How we rate turkish coffee machines

Every turkish coffee machine on this site is scored on the 6 criteria below, weighted to 100 points. This page is generated from the same rules that produce the numbers, so it cannot describe a system we are not using.

Each criterion says what it measures, why it carries the weight it does, and what the evidence actually is — which is often the more useful half. A score read without knowing that grind consistency comes from burr geometry rather than a measured particle distribution is a score taken on faith.

Brewing & Foam Control

26 of 100 points

Turkish coffee is made or ruined at one moment: the rise of the foam. A machine that watches the foam is doing the thing a person stands over the pot to do. A machine that watches a thermometer is approximating it.

What we can actually read: How the machine judges the brew is published, and it is the most useful single fact in this category. Foam sensing, temperature cut-off and plain manual are three genuinely different products.

Scored directly from published figures.

The 4 rules below score this criterion out of 10, and they add up to 10 exactly. That result is then worth 26 of the category's 100 points.

  • How it judges the brew7 of 10
    foam
    7 pts
    temperature
    4.5 pts
    automatic
    2.5 pts
    manual
    1 pt
  • Ember mode1.5 of 10
    present
    1.5 pts
  • Strength modes1 of 10
    present
    1 pt
  • Milk frothing0.5 of 10
    present
    0.5 pts

10 of 10

Overflow & Safety

20 of 100 points

These boil over by design if unwatched, and the whole point of the machine is not watching.

What we can actually read: Overflow prevention, auto shut-off and boil-dry protection are published.

Scored directly from published figures.

The 3 rules below score this criterion out of 10, and they add up to 10 exactly. That result is then worth 20 of the category's 100 points.

  • Overflow prevention5 of 10
    present
    5 pts
  • Automatic shut-off3 of 10
    present
    3 pts
  • Boil-dry protection2 of 10
    present
    2 pts

10 of 10

Capacity & Servings

16 of 100 points

How many demitasse cups in one brew. Turkish coffee is served to a table, so one or two cups is a real limit.

What we can actually read: Cup count and millilitres are published, though cup here means a demitasse and makers are not consistent about it.

Scored directly from published figures.

The 2 rules below score this criterion out of 10, and they add up to 10 exactly. That result is then worth 16 of the category's 100 points.

  • Cups per brew5 of 10
    2 or less
    1.5 pts
    over 2, up to 4
    3.5 pts
    over 4
    5 pts
  • Pot volume5 of 10
    250 ml or less
    1.5 pts
    over 250 ml, up to 400 ml
    3.5 pts
    over 400 ml
    5 pts

10 of 10

Handling & Cleaning

16 of 100 points

Whether the pot lifts off to pour, whether it tells you it is done, and whether it can be washed.

What we can actually read: Cordless, removable pot, one touch and audible alert are published.

Scored directly from published figures.

The 5 rules below score this criterion out of 10, and they add up to 10 exactly. That result is then worth 16 of the category's 100 points.

  • Cordless serving3 of 10
    present
    3 pts
  • Removable pot3 of 10
    present
    3 pts
  • One-touch start2 of 10
    present
    2 pts
  • Ready alert1 of 10
    present
    1 pt
  • Dishwasher safe1 of 10
    present
    1 pt

10 of 10

Materials & Warranty

12 of 100 points

Mostly what the pot is made of, since that is the part that meets the coffee.

What we can actually read: Pot and body material and warranty are published, though few makers here publish a warranty at all.

Scored directly from published figures.

The 3 rules below score this criterion out of 10, and they add up to 10 exactly. That result is then worth 12 of the category's 100 points.

  • Pot material6 of 10
    stainless steel, copper
    6 pts
    aluminium
    3 pts
    abs
    2 pts
    plastic
    1.5 pts
  • Body2 of 10
    stainless steel
    2 pts
    chrome
    1.5 pts
    abs, plastic
    1 pt
  • Warranty2 of 10
    none
    0 pts
    up to 1 yr
    0.7 pts
    over 1 yr, up to 2 yr
    1.4 pts
    over 2 yr
    2 pts

10 of 10

Value for Money

10 of 100 points

Points per pound against the category median.

What we can actually read: Almost nothing in this category publishes a price, so this criterion is usually neutral and says so.

Computed from price, not from a rule list

Value is the only criterion here with no thresholds of its own, because it cannot be read off one product. It asks what else the same money buys in this category, so it needs the category. That result is then worth 10 of the category's 100 points.

Points already earned on everything else
out of 10
Multiplied by the category median over this price
median ÷ price
Capped at
10
No price published, or fewer than 3 priced rivals
5 of 10

Half marks is not a verdict, it is a refusal to guess: with nothing to compare against, a product is neither good value nor bad, and scoring it either way would invent a finding. It corrects itself as the category fills.

This category is too small to judge its own silence

We hold 7 turkish coffee machines here. Everywhere else on this site, an input fewer than one maker in four publishes has its weight taken out of the total, because at that point we are measuring the market rather than the product. That rule needs at least eight products to mean anything — on a handful, one maker's silence looks like the whole market's. So nothing is struck out here, and scores in this category are out of the full 100.

7 inputs are thin enough that it would have been struck out in a bigger category. Read the scores here knowing that:

  • body material
  • boil dry protection
  • capacity ml
  • cordless
  • dishwasher safe
  • milk frother
  • removable pot

How we rate everything else

The rules that apply to every category, where specifications come from and why blanks stay blank, are on how we score.