Methodology
Scope
Topten.eu – Best Products of Europe – presents the best fully automatic coffee machines and portioned machines for capsules and pads. Not considered are filter coffee machines, machines with piston lever, combi-machines and (commercial) appliances with a permanent water supply.
Technical Criteria
In order to qualify for Topten.eu, coffee machines must meet the following criteria:
- Auto-power-down function switching-off the permanent heating of the water after a certain delay time to "standby" or "off"
- Delay time of the auto-power-down: Default (factory setting)
- Portioned machines: max. 15 minutes
- Fully automatic machines/piston machines: max. 30 minutes
- Delay time of the auto-power-down: Programmable by the user
- Portioned machines: max. 30 minutes
- Fully automatic machines/piston machines: max 3 hours (It is planned that the programmable auto-power-time is further reduced and adapted to developments on the market)
- The auto-power-down-function can not be deactivated by the users or any function.
- Swiss energy class after EN60661 according to Swiss energy regulation:
- Portioned machines: Energy class A+
- Fully automatic machines/piston machines: Energy class A
- The required values are to be provided by the supplier. Otherwise there is no entitlement to a presentation of the appliance on Topten. The information may be checked by sampling measurement.
- Available in at least one European country.
Data sources
Data Order of presentation
The products are ordered according to their electricity costs during 10 years. The order can be changed individually by clicking on the head of the tables.
Glossary
Brand, Model, Similar Models
The brand names and model names are on the list. Products of similar construction and identical technical values are displayed only once. Similar models’ names are listed under ‘similar models’. A click on the column of a product shows the detailed view.
Pump Pressure
«real» espresso requires at least around 8 bars, while coffee machines that work with lower pressure produce more a kind of filter coffee.
Electricity Costs
Assumptions:
- Product’s lifetime: 10 years
- Yearly electricity consumption according to the Energy Label.
- Tariff of electricity: 0.30 €/kWh
Energy Class
Swiss energy class according to Swiss energy regulation. The data for the calculation of the energy class are measured according to the Measuring Method EN 60661.
Energy
Standby Mode
Power in standby mode (watts). When a machine is in standby mode, the water heating elements are inactive. Accordingly, coffee can only be produced after the heating element has been heated up to the temperature needed. The machine’s control unit is supplied with electricity, allowing for instance a mode indication to be visible or a time-controlled activation function to operate in the background. Some coffee machines have two different standby values, e.g. before and after the auto-power-down.
Switch-off Delay
Delay time in minutes to activation of the switch-off (auto-power-down) after the machine has last been active or manipulated (factory setting).
Countries available
Countries in which a product is available according to producers declarations; country codes according to ISO.
EU = available throughout the European Union
On demand = producers could not indicate the availability and consumers have to ask on their own
Infoplus
Publications
- Efficient Coffee Machines - European energy label for residential and commercial use. Nadja Gross, EEDAL 2022. Paper and presentation.
- Energy efficiency labels for residential and commercial coffee makers. Nadja Gross, eceee 2021. Paper and presentation.
- Topten research on the Auto-power-down delay times of coffee machines. Barbara Josephy (Topten International Group, TIG), 2012.
- Super efficient coffee machines - best available technology and market transformation. Barbara Josephy, Eric Bush, Jürg Nipkow, Adelmo Pilone. EEDAL 2011.
- Strategies to Enhance Energy Efficiency of Coffee Machines. Eric Bush, Jürg Nipkow, Barbara Josephy, Susanne Heutling and Rainer Griesshammer (Topten International Group TIG, Swiss Agency for Efficient Energy Use S.A.F.E., German Federal Environment Agency, Oeko-Institute). EEDAL-Conference, Berlin 2009.
- Measuring Method and Calculation Formula for the Electricity Consumption of Coffee Machines for Household Use. Euro-Topten and S.A.F.E., 9th May 2009.
- Messmethode und Berechnungsschema für den Elektrizitätsverbrauch von Kaffeemaschinen für die Nutzung im Haushalt. Euro-Topten und S.A.F.E., 9. Mai 2009.
- Spreadsheet form allowing an easy calculation of the energy consumption according to the typical usage pattern (as described in the Euro-topten-Measuring Method and Calculation Formula for the Electricity Consumption of Coffee Machines for Household Use, 9th May 2009.)
- Energy label for coffee machines. Jürg Nipkow and Eric Bush (S.A.F.E.). EEDAL-Conference, London 2006.
- Standby consumption of houshold appliances. Jürg Nipkow and Eric Bush (S.A.F.E.) on behalf of the SFOE Swiss Federal Office of Energy 2003.
Standards and Labels
Institutions
Links
- The European council for an energy efficient economy eceee provides a status overview on all products in the Ecodesign & Energy Labelling process
- Coolproducts informs about the EU ecodesign process on Standby and products. It is a coalition of NGOs' campaign for a stronger, fast Ecodesign Directive to save the climate and money
- ECOS (Ecostandard) is an international NGO with a network of members and experts advocating for environmentally friendly technical standards, policies and laws
- Energy Efficiency Indicators in Europe
Information for producers and retailers
Producers and retailers are kindly asked to contact info(at)topten.info to inform about more products which meet the Euro-Topten selection criteria.
Relevant values have to be provided by the suppliers. Suppliers who are not able to provide these values cannot claim to have their appliances displayed on topten.info. All declarations can be verified by random measurements.
11/2022 Gross, Hepp