Essential Espresso Accessories: What's Worth Buying and What to Skip
This is a research-based guide, not a hands-on test. We have not personally tested any product mentioned. This page contains affiliate links — if you buy through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. See our Affiliate Disclosure for details.
It's easy to get talked into buying a trolley-full of gear when you're starting out. Here's a plain-English split between what's genuinely worth it for a beginner, and what you can safely skip or delay.
Worth buying from day one
- A digital kitchen scale (0.1g accuracy). Weighing your coffee dose and shot output is the single easiest way to get consistent espresso, far more reliable than eyeballing it. Inexpensive and genuinely useful.
- A tamper that fits your portafilter size. Even pressure when tamping the grounds matters for an even extraction. Many machines include a basic one, but a correctly-sized, flat-based tamper is a cheap upgrade if the included one is flimsy or the wrong size.
- A cleaning brush and cloth kept just for the machine. Keeps the group head and portafilter free of old coffee residue, which affects taste over time.
Worth buying once you're hooked
- A milk frothing jug (if your machine has a steam wand). The right size and shape jug makes texturing milk noticeably easier than a random cup. Not essential if you drink your espresso black.
- A knock box. A dedicated container for knocking out used coffee grounds is tidier than using the bin directly, but a bowl or the bin works fine as a free substitute.
- A tamping mat. Protects your bench and keeps the tamper stable. A folded tea towel achieves much the same thing for free.
Usually skippable for beginners
- Bottomless (naked) portafilters. Popular for showing extraction problems visually and for social media, but not necessary to make good coffee, and can spray hot coffee more if your grind or dose is off — better added once you're already comfortable.
- Precision baskets and specialty tampers beyond a well-fitting basic one. These can help once you're fine-tuning, but won't fix bigger issues like a bad grinder or stale beans, which matter far more at the beginner stage.
- Elaborate cleaning tablet subscriptions. A basic cleaning routine with your machine's recommended tablets or powder, bought as needed, is enough — you don't need a subscription to start.
A simple starter order
- Machine and grinder (see our machine guide and grinder guide).
- A digital scale.
- A correctly-fitting tamper (if your machine's included one is poor quality).
- Everything else, only once you know what you actually need for your routine.
Bottom line
A scale and a decent tamper are the two accessories most likely to actually improve your coffee as a beginner. Everything else is a nice-to-have you can add later once you know your own habits.
Prices and availability change — always check current price at the retailer before buying.