Are you looking for Best Budget Automatic Coffee Machine?
Recently, more and more people prefer cheap fully automatic coffee machines to make their coffee. They are not only super easy but also very skilled. Most of them has great customization features to make non-standard machine Coffee.
Siemens EQ 500 is our favorite budget automatic coffee machine, for home. It has an elegant and easy to use design. It is not a complex coffee machine, but it does almost everything that you can expect from an automatic coffee machine. Colored TFT screen of EQ 500 makes it extremely easy to use. Customization options are big plus of it. In short, It is easy to use and very skilled automatic coffee machine.
Siemens EQ.500 Classic Automatic Coffee Machine is a mid-level coffee machine with many extensive features over EQ.300.
Siemens EQ 300 is our runner-up cheap bean to cup coffee machine. Siemens EQ 300 has a LCD screen for simple operation. You can do all operations with convenient touch panel and see what is going on at the LCD display. Best thing with Siemens EQ300 is, it makes tasty coffee. EQ3 is a great espresso machine, for home. It makes perfect cappuccino machine and macchiato also, but its espresso is gorgeous! EQ 300 has a 67 db noise level, which is fairly good in this price range. Ceramic grinder and cup warmer is other distinctive features of EQ3. Bad thing with Siemens EQ 300 is, it has some supply problems, especially in UK market. If you can find a deal, don’t miss it!
Compare Budget Automatic Coffee Machines
| Siemens EQ 500 | Siemens EQ3 | Philips 3200 | Melitta Solo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display | TFT | LCD | Touchscreen | No |
| Bean Container | 270 gr | 250 gr | 275 gr | 125 gr |
| Water Tank | 1.7 L | 1.4 L | 1.8 L | 1.2 L |
| Pump | 15 Bar | 15 Bar | 15 Bar | 15 Bar |
| Grinder Settings | 3 | 3 | 12 | 3 |
| Grinder | Ceramic | Ceramic | Ceramic | Steel |
| Cup Warmer | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Input | Ground + Bean | Bean | Ground + Bean | Bean |
| Noise | 62 db | 67 db | 70 db | – |
| Weight | 8.5 Kg | 7.3 Kg | 9.57 Kg | 8.1 Kg |
| Watt | 1.500 | 1.300 | 1.500 | 1.400 |
 | | | |
Siemens EQ 500 Classic
Siemens EQ 500 is a mid level and very skilled fully automatic coffee machine. It has an easy to use Colored TFT screen and you see all your customizations and configuration on that screen. You can make all kind of coffee choices and customizations by touch buttons and you see results on the screen. Very easy to use!
EQ.500 Specs
| Siemens EQ.500 Classic | |
|---|---|
| Display | TFT-touchdisplay |
| Bean Container | 270 gr |
| Weight (kg) | 8.5 kg |
| Water Reservoir | 1.7 Liters |
| Pressure | 15 Bar |
| Noise | 62 db |
| oneTouch DoubleCup | Yes |
| Cup Warmer | No |
| Operation | Automatic |
| Milk Frothing | Tube |
| Grinder | Ceramic |
| Wattage | 1.500 W |
Siemens EQ 500 have four pre-defined coffee choice :
- Espresso
- Coffee Crema (Americano)
- Cappuccino
- Latte macchiato
You can adjust hardness and amount (in milliliter) easily and see all your operations on the screen. As you change coffee types, pictures of that type displayed at to upper colored TFT screen. Also a blue led lights just on the upper side of coffee you choose. That is very convenient.
If you want to make a custom coffee you have extra options. One of them is, hardness. Some people like softer coffee, whereas others prefer harder one. Fortunately, changing coffee hardness is also very easy. Just press coffee bean button as you wish. Other option is coffee amount milliliter. You can change coffee amount just by pressing ml button. In Espresso mode, each pressing increase amount 5 milliliter (30-35-40 etc.) but in Caffe Crema mode each pressing increase amount 20 ml (80-100-120 etc.). This increment is different in other coffee modes. This property was not available at Siemens EQ 300, and I loved it very much 🙂
In short; Siemens EQ 500 is a mid-level automatic coffee machine with many customization options. It makes tasty coffee and it is extremely easy to use. Best thing with Siemens EQ 500 is its silence. It is very silent for an automatic coffee machine. It has a 62 db noise level and it is really acceptable.
Siemens EQ.500 Classic Automatic Coffee Machine is a mid-level coffee machine with many extensive features over EQ.300.
Siemens EQ 300 (Runner Up Best Budget)
Siemens makes high quality Coffee Machines like other home appliances. They name their Coffee machines with EQx, where x is a number (like Siemens EQ3, EQ5, EQ9). As the number rise, complexity and features of Coffee machine rise.
| Siemens EQ 300 Specs | |
|---|---|
| Display | LCD |
| Bean Container | 250 gr |
| Weight (kg) | 7.348 kg |
| Water Reservoir | 1.4 Liters |
| Pressure | 15 Bar |
| Noise | 67 db |
| Cup Warmer | Yes |
| Operation | Automatic |
| Milk Frothing | Steam Pipe |
| Grinder | Ceramic |
| Wattage | 1.300 W |
Siemens EQ 300 is one of the best budget bean to cup coffee machine. Although it is an entry level Coffee maker, it has many great features that similar price ranged competitors doesn’t have. For this reason Siemens EQ3 is also good fully automatic coffee machine at this price range, especially in United Kingdom.
EQ3 is a classical bare bone automatic coffee machine. You can make many different preset types of coffee with just a button. EQ.300 combines right amount of coffee with right amount of water with suitable temperature and at the end you get a great coffee. EQ3 integrates all components of coffee maker to make a delicious coffee. Siemens call this feature as “iAroma”. As long as you use same coffee and water, you get same great taste. It is a good cappuccino machine also.
Unlike De’Longhi Magnifica S, Siemens EQ3 has a big LCD display and big control buttons. All operations and customization is carried out by this control buttons. When you choose or change something, you see it on LCD display. That makes coffee machine extremely easy to operate.
Siemens EQ300 use only bean coffee (no ground coffee). It has a 250 gr capacity bean container. Usually a single shot espresso weight around 6-7 grams and you can make around 30+ cups of coffee with full container. This is fairly enough for home and small office use. On the other hand, EQ3 has a relatively small water tank (1.4 Liter) which is a bit small. Fully automatic coffee machines use much water for self cleaning, you must add water as need. I use that skilled coffee machine for more than 2-years and small water tank was not a problem. But if you have a big family, that might be a problem for you!
Unlike similar priced automatic coffee machines, Siemens EQ 300 has a ceramic grinder, not stainless steel grinder. Stainless-steel grinders easily heat as it is used. Then, coffee beans start to burnt and you may get ruin flavor from coffee you made. This is something common at stainless-steel grinders. Fortunately, Siemens EQ.300 has ceramic grinder and l did not meet such a thing. Grinder has 3 rotary settings which are enough for an automatic coffee machine. But changing rotary settings is a bit difficult.
Tip: You can change settings while operating or better when the container is empty.
It has a moveable and removable external milk nozzle. It is very easy to use and clean. You can easily remove milk nozzle and wash it by hand or dishwasher. Since there is no internal milk tank, there is no internal milk pipeline. So, there is less part to clean. This is much more hygienic than internal milk tank models. In Siemens EQ.3 milk nozzle is external and removable.
No internal pipeline = Very easy cleaning + Hygiene.
>> Read REAL Amazon reviews for Siemens EQ300
In short; Siemens EQ3 has great features for a budget coffee machine at that price range. EQ3 has enough customization features, like customizable coffee strength, customizable coffee volume, customizable grinder level. You can make easy, fast and delicious coffee at home comfort with reasonable price. Siemens guarantee that you can make 15.000 cups of coffee in its guarantee period for personal use (not for commercial use) with EQ3. This is great especially for a budget coffee machine.
Melitta Solo & Milk (Also Good)
Melitta Solo & Milk is our runner-up best affordable automatic coffee machine. It is really compact and easy to use bean to cup coffee machine. Compared to other fully automatic coffee machines, its size (45.5D x 20W x 32.5H cm) is small. But, it doesn’t mean it is a less functional coffee machine.
| Melitta Solo and Milk Specs | |
|---|---|
| Display | No |
| Bean Container | 125 gr |
| Weight (kg) | 8.1 kg |
| Water Reservoir | 1.2 L |
| Pressure | 15 Bar |
| Noise | Moderate |
| Cup Warmer | Yes |
| Operation | Automatic |
| Milk Frothing | Manuel Nozzle |
| Grinder | Stainless Steel |
| Wattage | 1.400 W |
Like De’Longhi Magnifica S, Melitta Solo doesn’t have a LCD/LED screen. Instead, it has small LED icons to display operations. Actually this type of display is better for simple operations. Easy and efficient.
In contrast to its small size, Melitta Solo has some unique adjustable settings. Many of the bigger and expensive coffee machines doesn’t have that unique settings, like adjusting brewing temperature. It has 3 coffee strength settings, mild, regular, strong. It has 3 grinding level, which is fairly enough also. Adjusting the espresso amount is also very easy and efficient. Also you can make 2 espresso at a time (which is useless I think)
Melitta Solo has a 1.2 Liter water tank capacity. This is enough, but more capacity water tank is better if you have high coffee consumption. Keep in mind that, bean to cup coffee machines use extra water for self cleaning. So, if you demand high coffee, that amount might be a problem for you.
This coffee machine has a 125g capacity bean container and enough for home usage. Melitta describes its grinder as “Whisper Grinder” for low noise level.
Melitta Solo doesn’t have a milk tank, which is a plus for that range coffee machines due to cleaning difficulties of milk tanks and pipelines. Melitta Solo use a milk frothing nozzle to prepare milky coffee. You can make cappuccino or latte easily. It is a bit complicated, compared to Siemens EQ3, but it works. As you make practice, you can prepare great milky coffee.
By the way, It is to be noted about Aroma Extraction System (A.E.S.) feature. A.E.S is a pre-brewing process. Ground beans are moistened before actual brewing process. This release more aromatic substances and hence you get more aromatic coffee. This is a superb feature for a budget automatic coffee machine. You can prepare espresso, café crème, latte macchiato and cappuccino.
In short, Melitta Solo and Milk is a compact, easy to use and one of the best budget automatic espresso machine. Its small size make it perfect for compact kitchens without any feature loose. In addition, it has many customization settings to prepare great coffee at home.
One of the Best Budget Automatic Espresso Machine
Review Summary – Best Cheap Automatic Coffee Machines
There are many fully automatic coffee machine on the market ranging from £250 to £3.000. If you are looking for good bargain automatic coffee machine, you should consider some basic criteria. Like, programmability, control panel features, water tank capacity, grinder features etc.
After all, We choose Siemens EQ 500 Classic as the top pick budget automatic espresso machine for Home. It has higher water tank capacity, higher bean container capacity and very easy to use TFT screen. Attractive tasty coffee is a big plus of course. Siemens EQ 500 have a TFT display and well designed control buttons make it perfect budget coffee machine for home. Its price is also very affordable compared to its features. Alternatively you can choose Siemens EQ3 which is also really great coffee machine, but there are some supply problems at UK market. It is hard to find at online stores. Due to supply problems, there are very high price fluctuations at Siemens EQ3. You can find base £700+ price or £400 discounted prices. If you find a near £400 price, don’t miss it. It is one of the best budget super automatic espresso machine.
Do I Need an Automatic Coffee Machine?
Before searching for a good Fully Automatic Coffee machine, you should ask yourself a basic question: Do I need an Automatic Coffee Machine? Many people may answer as “Of course, why not?”. But sometimes, it is not the case.
Many Coffee lover want full control over the Coffee they drink. They want to customize and make fine tuning of Coffee strength, heat and brewing time which are very important for a delicious Coffee.
If you are one of them, Fully Automatic Coffee Machines might not be for you. That kind of customization options are usually limited at automatic Coffee machines. For this reason it is a good idea to find a manual or semi-automatic Coffee machine or a simple MOKA POT. They have more fine tuning options in the expense of quick “best” standard coffee taste.
Cheap Bean to Cup Coffee Machines
Fully automatic coffee machines are known as Bean to Cup Coffee machines (BTC Coffee Machines).
Usually you just give bean coffee and water as input and at the end you get delicious espresso coffee and espresso derivatives in a few seconds.
Coffee machine grind your coffee beans, take water from water tank and heat it to a proper temperature and combine ground coffee and hot water with high pressure.
That high pressure extracts coffee aroma and you get your coffee.
Total process finish in just 30-40 seconds.
You just press a button at the beginning and don’t need to do anything else.
Although fully automatic Coffee machines are usually pre-programmed as easy to use machines, most of them give you some customization features.
In some of the good cheap automatic coffee machines, you can adjust Coffee strength, grinding level, temperature and some other options.
Most of them have built-in Coffee functions, like espresso, latte, cappucino, amaricano etc.
Similarly, you just press Coffee function button and get that coffee in a few seconds.
Cheap Bean to Cup Coffee Machines for Office Use
Fully automatic coffee machines are very practical for home use and they are extremely useful at office also. In an office environment, usually there is no one dedicated to prepare coffee. For this reason Bean to Cup Coffee machines are very common and useful at office. They don’t need a dedicated person, usually they are easy to clean, require less maintenance and best of all, they usually prepare near the coffee shop quality Coffee at the expense of bean coffee and water! There are only a few budget fully automatic coffee machine for office use on the market. Fully automatic coffee machines was very expensive for about 10 years ago, but you can find a budget fully automatic coffee machine for office more easily now.
Here is a quick guide to choose a good fully automatic coffee machine.
Buying Guide | How to Choose Cheap Automatic Coffee Machine?
Programmability (Personalization)
Although fully automatic coffee machines are designed to operate with predefined settings, some allows you to modify extra settings.
In this case, you have the option to prepare your own coffee recipes.
For example, some automatic coffee machines brews coffee at a specific temperature. This temperature is fine for most people and coffee type.
But, some people might prefer hotter coffee, or some coffee beans extract its flavor at higher temperatures. In this case, programmability of brewing temperature is a big plus.
Some common programmability options are; brewing temperature, coffee strength, bean grinding size and amount of coffee (espresso) produced.
Programmability is usually limited at budget coffee machines. Usually, as the price of coffee machine rise, programmability options are also increase. But, this does not means, a budget coffee machine doesn’t have such features. Some very tight budget coffee machines might have such features. For example Melitta Solo and Milk Fully automatic coffee machine has the ability to adjust brewing temperature, which is uncommon at that price range.
Control Panel
Most of the programmability features are carried out by control panel of coffee machine. Some budget Coffee Machines might have a LCD display, but usually there is no such a display at that price range. In this case, all the arrangements are done by buttons. Having a LCD display surely great feature, but not having is not a very big problem. In same cases, not having a LCD display might be a plus for some people. Because, some people might find LCD display complicated.
Water Tank Capacity
May be the most important criteria for a fully automatic coffee machine is water tank capacity. Water is used not only to prepare coffee, but also to clean coffee machine. Self cleaning process consumes much more water than you expected. Self cleaning is something great. Otherwise you must clean your coffee machine by yourself. Many bean to cup coffee machine make a self cleaning while starting and while closing!
If your coffee machine has a small water tank, you must frequently fill it by fresh water. After a while that might be a bit annoying. Especially if you are using your coffee machine frequently. For this reason, bigger water tank is something superb! Many budget coffee machines has around 1.4-1.5 liter water capacity, but some others has 1.8 liter capacity.
Coffee Grinder
Most of the fully automatic coffee machines has an internal coffee grinder. This means you can grind fresh bean coffee just before brewing your coffee. This is surely something great for a delicious coffee. But, bad thing with coffee grinders is they are very noisy! Noise level for a regular budget fully automatic coffee machine is around 65-70 db. If you are very obsessive for noise, you must prefer low noise level automatic coffee machines. By the way, some budget bean to cup coffee machines use both ground and bean coffee to prepare coffee. This is also a plus some people.
Some coffee grinders have ceramic grinder, many other have stainless steel grinder. Ceramic grinders are superior to stainless-steel type grinders. Because, stainless-steel grinders easily heat as it is used. Hence coffee beans start to burnt and you get ruin flavor from any coffee you made. But at ceramic grinder you will not meet such a thing.
Many automatic coffee machines has around 250-300 grams of bean container. This enough for most people. A regular espresso shot is around 7-9 grams and 250 grams coffee beans yields around 30 cups of coffee.
Warranty
Most of the bean to cup coffee machines comes with basic limited warranties. But some manufacturers gives extra warranty time or extra warranty features.
For example, Siemens gives 15.000 Cups of Coffee Guarantee for personal use for EQ.300 model. This is awesome!
Extra warranties are definitely big plus while choosing BTC coffee machines.
Best Budget Automatic Coffee Machines – 2024
Summary
Siemens EQ.500 Classic Automatic Coffee Machine is a mid-level coffee machine with many extensive features. I have been using EQ.300 model for more than 3 years, and I can clearly conclude that EQ.500 is a big jump after EQ3.
Written by Metin Karal
Metin Karal is a Computer Engineer and He is interested in reviewing products that He used or liked. He also likes programming in C#. Currently, He is developing a really challenging memory game, PairMem which is available at Official Microsoft Store for free download.