Who runs this site
CoffeeBarSetup.com is published by Cozy River Studios, an independent publisher of calculator and reference sites. We are not a machine manufacturer, a grinder manufacturer, a roaster or a retailer, and we are not owned by one. No espresso brand pays us to place a product, and no brand sees a page before it goes live.
Everything here is written and maintained by our editorial team from published manufacturer specifications, published barista and industry guidance, and verified owner reviews. Corrections, calculator requests and questions all go to one place: our contact page. We read every message.
Why the numbers here are cross-manufacturer
This is the reason the site exists. Most espresso guidance online is published by someone who sells one thing. A machine brand's dial-in advice ends at its own machine, a roaster's ratio advice ends at its own beans, and a grinder brand rarely mentions that the grinder is the thing holding your shot back. None of that is dishonest. It is simply not neutral, and the omissions all point the same way.
We sell nothing, so we have nothing to steer you toward. Our calculators show their formulas and state their assumptions. Where a figure is a physical fact, such as 1 grain per gallon equalling 17.1 ppm, we say so. Where it is a convention the specialty coffee world agrees on, such as the 18 to 22 percent extraction window or the 9 bar pressure standard, we say that too, because knowing which kind of number you are looking at changes how freely you can break it.
Our editorial stance
We research, we do not test in person. We do not run a lab, we do not have a refractometer bench, and we will never claim otherwise. Our method is comparing published specifications, cross-checking them against verified owner reviews and published barista guidance, and flagging where two spec sheets are quietly measuring different things. Any site claiming hands-on testing of forty espresso machines in one article is telling you a story. We would rather be trusted than sound impressive.
We recommend down as often as up. Every gear roundup splits picks into beginner, intermediate and expert with a real price and a real reason for each, and every one states who should not buy the expert tier. Someone who drinks one black espresso a day does not need a dual boiler, because over half of that price is the ability to steam milk at the same time as pulling a shot. Talking people out of a purchase is the whole point.
We say when a spec is unknown. Manufacturers describe heating systems and control electronics inconsistently and revise them between model years without changing the model name. Where we cannot confirm a figure, the cell reads Not published. A reader cannot tell an invented specification from a verified one, which makes a guess more harmful than a gap.
Safety is not a footnote. Espresso machines combine mains electricity, pressurised water and steam above boiling point, and descaling and cleaning chemicals are not food. We flag that wherever it applies, and we point readers to a qualified technician rather than pretending a web page substitutes for one. See our full disclaimer.
We correct things. If a number here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it and say what changed. Espresso specifications shift as manufacturers revise products, and a reference site that never updates is a reference site slowly becoming wrong.
How we make money
CoffeeBarSetup.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you buy through a link on this site we may earn a commission, at no additional cost to you. We may also earn from display advertising.
That funding never changes a recommendation, and the structure of the site is the evidence. The commission on a $1,599.95 dual boiler and a $199.95 grinder are wildly different, and we routinely tell readers to buy less machine and more grinder because that is the combination that makes better coffee. Gear that is dealer-only, which covers several prosumer machines, earns us nothing at all and we still cover it, because leaving it out would make the guidance worse. Full details are on our affiliate disclosure page.
Start here
- Complete coffee bar builds: three costed setups at $742, $1,230 and $2,847.
- Calculators: brew ratio, dose and yield, budget split, water hardness, cost per cup, counter space.
- Gear reviews: machines, grinders and bar tools in three tiers.
- Guides: buying, dialling in, milk, water and maintenance.
- Charts: the numbers worth having in front of you.
- Machine specification index: boiler type, portafilter size and PID, model by model.