What is the best brand of commercial coffee machine?

Purchasing your first commercial coffee machine is a significant investment. For cafés, restaurants, offices, or any business that serves coffee, the brand you choose can impact drink quality, reliability, running costs, maintenance, and even customer satisfaction. So with so many high quality machines and market-leading manufacturers to choose from, it’s natural to wonder which ones are the best.

 

Factors for Consideration 

Before we start looking at specific brands, let’s define the most important criteria that make up the “best” in real-world settings:

Volume & Capacity - How many cups per hour or per day do you need to serve? Rush hours in cafés can be busy, so machines with multiple group heads come in handy. Lower volume sites may be better served with bean-to-cup or automatic machines.

Type & Automation Level - Traditional espresso machines vs bean-to-cup or instant vs filter. This comes down to different levels of staff training and skills needed to operate, but also consistency, labour costs and capital investment.

Durability, Build Quality & Service Support - A premium machine with well-engineered components, easy access to parts and solid local service and support network, often pays off in long-term reliability and less downtime.

Cleaning & Maintenance - To ensure consistency and hygiene, the cleaning intervals and filter system in the machine and auto-clean features can all play a role.

Energy Efficiency, Footprint & Water Quality - Energy costs, space constraints, water hardness and filtration requirements all add up over time. Machines with eco-modes, good steam capacity and temperature stability will help here.

Drink Quality & Customisation - Consistency in extraction, the power of the steam, temperature stability and flexibility to customise shot profiles or milk texture also matter.

 

Top Brands in the Commercial Market 

We regularly come across several brands which are well known and widely respected within the professional trade for meeting many of the criteria above. Below are some of the top names that come up most frequently when assessing coffee machines and asking industry experts for their recommendations:

La Marzocco - Known for their focus on precision, temperature stability, and high quality engineering, especially in high end café environments.

Synesso, Slayer, Victoria Arduino - Also top performers, especially where there is a focus on control, consistency and shot quality.

Rancilio, Faema, Astoria - Well-known and respected brands, with a good reputation for durability and offering a wide range of machine sizes / group heads.

Bravilor - Very strong in the automatic, bean-to-cup, or even higher volume office or catering type environments.

 

Premium Market-Leaders & Top Recommendations 

If you’re looking for a shortlist of brands that consistently receive high ratings, here are some that tend to combine build quality, service network, ongoing innovation and overall performance in our view:

Iberital, Bestir, Bravilor and Sanremo are some of the premium market leading brands that are most highly recommended by commercial coffee machine experts. The best thing you can do is get in touch with an expert so you can speak about your specific requirements and needs.

Iberital - Spanish manufacturer with a strong reputation for traditional espresso machines, offering great build quality and stable performance.

Bestir - Bean-to-cup and automatic machines known for their durability and ability to best suit high volume or self service environments.

Bravilor - Automatic, highly reliable, very low maintenance, with an extensive global service network.

Sanremo - Italian brand known for their focus on innovation and design. Great for medium to high volumes and for cafés that want style and substance.

 

Matching Brand to Use Case 

Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all recommendation, we thought it would be more useful to break down how to find the right brand and machine type for common business types and use-cases:

Specialist café or craft coffee shop - Machines with multiple group heads, high steam capacity and temperature stability. Brands like La Marzocco, Sanremo, Iberital and Victoria Arduino, or at the very high-end Slayer and Synesso.

Offices, staff rooms, self-service - Ease of use, bean-to-cup functionality, minimal training required and machine size. Bravilor and Bestir are great for this application.

High-volume catering or events - Fast recovery, multiple group heads, machine size and parts and service network. Sanremo, Synesso and other large-group manufacturers like Slayer are high performers here.

Small cafés or start-ups - Affordability, scalability and room to grow as sales increase. Entry-level machines from Iberital or Sanremo, or Bestir which offer more flexible machines.

 

Cost Considerations & Total Cost of Ownership 

Don’t forget, the cost isn’t just in the upfront purchase price of the machine. There are many other factors to factor into your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), such as:

Consumables & parts - Filters, gaskets, steam wands and portafilters will all need replacement or servicing over time.

Energy & water - Machines with larger capacity tend to consume more power. Hard water areas may require filtration systems in machines.

Training & labour - More complex machines can require better trained staff to avoid waste and damage.

Servicing & warranty - Local support and service network can be key for your business when downtime happens.

 

Conclusion

So, to answer the question “what is the best brand of commercial coffee machine?” there isn’t a straightforward answer that applies to everyone. The best choice of brand for you will depend on your business volume and the type of drinks that you serve, as well as your budget for servicing and maintenance.

Iberital, Bestir, Bravilor and Sanremo are some of the market leading brands that are most highly recommended. However, it is essential to speak with a commercial coffee machine expert about your specific needs. You can get in touch with a Cotswold Coffee agent by clicking here.