$100 · Saeco Via Venezia

In my opinion this is one of the better prosumer semi-auto espresso machines. It self tamps so you don't need to worry about technique and it tolerates a wide range of grind sizes. Pro: - Wide grind tolerance, you can throw pretty much any sort of coffee at it and get decent t results. It will handle London drugs italian pre-ground espresso to fancy coffee shop coffee from a basic home burr grinder. -Warms up quickly and gives decent quality drinks. (No 30min wait for the boiler) -Lasts forever. -Good starter machine to establish your home brewing routine Con: It's not going to give you the perfect shot and you'll delay learning how to tamp, dial in your shot ect. Also, the design does not allow for the formation of a coffee puck so you have to manually remove the grinds between shots with a utensil.