Chris Rowlands, Staff Writer, Stuff.tv

Proper coffee doesn’t come out of a pod. Proper coffee takes a sink clogged with brown gunk, foamy milk all over the place, and patience. Lots of patience. So it is with Smeg’s retro machine: with a shell straight out of the ’50s, it’s the sort of counter-top device that takes as long to clean as it does to drink your joe… but what fine joe it is. Simple to learn but hard to master, the ECF01 is perfect for budding baristas. It heats up both quickly and quietly – and if you can’t be bothered to do things properly it will take those teabag-like pouches too, using the included adaptor. £280 / smeguk.com