Simplus 240mL semi-automatic espresso maker review

At around ₱2,600 as of August 20, 2026, with a steam frother and a 240mL water tank. That tank figure is small enough to shape how you use the machine.

Six coffees, then refill

A single espresso is about 30ml and a double around 60ml. So 240mL is roughly six singles, or three doubles, before the tank is empty.

That is less than it sounds in practice, because a machine also uses water warming itself through and flushing the group, and the steam wand draws from the same tank. Make two lattes and you will be refilling.

For one person making a coffee in the morning, that is a non-issue: you fill it when you fill it. For a household where three people want a drink within ten minutes, or for anyone who does milk drinks, it becomes the thing you notice about the machine.

Compare the X-Series 1.5L espresso machine on this page, which holds more than six times as much for around ₱1,000 more.

The pressure figure is missing

Espresso is extracted at around 9 bars. Nearly every machine here advertises 15 or 20 bars, which is the pump’s unloaded maximum rather than the pressure at the coffee.

This listing quotes no figure at all. That is not automatically worse than quoting an inflated one, and it does mean there is nothing to ask about until you ask.

The related question is whether the portafilter basket is pressurised: cheap machines usually ship one, with a single small hole behind a false bottom that forces coffee through a restriction and generates foam that looks like crema whatever you do. It suits pre-ground supermarket coffee and it caps what the machine can ever achieve, because grind size and technique stop mattering.

Ask about both before ordering.

The steam wand is the reason most people buy this

Espresso at home is often really about milk drinks, and a steam wand is what makes a latte rather than coffee with hot milk poured in.

Two things to know. Steaming is a skill: the wand tip just under the surface to draw air in for a few seconds, then deeper to spin the milk and break the bubbles down. And a small tank means the boiler is small, so steaming and brewing back to back usually involves waiting.

Cold milk, a cold jug and not over-aerating is most of the technique.

Where the money is better spent

If any budget is left over, spend it on a grinder rather than a better machine.

Grind size is the main control over espresso extraction, and pre-ground coffee is both too coarse and too stale for it. A modest machine with a decent grinder beats a better machine with pre-ground beans.

Who the Simplus 240mL suits

Buy this if you are one or two people, you want a compact machine with a steam wand, and refilling a small tank does not bother you.

Skip it for a household that makes several drinks in a row, where the tank becomes the limiting part.

The alternatives

For six times the tank at a modest premium, see the X-Series 1.5L espresso machine. For a machine that publishes its regulated brew pressure and takes a commercial-standard portafilter, the HiBREW H10A is the serious option.