We’re very happy to present our Espresso Gift List, featuring items under $100, for the 2023 holiday season. This is the fourth of seven guides we have planned this holiday season. Every single one of the items selected are curated, tested, tried, and in many cases owned by CoffeeGeek staff.
Here are all the lists we’ve published this holiday season:
- Coffee Gear and Gadgets Under $50
- Espresso Gear and Gifts Under $50
- Coffee Gear Under $100
- Espresso Gear Under $100
- Coffee Gear Under $300
- Espresso Gear Under $600
In the interest of transparency, many of these products listed are a) sold by a CoffeeGeek advertising supporter, or b) use our Amazon affiliate link (but not all!). We do not get any kickback from the advertiser sponsor links.
If you appreciate these lists and want to help our website further, please consider using our general affiliate link for Amazon when you do your holiday shopping there. We get a tiny micro percentage kickback on anything you buy, as long as you visit Amazon with this link.
With that out of the way, let’s get to the best espresso gifts under $100 list!
We love the Timemore grinders because they bring innovation and unique designs to the manual grinder market, and tie them in with absolutely first rate construction, materials and burr sets, but all for ⅓ the cost of some competing manual grinders. I’d put the Timemore C3 ESP Pro up against the Comandante any day, and I bet 95% of tasters wouldn’t be able to tell the difference (or might even pick the Timemore as the winner).
The ESP line features a finer-tuned grind selection system that lets you better dial in espresso grinds. But don’t be fooled: this is definitely a full multipurpose grinder, capable of everything from a Turkish Grind to Press Pot. It excels at espresso, moka, AeroPress and pourover grinds. We wrote up a bit more about the C3 lineup here.
It’s also fast, very fast for a hand grinder, and wait until you use that handle. Its folding method is addictive like a fidget spinner, and the handle feels excellent in the hand.
It kind of blows my mind that you can get a Flair espresso machine for under $100, but we are here with their new Neo FLEX model.
Not going to lie: Flair cut a lot of corners to get their brewing technology down to the $100 price point. But at the end of the day, it is a Flair, it does produce real (and potentially fantastic) espresso, and it retains the quality bits where it needs it (like the steel main brewing chamber).
The plunger system is proven, and you can brew with a crema assist filter assembly, or more traditionally with the chopped filter basket option (both are included). The drawbacks are the stand itself is pretty cheap and all plastic, and the basic FLEX doesn’t come with a travel case. If you want to add the pressure gauge upgrade, you can do so at a later date for around $60 or less.
That said, there’s still a lot more value to be had in spending another $100 or so to get the Flair Classic. This is the all metal design that comes with a pressure gauge system. The Classic also breaks down easily into the included carry case for travel use. Well worth the $200-$230 price depending on which Classic you get.
If the espresso lover in your life takes their home espresso bar seriously, or has a super fancy machine with wood accents, this is a fantastic complement to the home bar: a full, commercial sized knock box, housed in a beautifully finished wood case.
This knock box is 100% commercial grade, designed to stand up to 100s of uses per day, so in the home, it will last a lifetime. The maple wood is finished well, and every knock box is unique in its wood grain pattern.
A big trend in espresso these days are the manual lever machines, like the Cafelat Robot, Flair 58, and the Superkop. One downside to these machines for a lot of households is they don’t steam or froth milk.
As I (Mark here) type this, I can’t believe I’m finally recommending one of those spinner milk frothers, but we’ve finally come to a time and age where one exists that can actually do microfoam. It’s the Subminimal Nanofoamer V2 model, and yes, this produces pour-able microfoamed milk. You have to pre-heat the milk (we do it in the microwave), but when I used this device for the first time this summer, I was amazed at the milk texture it could produce.
What is especially nice is it has two speeds depending on the volume of milk you’re working with. Smaller volumes, go with the lower speed; 200ml or more, kick it up a gear. It takes a bit of a practiced hand, but this produces latte-art capable milk foam.
We are listing the USB-C rechargeable version, but if you want to save a few bucks, they also have a $39 AA battery version with the same featureset.
If the espresso lover in your life has a single dose grinder, this is a fantastic holiday gift to get them to make using the grinder easier. These tools are commonly called “bean vaults” and can cost as much as $200 or more, but there’s also a lot of these on Amazon these days, of varying quality. We really like the Nomcore square models, but we’re not listing that one.
We’re listing this set, because it’s unique amongst the cheaper sets. Each tube features an airtight cap that has a one way valve installed, in case you put super fresh beans in the tube, and they need to degas a bit. That’s a pretty cool addition. Just make sure you buy the 22g version if you’re buying this for espresso use.
Our Senior Editor has this specific set and uses it next to all the single dose grinders he tests for CoffeeGeek. Filling is a bit of a pain (the included collapsible funnel doesn’t feed well), but the solution is to just make a funnel out of paper with a larger opening. It makes the morning espresso routine a lot easier.
So, Weber may have the Moonraker for a gazillion dollars (seriously, $475), but they didn’t invent the spirographic, planetary WDT tool. Guys like this Etsy maker did. There’s some claims this fellow in Canada is actually the first to make the model that Weber has refined.
These are pretty cool devices that really take the guesswork out of applying the WDT method to your espresso preparation. Based on a unique two gear system, this WDT planetary rotation tool very quickly preps and distributes coffee in a filter basket, and everything about it is adjustable.
Now in Version 4, Natia has used the V3 of this device and says it works every bit as well as any WDT method she’s applied, but this one does it quickly, and the same way every time. The V4 uses bearings and has a reconfigured gearing system, making it extremely quiet and quick. Don’t spend $475 on one of these things. Spend $60 with one of the folks who invented the tool!
IKAPE, along with MHW-3Bomber (urgh), MiiCoffee, Nomcore and a few others, is one of those up and coming coffee and espresso accessory companies actually producing some unique and original products. Definitely a brand to keep an eye on.
We were introduced to them via a beautiful white wood handled chopped portafilter design they sent us for the Rancilio Silvia. The wood is nice and solid (no lightweight feel to it), and the stainless steel portion of the PF was perfectly matched to the Silvia (sometimes this is an issue: we’ve seen some really bad aftermarket portafilters that don’t fit machines very well, and can unscrew themselves under pump pressure).
This laminated coloured wood handle is absolutely beautiful. We’ve listed the Gaggia 58mm one (with its weird, offset bayonets), but they also offer it in other sizes and machine types. An excellent way to upgrade your loved one’s espresso setup with a chopped PF that has some style points. As a bonus, these also come with filter baskets which aren’t too bad.
This is a really nice upgrade for any Breville machine in the Barista lineup, including the Infuser. It is a polished metal rocker arm that replaces the dial switch on the machines for selecting steam or hot water.
While it won’t give you dynamic control over steam (Breville machines are an all-or-nothing steam system design), it does provide a lot better tactile feel and finish to the product, and is a lot easier to use. The Crema lever is very well made, and pretty easy to swap out.
We bought one for a future article about tricking out your Breville Barista Express, and replacement involves pulling out the Breville dial, removing its interior mounting plate (2 screws), attaching them to the Crema lever, and snapping it back onto the machine. Very easy to do, and it gives a premium and usability boost to the Breville machines.
Coffee can get pretty messy. Espresso even more so. We use the Brigii mini vacuum in the CoffeeGeek lab, and it is a godsend. Fits in the gadget drawer, recharges via USB-C, and the battery lasts about 20 minutes of continuous use. We charge ours every few weeks with near daily use.
This is one of the most powerful mini vacuums on the market, and has a 2 stage filter system that can be cleaned just by running under hot water. It has attachments that can get into the tiniest crevices, including the corners and recesses of most coffee grinders. Pull it out of the drawer, put the appropriate attachment on, and 15 seconds later, your grinder is clean, inside and out. Our is used to clean up the coffee prep station at the end of the day.
The only downsides are it takes up to 4hr to charge, even with a fast USB-C charger, and it isn’t a wet/dry vacuum. We seriously looked for a mini hand held one that could handle spills, but you have to go to a dustbuster-style vacuum to get wet ability.
Above we featured the Nanofoamer because of its surprising ability to actually create microfoam, but it doesn’t heat milk: you have to do that on a stove or in the microwave first. If the espresso lover in your life has a manual lever machine and no way to heat and froth milk, this is a good option if you want it to be hassle free, and microfoam isn’t high on the “want” list.
This device solves that, automatically: it has three froth settings for milk (cold frothed, heated frothed, and flat white heated milk), and a special mode for hot chocolate that works with both chocolate powder and actual solid chocolate. It comes with two frothing disks and and a heating disk which can be swapped in and out for different froth levels. It’s a one button touch operation too.
This device will not produce microam (though the flat white mode does produce a bit of pourable foam). It can do up to 300ml of milk for frothing in one batch, enough for 2 cappuccinos or one large latte. We have not tested this device, but our blog contributor Natia has used one and says it works very well for the purpose.
This is your all in one station for prepping and preparing your espresso: the MHW-3Bomber (what a horrible brand name) Espresso Stand.
This workstation is actually 3Bomber’s upgrade over their previous stand, which we have here at the CoffeeGeek Lab. Ours doesn’t have the nice silicone mat design for the tamper and portafilter side. This upgrade is welcome, because on ours, with an all wood facia on the portafilter side, it gets marked up over time from the portafilter’s bayonets resting while you tamp away.
They’ve also changed the knock box from having a bar to the rubberized half moon knocker at the top of the box. Looks nicer and functions better than the bar.
The tamping area can accommodate portafilters from 51mm to 58mm in size, but to use a 58mm portafilter, you remove a sizing cup placed in the portafilter resting area. The drawer is a nice and unique touch and can hold your spare filters, dispersion screens and dispersion pucks. The wood finish on our box is excellent, so we assume it is the same on this upgraded version.
Really the only thing bad about it is the MHW-3Bomber brand name and logo. This company is up and coming with innovative products, and they really have to change that brand name. It’s fugly. Fortunately, we could easily remove the brand badge on the front of our espresso station.
Zuzanna travels the world because of her job, and makes it a point to find the best cafes, best coffee, best espresso in every city, town, or village she visits.
Natia loves coffee and relishes at the chance to write about it. She's competed in regional barista competitions in the past, and while no longer a Barista as a profession, she says espresso runs through her veins.
Mark has certified as a Canadian, USA, and World Barista Championship Judge in both sensory and technical fields, as well as working as an instructor in coffee and espresso training. He started CoffeeGeek in 2001.
Allison's day job is highly sought after dog groomer, which encapsulates one of her three loves: dogs. Her other two loves: writing and coffee, are what brought her to the CoffeeGeek writing team. An unabashed V60 fan, Allison also explores Portland's cafe scene with gusto, often taking Max, her border collie with her.
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Allison Gaineyhttps://coffeegeek.com/author/allison-gainey/
