Price: US$1699. Water capacity: 37 oz. Milk steamer: plastic container and lid, silicone and metal tubes, but the tube can be inserted into any open container. What drinks are produced here: ristretto, espresso, espresso doppio, coffee, macchiato, latte macchiato, cappuccino, flat white, milk foam and hot water. Works with: no
Jura, a long-time trusted brand in the coffee space, actually has a lot of smart espresso makers. It’s important to note that this is the cheapest Wi-Fi-enabled model, and Jura has many Wi-Fi-enabled coffee makers that will likely have more power, capabilities, and features than the ENA8. In my review, the most unsettling part of the coffee experience was the temperature, which seemed constant and too cool for my personal taste—cool enough that milk-foamed drinks were downright tepid. I also found the drink menu limited and spent a month trying to create a café latte from the options offered to me. Larger drinks do not have the ability to adjust the intensity of the coffee, so they end up watery. Smaller drinks like ristretto and espresso were ultimately better choices, with a delicate crema, and the coffee wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the best I’ve tried from this group. Changing the drink size was easy, though—probably easier than any other machine—and I liked that you adjusted the drink on the screen as you brewed it.
While the Jura is beautiful and well built, the touchscreen experience was disappointing. Instead of swiping, you moved screens using three tiny dots in the corner of the screen. This machine had the smallest water volume of all of them – 37 ounces – I constantly had to top it up.
Like most machines, the ENA8 is constantly self-cleaning, so you’ll need to empty the drip tray at least once a day – and, of course, refill the water reservoir. It had a milk line cleaning feature, but it wasn’t a “press the button and go” thing; you had to keep an eye on it and press more buttons halfway through.
The Jura app frequently had connection issues, and when it did, it had little to no functionality. This only worked when the machine was on, and while it was theoretically possible to transfer drink orders from the app to the machine, I was never able to do so. The Wi-Fi module on this machine is actually an add-on, and the JOE app seemed bolted on too.
While the Jura wasn’t my favorite machine, it’s worth noting that you’re comparing the cheapest model they had to all the other brands’ flagship machines, and overall the Jura has an excellent reputation in this area. I’ve used other Jura machines that I’ve really liked, and many commenters have stated that this machine is a favorite in their home.
SPINN Universal espresso coffee maker and milk frother
Price: $849.99. Water Capacity: 40 ounces (you can purchase a tank larger than 80 ounces or connect directly to your water supply). Milk Steamer: A separate metal machine with a removable frothing attachment that can be placed on a heating plate . What drinks it produces: ristretto, espresso, lungo, doppio, americano, coffee, nitro, pour over, hot water, affogato, cafe romano, guilermo, barraquito, iced cappuccino, pumpkin spice, espresso martini, vanilla latte, macchiato, cortado, latte , flat white, cappuccino, mocha, moonlight fomo. (ability to create new drinks) Works with: Alexa, Google Home, Apple Homekit
Spinn only has one model – and if you ask me, it only needs one. They succeeded. Spinn has done the best job of combining technology and coffee in a way that makes the whole experience more enjoyable and convenient. Spinn made delicious espresso, ristretto, and every coffee drink you could imagine. In fact, what’s most impressive is the breadth of the drinks menu. Absolutely any drink is possible, and the machine’s app guides you step-by-step through the preparation of each drink, allowing you to adjust the drink at any time. This is the only machine where milk is produced in a completely separate machine, which had both pros and cons. From the very beginning you will have to choose whether you will make hot milk or foam by removing the small spiral from the milk frother. This doesn’t seem like a big deal, but if you leave the milk in the frothing attachment between uses (for refrigerator storage), it will be awkward to get in and out of the coil and you’ll worry about losing it. The foaming agent works at lightning speed. But it also overflowed several times, despite being only a quarter full. The separation also meant that you were responsible for adding it to your coffee rather than dosing it from the machine.
The Spinn has a less intimidating design than other machines and looks more like a standard coffee maker. It also features unlabeled buttons, which I’m not a fan of, but unlike Miele, you’ll never have to use them. The Spinn, unlike other machines, does require an app to make coffee. You can program the buttons to your personal preferences, but everything else requires having your phone handy. While I liked the water capacity and the fact that you can buy a giant 80-ounce tank, the tank is on the back of the machine, with a clunky filter that just swings around in the water tank. This made refilling more difficult, but it’s not really a problem if you connect the machine to a water supply, which is possible right out of the box.
The Spinn app is fun, easy to use, and essential to the process. Without a doubt, this is the most out-of-the-box app of them all, allowing you to make any drink you can imagine and easily customize it. I also liked that you can scan a bag of coffee beans and it will save that information in the app. The Spinn is my personal choice because it’s the only machine in the group that lets you order coffee straight from bed, and as long as you have a cup to receive it, it’ll be ready when you arrive in the kitchen.
This is possible because the Spinn doesn’t self-clean in the same way as other machines, meaning its first action when turned on isn’t steam cleaning (making it impossible to order coffee from afar). In fact, Spinn will take care of the cleaning completely without your intervention or participation. I found this to be quite enjoyable and the time spent emptying the drip tray was greatly reduced. Of the minuses: I did not clean the milk frothing nozzle, since it is separate. This container was also more difficult to refrigerate because of its size. But all that was needed was a quick wash of hands, and there was no need to clean the milk tubes, which could be a plus.
Terra Cafe TK-02
Price: US$1,495. Water Capacity: 75 oz | Milk steamer: Plastic container with lid and silicone tube . What drinks does it produce: latte macchiato, cortado, macchiato, flat white, latte, cappuccino, americano, expresso, drip, boiled milk, hot water (the ability to create new drinks) Works with: Alexa
The TK-02 is the newest of the machines I tested. If you are looking for exceptional coffee drinks with a good set of technology, I would choose this machine. The coffee itself was my favorite, and this was probably a result of fine-tuning the grind size, the amount of coffee that could be used for each individual drink, and the size of the finished drink. The drink menu isn’t the most extensive, but you can create new drinks from what it offers, and the building blocks are certainly flexible enough to make just about any drink you can imagine. The milk frother produces excellent foam and although it is not as boozy as other machines, the quality was high. The pour over feature produced my favorite cup of straight coffee out of all the machines, but the TK-02 is slow. He thoughtfully takes his time preparing the drinks, and you will wait for him to do it.
Of all the machines, the TK-02 is the most attractive. It’s the perfect blend of modern and grand and looks like a quality build. The sleek black design combines curves and lines with a huge digital touchscreen. The sleek display makes use of plenty of white space and is easy to operate with touch. There are no random buttons to worry about. While the app offers a number of controls that the machine’s interface doesn’t, you also don’t need your phone handy to use the machine. You can simply choose from the suggested drinks using the settings you previously entered into the app. I don’t like the way the milk frother is attached to the machine, with a plug on the end that is visually difficult to place. Every time I had to feel this place, it does not meet sanitary standards. The stopper was also hard to remove once you were done, but the foam and milk it produced was excellent.
The Terra Kaffe app is second only to the Spinn app and I really liked how easy it was to customize the drinks, but more importantly the drink menu that appears on the screen. You can edit it, add your own drinks, change drink names, etc. This is a huge benefit that no other machine offers. The app also offers interesting statistics on the money saved by brewing beer at home. While you can’t turn the machine on and off, you can put it into sleep mode and set a schedule to turn it on/off. One of my main complaints was that it only integrates with Alexa, which is a drawback in my opinion. Hopefully Homekit and Google integration will arrive soon.
The TK-02 performs self-cleaning when plugged in and immediately before entering sleep mode. The noise will scare you a bit if you don’t plan for it – for the first few days I thought something had exploded. However, it does not have a function to clean the milk line of the milk container, so you will have to do it manually. While the capacity of the water tank meant I didn’t have to fill it every day, I did have to empty the pan at least every other day.