A good coffee machine can deliver superb coffee at the touch of a button for a lot less than you would pay in a high street coffee chain. However, there are now so many different types of coffee maker on the market that it can be difficult to decide which one is right for your needs. In this article, we shall explain a few of the terms used by coffee machine manufacturers to describe their products.

Bean To Cup
This is a term used to describe coffee makers that include a coffee bean grinder. All you have to do with these machines is insert fresh coffee beans into the grinder and pour some water into the tank, and the machine will do the rest. These machines will also work happily with ground coffee. The only downside to these machines is the price, as Bean To Cup machines tend to be the most expensive type to buy.

Nespresso Pod Systems
If can’t afford a Bean To Cup machine, but want a system with a similar level of convenience, then this is probably your best option. All you have to do is keep the water tank topped up and insert a pod, which is a capsule containing coffee, and you can have fresh coffee at the touch of a button. The pods themselves are a bit more expensive, per cup, than bags of beans or ground coffee, but it still works out a lot cheaper than buying coffee from a coffee shop in the long run.

Bar Pressure
This is a measure of how hard the water is pushed through the coffee. As a general rule, machines with a bar pressure of fifteen or more will be able to extract all the flavour from the ground coffee, and the higher the number, the more efficient (and expensive) the machine will be.

Warm up Time
This is the length of time that a machine will take to heat up the water for your coffee. The majority of machines will take around ten to fifteen minutes to do this, although some of the more expensive ones have a timer so that you can set them to turn on around twenty minutes before you wake up.

Buying a good coffee machine is an investment that will pay for itself over time if you use it regularly. However, if you have to borrow money to pay for it, the interest payments will make it even more expensive in the long term. The most cost effective way of funding a coffee machine purchase is to save up for it, using a high interest savings account, as the interest will help to pay for the machine. For more information about high interest savings accounts, visit the Santander website.