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If you’ve been considering buying a deluxe coffee machine for the coffee lover in your life, you may be scratching your head, wondering what differences you’ll find when comparing a super-automatic vs semi-automatic espresso machine.
Truthfully, the differences tend to be rather small, but they are important. It comes down to the amount of human intervention required to brew that perfect coffee creation. We’ll explain in detail, just below.
Automatic vs Semi Automatic Espresso Machine: Grinding
The rumor is that there are semi-automatic espresso machines out there with a grinder. If it exists, we haven’t seen it. This, of course, requires the user to either rely on pre-ground coffee or buy a separate grinder.
Most die-hard espresso lovers would prefer to steer clear of pre-ground beans, simply because the flavor isn’t as bold or complex. From the moment the beans are ground, they begin to lose their potency. In the best case then, you’ll only grind your beans just before you start brewing.
The absence of a built-in grinder may not be that big an issue for a true coffee aficionado. This is because dedicated grinders tend to have more settings and allow for an even higher degree of control.
This matters to rabid coffee fans, because by controlling the grind settings precisely, you can release more (or less) of the oil trapped within the beans. In effect, this oil can drastically alter the body and complexity of the flavor of the finished product.
Having said that, super-automatic espresso machines are real “bean to brew” devices. The grinders on these devices offer at least five (and sometimes more) different grind settings. This is enough to satisfy the vast majority of drinkers and at-home baristas.
If you know that the person you’re considering buying for already has a grinder, this will give a nod in preference for a semi-automatic espresso machine without one. After all, why pay for an extra piece of equipment that’s ultimately not needed?
Semi Automatic Espresso Machine vs Automatic: Frothing
Number of Boilers
The second big area where you’ll find differences between a super-automatic vs semi-automatic espresso machine is in the milk frothing mechanism. This actually takes two forms.
The first is the number of boilers the unit is likely to have. One way that semi-automatic espresso machines can be priced lower than a super-automatic is the fact that many semi-automatics only have one boiler.
That means you’ll have to brew your coffee, then heat the milk to add foam or froth to your creation separately, if the drink calls for it. This is a minor inconvenience in most cases.
However, if you’re in a hurry for that first cup of specialty coffee, the added time could be important. Note that not all semi-automatics have a single boiler, but it’s not at all uncommon to see them in that configuration.
On the other hand, most, if not all, of the super-automatic espresso machines on the market today feature a double boiler system. This feature allows you to brew your favorite drink and heat simultaneously the milk to go in it. This cuts down on the total time to make the drink, giving you more of what you want, more quickly.
Frothing Procedure
The second difference you’ll see concerning the milk and frothing between these two comes in the form of how the froth is delivered to the cup. In the case of the super-automatic class of machines, the process is entirely hands-free.
You push a button to order the drink you want. Next, the machine grinds, brews, and froths without further input from you.
With semi-automatic espresso machines, you can accomplish frothing with the use of the “frothing wand”. This requires you to hold the wand over the cup to dispense the desired amount of milk into your coffee creation.
Real espresso purists will probably enjoy a bit of human intervention at various points in the process of creating their favorite drinks. Because of that, for this segment of the market, the semi-automatic espresso machines are a natural choice. It allows them to “interrupt” the brewing process at various points and make their own modifications and customization.
On the other hand, for the vast majority of coffee lovers, it’s hard to argue with the ease and convenience of one-touch operation that the super-automatic espresso machines have.
Super-Automatic vs Semi-Automatic Espresso Machine: Which is better?
At the end of the day, when determining between super-automatic vs semi-automatic espresso machine, it comes down to how much you want to have to intervene in the process of getting your favorite coffee drink. If you’d prefer to let technology do all the heavy lifting, then the super-automatic is the best choice for you. If, however, you want more control, then the semi-automatic is hands down the way to go.