If you’re the kind of coffee lover who finds themselves stopping in at their local café multiple times a day, then you might also be the kind of coffee lover in search of a home espresso machine.
Picking up an espresso machine for your kitchen counter is a great way to give yourself unparalleled access to café-level beverages any time of the day (or night, as the case may be). If you’ve been looking around our range of home espresso machines, you may have noticed two of our standout models: the Linea Mini and the Linea Micra.
Both are fantastic in their own right, but each one is suited to a slightly different kind of coffee drinker. That’s why today, we’re comparing the two to help you figure out which is the best choice for your kitchen countertop.
The Linea Mini: Beautiful Espresso, Anywhere
First, we have the Linea Mini. This professional-grade workhorse is designed for maximum capacity with a minimal footprint, bringing a café level experience to your home kitchen. There are a variety of features that make the Mini a standout for home baristas, including:
Pre-infusion system
The dual boiler, dual-valve pre-infusion system allows for soft saturation and self-cleaning, so there’s no frustrating acidity to deal with.
Built-in shot timer
Nail your extractions with an integrated shot timer, built for baristas who are all about nailing the numbers.
Easy pressure adjustment
Take control of the pump pressure to tailor your espresso extraction, so you can finally craft that signature coffee you’ve been craving.
The Linea Mini is the best choice for any serious coffee enthusiast who enjoys multiple brews a day, or for a household of coffee lovers. Most importantly, the features that come with this machine are a little more advanced than many home espresso machines, so it will be put to its best use with someone who wants to perfect their skills with professional-grade equipment.
The Linea Micra: Bring the Café Home
On the other side of things lies the Linea Micra, the ideal home espresso machine for anyone new to brewing espresso who wants to enjoy café-level coffee at home. We love this feisty little machine for many reasons, one of which is its well-earned reputation for quality as a scaled-down version of the Linea Classic S. With dynamic features and a compact footprint, this is the perfect tool to explore the world of espresso.
Here’s some of what we love about the Micra:
Convertible portafilter
To help you get more coffee from a small footprint, enjoy a convertible portafilter that changes effortlessly between single-spout, double-spout, and bottomless.
Compact footprint
One major complaint many home espresso machines get – especially from first time brewers – is that they take up a lot of counterspace. Well, the Linea Micra has a compact footprint, making this a small but mighty machine.
App integration
An app in your coffee? Yes, but only for the machine itself. Using the La Marzocco Home App, you can set your machine to turn on and heat from bed, setting up your machine to start brewing from the moment you arrive in your kitchen.
We tend to recommend the Linea Micra for anyone who’s jumping into owning their own espresso machine for the first time. It’s an extremely high-quality machine that’s easy to clean, easy to operate, and will provide a lot of learning opportunities for any budding coffee aficionados.
The Quick Comparison:
Still unsure of your choice? To give you a bird’s eye view of the breakdown between these two stunning machines, we’ve put together a quick chart below.
| Feature | Linea Mini | Linea Micra |
| Size | 357mm | 280mm |
| Best For | High-volume brewing | Casual brewing |
| Heating Time | ~15 minutes | ~5 minutes |
| Ease of Use | Advanced (barista-friendly) | Beginner (new to coffee-making) |
| Price | $8,499.00 inc GST | $5,999.00 inc GST |
In summary, we’d recommend the Linea Mini for anyone who brews multiple coffees a day, wants professional-grade steam power for their latte art and extractions, and either already has or wants to attain some barista-level skills. Ideal for the café connoisseur with ground coffee under their fingernails.
On the other hand, the Linea Micra is the best pick for anyone just starting their coffee journey. It’s a more compact machine, helping you to enjoy delicious coffee without taking up too much space or adding unnecessary levels of complexity. That’s not to say this machine can’t keep up with you as your skills grow! But it’s the perfect place to start if you’re working with your very first at-home espresso machine.
Ultimately, both machines deliver on La Marzocco’s hallmark quality. So, the only real question left to ask is: which will it be?
Start enjoying coffee the way you’re meant to with a home espresso machine.
There’s nothing like the smell of fresh coffee in the morning! Take your pick of our home espresso machines, the Linea Mini or the Linea Micra, each one crafted from scratch to deliver the perfect cup every single time.
