Best Commercial Espresso Machines in 2024

When deciding on the perfect coffee machine to buy for your business, one of the main routes you could go down is a commercial espresso machine. Commercial espresso machines are heavy-duty coffee makers, operated by baristas to create a wide range of espresso-based coffee drinks such as lattes, cappuccinos and americanos. 

Commercial espresso machines are typically more robust and can handle higher drink volumes than bean-to-cup machines, letting you brew higher quality drinks, as long as they are operated by a skilled and passionate barista. They’re therefore a perfect choice for high volume, barista-led coffee outlets that want to serve the highest quality coffee they possibly can.

In 2024, choosing a commercial espresso machine for your business is no mean feat – with a vast array of different brands, models and machine configurations to choose from. Here at Bridge Coffee Roasters, we’ve been helping businesses choose the best commercial espresso machine for their specific needs since 1985, so we know just how important making the right decision can be.

It goes without saying that the espresso machine market has changed drastically since then, but we’re still as passionate as ever about making sure businesses make the best decision on which machine to invest in. You’ll want to make sure that you’re taking a number of buying criteria into account when making your decision, including:

• What is your budget for an espresso machine?
• What is your average daily footfall?
• How many different types of coffees are you serving?
• How much control do your baristas need?
• Which machine suits your design preferences?
• Is there a size or footprint you need to stick to?
• Which company can look after your espresso machine?

In this article, we’ve outlined our top picks for the best commercial espresso machine in 2024 and have provided a number of details that will help you decide which espresso machine might be best for your needs.

Introducing the Sanremo Opera, the flagship espresso machine designed for high-volume specialty cafes. This heavy-duty workhorse is equipped with the most advanced features the industry has to offer, making it a statement piece that will elevate your coffee bar to the cutting edge of brewing innovation.

The Opera gives full control over the machine’s functions, allowing the most skilled baristas to get the most out of every coffee. With five dedicated boilers—one for each group head and one for each steam arm—the Opera is built to handle the highest levels of demand with ease. Its cool-touch steam wands, 360° steam taps, lever paddles, and intuitive displays ensure a seamless user experience, giving baristas full control over each brew parameter

By giving your baristas full control of the coffee brewing features, the Opera provides unlimited flexibility in drink customisation allowing you to serve multiple coffees at the same time, from single origins to blends and decaf coffees, all in one heavy-duty, high capacity, reliable package.

The D8 is a brand new single boiler espresso machine by Italian machine manufacturers Sanremo. At an extremely competitive price starting at under £5,000, the D8 brings a range of modern updates to the entry-level single boiler category making it our stand-out choice for 2024’s best value for money commercial espresso machine.

Compared to Sanremo’s pre-existing entry-level espresso machine the ZOE, the D8 provides a vastly improved look and feel, up to 30% energy savings, and workflow upgrades designed specifically for the modern coffee shop – all for a very small bump in price from the ZOE. An upgraded stainless steel, circular boiler design allows for higher brew temperatures, with an updated heat exchanger and heating elements behind each group head providing fantastic cup quality for all types of coffees. 

Baristas can create four recipes for each group head, adjust temperatures between 91 and 98 degrees to fine-tune the flavour of all roast levels, and adjustable steam pressures allow you to speed up service or to reduce pressure for less experienced baristas.

If you’re struggling to maintain a skilled team of baristas, the D8 has a suite of features available to make their lives easier including non-stick steam wand tips that reduce the chance of burning milk, cool touch steam wands to minimise burn risks, and an upgraded hot water tap that reduces spitting from steam.

The D8 is available in three different colours with custom colours and branding also available. Buyers can select from a 2 or 3 group head model with a standard or lowered drip tray for larger cups.

The Victoria Arduino Eagle One with Easy Cream is a standout in 2024 for those who prioritise ease of use without compromising on quality. This espresso machine is designed to simplify the process of creating perfect espresso drinks, making it an ideal choice for both high-volume cafes and coffee shops where consistency and efficiency are paramount.

The most significant feature of the Eagle One is its Easy Cream technology. This automatic milk frothing system ensures that anyone, regardless of their experience level, can produce barista-quality microfoam with minimal effort. This makes it an excellent option for businesses that need to train new staff quickly or want to reduce the margin of error in drink preparation.

In addition to its user-friendly design, the Eagle One is compact, energy-efficient, and built with sustainability in mind. It fits seamlessly into any modern coffee shop environment, combining style with functionality.

For its balance of offering premium features without overcomplicating or slowing down workflow, our choice for best espresso machine for baristas is the Sanremo Café Racer.

The Café Racer is an industry leading, high-spec espresso machine used in global barista competitions and loved for its many features that aid in a fast and consistent workflow for your baristas. The Racer not only enables baristas to create a variety of quality drinks quickly,, it’s an absolute pleasure to use – so much so that we keep one for ourselves in our Cardiff showroom purely for making our staff coffees, entertaining guests and showing off to potential wholesale customers.

What’s more, the Café Racer comes with an extensive range of colour, design, material and custom branding options to suit any coffee outlet and type of business – our favourites are the Renegade and the white with wooden accents versions. It’s available in 2 and 2 group head versions, and the barista is given full control over brew recipes and machine settings to help them bring the best out of every coffee.

The Sanremo F18 is a high-performance, multi-boiler espresso machine designed for busy, high-volume cafés. With the same brewing capacity and output capabilities as the Cafe Racer and Opera espresso machines, the F18 lets you brew a coffee in less than 30 seconds and can easily handle up to 500-600 cups per day.

It offers dedicated boilers for each group head and steam arm to ensure stability and make sure coffee quality doesn’t dip during periods of high demand. The F18’s full-colour touchscreen gives users full control over the drink recipes, system settings, and alarms to quickly diagnose any issues. Available in two and three group options, with robust construction and customisable features, the F18 is a durable, reliable choice for demanding café environments.

Choosing the Right Espresso Machine for your Needs

The world of espresso machines is vast, but you should now have a clear understanding of some of our top picks for 2024. Not all of these machines listed will be right for you, as your business needs and personal preferences may lean towards models from other brands, or models that offer different features or price points. 

When deciding on whether one of these commercial espresso machines could be right for your business, it’s essential to consider your budget, your expected drink capacity and volume requirements, power and energy usage considerations, brewing features and settings, size and footprint, and design aesthetics or customisations.

You’ll also want to make sure to enlist the help of a coffee company you trust that can take care of your espresso machine with regular annual tests and inspections, and with a team of engineers on call in case of any unexpected faults to limit any impact to your coffee service.

If you feel stuck, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team to discuss your specific needs and which espresso machine could suit you best, and to talk about how we can help your coffee business into the future.