About —
An espresso almanac, for buyers.
Independent picks. Weekly-verified prices. Skip list as proof.
The Plug is an independent buyer's guide for home espresso. We test machines and grinders against published criteria, rank by workflow fit and price tier, and publish a skip list of equipment we'd talk a friend out of. We don't take payment from any vendor or retailer for inclusion, ranking, or recommendation. Prices come from retailer product pages and are refreshed weekly — every price has a date next to it.
House rules —
How we work.
№ 01 — Independent
Picks come from independent testing, not from briefings.
No vendor pays to be listed, ranked higher, or recommended. No press trips, no review samples, no embargoes. The skip list proves the rest.
№ 02 — Prices verified weekly
Every price has a date next to it.
We pull prices from the actual product pages every week. When a tier changes, you see it the next day.
№ 03 — Workflow over spec sheet
Specs are inputs. Workflow is the output.
Recommendations are tied to how you actually drink coffee — milk-drink frequency, counter space, dose preferences — not to which machine has the longest spec sheet.
№ 04 — Corrections, on the page
When we're wrong, we update the page.
Spot a mistake — wrong price, wrong spec, wrong verdict? Email editor@wearetheplug.com. Material corrections are noted with a date stamp on the page itself.
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