Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2 Elevates Home Coffee Crafting
The Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2 represents a significant leap for home baristas, blending premium engineering with intelligent features to consistently deliver professional-grade coffee. This manual espresso machine, while carrying a premium price tag, excels in producing exceptionally well-extracted espresso and effortlessly frothing various milks without compromising pressure or temperature.
Intelligent Assistance for Manual Brewing
What truly distinguishes the Meraki machine are its smart functionalities. Features like precise grinding and brewing by weight, coupled with a temperature-sensing steam wand, simplify the manual extraction process without diminishing user control. This allows for barista-level coffee creation right from your kitchen counter.
Premium Design and Robust Accessories
The machine boasts a stunning, pro-looking design that complements its high-end aspirations. It arrives with a suite of sturdy accessories, each engineered to a high standard, enhancing the overall user experience. The substantial tamper and coffee distributor, in particular, are a pleasure to use.
Advanced Internal Hardware
Beneath its sleek exterior lies impressive hardware. A rotary pump ensures superior pressure maintenance compared to the vibration pumps found in many mass-market machines. Furthermore, dual boilers guarantee consistent steam pressure, preventing interruptions during milk frothing.
Smart Features Enhance, Not Replace, Manual Control
The Meraki’s smart features are designed to augment, rather than automate, the coffee-making routine. A built-in scale enables precise grinding by weight, while a second scale allows for brewing by weight, making it easier to achieve specific grind-to-extraction ratios. The integrated temperature sensor in the steam wand allows users to set a target milk temperature, cutting off automatically for perfect microfoam.
User Experience: A Seamless Integration
In practice, the Meraki machine offers a remarkably smooth experience. Dialing in the perfect grind and dose is more granular thanks to the integrated scales. The well-constructed accessories facilitate easy handling, distribution, and tamping of coffee grounds. Users can effortlessly select extraction preferences, from ristretto to long black.
The temperature sensor on the steam wand significantly aids in milk frothing, allowing users to focus on technique rather than constant temperature monitoring. This combination of rewarding manual process and consistent, delicious results is a hallmark of the Meraki.
Exceptional Coffee Quality
The machine consistently extracts the ideal flavor profile, even from more affordable beans. When tested with premium coffee, the Meraki brought out exquisite tasting notes, such as mango, with remarkable clarity. Even milk-based drinks like macchiatos benefit from the precise milk steaming, achieving the perfect foam texture without overpowering the coffee’s flavor.
Considerations: Investment and Specific Features
The primary consideration for the Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2 is its price point, positioning it firmly at the premium end of the market. While the investment is substantial, the quality of the experience and the results achieved are argued to justify the cost for those who can afford it.
The CoffeeSense feature, which suggests brewing parameters based on bean tags, is most beneficial for users who primarily use Meraki beans. However, the machine’s other smart features offer broad utility regardless of bean brand.
Price and Availability
The Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2 is available now with a list price of $1,799 / £1,599 / AU$2,799. It is offered in black and white colorways. The package includes a comprehensive set of accessories, such as a tamper, coffee distributor, cleaning brush, and blind portafilter basket.
Technical Specifications
- Type: Manual espresso machine
- Dimensions: 14.57 x 14.57 x 16.34 inches / 370 x 370 x 415mm
- Weight: 32 lbs / 14.5kg
- Water Tank Capacity: 2.1 quarts / 2 liters
- Steam Wand: 360-degree articulating with temperature sensor
- Max Pressure: 9 bar extraction
Design and Build Quality
The machine’s design is both attractive and suitably professional. While its dimensions are considerable, the separation of water tank, bean hopper, and boilers prevents an overly bulky appearance. The combination of chrome fixtures and a pivotable touchscreen adds a touch of flair. The accessories, from the portafilter with its wooden handle to the solid metal distributor and tamper, exude premium quality and provide a reassuring solidity during use.
Internally, the machine features dual boilers for independent brew and steam functions, ensuring consistent pressure. The rotary pump offers more stable nine-bar pressure compared to vibration pumps. The water tank capacity is adequate for numerous brews, and the bean hopper size is sufficient for multiple double espressos.
Performance in Practice
Initial calibration of grind and dose can require some experimentation, as the grinder is finely tuned for espresso. However, with granular control over grind fineness and the ability to dose by weight, achieving repeatable results is straightforward. The automatic mode simplifies achieving a desired dose, while manual grinding offers flexibility.
Preparing the coffee puck is an efficient process, aided by the well-designed tools. The dual boiler system heats up relatively quickly for a prosumer unit, and the ability to pre-set heating times is a convenient feature.
Extraction is consistent, thanks to the steady flow from the rotary pump, producing espresso with a stable crema and balanced flavor profile. Milk steaming is also simplified by the temperature sensor and consistent pressure, allowing for well-textured foam.
Ease of Cleaning
Daily cleaning involves purging the steam wand and wiping down key components. Deeper cleaning, including backflushing, is guided by an on-screen tutorial, making maintenance a manageable task.
Conclusion: A Premium Choice for Enthusiasts
The Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2 excels at elevating home coffee brewing. Its intelligent features support, rather than dictate, the manual process, fostering skill development and enabling greater experimentation. For those passionate about hands-on coffee making and with a suitable budget, the Meraki delivers wonderfully extracted and consistently excellent results.
Should You Buy the Meraki Espresso Machine Gen 2?
- Buy it if: You desire consistently excellent espresso and well-foamed milk, and appreciate intelligent features that streamline manual coffee making without compromising control.
- Don’t buy it if: You have a limited budget or prefer a fully automated, push-button coffee experience.
