Description
Breville Barista Pro Espresso Machine BES878BSS, Brushed Stainless Steel
| Brand | Breville |
| Color | Brushed Stainless Steel |
| Product Dimensions | 13″D x 14″W x 16″H |
| Special Feature | Programmable, Water Filter, Jug |
| Coffee Maker Type | Espresso Machine |
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P The CriticP The Critic –
I’ve had a few different espresso machines over the last decade, and have tried and returned a couple as well. This one is, by far, my favorite machine for several reasons. Throughout the review I will reference differences primarily with the Barista Express, as that is one that I had for some time as well. The overall appearance of the machine looks good. I have the stainless steel version, and it looks sharp and well built. Breville is the only company I know that has the magnetic tamper holder underneath the top of the unit, and it’s a nice touch. A place to put the tamper, and always know where it is. Also, the tamper is a nice metal one, rather than the thin, light plastic many other brands use. I also like that most, if not all, of what comes in contact with hot liquids is metal rather than plastic (though the portafilter does have some plastic, but I use a naked bottom portafilter as stated below). I kind of like the ease of the automatic machines that grind, tamp, and pull the shot, but the plastic group head makes me a bit uncomfortable. I try to minimize hot foods and liquids contacting plastic as much as possible. If plastic particles can leach out of water bottles, then heated plastics most likely will leach more. As far as performance, I will touch on the grinder, pulling of the shots, hot water spout, and very importantly, the steam wand: I have seen some complaints about Breville’s grinders, and I don’t understand why. Granted, I do believe that most of the complaints come from people who are much more advanced in their coffee preparation and understanding than I am. Nevertheless, I do find the grinder to do a good job. It has fine adjustments that you make with the dial on the left of the machine, plus larger scale adjustments that you can make with the grinder itself under where the bean hopper sits. I wouldn’t say the larger adjustments are super easy, but definitely doable if you follow the directions. I’ve made a single adjustment on the grinder itself and only rely on the fine adjustments other than that. As a side note, I saw on an instructional video by another reviewer that you want to make the fine adjustments while grinding to prevent getting anything stuck. I’m not sure if this is necessary but I do it just in case. I am impressed by how little of a mess the grinding makes. The dosage amount and grind size is consistent once I dialed everything in and left it there. Plus it’s easy to switch from single to double dose. Pulling shots is rather straight forward as well, but does take time getting things right. As far as getting it right, that’s more dependent on the size and dosing of the grinds as well as the tamping force, but you see the results during the shot pull. I don’t use the included portafilter because I’ve always liked the appearance of the naked bottom portafilters, so I found one on Amazon that’s sized for this machine. The naked bottom ones look cool pulling the shot, but make a bit more of a mess than the standard portafilter, and are a little less forgiving than the included one. With a fairly good grind size and amount, you can get good consistent shots. With my Barista Express, I noticed that the second pull was usually more bitter and not as good tasting as the first shot, if pulled within a few minutes of each other. With this machine, I can pull a double shot, steam the milk, then pull another double shot without any issues or difference in taste. The Barista Pro also has the three second heat up time vs the thirty second or so on the Barista Express, which isn’t a huge deal itself but I believe the newer heating unit is more advanced and allows for the better second pull. The hot water spout is angled and can dispense right into the cup after the shot is pulled without having to move the cup to a different location. Also, I like the angled spout versus the one on the Barista Express. As far as the steam wand, it doesn’t seem like there is much advertised or discussed about the improvements of the steam wand versus the Barista Express, but in my opinion, it is far more powerful. I had a lot of difficulty getting the correct texture of milk for latte art, but with the Barista Pro, the steam wand seems much more powerful, faster to steam the milk, and can more easily achieve that proper texture and consistency for good latte art (my latte art isn’t very good, but I’m going to blame that on my skills rather than the steamer). For fairness, I will say that my skills have improved some since having the Barista Express, but I definitely feel a significant difference with this steam wand. Such that I feel that alone makes it worth the increased price compared to the Barista Express. I have also tried an automatic machine. I would say that the automatic machines are easier to use, less of a learning curve (though there is still somewhat of a learning curve) and most give you the option to make a regular drip coffee as well. They don’t usually have as good a shot pull or taste as a unit like this one, and personally I like the “artsy” part of going from grind to shot manually. To conclude, I would definitely recommend this machine to anybody who is looking for very good espresso drinks that are better than what you will usually find in coffee shops, at the comfort of your home. If you’re willing to learn how to use the steam wand well for lattes and cappuccinos, I feel this machine is better than the Barista Touch, and better than other machines in this price range. Within a few months, the machine pays for itself versus getting a latte a few times a week at a coffee shop.
MarkMark –
I had the Barista Express for 8.5 years. Was very happy with it but the pump started to die and the grinder started to lose its torque. Very happy with the 8.5 years it gave me and I understand these little machines won’t last forever. So, it was time to buy a new one. I found this Pro on sale, $170 off, and had to snag it. It was easy to dial in. I love the micro grind adjusts, the auto pre-infusion, and overall simplicity of the machine. 100% recommend to anyone. Well worth the extra money to go with the Pro over the Express in my opinion, even if you don’t find one on sale.
peter zassenhaus –
I’m not a latte guy. I just want a hot cup of joe in the morning – no muss, no fuss. The Barista Pro delivers in under four minutes – start to finish including clean up. It caters to lazy slobs like me. The water tank holds enough for a couple of days, fills in place easily from the top, and even tells you when it’s time to fill up. Just like the drip tray, which says “Empty Me” when full. The hopper holds about a week’s worth of beans relatively airtight so they stay fresh. The right amount of ground beans dispenses automatically into the portafilter without even pushing a button. Once you tamp down the powder you simply insert the portafilter into the brewing slot, place your favorite mug underneath, and press “One Cup.” That’s it. Thirty seconds later you’ve got espresso. Turn a knob and hot water fills the mug to whatever level you like. In barista speak you’ve just made an Americano, i.e., a cup of coffee.The tour de force of the Barista Pro, however, is the steam wand. I drink my coffee with milk. So, I pour milk into the mug first and then froth it with the steam wand. Now milk and mug are hot so your coffee is hotter. The milk foam insulates the coffee, so it stays hotter longer. But the best part is the steam wand also cleans the portafilter. Tap out the grounds into a garbage pail and steam clean the portafilter over the drip tray with the wand. No, you won’t burn yourself with the steam wand once you get the hang of it. Not unless you’re really hungover. So far my best time has been 3 minutes 32 seconds to make a great cup of coffee.Finally, if you’re going to buck up for a Barista Pro, you might as well go all the way and roast your own coffee beans. I use the Behmor 2000 Gourmet Coffee Roaster (available from chocolatealchemy.com). In thirty minutes, you’ll have enough freshly roasted beans to last you a week. The coffee you’ll brew in the Barista Pro from freshly roasted beans will make you think you’ve died and gone to heaven.
Mike M. –
We had a Breville Barista Express for 8 years that worked great, except for some leaking issues that eventually required us to buy a new machine. I was very excited to upgrade to a Pro, and to enjoy the new features that Breville had developed in the 10 years or so since the Express was released.Unfortunately, after a week of trial and error, we could not pull a hot espresso shot. In addition to reading all of Breville’s instructions, I looked up numerous articles, reviews, espresso blogs, Reddit posts, Youtube videos, etc., but no matter what we tried, we could never get a shot out of the 150° range. We ran a blank shot, warmed the porta-filter, warmed the cups, etc. Also, the hot water dispenser also only produced water that was equally, if not less hot. We drink Americanos 5 days a week and the idea of having to microwave our freshly brewed drink was a non-starter.The issue appears to be the all-new Thermo-Jet heating system that Breville is using for the Pro that heats up “in just three seconds.” Although the machine is “ready” that quickly, the entire unit is at room temperature – and the brew head and top of the machine do not warm up like the Express did. I’m not a physicist, but common sense says that you simply cannot heat water from room temperature to 200° that quickly in a system that is not already hot. As they say, if that seems too good to be true, then it probably is.I will note that if you only drink beverages with steamed milk (lattes, cappuccinos, etc.), this machine will be great for you. The new steam wand is incredibly powerful and the four holes in the wand vs. one for the Express/Impress gets your milk steamed up twice as fast.We returned the Pro and bought an Impress, which has the same heating system as the Express and produced a perfectly hot espresso on the first pull.If Breville can figure out a way to re-program the Pro to produce hotter espresso and hot water, this would be a great machine. Until then, I can’t recommend it unless you prefer a less hot coffee or plan to always add steamed milk.
Christopher Komuves –
So, the machine itself is very pretty with all its shiny stainless steel, and it is satisfyingly heavily built. The parts are well machined, and fit together well.DOCUMENTATION:The documentation, however, is terrible. There is one page of the manual (page 15) that contradicts itself just within that same page. It says that “if the espresso starts to flow after less than 6 seconds…this is an UNDER EXTRACTED shot.” Later on the same page, it says a correct extraction is when the “flow starts after 8-12 seconds”, and that under extraction is where “flow starts afer 1-7 seconds”. So, my extraction was starting to flow around 6 seconds, and sometimes 7, so according to the manual, that was both not under extracted and was under extracted. I wound up talking with a support person from Breville (I’ll get to that later), and I told her that the range of how much ground coffee should be used doesn’t actually work with the provided portafilter, and seems oddly high. When she asked me where I saw the range I was quoting, I told her (again, page 15), and she said it said something different, telling me I was wrong, followed by, “oh, you must have an outdated version of the manual that has the wrong numbers in it” even though I just purchased this a week ago. She emailed me the current manual. The provided manual says 8-10 grams for 1 cup, 19-22 grams for 2 cup. The PDF she emailed says 8-11 grams for 1 cup and 16-19 grams for 2 cup. These are really major mistakes that have made getting this to work properly into a nightmare that was unnecessary.SUPPORT:I spend an hour on the phone with a customer support woman from Breville. I’m going to recount some of the detailed dialogue so you can understand what this support experience was like for the hour of my life I will never get back.She asked me no less than 4 times to grind a batch of coffee at 15 grind setting for 13 seconds, after I started off by telling her that when I did just that (the default), and it produced 21.4 grams of coffee, where only about 20 grams could be squeezed into in the portafilter, despite the manual saying that’s in range for what should fit. I kept telling her that again, and she would go back to it again and keep asking me to grind that much coffee despite my telling her that only 12 seconds worth could be squeezed into it. She also kept calling me “Mr. Hall”, which is not even vaguely close to my name, until I asked her why she was calling me that, so she switched to “Mr. Christopher” (my first name).She had me run through the 1 and 2 shot cycles just to measure how much water comes out without a portafilter in place, which turned out to be almost 2 and almost 3 ounces, respectively. She then said, “Oh, that’s way too much, it should be 1 ounce and 2 ounces.”. I responded by saying, “isn’t that what the output should be of espresso when you actually pull it–since some water will be left within the grinds, etc.?”. She said, “no, it’s supposed to be 1 and 2 ounces without going through coffee and would be the same when it goes through coffee.” She then had me run though doing custom shot volume, telling me completely wrong information about how the procedure works, and had me change the amounts to 1 and 2 ounces of water. I did that–slightly more actually because water keeps coming out after you stop it. Then she had me pull shots through coffee. The single cup shot had a volume, including crema, of only 0.6 ounces! When I told her it was “point six ounces”, she said “that’s too much, it should only be an ounce”. When I responded again that it was “zero point six ounces” she said that again. When I said, “but that’s barely more than half of what it’s supposed to be, barely more than half an ounce”, she responded, “oh, right, that’s less than an ounce, I always get that backwards.”I asked her if doing the “reset to defaults” on the machine would restore the volumes for shots that they machine came with, which seemed fine to me in the beginning. She said, “no, resetting to defaults does not affect that setting, you have to manually change it back using the custom setting.” After the call, where she left me with unusable settings and I was having a really tough time getting them right, I looked in the manual, and she was dead wrong. Doing a reset does reset these volumes, so I did.At one point during the call, I had to tell her I needed to switch to a different coffee as I was almost out of the one I had just purchased (since she was making me waste massive amounts of it on totally useless tests). The beans I was using to this point, btw, were fairly good. It was Allegro Coffee Organic Espresso Bel Canto ( https://amzn.to/3eOOSnQ ). She said that the problem I actually called about–which was that I could not get the extraction into the correct time range of 8-12 seconds before flow starts, was entirely because I was using “inferior beans”.OPERATIONI do love that this machine heats up in just a couple of seconds, whether for making espresso or for steaming milk. That’s an excellent feature. The steam wand is powerful too–though for small amounts of milk, it’s so powerful that it’s hard to get good microfoam and to not overheat the milk.One design flaw is that when you grind the recommended amount of coffee into the portafilter (you put the portafilter and handle into a little slot), it spills coffee grounds everywhere–both wasting good coffee and making a mess that’s a pain to clean up each time.I did find an excellent solution to that, which is to add in a ring funnel. I was skeptical about this, but with this on the portafilter, you leave it far belong the grinder and manually depress the button behind where the filter is supposed to go, and all the grinds get into the portafilter with no waste or mess. This means totally not using the grinder as intended, but the design for that is so broken that this is the only reasonable solution. The one I used was this, and it works shockingly well: https://amzn.to/38KwVmfSo, I’m not sure what to say about this machine in summary. It’s pretty and has some great features and engineering, but also some painfully badly engineered features. Documentation and technical support are among the worst of any company I’ve encountered. I so WANTED to love this machine. I like it, but there are a lot of issues to get past. I don’t have experience with other competing machines, so I don’t know what faults they have to compare with this. Between the design flaws, terrible support, and blatantly wrong information in their documentation that they provide, I would have to conclude that Breville is quite a dysfunctional company. Maybe I can live with that for a pretty machine with some nice features? I’m still trying to decide.
Morten S. Mikkelsen –
Omg the best latte ever!!!
Hayden Bashiri –
I have saved so much money on coffee with this machine! It’s great but beware of running into any problems. Right now I am within warranty and am having problems with single shot extraction. I put a request in to breville on April 5th and it still has not been responded to (april 26th; 21 dayd later). I have called to address this on April 17th which someone answered and requested details/video from me. I still have not received an email/call back so I called today (April 26th) and pretty much had to start over with someone which is frustrating and unhelpful. It is a very pleasant experience and almost makes the extra cost of going to a coffee shop worth it. I am not upset the machine had an issue but I am pretty upset that I cannot get the issue resolved in a timely manner by the company while it is still under warranty
KMANKMAN –
Amazingly simple to use. At first I’ll admit you may find we it a bit confusing but it is really simple to use. Left side knob for grinding. Right side knob for steam and hot water. Menu click to change the drip time or grind time. That is all.Cleaning is a breeze: 1) the drip tray just pull out when you drag it and it’s easy to clean. 2) water decanter is just a lift and pull. 3) water filter is again a simple opening of a plastic casing on the filter and replace filter with another one after 3 months.Grinding: Try your own taste but for me tbis was the experience. Default grind size of 15 made a sour coffee. Reduced it to size 12 made quite better and then set on size 10 and it was a little sour. My perfect shot came at grind size 8. Espresso needs fine grind. Somewhere online said machine chokes at size 8, but I didn’t face that issue (thank god). Picture posted here is the perfect espresso at grind size of 8. I have read it online someone found amazing shot at size 7. This step is the trial and error until you are satisfied.Frother: it’s super easy to use with the tools given in the package. Pour the milk before the max level in the steel container and shift the right side knob to your left and voila steam begins, and move the nozzle of frother 1 cm in and then to surface of the milk to froth and repeat this until it’s thick and frothy enough. Glad I bought this machine.Enjoy! It’s a great machine.
Anne –
Great product but the wrong color was delivered. I e-mailed lakesideshipper and told them but never got a response.
Bruce F. Wilken –
Based on the features of this machine, I would give it 5 stars for sure. However, the price is a little eye-watering. I would give it 4.5 stars possibly if that was an option. If you go by the theory “you get what you pay for”, then it’s worth it. The built-in grinder is a must-have. Having to change the water filter every couple of months (or 60 batches of espresso) seems a bit excessive – my last espresso machine didn’t have a water filter at all and the flavor never seemed to suffer. The milk frother works great also, just beware that you’ll get some water dripping out of it until it heats up to steam. Not a huge amount, but worthy of note.
P The CriticP The Critic –
I’ve had a few different espresso machines over the last decade, and have tried and returned a couple as well. This one is, by far, my favorite machine for several reasons. Throughout the review I will reference differences primarily with the Barista Express, as that is one that I had for some time as well. The overall appearance of the machine looks good. I have the stainless steel version, and it looks sharp and well built. Breville is the only company I know that has the magnetic tamper holder underneath the top of the unit, and it’s a nice touch. A place to put the tamper, and always know where it is. Also, the tamper is a nice metal one, rather than the thin, light plastic many other brands use. I also like that most, if not all, of what comes in contact with hot liquids is metal rather than plastic (though the portafilter does have some plastic, but I use a naked bottom portafilter as stated below). I kind of like the ease of the automatic machines that grind, tamp, and pull the shot, but the plastic group head makes me a bit uncomfortable. I try to minimize hot foods and liquids contacting plastic as much as possible. If plastic particles can leach out of water bottles, then heated plastics most likely will leach more. As far as performance, I will touch on the grinder, pulling of the shots, hot water spout, and very importantly, the steam wand: I have seen some complaints about Breville’s grinders, and I don’t understand why. Granted, I do believe that most of the complaints come from people who are much more advanced in their coffee preparation and understanding than I am. Nevertheless, I do find the grinder to do a good job. It has fine adjustments that you make with the dial on the left of the machine, plus larger scale adjustments that you can make with the grinder itself under where the bean hopper sits. I wouldn’t say the larger adjustments are super easy, but definitely doable if you follow the directions. I’ve made a single adjustment on the grinder itself and only rely on the fine adjustments other than that. As a side note, I saw on an instructional video by another reviewer that you want to make the fine adjustments while grinding to prevent getting anything stuck. I’m not sure if this is necessary but I do it just in case. I am impressed by how little of a mess the grinding makes. The dosage amount and grind size is consistent once I dialed everything in and left it there. Plus it’s easy to switch from single to double dose. Pulling shots is rather straight forward as well, but does take time getting things right. As far as getting it right, that’s more dependent on the size and dosing of the grinds as well as the tamping force, but you see the results during the shot pull. I don’t use the included portafilter because I’ve always liked the appearance of the naked bottom portafilters, so I found one on Amazon that’s sized for this machine. The naked bottom ones look cool pulling the shot, but make a bit more of a mess than the standard portafilter, and are a little less forgiving than the included one. With a fairly good grind size and amount, you can get good consistent shots. With my Barista Express, I noticed that the second pull was usually more bitter and not as good tasting as the first shot, if pulled within a few minutes of each other. With this machine, I can pull a double shot, steam the milk, then pull another double shot without any issues or difference in taste. The Barista Pro also has the three second heat up time vs the thirty second or so on the Barista Express, which isn’t a huge deal itself but I believe the newer heating unit is more advanced and allows for the better second pull. The hot water spout is angled and can dispense right into the cup after the shot is pulled without having to move the cup to a different location. Also, I like the angled spout versus the one on the Barista Express. As far as the steam wand, it doesn’t seem like there is much advertised or discussed about the improvements of the steam wand versus the Barista Express, but in my opinion, it is far more powerful. I had a lot of difficulty getting the correct texture of milk for latte art, but with the Barista Pro, the steam wand seems much more powerful, faster to steam the milk, and can more easily achieve that proper texture and consistency for good latte art (my latte art isn’t very good, but I’m going to blame that on my skills rather than the steamer). For fairness, I will say that my skills have improved some since having the Barista Express, but I definitely feel a significant difference with this steam wand. Such that I feel that alone makes it worth the increased price compared to the Barista Express. I have also tried an automatic machine. I would say that the automatic machines are easier to use, less of a learning curve (though there is still somewhat of a learning curve) and most give you the option to make a regular drip coffee as well. They don’t usually have as good a shot pull or taste as a unit like this one, and personally I like the “artsy” part of going from grind to shot manually. To conclude, I would definitely recommend this machine to anybody who is looking for very good espresso drinks that are better than what you will usually find in coffee shops, at the comfort of your home. If you’re willing to learn how to use the steam wand well for lattes and cappuccinos, I feel this machine is better than the Barista Touch, and better than other machines in this price range. Within a few months, the machine pays for itself versus getting a latte a few times a week at a coffee shop.
Benjamin D. –
I was never a coffee drinker, but I bought this as a gift for my wife who has always been a huge coffee drinker. We have no good coffee shops anywhere near our home, so this was a worthy investment.I love this thing and I am now a coffee drinker because of the great drinks you can turn out. I love everything being on board. The steam wand AND water spout is freaking great. And of course the grinder on board is marvelous.The best part is the heat pump working so quickly. You can legitimately go from an empty cup to a completed latte in less than 2 minutes without rushing anything. Faster than any drip or French press you can get.I love the digital display and I appreciate that it lets you know about its service intervals, like when it needs flushed or descaled. You can keep your coffee tasting perfect every time.It’s not enough to dock it a star, but WOW the flushing makes a HUGE mess. I tie a paper towel around the spouts of the ports filter because it will literally spray water straight out about a foot and a half each way. It’s wild.We also purchased a stainless dosing funnel that fits nicely onto the portafilter to keep things cleaner, highly recommended accessory.All in all, this is our favorite appliance we have in the kitchen, you can’t go wrong with Breville and this is a great machine.
stacey goldstacey gold –
I love my new Breville! I am pretty new to the coffee scene and only have used automatic drip machines in the past. I decided to take the plunge into the real coffee world and buy this beauty. It’s very easy to operate even for a novice like myself. After some simple trial and error, I have become a true barista and I look forward to my delicious cup every morning. Do yourself a favor, invest in this amazing appliance. I promise you won’t regret it!
Scott C. –
Like:1. Warranty is honored without question.2. They will mail you a box to return the product.3. They will email describing how to package the product for returnDislike:1. The instructions for cleaning and descaling are inaccurate. There are several steps missing that are shown in the video they refer you to.2. Their customer service is somewhat hard to understand at times due to their Australian accent.3. There are no local places to return the product to for repair, only California. I live in AL.4. Per customer service, if the product cannot be repaired, they will provide you a refurbished product, not a new one or cash for old one as stated in the warranty. Maybe that person was unaware of the actual agreement.5. You will be asked for the product serial number. It is on the bottom of the product. This may not be the best / most convenient place for that number. Lifting a heavy product with water and beans is not fun when troubleshooting.
Bruce F. Wilken –
Based on the features of this machine, I would give it 5 stars for sure. However, the price is a little eye-watering. I would give it 4.5 stars possibly if that was an option. If you go by the theory “you get what you pay for”, then it’s worth it. The built-in grinder is a must-have. Having to change the water filter every couple of months (or 60 batches of espresso) seems a bit excessive – my last espresso machine didn’t have a water filter at all and the flavor never seemed to suffer. The milk frother works great also, just beware that you’ll get some water dripping out of it until it heats up to steam. Not a huge amount, but worthy of note.
Amazon Customer –
5 star for sure. The machine is well built and great quality. I’m a big fan of Breville and own many of their products. It’s a great value also and not hard to use at all. Those that are lazy might disagree but I would rather take 5 minutes out of my morning to make my own espresso drink for just pennies compared to what coffee house’s charge for the same quality product. That’s not an exaggeration, it takes me literally 5 minutes for the whole espresso making process. That include grinding the coffee beans and steaming the milk, 5 minutes. You waist a lot longer driving to a coffee shop, waiting in line to order and waiting in line behind people also waiting on their coffee. Also, do the math, if you buy a coffee, just one coffee, for 5 or 6 dollars and that is a low end price at a coffee shop per day you can expect to spend $1,825 to $2,190 a year. A Barista Pro at 600 or 800 dollars, depending on if you catch them on sale, will pay for itself in a matter of months and my first machine lasted 7 years before the boiler gave in. That’s literally thousands of dollars saved not buying 1 cup of coffee per day at a coffee house and getting the same quality drink. I, with no doubt, will keep purchasing Breville espresso machines as long as they keep making the same quality machines at the reasonable prices they have now.
edney0207 –
After doing research, I decided to buy this espresso machine and it didn’t disappoint. What a delight it is to have easy cleaning, fast heat-up time, and the gorgeous Black Truffle color is just a cherry on top. I love this machine! It’s super reliable and has everything I need. Totally worth the investment!
Christopher Komuves –
So, the machine itself is very pretty with all its shiny stainless steel, and it is satisfyingly heavily built. The parts are well machined, and fit together well.DOCUMENTATION:The documentation, however, is terrible. There is one page of the manual (page 15) that contradicts itself just within that same page. It says that “if the espresso starts to flow after less than 6 seconds…this is an UNDER EXTRACTED shot.” Later on the same page, it says a correct extraction is when the “flow starts after 8-12 seconds”, and that under extraction is where “flow starts afer 1-7 seconds”. So, my extraction was starting to flow around 6 seconds, and sometimes 7, so according to the manual, that was both not under extracted and was under extracted. I wound up talking with a support person from Breville (I’ll get to that later), and I told her that the range of how much ground coffee should be used doesn’t actually work with the provided portafilter, and seems oddly high. When she asked me where I saw the range I was quoting, I told her (again, page 15), and she said it said something different, telling me I was wrong, followed by, “oh, you must have an outdated version of the manual that has the wrong numbers in it” even though I just purchased this a week ago. She emailed me the current manual. The provided manual says 8-10 grams for 1 cup, 19-22 grams for 2 cup. The PDF she emailed says 8-11 grams for 1 cup and 16-19 grams for 2 cup. These are really major mistakes that have made getting this to work properly into a nightmare that was unnecessary.SUPPORT:I spend an hour on the phone with a customer support woman from Breville. I’m going to recount some of the detailed dialogue so you can understand what this support experience was like for the hour of my life I will never get back.She asked me no less than 4 times to grind a batch of coffee at 15 grind setting for 13 seconds, after I started off by telling her that when I did just that (the default), and it produced 21.4 grams of coffee, where only about 20 grams could be squeezed into in the portafilter, despite the manual saying that’s in range for what should fit. I kept telling her that again, and she would go back to it again and keep asking me to grind that much coffee despite my telling her that only 12 seconds worth could be squeezed into it. She also kept calling me “Mr. Hall”, which is not even vaguely close to my name, until I asked her why she was calling me that, so she switched to “Mr. Christopher” (my first name).She had me run through the 1 and 2 shot cycles just to measure how much water comes out without a portafilter in place, which turned out to be almost 2 and almost 3 ounces, respectively. She then said, “Oh, that’s way too much, it should be 1 ounce and 2 ounces.”. I responded by saying, “isn’t that what the output should be of espresso when you actually pull it–since some water will be left within the grinds, etc.?”. She said, “no, it’s supposed to be 1 and 2 ounces without going through coffee and would be the same when it goes through coffee.” She then had me run though doing custom shot volume, telling me completely wrong information about how the procedure works, and had me change the amounts to 1 and 2 ounces of water. I did that–slightly more actually because water keeps coming out after you stop it. Then she had me pull shots through coffee. The single cup shot had a volume, including crema, of only 0.6 ounces! When I told her it was “point six ounces”, she said “that’s too much, it should only be an ounce”. When I responded again that it was “zero point six ounces” she said that again. When I said, “but that’s barely more than half of what it’s supposed to be, barely more than half an ounce”, she responded, “oh, right, that’s less than an ounce, I always get that backwards.”I asked her if doing the “reset to defaults” on the machine would restore the volumes for shots that they machine came with, which seemed fine to me in the beginning. She said, “no, resetting to defaults does not affect that setting, you have to manually change it back using the custom setting.” After the call, where she left me with unusable settings and I was having a really tough time getting them right, I looked in the manual, and she was dead wrong. Doing a reset does reset these volumes, so I did.At one point during the call, I had to tell her I needed to switch to a different coffee as I was almost out of the one I had just purchased (since she was making me waste massive amounts of it on totally useless tests). The beans I was using to this point, btw, were fairly good. It was Allegro Coffee Organic Espresso Bel Canto ( https://amzn.to/3eOOSnQ ). She said that the problem I actually called about–which was that I could not get the extraction into the correct time range of 8-12 seconds before flow starts, was entirely because I was using “inferior beans”.OPERATIONI do love that this machine heats up in just a couple of seconds, whether for making espresso or for steaming milk. That’s an excellent feature. The steam wand is powerful too–though for small amounts of milk, it’s so powerful that it’s hard to get good microfoam and to not overheat the milk.One design flaw is that when you grind the recommended amount of coffee into the portafilter (you put the portafilter and handle into a little slot), it spills coffee grounds everywhere–both wasting good coffee and making a mess that’s a pain to clean up each time.I did find an excellent solution to that, which is to add in a ring funnel. I was skeptical about this, but with this on the portafilter, you leave it far belong the grinder and manually depress the button behind where the filter is supposed to go, and all the grinds get into the portafilter with no waste or mess. This means totally not using the grinder as intended, but the design for that is so broken that this is the only reasonable solution. The one I used was this, and it works shockingly well: https://amzn.to/38KwVmfSo, I’m not sure what to say about this machine in summary. It’s pretty and has some great features and engineering, but also some painfully badly engineered features. Documentation and technical support are among the worst of any company I’ve encountered. I so WANTED to love this machine. I like it, but there are a lot of issues to get past. I don’t have experience with other competing machines, so I don’t know what faults they have to compare with this. Between the design flaws, terrible support, and blatantly wrong information in their documentation that they provide, I would have to conclude that Breville is quite a dysfunctional company. Maybe I can live with that for a pretty machine with some nice features? I’m still trying to decide.
Penn Gname –
Breville has always made reliable and quality products and there’s no reason to believe otherwise regarding this espresso machine. That said, this is a challenging piece of equipment. There are so many variables that it seems only an actual barista would be comfortable using it – at least for a while. I am still early in my learning curve so this initial review is a first reaction and not an opinion of quality. I’ll follow up later as I become more familiar with its operation.It is daunting to go from a Nespresso machine using one button and a pod, to a machine with so many variables. It’s impossible to know at first if you’re doing something wrong or if there is something wrong with the machine. In the beginning, it’s a pretty safe bet that it’s the operator, not the machine; especially with so many settings that need to be properly tuned. The owner’s manual is fine for identifying the parts of the machine but is almost useless for operational guidance. Imagine a saxophone arriving at your home, never having used or played one, and instructions telling you how to insert the reed, assemble the neck, and press the keys. That’s not enough info to make great music.Fortunately, there are a number of helpful videos on The Google, many specific to this machine. I’d highly recommend watching one or two of these before the initial set-up and use. My first session – without any instruction – was nerve-wracking:- Some parts fit extremely tightly and I was reluctant to force anything.- I was not able to pull a shot with crema. (still haven’t…)- The amount of grind and espresso varied each time.All these things made me wonder if the problem was with my inexperience or was a machine malfunction. Seeing others perform these operations relieves a lot of confusion and anxiety.This is not a machine for casual coffee drinkers. It is a great machine for coffee nerds and would-be baristas and those who are ready to learn – or upgrade to – a new instrument.
Richard B. –
After all the positive reviews, I was looking forward to brewing my own lattes. The machine arrived promptly as scheduled. I unpacked everything, removed all the plastic, tape, etc. I rinsed all the components like the frothing cup, tamper, portafilter, water tank, etc. I soaked the water filter for 5 minutes, installed the water filter into the water tank and filled the water tank with water (below the max line). Then I powered on the machine and tried the initial flush after putting a mug under where I would expect the water to come out. 10, 9, 8, repeated beeping and reset back to wanting to do a flush. I tried a few times, tried with the bean hopper and without, with and without the portafilter attached. Nothing…The instruction manual makes no mention of such an error condition or what to do. Online, I found some references to the flush requiring the portafilter and others arguing it doesn’t. Often I have seen people say this indicates a dead machine… So, basically, DOA…**Jun 6 update**: after waiting about 1 hour for Breville support, and working with support for about 15 minutes, they indicated I need to send the machine (just the shell, not the water tank, etc) via UPS, then wait for receipt, then they will send a new machine to me. Currently, it looks like my 2 day Amazon order is basically turning into a 2 week exercise. Hopefully, the new machine will be worth it. I’ll post an update when I receive the replacement.**Jun 14 update**: I received my replacement unit. It worked right out of the box. Of course setup was faster this time since I already knew what to do. As for the quality of the machine, I am still working on making a good espresso (haven’t perfected the crema). Also, be aware that the steamer outputs a couple seconds of water initially, so I recommend using a cup to put underneath until steam starts coming out, then start frothing the milk. The steam wand stops after awhile, whether or not the frothing is complete (if you buy a larger frothing cup, it won’t always be complete). The portafilter sometimes is hard to get on and you certainly want to get a dosing funnel for the portafilter. I am also purchasing a bottomless portafilter for the machine so I can more easily customize the settings.**Jun 19 update**: After trying several times to make a decent espresso and latte, I finally figured out it was the beans I had. Don’t expect a decent espresso if you have older beans (even if they made a decent drip coffee and came from a coffee shop). Also, Starbucks beans are “old” the day you buy them. I have to find a decent local roaster, but at least the Lavazzo Barista Perfetto beans I ordered recently produced a richer coffee with some crema (even though I have no idea when they were roasted either). I also found it is better to weigh the beans and grind the full amount rather than use the timed grinding amount. Overall, I see I am in for a lot of experimentation, but now that I got my first semi-decent espresso (far better than you can buy at Starbucks), I know this is a good machine.Overall, I am raising my review to a 4 star (not quite as good as the “pro” machines I am used to at work in our micro-kitchens, but certainly better than the DOA unit, and customer service was pretty good). However, for the price-point, I am not sure I am going to get a better machine without spending several thousand to get the features like “instant” steam (without dripping water) and being able to froth your milk concurrent with the “extraction”.
SPEEDYSHEED –
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This has the upgraded Baratza grinder with quick boiling thermojet block and digital timer to accurately time your doses. It’s a winner in my book amongst Breville Lineup of espresso machines and a favorite amongst many espresso aficionados.
StrandedMoose –
This is a very well-engineered Espresso machine that is a great place for any beginner, and even the intermediate barista. This is probably one of the best machines you can get under the $1000+ range from my research.Like any espresso machine, it takes a lot of coffee and trial and error to get used to it. This is because you need to find the optimal pull time and grind size for each bean that you use. I highly recommend Nicoletti Old School Roast for latte-based drinks. For those, I use an internal burr of 4 and grind size of 9 or 10.You can find excellent tutorials on YouTube specifying how to perfect the espresso pull for your bean of choice. The video “How to Dial In Breville Barista Pro” by Lifestyle Labs makes it very easy. However, you can also just use the preset values to get decent results. I wish that Breville had an official course on how to use it for complete beginners, because I was totally lost when I received mine.After a lot of trial and error, I now am making oat milk lattes that taste exponentially better than anything I can buy at a coffee shop, for a fraction of the price. I currently use Elmhurst Oat Milk and Elmhurt Barista Edition because it’s the only oat milk on the market that isn’t filled with gums or oils.My oat milk lattes are on par with any whole milk latte from the local coffee stores. Needless to say, I’m very happy with this machine.Pros- Easy to use, intuitive interface- Very easy to clean- Very easy to descale/service- Visually appealing- All necessary components in one chassis- One button push for excellent single or double shot drinksCons- Can’t steam milk and pull espresso at the same time (all pros recommend doing this, so it’s a bit silly that this unit can’t).- Steam takes significant time to generate. It also spits out water first, watering down your milk. Whereas Higher end espresso machines will instantly shoot steam that is pre-heated in a chamber)- Grinder is not as precise as many high end grinders; There are no half sizes so it is difficult to fine tune at a certain point. My understanding is that it’s not as powerful either and beans often get stuck in the hopper so you often need to tap on the hopper to make sure all the beans grind.
Amazon CustomerAmazon Customer –
I waited about a year to write this review, to make sure I used the machine enough to have an opinion. It works amazingly. I use it every day – and have since I purchased it. The initial set up will take time, like any other good espresso machine. You’ll need to dial in your beans and find the right grind size, brew time, etc. I found a YouTube video and followed it to help me out. After that, I just began practicing every day with steaming the milk and after a while I was able to make the perfect drink for me. It has eliminated my daily coffee runs, I of course will still grab a coffee while I’m out running errands just for fun but the price of the machine has paid out for how much I use it.The machine will tell you when to descale and when to flush based on how many pulls you are doing which is great. I bought extra tablets and will flush it probably once every 2 months and then descale it quarterly. All of the cleaning parts are fairly cheap on Amazon and breville has videos online to follow.I clean the tray and steam wand weekly and found that soaking my wand in 1:2 white vinegar/hot water works the best for getting any scalded milk out of the nozzle and keeps it steaming perfectly. You can twist the nozzle off after soaking for an hour and use a straw cleaner to scrub the wand out. This helps eliminate blockages in the wand which I was having in the beginning after a couple weeks of use even after purging the wand after every use.Everything comes apart really easily for cleaning and moving – I kept the original box and styrofoam for moving since I moved across the country and everything held up perfectly. I did end up purchasing a different tamp but the one that comes with it works fine I just preferred a heavier weighted one.Overall, I highly recommend this and will keep using breville products if they are all built this well.
Amazon CustomerAmazon Customer –
I waited about a year to write this review, to make sure I used the machine enough to have an opinion. It works amazingly. I use it every day – and have since I purchased it. The initial set up will take time, like any other good espresso machine. You’ll need to dial in your beans and find the right grind size, brew time, etc. I found a YouTube video and followed it to help me out. After that, I just began practicing every day with steaming the milk and after a while I was able to make the perfect drink for me. It has eliminated my daily coffee runs, I of course will still grab a coffee while I’m out running errands just for fun but the price of the machine has paid out for how much I use it.The machine will tell you when to descale and when to flush based on how many pulls you are doing which is great. I bought extra tablets and will flush it probably once every 2 months and then descale it quarterly. All of the cleaning parts are fairly cheap on Amazon and breville has videos online to follow.I clean the tray and steam wand weekly and found that soaking my wand in 1:2 white vinegar/hot water works the best for getting any scalded milk out of the nozzle and keeps it steaming perfectly. You can twist the nozzle off after soaking for an hour and use a straw cleaner to scrub the wand out. This helps eliminate blockages in the wand which I was having in the beginning after a couple weeks of use even after purging the wand after every use.Everything comes apart really easily for cleaning and moving – I kept the original box and styrofoam for moving since I moved across the country and everything held up perfectly. I did end up purchasing a different tamp but the one that comes with it works fine I just preferred a heavier weighted one.Overall, I highly recommend this and will keep using breville products if they are all built this well.
C. A. Lincoln –
Our old one gave up the ghost after many years of service. Makes great coffee but fairly expensive.
j.Bear –
This was a godsend for the month-and-a-half that it worked. Beautiful, tasty espresso, cappuccinos, and mochas. Relatively simple to use. Loved it.A month and a half in, it no longer works. It will grind fine, but cannot seem to push any water through even with an empty group head. I have a ticket open with the manufacturer, have had zero response. This is not an inexpensive item, I expected better support as I have seen reports of it from others. I’ll update this if I ever hear back.Update 2024-03-23After some back and forth with support, I received a replacement unit today. I do not know if it is new or refurbished, but it works well. I do not know what caused the issue with the first unit, if there is anything I can do to prevent the problem, or if the replacement will suffer the same fate. Love the functionality of this thing but I am nervous about its longevity.
Andrew P. –
It’s not that it’s hard to clean, it’s that you have to do it so frequently.Between constantly spewing water into the tray, coffee-grind-espresso-wand tolerances being way too loose (which leaves ground coffee to be wasted and fall into the tray of stagnant water), this thing is a messy nuisance. I’m not sure if the auto-tamping model would alleviate this problem, but I really hope so for the extra price.Compared to the original, the tray is on feet and seems like it sits slightly higher than the original model, which means more creativity when using non-standard espresso cups.Also, the metal tray itself scratches way too easily. I think it had scratches from mugs within hours of the unboxing.It’s a shame I can’t find a pre-fitted drain + water shutoff valve for the breville so I can get rid of both the tray and the water reservoir. Still this would leave the poor tolerance grinder to drop coffee grounds all over the place.I’m thinking of just making my own kit once I work out the pressure drop. Unfortunately, there is no 1/4″ QC device that shuts off water that doesn’t require some sort of tank-float design. I may just have to design and 3D print my own.Other than that, it’s held up fairly well considering the amount of coffee I make. The water heats up very fast and once the grind is dialed-in, almost perfect espresso every time.
Amazon Customer –
Has a learning curve in order to find correct grind for coffee beans and brewing length. Had to adjust many times until I found it just right for me. Our other Breville espresso machine gave up after 6 years. Leaking, not heating and no longer steaming milk. Looked to repairing it but we had already had it repaired once for heating element and $200+. This new Breville is so much quicker. Did buy the 5-year insurance for this one.
M.Kendro –
Lots of learning curves on this going from coffee to espresso’s. It’s exactly what i have been needing my coffee to taste like. I use it on the daily- Super easy to keep clean and use, once you get a routine.
Steve W. –
If you are just getting into espresso machines then you will enjoy this unit. On the whole it’s a very good coffee maker but there are some minor things that could have been improved. I’ve been using it about 3 months and still trying to find the right balance between grind setting, coffee quantity and water quantity. For straight up espresso shots it’s absolutely fine, but I drink more americano type coffee and that’s where it can get a little frustrating. You can’t just use the manual setting to pour a long coffee because it doesn’t get hot enough. You have to use espresso shots then add hot water. Good points….1. It looks good on the counter – nice looking, quality design and construction2. It’s fast – you can get your cup of coffee out in a minute from cold start up3. Hot water dispenser produces very hot water instantaneouslyImprovements?1. This always seems to leave a mess. I’ve bought the accessories etc for grinding but always get coffee on the counter2. Water container is on the small side and not easy to fill if the machine is under a counter3. Bean hopper also a little small4. Would be nice to have a light underneath5. What about an illuminated digital clock on the front just for aestheticsI have another Italian brand coffee machine and while the Breville doesn’t match that for coffee quality if this is your first machine you will like it.
edney0207 –
After doing research, I decided to buy this espresso machine and it didn’t disappoint. What a delight it is to have easy cleaning, fast heat-up time, and the gorgeous Black Truffle color is just a cherry on top. I love this machine! It’s super reliable and has everything I need. Totally worth the investment!
Heather Foxman –
I have had my Breville for 2.5 years and overall it has been a great experience. The machine is very easy to use – a beginner can make an excellent latte in minutes – but you can also play with various features to suit your particular espresso and latte style. I especially like how this machine heats up immediately – no waiting for coffee! Want it now? You got it! NEW feature – the small funnel that comes with it now keeps all the grounds in when. it comes out of the grinder so no mess – fabulous! How am I able to compare the new machine with the slightly older one? Well . . . I have been very happy with this machine . . until just recently – I cannot tell a lie – we had a rocky spell, Breville and I. But as they came thru for me I the end, I have raised my review back up to a 5. technically, due to the fact that it happened, perhaps I should have put a 4.5, but that isn’t possible. What happened was my machine just stopped working. I called support and the representative did a video chat with me to try to fix it on the spot. It was great that they could run me thru the different “fixit things” to try right over the phone, but eventually it became obvious that it needed something more than advanced cleaning. They were very prompt – they sent me a box to ship it in just like a day – super fast. A couple days later they then sent an e-mail with a quote and I decided to spend the money because I really really love this machine. It wasn’t cheap – but shipping was included so really not bad over all. And I wanted the professionals fixing it, not me trying this and that off of a DIY YouTube video and getting no where. So they fixed it and sent it back super fast – BUT – sadly, in their haste to get it back quickly to me, the technicians shipped it in a wet condition, and when it arrived it stunk and had rust marks on the face plate! Yikes. I was very very upset as it was not at all in that condition when I sent I to them. I had waited a couple days to send it and let the machine dry out on purpose. I can only think that it was an inexperienced technician who was trying to get it back to me super fast who made this mistake, and hopefully they are taking steps so this never happens to anyone else again! Initially they did not offer me any sort of compensation for this mistake – even tho having these blemishes was really upsetting and really spoiled the art factor of this machine – cause really – it is beautiful looking – it isn’t just an old coffee maker – it is a show piece in your home! I have mine proudly on display and serve coffee to all my guests! It looks fantastic on my counter! So when they did nothing for me I wrote my review detailing what had happened and lowered my rating to a 3. And then magically, someone at Breville either listened to what I told the representatives, or saw my review or I don’t know – but they suddenly did the right thing and approved a replacement machine! At no cost to me. I was ecstatic. Breville did right by me. It actually brings tears to my eyes cause I bought my original machine with money my Dad left me when he passed away. Otherwise it was really out of my price range. So thank you Breville – you warmed my heart and corrected your mistake and for that I give you 5 stars! You did the right and ethical thing. You can trust this company.
Amazon Customer –
I received the Breville Barista Pro in the mail. The directions were easy to follow. Not a lot of steps to go through to put together. Also easy to use photos.The first thing you have to do is “flush” the system. I added water and the filter, and made sure everything was where it was supposed to be. When I hit the illuminated single cup to “flush” water through the system, it started to work for approximately 2 seconds and then stopped flushing. It then went back to flashing “flush” with nothing else on the screen. I tried again; same result. I turned it off and back on and repeated and had same issue. I unplugged it, turned it back on, repeated: same issue. Every time it would start counting down from 10 to 8, and then stop, and go back to “flush” mode. I emptied the water out, added more, and made sure the water was at the right level: same issue. Didn’t matter.Finally, I called Breville customer support. I opted to leave my number for a call back. About 30 minutes later I got a call from a nice lady named “Alice.” We trouble shooted it together but after trying all her options, I had the same result. It wouldn’t even let me to go the “menu” for a hard reset. She told me that there much be something wrong with the electronics. She offered to send me a new machine, and I agreed. Hope to get it soon.It’s disappointing because it looked amazing. Very high end appearing product. But, unfortunately, it did not work and I have to wait for another. No biggie although you don’t expect this from an $800 machine.Long story short: mine didn’t work but the Breville customer service was pretty good and they are sending me a new one. Eager to see how the next one does.***UPDATED 09/10***So, the Breville customer service is pretty good. The only issue is that it took longer to get the replacement machine than I expected. I received an email on the day I reported the issue stating I’d receive a shipping confirmation email within 1-3 business days. I didn’t. It took 7 business days to get the shipping confirmation / tracking number. Then, UPS took some time delivering the item. So, it took 13 calendar days to receive the replacement machine. Would of liked it earlier but we’re also in the midst of a pandemic so … need to be patient and understanding.As for the replacement machine: it’s amazing. I’m absolutely loving it. I’ve been making fresh lattes every morning and it’s great. Feels like I’m getting a $6 Starbucks latte without leaving my kitchen. Pretty cool. Machine itself is practically idiot proof, too. Very easy to use and set up. Great device all around! Highly recommend.
Wes –
I have had this espresso machine for over a year now. It has been amazing. I was going to a coffee shop every day, and this machine makes espresso just as good as the shop. I have already saved enough money to buy this machine 3 times. I had a minor paint issue on the drip tray and ignored it for months. I think I caused it by puttingit in the dishwasher, Idecided to email Breville last night via email. They responded at 9am this morning. With a few pictures and 3 quick emails, they thabked me and sent me the tracking number for the new part.If the price tag is a concern (was for me), just add up your yearly coffee tab. My coffee addiction was $2,500 a year! Well worth the price!
brett berry –
I’ve had my Breville Barista Pro for about 3.5 years now. I use it twice daily, thats at least 2400 shots of espresso and gallons upon gallons of milk steamed. It was the perfect introduction for me to get into espresso and latte crafting.Pros:Simple efficient process to create espressos/lattesSturdy and well built/machined partsFairly easy to empty and cleanLots of bonus/extra “stuff” to get you startedAmazing customer service – see more belowCons:Requires purchase of extra water filters and cleaning solutions for maintenance (this is probably universal to most if not all espresso machines)Tamping device could be better, I advise buying 3rd party oneAfter 3.5 years, the pump thats used for pressurizing the bulk head started tripping my GFI outlet. It was pulling too much current. I called customer service, and after verifying my purchase they sent me a box to ship it back, free of charge. Just 4 days after dropping the box off at UPS, my now working machine (or possibly a brand new one? not sure) is on its way here 😀
Richard B. –
After all the positive reviews, I was looking forward to brewing my own lattes. The machine arrived promptly as scheduled. I unpacked everything, removed all the plastic, tape, etc. I rinsed all the components like the frothing cup, tamper, portafilter, water tank, etc. I soaked the water filter for 5 minutes, installed the water filter into the water tank and filled the water tank with water (below the max line). Then I powered on the machine and tried the initial flush after putting a mug under where I would expect the water to come out. 10, 9, 8, repeated beeping and reset back to wanting to do a flush. I tried a few times, tried with the bean hopper and without, with and without the portafilter attached. Nothing…The instruction manual makes no mention of such an error condition or what to do. Online, I found some references to the flush requiring the portafilter and others arguing it doesn’t. Often I have seen people say this indicates a dead machine… So, basically, DOA…**Jun 6 update**: after waiting about 1 hour for Breville support, and working with support for about 15 minutes, they indicated I need to send the machine (just the shell, not the water tank, etc) via UPS, then wait for receipt, then they will send a new machine to me. Currently, it looks like my 2 day Amazon order is basically turning into a 2 week exercise. Hopefully, the new machine will be worth it. I’ll post an update when I receive the replacement.**Jun 14 update**: I received my replacement unit. It worked right out of the box. Of course setup was faster this time since I already knew what to do. As for the quality of the machine, I am still working on making a good espresso (haven’t perfected the crema). Also, be aware that the steamer outputs a couple seconds of water initially, so I recommend using a cup to put underneath until steam starts coming out, then start frothing the milk. The steam wand stops after awhile, whether or not the frothing is complete (if you buy a larger frothing cup, it won’t always be complete). The portafilter sometimes is hard to get on and you certainly want to get a dosing funnel for the portafilter. I am also purchasing a bottomless portafilter for the machine so I can more easily customize the settings.**Jun 19 update**: After trying several times to make a decent espresso and latte, I finally figured out it was the beans I had. Don’t expect a decent espresso if you have older beans (even if they made a decent drip coffee and came from a coffee shop). Also, Starbucks beans are “old” the day you buy them. I have to find a decent local roaster, but at least the Lavazzo Barista Perfetto beans I ordered recently produced a richer coffee with some crema (even though I have no idea when they were roasted either). I also found it is better to weigh the beans and grind the full amount rather than use the timed grinding amount. Overall, I see I am in for a lot of experimentation, but now that I got my first semi-decent espresso (far better than you can buy at Starbucks), I know this is a good machine.Overall, I am raising my review to a 4 star (not quite as good as the “pro” machines I am used to at work in our micro-kitchens, but certainly better than the DOA unit, and customer service was pretty good). However, for the price-point, I am not sure I am going to get a better machine without spending several thousand to get the features like “instant” steam (without dripping water) and being able to froth your milk concurrent with the “extraction”.
Wes –
I have had this espresso machine for over a year now. It has been amazing. I was going to a coffee shop every day, and this machine makes espresso just as good as the shop. I have already saved enough money to buy this machine 3 times. I had a minor paint issue on the drip tray and ignored it for months. I think I caused it by puttingit in the dishwasher, Idecided to email Breville last night via email. They responded at 9am this morning. With a few pictures and 3 quick emails, they thabked me and sent me the tracking number for the new part.If the price tag is a concern (was for me), just add up your yearly coffee tab. My coffee addiction was $2,500 a year! Well worth the price!
William –
This is a great personal coffee experience. Spend the money on coffee with a roast date, not expires date. Buy whole beans. Always.There is a learning curve using this machine but that is part of the fun. Also purchase a coffee funnel and some puck filters.
A-quaticsA-quatics –
Really wanted to live this. It could have been a great product were it not for a couple design flaws that someone needs to be fired for IMO. The company is in the business of making espresso machines, is it too much to as that the engineers actually use the machines they design. Unforgivable flaw 1: As silly as it sounds, the power cord. what a foolish design. The plug end it huge and extends away from the wall by several inches. There is a giant hole in the end to IDK stick you middle finger in for disabled people who cannot close their hand to pull the plug out? Sorry I do not want to have to make a counter 6″ deeper to accommodate the ridiculous plug? I guess that I can cut off and rewire. Unforgivable flaw 2: The portafilter is NOT centered beneath the grinder! If you grind for a double shot the grounds fill the portafilter disproportionately to the back causing them to spill over when you remove to tamp. Wow! This means no stop cleaning of the tray and wasted grounds. Was that the purpose? The espresso is so so.. hoping I just need to find the right beans…. who knows. I am very disappointed. Brevilla should know better. I just don’t get it. My advice, buy another brand.
Samuel Viers –
This machine is so great. I have been a barista for 3 years and worked with some heavy duty espresso machines and what I mostly was looking for was something that could pull a real and tasteful shot. Most other machines I’ve tried the shots are watery and dead but this machine pulls actual espresso shots and I’m so hooked that I don’t go out for coffee anymore. It’s incredibly easy to use, I have had it for a few months now and haven’t had any trouble. I make sure I clean it after every use (purge it, scrub the inside, clean out portifilter) but I truly am so pleased with my purchase and couldn’t be happier. It’s helped me to save so much money on coffee.I will say the only thing I struggle with from time to time is when the portifilter is too full with grinds (ex: 11.5 seconds worth of grinds) it’s hard to then get it into the port and I’ll struggle for a few minutes. Other than that, which is so minor because it comes down to the users ground amount, I love the machine
Cindy Reid –
Plan to buy another but very disappointed as this was a Father’s day gift and when the box was opened on Father’s day, the machine had coffee in the grinder and coffee dust in the packaging….we received a used machine instead of new. very disappointing
Amazon Customer –
5 star for sure. The machine is well built and great quality. I’m a big fan of Breville and own many of their products. It’s a great value also and not hard to use at all. Those that are lazy might disagree but I would rather take 5 minutes out of my morning to make my own espresso drink for just pennies compared to what coffee house’s charge for the same quality product. That’s not an exaggeration, it takes me literally 5 minutes for the whole espresso making process. That include grinding the coffee beans and steaming the milk, 5 minutes. You waist a lot longer driving to a coffee shop, waiting in line to order and waiting in line behind people also waiting on their coffee. Also, do the math, if you buy a coffee, just one coffee, for 5 or 6 dollars and that is a low end price at a coffee shop per day you can expect to spend $1,825 to $2,190 a year. A Barista Pro at 600 or 800 dollars, depending on if you catch them on sale, will pay for itself in a matter of months and my first machine lasted 7 years before the boiler gave in. That’s literally thousands of dollars saved not buying 1 cup of coffee per day at a coffee house and getting the same quality drink. I, with no doubt, will keep purchasing Breville espresso machines as long as they keep making the same quality machines at the reasonable prices they have now.
Heather Foxman –
I have had my Breville for 2.5 years and overall it has been a great experience. The machine is very easy to use – a beginner can make an excellent latte in minutes – but you can also play with various features to suit your particular espresso and latte style. I especially like how this machine heats up immediately – no waiting for coffee! Want it now? You got it! NEW feature – the small funnel that comes with it now keeps all the grounds in when. it comes out of the grinder so no mess – fabulous! How am I able to compare the new machine with the slightly older one? Well . . . I have been very happy with this machine . . until just recently – I cannot tell a lie – we had a rocky spell, Breville and I. But as they came thru for me I the end, I have raised my review back up to a 5. technically, due to the fact that it happened, perhaps I should have put a 4.5, but that isn’t possible. What happened was my machine just stopped working. I called support and the representative did a video chat with me to try to fix it on the spot. It was great that they could run me thru the different “fixit things” to try right over the phone, but eventually it became obvious that it needed something more than advanced cleaning. They were very prompt – they sent me a box to ship it in just like a day – super fast. A couple days later they then sent an e-mail with a quote and I decided to spend the money because I really really love this machine. It wasn’t cheap – but shipping was included so really not bad over all. And I wanted the professionals fixing it, not me trying this and that off of a DIY YouTube video and getting no where. So they fixed it and sent it back super fast – BUT – sadly, in their haste to get it back quickly to me, the technicians shipped it in a wet condition, and when it arrived it stunk and had rust marks on the face plate! Yikes. I was very very upset as it was not at all in that condition when I sent I to them. I had waited a couple days to send it and let the machine dry out on purpose. I can only think that it was an inexperienced technician who was trying to get it back to me super fast who made this mistake, and hopefully they are taking steps so this never happens to anyone else again! Initially they did not offer me any sort of compensation for this mistake – even tho having these blemishes was really upsetting and really spoiled the art factor of this machine – cause really – it is beautiful looking – it isn’t just an old coffee maker – it is a show piece in your home! I have mine proudly on display and serve coffee to all my guests! It looks fantastic on my counter! So when they did nothing for me I wrote my review detailing what had happened and lowered my rating to a 3. And then magically, someone at Breville either listened to what I told the representatives, or saw my review or I don’t know – but they suddenly did the right thing and approved a replacement machine! At no cost to me. I was ecstatic. Breville did right by me. It actually brings tears to my eyes cause I bought my original machine with money my Dad left me when he passed away. Otherwise it was really out of my price range. So thank you Breville – you warmed my heart and corrected your mistake and for that I give you 5 stars! You did the right and ethical thing. You can trust this company.
StrandedMoose –
This is a very well-engineered Espresso machine that is a great place for any beginner, and even the intermediate barista. This is probably one of the best machines you can get under the $1000+ range from my research.Like any espresso machine, it takes a lot of coffee and trial and error to get used to it. This is because you need to find the optimal pull time and grind size for each bean that you use. I highly recommend Nicoletti Old School Roast for latte-based drinks. For those, I use an internal burr of 4 and grind size of 9 or 10.You can find excellent tutorials on YouTube specifying how to perfect the espresso pull for your bean of choice. The video “How to Dial In Breville Barista Pro” by Lifestyle Labs makes it very easy. However, you can also just use the preset values to get decent results. I wish that Breville had an official course on how to use it for complete beginners, because I was totally lost when I received mine.After a lot of trial and error, I now am making oat milk lattes that taste exponentially better than anything I can buy at a coffee shop, for a fraction of the price. I currently use Elmhurst Oat Milk and Elmhurt Barista Edition because it’s the only oat milk on the market that isn’t filled with gums or oils.My oat milk lattes are on par with any whole milk latte from the local coffee stores. Needless to say, I’m very happy with this machine.Pros- Easy to use, intuitive interface- Very easy to clean- Very easy to descale/service- Visually appealing- All necessary components in one chassis- One button push for excellent single or double shot drinksCons- Can’t steam milk and pull espresso at the same time (all pros recommend doing this, so it’s a bit silly that this unit can’t).- Steam takes significant time to generate. It also spits out water first, watering down your milk. Whereas Higher end espresso machines will instantly shoot steam that is pre-heated in a chamber)- Grinder is not as precise as many high end grinders; There are no half sizes so it is difficult to fine tune at a certain point. My understanding is that it’s not as powerful either and beans often get stuck in the hopper so you often need to tap on the hopper to make sure all the beans grind.
Catherine W. –
I recently became an espresso enthusiast and was looking for a machine that would grind, brew, and steam. This machine does it all for me!! After much research and quite a few YouTube tutorials I narrowed it down to this Breville and I have no regrets. There was A LOT poured down the drain due to operator error 🙄; however, I finally have found my “dial in” numbers and enjoy at least a cup or three a day!!The quality is excellent, it looks amazing and is easy to use and clean.
A Customer –
I have used semi-automatic home espresso machines for 30 years and was immediately blown away by the rapid warm up of this beautiful machine (I chose the black/stainless model). Of course, it did take some time to learn the best way to ‘dial-in’ good espresso from it, but I finally got where I wanted to be after a couple of weeks’ experimentation. For the double shot, I ended up using 17g dark roast beans, grind level 05 for 13.5 seconds (factory burr setting 6), medium-high water temperature, with an old-fashioned heavy tamp and twist. This yields a very pleasant 2 1/4 oz shot with adequate crema for me. I programmed the shot timer for 36 seconds, but the Barista Pro seems to automatically adjust the actual time to give a consistent shot volume. I have no idea how it does this, but I certainly am pleased with the result. (NOTE: This is my personal experience and NOT an advertised feature, so don’t bother to tell me I’m crazy!)The only negative is the lack of the advertised double-beep after programming the shot timer. Nevertheless the programming works better than expected.
Emily –
I gave 4 stars because it is a wonderful machine but the descriptions could have been more in depth by the suppliers and I feel a temperature gauge would have been appropriate.Everything works as intended and it is quite beautiful to look at!It is fast and accurate and makes a superb cup of coffee that I enjoy each day 😊I do like knowing the temperature of mine and this doesn’t have a gauge. So I mostly go by feel…Another wonderful addition would be if there were some way to rig up auto water filling. The tank is relatively small…but I suppose it’s not a big deal to fill it up every day and a half 😉More accurately I think it could do with 4.5 stars but 4 is as close as I could get.I’m sure you won’t be disappointed with this machine!
SeeSawSeeSaw –
Less than two months and already has nicks in the paint job. I wanted to get the black since it matches my kitchen and I think it looks really nice. I don’t think I’ve been rough with it at all so I’m certainly a bit disappointed. How will it look in another year or two?I had a Gaggia classic for years but the pump was starting to fail, so decided to try the Breville. I can’t really call myself an espresso enthusiast — I just want a great cup of coffee in the morning without fuss so I decided to give Breville a try given its reputation.It works well. I do have some issues with channeling, but otherwise it’s great. Likewise, the steaming function is nice as well.In retrospect, I wish I bought the stainless version. It’s too soon to have any nicks or scratches.
Joe Mama –
I purchased a Pro about a month ago. It started to make a buzzing sound after pulling a shot. I contacted customer service and we video chatted about my issue. I was able to pull a shot in real time and show that there was a problem. I was sent a return label for the malfunctioning machine and was shipped out a brand new machine within 2 days. No problems, no fuss. One of the best customer service experiences I’ve had in a long time.
PrimeCom –
This is supper coffee machine which I ever have used and love it!