How Much Does Coffee Shop Equipment Cost in 2025?
A guide to budgeting for your café setup, from grinders to espresso machines
If you're planning to open a coffee shop in 2025 or you're upgrading your current setup, you're probably asking the big question: How much does it all cost?
In this video and article, we’ll break down the essential equipment you'll need to run a great espresso bar. From entry-level options to high-end kit, we'll show you what's available, what we recommend at Bridge Coffee Roasters, and what you can expect to spend.
Coffee Grinders - The Most Important Investment
When it comes to portioning out your budget and deciding where to spend your money, our advice is to dedicate a good amount towards your coffee grinder. This is the start of your coffee's journey, and the speed, quality and workflow of your grinder, all of which are tied to the amount you can spend, have the greatest impact on both the flavour of your coffee, and also how efficiently your team can work.
All of the grinders listed here are highly recommended by our team, and include some great choices for every budget.
Recommended grinders (2025 prices)
- Anfim Luna – £1,200. A great entry-level grinder with flat 65mm burrs. Quick, consistent and ideal for low to medium-volume cafés.
- Mahlkönig E65S – £2,000. Solid build, upgraded burrs and more intuitive adjustments. Available with grind-by-weight for even more precision.
- Mahlkönig E80 – £2,600+. Fast and powerful with larger burrs. Perfect for high-volume outlets.
- Sanremo X-One – £6,000. The ultimate three-in-one grinder with dual hoppers and a bypass. Great for single dosing, decaf, and guest coffees.
- Mahlkönig EK43 – £2,700. A back-bar workhorse for batch brew, retail coffee grinding, decaf and more. A must-have for versatile setups.
Barista Tools
These tools help ensure consistency, speed and cleanliness across service.
- Manual steel tamper – from £20
- Spring-loaded tamper – £50–£60
- Puqpress Q2 automatic tamper – £850
- Puqpress M2/M3 (under-grinder models) – around £1,000
- Coffee scale (e.g. Felicita) – £100
- Pitch rinse – £80
- Barista starter kit (jugs, cloths, brushes, cleaning tablets) – £110
Water Treatment
Water might not be the most exciting part of your coffee setup, but it’s one of the most important. It directly affects the taste of your espresso and the lifespan of your machine. Hard water can cause scale build-up and lead to expensive repairs if not treated properly. A good filtration system will not only protect your equipment, but also help your coffee taste its best. Here’s what we suggest.
Don’t overlook your water. Poor water quality affects taste and can damage your machine. We recommend Brita water filters – most cost between £100 and £200, depending on usage, and should be replaced every 6 months.
Espresso Machines
Your espresso machine is likely to be the single most expensive piece of equipment you invest in – and for good reason. It’s the engine of your coffee operation and needs to be reliable, consistent and capable of keeping up with your service flow. Whether you're after something simple and budget-friendly or a high-end machine that offers complete control and performance, we’ve listed a range of options below to suit every setup.
There are a wide variety of options on the market in 2025 meaning there is a perfect option for every single business, depending on your drink volume, aesthetic, and drink menu.
- Sanremo Zoe – £4,500. A reliable, affordable two-group machine for low to medium-volume cafés.
- Sanremo D8 – £5,000. Single boiler with excellent temperature stability. New to market and great value.
- Victoria Arduino Eagle One – from £10,000. Stylish and efficient with great tech. Mid- to high-end cafés.
- Sanremo Café Racer – from £14,000 (two-group), £17,000 (three-group). A premium option for high-volume specialty cafés.
Filter Coffee Brewers
Offering filter coffee is a brilliant way to add variety to your menu and provide a quick grab-and-go option that doesn’t take up too much bar space. Whether you want to go full speciality with single-serve brews or keep it efficient with batch brew, there are loads of great tools and machines available. Here are a few of our favourites to get you started.
- V60 setup – from £25 (with a temperature-controlled kettle)
- Marco BRU F45 – £300
- Marco Jet 6 – £2,000
- Marco SP9 – £3,200. Great for single-serve speciality filter coffee with consistency and speed.
Hot Water Boilers
If tea or americanos are a big part of your menu, then a dedicated hot water boiler is a smart investment. While many espresso machines do have a hot water tap, they’re not designed to keep up with high volumes of hot water use. A separate boiler keeps your espresso machine free for coffee service and ensures you're never waiting to top up a teapot. Here’s what we recommend.
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Marco MT8 water boiler – £500
So, how much does it cost to start a café?
There's obviously not an easy answer to this question, with so many types of machinery you could invest in with a wide range of brands, price points, and ideal setups for different types of businesses. However, most cafes will be looking for a traditional machine setup as their main workhorse, with a few additional tools to help them get the best out of their coffee and provide different options. For the sake of simplicity, we've put together an example of both a budget-friendly, and a premium option, so you can decide which machinery might be best suited for your needs and budget.
An Affordable Café Setup – from £6,460
For those seeking to get started making incredible coffee with more of a budget-friendly setup, we're recommending an entry level 2 group espresso machine, a great affordable grinder, and only the most necessary accessories and tools to get started.
Perfect for low to medium-volume cafés, or places where coffee isn’t the main focus (like restaurants)
- Sanremo Zoe
- Anfim Luna grinder
- Brita water filter
- Barista tools & cleaning kit
- Scales, jugs, towels
This setup starts at around £6,460 or £98 per week on a 5-year lease contract.
Premium setup – from £33,700
Built for high-volume, specialty cafés serving hundreds of coffees per day and focused on ultimate drink quality, menu flexibility and customer service.
This no-corners cut setup includes:
- Sanremo Café Racer (three-group)
- Mahlkönig E80 (grind-by-weight)
- Puqpress Q2
- EK43 for back-bar use
- Marco SP9
- Marco Milk PS
- MT8 water boiler
- Barista tools & accessories
From £33,700 or about £157 per week on a 5 year lease contract.
Invest in the right equipment with Bridge Coffee Roasters
You should now have a good understanding of how much it can cost to set up a coffee shop in 2025, and why the amount you spend can vary anywhere between £6,500 to £35,000+, depending on your needs and ambitions. At Bridge Coffee Roasters, we help businesses of all sizes find the right setup for their needs and budget, and we offer equipment leasing to make it more accessible.
Whether you're building a speciality café from scratch or upgrading your current equipment, feel free to reach out for personalised advice or a quote!
Download the FREE Guide to Buying Commercial Coffee Machines
Make the right decision for your businesses when it comes time to buying your coffee equipment by downloading our free eBook!
“The Food and Beverage Manager’s Guide to Buying a Coffee Machine”
