About Cup and Crema
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Cup and Crema is a research site for people deciding what espresso equipment belongs on their kitchen counter. We cover semi-automatic and super-automatic espresso machines and the burr grinders that feed them, and we do it by lining up published numbers: pump pressure, boiler layout, portafilter diameter, burr size, grind adjustment, footprint.
Why a site about spec sheets
Espresso gear is sold on figures that look comparable and often are not. A “20 bar” badge usually describes what a pump is rated to reach, while the pressure that matters is the one at the coffee, commonly cited at around 9 bar. A grinder with 60 settings is not automatically finer in its adjustment than one with 30, because the two may cover very different ranges. “Dual boiler,” “thermocoil” and “heat exchanger” change how a machine handles milk drinks, yet the difference rarely fits on a product photo.
Our job is to gather those details in one place, explain what each one changes for a person making two lattes before work, and tell you plainly when a maker has not published the figure you need. In that case we write “not listed.”
What we do not do
Cup and Crema does not brew on the machines it covers or grind coffee on the grinders it compares. We have no shot timer on a counter and no tasting notes to offer. Everything we say about a product comes from its manufacturer’s documents, retailer listings, safety and recall records, named independent publications, and recurring themes in owner reviews and forum discussions. If a particular article ever draws on our own use of a machine, it will say so in its opening section.
This has real limits. Published specs cannot tell you how a shot tastes, how stable a boiler is over a morning, or how uniform a grinder’s particles are. Where someone has measured those things and published the results, we name them and link to them. Where nobody has, we say that too.
Who is behind it
Cup and Crema is owned and operated by the Cup and Crema editorial team, based in Vietnam. The owner is responsible for everything published here.
Articles appear under pen names used by our editorial team. They are not real individual people, and they hold no barista, engineering or appliance repair credentials. Each name covers one part of the site:
- Nell Ardmore: espresso machine buying guides
- Rhys Tolliver: espresso machine comparisons
- Greta Vanhorn: single-model espresso machine reviews
- Dane Whitcombe: coffee grinder buying guides
- Ada Merriweather: coffee grinder comparisons and reviews
We use initials in place of author photos.
How articles get made
AI tools draft our articles and do much of the initial research. Key specifications are checked against their sources before publication, and the owner answers for the result. A person does not read each article from start to finish, and we would rather say so than imply otherwise. The details are on How We Review and in our Editorial Policy. Our ordering criteria are published on How We Rank.
How the site earns money
When you buy something through one of our Amazon links, Cup and Crema may earn a commission, and what you pay stays the same. That commission is the site’s income. It plays no part in which machines we cover or the order we put them in, and no brand can pay for a position. The full explanation is on our Affiliate Disclosure page.
Cup and Crema is independent. We are not owned by or connected to Amazon or to any machine or grinder maker.
Safety
Espresso machines combine pressurized hot water, steam and household electricity, and grinders have moving burrs. Our articles are general product information, not repair or electrical instruction. Follow the manual for your machine, unplug it and let it cool before cleaning anything beyond what the manual allows, and take faults to the manufacturer or an authorized service center. We do not make claims about the health effects of coffee or caffeine.
Corrections
Makers revise machines quietly, and listings change. If you spot a figure that is wrong or out of date, send us the page and your source.