Semi-automatic Espresso Machines for Homes »
For a quick and simple morning routine, there's nothing better than a semi-auto. These machines sport very basic interfaces and ditch all of the frills of their automatic counterparts. However, their function won't bore coffeenerds, nor will their performance disappoint. Offering just enough control to experiment and geek out without cluttering or confusing, there's a reason why semi-automatic machines are the most popular choice for home and retail users. Each of these models is built by a reputable manufacturer and ships for free.
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The Fretta Iced Coffee Brewer is Hario's answer to brewing the perfect cup of iced coffee. Hario has combined their famous V60 brewer with a decanter and plastic diffuser to assure that the coffee is quickly cooled by hitting ice immediately after the brewing process. This quick heat transition is important in conserving the flavor of the coffee. The Fretta comes with 10 size 02 paper filters. We recommend that you purchase extra filters as well. To do this select filters as an add-on from the options on the right or go to our Hario 02 filter listing. Also recommend is a pouring kettle. We offer both the Hario Buono Kettle as well as the Kalita Wave Pot Kettle in the drop-down menu on the right.
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Small, lightweight, and portable, the Skerton is the ideal hand grinder for the traveling coffee enthusiast, or the home enthusiast on a limited budget. The Skerton employs adjustable conical ceramic burrs for grinding any of the wide range of grinds employed in today’s coffee market. It can easily handle anything from fine espresso to a coarse French Press setting. The Skerton’s detachable 100 gr. glass jar is perfect for collecting the grounds, and in combination with the plastic screw-on lid (included in order) can even double as a storage unit for whole beans on those long trips. After grinding is finished, cleaning the Skerton is as easy as placing the unit in the dishwasher since the entire grinder is dishwasher safe. Whether you desire a quality, handy grinder for the road or enjoy the fine art of manual coffee preparation, the Hario Skerton is the ideal candidate. For an even more portable hand grinder from Hario, check out the Mini Mill (for a more detailed comparison of the two grinders, check out this blog post: Hario Skerton vs. Mini Mill).
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(For a guest barista review, click here.) Anfim's Super Caimano espresso grinder, upon its initial release, was a solid addition to any high-end coffee house. It featured a 75mm flat burr set that helped to give a very consistent grind, allowing baristas to rely upon it for excellent shot-to-shot uniformity. When dialing in a coffee, the Super Caimano had 70 holes in its adjustment collar to allow for tinkering between shots. Now, however, Anfim has added an additional 20 spots for a total of 90 holes in the adjustment collar. The benefit of this? When dialing in and finding the sweet spot for any coffee being used to pull shots of espresso, a key factor the barista must take into consideration is the size of the grind particles. Yes, uniformity and consistency of those grind particles is also key, but the ability to make tiny, incremental adjustments is always helpful when striving to find the right balance of all a coffee's characteristics when pulled as espresso.





