Independent buying guides
For Australian households deciding between a manual espresso machine, a capsule unit and a grinder upgrade. Each guide answers one buying question, cites figures with their check dates, and shows the cost-per-cup sum as a formula you can change.
| Guides published | 3 | Each one answers a single buying question. |
|---|---|---|
| Calculators | 3 | Formula, units and assumptions shown on the page. |
| Sources cited | 9 | Each with the date the link was checked. |
| Photographs | 11 | Free-licence images, photographer credited. |
Each guide answers one buying question and shows the figures behind the answer.
How to choose
Bench depth, boiler type, milk volume and parts supply decide this purchase. The four questions to settle before any model name, worked in AUD with GST included.
Photo: Herr Andrax · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Running costs
Machine, beans, milk, power and filters, divided per cup. At two a day over five years an example $1,000 machine adds 27 cents; the whole cup lands near $1.45.
Photo: Sage Ross · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Maintenance
Scale kills home espresso machines. What Australian water hardness means for your descaling interval, what the filter buys, and what a year of it costs.
Photo: OKJaguar · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The decisions that actually change what you end up with.
1
Photo: Karl Fredrickson kfred · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
The method that changes the result.
0
Photo: massage-techniques · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Energy, consumables and the cost of a year of use.
1
Photo: freestock.ca · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Intervals, parts and what they cost.
1
Photo: Jon Sullivan · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Filters, pods, pads and their real intervals.
0
Photo: Shixart1985 · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Fixing it before you replace it.
0
Photo: Sage Ross · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Each calculator shows its formula, units and assumptions. Nothing is estimated for you in secret.
Ingredient cost, consumable cost and machine cost in one figure per serving.
cost per serving = ingredient per serving + consumable per serving + (machine price - resale) / (servings per day x 365 x years)
Annual electricity cost from rated power, hours of use and your own tariff.
annual cost = power (W) / 1000 x hours per day x days per year x price per kWh, plus standby power (W) / 1000 x standby hours x days x price per kWh
What a cross-border order really costs once shipping, duty and tax are added.
landed cost = (item price + shipping) + duty + tax, where duty = item price x duty rate, and tax = (item price + shipping + duty) x tax rate
Every figure in a guide is taken from a named source, with the date it was checked. Where a number is an assumption or an example, it says so in the same sentence.
We do not run paid product tests, we do not publish reader reviews, and we do not claim to have handled every product mentioned. Where a claim needs a lab or a long-term test we do not have, the guide says that plainly.
Photographs are free-licence images from Wikimedia Commons or Openverse, credited to the photographer with the licence named. Charts are drawn from the figures printed in the same guide.
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