I have tested coffee machines for years and I would buy these ones this weekend

(Image credit: Sage/Lavazza)

last updated 29 November 2021

A lot of people don't realise that most Black Friday deals don't die at midnight on Friday, but rather continue across the weekend and on to Cyber Monday. A case in point is these coffee machine deals, which are still in full swing. Whether you want a pod machine, a machine with an incredible milk frother or one that's like a scaled down version. I've tried all of these machines and they are all excellent in their own ways.

Most importantly, they all make great coffee, but they don't require you to have a PhD in Baristology from the University of Coffeebridge. If you're anything like me, you don't want to pay hundreds for a machine, and then be required to use the kind of barista skills usually reserved for the highly-paid staff at top coffee shops.

Of all the Cyber Monday deals I've seen, these are the best coffee machine deals around. If you're looking for prices on these machines in the USA or elsewhere, you'll find them underneath each machine's mini-review. This is brought to you via the magic of AI bots, science and such.

The one with Alexa in

Lavazza Voicy was £249, now £210 at Amazon
Yes, a pod coffee machine with Alexa in it may sound like gimmicky crap, but Lavazza has really pulled this off. Whether due to using superior coffee or a better extraction system, their coffee capsules produce better results than Nespresso. Also the speaker they have used for Alexa is of really high quality. As a result, Voicy is not just the best tasting pod machine I've used, it's also the best sounding. This is a premium machine that hasn't had many price cuts to date but it's £39 off right now at Amazon.

Read my Lavazza Voicy review for more info

The one for cappuccino lovers

Sage Creatista Plus was £450, now £279 at Amazon
Usually considered insanely overpriced for a Nespresso machine, this has had its price hacked by £171 for Black Friday. Don't buy this if you only like espresso or the occasional cheeky ristretto; this is one for the milk-based coffee lovers. The computer-controlled steam wand produces the right extraction of coffee with the perfect milk texture for your latte, cappuccino and flat white – each requires a slightly different approach. You just have to press a button and step back. NB: sold under the Breville brand name in the USA and Australia.

The one for those who like to tinker

Sage The Barista Pro was £729, now £599 at Currys
If you're the sort of pro who likes to get down and dirty with the settings of your coffee machine, Barista Pro from Sage/Breville has long been the top option. The machine does enough to give you a solid chance of getting a good result just on the default settings but the real joy of it is playing with grind and extraction settings and developing your milk texturing and latte art skills with the steam wand, which is way more powerful and controllable than what you'll find on most domestic coffee machines. NB: sold under the Breville brand name in the USA and Australia.

Duncan is the former lifestyle editor of T3 and has been writing about tech for almost 15 years. He has covered everything from smartphones to headphones, TV to AC and air fryers to the movies of James Bond and obscure anime. His current brief is everything to do with the home and kitchen, which is good because he is an excellent cook, if he says so himself. He also covers cycling and ebikes – like over-using italics, this is another passion of his. In his long and varied lifestyle-tech career he is one of the few people to have been a fitness editor despite being unfit and a cars editor for not one but two websites, despite being unable to drive. He also has about 400 vacuum cleaners, and is possibly the UK's leading expert on cordless vacuum cleaners, despite being decidedly messy. A cricket fan for over 30 years, he also recently become T3's cricket editor, writing about how to stream obscure T20 tournaments, and turning out some typically no-nonsense opinions on the world's top teams and players.

Before T3, Duncan was a music and film reviewer, worked for a magazine about gambling that employed a surprisingly large number of convicted criminals, and then a magazine called Bizarre that was essentially like a cross between Reddit and DeviantArt, before the invention of the internet. There was also a lengthy period where he essentially wrote all of T3 magazine every month for about 3 years.

A broadcaster, raconteur and public speaker, Duncan used to be on telly loads, but an unfortunate incident put a stop to that, so he now largely contents himself with telling people, "I used to be on the TV, you know."

The one with Alexa in

The one for cappuccino lovers

The one for those who like to tinker

Sign up to the T3 newsletter for smarter living straight to your inbox