The 6 Best Espresso Machines of 2026 (And Why the Grinder Matters More)

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Our quick picks

Ranked by what each one is best at, not by a score we made up. Ratings are what the product showed on Amazon when we last checked — how we rank.

The rest of this page is the reasoning, the relevant specifications and the drawbacks.

The single most useful thing to understand about buying an espresso machine is that the machine is not the most important purchase. The grinder is.

Espresso is made by forcing hot water through a tightly packed bed of very finely ground coffee. Whether that works depends almost entirely on whether the grind is both fine enough and consistent enough — if the particles vary in size, water finds the easy channels, races through them, and you get a thin sour shot no matter how good the machine is. A blade grinder produces wildly inconsistent particles by design. A cheap blade grinder paired with an expensive machine will make worse coffee than a modest machine paired with a decent burr grinder, every single time.

The second most useful thing to understand is that the pressure number on the box is close to meaningless. Espresso is extracted at roughly 9 bar. When a machine advertises 15 bar or 20 bar, that is the unregulated maximum output of the vibratory pump, not the pressure at the coffee. Higher is not better; a well-made machine uses a valve to hold brew pressure near 9 bar regardless of what the pump could theoretically do. In practice, the machines shouting loudest about 20 bar tend to be the ones relying on a pressurised basket to manufacture crema from mediocre grounds.

With those two ideas in hand, this guide gets much simpler. Below are six machines spanning different approaches — an all-in-one with a grinder built in, a prosumer machine you can upgrade forever, a straightforward daily driver, two compact budget options, and a pod machine for people who want coffee rather than a hobby. We also cover what the accessories actually cost, and the maintenance issue that kills more espresso machines than anything else. If you take your coffee with milk, our guide to the best electric kettles and the best blenders cover the rest of the morning counter.

Quick picks

• Best overall: Breville Barista Express BES870XL — a conical burr grinder and a capable machine in one box, which solves the grinder problem before you have to think about it.
• Best for learning real espresso: Gaggia Classic Evo Pro — steel housing, 9-bar extraction and a 58mm commercial portafilter, so every accessory and upgrade in the world fits it.
• Best for milk drinks: De’Longhi Classic Signature — an adjustable milk frother that makes consistent lattes and cappuccinos without learning to texture by hand.
• Best budget machine with a real steam wand: CASABREWS CM5418 — a proper semi-automatic layout at an entry price.
• Best for very small counters: Gevi 20 Bar Compact — a full stainless housing and a steam wand in a really tiny footprint.
• Best for people who just want coffee: Nespresso Vertuo Pop+ — one touch, no grinder, no learning curve, no mess.

What we looked at

We built this list from current Amazon listings, manufacturer specifications, and the recurring patterns in large volumes of verified buyer feedback. We have not pulled shots on every machine here and we are not going to imply we ran blind tastings. What we did was evaluate each machine against the things that determine whether home espresso works: whether it can hold a stable brew temperature, whether it uses a pressurised or non-pressurised basket, whether the steam wand can actually texture milk, and whether the portafilter size opens up an upgrade path or locks you in.

Every pick holds a customer rating of 4.3 stars or better. Espresso machines attract more polarised reviews than most kitchen appliances, because a significant share of one-star reviews describe a grind problem rather than a machine problem — so we read complaints for what they actually describe. Recurring reports of leaking, failing pumps, or a steam wand that cannot produce microfoam counted heavily against a machine. Reports of sour or watery shots we treated as information about the ecosystem, not the appliance, and weighed accordingly.

We also excluded several machines with impressive spec lists and ratings in the low fours, including some from very well-known brands. Where a highly marketed model sits at 4.0 stars, the complaint volume is telling you something real about consistency.

What to know before you buy

Pressurised versus non-pressurised baskets: the real fork in the road

This is the most consequential distinction in the category and almost no listing explains it clearly.

A pressurised basket (also called dual-wall or pressurised portafilter) has a single tiny hole behind a chamber. It creates back-pressure artificially, which means it produces crema and a drinkable shot even from supermarket pre-ground coffee and a sloppy tamp. That is truly useful if you do not want a hobby. The cost is a ceiling: you cannot dial in a great shot with one, because the basket is doing the work instead of the coffee bed.

A non-pressurised basket (single-wall) is a mesh of many holes, exactly like a commercial machine. The coffee bed itself creates the resistance, which means grind size, dose and tamp all matter — and which means you can extract excellent espresso. It also means you need a burr grinder, because without one you will get either a bitter over-extracted trickle or a sour flood, and nothing in between.

Decide which you are before you shop. If you want to point at a button and get a good flat white, pressurised is the right answer and there is no shame in it. If you want to chase a great shot, buy a machine that takes single-wall baskets and budget for the grinder.

Thermoblock, single boiler, dual boiler

Temperature stability is what separates a consistent machine from a lottery. Three approaches dominate the home market.

• Thermoblock: water passes through a heated metal block on demand. Very fast to heat up — often under a minute — compact, and cheap. Temperature is less stable during a shot than a boiler, which matters more as you get pickier. Most entry and mid machines use this.
• Single boiler: one boiler heats water for brewing and then switches to a higher temperature for steam. Stable within a shot, but you must wait between pulling espresso and steaming milk, and again before the next shot. This is the classic prosumer arrangement and it is entirely workable with a little patience.
• Dual boiler or heat exchanger: brew and steam are independent, so you can extract and texture simultaneously. This is what cafes do, and it is what you want if you are making several milk drinks in a row. It costs considerably more and is the main reason a machine crosses into the serious price bracket.

For one or two drinks a morning, a thermoblock or single boiler is entirely sufficient. If your household makes four lattes back to back before work, the waiting will grate and the money spent on separate steam capacity is well spent.

58mm portafilters and why the number matters

A 58mm portafilter is the commercial standard. Machines that use one inherit an enormous accessory ecosystem: precision baskets, bottomless portafilters for diagnosing channelling, better tampers, distribution tools, puck screens. That means a machine with a 58mm group can keep improving for years as your technique does.

Smaller proprietary portafilters — 51mm, 53mm, 54mm and various brand-specific sizes — are not inherently bad, and several excellent machines use them. But your accessory options are narrower and sometimes limited to the manufacturer’s own parts. If you suspect espresso might become a real interest rather than a convenience, the 58mm group is the decision that keeps doors open.

The accessories are not optional, and nobody tells you that

When you budget for an espresso machine, budget for the system. The machine alone will disappoint you. What you actually need, roughly in order of importance:

• A burr grinder. Non-negotiable if you are using single-wall baskets. This is the item people skip and then blame the machine for. Budget a meaningful share of your total spend here — many experienced home baristas would say roughly as much as the machine.
• A digital scale that reads to 0.1g. Espresso is a ratio. Weighing the dose in and the shot out is the difference between repeatable and random, and it is the cheapest improvement available.
• A decent tamper that actually fits your basket diameter. The one in the box is usually undersized.
• A milk jug with a proper spout if you want latte art or even just consistent texture. Steaming in a mug does not work.
• A knock box or a sensible bin arrangement. You will produce a wet puck several times a day and it has to go somewhere that is not your sink drain.
• A water filter or bottled low-mineral water. See the next section — this is a maintenance issue, not a taste preference.

Add those up and the real cost of getting into espresso is meaningfully higher than the machine listing suggests. Knowing that in advance is the difference between a happy purchase and a machine that gets shoved to the back of the counter after three weeks.

Water hardness kills more espresso machines than anything else

Scale is the leading cause of death for home espresso machines. Every time hard water is heated inside the boiler or thermoblock, mineral deposits build up on the heating surfaces and inside narrow passages. Eventually flow drops, temperature control gets erratic, and then something blocks or fails. It happens gradually enough that most people never connect the machine dying to their tap water.

Two habits prevent almost all of it. Use filtered or low-mineral bottled water rather than hard tap water — but not distilled or fully deionised water, which is bad for the machine in a different way and tastes flat, because some mineral content is needed both for extraction and for the machine’s water level sensors. And descale on the manufacturer’s schedule with the descaler they specify, rather than waiting for symptoms.

A short safety note, since descaling involves acid: follow the instructions on the product, do not mix descaling solutions, keep them away from children and pets, and rinse the machine thoroughly afterwards before making coffee. Be equally careful with the steam wand — it delivers steam well above boiling, it stays hot after use, and purging it towards yourself or a bystander is a real burn risk rather than a theoretical one.

How many drinks a day are you actually making?

This question sorts the category better than budget does.

• One or two shots a morning, one person: a compact thermoblock machine is plenty. Fast heat-up matters more than boiler capacity.
• Two people, mostly milk drinks: steam performance becomes the bottleneck. Look for a wand that can texture a full jug without running out of steam, and accept the wait on a single boiler.
• Three or more drinks back to back: this is where a dual boiler or heat exchanger earns its money, and where a single-boiler machine becomes irritating.
• Occasional, unpredictable, guests: a pod machine is the honest answer. A semi-automatic that sits unused for a two weeks needs purging and warming and tastes worse for it.

The 6 best espresso machines

1. Breville Barista Express BES870XL — best overall

The Barista Express has been the default recommendation for home espresso for years, and the reason is structural rather than sentimental: it puts a conical burr grinder inside the machine. Given that the grinder is the component most first-time buyers skimp on and then regret, a machine that removes that decision solves the category’s biggest problem at the point of purchase.

The grinder doses directly into the portafilter with an adjustable grind setting and dose control, so the loop between “that shot ran too fast” and “adjust and try again” is short enough that you will actually do it. Breville pairs that with low-pressure pre-infusion, which wets the puck gently before full pressure arrives and meaningfully reduces channelling, and a steam wand capable of hand-texturing proper microfoam rather than just producing bubbles. Customer rating is 4.4 stars across a very large number of reviews.

Why it made the list: it is the shortest path from buying a box to making good espresso. Grinder, pre-infusion and a real steam wand in one unit, at a price that is far below buying a comparable machine and grinder separately, and with a huge community of owners meaning every question you will have is already answered somewhere.

The downside: the built-in grinder is good for the money but it is not a dedicated grinder, and serious enthusiasts eventually add a standalone one — at which point you are paying twice for a grinder. It uses a 54mm portafilter rather than the 58mm commercial standard, so your accessory options are narrower than they look. The single thermocoil means you wait between brewing and steaming. It is also a physically large appliance that needs clearance above for the hopper, and it is the messiest machine here in daily use because grinding into the basket throws grounds around. Finally, Breville’s included pressurised baskets will flatter bad coffee; switch to the single-wall baskets once you have a grinder dialled in, or you will never hear what the machine can do.

Who it is for: almost anyone buying their first real espresso machine, and anyone who wants one purchase rather than a project.

See the Breville Barista Express on Amazon →

2. Gaggia Classic Evo Pro — best for learning real espresso

The Gaggia Classic has been the enthusiast’s entry point for decades, and the Evo Pro is the current iteration. Its appeal is not features — it has very few. It is a solid steel housing made in Italy, a 9-bar extraction, a commercial 58mm stainless portafilter, and a steam wand. That is essentially it, and that is the point.

What you are buying is a platform. The 58mm group means every basket, tamper, bottomless portafilter, puck screen and distribution tool on the market fits. The mechanical simplicity means it is repairable and well documented, and there is an actually enormous body of community knowledge and modification guides built up over its long life. A Gaggia Classic bought today can still be a good machine in fifteen years, which is not true of most appliances in any category. Customer rating is 4.3 stars.

Why it made the list: it is the machine that rewards learning. Where the Breville gives you a good shot quickly, the Gaggia gives you the ceiling to keep climbing — and the 58mm standard plus steel construction plus repairability is a combination almost nothing else at this level offers. For anyone who suspects coffee will become a real interest, this is the purchase you do not outgrow.

What you give up: there is no grinder, so the real cost of this machine is the machine plus a burr grinder, and buying it without one is the most common way people are disappointed by it. It is a single boiler, so you wait between espresso and steam, and the steam is powerful but takes practice to control. Heat-up takes several minutes rather than seconds, and it benefits from a longer warm-up and a blank shot before the first coffee — this is not a grab-and-go machine. The stock steam wand is workable but many owners replace it. And there is no display, no automation and no timer: everything is your job.

Who it is for: people who want to learn espresso properly, anyone who values repairability and standard parts, and anyone already committed to buying a good grinder.

See the Gaggia Classic Evo Pro on Amazon →

3. De’Longhi Classic Signature — best for milk drinks

Most people who buy an espresso machine do not drink espresso. They drink lattes, cappuccinos and flat whites, which means the milk is more than half the drink and the steam wand matters more than the group head. This De’Longhi is built around that reality: it pairs a thermoblock for fast, consistent brew temperature with an adjustable milk frother that produces repeatable foam without requiring you to learn hand texturing.

That adjustability is the useful part. Hand-texturing microfoam is a skill that takes weeks to get right and is easy to get badly wrong, and a frother with settings gets you a consistent cappuccino from week one. De’Longhi is also the largest espresso machine manufacturer in the world by volume, which translates into parts availability and service coverage that smaller brands cannot match. Customer rating is 4.4 stars.

Why it made the list: it optimises for what people actually drink. Fast heat-up plus assisted frothing plus a well-supported brand is the right combination for a household that wants a good cappuccino on a weekday morning rather than a project, and it does not require buying a grinder on day one to be satisfying.

The part that annoys people: an assisted frother is a trade. It is consistent and easy, and it will not produce the dense, glossy microfoam that a good hand-textured jug gives you, so latte art is largely off the table. Like most machines in this class it ships with pressurised baskets, which means it flatters pre-ground coffee and caps how good the espresso itself can get. Thermoblock temperature stability is adequate rather than excellent. And De’Longhi’s range is confusingly large with many near-identical models under similar names, so check the specific model number matches the features you are expecting before ordering.

Who it is for: milk-drink households, anyone who wants consistency without technique, and anyone who would rather have easy than optimal.

See the De’Longhi Classic Signature on Amazon →

4. CASABREWS CM5418 — best budget machine with a real steam wand

The budget end of this category is full of machines that look like espresso machines and function as expensive drip filters. The CM5418 is a genuine semi-automatic layout — portafilter, group head, manual steam wand — at an entry price, and the reason it is worth attention is that the steam wand actually works. A lot of cheap machines have a wand that produces wet steam and large bubbles; this one can be coaxed into reasonable foam with practice.

It is compact stainless steel, has a removable water tank sized for several drinks, and gives you manual control over shot length rather than a fixed button. Customer rating is 4.3 stars, and the consistent theme in reviews is that it substantially exceeds expectations for its price rather than that it competes with machines several times the cost.

Why it made the list: it is the right machine for testing whether you want this hobby. Spending a modest amount to find out whether you will actually pull two shots a morning for a year is a sensible sequence, and if the answer is yes, this machine will have taught you what you want from the next one. It is also a reasonable second machine for an office or a vacation home.

Where it disappoints: the 20 bar figure in the marketing is pump capability, not brew pressure, and should not influence your decision — see the section above. It ships with a pressurised basket, so really dialled-in espresso is not on the menu without aftermarket parts that may not exist for its portafilter size. Build quality is respectable for the money but this is a lighter machine than the Gaggia and will not last as long. Temperature recovery between shots is slow. And CASABREWS is a young brand, so long-term parts and service are less certain than with De’Longhi or Breville.

Who it is for: first-time buyers testing the water, students, offices, and anyone who wants a real portafilter experience without committing serious money.

See the CASABREWS CM5418 on Amazon →

5. Gevi 20 Bar Compact Espresso Machine — best for very small counters

Counter space is a real constraint that specification comparisons ignore entirely. In a small apartment kitchen, a galley, a studio or a dorm, the question is not which machine is best but which machine fits between the kettle and the toaster. The Gevi compact is built for that slot: a full stainless steel housing, a steam wand, and a footprint small enough to live permanently on a crowded counter rather than being lifted out of a cupboard.

Within that footprint it is a conventional semi-automatic — portafilter, manual control, a wand for frothing milk. Customer rating is 4.3 stars, and reviewers consistently note the size and the solid feel relative to what they paid.

Why it made the list: a machine that is permanently plugged in and ready gets used; a machine that has to be retrieved from a cupboard does not. For anyone whose real constraint is space rather than money, the smallest competent machine is the best machine, and this is it. The stainless housing also means it does not look like a compromise, which matters if it is going to live in view.

The drawbacks: small means a small water tank, so you will refill it often, and a small drip tray that fills faster than you expect. As with the CASABREWS, the 20 bar claim is pump specification rather than brew pressure and the stock basket is pressurised, which caps espresso quality. A compact thermoblock has less thermal mass, so temperature stability across consecutive shots is the weakest on this list. Steam output is modest — enough for one small jug, not for texturing milk for three drinks in a row. And it overlaps closely with the CASABREWS pick above; choose the Gevi if footprint is your binding constraint and the CASABREWS if you would rather have the larger tank and slightly more capable wand.

Who it is for: small kitchens, apartments, dorm rooms, offices, and anyone who needs the machine to live on the counter without dominating it.

See the Gevi compact espresso machine on Amazon →

6. Nespresso Vertuo Pop+ — best for people who just want coffee

There is an honest case for a pod machine and it deserves stating plainly rather than apologetically. A semi-automatic machine requires a grinder, a scale, five minutes of warm-up, a dialling-in process, a wet puck to dispose of, a portafilter to rinse, and a backflush every so often. If you want a good cup in thirty seconds before leaving the house, none of that is a feature. It is friction.

The Vertuo Pop+ is a one-touch machine built by Breville for Nespresso, with a compact design, a removable water tank sized for several cups, and a quick heat-up. Vertuo pods carry a barcode that tells the machine the volume, temperature and rotation speed to use, which is why the results are consistent without any input from you. Customer rating is 4.3 stars.

Why it made the list: because for a meaningful share of buyers it is simply the correct answer, and a guide that pretends otherwise is being precious. It is also the sensible choice as a second machine — an office, a guest room, a vacation home — or for a household where one person wants espresso as a hobby and everyone else wants a coffee.

The catch: you are buying into a closed pod ecosystem, and the ongoing cost per cup is far higher than beans, which over a few years typically exceeds the price difference against a semi-automatic several times over. Vertuo pods are proprietary and the third-party options are limited compared to the original Nespresso format, so you are largely tied to one supplier’s range and pricing. It produces a lungo-style coffee with crema rather than true espresso, and anyone coming from a good cafe will notice. Pods generate waste — Nespresso runs a recycling scheme, but it requires you to actually use it. And you cannot adjust anything: what the barcode says is what you get.

Who it is for: busy mornings, mixed households, offices, guest rooms, and anyone whose honest answer is that they want coffee rather than a craft.

See the Nespresso Vertuo Pop+ on Amazon →

How to get a good shot out of whatever you buy

None of this requires equipment beyond a scale, and it will improve your coffee more than upgrading the machine.

• Work in ratios. A common starting point is roughly 1:2 — 18 grams of coffee in, about 36 grams of liquid espresso out, in somewhere around 25 to 30 seconds. Weigh both. If it runs faster than that, grind finer; slower, grind coarser.
• Change one variable at a time. Adjusting grind and dose together means you learn nothing. Fix the dose, move the grind until the timing is right, then taste.
• Taste tells you the direction. Sour and thin usually means under-extraction — grind finer or go longer. Bitter and harsh usually means over-extraction — grind coarser or stop sooner.
• Use fresh beans, and not too fresh. Coffee roasted within the last month tastes best, and beans rested for a week or two after roasting behave far better under pressure than beans roasted two days ago, which off-gas and cause erratic flow.
• Distribute before you tamp. Level the grounds in the basket with a finger or a tool before tamping. Uneven beds channel, and channelling is the cause of most bad shots.
• Warm everything. Run a blank shot through the group and into the cup before you brew. A cold portafilter and a cold cup pull several degrees out of a small volume of water.
• Purge and wipe the steam wand every time. A short purge before and after, and a wipe with a damp cloth immediately. Dried milk inside a wand is unpleasant and hard to remove later.

Maintenance that keeps a machine alive

• Use filtered or low-mineral water. The highest-value habit by a wide margin. Not distilled.
• Descale on schedule with the descaler the manufacturer specifies, following the safety instructions on the product.
• Backflush if your machine has a three-way valve — most single-boiler prosumer machines do — using a blind basket and a suitable espresso machine cleaner, on the interval the manual gives.
• Clean the shower screen and group gasket. Old coffee oils there taste rancid and you will blame the beans.
• Soak the portafilter and baskets in espresso cleaner periodically. Rinsing alone does not remove oils.
• Empty and rinse the drip tray properly. It grows things.
• Do not put the portafilter in a dishwasher unless the manual explicitly allows it — it damages the finish and the handle.

Easy mistakes to make

• Buying the machine and skipping the grinder. The single most common and most expensive mistake in this category.
• Choosing by pressure rating. 20 bar is not better than 15 bar or 9 bar. Espresso is extracted at around 9 bar regardless.
• Using pre-ground supermarket coffee in a single-wall basket. It will not work, and you will conclude the machine is broken.
• Keeping the pressurised basket forever. It is training wheels. Once you have a grinder, switch.
• Ignoring water hardness. Scale is what eventually kills the machine, quietly.
• Buying a single-boiler machine for a household making four milk drinks in a row. The waiting will wear you down by week three.
• Not measuring. Espresso without a scale is guessing, and guessing is why shots vary day to day.

Frequently asked questions

Do I really need a separate grinder?

If your machine uses single-wall baskets, yes — a burr grinder is actually required, not recommended. If it uses pressurised baskets, you can get a drinkable result from good pre-ground coffee, but you will be capped well below what the machine could do. The Breville pick solves this by including a grinder; every other semi-automatic on this list assumes you have one or will buy one.

Is 20 bar better than 15 bar or 9 bar?

No. Espresso extracts at roughly 9 bar, and well-designed machines regulate down to approximately that regardless of what the pump can produce. A higher advertised figure tells you about the pump, not about the coffee, and in practice high bar numbers appear most often in marketing for machines at the budget end of the market.

What is the difference between espresso and a lungo or Americano?

Espresso is a small, concentrated extraction — roughly 25 to 40 grams of liquid from around 18 grams of coffee. A lungo passes more water through the same grounds, producing a longer, weaker and often more bitter cup. An Americano is espresso with hot water added afterwards, which keeps the extraction intact and simply dilutes it, which is why most people prefer an Americano to a lungo.

How long should a shot take?

Around 25 to 30 seconds from when the pump starts to when you have roughly double the dose weight in the cup is a sensible target to aim at while learning. It is a guideline rather than a rule — some coffees taste better faster or slower — but if your shot is finishing in ten seconds or taking a minute, something is wrong with the grind or the dose rather than with your taste.

Can I make espresso with regular coffee beans?

Yes. “Espresso roast” is a style, not a requirement — usually a darker roast that is more forgiving under pressure and tastes fuller with milk. Lighter roasts make excellent espresso but are harder to extract and less tolerant of grind errors, so they are a better second step than a first one. What matters far more than the roast label is that the beans are reasonably fresh and ground immediately before brewing.

Why does my espresso taste sour?

Almost always under-extraction: water is passing through too fast or the grounds are too coarse. Grind finer, make sure the dose is right for the basket, tamp level, and check the shot is taking long enough. A cold machine and stale grounds both contribute. If the shot is timing correctly and still tastes sour, try a darker roast or a slightly longer ratio.

Are pod machines worse than semi-automatics?

They are different products solving different problems. A pod machine gives a consistent, quick, good-enough cup with no skill and no cleanup, at a much higher cost per cup and with no ability to adjust anything. A semi-automatic can produce a far better drink and demands equipment, time and practice to do it. Neither is wrong; buying the one that does not match your actual mornings is.

How long do home espresso machines last?

Enormously variable, and water quality is the biggest single factor. A simple steel machine like the Gaggia, fed filtered water and descaled on schedule, can run for well over a decade and is repairable when it does not. A budget thermoblock machine on hard water may struggle after two or three years. Build quality matters, but maintenance matters more.

What we would buy

If you want one recommendation and a short decision, buy the Breville Barista Express. Putting a burr grinder in the box removes the mistake that ruins most first espresso purchases, the pre-infusion and steam wand are both capable, and you can make good coffee the week it arrives.

If you already know you want to learn espresso properly — and you are willing to buy a grinder — the Gaggia Classic Evo Pro is the better long-term purchase, because a 58mm steel machine that can be repaired and upgraded is something you grow into rather than out of. For milk drinks without technique, the De’Longhi Classic Signature. To test the hobby cheaply, the CASABREWS CM5418; for the smallest possible footprint, the Gevi compact. And if the truthful answer is that you want a good cup in thirty seconds with nothing to clean, the Nespresso Vertuo Pop+ is not a compromise, it is the right tool.

Whichever way you go, do two things. Budget for a burr grinder and a scale alongside the machine rather than after it, and use filtered water from day one. Those two decisions will do more for both the coffee in your cup and the lifespan of the machine than any amount of comparing feature lists.

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