Buying guides
La Marzocco Linea Micra: what the money buys
A café dual boiler cut down for a kitchen. What the Linea Micra actually changes in the cup, who it is for, and who should keep their money.
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The high-end pick
La Marzocco
La Marzocco Linea Micra
Two boilers, a saturated-style group and café parts in a 29 cm wide body. The price buys consistency, not a better best shot.
- Type
- Dual boiler, PID
- Boilers
- 0.25 L coffee, 1.6 L steam
- Tank
- 2 L, plumbable
- Weight
- 19 kg
What it is
The Linea Micra is the smallest machine La Marzocco builds, launched at the end of 2022 as its first machine designed for a home rather than adapted from a café one. It is a dual boiler: a 0.25 litre coffee boiler and a 1.6 litre steam boiler, each under its own PID, in a body 29 cm wide and 34 cm tall that weighs 19 kg.
The list price is $4,500 in the United States and from €3,360 in France, which puts it at the top of what anyone should spend on a domestic espresso machine.
A word on method before anything else. This page is not a test. The machine has not been through our bench, so there is no score and no measured figure here. What follows comes from the manufacturer’s specifications and from what dual boilers do, which is well understood. When we test one, the review will say so.
What two boilers change
On a single boiler, you brew and steam from the same water, so you wait between the two and you surf the temperature to land a shot. A heat exchanger removes the wait but not the surfing. A dual boiler removes both, and the difference between the three is the whole reason this price bracket exists.
Put simply: the coffee boiler holds the brew water at the temperature you set, and a PID keeps it there. The steam boiler does its own job next to it. You can pull a shot and steam milk at the same time, and the second shot of the morning comes out like the first.
That is the honest summary of the machine. It does not make a better espresso than a well-handled mid-range machine on its best day. It makes that day the normal one.
The details that justify the brand
A small coffee boiler. At 0.25 litres it heats faster than the one-litre boilers of larger machines, and it is refreshed often enough that the water in it does not sit for hours.
A paddle. Brewing starts and stops with a lever on top of the group, the same gesture as on the café Linea. It is mechanical in feel and simple to use.
Café parts. Gaskets, screens and baskets are standard La Marzocco consumables, stocked by every espresso technician. That is what makes a machine last fifteen years rather than five.
An app. Temperatures, a pre-infusion phase and an on and off schedule are set from a phone. The schedule matters more than it sounds: a machine that is hot when you come downstairs is a machine you use every day.
A tank or a pipe. It runs from a 2 litre reservoir, and it can be plumbed in later.
What it asks of you
The grinder. A machine this stable shows every flaw in the bed. Paired with an entry grinder, most of the money is wasted. Plan a grinder with at least 50 mm flat or large conical burrs alongside it, and read the best espresso machines guide for why the grinder comes first at every budget.
The water. Scale is what kills machines, and at this price it is not optional. Test your water and filter it if it is hard.
The space. It is compact for what it is, not compact. Check the depth under your wall cabinets before ordering.
Who should buy it, and who should not
Buy it if you pull several milk drinks a day, if you want the machine to stop being a variable, and if you intend to keep it a very long time. It is also the machine to buy if resale matters to you: La Marzocco holds its value.
Do not buy it if you drink one espresso a day, if you like to experiment with pressure profiles (a flow-control machine suits that better), or if the same budget could pay for a real grinder and a solid mid-range machine instead. For most people, that second option is the better one, and whether you need a professional machine at all is worth reading before you decide.
Frequently asked
- Is the Linea Micra worth it over a cheaper dual boiler?
- Only if you value the build, the parts supply and the resale. In the cup, a good dual boiler at half the price gets close. The difference is in how long the machine lasts and how little it asks of you.
- Does it need to be plumbed in?
- No. It runs from a 2 litre tank, and it can be plumbed later if you want to stop refilling it.
- How long does it take to heat up?
- The coffee boiler is only 0.25 litres, so it comes up quickly for a dual boiler, and the app can switch it on before you get up. Count on less than a big café-style machine, more than a thermoblock.