The holiday season is fast approaching, and if your calendar looks anything like mine, you’ve got some hosting to do…whether you’re ready for it or not. I’m not here to tell you how to cook for your extended family (trust me, you don’t want my advice on that front).
What I can do, however, is help you make sure your guests have all the delicious espresso drinks they could hope for.
The way I see it, there are two ways to add an espresso bar to your holiday party: if you want to show off your barista skills, a prosumer-grade semi-automatic espresso machine can transform your home into a cafe so you can make drinks for your guests as they request them. If you prefer a more hands-off approach (i.e. you’d rather participate a bit more in the partying aspect of your party) a super-auto allows you to set up a self-service beverage station so your guests can prepare their own drinks as they please.
There’s no right answer here: however you like to host is the way to go. Read on for full details on how to make either of these excellent party options happen in your home.
Super-Auto Self-Serve Stations
If you’re going to plan and host a holiday party, you want to make sure you’ve got the time to actually enjoy the event, right? A super-automatic espresso machine can do the work of preparing your guests’ espresso and coffee drinks for them, leaving you free to mix and mingle.
Setting up a self-service espresso station with a super-auto is super easy. All you need is the machine, some cups and mugs, milk for lattes and cappuccinos, and some flavored syrups. Oh, and some coffee, of course!
Here are two super-auto setups you could put together that would allow your party goers to prepare all the types of espresso drinks they could imagine with not much more effort than pressing a button.
The Gaggia Cadorna Style is, quite simply, the best value in super-automatic espresso machines that exists. It uses the same brew group and grinder as Gaggia machines that cost quadruple the price, so you're getting some seriously spectacular espresso out of one of the least-expensive super-autos in existence. Setup 1 featuring the Gaggia Cadorna Style
Look I get it—not everyone wants to have to froth their own milk for a latte or cappuccino, especially not at a party. If you think your guests will be more interested in socializing and less interested in learning to be a barista, the Gaggia Accademia is a great super-auto option. Setup 2 featuring the Gaggia Accademia
Its menu is 19 drinks deep, so your guests will have more options to choose from. Beyond that, the Accademia offers much more in the way of drink customization than the Cadorna Style. Everything from temperature to coffee strength, volume, milk texture, and pre-infusion settings is on the table, so everybody gets to have their drinks exactly the way they like them.
If that sounds just a bit overwhelming, don’t worry. The Accademia’s full-color touchscreen display makes menu navigation easy, and, for those who don’t want to fiddly-fart around with drink customization, a simple tap of the screen brews any beverage with the stock options.
Of course, the Accademia uses Gaggia’s self-cleaning auto-frothing carafe, so there’s no need to mess around with frothing pitchers and wiping down steam wands after each drink.
“But hey,” you might say, “what if some of my guests WANT to froth their own milk.” Well, you’re in luck: the Accademia also has a commercial-style steam wand, so anyone who wants to practice pouring latte art at your party totally can (assuming you pick them up a frothing pitcher).
Semi-Auto Home Barista Flex
For some, a party is a chance to show off a little. If you’ve got barista skills, brewing delicious espresso drinks to order for your guests is a relatively easy way to do just that.
On a quality semi-auto, it only takes a couple minutes to make a latte or cappuccino, start to finish. So, if your gathering is relatively small, or if your guests would be interested in stepping behind the bar themselves to learn to brew and pour, a semi-automatic espresso machine could just become the focal point of your party.
I’ve got a couple pitches for semi-auto setups, each of which involves easy-to-use, high-capacity machines that will be able to keep up with the demands of the evening.
The Profitec Pro 500 is one of our most popular espresso machines as far as customer reviews are concerned. It’s got an average of 4.9 out of 5 stars with over 250 verified buyer reviews in the books. And, with a 101 oz reservoir and a 68oz boiler, it’s well-equipped to keep up with a party-load of brewing requests.Setup 1 featuring the Profitec Pro 500
What’s especially party-friendly about the Pro 500 is the PID-regulated boiler, which is going to make sure your brew temperatures stay consistent, even when you’re making lots of drinks in a row. As a heat-exchanger, it is of course fully capable of brewing and steaming at the same time, which is essential if you’re going to be churning out drinks for a party.
It’s also worth noting that, as a Profitec, the Pro 500 is built with reliability and longevity in mind. This thing is going to keep up with whatever you throw its way for a loooong time.
ECM’s Synchronika II is, without beating around the bush, arguably the best dual-boiler espresso machine available in its price range. It’s powerful, precise, and built like a tank…if tanks had the refinement and luxury aesthetic of a Rolls Royce.Setup 2 featuring the ECM Synchronika II
But, the Synchronika II is also one of the best dual-boilers for a party, thanks to its plumbable rotary pump and group head cartridge heaters. The benefits of plumbing your machine in are pretty self explanatory—you’ll never need to fill a reservoir again. When you’re slinging lattes and cappuccinos at a party, of course, this boon gets even better.
The Synchronika II also boasts the fastest heat-up time of any E61 group machine at just over 6 minutes. That means it’s ready for round 2 of brewing well before your guests start getting sleepy.
Perhaps the best thing about the Synchronika II when it comes to party hosting, however, is how dang beautiful this thing is. ECM’s absolutely outdone themselves with the finishings on this machine, and it’s fully-customizable with all sorts of wood panel and handle accents that really make the Synchronika II feel every bit as luxurious as it actually is. If you’ve got this puppy on your counter, one thing’s for certain: your guests are going to be impressed.
Grinder Pairings
If you’re going to be taking on the role of barista at your party, streamlining your brewing process is super important. One of the best ways to do that is with a weight-based grinder. Not needing to weigh portafilters and doses will save you a LOT of time when it comes to repeated puck prep.
The Eureka Mignon Libra is basically the poster child for excellence and value in the weight-based grinding world. It’s relatively affordable, easy to use, and produces accurate doses pretty quickly, all things considered.Eureka Mignon Libra
If you REALLY want to get serious about high-volume hosting, you may want to consider upgrading to the Eureka Atom W65. It’s bigger, faster, more powerful, and you don’t even need to push a button to start grinding. It’s actually TECHNICALLY a commercial grinder, but it’s compact enough to fit in most kitchens, so it’s quite popular amongst serious home brewers.Eureka Atom W65
Complete Your Setup
If you want to give guests the option to make milk drinks on the Cadorna Style or a semi-auto, you’ll need a frothing pitcher—Revolution’s offering in this department is a great place to start. It’s cheap, looks great, and the shape of the spout is perfect for pouring latte art (if you decide to go down that route).
Beyond that, you will, of course, need something for your partygoers to actually drink out of.
KINTO’s stacking mugs are a great option for a packed party. As you might have guessed, they stack, so it’s easy to put quite a lot of them on display without taking up too much space. They’re also quite durable (as porcelain mugs go) and dishwasher safe, so you won’t need to be too worried about rowdy guests breaking your stuff, or having to scrub out 30 mugs at the end of the night.
For a more elevated look, Varia’s SIP dual-walled glasses give you a view of the drinks you make in them, which is especially nice if you’re going to be serving up lattes or cappuccinos for your guests. These elegant glasses are dishwasher safe, and come in a variety of sizes to suit all sorts of drinks, from espressos to lattes to cappuccinos and beyond.
Available in four great flavors (Caramel, White Chocolate, Dutched Chocolate, and—my personal favorite—Pumpkin Pie), so you can really put a smorgasbord together without too much effort.
Make Your Holiday Party Happen
No matter how you choose to host this holiday season, pumping up your party with an espresso offering is a great way to keep your guests in the game well past dinnertime. It’s also a rather uncommon party perk, so setting up an espresso bar is a surefire way to make sure your event is one everyone will remember.
Now, look: there are a LOT more options for super- and semi-automatic espresso machines than we could fit in a single blog, so if you want more options, we’ve got you covered. Check out our full collection of super automatic espresso machines here, and semi-autos here.
Feeling like you could use a hand making the right choice? We can help. Schedule a Coffee Cast for one-on-one product support, demonstrations, and live Q & A with one of our coffee experts!
Happy holidays!
