The fully automatic CitiZ is a nice step up from Nespresso’s Essenza Mini. Keep one of these at the office and you will drastically cut down on your trips to Starbucks. So by pressing two buttons, you can have a latte or a cappuccino. The Aeroccino frother comes attached to the machine and whips up passable microfoam in less than a minute. The CitiZ can also be paired with an integrated milk frother, the cheapest machine in Nespresso’s line that offers this option. Once you have your capsule in, you choose either an espresso or a lungo (slightly more volume, less concentrated) from the programmable buttons, and that’s it. The CitiZ warms up in 25 seconds and brews in 30. We believe it’s the best Nespresso machine under $300. If your priority is a high quality-of-coffee to ease-of-use ratio, then the Nespresso CitiZ is for you. Nonetheless, this is a really good machine at its price point and an ideal introduction to hands-on espresso brewing. You’ll hear some strange sounds as it brews, and the steam wand really howls! Our only other complaint is that the machine is on the noisy side. You need to use a little muscle, and you might have to steady the machine with your off hand while you do it. Locking the portafilter isn’t as easy as it sounds, though. Just load and lock your portafilter, then turn a dial on the front of the machine for either a single or double shot. But the really nice thing about these portafilters is that they are 58mm, which means if you do develop some skill as a barista, you can try the machine with a regular portafilter and it will still fit. These forgiving portafilters are designed to lessen your margin for error and give you good crema on top of your espresso, even if you don’t get your grind and tamp exactly right. It comes with one single and one double pressurized portafilter. Like the Cafe Roma, this fully automatic machine has a 15-bar bump and thermoblock boiler to brew espresso at the correct pressure and temperature. It’s still essentially the same machine, with a few cosmetic changes. The Temp iQ was known in a previous life as the Sunbeam Mini Barista, before parent company Sunbeam re-branded it a few years ago. We actually have a hard time choosing between the two, so if you like the look of one more than the other, go for it. The Calphalon Temp iQ is right there with the Cafe Roma if you’re looking for a real espresso machine that does all the basics well.
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