Guide to home coffee machines with one boiler

Every coffee drinker has their own preferences when it comes to choosing a coffee machine. It may be a question of price, features, or perhaps the number of boilers. Perhaps a single boiler coffee machine is the ideal one for you. Let's find out.

What does a boiler do in an espresso machine?

Every lever espresso machine has a heating element, a boiler or thermoblock. That is, except for the completely manual ones like theFlair Espressomanual coffee machines . They are an essential part of an espresso machine, as they are used to:

heating the water for the coffee/water dispenser
creating steam to whip milk for cappuccino (and other milky coffee drinks)

Boiler features and coffee machine capabilities

As the boiler is the basic element of the coffee machine, its characteristics determine what the machine can do. Its design, material, workmanship and also the number of boilers have a direct influence on the quality and flexibility of the coffee brewing process. Last but not least, of course, its price.

When reviewing the specifics of coffee makers we may encounter:

coffee machines with thermoblock/multiple thermoblocks
coffee machines with 1 boiler
coffee machines with 1 boiler and a heat exchanger (HX)
coffee machines with 1 boiler and thermoblock
coffee machines with 2 or more boilers

In the segment of high-quality home lever coffee machines, the most common are single-boiler, single-boiler with HX, single-boiler with thermoblock and then the most expensive double-boiler coffee machines. Having more ways to heat the water in the coffee machine (multiple heating elements) means more flexibility when using the coffee machine.

Single-boiler vs double-boiler coffee machine

Single boiler	Dual boiler
smaller volume and thus size of the coffee machine fast heating simple design easy servicing	coffee preparation and whisking at the same time temperature stability of the coffee water faster preparation of multiple coffees larger volume and thus the size of the coffee machine
downtime between espresso and whisking unstable coffee water temperature	double risk of malfunction more expensive servicing

Boiler and thermoblock combinations, or HX coffee makers (essentially a dual-boiler coffee maker with a sophisticated design where the smaller boiler runs through the larger one) are the way to go between single and dual boiler coffee makers. They usually have the advantage of a small space requirement like single boiler coffee makers, they achieve the capabilities of a dual boiler coffee maker, but the manufacturing (especially of HX boilers) is more challenging and so is the cost of eventual servicing.

????TIP:Are you interested in more info about coffee maker boilers?We've written about: HX boiler vs dual boiler in coffee maker ????

Why choose a single boiler coffee maker for the home?They are coffee makers ideal for beginners who don't want a supermarket toy for the kids kitchen, but a real coffee maker. At the same time, they don't want to buy an almost professional machine for the same "pro" price.

It is a coffee machine for you first and foremost. Espresso or lungo is your cup of coffee, and that cappuccino or latte you prepare just for a weekend visitor. If milk isn't in your daily coffee routine, youonly need to heat water for coffee. When it comes tomaking coffee, there's always time. Takinga little longer to make coffee is no problem for you, and it's perfectly fine to wait a little while until the machine is ready to whip the milkafter extracting the espresso. It doesn't take that long again, on average about 2-4 minutes.

Which of these coffee makers should you get for your home?

Download the catalogue,where you can compare the single-boiler coffee machines from our current offer. Check not only theprice andappearance, but also important features such as:

PID (PID system for setting a specific temperature),
Boiler size (more hot water for more stable temperature for multiple coffees and room for more steam for whisking),
boiler material (thermal insulation properties),
thehead of the coffee machine (thermal stability during extraction, the E61 type is the most efficient).

For help with selection or specific advice, please do not be afraid to contact store@greenplantation.com. If you already have an idea of your future coffee machine, then hurray for the e-shop!