Distinguishing features
What signifies the automatic espresso machine is its user-friendliness. With the press of a button the water is heated, the coffee beans are ground, tamped into the filter and brewed into the waiting espresso cup. Anyone can make an espresso with an automatic machine.
Sometimes these machines have problems with the temperature, some can´t reach the desired 93 centigrade and other become too hot, touching boiling point. This, of course, makes the espresso less tasty since too low temperatures can´t take advantage of all the aromas of the coffee, making it watery, and too high temperatures destroy the aromas by burning them and making the coffee bitter.
Components
The automatic espresso machine has a bean tank where the roasted beans are placed, a grinder which grinds the beans into ground coffee, a container where the coffee grounds are placed after extraction, a water tank, and a tamping system in which the coffee is tamped before brewing. A skimmer that can be used for frothing milk for cappuccinos or other coffee drinks is usually also included in the construction. The person using the machine only needs to fill up the bean and water tanks and then press the start button, the rest is done by the machine. Some automatic espresso machines even have integrated milk skimmers that automatically skim the milk during the brewing process. With this function you can have a caffé latte or a cappuccino without any extra job at all. Otherwise, it will take a few times of practice to learn how to use the milk skimmer on the side, but after a few tries it should be quite easy.
Procedure
Fill up the water tank with water and the bean tank with fresh coffee beans. Let the machine warm up to preferred temperature and let some hot water flush the machine from inside to make sure all the pipes are clean and warm. Put the pre-heated espresso cup underneath and press the start button. The machine will grind the beans, measure and tamp the ground coffee and after about a minute the espresso will be ready. It is amazingly easy and some machines can automatically make several cups of espressos in a row.
Size
The automatic coffee maker has to keep a certain size to contain all the tanks and other automatic accessories inside, so really tiny ones don´t exist. At the same time they don´t have to be very big either, a machine with a width of 30 cm shouldn´t be hard to find. If you want a really small and easy-to-use espresso machine at home you might rather want to invest in a pod machine.
Price
The price for a decent automatic espresso machine starts at around 400 €, a top limit doesn´t exist but prices around 1000 € are not unusual. Consider that this type of machine contains most of the accessories you need, so there will not be many additional costs.