La Marzocco Linea Mini Review

Home espresso machines are often divided into ‘domestic’ and ‘prosumer’ grade machines. The La Marzocco Linea Mini is one of the very few machines that are a step above these categories: a true commercial-grade espresso machine, but compact enough to fit into a home kitchen.

La Marzocco are undoubtedly leaders in this segment of the market — in fact, they virtually invented the category when they released the GS3 in 2008. The GS3 took the cutting-edge technology of La Marzocco’s commercial machines and crammed it into a compact, low-profile machine.

La Marzocco didn’t become one of the best espresso machine brands in the world by sitting on its laurels, however, and in 2015 they unveiled the newest machine from their home espresso range — the Linea Mini. 

The Linea Mini takes the iconic design of La Marzocco’s best-selling machine, the Linea Classic, and reimagines it for a home espresso machine. It is La Marzocco’s most compact machine yet, but still has the full power of a commercial machine hidden inside.

After a wildly successful launch, La Marzocco updated the Linea Mini in 2020 with the Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity, which allows you to control the machine from your smartphone. This extra layer of control made an already great machine even better, and, in 2022, the Linea Mini is still one of the best home espresso machines on the market.

Design and Build

The design of the La Marzocco Linea Mini coffee machine is probably, for most people, the machine’s biggest selling point. But don’t be fooled into thinking that this beauty is skin deep — the Linea Mini is designed and built from top to bottom with the same attention to detail that La Marzocco is famous for.

The boxy shape of the machine echoes the Linea Classic — perhaps the best-known espresso machine in specialty coffee of all time. The La Marzocco Linea Classic two-group espresso machine has been the workhorse of specialty coffee shops all over the world for 30 years, and the shape is instantly recognizable to any espresso enthusiast.

Having a Linea Mini on your counter feels just like having one of these classic machines in your kitchen — from the shape to the simple, rugged controls, to the bomb-proof build quality. You can be sure that this machine will stand up to anything you can throw at it — after all, the machines that it’s based on making hundreds upon hundreds of espressos day after day. Having the Linea Mini on your counter is the closest you can get at home to the experience of being a barista, slinging shots in a buzzing cafe.

Inside the Linea Mini’s solid steel casing, the same applies: La Marzocco have used many of the same components that they use in their commercial machines, which means that the Linea Mini can stand up to very heavy use. It features a 58mm brew group and includes La Marzocco’s professional portafilters, so you can use all the same cutting-edge accessories such as tampers and distribution tools that professional baristas swear by.

Despite retaining the feel of a large commercial machine, the Linea Mini is surprisingly compact. It’s less than 36 cm wide and 38 cm tall, which means it can find a home on most modern kitchen countertops. La Marzocco has achieved this by designing an entirely new integrated boiler and group head, where the group head sits directly underneath the boiler. This configuration is energy efficient and very compact — and just as temperature-stable as the large boilers found in their commercial espresso machines.

In a nod to home users, the Linea Mini is available in 6 different colors, to suit different kitchens. Apart from that, however, the design takes the same no-compromise approach as that of La Marzocco’s commercial machines. The strong lines of the Linea Mini won’t be for everyone — but for the true espresso enthusiast, the design and feel of this machine are hard to beat.

Features

Considering the price point, the list of features on the Linea Mini is relatively simple. It has everything you need to make a perfect coffee — but very few extra frills.

This is a deliberate choice — the Linea Mini is not a machine that is designed for the home barista to fiddle around with tiny changes to the recipe, taking 20 minutes to brew a single espresso. Instead, the Linea Mini is a machine that you can rely on to turn out 10 espressos back to back, knowing that every single one will be as good as the one before it. This stability and reliability are what made La Marzocco famous.

At the core of the Linea Mini is a dual boiler system, so that you can control the espresso brew temperature and the steam power separately. The brew boiler is small at just 175ml, which means that it can heat up very fast. In fact, you can start brewing espresso less than 10 minutes after you turn the machine on, which is very fast compared to other prosumer-level espresso machines.

The brew group features a pre-wet system, similar to that on most of La Marzocco’s commercial machines. This allows you to pump a small amount of water onto the puck and then pause before brewing continues, giving the coffee more time to absorb water. This can improve the consistency and flavor of your espresso.

This small brew boiler has the temperature stability of a much larger boiler, however, because the incoming water is pre-heated in a heat exchanger, and the final brewing temperature is tightly controlled with a PID. This combination means that it’s faster to heat up and quicker to change the brewing temperature than a traditional dual boiler machine, but that you can make espresso after espresso with no change in the brewing temperature.

The steam boiler, on the other hand, is huge for a home machine at 3.5 liters, giving you virtually unlimited steam power. The dual pressure gauge lets you keep an eye on both the steam pressure and the brew pressure, to make sure that everything is running as it should when you make your coffee. The machine also features a cool-touch steam wand, so you’re less likely to burn yourself when steaming milk — and it’s also easier to keep clean.

The brew pressure is controlled by a rotary pump, similar to that used on commercial espresso machines. The pump is powerful but runs quietly, and can be plumbed in or set to draw water from the generous 2L internal water tank. By default, the machine uses internal tanks like other home espresso machines, but the large drip tray and water tank mean that you don’t need to refill or empty the machine too often. 

To connect the machine to mains water, you need to buy a plumb-in kit, sold separately, and install it. It’s possible to install the plumb-in kit yourself if you’re handy with a spanner, but most people will prefer to hire a technician to install this for them.

La Marzocco’s smartphone app lets you control some of the machine’s settings, such as the brew temperature and the pre-wet settings. It also allows you to turn the machine on and off remotely, or set it up to turn on automatically at different times every day — perfect if you don’t want to wait for the machine to heat up in the morning.

The only extra feature that the Linea Mini has that could be considered a ‘frill’ is the barista lights — bright white LEDs that light up the drip tray while you’re brewing. These look smart but also make it much easier to keep an eye out for problems with the espresso you’re brewing, such as channeling.

Ease of use

The Linea Mini is a fully manual machine. This means that while the controls are simple, it’s best for experienced home baristas, who enjoy having full control over the espresso brewing process. If you haven’t made espresso this way before, then there is a bit of a learning curve to overcome — but once you are experienced with manual brewing, then the Linea Mini is a very simple machine to use.

The main paddle looks like it could be a complicated controller, but it’s actually a simple on-off switch. The paddle motion is very pleasing to use — for example, if you’re steaming a jug of milk while the espresso brews and you want to stop the shot, it’s very easy to flick the shot off with your free hand, without having to find the right button to press.

The control over the more complex variables like the brew pressure or temperature is a little more complicated. The pump pressure can be adjusted by opening the machine and turning a screw — it’s not difficult, but a little more fiddly than the digital controls found on many domestic espresso machines. The temperature can be controlled via the app, which is easy to use but can be a little fiddly to set up the first time.

However, the machine is set up to brew great coffee right out of the box, so if you don’t want to fiddle with these variables, then you absolutely don’t have to.

In the same vein, the steam wand on the Linea Mini is just like the powerful steam wand found on La Marzocco’s commercial espresso machines. There’s a learning curve involved in getting used to a steam wand with this much power behind it, and this could be challenging for new home baristas. However, once you get used to working with this much power, then the La Marzocco steam wands are widely recognized as some of the best in the business for producing silky-smooth microfoam for your cappuccinos and lattes.

How does it brew?

Making coffee on the Linea Mini is frankly a joy. With this machine, it’s easy to get the exact same results that you can get from the very best specialty coffee shops — or even better. With the Linea Mini, paired with the right grinder, and a bit of practice, there’s nothing to stop any home barista from making better coffee than they could get in a cafe.

The steam performance is similar — it certainly takes practice to get used to the power of this machine, but once you do, it’s hard to go back to using anything less! The steam is powerful and perfectly dry — just as it is on La Marzocco’s commercial machines.

The La Marzocco Linea Mini is perfect for making different kinds of coffee — the steam is powerful enough to make large lattes in seconds, but the rotary knob gives you enough control over the steam power to make perfectly silky milk for a tiny cortado as well.

Who should buy it?

The Linea Mini is one of the best home espresso machines on the market, but it is not for everyone. For beginners, it can take a lot of practice to be able to work with a machine this powerful — if that’s you, then you might be better off starting with a machine like the Nuova Simonelli Oscar Mood, which has professional-level capabilities but a user-friendly interface.

On the other hand, a die-hard coffee nerd, who wants full control over the pressure and flow during brewing, might find the Linea Mini’s controls too simple. For this kind of keen home barista, then a machine with pressure profiling, such as the Rocket R9 One, might be a better choice.

What the Linea Mini is perfect for, is replicating the barista experience at home. If you want to sling shots like a professional, and you want to be able to make 10 perfect lattes in a row to impress your guests, then the Linea Mini is the perfect machine for you. The Mini is even powerful enough to be a machine that you keep at home most of the time but then pop on a cart to serve coffee to customers at a special event. It’s really the ideal home espresso machine, for the professional barista.

Conclusion

The Linea Mini is not the perfect machine for everyone. However, if you want the full power of a commercial machine in your home, it’s very hard to beat. The Linea Mini has all the power, consistency, and above all, the build quality that La Marzocco is known for.

With one of these on your counter, you will be making perfect espressos for many years, and never have to worry about the Next Big Thing — these designs have already stood the test of time. If your love of espresso goes beyond a mere hobby, then the Linea Mini is even powerful enough for commercial settings — small wonder that lots of coffee roasters take the Linea Mini with them when they want to serve coffee at trade shows and events.

With a timeless design to match the rugged build quality, the Linea Mini is a very desirable machine indeed. Buying one of these machines is certainly a big investment, but one that will pay off in years and years of perfect espressos every morning.