When shopping for a home coffee machine, you will come up against hundreds of choices. However, you can make the decision easier by first narrowing down which type of machine you want. For most people, that comes down to two brewing styles: either an espresso machine for rich, café-style drinks, or a filter machine for a large jug of smooth coffee.
This guide compares the two styles head-to-head and highlights the CASO Design machine in that category.
As an additional bonus, we will also look at a couple of accessories that elevate either setup, a burr grinder and a milk frother. Finally, we’ll cover an alternative for anyone who just wants better instant coffee.
The two main types of home coffee machine
An espresso machine forces hot water through finely ground coffee at high pressure, producing a short, intense shot with crema. This can be drunk neat or used to make a variety of milk drinks such as flat whites, lattes and cappuccinos. It offers powerful flavour and versatility but requires more involvement in the coffee making process.
A filter machine drips hot water gently through coarser grounds into a jug. This creates a smoother cup of coffee, producing many servings in one go with very little effort. It is the easy, high-volume option perfect for coffee-drinking families or hosting.
Espresso is about craft and intensity. Filter is about ease and volume.
This premium portafilter espresso machine is designed for effortless daily use and comes fully equipped with a comprehensive barista accessory set, including a heavy stainless steel portafilter, three filter inserts for single shots, double shots, and ESE pods, a wooden-handled tamper, a calibrated milk pitcher, and a measuring spoon.
This premium portafilter espresso machine is designed for effortless daily use and comes fully equipped with a comprehensive barista accessory set, including a heavy stainless steel portafilter, three filter inserts for single shots, double shots, and ESE pods, a wooden-handled tamper, a calibrated milk pitcher, and a measuring spoon.
- 19 bar Ulka pump: Professional-grade pressure drives a full, even extraction for the rich crema and depth of flavour that define a proper espresso rather than a weak imitation.
- Barista-style milk drinks: A stainless steel steam wand whips up creamy, fluffy microfoam for flat whites, lattes and cappuccinos, and doubles up to pre-warm your cups before pouring.
- Pressure gauge and pre-brew: A built-in manometer shows the brewing pressure while an automatic pre-brew function soaks the grounds evenly, helping you pull a balanced, consistent shot every time.
- Ground coffee or ESE pods: Three stainless steel filter inserts handle one or two cups or convenient ESE pads, so you can grind fresh beans or keep things quick, whichever suits the day.
Best for: espresso and milk-drink lovers who want barista control at home and enjoy the ritual as much as the result.
Choose this if you prefer long black coffee, are brewing for a household or dinner party or if you simply want to have several cups ready with minimal fuss. Filter is the quiet workhorse of home coffee. The reward is effortless volume and a clean, easy-drinking flavour: fill it, switch it on and walk away. The trade-off is that it does not make espresso or milk drinks, so it suits long-coffee drinkers rather than latte fans, though a separate frother solves that neatly.
The Aroma Sense is a premium filter coffee machine with a range of features designed to brew fantastic quality coffee at home. Designed for everyday ease, it features an adjustable aroma regulator for personalised strength, an aroma stick for even coffee circulation, and a reusable titanium-coated stainless steel filter that eliminates the need for paper filters.
- Award-winning brewing: Rated “very good” (1,3) by Haus & Garten Test and approved by the European Coffee Brewing Centre, it delivers dependable, great-tasting filter coffee cup after cup.
- Even, hand-poured flavour: A 9-hole brewing arm wets the grounds evenly at an ideal 92 to 96°C, drawing out a clean, aromatic cup that tastes as though it were brewed by hand.
- Up to 10 cups at once: A 1.25 litre tank and a keep-warm function that holds heat for 40 minutes make it ideal for households, guests and steady all-day drinking.
- Adjustable and reusable: An aroma regulator fine-tunes the drip speed to taste, while the permanent titanium-coated filter cuts waste and keeps the flavour clean and paper-free.
Best for: filter purists, larger households and anyone who values volume and simplicity over espresso craft.
Espresso or filter: which should you choose?
If you mostly drink flat whites, lattes or espresso and enjoy a bit of craft, the EspressoGourmet is your machine. If you drink long black coffee, brew for several people or just want reliable coffee with no technique, the AromaSense filter machine is the smarter buy. Neither is better in the abstract, only better for your cup. And whichever you pick, the two accessories below will make it noticeably better.
Enhance your setup with a burr grinder for fresher flavour
Coffee loses its aromatics within minutes of grinding, which is why pre-ground coffee often tastes flat. Grinding fresh, just before you brew, is the single biggest upgrade most people can make, and burrs beat blades because they crush beans to a uniform size for even, balanced extraction.
The CASO BaristaChef Inox Conical Burr Grinder
- 34 precise grind settings: From ultra-fine for espresso through to coarse for a jug of filter, one grinder dials in the ideal grind for whichever CASO machine you own.
- Zero-retention freshness: Innovative zero-retention design clears old grounds every time, so every cup is ground fresh with no stale residue left clinging inside the burrs.
- Consistent conical burrs: Stainless steel conical burrs grind evenly at an aroma-preserving 500 RPM, reducing heat build-up and giving the uniform grounds that balanced coffee depends on.
- Set-and-forget convenience: Time-based dosing in 0.1 second steps, 5 memory presets and a 320 g bean hopper make repeat brewing effortless, with anti-static grounds for far less mess.
Enhance your setup with a milk frother for café-style drinks
A frother is the secret to lattes, cappuccinos and hot chocolate at home, and it is not just for espresso owners. Pair one with a filter machine or even instant and you can turn any black coffee into a creamy, milky treat. CASO offers two, so you can match the milk frother to how much milk you need.
For everyday flexibility: CappuLatte Milk Frother & Hot Chocolate Maker
- Barista-style glass jug: A removable transparent glass jug lets you watch the froth build and pour like a barista, with 5 functions from extra-frothy cappuccino to iced-coffee foam.
- Hot or cold, dairy or plant: Creamy froth from oat, soya or almond milk, hot or cold, means great flat whites in winter and iced frappés in summer from one compact, stylish frother.
For larger households: PremiumLatte XL Milk Frother & Hot Chocolate Maker
- Large induction frothing: Induction heating makes silky microfine foam and holds milk at an ideal 65°C, with a generous 1 litre jug producing up to 750 ml of frothed milk for a crowd.
- Nine versatile functions: From cappuccino foam to warmed plant milk and hot chocolate, an LCD dial offers nine settings, and the froth even works as a cream substitute for cakes and shakes.
If you enjoy instant coffee, try a multi-temperature kettle
Not every cup needs to be a project. If speed matters most, or you still enjoy a nice cup of instant coffee, a precise kettle is all you need. But there is one trick that most people miss: instant coffee tastes far better when the water is not at a rolling boil, which scorches the granules and turns them bitter.
The CASO Selection WK 2200 Multi-Temperature Kettle
- Precise temperature choice: Settings from 40 to 100°C in 10°C steps, plus a special 95°C mode, that give smoother instant coffee and perfectly heated tea, never scorched by a rolling boil.
- Fast and safe: A powerful 2200 watt element boils its 1.7 litre capacity quickly, with keep-warm, a 360° base and Strix safety cut-off for effortless, reliable everyday use.
Best for: the speed-and-simplicity crowd, quality instant drinkers and tea lovers, which is to say almost every kitchen.
The verdict
Start with the brewing style you love. Espresso and milk drinks point you to the EspressoGourmet; smooth coffee by the jug points you to the AromaSense. Add a BaristaChef grinder to unlock fresher flavour from either, a CappuLatte or PremiumLatte XL frother for café-style milk drinks, and keep a WK 2200 kettle on hand for fast, better instant. Buy for the coffee you actually drink, choose good beans and grind them fresh, and your home cup will rival any café.
Explore the full CASO Design coffee range and build the setup that matches how you love to drink.
