Looking for a great deal on an espresso machine in this year’s Black Friday sales? You’ve come to the right place – I test them for a living, and I’ve rounded up my top three picks right here. Best of all, they’ve all received epic price cuts in this year’s early Black Friday sales at Amazon.
• Shop Amazon’s full Black Friday sale
Today’s best Black Friday deals – quick links
- Amazon: 45% off TVs, AirPods, air fryers & vacuums
- Apple: iPads, AirPods & MacBooks from $119
- Best Buy: $1,000 off TVs, laptops & headphones
- Dell: laptop deals from $249.99
- Home Depot: 40% off appliances, furniture, grills & tools
- Lenovo: 45% off laptops & tablets
- Lowe’s: up to 30% off appliances, holiday decor & tools
- Samsung: up to $2,000 off appliances, TVs & phones
- Target: 40% off Christmas decor, clothing & furniture
- T-Mobile: up to $1,100 off latest iPhone 17
- Walmart: furniture, cheap TVs & vacs from $69
- Wayfair: 54% off Christmas, furniture & decor
Best manual espresso machine
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De’Longhi Dedica Duo
De’Longhi makes many of the best espresso machines I’ve tested, and its latest model, the Dedica Duo, is no exception. This tiny machine is super affordable, even at its full price of $300, but right now it’s available for just $199.95 in Amazon’s early Black Friday sale, which is frankly incredible value.
Espresso machines in this price bracket are sometimes disappointing, and you can see where the manufacturers have cut corners to keep the costs down. That’s not the case with the Dedica Duo, which is just as solidly-built as De’Longhi’s premium machines, heats quickly and can maintain the steady pressure necessary for consistently well-extracted espresso.
As a bonus, you can also choose to bypass the boiler and extract a shot of cold espresso using water straight from the tank. This takes about two minutes for a single shot, or four minutes for a double (the compounds in ground coffee don’t dissolve in cold water as easily as hot), but it’s still much faster than preparing a jug of cold brew the old-fashioned way overnight, and the flavor profile is similar with a more mellow taste than the same espresso made hot.
It’s a great-looking little machine as well, with some nice updates from its predecessor, the De’Longhi Dedica Style. For example, the drip tray is now wider, making it easier to fit two espresso cups on top, and the Duo comes in a range of fun gelato-inspired colors including pink, green, and white (shown here).
Read our full De’Longhi Dedica Duo review
Best semi-auto espresso machine
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De’Longhi La Specialista Touch
If you want to get into making coffee manually, the De’Longhi La Specialista Touch is the best espresso machine for you. It’s semi-automatic, which means it can handle some parts of the espresso-making process for you, or let you take manual control.
For first-timers, De’Longhi’s Bean Adapt tech will adjust brew settings and help you choose the optimum grind size for your beans. The machine will provide a helping hand with dosing and tamping, too, with a rubber mat on which to rest the portafilter handle to help you achieve even pressure, a calibrated tamper that helps you see if you have the right amount of ground coffee, and a trimming tool in case your filter basket is overfilled.
Once you’re confident pulling the shots, you can take the reins and adjust settings such as brewing temperature, water volume, and pre-infusion time yourself.
The automated steam wand is one of the best I’ve used, and you can switch to manual mode if you prefer by raising it a few degrees.
The La Specialista Touch is smaller than you might expect, but still drew lots of admiring glances and comments in TechRadar‘s shared test kitchen. It won’t dominate your space, but it’s a good-looking espresso maker that will certainly turn heads.
Read our full De’Longhi La Specialista Touch review
Best super-automatic espresso machine
Philips LatteGo 5500 Series
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So you like the idea of a bean-to-cup coffee maker, but you don’t have masses of space free on your kitchen counter? The Philips LatteGo 5500 Series is the machine for you, and there’s over $300 off its list price in Amazon’s early Black Friday sale. It’s one of the smallest fully-automatic coffee makers I’ve ever tested, measuring 9.7 x 14.6 x 17in / 24.6 x 37.1 x 43.3cm (H x W x D), but is packed with all the features you could ask for, including both hot and cold brewing.
One of the things I particularly like about the LatteGo 5500 Series is that it’s perfectly sized for just one or two coffee-drinkers, and is designed to help avoid mess and waste. Its water tank and bean hopper are relatively small so you won’t have lots of water and coffee hanging around going stale, and its milk carafe holds just enough for a latte or two.
You pour your milk into the carafe while it’s attached to the machine, which feels a bit strange, and as soon as you’re done, you can remove it, take it apart, and toss it in the dishwasher. The whole thing is made from hard plastic and there are no hard-to-clean tubes, which makes a refreshing (and hygienic) change.
Coffee is consistently well-extracted (Philips has a guided brewing mode to help you choose the optimal settings) and milk is steamed to perfection. A great little all-rounder.
Read our full Philips LatteGo 5500 Series review
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