Review: Meraki Espresso Machine

In theory, you'd like your espresso machine to contain everything you need to make good coffee, including a grinder for fresh beans. But in practice, this hasn't always been the case. The classic knock on espresso machines with built-in grinders is that the grinders have often been kinda terrible.

That situation is changing fast, as consumers start paying attention—and as the conventional wisdom seeps in that grinders are one of the most important components to making good coffee. (See WIRED's guide to the best coffee grinders for some good advice.) Appliance titan Breville has started outfitting its top-line espresso machines—including WIRED's top semi-automatic espresso pick, the Breville Oracle Jet ($2,000)—with the burr set from WIRED's top grinder pick for mere mortal budgets, the Baratza Encore ESP ($200).

It's still a surprise to see a total newcomer like Shenzhen-founded Meraki lap most of the established brands when it comes to the quality of its built-in grinder. Meraki is among a new wave of buzzy coffee brands founded in China and Taiwan, already a manufacturing hub for expresso machines designed by European or American companies .

Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

This time last year, Meraki was little more than a preproduction prototype, a dream, and a Kickstarter that eventually netted a whopping $1.8 million. The Meraki espresso machine has come bucking hard out of the gate. Headlines on coffee blogs and YouTube videos have tended toward the hyperbolic: Is Meraki the espresso machine of the future? Will it change coffee forever? Does it think it's better than me?

No, no, and probably not, are the answers. But the Meraki espresso machine is a stylish all-in-one dual boiler that blends ease with precision, froths luxuriant latte milk without requiring any particular expertise, and offers features you might struggle to find in devices that cost a thousand dollars more. Its conical burr grinder, co-designed with trendy Shanghai grinder company Timemore, beggars the built-ins from most established brands.

Meraki is far from a tried-and-true brand, and a few basic fumbles still give me pause. But this new semi-automatic espresso machine is an impressive entry for a first-time device maker—one that marks Meraki as an espresso brand to watch. Here's the lowdown.

A Multiplex Worth of Features

Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

The Meraki is a semi-automatic machine, the sort of device that is meant to make espresso easy on those who don't want to make a full-time vocation out of their morning cup.

But it's also an exercise in wish fulfillment for coffee nerds, checking one box after another for the Discord coffee forum set. In particular, it sports a rotary pump rarely found on machines below the $3,000 price point, offering reliability and relative quiet compared to the standard vibratory pump. It also offers tight temperature control, with a PID controller that was once a luxury and is now kinda expected.

And unlike most machines, the Meraki both grinds and brews by weight, with built-in scales accurate to within two-tenths of a gram. You can choose to load your portafilter with a short 15-gram double shot, or a more standard 18 grams, and you'll get an accurate dose, as measured by a scale under the grinder. The same goes for choosing whether you pull a long or a short espresso shot. You can choose the exact size of the shot the Meraki will pour, down to the gram. The built-in scale will stop the shot at your desired weight, or you can do so manually.

The Meraki is also just kinda pretty, in that modern-minimalist way. It's a steampunk gasworks of a thing with three stainless steel columns (grinder, group head, steam wand) rising in front of a hefty 2-liter water reservoir.

Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

The Meraki's interface is pretty simple, with onscreen tutorials at each step. You probably won't even have to bust out the user guide before you make your first shot. There are optional manual controls for both brewing and steaming, but most everything is controlled from the little circular touchscreen mounted atop the group head. The boiler heats up relatively quickly, in about three minutes—and you can set a timer so the machine wakes up when you do.

But while it's easy to use, the Meraki offers quite a bit of customization, including a few features highly coveted by bean nerds.

Alongside grinding and dosing by weight, the steam wand likewise allows for a bit of added control, with settings from mild to strong. “Strong” means strong, for big cappuccino froth: Heed the warning and keep your milk level low in the frothing cup, or you'll probably have cleanup. But especially, the steam wand offers an automatic shutoff at your desired temp, so you don't accidentally burn off milk sugars. In practice, it'll probably stop a few degrees lower than you set it, so plan accordingly.

Jump into the custom settings and you can also add a pre-infusion—a lower-pressure water infusion, for more gentle soaking of the grounds. And of course you can adjust the temperature of your water to account for lighter or darker roasts. It's all pretty easy to do. More espresso machines should do these things. All of these things. But few do.

A Fine Grind

So far, so good. So how's the espresso that results? This depends in no small part on the grinder, of course.

I have put the Meraki's pentagonal conical burr grinder through the paces, on light, medium, and dark roasts. And it does give the Baratza Encore ESP a run for its money, according to taste tests, coffee extraction testing, and particle size analysis I conducted using a device called the DiFluid Omni.

Omni via Matthew Korfhage

Omni via Matthew Korfhage

At the finest grinds, the built-in Meraki grinder actually came in a bit more tightly dialed than the ESP, with fewer large particles that might indicate clotting and cause channeling. It also fared well with light-roast grinds that often overtax integrated grinders. And according to particle size analysis, it maintained good consistency. (This said, I tend to increase dose on light roasts, rather than grind so finely I feel like I'm playing the choking game with my espresso machine.)

Which is all to say, the Meraki's built-in grinder handily rivals the Breville Oracle Jet's grinder in raw specs, putting this machine in rarefied air when it comes to espresso machines with built-in grinders. This is true especially because the grinder is stepless, meaning you don't have large gaps between grinder settings.

Another potential fun feature is an RFID scanner that allows you to scan a coffee roaster's bag and load up the ideal grind settings for each bean. This said, only one US roaster, Dark Horse, is listed on Meraki's site as of now. So this feature remains mostly theoretical.

Caveats and Quibbles

Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

This all said, the grinder settings do seem to “float” a bit as the machine operates, perhaps because of vibration or perhaps just while grinding. The Meraki's grinder may migrate a full setting between one day's grind and the next—meaning that if you don't pay attention, tomorrow's shot may not be the same as today's. I also have minor quibbles with the tamper and puck leveler, whose tops have a tendency to unscrew while you're preparing your portafilter.

More troublingly, the fit on the portafilter is a bit testy when mating with the group head. On early and preproduction models, this fit seems to have been a real problem, and Meraki has since updated the design. But my model arrived well after the first models shipped. And still on multiple shots, I've had water leak out the top of the portafilter while brewing, despite seeming securely mounted—an apparent machining flaw that's troubling on a device that costs in the range of $2,000.

This calls up a basic caveat on direct-to-consumer appliances like the Meraki, which isn't yet available in the United States through third-party retailers. The device has a two-year warranty, which is admirable. But relying on a young, overseas company for long-term customer care and repair on an expensive appliance is always an exercise in faith as opposed to companies with a long track record—and Meraki's refund policy is exacting enough that such cautions seem warranted. Because the Meraki is a first-generation device, its durability remains untested.

Still, I've come away impressed with the thoughtfulness Meraki has devoted to the small details. The little wood-grained perch for your portafilter while tamping. The intuitiveness of the touchscreen controls. The unobtrusiveness of firmware updates via Wi-Fi.

And, of course, there's also Meraki's willingness to include “premium” features like a rotary pump and a grinder scale—perhaps setting an early example for other companies to do the same. And so with this excellent first-generation machine, Meraki already has my attention.