Reviewing Cafe Bueno: The Ultimate Brand For Home Baristas?

Last Updated: December 3, 2025 by Michael Kahn. Published: December 1, 2025.

Are you getting sick of watery coffees with no flavor and hardly any crema? You want the barista-style experience without paying over $10 for a cup of coffee every day. Well, here’s some good news for everyone in this position: you can enjoy barista-quality coffee at home with minimal stress. All you need is the right coffee machine for the job – which brings us nicely onto today’s review. We’ve taken a closer look at one of the rising stars in the at-home espresso world: Cafe Bueno. How do they stack up against some of the bigger brands on the market – and could they be the perfect choice for you? ;

A Quick Look At Cafe Bueno

Cafe Bueno offers a range of machines for every coffee enthusiast – whether you want a proper espresso machine with a portafilter and tamper, to a super-automatic option that makes any drink you want in one go. 

All of its machines come in at different prices, which is nice because you can easily find what suits your needs. The big thing that separates this brand from a lot of others is simplicity. Even its highest-end machines come with simple controls that anyone can get to grips with. There’s no faffing around in the morning when you need a decent cup of coffee; it’s usually quite effortless. 

Four Impressive Coffee Machines

If you take an even closer look at Cafe Bueno, you’ll see it has four machines currently available: 

• CB-2000
• CB-3000
• CB-4000
• CB-Pro

Each one provides something a bit different yet maintains the same sense of quality that comes with the brand. You genuinely feel like you’ve got a proper coffee machine on your hands – and all the moving parts fit together well and feel sturdy. 

Before we talk about each machine, let’s start by explaining the main ways to prepare coffee from an espresso machine: 

• Automatic: This is when you press a button, and the machine basically makes the coffee for you without needing any extra input. You can have semi-automatic and super-automatic machines as well. The former only makes espresso and needs you to finish off the drink, while the latter does it all. You’ll see in a moment that the CB-2000, CB-3000 and CB-4000 all fall into the automatic category in one way or another. 

• Manual: Here, you actually need to work for your coffee. The machine may do some of the job, but you have to connect a portafilter and maybe froth some milk. It’s still got some level of automation to it, but the fact that you need to connect something to the machine for it to brew coffee makes it manual. This is what the CB-Pro is! 

CB-2000 – Best Entry-Level Automatic Coffee Machine

The CB-2000 is what many consider the crown jewel of the Cafe Bueno range. Sitting at just under $400, it’s an automatic coffee machine at a bargain price. You’re getting a bean-to-cup machine for that price, too, making it even more impressive. 

All you have to do is fill the bean container and press a button to make quality espresso. You get a premium taste designed to compete with way more expensive machines. The only downside is that it can’t make anything other than espresso or lungo shots – though it does have a nice milk frother to help you craft lattes or cappuccinos. The space-saving design also means it fits virtually anywhere, even in tight kitchens. 

For such a brilliant price, this could easily be your first real espresso machine. 

CB-3000 – The Home Barista’s Dream Machine

If you want to take your coffee-brewing up a notch, then the CB-3000 is a fine option. It does everything the CB-2000 can do – and uses the same precision brewing technology to give you delicious drinks – with many more features. 

This is a super automatic espresso machine because it will make you more than one or two drinks. You can attach milk to it to instantly create cappuccinos, lattes, flat whites, macchiatos and more. It also has an Americano setting to give you a cup of black coffee with a lovely crema. 

If you want complete and utter convenience, then look no further. At $709.99, it’s still decently priced when compared with Breville or Smeg machines – and it’s still reasonably compact! You have true barista control over every drink with the CB-3000, meaning you adjust everything from the coffee grind size to the milk texture. 

Definitely one for the more serious coffee lovers out there, but still amazing bang for your buck. 

CB-4000 – Turn Your Office Into A Cafe

A step up from the CB-3000 is the CB-4000, which is more of a commercial coffee machine. It’s about twice the price of the previous model but is designed for business use. The big USP here is that it connects straight to your water line, so you don’t have to constantly fill the reservoir up. 

Most of you reading this won’t be looking to buy a commercial coffee machine, so we’ll end things there. 

CB-Pro – Manual Coffee Excellence At Home

If you want to pretend to be a barista at home, or like the manual feeling of using portafilters to make espresso, then this is a phenomenal machine for you. The CB-Pro starts shipping in 2026 and is the dream device for true coffee heads. 

Adjust the coffee bean grind size and get perfect measurements for your portafilter. Let the machine tamp it down for you before you attach it to the extraction point. Then, control the pressure and brew length to get the perfect espresso. Like all the machines, this one uses pre-infusion technology to extract the most flavor from your coffee. 

It’s expensive, at over $1000, but if you want a mini coffee shop in your kitchen, it’s hard to look passed. 

How Does Cafe Bueno Compare To Other Brands

To be honest, the biggest difference is that Cafe Bueno doesn’t produce as many products as big names like Ninja, Sage, Breville, Smeg, Philips, DeLonghi, and others. This actually plays in its favor as you get quality over quantity. The build quality across every device is outstanding – it’s a true USP. 

Cafe Bueno also only gives you bean-to-cup options, so you get the best-tasting coffee every time. One other big thing is that every machine in the brand’s range has self-cleaning capabilities. It’ll flush itself out to make maintenance easy – and to prevent clogging. 

Cafe Bueno: The Go-To Brand For Coffee Machines?

All in all, if you’re looking for a new coffee machine and want something that’s built to last and comes equipped with great technology, then Cafe Bueno is the brand for you. It offers premium products at affordable prices – we can definitely see it being an even bigger name in the coffee industry within the next few years!