Salter Espresso Machine with Milk Frother review: an affordable manual coffee maker that makes admirable espresso

When it comes to buying the best coffee machines, there are lots of things to consider, but one area that’s worth looking into is whether your model of choice is manual or automatic. As you can imagine, manual coffee machines require a lot of assistance from yourself, whether that’s measuring out the coffee, pulling a lever or pushing a button.

A good example of a manual coffee machine is the Salter Espresso Machine with Milk Frother. Launched in 2024, this coffee maker from Salter offers espresso and milky coffees in an affordable package – but how does it measure up to the competition?

Salter Espresso Machine review: price and availability

The Salter Espresso Machine with Milk Frother is priced at £99.99 and available to buy at Salter and select retailers like Amazon and Currys. It’s available in select EU countries but not the US.

Salter Espresso Machine review: unboxing

The Salter Espresso Machine with Milk Frother arrived with the main coffee machine unit, a measuring spoon and tamper, a milk jug, a portafilter and two portafilter baskets. The machine itself was easy to set up, as it only required plugging into an outlet and attaching the drip tray and water tank – simple!

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Salter Espresso Machine review: design and features

The Salter Espresso Machine with Milk Frother has a simple stainless steel design that takes up minimal space in your kitchen. Aside from its compact size, the Salter Espresso Machine with Milk Frother is also extremely lightweight so it’s easy to move around your countertop.

The controls for the Salter Espresso Machine with Milk Frother are located at the top, and include four buttons: on/off, one shot, two shot and steam. It’s equipped with a 20-bar Italian pressure pump that extracts the right flavours, and located at the back of the Salter Espresso Machine with Milk Frother is the 1.1-litre plastic water tank. It’s detachable, so you can take it off, fill it and slot it back into place easily.

While it’s primarily an espresso machine, the Salter Espresso Machine with Milk Frother has a built-in milk frother to make frothy drinks, like cappuccinos and lattes. It’s worth noting that the Salter Espresso Machine with Milk Frother doesn’t have a built-in grinder and instead, is compatible with pre-ground coffee. To control the steam and froth, there’s a control knob on the right hand side of the machine.

Salter Espresso Machine review: performance

If you’re a beginner or aspiring barista, the Salter Espresso Machine with Milk Frother is extremely easy to use and maintain. To use it, you’ll need to fill the water tank before turning on the machine, as it needs to preheat. The preheating process does take a little bit of time and the buttons at the top will flash during and stop when it’s ready.

Next, you’ll need to measure out your ground coffee into the portafilter using the accompanying measuring scoop before tamping it down on the tamper on the opposite end of the scoop. Then attach the portafilter to the machine – which is slightly tricky to do as the angle can be hard to get right – and select one shot or two.

As I’ve mentioned a little, the Salter Espresso Machine with Milk Frother can be a little tricky to use in certain aspects and it’s a bit messy. But it does perfectly extract coffee and it doesn’t make a huge amount of racket as it does so. It will flash and beep to let you know when it’s finished, which is handy and in general, it’s very easy to clean.

My one main issue with the Salter Espresso Machine with Milk Frother is the milk frother. It’s quite a short wand so you really have to hold the jug up very high, but oftentimes when you do that, the wand will get blocked, so instead of heating and frothing, it just expels water into your milk. I think the wand definitely needs to be a bit longer as I experienced this issue quite a lot during testing.

Salter Espresso Machine review: verdict

If you want an affordable espresso machine, the Salter Espresso Machine with Milk Frother is definitely worth looking at. It has a lightweight, petite and attractive stainless steel design, and its accompanying accessories are very handy. It’s milk frother massively lets it down, so I’d recommend just using it for espressos rather than milky coffees. But in terms of price, it does an admirable job.

Salter Espresso Machine review: alternatives to consider

Rated by our reviewer as the best espresso machine they’d ever tried, the Beem Espresso Grind Profession is a good option to consider. It has a bean-to-cup style design and while it’s pricier than the Salter model, its espresso making skills are seriously impressive. If you want something with a similar design, then I’d recommend the Sage The Bambino Plus. It’s quick, easy to use and has a great milk frother, too.