Breville Precision Brewer Drip Coffee Machine
$179.99
Description
Breville Precision Brewer Drip Coffee Machine BDC450BSS, Thermal Carafe
| Brand | Breville |
| Color | Brushed Stainless Steel |
| Product Dimensions | 9″D x 14″W x 16″H |
| Special Feature | Programmable, Thermal, Jug |
| Coffee Maker Type | Drip Coffee Machine |
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The Dawg –
Yes, this is an expensive coffee maker. Yes, it is worth the pricetag. This is going to be lengthy review, but I really had to dig deep to decide to spend $300 on a coffee maker and wanted to weigh my options with you. For me, I only seriously considered 3 makers: the Breville (which I bought), the Technivorm Moccamaster, and the Bona Vita.I love coffee, and several other makers (french press, espresso machine, etc.) this is hands down the best maker. I had gotten really mad with drip brew makers over the years. I had 2 Mr. Coffee in college, since have used two different Cuisinart makers. This maker has restored my faith in good drip-brew coffee. I recommend 2 different sources to help you shop for a coffee maker. James Hoffman on YouTube did a review of this maker that really persuaded me to get this particular maker. America’s Test Kitchen/Cook’s Country Gearheads reviewed their coffee makers (although a year or so before this particular product was launched). Between those 2 sources I was in between the Technivorm Mocca and the Breville Precision Brewer. The America’s Test Kitchen Review of drip brew coffee makers is what inspired me to look at a higher end product, as they identified so many of my issues with previous makers that I have used. America’s Test Kitchen also cited the SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) and their “Golden Cup” standards for a good cup of coffee, these include consistency of temperature of brew water and ground coffee to water ratios. My big issue with the Mr. Coffee and Cuisinart products is that they just do not hold enough grounds to make a great pot of coffee (our Cuisinarts had to be loaded lightly to avoid having the grounds spill over into the pot and water tank). America’s Test Kitchen identified the ground capacity along with water temperature issues as a key in making a consistently good cup of coffee. Again, even though they did not review this specific coffee maker, the details of their segment on this helped me with the decision process, especially pointing me towards the SCAA Golden Cup info.Without getting into a deep comparison, here is why I chose the Breville over the Technivorm and Bona Vita. The primary factor was the volume of brewed coffee. The Moccamaster and Bona Vita make 40oz of coffee. I live by myself now, and 40oz is a perfect amount for me, but should I have guests over, 40oz could go pretty quick, and who have to make multiple pots of coffee… The Breville will make up to 60oz at a time and has the option to make less coffee that is still of high quality for 40oz. So this was the biggest draw for me. I personally drink 2-3 12-14 oz cups a morning, so any of these makers would be enough, but I wanted the extra capacity. I mentioned that Breville has an option to make more volume of coffee or less. This is achieved with a cone filter insert (that is included) that fits a standard #4 cone filter paper. Breville recommends this insert for 40oz (8 cups) or less of coffee, and you simply remove the cone filter holder insert and use either the included gold mesh basket filter or large basket filters.Breville also offered an option that the Moccamaster did not (unsure of BonaVita) and that was the option to do a delayed brew, I can load the grounds before bed and wake to freshly brewed coffee (I have used this feature once, but it is nice). The Breville adds a little more options and customization to the mix compared to the Technivorm. The Breville offers 5 preset brew options: FAST, GOLD, STRONG, OVER ICE, COLD BREW. It also offers the option to tweak and adjust and create a personalized brew setting manually adjusting temperature, speed of brew, soak time, etc. The GOLD Brew Setting meets the parameters set forth by the SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America), the Technivorm meets these standards as well. The Technivorm has an on/off switch. The friend who owns one has attached a timer to the machine so he can load it at bedtime.Having had hands on both the Technivorm and the Breville, there is a good build quality on both products, neither feels cheap. The Technivorm is more solid, and I would expect that it will last much longer due to the simplicity and quality. The warranty is also better for the Technivorm. Ultimately the ability to adjust the settings and the 20oz of extra brew capacity sold me on the Breville.I have had this product for a month and a half and still love it. I don’t think that I will ever be able to go back to a cheap coffee maker. I have used this with my favorite variety, some local varieties, but I have also used my favorite cheap coffee (Wholefoods 365 Pacific Rim $11 for 1.5lbs). This really does elevate coffee. I previously had only used the hot plate and glass carafe brewers, and I do think the insulated carafe helps significantly.Bottom line: do you spend $300 on this coffee maker? Yes, if you drink and use your coffee maker almost daily, I think that this is worth the investment. Especially if you are a bit of a coffee snob. If you simply want coffee to taste warm and brown or use Folgers, I would look at a less expensive machine. If you do not need timed brew, and more than 40oz capacity, I would choose the Technivorm over this product. If you just cannot spend 300 on a brewer, the Bona Vita is good option.
MCP –
W as not a versatile coffee maker for daily use & this breville does well regardless of volume, type of beverage. Only concern I have is it doesn’t really keep the coffee warm enough, esp if using creamers or something to lighten it. We do fill the decanter/pot with hot water & let it sit before brewing hence 4 stars
Marvin Castillo –
Great coffee maker with a lot custom options.
Michael J. Moreno –
This will be my initial product review based on unboxing it and having tried it out once. I will update in 6 months and then a year. Let’s get the major concern some may have with this machine, the sticker shock. Yes, it is pricey. Yes, the juice is worth the squeeze on first impressions. I have owned a number of coffee makers over the years (Cuisinart, KitchenAid, most recent was a Keurig Duo Plus) so this review is in comparison to those. I decided to replace the Keurig as it was no longer making a full pot no matter how often I descale it and I am diligent on doing that. It was also leaking water, from where I could not determine, but that might explain why it would not brew a full pot despite the water tank still having plenty in it.This coffee maker is solidly built. The thermal carafe is heavy, so it is properly insulated. The water tank is big with a big opening and clearly marked and legible water level indicators. The basket filter basket is big and easy to insert and it does not have to go in any specific way. It will click in place if you insert it straight on, sideways, maybe just not upside down. Much more solid feeling than the Keurig. It fits perfectly under my cabinets as well and despite it’s size and heft, takes up less real estate than the Keruig or any of the others I have had.Set-up is easy, just read through the manual first, which has clear and concise instructions. Measuring your water hardness is easy as well. The dial on the front to set the time, water hardness, brew style, filter basket style, etc is easy to read and navigate. Setting up the auto-start function is also a breeze (yes, heretical as it may seem to java purists, I use this setting during the week to have my coffee ready by the time I am out of the shower and ready for my first cup while I log in to work). The Keurig was pretty much easy to use to brew coffee but set-up was not. The method to set the time was not the easiest. Setting the auto-start time was very convoluted to say the least.Brewing coffee – I used the Gold setting as that is the express purpose of this machine and other top-tier machines, brewing coffee according to SCA standards. We use Farmers Brothers coffee as that is what most restaurants in our area use and we like the taste of that particular coffee (again, java purists will be mortified, but like with wine or beer, drink what you like). While the coffee in our previous makers was good, it never achieved that restaurant flavor (most restaurants use the Bunn coffee brewers and while I have not seen them indicate they brew to SCA standards, the quality of their brew is pretty dang good). With the Breville, the taste matched what I taste from this brand of coffee at restaurants. It was delicious! And it was hot! With the Keurig, I would have to microwave my creamer to warm it up, otherwise the coffee would cool down too much. Not with the Breville. Furthermore, I drink a cup at home and on the days I have to go to the office, I pack a cup to go in a Contigo cup. With the Keurig, when I got too work, about a 20 min ride, the coffee would be warm but not hot. Today, I arrived at the office and the coffee was still hot. And still as tasty as the first cup I had at home.First impressions are important and the Breville has made a good, strong first impression. Time will tell if it can maintain the lofty standard it set but I will update review.If you are on the fence. buy it. The juice is worth the squeeze.
Rachel M. Barnes –
I researched coffee makers for a long time before deciding to splurge on this one. My husband and I are definitely coffee snobs, so we wanted to be sure to get a machine that met our tastes and expectations. Added to that, our daughter will only drink cold brew and we did not want multiple coffee makers in the house. We are all delighted with the results and have found this to be some of the best coffee we’ve ever had.I will share that we did encounter a problem with the machine initially. About every other pot of coffee we brewed wound up spilling over onto the counter. I assumed operator error and tried multiple ways of correcting how I was setting it up before we concluded that the top of the carafe was faulty. I contacted Breville and they mailed us a new carafe and top the same day. They could not have been nicer to deal with and stood by their product. I will buy from Breville again as I found their customer service rivaled their product results.
K1mmyNYC17K1mmyNYC17 –
When my coffee maker showed signs of failing- I immediately began searching for its replacement. After reading multiple articles on Coffee Expert’s top SCAA Gold coffee makers. I was very close to getting the Moccamaster but didn’t like the open glass carafe, the straight arm shower mechanism or the hot plate. So, I decided to go with the Breville Precision, since it was consistently on all the lists.Why I chose it:1- Thermal Carafe2- Customized Bloom Setting3- Large 12 Cup (60oz) Capacity4- Adjustable Coffee Brew SettingsThe Breville Precision did not disappoint! So far (2.5 weeks in),I use the Gold setting, which makes a delicious cup/pot of coffee. The thermal carafe keeps the coffee HOT for hours. The first day we used it, I made a pot at 7am, my son went to make a single cup of coffee at 2:30pm. He went to empty the carafe and it was still steaming (as in, drinkably Hot!)Water tank holds a hefty 60 ozs, there are 3-4 of us having coffee on any given day. Being able to have enough coffee to go around on the first pot is fantastic.Nice feature: digital counter that displays the elapsed time since the coffee was brewed.The Breville came with 2 filters: a reusable mesh basket filter for pots of coffee and a cone filter for smaller quantities & single cup brewing. The cone filter is open at the bottom so a paper filter is needed, the Breville came with a sample pack of paper filters which was great, since I didn’t have any on hand.I purchased the Medelco reusable gold mesh cone filter and it fits perfectly! Medelco #4 Cone Permanent Coffee Filter https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000TCZRKW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_CCEcFbX97XZPMNote: be careful when unboxing there is a single test strip for water hardness – I didn’t even see it, and had tossed it into the box with the styrofoam until I read about it in the set up instructions, or it would’ve wound up in w/ the recycle.Overall I’m very pleased with the Breville Precision Brewer. It makes great tasting coffee. It’s well made, solidly built, simple set up and easy to use. Well worth the investment.Pros:-Thermal Carafe is sealed, airtight while brewing and keeps coffee hot for hours.-Fully customizable coffee brewing includes: choice of brew temperature, bloom time and flow rate-No hot plate to burn coffee-Lighted Digital Display-Water Hardness Scale- the coffee maker will adjust as per water hardness level-Fast Mode, brew up to 12 cups in less than 7 minutes-Sturdy Build & Filter Holder is wrapped in stainless metalCons:-The water reservoir is not removable ( because of that, I’ve been wiping it down daily)-Pricey
Milton Moss –
EASY to use. Options galore! Dial in to brew that perfect cup of coffee to your liking. With the first sip from the first cup, my wife and I almost simultaneously said, “Wow! That’s the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had!” All the angst over spending $300 for a coffee maker vaporized with that first sip. We’ve had it for a couple months now, and it still delivers an awesome cup of coffee. We are spoiled now. Thank you Breville!
Ron –
Great coffee maker easy to set up brews a excellent cup of coffee.
timesvaluable –
I decided to get my wife one of these for Christmas to replace her several years old Ninja. After weeks of searching and reading reviews, with her Ninja having the best reviews for bang for the buck, I settled on this one. It looks nice but it doesn’t do anything better than the much cheaper Ninja. The thermal carafe doesn’t hold heat very long. It will keep it warm for hours, but not hot. If you keep all the variables the same, it tastes the same out of each machine. There’;s nothing wrong with it, so spend the money if you want to, but you can get the same cup of coffee a lot cheaper.
Zerelda Hammer –
I would have liked to give this coffee maker five stars. However, I was surprised and dismayed that the night I dropped the carafe, the pour spout broke off, which made pouring a real mess. There wasn’t a dent in the carafe, however. The coffee maker, up to that point was everything I’d hoped for: different brewing options, and a good quality machine. I honestly couldn’t think of anything negative to say about it, other than the motor was (and is) a bit noisy during brewing. With that said, Breville, was helpful, and good enough to replace the carafe. The problem was that it was on backorder for more than three months, and eventually, they just sent a new machine, and I had to return the old one, at their expense. Now I wish I had my old one back. The quality of the new one isn’t the same. I have two objections: one is that the unit drips when you pull the carafe out to pour, which the original one we had didn’t do. The other is that I have to wiggle and wiggle and wiggle to get the carafe and/or basket set just right so that the coffee maker will begin, which means I can never use the timer since I’d never know if the basket and/or carafe are set correctly. I never had to do this with the first coffee maker we had. I don’t mind the price so much, since I believe you get what you pay for. I would expect these issues from a less expensive unit, but not a $300 coffee maker. Overall, though, we really like our new coffee maker.
Jeffrey S. Abelson –
I got sick of making my pour over every morning, but I do care about coffee quality, so when i saw this get uniformly GREAT reviews all over the internet, Particularly James Hoffmann, I decided to give it a go. Every batch I’ve brewed has been terrific and while there are some downsides – large footprint, water tank doesn’t come off, the pros vastly outweigh the cons, particularly the customizable bloom time, water temp and water flow.
Galactic Bard –
I’ve always used cheap $20 Mr. Coffee makers, and they’ve lasted me for many years. I only decided to replace the last one because the water chamber was getting gross from over a decade of use. I was going to buy another cheap coffee maker, and my wife convinced me to buy a nicer, higher end coffee maker, and I’m so glad I did!It’s been a bit of a journey, as this is the third coffee maker I’ve bought. The first one was a Mr. Coffee “Optimal Brew” coffee maker that I returned because I got an obviously-used coffee maker with a broken piece and greasy fingerprints all over it. The second was a Cafe Grind and Brew, which honestly is an over-priced piece of junk that leaks all over the place due to a glaring design flaw (see my review on that machine for more). So that one got sent back as well.I finally settled on this beauty, and I love it. It is of much higher build quality than the Mr. Coffee, which was a cheap mostly-plastic machine that I doubt would’ve lasted long, and I doubt even more that it would make better coffee than the $20 machines I’ve had in the past. It’s also much nicer build quality than the Cafe machine, which although it was nicer than the Mr. Coffee, was poorly designed and not build to last.This machine is built to last, and it’s very thoughtfully designed. There are so many little features that make this so nice to use, and it’s obvious a lot of thought went into the design. The water chamber isn’t removable, but it’s large enough it won’t be difficult to clean. It also has markings not only in “cups” but also in ounces, which is super helpful. It also has markings for maximum fill for a single cup cold brew, cone filter brew, and max size flat-bottomed filter brew. It also comes with a reusable flat bottom filter for brews of 9-12 cups, as well as an insert to use cone filters for 1-8 cups. You can also use flat-bottomed paper filters for the 9-12 cup brews. It also came with 10 flat-bottom paper filters, which is nice because they’re larger than the ones I had for my previous 5-cup machine. The only things it doesn’t come with are paper cone filters and a reusable cone filter. The paper filters would’ve been nice, but they’re not expected, and I prefer a paper filter to the reusable filters anyway.I love that this machine can make iced coffee and cold brew coffee, which is a really cool feature. You can only make 4 cups of coffee with those two methods, though. But 4 cups of iced coffee (which really comes out to more 2 cups of coffee minus the water you lose to the grinds) is enough for my wife and I to each have an iced coffee once you fill the glasses with ice (which you definitely want to do, as the iced coffee is brewed at double strength).It has a clock and a timer that can be set for a future brew. It has the SCA gold standards set in, which is what I’ve been using, but you can also set up your own specifications for water flow rate, water temperature, and bloom time. Combined with a good grinder, you can really dial in your perfect cup of coffee.It even came with a test strip to test my water hardness, so I know how to set up the machine. It has, I think, 4 different hardness levels you can set, which controls how often the machine reminds you to do a cleaning with a descaler. It’s really nice that it reminds you, as I never remembered to descale my previous machines as much as I should have. (I also used to descale with vinegar, so that tells you how much I didn’t know about coffee!) No other machine I tried came with a water test strip or way to set your water hardness in the machine.The thermal stainless steel carafe is much nicer than the Mr. Coffee and Cafe ones were. It keeps coffee hot for hours, especially if you preheat the carafe with hot water first as recommended in the manual. My coffee is so hot it steams my glasses when I drink it! No more having to reheat my coffee in the microwave halfway through a cup.The thermal carafe is also a game-changer compared to previous machines I had with glass carafes and a hotplate. The coffee ended up tasting nasty after an hour or so of hold time. With the thermal carafe, the last cup of coffee is just as tasty as the first. The lid of the carafe is also much better designed than the Cafe one, which would get water trapped inside you couldn’t get out, that would’ve become a breeding ground for black mold.No this does NOT have a hotplate, because it has an insulated carafe! All those people who complain about it not having a hotplate are exposing their ignorance, as no machine with an insulated carafe has, or should have, a hot plate. If you don’t understand why, do some research, which you should be doing anyway if you’re going to bother with, and spend the money on, a more advanced coffee maker like this.Clean up isn’t too bad with this machine either, and much easier than the Cafe machine. The Cafe had too many pieces, all of which were cheap plastic destined to break in time (as all GE products are). Yes, this machine has plastic pieces, but they are a higher-quality, thicker, denser plastic than the Cafe and Mr. Coffee machines.This machine is much more on par with the commercial grade coffee makers I used when working in restaurants in the past. Yes, it is more expensive than the other two machines, but money spent on the Mr. Coffee and Cafe machines is wasted money, as they have low build quality and are designed to break much sooner than you’d like. This machine will last years and years, and is money very well spent if you love coffee.
Amazon Customer –
First thing I noticed was the packaging of the coffee machine was superb, reflecting the pride the company has in their product (a box in a box in another box!). The coffee maker was easy to assemble, and the directions and suggestions for brewing were easy to understand. It has a beautiful, smooth stainless steel finish. There are a lot of options for the serious coffee lover, but I suggest you try the gold setting first. The coffee brews quickly, and stays hot in the well insulated carafe for about 2 hours. It is delicious and tastes just the same 2 hours later. I like that you can put the carafe anywhere, the coffee will still be hot and delicious an hour or two later. The carafe cleans easily with warm water and a mild dish detergent. The opening is wide enough to put an average size adult hand inside to clean. The basket comes with a cone insert for brews of less than 6 cups,. For larger brews the basket comes with a gold mesh filter or you can use a paper filter. The cone requires a cone-shaped paper filter. I recommend Melita brand. I have used this coffee maker every day for three weeks and now my favorite setting is Strong, with 6 level scoops of ground coffee, and a water level of 6 cups. I use good quality, freshly ground coffee and use the scoop that came with this coffee maker. This is the best coffee maker I have ever purchased.
Tom Cuellar –
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This coffee maker is really good. It makes an amazing, quality pot of coffee. My only disappointment is the lid has to be slightly off to vent the water container or it will create condensation. Which for some reason annoys me and the wife. If you don’t mind placing the cover slightly off, you’ll love it. Breville should place a small vent onto the lid to prevent this condensation problem.
LaneM –
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I’ve put the Breville Precision Automatic Coffeemaker to the test!What I discovered was amazing coffee in every batch! I was very hesitant to spend $300 on a coffeemaker. I was hoping that for that price, it would also wash, dry and fold my laundry, but no such luck. Instead, I settled for a perfect cup of coffee, which I think is a pretty good trade-off if you ask me.This well-made brewer impressed me at almost every step. I fell like the price is worth the money for this coffeemaker. I’ll give you a simple run down and you can decide for yourself!Sturdy designThe water reservoir and body are hard sturdy plastic.The thermal carafe is large with a large opening for easy cleaningThe lid is very sturdy and very easy to use with a flow-through brew and no adjustments before pouring.The filter basket is deep, wide and sturdy and moves in and out of the machine as smooth as butter.OptionsThis baby has all the options you could ever want! Seriously, there is something for EVERYONE.You like a mesh filter – comes with oneYou like a cone filter – comes with oneYou like cold brew – does itYou like iced coffee – doneYou like strong coffee – there’s a setting for thatYou like your coffee exactly as it’s recommended by the SCA – yeah, you guessed it, there’s a setting for that!You like it hotter, cooler, faster, slower, longer bloom time, no bloom time – you can you the “My Brew” settings and get EXACTLY what you want! I LOVE THIS.Oh did I mention that it’s also got an auto-start?Do you think the only way to brew perfect coffee is a pour-over method? Well, my friend, it can do that too! (but this does require additional equipment)Features worth mentioning:Due to the unique water boiler design, the water remains at a steady temperature throughout the brewing cycle so all of your coffee is perfectly extracted, and you CAN tell a difference.The fact that the brewer gets the water to 195 – 205 is another reason the coffee turns out so amazing.The water reservoir has lines that are easy to read, so you know exactly how much coffee you’re about to brew. This tells you how much ground coffee to add to the filter.It comes with a scoop that coincides with the number of cups that are marked on the water reservoir. You are brewing 4 cups, use 4 scoops… 6 cups, 6 scoops and so on.Selecting the options using the dial are very intuitive and easy to use.What it’s missing from this machine:The maid/butler to deliver you a hot cup of coffee in bed.A telepathic genie that will push the button for you.A grinder to grind the beans.Someone to sit with you and chat while you’re enjoying an amazing cup of coffee.A coffee subscription to Bean Hoppers coffee (that would be a perfect world).My personal cons (but are really small gripes):The water reservoir does not come off for filling up the water to your desired level, and it would really make it easier to clean the reservoir. But since the opening is really wide, it’s easy to wipe out from time to time, plus I could descale it.The lines on the reservoir are in 5 or 10-ounce increments. In the USA, 6 ounces is considered a cup and we’re used to measuring 2 TBSP of coffee per 6 oz of water, but in the UK, 5 oz. is a cup. But they do provide you with a scoop that holds less than 2 TBSP and I’ve used it (heaping) and it really does taste great using their measurements too!The lid to the carafe gets water stuck inside it and potentially it may not dry out.Cost – very expensive, but I also think it’s very well made and the cost is justified by the experience and the quality of the brewer and the amazing coffee it makes.It doesn’t wash my laundry… just sayin.MY FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT THIS MACHINE:The water temperature is perfect and EASY to adjust.The settings are intuitive and easy to figure out and navigate.The water reservoir is easy to open, easy to see and has multiple methods of measure. (which is amazing!)The carafe is easy to clean.The filter basket is easy to clean.It really makes amazing coffee.It literally has something for everyone, no matter how you like your coffee.Overall I highly recommend the Breville Precision Brewer and would rate it a 9 out of 10 even at this price.Only because I haven’t tried some other really nice brewers on the market that I’m still going to try. But I’m not sure how it could get much better.
Skibum71 –
It makes good Coffee. I had to stop drinking French press because of the cholesterol levels, and chose this machine by Breville after hours of research and watching videos and comparing coffee makers. I like the carafe a lot because it prevents any burnt taste, even after 45 minutes of sitting. The problem with this machine is that it LEAKS constantly. Nearly every morning I spend 5 extra minutes wiping up the coffee that dripped onto my counter top during brewing. I have tried everything to prevent it. I think it’s the design of lining up the carafe with the downspout. It is so finely tuned that any slight offset causes it to leak. I have to babysit it the entire time I brew. I’m going to throw this away and start over with my search. I WOULD NOT buy this product. Too much work just to have a cup of coffee.
The Dawg –
Yes, this is an expensive coffee maker. Yes, it is worth the pricetag. This is going to be lengthy review, but I really had to dig deep to decide to spend $300 on a coffee maker and wanted to weigh my options with you. For me, I only seriously considered 3 makers: the Breville (which I bought), the Technivorm Moccamaster, and the Bona Vita.I love coffee, and several other makers (french press, espresso machine, etc.) this is hands down the best maker. I had gotten really mad with drip brew makers over the years. I had 2 Mr. Coffee in college, since have used two different Cuisinart makers. This maker has restored my faith in good drip-brew coffee. I recommend 2 different sources to help you shop for a coffee maker. James Hoffman on YouTube did a review of this maker that really persuaded me to get this particular maker. America’s Test Kitchen/Cook’s Country Gearheads reviewed their coffee makers (although a year or so before this particular product was launched). Between those 2 sources I was in between the Technivorm Mocca and the Breville Precision Brewer. The America’s Test Kitchen Review of drip brew coffee makers is what inspired me to look at a higher end product, as they identified so many of my issues with previous makers that I have used. America’s Test Kitchen also cited the SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) and their “Golden Cup” standards for a good cup of coffee, these include consistency of temperature of brew water and ground coffee to water ratios. My big issue with the Mr. Coffee and Cuisinart products is that they just do not hold enough grounds to make a great pot of coffee (our Cuisinarts had to be loaded lightly to avoid having the grounds spill over into the pot and water tank). America’s Test Kitchen identified the ground capacity along with water temperature issues as a key in making a consistently good cup of coffee. Again, even though they did not review this specific coffee maker, the details of their segment on this helped me with the decision process, especially pointing me towards the SCAA Golden Cup info.Without getting into a deep comparison, here is why I chose the Breville over the Technivorm and Bona Vita. The primary factor was the volume of brewed coffee. The Moccamaster and Bona Vita make 40oz of coffee. I live by myself now, and 40oz is a perfect amount for me, but should I have guests over, 40oz could go pretty quick, and who have to make multiple pots of coffee… The Breville will make up to 60oz at a time and has the option to make less coffee that is still of high quality for 40oz. So this was the biggest draw for me. I personally drink 2-3 12-14 oz cups a morning, so any of these makers would be enough, but I wanted the extra capacity. I mentioned that Breville has an option to make more volume of coffee or less. This is achieved with a cone filter insert (that is included) that fits a standard #4 cone filter paper. Breville recommends this insert for 40oz (8 cups) or less of coffee, and you simply remove the cone filter holder insert and use either the included gold mesh basket filter or large basket filters.Breville also offered an option that the Moccamaster did not (unsure of BonaVita) and that was the option to do a delayed brew, I can load the grounds before bed and wake to freshly brewed coffee (I have used this feature once, but it is nice). The Breville adds a little more options and customization to the mix compared to the Technivorm. The Breville offers 5 preset brew options: FAST, GOLD, STRONG, OVER ICE, COLD BREW. It also offers the option to tweak and adjust and create a personalized brew setting manually adjusting temperature, speed of brew, soak time, etc. The GOLD Brew Setting meets the parameters set forth by the SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America), the Technivorm meets these standards as well. The Technivorm has an on/off switch. The friend who owns one has attached a timer to the machine so he can load it at bedtime.Having had hands on both the Technivorm and the Breville, there is a good build quality on both products, neither feels cheap. The Technivorm is more solid, and I would expect that it will last much longer due to the simplicity and quality. The warranty is also better for the Technivorm. Ultimately the ability to adjust the settings and the 20oz of extra brew capacity sold me on the Breville.I have had this product for a month and a half and still love it. I don’t think that I will ever be able to go back to a cheap coffee maker. I have used this with my favorite variety, some local varieties, but I have also used my favorite cheap coffee (Wholefoods 365 Pacific Rim $11 for 1.5lbs). This really does elevate coffee. I previously had only used the hot plate and glass carafe brewers, and I do think the insulated carafe helps significantly.Bottom line: do you spend $300 on this coffee maker? Yes, if you drink and use your coffee maker almost daily, I think that this is worth the investment. Especially if you are a bit of a coffee snob. If you simply want coffee to taste warm and brown or use Folgers, I would look at a less expensive machine. If you do not need timed brew, and more than 40oz capacity, I would choose the Technivorm over this product. If you just cannot spend 300 on a brewer, the Bona Vita is good option.
Dbose –
I have now used this coffee maker for just about 2 years and have to say it is just as good as the day I bought it. I have 4 coffee drinkers in my house with the college student being the heaviest user. We brew 2-3 full pots a day plus 2-3 single cups a day so it has seen its share of use and abuse. It’s not cleaned as often as it should be. The descale indicator is on for longer then I like to admit and have not by any means been gentle on this thing and it has provided the best darn cup of coffee I can get anywhere. It does well even with cheap coffees but really sings with specialty roasts. If It broke today I would buy another in a heartbeat.
pnr –
I am an avid personal coffee roaster and brewer. I am comparing this brewer to my Technoverm, Bonavita and Oxo 8 cup brewers.Pros:So many features. So many ways to customize your brew. The “My Brew” ability to vary bloom time, temperature, flow rate is what I have been looking for. You can make large pots to small pots. It is a very well built machine. Great quality. Not noisy! Other reviewers have noted that the brewer is loud or noisy. I did not did this to be a problem at all.Cons:Under extraction: I noticed that for me, this brewer significantly under extracts compared to the Bonavita and the Oxo 8 cup brewers. This occurs for me across the board no matter what brew option I choose. I use a Baratza Forte grinder and check my extraction with an Atago Pal-Coffee refractor (and also taste verified.) Using the same brew parameters of 1000 ml H20/ 60 g coffee (16.7/1 ratio) I find that I have to significantly change the grind to a much finer size to get the same TDS% extraction. Unfortunately for me, the finer grind size required results in a poorer tasting coffee. For 3 months, I have tried all kinds of work arounds but I get the same results: under extracted, poorer tasting coffee.Bloom Time feature: The “bloom” feature is nice but I think that too much water passes before the “bloom” feature pauses. On a 1000 ml H20, almost half of the water passes before the bloom time feature pauses.Final comments: I love the thought put in to the making of this brewer. I have many other Breville products that I am very happy with. The quality is top notch. I’ve tried for 3 months but so far, for me, I can’t make an optimal cup of coffee for me (too under extracted, therefore requiring too fine a grind and resulting in bitter coffee.) The Bonavita and the Oxo 8 cup have better, optimal, extraction and taste for me.
Robert Villalobos –
The first one I received was defective. The pump didn’t work. I tried following the instructions to set the water hardness and it was supposed to flush the system but it wouldn’t move any water. I contacted Breville and returned it. The replacement works great so far. I was a little skeptical as this is the first high dollar drip coffee maker that I have ever bought. But I do notice a difference in quality. I just use the Gold setting only so far and haven’t messed with any of the settings. It’s really not hard to use. Fill with water to the correct level add Coffee grounds and press the start button twice and it runs. Makes a great cup of coffee.
James S. –
This coffee maker came highly recommended, and so I bit the bullet on the price and bought it. Biggest complaint is that the thermos doesn’t keep the coffee hot for more than an hour! What am I missing??
idateacher2 –
Please note this review only reflects the unboxing, two pots of coffee, and trying the 1 cup mode. I am disappointed with this machine overall. Initial setting you are supposed to do a litmus-type test to determine how hard your water is and then set it accordingly. Mine did not come with the litmus like stick, so just left it at the default. Then you have to flush it. Setting this thing is done very differently than any of my prior pots, and although not terribly difficult it for sure is not intuitive either. When I did the initial flush, less than 2/3 of the water went through. It appears from the paperwork that it should have emptied the full 60 ounces of water. I ran the rest through using the fast cycle. I then set to program it so my coffee would be ready when I woke up. Again, not intuitive. You have set the basket or cone setting, somewhere in there be sure to set it to “gold cup” or fast or whatever your choice is, set the clock and finish with pushing a very small button that designates that the auto program is turned on. Once you hit this button then you can set the time for the pot to go off. Again, not intuitive, but once you get used to navigating the menus it is not hard.Pot did go off at the right time. I didn’t realize it was still set to fast, and I assume it is because that is what I put it on the evening before to finish flushing the water. I used the recommended amount of coffee which was ground fresh when I set it up. The coffee was terrible. Now in defense of the pot, I clearly need to simply adjust how much coffee I use, as either the recommended amount was just too much or maybe just too much for the fast setting. That can be fixed though. The one positive is that it truly brewed 60 ounces in the 7 minutes or so as promised. That was awesome given I woke up too early so it started literally the minute I went to go check it. So didn’t have to wait. When brewing it flashes brewing. When finished it starts a timer counting up. 2nd pot- used less grounds and the gold cup mode. Much better. Not $300 better, but a very good cup of coffee.The controls for this and the lcd screen all sit on the left side in the rear area. This makes it difficult to read the settings since the font is small and not located closer to the user. I keep my pot on a clear tray so it is easy enough to slide out to make it easier to read, but it is the first pot where I couldn’t get to the settings and such very easily. Odd. I am sure there is a good reason for that, but it is irritating to use as a result.Coffee temp was fine and the carafe did hold it plenty hot enough for the hour or so we kept pouring from it. I have not used it enough yet to know if it will be consistent or perhaps have problems with temperature day in and day out. Second morning pot came out better using the Gold mode and my normal amount of grounds- but it is just an ordinary cup of coffee. Nothing that would warrant buying this pot if you are buying it for a premium cup of java. It is fast though and that might be reason enough alone to keep the pot. If you are an iced coffee maker this is a mode for that and I could see the convenience factor being useful, albeit it still takes 10 hours.I LOVE the 1 cup mode! I was Ok with paying so much in large part for this option. I can’t stand Keurig coffee, but we keep one due to needing a quick fix at times. I made 1 mug full- now mugs are all different sizes obviously, but the one I used is 16 ounces. Since you get to measure your own ground coffee you get to decide how much to use not to mention save the money on the pods. I timed it- cold filtered water in (use the cup you will drink from to measure out what you need), grounds in the cone lined with a paper filter, setting put to the “cone” instead of the basket, and finally the “fast” setting. 31/2 minutes and I had coffee and it far exceeded anything that came out of a Keurig. Other reviewers mentioned it made a mess, consequently, I flipped over one of my bowls to use as a platform to get the mug close to the dispursement of the coffee. My FIesta mug is fairly wide on top as well, but no mess at all. I would have to do the math, but the savings on not replacing a Keurig and just pod savings alone will over time help to justify the price of this pot not to mention free up counter-space.Now for some reason I thought when I bought this it had a grind feature. Hence, I thought I could put in whole beans and it will grind fresh for me. Wow, the disappointment- but my fault as I didn’t buy the model I thought I was buying. But hey, it is here now so giving it a try. IF it delivers amazing coffee once I figure it out ,I will just use my dedicated grinder. Not a huge deal, but I wish it had that feature. Now that I have used it a few days I have decided to keep it. Not because it is the end-all-be-all for making coffee, but because it is wicked fast. This morning we polished off pot number 1 and decided to make a second right before leaving for work- it is so fast that this is not a problem at all.I can’t go back to a regular pot now due to how fast this thing is. I also think part of the coffee issue is straight forwrd- we normally use a bold bean, but now this pot brings out more of the different notes and I am getting more of that dark roast flavor. Too strong, so will switch to other roasts and I suspect it will then be a beautiful cup of coffee. If not, it will still be a wicked fast cup of coffee!
Mr. Michael C. Hand –
When my old Cuisinart died I wanted to replace it with a thermos type coffee maker. I looked at so many brans on amazon and came to a conclusion that amazon search options, such as sort by, doesn’t work or purposely lies in searching for best sellers or customer reviews (thinking it would from best most sold to least)…yeah – that is a generic complaintanyway, I wanted a coffee maker that makes hot coffee (borderline scolding, McDonald lawsuit hot) and have the ability to stay warm in thermos, thinking hoursI came across this Breville and associated it as a good quality brand regardless of origin of manufacturing.After receiving, I was eager to give it a try. After cleaning and running it for the first time, going for highest bold setting, assuming strongest and hottest, I made 30 oz with petes bold coffee – 4 tablespoonsthe coffee was strong as I like it but was just above warm, 175 degreesfor average mortals, that may be enough but I was hoping for near 200 degrees for the kind of hot that lets you appreciate that sip even more. needless to say, I was disappointed.not only was the coffee a”meh” warm but the thermos hardly kept it the same temperature for even a half hour. In fact after 1 hour hour it was near room temperature.After 3 months and multiple setting attempts I gave up, accepting I wasted near $400 on a product that is worth less than $50 in my opinionthrowing it away, because the people in my circle that had this coffee felt the same about the mehness of it, I did finally go back to buying a Cuisinart again.I didn’t buy my original model and did not want another thermal disaster experience, I did go for their model that has a extra hot option (Thank you God), the modelCuisinart DCC-2650P.until I actually try another in person, I’ll stay with this since it meets my expectations for hot coffee… the thermal was a secondary option, thinking 6-8 hours of heat retained coffeeif you like real coffee, just over $100 is worth it and save the extra $300 for yourself
AnimeFan –
I bought this thing cuz I really liked how it looked and I liked the idea I could customize how the coffee is brewed (ultimately not as versatile as I’d like), I also hadn’t bought a new coffee maker before and wanted to see what the technology was like these days. I bought it used/out of package on Amazon for like ~$100 off the retail price , and ultimately I think even then it was a bit of a rip off — I read another review saying “you pay for the heating element” but wasn’t exactly sure what that meant. it turns out this machine’s heating element will brew you a 40 oz pot of coffee in like ,3 minutes or less. Which I didn’t think was possible, and I guess is kind of cool, but never in my life is there a situation where I couldn’t wait 10-15 minutes for a pot of coffee. This is a luxury I now have, but don’t want and will not miss nor notice it’s gone when I no longer have it.In addition to that, the coffee maker WILL flip a 15 amp breaker if there is ANYTHING else plugged into it. Sometimes even if a lamp that is off is plugged into the same outlet chain, it will flip the breaker. This is like, a really excessive draw of energy for no good reason. I think it only does it for like 1 minutes to speed-heat the water but still, it’s really annoying to have to unplug everything in order to make coffee.I’m going to keep this coffee maker , ultimately, cuz it’s here and looks nice. but if I had read this review before buying it, I would’ve just gotten a black and Decker basic @$$ coffee maker for $60 bucks or whatever.TLDR buy a different machine unless you’ve got a lot of money and 20a outlets in the kitchen
Tyler Friedson –
I was excited about this purchase, however, there is an issue with the water tank. Received the box on Saturday, after the initial set up etc made an excellent, cup and then pot of coffee, hot and very good! Then there was an error message that said “fill tank”. Read all the trouble shooting and tried to call customer service. No customer service on the weekend. Wiped the tank (sensor) and got it to work. However, after three calls and multiple emails with customer service on Monday (on hold for 45 mins) They told me my water is too clean. I have a whole house filter, they said it is NOT recommended to use filtered water. WHAT? My water is too clean? I don’t have an option for infiltered water… I have tried everything. Breville was no help, I will have to return the Breville Precision Brewer Drip Coffee Machine BDC450BSS, Thermal Carafe, since it doesn’t recognize my filtered water as there is water in the tank but it will not brew. It’s an intermittent issues which is all the more frustering! The thermal carafe held the coffee hot for hours, BUT I don’t want the added expense of going to buy bottled water to make my coffee. They should say that in their information. They recommend a MIX OF TAP (unfiltered) and bottled water. If this isn’t an issue for you, then you will probably be ok. However, since the tank is not removable the only way to empty it with this fill tank error, is to unplug it, move it to the sink and turn it over to spill out the coffee. FILL TANK ERROR was unresolved after a factory reset with customer service. They told me there is nothing I can do but to mix the water. BUYER BEWARE.
KT –
The Precision Brewer worked like a charm and the coffee was phenomenal, however it stopped brewing after 5 weeks. It is more than 2 business days and I have not received a return email. When I call and leave my number for call back, I do not receive a call back. I understand times are difficult to staff the phones, but for a high end, expensive coffee machine–I’d expect more. Not sure customer service holds up to the Breville name and reputation…**Additional information–Breville has responded and sending a new replacement machine. Even though the process took longer than I hoped, I appreciate the customer service. I am looking forward to delicious coffee again!
lisa hinz –
We recently went to a coffee class and this was on display. After a lot of research we purchased this. It makes great coffee and is really well built!
William Meredith –
I was trying to buy a coffee maker that I liked for under $300. First I ordered a cuisinart. I kept it for almost a month but kept spilling water when ever I filled the tank. Annoying. So I sent it back and paid a little more for a Bunn machine. It made good coffee but always having to keep the tank on was weird.So I sent it back and ordered the Breville.It has a lot of options which I like, and the tank is easy to fill.I made my first cup of coffee and wow.This coffee maker is worth every cent of the $300 I spent.
Shane –
Do you love coffee? Do you love drinking a lot of it? Do you want the option to fine-tune your brew? This is the coffeemaker for you.In truth, I’ve had it for a month and haven’t messed with all the settings. I just set it to “Gold” mode and brews an amazing pot of coffee every time. Setup is not as difficult as some would have you believe (a popular review site didn’t recommend it for this reason), and once you’ve decided on the right coffee-water ratio, the gold brew mode is really all you need. I haven’t tried the Fast mode as Gold produces 60oz of coffee in less time than it took my old machine (Oxo) to make 45oz. I suspect that’s due in part to the boiler/pump, which sounds like the one Breville uses in their espresso machines. The noise seemed a bit odd at first, but hey, if they’re going to share parts to save on production costs, I’m not complaining. It’s like buying a Fiat and finding out they use engines from Ferraris.The carafe has a wide mouth so it’s easy to clean, and the spout doesn’t dribble, unlike most of the thermal brewers I’ve owned. It keeps the coffee hot for several hours, but if you’re down to the last 10oz and it’s been 4 hours since you brewed it, you might find the temperature a bit lower than you’d prefer. The 10oz before it are still piping hot 3 hours after brewing. Blame the laws of thermodynamics, I guess.Regarding the coffee-water ratio, I don’t know how Breville/SCAA decided on it, but it’s truly an absurd amount of grounds for the volume of coffee you want to make. Seriously, my coffee snob friend who roasts his own beans says it’s ridiculous to use 99g for 1.8L/60oz of water. I experimented with different ratios, but oddly enough, the timed presets on the Breville grinder I bought a week later seem to produce the best coffee, and they’re far less than what the coffee maker manual suggests.The only other (minor) annoyance I can think of is the fact that it requires commercial-sized paper filters, if you’d rather not have solids in your coffee. Regular basket filters will overflow, as will the included reusable filter. Fortunately, the commercial filters are less than $.02/each on a popular website you’ve probably heard of, if you buy 1000 at a time. On the plus side, I won’t need to remember to buy more of them for 2-3 years, and it’s not like they’ll spoil before I’ve used them all.
Rachel M. Barnes –
I researched coffee makers for a long time before deciding to splurge on this one. My husband and I are definitely coffee snobs, so we wanted to be sure to get a machine that met our tastes and expectations. Added to that, our daughter will only drink cold brew and we did not want multiple coffee makers in the house. We are all delighted with the results and have found this to be some of the best coffee we’ve ever had.I will share that we did encounter a problem with the machine initially. About every other pot of coffee we brewed wound up spilling over onto the counter. I assumed operator error and tried multiple ways of correcting how I was setting it up before we concluded that the top of the carafe was faulty. I contacted Breville and they mailed us a new carafe and top the same day. They could not have been nicer to deal with and stood by their product. I will buy from Breville again as I found their customer service rivaled their product results.
Camper1123 –
This replaced a Breville coffee maker/grinder unit that we used daily for 12 years. It finally died. So, we wanted to buy a Breville again, but we really don’t grind our beans anymore, so we purchased this one. The coffee it makes is excellent, easy to use, easy to clean and literally have no complaints whatsoever. I am a fan of Breville products, and this is the 4th Breville product we have owned (actually still own).
Rich C. –
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7/24/24 – I am amending my critical two star review and increasing the star rating to four for the Breville carafe that pours coffee with an abysmal trickle, because they have now agreed to replace the carafe. It’s only the lib, but apparently they can’t separate the two items. Breville’s service response improved greatly from the initial contact with follow up correspondence, so they clearly do stand behind their products, which was not my first impression after my initial contact.I will again update my review after receiving the new carafe, which hopefully pours as one would expect.My present unit seems to have a defective flap in the lid, which is not moving out of the way when tilted, thus causing coffee to trickle out at an unusable pace, thereby requiring the lid to be removed in order to pour.Initial Review:I did a great deal of research before deciding upon the Breville Precision Brewer but never saw any complaints about the problems with the carafe lid, which causes coffee to pour out in a slow trickle. The insulated carafe keeps coffee very hot for an extended period of time, but it’s heavy and therefore gets tiresome to hold for the amount of time it takes to pour a cup of coffee at a trickle rate. Consequently, the lid must be removed for a proper pour.My contact with Breville was terribly disappointing as they recommended descaling the coffee maker. Ridiculous! The coffee maker is brand new and was only used four times before contacting them, so it clearly doesn’t need descaling, nor would descaling affect the flow of coffee from the carafe.The coffee maker is otherwise fine and does what it claims to do, but this lid problem and unsatisfactory customer support has spoiled my purchase experience.Because of the seriously flawed carafe lid, and unsatisfactory customer support, I can not recommend buying this otherwise excellent coffee maker. See attached video of carafe pouring in a trickle. Water was used for the demonstration so as to not waste good coffee.
Jill K. –
Love the flavor of the coffee! A little difficult to use at first. Please read the instruction booklet.
Zen*Yogi*Girl –
Like many others looking at this price point we considered 3 models: This, the MochaMaster. and the Cuisinart CPO-850 which is about $100 less. We read reviews from consumers, from experts and eventually went with this as the MochaMaster did not have an automatic timer which was a big deal for us ; and we had owned several other Cuisinart models which were okay but did not last long!It has nice clean lines, the carafe is a good size – we use commuter sized cups as we often head out to the gym first thing and it can fill 4 of them which is enough for us. It does not have a heated plate on account of the thermal carafe, and that carafe is not as thick as the Cuisinart it replaced but 2 hours later the coffee is still hot enough for me! It is not noisy which I like and brews neatly without excessive steam – both which were an issue with our previous model.We were led to believe that this is a massive monster, it is not, its normal sized. It is easy to clean; as others have noted, there is some residual water left in the tank after brewing but nothing excessive that concerns me! It has lots more options than your standard coffee machine: A ‘fast rate”; a “strong rate”; or a customization “my brew” option which gives you control over bloom time, temp and flow rate. You can brew a pot or a cup; and it comes with both paper and a gold tone filter. The latter being my preference . It will even do a cold brew with a 12 hour steep so we have done this after our morning coffee and its good to go ready for the next day!The coffee flavor is excellent and we used the same beans in this as our last model so were able to do a complete comparison. It brews a full pot in 7-8 minutes and pours easily with no mess!So far I am glad we did our research and glad we went with this! Easy to use, quiet, great lines, many options and most importantly – great coffee!!
tom pate –
This machine actually makes a good tasting pot of coffee, however, the design of the valve on the pot top seems to only work 50% of the time. It either allows the coffee to pour out at an acceptable rate but half of the time it just trickles out at a very slow rate. I thought i just had a defective top but when customer support replaced it with another , I had the same problem. I would not recommend this product.
S. PhillipsS. Phillips –
Update 05/03/18Customer Service was very helpful. Machine was quickly replaced with a refundable deposit on the old one. Replacement no longer makes weird dog whistle but extraction is still sub par.Unless I go through a ritual of pulling carafe during wetting cycle, and quickly stirring grounds during bloom cycle, I get a big divot in the middle of the grounds and under-extracted ring of grounds around the edges. Looks like a crater at end of brewing instead of a smooth flat surface.Cone works best with this, the basket I have to do it several times, once during bloom and again during brew. You cant completely remove the basket during brew cycle so you have to just slide it out a little and try and slide your spoon in there while it is spraying out the shower head. Its a delicate dance but with just the right hand…lol.Doing the above ritual has improved the cup and grounds will mostly flatten our during brew cycle, but its kind of annoying to be doing this in the morning while running daddy daycare before I go to work.Holding at 3 stars. And I would probably look to eventually replace.Revised below to reflect comment that not all compeitors have a full shower head. Its true, many do. Not all.Initital Review Below——————–So far I gotta say I’m not that thrilled with this given the cost.Been using for about a month now and it has a few quirks.The biggest being the inability of the shower head to fully saturate the coffee when using the basket instead of the cone.The shower head is simply too small to cover the coffee. It’s a tiny silicone disk with 4 holes in it that has about 1” spacing from one hole to another. And this is meant to bloom a bed of coffee that is maybe 5” across?It’s literally physically impossible to do it proper with this design. The water just squirts out of the 4 holes and only covers the coffee that is directly under it.Many of it’s competitors use a full size head.When making anything over 8 cups I usually end up with several bone dry scoops of coffee in the basket.For the average user maybe this doesn’t matter. But to someone who measures their coffee and cares enough to spend $300 this is a big deal. You can literally taste the under-extraction.Switch over to the cone and it’s less of a problem. But then if you brew over 6 cups you will get coffee that blooms all over the shower head and leaves soggy coffee grounds stuck on it. This is using a 1:14 ratio and normal drip grind setting on a Baratza grinder.I suppose I could go in and rejigger all of the MyBrew settings but that should be for personal taste, not basic functionality.Next the thing is noisy. There is a vibratory pump that no one includes in any of the demo videos. It’s almost comical how it was “coincidentally” edited out of every video I was able to find online. The pump then rattles the basket slightly out of alignment and it really kicks up a clatter. You have to stand there and push it back in to the sweet spot to get it to stop. Then it eventually does it again through out the entire brewing process.I can live with the noise, but not the under extraction.There is also a really high pitch dog whistle like sound when the screen switches to the “Time Since Brew” after brewing. You can kill this by forcing it back to the main menu.Carafe stays hot, which seems to be a common concern for people who like to let their coffee sit around instead of drink it. 😉 But better still it actually pours drip free. My Bonavita carafe drove me nuts with this.The lid does not seem to be able to be taken apart so cleaning is kind of impossible. And it’s not easy to get all the water out if you fully submerge or rinse it. Carafe has a nice wide mouth for cleaning though. I can even get my full hand in there.The pour over feature is a bit meh. Need to swap out parts and setup in the menus. Probably quicker to just use your V60.It doesn’t fully drain all the water out of the reservoir at the end of brewing. It’s leaves about 4 table spoons sitting in there so you need to either pour it out or leave the lid cracked to let some air in during the day to avoid mildew.I can say it does make a nice 6 cup brew on the Gold setting but it’s a lot of money given that’s the only benefit I’m getting from it right now.I have contacted customer support regarding the saturation and will update if I get a resolution.
rrb –
First of all, I am thrilled that people are interested in making GOOD coffee makers that don’t cost a an arm and a leg.In the last few years, I have used a Bonavita and a Technivorum Moccamaster. Before that, I used Cuisinart, Black and Decker, Ninja, and the usual other suspects. (BTW, the Ninja makes surprisingly good coffee at a very affordable pricepoint!) IMHO, the best of this group are the Bonavita, Moccamaster, and the Breville Precision with the Breville edging out the other two.My Moccamaster and Bona Vita have glass carafes and the Breville has the thermal carafe, but I don’t think the type of carafe makes a whole lot of difference because I never leave the coffee in the heated carafe; I always immediately transfer it to a pre-heated thermos.Using the Breville, I have used both the conical filter for batches up to 40 fl oz and the flat filter for 60 oz batches. I have only used the ‘Gold’ setting and haven’t explored the other options because I haven’t felt the need to. I don’t use the single cup capability (what real coffee drinker only wants a single cup of coffee!?).I think that the reason the Breville produces better tasting coffee because it does a better job of controlling the water temperature going into the basket and because it has a built-in ‘blooming’ stage. With the Moccamaster and Bonavita, if you want to bloom your coffee, you have to stand there and turn it of and back on at the appropriate times. I used to do that with the Moccamaster and sometimes with the Bonavita, but the Breville still makes better coffee without the need to stand there and do the manual thing.I have no idea about longevity of the machine; I hope it lasts forever, but if it fails some day I’ll still have my Bonavita and Moccamaster as back-ups. If it dies prematurely (and I sincerely hope it doesn’t), I will try to remember to note that here.
The 💡 Factory –
We upgraded from a regular coffee pot for my boyfriend’s 81st Birthday. He is a coffee connoisseur and I asked him clothes? Or coffee? He picked coffee and boy, I am glad he picked coffee bc this machine is so much better at brewing a robust, flavorful cup of coffee than anything the old pot produced. I bought him a grinder too but the coffee we’ve always used has been so much better that we haven’t used freshly ground beans yet but the coffee is like coffee house quality now. Same coffee from Walmart! Also, the smell throughout the house every day is amazing. It’s easy to fill and clean and the carafe keeps the coffee hot on its own, no need to worry about turning off the machine. It is absolutely fantastic and built to last. Worth every penny for the fancy smancy coffee pot;)
CaroleCarole –
Pros: three levels o coffee brew on main menu. I use Gold 90%, but did try Strong on a coffee that seemed to light on first brew. Thermo keeps coffee hot for at least 3 hours (thats the longest duration so far I have had coffee keeping warm). Many options of brewing. Some complain of it being loud when brewing but I didn’t think so.Con’s: In the well at bottom of reservoir you should expect to have some water pool after brewing done. Does not bother me and dont see it being anymore of an issue than coffee makers that have reservoirs you keep water in between uses. I use a 3-inch round sponge to draw up the residual water. What has been the one TRUE disappointment is I dropped the lid to the coffee carafe and one side popped out of position. I can’t get it back into its correct position. Still functions, but I am concerned at some point the piece will be dislodged completely. One drop and it “breaks”..bummed
RockDR –
The coffee maker is easy to use and makes good coffee, however, the thermal carafe needs improvement. It doesn’t keep coffee hot long enough. So 4 instead of 5 stars
Paola Y Guerrero –
We love our breville espresso maker so had high expectations of this product as well. The machine makes great tasting coffee, looks beautiful on the counter, and appears to be good quality. However, 8/10 times we would brew it would spill all over the counter. I read and reread the manual, angled the carafe handle and basket handle different ways and it would just spill over the top of the carafe while brewing and make a huge mess. Additionally, the coffee pours very slowly when the lid is set to “pour”, almost comically slow. We remove the lid every time we want to fill our cup. I will be returning this item.
Charles –
After suffering the awful coffee that comes from my Keurig for years waiting for some kind of magical single cup brewer, I finally broke down and purchased this machine along with a smart grinder pro. I had bought into the convenience of the Keurig and the value proposition that even though a decent pod was expensive, it would save money through not wasting unused coffee. But the coffee was just awful.So after experimenting with many different settings, grind sizes, and beans, I now get fantastic coffee every time AND I am saving money to boot.The secret to great coffee from this machine is: 1. Use good filtered water; 2. Toss the cone filter and use the basket with a good paper filter (cone filter is best for < 4 cups); 3. Use a medium-course grind (I settled on a 52 on the Breville smart grinder); 4. Get a scale and stick with the 17.4/1 water to coffee golden ratio (a little more than what Breville recommends in their manual); and 5. Keep it simple with the Gold brew setting. Bonus points can be gained by slowly rotating the filter basket throughout the brew to get a more consistent extraction of the coffee. No matter the bean, this produces excellent coffee every time.BTW, Third Coast Columbian is now the “house” bean. Excellent full-bodied flavor with nothing harsh or overpowering.So with: ~17 g of coffee for a 10oz mug ~26 mugs or 52 cups for a pound of coffee ~$9 per pound of coffee if I pick it up locally $0.34 per mug or $0.17 per cupBottom line is that even if I throw out half the coffee I make it is still cheaper than what I was getting from the Keurig with the taste of the coffee so superior that it is difficult to even compare. Is it faster/more convenient to make a cup with the Keurig, sure. But I can make 6 cups just about as fast. Plus, I am not filling up the landfill with those stupid cups. The only real downside is now my coffee is so good, I drink more.
Bryan Thompson –
We use it daily for our morning coffee, we use the Gold setting and it makes great coffee.Problem one is the carafe keep it hot for a relativley short time, an hour or so at best. I am improving it some by filling it with hot water prior to brewing to warm it first.Problem two which is more annoying is that after once daily use for 2 months it leaks when it brews and there is coffee under the pot when finished. Not much but it is wet and drips when you pick it up so you need something to wipe it off after brewing.For $300 this should not be the case.We clean it every day after use, and did a thorough cleaning this week as well as descaling to see if it might fix it, and the answer is no.Last, when you rinse the carafe top, you can never get all of the water out, I have heard of mold forming in it, not the case here, but it is worrying.Waiting on an answer from Breville now.
Jason L –
I’ve used other SCAA certified brewers before. Those were also up to the task, but they had a few quality / design issues. This one takes it to the next level of overall quality and performance, albeit with a higher price tag. A price tag that is worth it.One weird quirk that I’ve come across so far is that water tends to get mysteriously trapped in the carafe’s lid! Some may worry about the thermal characteristics of a carafe, but the reality is that most thermally insulated carafes will struggle beyond the 60-90 minute mark anyway. This is still better than stewing or burning the coffee with a hotplate in my mind.
Michael J. Moreno –
This will be my initial product review based on unboxing it and having tried it out once. I will update in 6 months and then a year. Let’s get the major concern some may have with this machine, the sticker shock. Yes, it is pricey. Yes, the juice is worth the squeeze on first impressions. I have owned a number of coffee makers over the years (Cuisinart, KitchenAid, most recent was a Keurig Duo Plus) so this review is in comparison to those. I decided to replace the Keurig as it was no longer making a full pot no matter how often I descale it and I am diligent on doing that. It was also leaking water, from where I could not determine, but that might explain why it would not brew a full pot despite the water tank still having plenty in it.This coffee maker is solidly built. The thermal carafe is heavy, so it is properly insulated. The water tank is big with a big opening and clearly marked and legible water level indicators. The basket filter basket is big and easy to insert and it does not have to go in any specific way. It will click in place if you insert it straight on, sideways, maybe just not upside down. Much more solid feeling than the Keurig. It fits perfectly under my cabinets as well and despite it’s size and heft, takes up less real estate than the Keruig or any of the others I have had.Set-up is easy, just read through the manual first, which has clear and concise instructions. Measuring your water hardness is easy as well. The dial on the front to set the time, water hardness, brew style, filter basket style, etc is easy to read and navigate. Setting up the auto-start function is also a breeze (yes, heretical as it may seem to java purists, I use this setting during the week to have my coffee ready by the time I am out of the shower and ready for my first cup while I log in to work). The Keurig was pretty much easy to use to brew coffee but set-up was not. The method to set the time was not the easiest. Setting the auto-start time was very convoluted to say the least.Brewing coffee – I used the Gold setting as that is the express purpose of this machine and other top-tier machines, brewing coffee according to SCA standards. We use Farmers Brothers coffee as that is what most restaurants in our area use and we like the taste of that particular coffee (again, java purists will be mortified, but like with wine or beer, drink what you like). While the coffee in our previous makers was good, it never achieved that restaurant flavor (most restaurants use the Bunn coffee brewers and while I have not seen them indicate they brew to SCA standards, the quality of their brew is pretty dang good). With the Breville, the taste matched what I taste from this brand of coffee at restaurants. It was delicious! And it was hot! With the Keurig, I would have to microwave my creamer to warm it up, otherwise the coffee would cool down too much. Not with the Breville. Furthermore, I drink a cup at home and on the days I have to go to the office, I pack a cup to go in a Contigo cup. With the Keurig, when I got too work, about a 20 min ride, the coffee would be warm but not hot. Today, I arrived at the office and the coffee was still hot. And still as tasty as the first cup I had at home.First impressions are important and the Breville has made a good, strong first impression. Time will tell if it can maintain the lofty standard it set but I will update review.If you are on the fence. buy it. The juice is worth the squeeze.
Anglaise –
I got this coffeemaker for two reasons: I like Breville, and it was the only drip coffeemaker I could find in 2022 that heated the water in stainless steel instead of plastic. Beyond that, I wish I hadn’t bought it, especially now that there are other machines that heat in metal.It has multiple settings for designing your own brew, as well as settings for fast-brew, pour-over, and small cups. It’s overkill. I just want a pot of coffee that stays hot in the carafe— and it does that very well. It’s also a tall, chunky-looking, way-overpriced unit that takes up a lot of valuable counter space.
AJR –
It makes great coffee and you have full control over all of the brewing parameters (coffee nerds will love it!). Unfortunately, the design of the machine and carafe are not good. First, the pause and serve feature always drips and often doesn’t stop the coffee flow if the brew process isn’t complete (the little stopper thing is very finicky). Second, the carafe doesn’t keep the coffee very hot for very long. Third, the carafe is impossible to fully drain/dry. There is a little lip on the inside that always keeps the last few drops of the water/coffee inside of the carafe. While it does make great coffee, for a machine at this price point the design is seriously bad, I’d suggest looking at other alternatives.
Mogulsv –
It does a lot of things, drip, cold brew, single cup. Flow can be customized The coffee is good, haven’t tried the cold brew yet. Not sure if it’s worth $400.. but the wife likes it that’s all that matters.
Robert Mears –
I spent months reviewing coffee machines and settled on this. I bought the pour over adapter separately, and it arrived about a week after the coffee machine. Our initial impressions of the coffee maker were good. It’s very nice looking and the basic coffee features worked well. It made a very tasty cup of coffee.The main knob seemed flimsy and the menu was not intuitive. Once I got the pour over device, I basically pressed a bunch of buttons until it started, because none of it made sense. We found out later, from the Breville Customer Support Person, that the reason the packaging box and directions didn’t match our machine exactly is because the packaging and documentation we received was for the European version of the machine, and the machine itself was for the US!The main frustrations occurred when we received the pour over adapter. This is hard to describe, but there is a flange underneath the brew basket that has a ball shape on the end. When you use the carafe for regular coffee, this ball and flange connects the brew basket with the carafe.When using the pour over adapter, this ball and flange rises during the brew cycle as the water empties from the tank. By the time the tank is nearly empty, the ball has risen high enough that it knocks the pour over device and Hario Dripper to one side, titling it to the point that water starts to spill out. There is no obvious way to stop this and it renders the pour over feature useless.We contacted Breville Customer Service. It took 4 hours for them to answer! The rep, Cecilia, was very pleasant and helpful. She set up a video call so I could show her the problem instead of trying to explain it to her. She saw the problem and set up a return label, which went seamlessly. About a week later, the replacement arrived. I anxiously set it up and tested the pour over, and it has the same malfunction as the first one did! In our experience, it was a 100% failure rate!We tried to call Breville Customer Service again, and as of this writing, nearly 4 hours later, have not received our return call. While we waited, we read the reviews more thoroughly and saw at least one that described exactly the same issue. There were other disappointing reviews about the reliability of the machine, poor customer service, etc. We read that Breville only had a store credit policy, rather than a refund, and decided then and there to stop wasting our time.I contacted Amazon, requested a refund, and promptly tool it back to UPS. You may get lucky and get a machine that works right from day one, but you may have any number of problems. The machine may work fine for a few months until the return time or warranty runs out. My advice is to keep looking for a coffee maker and forget about this pretty face!
william b. –
Without a doubt, this product came with the most poorly written and confusing instruction manual that I have every seen! The water hardness strip chart is microscopely small and hardly legible. After entering the wrong number for the water hardness level, you have to perform a factory reset in order to change the number. This literally took 30 minutes because despite pressing all 3 buttons at the same time as instructed, the reset screen would not appear. Finally somehow it appeared and I was able to do the reset and finally make some coffee. The machine brewed 8 cups of coffee in 6 minutes! It did make a great cup of coffee. One concern I have is that the buttons seem a little flimsy and am concerned about how long they will last. Breville should absolutely re-design the screen and the manner in which adjustments are made with the select knob. Overall, the machine brewed a great tasting cup of coffee, but setting the machine up for the first time took way too long due to the poor design and function of the screen and adjustment knob.Update: 2/7-23, after using the machine for only 16 days, it crapped out! All of a sudden the coffee was barely warm when brewed despite being in the Gold setting since day one. In addition the flimsy and wobbly knobs were now barely usable.It was just about impossible to manually turn the machine off using the cancel knob. My first instinct was to send it back on day one but I decided to give it a try. A $330 coffee maker that only lasted 16 days? It is now on the way back to Amazon for a refund. Junk machine!
Cindy L Wetherald –
This coffee maker is great overall except for the lid. We bought a brand new coffee maker that works great however, the lid isn’t working properly and hasn’t since we first purchased it. It seems that the pouring mechanism gets stuck and doesn’t fully open when you go to pour the coffee so it comes out in a trickle versus a full pour. I called Breville to ask for a new screw top lid and since the purchase is a little over the 1 month return policy, they won’t help. My only option is to buy a new carafe. I am tremendously disappointed in this lack of customer service.Update- Breville sent a new carafe at no charge! It just showed up. Thank you so much! Renewed faith in Breville!!!
Ottar –
I’ll start off by saying that I did a couple of weeks of research before purchasing this coffee maker. I watched youtube videos, read blogs, statistical data, and scoured other reviews on Amazon and other sites. I considered this machine, the Cuisinart CPO-850, and the MochaMaster Technivorm. Ultimately we went with this machine because the Cuisinart seems to have a common electronics issue and my wife wanted to be able to pre-program for auto brew in the mornings and the Technivorm can’t do that without a third party timer.So about the machine:It is beautiful! It is quite tall and doesn’t fit under our 16″ counter tops, but we were happy to put it out in our limited counter space where it is quite a show piece. It seems sturdily made and all of the parts are high quality. As other’s have said, not having a removable water reservoir is a bit of a pain, but not a deal breaker. The machine makes very good coffee, but that is only when we can get it to brew.After running through the initial purging cycle and setting the hardness (we have very hard water but have a reverse osmosis water filter) I loaded the machine up with RO water and coffee and set the timer for a brew the following morning. Much to my chagrin there was no brewed coffee in the morning. I tried to manually start it and was presented with an indicator telling me to fill the already full tank…. Huh… I went through the guide book troubleshooting and cleaned the water fill sensor, replaced the water, still no brew.I scoured the internet, the Breville product support page… nothing… The only thing I could find on Breville’s site was that they recommend using filtered water..In one of the comments/reviews on Amazon I saw someone mention that the machine uses a charged ion sensor to determine the tank volume… that got me thinking that perhaps the Reverse Osmosis water doesn’t have enough total dissolved solids for the machine to register. I tried using our chlorinated tap water and the machine worked just fine, although the coffee it produced was not so great (we will chalk that one up to our water not being the best right out of the tap). I thought that there must be a setting to adjust to get this to work, after all, the supposedly best brewer in the world wouldn’t be so limited as to not let you use RO or distilled water for brewing. I tried mixing 1/4 tap to 3/4 RO water, but that didn’t work. I tried half and half, also didn’t work.I wrote to Breville Support and they responded after a couple of days saying, “yes, the machine won’t work with RO or Distilled water and that they recommend using tap water” I didn’t bother writing back to say that on the product web page it specifically says they recommend using filtered water.I have to say this blows my mind that this over-engineered system for determining water level is so fragile. We’ve had float arm switches for more than 100 years that work just fine, and if Breville had gone with something like that it would have worked fine.I’m going to try to make up a batch of SCA approved water with TDS of 150 parts per million with baking soda and epsom salts. I have a very accurate .0001 gram scale and a TDS meter so we will see if the machine will work after I doctor the water. If I can get it to work with that I think we will keep it, as there really isn’t anything else out there that would work for our situation, but if the machine still won’t reliably read the water level after all that, it is definitely headed back.
S Porter –
For some reason this suddenly went down to $199 (perhaps briefly), so I grabbed it. Now that I’ve tried it, I’m with other reviewers who’ve said “Adios forever, K-cups, and good riddance.” It makes deliciously tasty coffee right outta the gate. The controls are reasonably intuitive; I gave it a shot right out of the box without reading the manual’s control operations, just to see how easy it is to set, and it was a total breeze. It makes the hottest coffee of any machine I’ve ever had, by far. I use the customizable “My Brew” setting most often, on ‘medium’ flow rate, because it seems to me that the faster flow rate is too fast for best extraction and the slowest tends to be a little too strong. I use a bloom time of 45 secs, having read that it’s ideal for many varieties of coffee, and it works out perfectly for my taste. Don’t forget to go into settings and change the filter setting to “cone” or “basket” depending on which you’re using; the unit brews slightly differently for each.The loudness of this machine is exaggerated in reviews. It’s not that loud, though could cause a problem if you put the coffee maker on your bed pillow and brew a pot at 4 am next to the ear of your sleeping mate. And a small bit of water remaining in the tank after a brew: who cares? It’s a non-issue. If you’re using the thing all or most days of the week, that little bit of water isn’t gonna go stagnant or become tainted in some way with the lid on. I’ve read reviews on here where people actually returned it for that reason alone, which is utterly ludicrous. “If you travel a lot, or don’t use the machine regularly, it could be a problem.” Oh, shaddap & siddown. 1) If you travel a lot, then simply empty it out before you go. Takes 2 seconds. Then your OCD will be satisfied and you can have a pleasant trip without worrying about a few ounces of water in your coffee maker. 2) If you’re buying a machine this expensive but not using it, then a little bit of water left over in the tank may not be your biggest problem in life. My gosh, find something else to worry about that has some significance.As for the thermal carafe, it’s excellent: 3-4 hours of good flavor & heat. Coffee is gonna lose a lot of its flavor in that time anyway. (It’s better than leaving a glass carafe on a warming plate for that length of time and ending up with burned coffee on the bottom that you have to scour out.) Time is always your enemy when it comes to coffee flavor. Best thing about the carafe: not one drop spills while pouring. That alone is worth money to me after all the leaky carafes I’ve endured in my lifetime!It’s a solidly made machine, extremely versatile, intuitively easy to program & use, and bottom line, makes sophisticatedly tasty coffee.I bought a #4 Medelco permanent gold filter for the cone attachment, and it’s a perfect fit. I prefer to brew 7 cups or under with the cone filter, but I do have to say, the mesh basket filter that comes with this machine is the best I’ve seen; sturdy & well-made. I only use that for 8-12 cups, since it’s much less prone to overflowing than the cone filter is with a lot of grounds in it. All grounds so far using either filter have been thoroughly soaked, no dry spots (no matter what the OCD reviewers say, who apparently use a magnifying glass to scrutinize the grounds for that one granule that didn’t get wet. Nothing is perfect.) The shower head on this unit has adequate dispersal (could be a wider spray though, admittedly) and I really like that you can easily remove it for cleaning. I don’t use paper filters because they weaken the coffee somewhat and “round off the edges” as I put it, meaning it results in blander & less distinctive coffee. Permanent filters give you full flavor & strength, no question. (Granted, I drink my coffee soulfully black & like it somewhat strong.) Yes, there will always be a bit of sludge in the bottom of your cup, but there is a very simple solution for that: don’t drink the last gulp.
Drewford –
I think most reviewers agree that this machine makes good coffee, but for the $300 price tag there are some pretty troubling aspects to this machine that have soured my taste since purchase.When I first set up the machine and did the pre-use flush cycle, it stopped short without emptying the reservoir. Puzzling, but after seeing some other reviews mention this, I wasn’t too concerned. First pot of coffee was pretty good, and after a few weeks with it, I’m making some excellent brews. That said, the brewing process always leaves a little bit of water sitting in the detent at the bottom of the reservoir. I realize my old machine was probably doing this too, but on the Breville, the big, clear reservoir fogs up every day, and you can’t remove it to dump, and it’s kinda gross. You can open the top to prevent it from fogging but there’s no hinge so now I just have the big clear lid sitting out next to my machine every day.The next issue for me is the carafe. It works fine IMO, and the opening is large enough to clean easily, but the plastic collar creates a catch point that makes it nearly impossible to empty of water (or coffee) completely. Making matters worse is the lid which consists of 2 separate internal passageways for coffee coming in (from the top) and going out (through the spout). The channels and spring-loaded top will hold coffee. Some days I’ll rinse everything thoroughly but still find drips of coffee under the drying rack as it seeps out of the nooks and crannies.The precision of the brewing process is certainly appreciated, and having the ability to control the brewing parameters is super cool. That said, I’m a pretty casual user. I appreciate the taste of fresh beans, and grind my own daily, but I don’t have a lot of time to experiment with settings. With that said, I have an old, dirty, broken Moccamaster at my office that consistently makes coffee on par with what I’m getting from the Breville.In conclusion, I’m enjoying the coffee, but the design leaves a lot to be desired, and for the price there are reasonable alternatives.
Scott Timberman –
Great coffee maker
Sauerkraut –
I really like this machine, it makes a very nice cup of coffee. It feels high quality and I hope it lasts us a long time. My one issue with it is something other reviewers have noted, so I was aware when I bought it – but for the price, it is really annoying that the water reservoir isn’t removable. It might seem like a non issue but I would strongly prefer to be able to take it off the machine to fill it up and be able to wash it properly.There are surprisingly few options (in this price range, which I would consider mid-tier) when it comes to coffee machines that are 1. stainless instead of plastic 2. insulated instead of sitting on a hot pad and 3. Full size pots – those were the three main features I was looking for… if those are important to you, more than a removeable reservoir, then this is a great option… but that should be a feature too.
design tech –
I have used this machine since 2021 and it brews coffee and works well, but I can not get the flavor to be like a Krups or De-Longhi coffee maker, European Coffee machines brew a very smooth coffee and have no burnt flavor. I followed all the grind instruction and everything but it was just not right. So I purchased a $60.00 Krups and got that wonderful smooth cup of coffee! While the Breville works great, is stylish, does what you want it to do and stays hot, it just does not make a smooth cup of coffee, while most people in the US probably would be happy with this coffee maker, for me it does not make coffee the way I like it. I have a home full of Breville products, and they are all great, the coffee machine is not to my taste. If you had European coffee you know what I mean. I can get the same taste out of a much cheaper machine.
JKJK –
This coffee maker is a revelation in flavor and quality. I needed to replace an old Bonavita I was never happy with. The Bonavita never kept things hot, had no timer, the filter could only be used with the top off leading to more heat and freshness loss, and with the Breville I realize the Bonavita was also ruining my coffee.I liked the features of the Breville Precision but the price was ridiculous, as much as the Technovirm, but… it had a timer, met the SCA standards and had some capacity to play with and personalize if I wanted to experiment. Prime Day dropped the price $100 dollars so I went for it. I drink a lot of coffee and work at home so seemed like the right time to step up my game! First morning brew I discovered what I had been missing! The old Bonavita had been over extracting, leaving the taste so strong and bitter. The Breville cup was smooth and well rounded with none of the bitterness or sourness, and I could taste floral notes in the cup, especially with medium roasts such as an Ethiopian Peabody we have. And the carafe kept it hot through my morning wake up! My wife and I have been so happy with the brewer that we’ve had no need to experiment yet with other features.Unpacking the machine it is clear that it’s made of high quality, heavy parts. The base appears to be metallic and gives heft and stability. The plastics appear of high quality and everything fits together precisely. It came with an insert for cone filters up to 8 cups use and a flat brew basket for larger 8-12 cups of brewing. I have only used the cone with #4 filters so far. Plug in and it leads you through a clean out cycle.One initial Con- There was a distinct plastic smell that remained despite first washing out the removable parts as instructed by the manual and the first pot I brewed was ruined by this. It took me washing out all the parts twice, including using baking soda to scrub the clear non-removable water tank and all the other parts, running 2 brew cycles with fresh water each time, but the plastic smell was finally gone by doing this.I have only used the Gold (SCA) selection so far. The system seems to self adjust for different amounts of water used and produce consistent flavor. I love that it blooms the grounds and pauses before completing the rest of the cycle. It is a couple minutes slower than the old Bonavita but that speed was no advantage to flavor as I’ve now learned. There is a Fast setting as well as a Strong one but I’ve not needed them yet. I have added about one scoop more than the manual requires to get the flavor I like. I have use the timer to set up my morning brew and it works flawlessly. The controls are easy to use and seem intelligently set up. You can make it complicated if you want to dig in but normal use requires nothing but selecting the brew type and pushing the on button until it glows red. The panel tells you what stage it is at in the brewing program. It’s of note to me that the kitchen is only lightly scented with coffee smell WHICH IS A GOOD THING! It indicates that the seal between the basket and the pot is keeping all those lovely volatiles in your coffee rather than out into the air, also why it preserves initial heat better. Preheating the carafe helps heat preservation even more if you are not using the timer.I’ll update when I get to use the other features but I’m very happy with this coffee maker, especially at the Prime Day price! At this writing I’ve had it about a week and all is good.
Michael D –
I have had this machine on my wish list for over a year, but I held off for 2 reasons.1) I could not justify spending $300 on a coffee maker.2) I read other reviews saying that this machine is loud.We saw this machine on a Amazon one day deal in July for $199, so I grabbed one.Compared to any other machine I’ve ever had, it is not loud at all. It just makes a different sound than the others due to the pump.I absolutely LOVE this machine. The thermal carafe is well balanced, and smaller than my old 12 cup thermal carafe. I can get my (male) hand into the carafe for washing. The reservoir is VERY easy to fill. I can pour water into the reservoir using my left or right hand. No more fighting to get my pitcher to one small corner to fill!The fill level graduations are also easy to read. All the other brands have the fill tube around the side, and can be difficult to watch while filling.Also, most coffee makers are longer from front to back than they are wide. This one is wider left to right than it is from front to back, so it sits back onto the counter top better.So my review is mostly for function. I am not a coffee aficionado. Whether this machine makes a better cup than others can be debated by others.I am impressed also by the quality of the machine. It looks and feels well made. So many machines available today just feel lightweight and cheaply made. This one is awesome!Since owning it, it is worth every penny, even at regular price.Edit 09/15/19:My machine displayed the descale indication after about 2 months of use. We have pretty soft well water.At the same time, I noticed some sediment in the bottom of the water reservoir, so I decided to clean everything.I read other users wish that the reservoir was removable, but I have to say that this is the easiest coffee maker I have ever owned, to clean. It doesn’t need a removable reservoir.I laid the coffee maker on it’s side next to the sink, and cleaned the reservoir interior with a slightly soapy sponge. Then used my kitchen sink removable sprayer and tilted the machine over (slightly upside down) to rinse the reservoir.After rinsing the reservoir out, I ran a cycle through to make sure there was no soap left inside.Unlike any other machine I’ve owned, this one has no swinging filter holder, and no hinged lid, and because of that, is much easier to clean!
Shane –
Do you love coffee? Do you love drinking a lot of it? Do you want the option to fine-tune your brew? This is the coffeemaker for you.In truth, I’ve had it for a month and haven’t messed with all the settings. I just set it to “Gold” mode and brews an amazing pot of coffee every time. Setup is not as difficult as some would have you believe (a popular review site didn’t recommend it for this reason), and once you’ve decided on the right coffee-water ratio, the gold brew mode is really all you need. I haven’t tried the Fast mode as Gold produces 60oz of coffee in less time than it took my old machine (Oxo) to make 45oz. I suspect that’s due in part to the boiler/pump, which sounds like the one Breville uses in their espresso machines. The noise seemed a bit odd at first, but hey, if they’re going to share parts to save on production costs, I’m not complaining. It’s like buying a Fiat and finding out they use engines from Ferraris.The carafe has a wide mouth so it’s easy to clean, and the spout doesn’t dribble, unlike most of the thermal brewers I’ve owned. It keeps the coffee hot for several hours, but if you’re down to the last 10oz and it’s been 4 hours since you brewed it, you might find the temperature a bit lower than you’d prefer. The 10oz before it are still piping hot 3 hours after brewing. Blame the laws of thermodynamics, I guess.Regarding the coffee-water ratio, I don’t know how Breville/SCAA decided on it, but it’s truly an absurd amount of grounds for the volume of coffee you want to make. Seriously, my coffee snob friend who roasts his own beans says it’s ridiculous to use 99g for 1.8L/60oz of water. I experimented with different ratios, but oddly enough, the timed presets on the Breville grinder I bought a week later seem to produce the best coffee, and they’re far less than what the coffee maker manual suggests.The only other (minor) annoyance I can think of is the fact that it requires commercial-sized paper filters, if you’d rather not have solids in your coffee. Regular basket filters will overflow, as will the included reusable filter. Fortunately, the commercial filters are less than $.02/each on a popular website you’ve probably heard of, if you buy 1000 at a time. On the plus side, I won’t need to remember to buy more of them for 2-3 years, and it’s not like they’ll spoil before I’ve used them all.
D. Bruckmeyer –
I love this coffee machine from Breville. It took some trial and error to find my preferred settings, using Melitta #4 cone filters, which I prefer to the baskets. I like bold flavors and drink mostly dark roasts without milk or sugar. For me, the ‘Gold’ setting delivered too weak a cup, even experimenting with different ratios of water and coffee grounds. ‘Slow’ too was not strong enough. In the end, I settled on the following custom settings:Bloom time: 40 secondsBrew Temp: 94° c (201.2° Fahrenheit)Flow Rate: SlowPour Over: Off (haven’t purchased the attachment but may someday try it)I fill the water up to 8 cups, the maximum amount for cone filters, and put in a generous amount of medium ground beans (I use Mayorga, either Muy Macho or Winter Blend), always by eyeball but probably about 2/3rds of a cone’s worth.Anyway, these are the settings that I enjoy, but I love that the machine gives you plenty of options to really dial in what you like. The ‘Auto Start’ button is also a great feature, just set everything up the night before and program it to start brewing about 5-10 mins before you intend to wake up.It is on the tall side, so might not be a great fit if you have limited counter space or low top cabinets. I have also used the Bonavita 8-Cup One-Touch, which delivers a very similar cup to that in the custom settings above, but which lacks any other options, so your only control is ratios of coffee to water. Still, a good alternative that is more compact and cheaper.I am coming from having used a Chemex for years, which I loved, but grew tired of the very quick window of opportunity to enjoy a hot cup off coffee due to being all glass, as well as the manual process of having to wait for the drip and studiously top it up until fully brewed. I’m very glad to have switched to the Breville and highly recommend it to anyone looking for an automated brewer.
Michael S. –
We have had this Breville Thermal Coffee Maker for almost two weeks, and we really love it. The only reason I have not given it five stars is because it is still new, and I do not yet know how well the coffee maker will endure daily use in the long-haul. I am very hopeful, so we’ll see.My wife and I see thermal coffee makers as a “must”, because they keep the coffee hot for a long period of time without continuing to “cook” the coffee with a warmer. That said, we have gone through may of these appliances over the years, and have never found one that satisfies us completely. This Breville Coffee Maker may just be the one. Here is the list of things that I find attractive about this product:1. 12 Cup Thermal carafe. We drink close to 12 cups pretty much each day. Carafe keeps coffee pleasantly warm for a long time.2. Pours nicely. Doesn’t drip or dribble when you pour coffee from it.3. Easy to fill with water. Large lid opening on water reservoir makes it easy to fill without spilling.4. Large mouth on carafe. You can insert your hand all the way in the carafe, so you can clean it out daily, and keep it really clean over time.5. Simple, functional, design. There are no hinges to wear out, few moving parts, and simple mechanisms for the basket and for inserting the carafe in position. In general, it feels like there are fewer parts to wear out over time. This seems promising to me, as the design feels robust which will (hopefully) last for a long time.6. High quality feel. The plastics feel nice. The product feels nicely made. The parts feel precise in their fit and finish.7. It makes GOOD COFFEE!!! There are lots of settings to play with, but so far we are really pleased with the taste of our coffee when brewed at “Strong”.8. Automatic Start timer is a must, and is a standard feature for pretty much any coffee maker. But we use it!The only negative aspect that I see with this product is that it is pretty loud. The pump that moves the water seems louder than any other coffee maker we have ever had. This isn’t a big deal for us, because of the layout of our house, but if you are sensitive to noise, be warned that this thing is loud enough to wake you up if you are sleeping in the next room.In general, I am more happy with this coffee maker than any of the ones we have had in the past. if we are still happy with this coffee maker after a year, it will definitely earn a five star rating. Time will tell.3 month update (28 December 2018): After using this coffee maker pretty much every day for the last 3 months, we still really love it! No complaints at all, except for the noise. I placed the coffee maker on a thick dish towel that is folded in half. That helps muffle the sound a bit. But really, the noise is a nit complaint for us, just something we noticed.
idateacher2 –
Please note this review only reflects the unboxing, two pots of coffee, and trying the 1 cup mode. I am disappointed with this machine overall. Initial setting you are supposed to do a litmus-type test to determine how hard your water is and then set it accordingly. Mine did not come with the litmus like stick, so just left it at the default. Then you have to flush it. Setting this thing is done very differently than any of my prior pots, and although not terribly difficult it for sure is not intuitive either. When I did the initial flush, less than 2/3 of the water went through. It appears from the paperwork that it should have emptied the full 60 ounces of water. I ran the rest through using the fast cycle. I then set to program it so my coffee would be ready when I woke up. Again, not intuitive. You have set the basket or cone setting, somewhere in there be sure to set it to “gold cup” or fast or whatever your choice is, set the clock and finish with pushing a very small button that designates that the auto program is turned on. Once you hit this button then you can set the time for the pot to go off. Again, not intuitive, but once you get used to navigating the menus it is not hard.Pot did go off at the right time. I didn’t realize it was still set to fast, and I assume it is because that is what I put it on the evening before to finish flushing the water. I used the recommended amount of coffee which was ground fresh when I set it up. The coffee was terrible. Now in defense of the pot, I clearly need to simply adjust how much coffee I use, as either the recommended amount was just too much or maybe just too much for the fast setting. That can be fixed though. The one positive is that it truly brewed 60 ounces in the 7 minutes or so as promised. That was awesome given I woke up too early so it started literally the minute I went to go check it. So didn’t have to wait. When brewing it flashes brewing. When finished it starts a timer counting up. 2nd pot- used less grounds and the gold cup mode. Much better. Not $300 better, but a very good cup of coffee.The controls for this and the lcd screen all sit on the left side in the rear area. This makes it difficult to read the settings since the font is small and not located closer to the user. I keep my pot on a clear tray so it is easy enough to slide out to make it easier to read, but it is the first pot where I couldn’t get to the settings and such very easily. Odd. I am sure there is a good reason for that, but it is irritating to use as a result.Coffee temp was fine and the carafe did hold it plenty hot enough for the hour or so we kept pouring from it. I have not used it enough yet to know if it will be consistent or perhaps have problems with temperature day in and day out. Second morning pot came out better using the Gold mode and my normal amount of grounds- but it is just an ordinary cup of coffee. Nothing that would warrant buying this pot if you are buying it for a premium cup of java. It is fast though and that might be reason enough alone to keep the pot. If you are an iced coffee maker this is a mode for that and I could see the convenience factor being useful, albeit it still takes 10 hours.I LOVE the 1 cup mode! I was Ok with paying so much in large part for this option. I can’t stand Keurig coffee, but we keep one due to needing a quick fix at times. I made 1 mug full- now mugs are all different sizes obviously, but the one I used is 16 ounces. Since you get to measure your own ground coffee you get to decide how much to use not to mention save the money on the pods. I timed it- cold filtered water in (use the cup you will drink from to measure out what you need), grounds in the cone lined with a paper filter, setting put to the “cone” instead of the basket, and finally the “fast” setting. 31/2 minutes and I had coffee and it far exceeded anything that came out of a Keurig. Other reviewers mentioned it made a mess, consequently, I flipped over one of my bowls to use as a platform to get the mug close to the dispursement of the coffee. My FIesta mug is fairly wide on top as well, but no mess at all. I would have to do the math, but the savings on not replacing a Keurig and just pod savings alone will over time help to justify the price of this pot not to mention free up counter-space.Now for some reason I thought when I bought this it had a grind feature. Hence, I thought I could put in whole beans and it will grind fresh for me. Wow, the disappointment- but my fault as I didn’t buy the model I thought I was buying. But hey, it is here now so giving it a try. IF it delivers amazing coffee once I figure it out ,I will just use my dedicated grinder. Not a huge deal, but I wish it had that feature. Now that I have used it a few days I have decided to keep it. Not because it is the end-all-be-all for making coffee, but because it is wicked fast. This morning we polished off pot number 1 and decided to make a second right before leaving for work- it is so fast that this is not a problem at all.I can’t go back to a regular pot now due to how fast this thing is. I also think part of the coffee issue is straight forwrd- we normally use a bold bean, but now this pot brings out more of the different notes and I am getting more of that dark roast flavor. Too strong, so will switch to other roasts and I suspect it will then be a beautiful cup of coffee. If not, it will still be a wicked fast cup of coffee!
J. R.J. R. –
>A few years later: it’s a reliable machine at least. These constant descale messages haven’t seemed to slow it down. I use a secondary carafe to keep my fresh coffee hot. I store the coffee maker under some cabinets and pull it out when I need it. This frayed the plug. I was disappointed it wasn’t made better because the OEM plug and cord felt robust. I replaced the plug (pictured) and I hope this is the last compromise I have to make for this machine’s inferior engineering.>1.5 YEAR UPDATE: The carafe leaks everywhere. Breville doesn’t have a replacement. They told me to call back in a month and they may have inventory again. And even before it got leakier, I got pretty tired of the drippy mess everywhere around the pot that requires daily cleaning. I’m really regretting not getting a MochaMaster.> 1 YEAR UPDATE: After owning this for about 15 months, I really miss my old Cuisinart stainless carafe that could keep coffee hot for hours. This gives you 50 minutes of steamy hot coffee at most. It makes a delicious brew, but cannot keep it hot for long. I’m updating from 4 stars to 3, because this aspect has been consistently disappointing. Read the original review below.Coffee snob checking in. This is a great machine. It really fills a niche. I’ll address the coffee it makes since most of the other reviews focus on aesthetics and build quality. Most of the snobby auto-drips are 8 cup only, cone filter only. This is the ‘gold standard’ of coffee (look up “SCA Standard”). I wanted that level of quality, my wife wanted something with a timer (to accommodate early rising guests). Twelve cups is better for my wife and I than 8; I’m a teacher at a night school and have nothing better to do in the morning than drink coffee, and you should see the size of her to-go mug she brings to work! Get you a girl that can do both. This is the only* machine I found that offers SCA standard coffee, and has a larger basket and tank to yield 12 cups. (*OXO has a 12 cup, SCA certified auto-timer auto-drip, but if you read the reviews it looks awfully problematic–so much so, Amazon isn’t carrying it anymore.)The “gold” setting is great. Fast brew, perfect temp. Warm your carafe up with hot water first. The pump is quiet (I’ll update if that changes with age), and it brews a perfect 8 cups. If you grind quality beans fresh with a decent grinder, any novice could get a great result with no problem. They include a scoop so you don’t get your proportions wrong. For 12 cup, I like to grind just a bit more and use the “strong” setting. Strong doesn’t scald the hell out of it like a drugstore coffee pot. It just gives the water a bit more time to hang out with the beans. It’s still a fast brew. Using the basket filter and 12 cups, the quality isn’t quite up to par with “gold” but it’s 90% there.Coffee tastes great, has a rich flavor, cups well, ideal mouthfeel, all that stuff. This is the go-to SCA certified 12 cup brewer with a timer. If you can live with an 8 cup machine, there are cheaper options which I’d turn to first. If you want to pay more to get more, this is the one.Edit: I am unimpressed with the thermal carafe. My old Cuisinart retained heat much better. (I have the stainless steel carafe, not the glass)2nd Edit: Day 25, I got the “descale” notice. Addendum 15 months later: I live in a mineral-rich area with very hard water. I simply descale once a month with white vinegar. The descale notice is constantly on, but it doesn’t prevent the coffee maker from starting. I keep an eye on the machine for mineral build-up, but naturally I can’t really monitor the important stuff like the pump.
R. Cavalieri –
I would highly recommend this coffee maker to serious coffee aficionados. The customizable brew settings give you the freedom to concoct your perfect cup every time while the precise temperature control ensures a consistent brew. In the fast-paced world that we live in, the fast brewing feature is a must-have. Plus, the pour-over feature works so well that it feels like a coffee shop right in your kitchen. All in all, prepare yourself for a barista-grade experience at home!
LaneM –
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I’ve put the Breville Precision Automatic Coffeemaker to the test!What I discovered was amazing coffee in every batch! I was very hesitant to spend $300 on a coffeemaker. I was hoping that for that price, it would also wash, dry and fold my laundry, but no such luck. Instead, I settled for a perfect cup of coffee, which I think is a pretty good trade-off if you ask me.This well-made brewer impressed me at almost every step. I fell like the price is worth the money for this coffeemaker. I’ll give you a simple run down and you can decide for yourself!Sturdy designThe water reservoir and body are hard sturdy plastic.The thermal carafe is large with a large opening for easy cleaningThe lid is very sturdy and very easy to use with a flow-through brew and no adjustments before pouring.The filter basket is deep, wide and sturdy and moves in and out of the machine as smooth as butter.OptionsThis baby has all the options you could ever want! Seriously, there is something for EVERYONE.You like a mesh filter – comes with oneYou like a cone filter – comes with oneYou like cold brew – does itYou like iced coffee – doneYou like strong coffee – there’s a setting for thatYou like your coffee exactly as it’s recommended by the SCA – yeah, you guessed it, there’s a setting for that!You like it hotter, cooler, faster, slower, longer bloom time, no bloom time – you can you the “My Brew” settings and get EXACTLY what you want! I LOVE THIS.Oh did I mention that it’s also got an auto-start?Do you think the only way to brew perfect coffee is a pour-over method? Well, my friend, it can do that too! (but this does require additional equipment)Features worth mentioning:Due to the unique water boiler design, the water remains at a steady temperature throughout the brewing cycle so all of your coffee is perfectly extracted, and you CAN tell a difference.The fact that the brewer gets the water to 195 – 205 is another reason the coffee turns out so amazing.The water reservoir has lines that are easy to read, so you know exactly how much coffee you’re about to brew. This tells you how much ground coffee to add to the filter.It comes with a scoop that coincides with the number of cups that are marked on the water reservoir. You are brewing 4 cups, use 4 scoops… 6 cups, 6 scoops and so on.Selecting the options using the dial are very intuitive and easy to use.What it’s missing from this machine:The maid/butler to deliver you a hot cup of coffee in bed.A telepathic genie that will push the button for you.A grinder to grind the beans.Someone to sit with you and chat while you’re enjoying an amazing cup of coffee.A coffee subscription to Bean Hoppers coffee (that would be a perfect world).My personal cons (but are really small gripes):The water reservoir does not come off for filling up the water to your desired level, and it would really make it easier to clean the reservoir. But since the opening is really wide, it’s easy to wipe out from time to time, plus I could descale it.The lines on the reservoir are in 5 or 10-ounce increments. In the USA, 6 ounces is considered a cup and we’re used to measuring 2 TBSP of coffee per 6 oz of water, but in the UK, 5 oz. is a cup. But they do provide you with a scoop that holds less than 2 TBSP and I’ve used it (heaping) and it really does taste great using their measurements too!The lid to the carafe gets water stuck inside it and potentially it may not dry out.Cost – very expensive, but I also think it’s very well made and the cost is justified by the experience and the quality of the brewer and the amazing coffee it makes.It doesn’t wash my laundry… just sayin.MY FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT THIS MACHINE:The water temperature is perfect and EASY to adjust.The settings are intuitive and easy to figure out and navigate.The water reservoir is easy to open, easy to see and has multiple methods of measure. (which is amazing!)The carafe is easy to clean.The filter basket is easy to clean.It really makes amazing coffee.It literally has something for everyone, no matter how you like your coffee.Overall I highly recommend the Breville Precision Brewer and would rate it a 9 out of 10 even at this price.Only because I haven’t tried some other really nice brewers on the market that I’m still going to try. But I’m not sure how it could get much better.
MR –
The Breville Precision Brewer Thermal Coffee Maker is excellent! I like a very strong cup of coffee, so I was a little worried that a coffee maker that brews as quickly as this does wouldn’t turn out a strong cup. It definitely delivers. I’ve used both the My Brew and Gold settings, and I like both. Even though I like very strong coffee, I find that I don’t need to use as many scoops as the instructions tell you to. (The scoop is included.) I like that I can fit my hand inside the carafe to clean it. One thing that bothers me is that the water tank isn’t completely empty after the brew cycle, and it’s not detachable. I’d have to unplug the whole machine, and drain it into the sink every time I use it, but I don’t have time to do that every day. Also, the clock resets every time you unplug it. I like that it’s not oversized, even though it has a 60 oz. capacity. I read some reviews that said you need a tamp mat because of the vibration against your counter. Mine rests on a laminate countertop, and does not vibrate enough to necessitate a tamp mat. It’s not overly noisy. I like the signal that goes off to let you know it’s finished brewing. There are two volume settings for that, or you can turn it off. There’s no drip from the carafe’s spout after you pour your coffee, but there is a drip from under the filter basket when you remove the carafe, which is common in my experience. The instructions that come with it are very thorough and easy to understand. There’s supposed to be a test strip to test the hardness of your water. That was missing from my box, and I’m still waiting to receive it from Breville. Apparently, once you set the level of hardness of your water, the machine lets you know when it’s time to de-scale, which I think is a great feature. I appreciate that there’s no filter I have to replace regularly. Overall, I think this coffee maker is 100% worth the splurge.
J. Stapleton –
Having used this coffee maker every single day for over 4 years I believe I am finally qualified to write about it with some authority. First and most importantly it makes a great cup of coffee. The many options (setting “bloom” time, temperature, etc.) allow one to totally customize the brewing process. Since settings are stored in the brewer’s memory, once the perfect settings are determined they are automatically recalled for each brew. The brewer is made very well and is extremely sturdy. I put mine in a storage bin and take it to the beach every year and it hasn’t suffered so much as a scratch. Up until the first “incident” – about a year after I first purchased it – I would have given it 5 stars and raved about what a near perfect brewer it is. Unfortunately that is not to be. My brewer has a nasty habit of occasionally dumping a significant amount of brewed coffee outside the carafe which, in turn, flows all over my kitchen counter top and onto the floor. It creates a huge mess, necessitating cleaning everything it touched. Since I brew my coffee first thing in the morning it puts quite a dent in my prep time for getting ready for work. This issue has occurred approximately 6-7 times. All this in spite of my deliberate effort to ensure 1) the carafe is seated properly and 2) the basket is in place. It’s gotten to the point where I have to constantly monitor the brewing process and be ready to spring like a leopard with a sponge and towel. Not fun! I contacted Breville about this problem through their website’s feedback system on May 24, 2023, case # R103261896, but never received a response. The bottom line is this is a quality coffee maker that I would purchase again – but beware of unwanted surprises!
Momof2 –
After having Mr. coffee forever this is so much easier to pour the water into and the coffee turns out a little better only thing I don’t like is you need to buy online the coffee filters for the larger 12 cups this is my second machine I’ve left one at a second home that I have. Obviously we like it a lot what’s a little fancier the negative side of it is the coffee filters and there’s often some water or coffee on the bottom under the pot where it rests. I’m not really sure why. Easy to wipe up just annoying. On the plus side it can stay hot all day and it doesn’t even have a burner just as the pot is so well insulated worth the money to me.
Groove Battery –
My opinion of this coffee maker is mixed. It makes a great cup of coffee but it does something weird. It leaks steam out of the edge of the coffee container. This is hard to explain but it is the space between where you put the coffee in the filter and the top part where the shower head is located is where is gushes out. This means it is losing heat from this area. The cover lifts about a 1/4 inch and steam literally gushes out. Makes a great humidifier while it makes coffee. LOL I live at 8600 feet elevation. I think this might be why it does this but IDK. I sent the first one back to Breville after a complaint about this issue. They sent a new one and it does the same thing. Other than that I like the coffee maker. I wish it had a way to adjust the steam vent in the top but it doesn’t. If I could adjust it by making it larger then I think it wouldn’t lift like it does.
Ottar –
I’ll start off by saying that I did a couple of weeks of research before purchasing this coffee maker. I watched youtube videos, read blogs, statistical data, and scoured other reviews on Amazon and other sites. I considered this machine, the Cuisinart CPO-850, and the MochaMaster Technivorm. Ultimately we went with this machine because the Cuisinart seems to have a common electronics issue and my wife wanted to be able to pre-program for auto brew in the mornings and the Technivorm can’t do that without a third party timer.So about the machine:It is beautiful! It is quite tall and doesn’t fit under our 16″ counter tops, but we were happy to put it out in our limited counter space where it is quite a show piece. It seems sturdily made and all of the parts are high quality. As other’s have said, not having a removable water reservoir is a bit of a pain, but not a deal breaker. The machine makes very good coffee, but that is only when we can get it to brew.After running through the initial purging cycle and setting the hardness (we have very hard water but have a reverse osmosis water filter) I loaded the machine up with RO water and coffee and set the timer for a brew the following morning. Much to my chagrin there was no brewed coffee in the morning. I tried to manually start it and was presented with an indicator telling me to fill the already full tank…. Huh… I went through the guide book troubleshooting and cleaned the water fill sensor, replaced the water, still no brew.I scoured the internet, the Breville product support page… nothing… The only thing I could find on Breville’s site was that they recommend using filtered water..In one of the comments/reviews on Amazon I saw someone mention that the machine uses a charged ion sensor to determine the tank volume… that got me thinking that perhaps the Reverse Osmosis water doesn’t have enough total dissolved solids for the machine to register. I tried using our chlorinated tap water and the machine worked just fine, although the coffee it produced was not so great (we will chalk that one up to our water not being the best right out of the tap). I thought that there must be a setting to adjust to get this to work, after all, the supposedly best brewer in the world wouldn’t be so limited as to not let you use RO or distilled water for brewing. I tried mixing 1/4 tap to 3/4 RO water, but that didn’t work. I tried half and half, also didn’t work.I wrote to Breville Support and they responded after a couple of days saying, “yes, the machine won’t work with RO or Distilled water and that they recommend using tap water” I didn’t bother writing back to say that on the product web page it specifically says they recommend using filtered water.I have to say this blows my mind that this over-engineered system for determining water level is so fragile. We’ve had float arm switches for more than 100 years that work just fine, and if Breville had gone with something like that it would have worked fine.I’m going to try to make up a batch of SCA approved water with TDS of 150 parts per million with baking soda and epsom salts. I have a very accurate .0001 gram scale and a TDS meter so we will see if the machine will work after I doctor the water. If I can get it to work with that I think we will keep it, as there really isn’t anything else out there that would work for our situation, but if the machine still won’t reliably read the water level after all that, it is definitely headed back.
Nick –
This is a large coffee maker, with a mostly aluminum build. It’s parts, including the removable shower head are made well. Almost nothing about it’s build is cheap, and with that comes a large size that demands a lot of your counter space.When the actual machine is brewing coffee the heft of it creates a low thrumming noise when brewing that can nearly be heard in the next room. The interface for the vast majority of people is really about hitting the gold setting and hitting start.It brews to specifications for coffee aficionados, and has the heating element to reach temperatures needed to extract the right balance of flavor from coffee grounds. It should make better coffee than most machines in the $20 range at walmart. But don’t expect miracles, you’ll need to dial the beans you want and the grind you like to make the biggest difference.It brews half pots, full pots, 12-cup flat basket pots, pour over mugs (with optional attachment), and does it all reasonable well. I find half pots, and pour over has the richest flavor as the shower head does a better job saturating the grounds, and the machine will bloom the coffee on automatic settings.You can do things like select for strong coffee or iced coffee. Both settings remind me of the Ninja Coffee Bar, which just manages the flow of water to help achieve stronger coffee. Personally I skip these settings as it really just makes bad coffee overall.Lastly you can dial in your own settings, and I wouldn’t really recommend this unless you’ve researched coffee brewing techniques before hand, and you have a little barista knowledge under your belt. You can control temperature, bloom time, flow rate etc. It’s OK for experimenting, but people should stick to gold for most of their brewing.Is it worth $300? Well there’s no other coffee maker quite like it. The Ninja’s are flexible and a great alternative to Keurig’s, but the one we owned was very plastic and broke within a year. There are fancy coffee makers like the Technivorm and Bonavita that don’t have many settings or features. The Breville tries to be extremely customizable and give you options while still being a high performer. The closest coffee maker to it might be the OXO, which I have not used.Which I guess makes it an expensive splurge. If it doesn’t break down in under 3 years I’ll consider it a bargain though. Most consumer coffee makers I’ve owned (and I’ve owned a lot) have terrible quality control. I’ve had this for 18 months and it’s still going strong.
Charming –
Surprisingly the carafe keeps the coffee hot for about three hours. And it has a strong coffee setting. It does sound like a train when it begins brewing, but the coffee is great
Paul D. –
First let me start by saying that I LOVE Breville products…..almost all of my small kitchen appliances are Breville.(Positives)- Great Design- Heavy / Sturdy Construction- Flexible filter types- Timer- Supposedly was designed to produce excellent coffee(Negatives)- Always gave me “Insert Carafe” errors when the carafe was inserted. Always had to pull out the carafe and re-insert it.- Coffee Filters needed are HUGE (if you use paper filters)….not sure where to get them. My Bunn filters which are already large are too small.- Always got “Fill Tank” error even though the tank is full- Water tank always retained moisture in the tank because the tank retained a little water and always had condensation on the tank.So Breville designed all the features to provide you with the best coffee experience…… It consulted several coffee experts, and because of the water tank sensor they use, you have to use tap water for the machine to work. So for the people who take good-tasting coffee seriously and use filtered water, the machine doesn’t recognize the water in the tank and it says “Fill Tank” even though it’s full……I was blown away.I hope Breville’s marketing and engineering team is reading this review and making a technical change…..because this machine has great potential…but doesn’t quite cut it.
Savannah –
We love this machine, the only downside is that there is no built in warmer to keep the coffee pot warm throughout the day. Otherwise, it makes amazing coffee!
Galactic Bard –
I’ve always used cheap $20 Mr. Coffee makers, and they’ve lasted me for many years. I only decided to replace the last one because the water chamber was getting gross from over a decade of use. I was going to buy another cheap coffee maker, and my wife convinced me to buy a nicer, higher end coffee maker, and I’m so glad I did!It’s been a bit of a journey, as this is the third coffee maker I’ve bought. The first one was a Mr. Coffee “Optimal Brew” coffee maker that I returned because I got an obviously-used coffee maker with a broken piece and greasy fingerprints all over it. The second was a Cafe Grind and Brew, which honestly is an over-priced piece of junk that leaks all over the place due to a glaring design flaw (see my review on that machine for more). So that one got sent back as well.I finally settled on this beauty, and I love it. It is of much higher build quality than the Mr. Coffee, which was a cheap mostly-plastic machine that I doubt would’ve lasted long, and I doubt even more that it would make better coffee than the $20 machines I’ve had in the past. It’s also much nicer build quality than the Cafe machine, which although it was nicer than the Mr. Coffee, was poorly designed and not build to last.This machine is built to last, and it’s very thoughtfully designed. There are so many little features that make this so nice to use, and it’s obvious a lot of thought went into the design. The water chamber isn’t removable, but it’s large enough it won’t be difficult to clean. It also has markings not only in “cups” but also in ounces, which is super helpful. It also has markings for maximum fill for a single cup cold brew, cone filter brew, and max size flat-bottomed filter brew. It also comes with a reusable flat bottom filter for brews of 9-12 cups, as well as an insert to use cone filters for 1-8 cups. You can also use flat-bottomed paper filters for the 9-12 cup brews. It also came with 10 flat-bottom paper filters, which is nice because they’re larger than the ones I had for my previous 5-cup machine. The only things it doesn’t come with are paper cone filters and a reusable cone filter. The paper filters would’ve been nice, but they’re not expected, and I prefer a paper filter to the reusable filters anyway.I love that this machine can make iced coffee and cold brew coffee, which is a really cool feature. You can only make 4 cups of coffee with those two methods, though. But 4 cups of iced coffee (which really comes out to more 2 cups of coffee minus the water you lose to the grinds) is enough for my wife and I to each have an iced coffee once you fill the glasses with ice (which you definitely want to do, as the iced coffee is brewed at double strength).It has a clock and a timer that can be set for a future brew. It has the SCA gold standards set in, which is what I’ve been using, but you can also set up your own specifications for water flow rate, water temperature, and bloom time. Combined with a good grinder, you can really dial in your perfect cup of coffee.It even came with a test strip to test my water hardness, so I know how to set up the machine. It has, I think, 4 different hardness levels you can set, which controls how often the machine reminds you to do a cleaning with a descaler. It’s really nice that it reminds you, as I never remembered to descale my previous machines as much as I should have. (I also used to descale with vinegar, so that tells you how much I didn’t know about coffee!) No other machine I tried came with a water test strip or way to set your water hardness in the machine.The thermal stainless steel carafe is much nicer than the Mr. Coffee and Cafe ones were. It keeps coffee hot for hours, especially if you preheat the carafe with hot water first as recommended in the manual. My coffee is so hot it steams my glasses when I drink it! No more having to reheat my coffee in the microwave halfway through a cup.The thermal carafe is also a game-changer compared to previous machines I had with glass carafes and a hotplate. The coffee ended up tasting nasty after an hour or so of hold time. With the thermal carafe, the last cup of coffee is just as tasty as the first. The lid of the carafe is also much better designed than the Cafe one, which would get water trapped inside you couldn’t get out, that would’ve become a breeding ground for black mold.No this does NOT have a hotplate, because it has an insulated carafe! All those people who complain about it not having a hotplate are exposing their ignorance, as no machine with an insulated carafe has, or should have, a hot plate. If you don’t understand why, do some research, which you should be doing anyway if you’re going to bother with, and spend the money on, a more advanced coffee maker like this.Clean up isn’t too bad with this machine either, and much easier than the Cafe machine. The Cafe had too many pieces, all of which were cheap plastic destined to break in time (as all GE products are). Yes, this machine has plastic pieces, but they are a higher-quality, thicker, denser plastic than the Cafe and Mr. Coffee machines.This machine is much more on par with the commercial grade coffee makers I used when working in restaurants in the past. Yes, it is more expensive than the other two machines, but money spent on the Mr. Coffee and Cafe machines is wasted money, as they have low build quality and are designed to break much sooner than you’d like. This machine will last years and years, and is money very well spent if you love coffee.
SonnyBSonnyB –
I love the design and appearance. The carafe is heavy duty and holds temperature well. It can do everything from cold brew to pour over to gold cup SCA certified coffee. It’s completely programmable if you want to play with bloom time, flow rate, and temperature. Or simply select a preset and go. It’s got a PID controlled boiler that reviles the features of an espresso machine. It can use either cone style or flat bottom filters. SCA Gold Cup uses cone, but limits the pot to 40 oz. If you want more, pull out the come adapter and use flat bottom filters. The setup was interesting, it provides a test strip to check water hardness and set the coffee maker to work best for your water. After setting it prompts you to fill and flush it to get it ready for your first pot. They went all out on features and build quality. A couple of days in and I love it!
REELDOC –
Why would I spend $300 on a coffee maker? Good question. Well my wife and I seem to go through ones every few years. The last one that cost $200 lasted only 27 months. I have liked most Breville products but the last coffee machine I bought from them had a integrated grinder that failed within a year. Cheaper makers , under $100, seem to make coffee that always tastes burnt. This one makes strong coffee which my wife and I like-preferably dark roast. The first thing I noticed immediately was although the coffee was strong, it was smooth, so I no longer needed creamer and enjoy it black. However the product arrived with a cracked lid to the water reservoir. That leads me to my first complaint. Breville’s customer service is awful. Waited almost 20 minutes for two calls and they messed up my electronic request. Ultimately resolved but geez for something so cheap and easy to fix, what a hassle. Secondly why ship flat bottom disposable filters with the unit when they send you a flat bottom gold filter as well? Plus they tell you to use the cone carafe for 2-8 cups but sent none of those filters! My wife made 5 cups with a name brand paper filter we bought and grounds almost overflowed. But for $300 they don’t send cone filters? Huh?! So these instructions are totally inaccurate. Will wait to see how long this unit lasts.
Dagney –
I would agree with most of the positive points in other reviews. Overall, it’s a great coffee maker.However, it has a few annoying, problematic issues that I shouldn’t have to deal with in a top-of-the-line, $300 coffee maker, which is why the 3 stars (and why I wouldn’t buy it again):1) [the most annoying] When you rinse out the carafe lid, it’s really difficult to drain all the water out, and you can hear it sloshing around inside (and then you imagine trapped water growing mold). The only way I’ve found to drain out the water (at least to the point of not hearing sloshing) is to hold it over the sink with the “filler” and “pour” holes oriented vertically (basically, turn it 90 degrees) and shake it vigorously up and down for about a full minute until I don’t see big water drops coming out any more (then check it again for sloshing)…..and then do this EVERY DAY after making coffee for the entire life of the product. Very annoying.2) The lip of the carafe is designed so that it traps a small amount of liquid when you try to pour it all out — so when you rinse and try to empty it, there’s always a little bit of water left at the bottom. You could dry with a towel or let it air dry a long time — but again, annoying.3) Periodically, the reservoir needs to be washed (or at least rinsed to get any sediment out). Because the reservoir can’t be removed from the base unit, this becomes another annoying ordeal, as follows: unplug the base unit, take it over the sink, and tilt it over so that the reservoir is over the sink (and inverted at least slightly downwards, not just horizontal) to be washed, rinsed, and drained. Then (in an acrobatic maneuver), hold the base unit suspended as previously described with one hand while simultaneously with the other hand managing the sink faucet (hopefully with a telescopic hose that can be extended for rinsing the now-inverted reservoir/base unit), the soapy sponge, and the rinsing and draining itself.Again, it makes great coffee, but for $300, I want it to make great coffee and not incite me to shake my fist in the air at Breville.
Tamara –
I don’t consider myself a coffee snob or high end connoisseur however, I do want to have a great cup of coffee. I want it to be strong, smooth, flavorful. I do not want it to taste burnt, or bitter or watery. I wanted a machine that delivered on the potential of the beans I provided it. I wanted a machine that had options, but wasn’t overly complicated. I wanted a quality machine that was built to last.So far this machine has delivered on everything I wanted. The quality is there. It has many options, some of which I still need to try like my own custom settings for hot brewing, as well as cold brewing. The fast, gold and strong settings all create a great cup of coffee, just by following the recommended ratios. I tend to stick with the strong as the slight extra time is a non issue for me. I’ve tried cone and basket, haven’t discerned a difference in the final product, but it does recommend using the cone for smaller batches. The digital display is clean bright and easy to navigate. Clean simple controls. Everything is easy to access, remove, clean etc.. The water tank has a large open access so its simple to fill and no spills. Basket pops in and out, simple design, easy to access/clean.I had read some reviews about noise, the thermal carafe and a bit of water remaining in tank when complete. For me I find the machine rather quiet overall, plus it doesn’t run for long anyhow. The thermal carafe was a big selling point for me, I wanted my coffee to remain warm without constant heat causing off flavors. This carafe delivers, it keeps it very warm and for far longer than I expected, while still tasting great! I’ve had zero leaks or issues with the carafe. As for a bit of water remaining in the tank when finished, that is indeed true. I find no issue or problem with it though as I use filtered water, its covered and I use it daily. As someone mentioned if I were going out of town for an extended period then I may want to empty it out completely and let dry.In summary, this machine has been worth every penny. It has out performed on all the points I wanted, while still having options for me to customize my brew and do cold coffee. I would highly recommend it and already have! In thinking about any complaints I may have, my only issue is that the paper filters for the basket are large, I haven’t found the right size at local stores, so I’ll reorder some now! The metal basket it comes with works great, just easier to toss the paper versions and a bit cleaner final product.Hopefully this is helpful, as a note I am not paid or affiliated with Breville or any other business for that matter.
Robert Mears –
I spent months reviewing coffee machines and settled on this. I bought the pour over adapter separately, and it arrived about a week after the coffee machine. Our initial impressions of the coffee maker were good. It’s very nice looking and the basic coffee features worked well. It made a very tasty cup of coffee.The main knob seemed flimsy and the menu was not intuitive. Once I got the pour over device, I basically pressed a bunch of buttons until it started, because none of it made sense. We found out later, from the Breville Customer Support Person, that the reason the packaging box and directions didn’t match our machine exactly is because the packaging and documentation we received was for the European version of the machine, and the machine itself was for the US!The main frustrations occurred when we received the pour over adapter. This is hard to describe, but there is a flange underneath the brew basket that has a ball shape on the end. When you use the carafe for regular coffee, this ball and flange connects the brew basket with the carafe.When using the pour over adapter, this ball and flange rises during the brew cycle as the water empties from the tank. By the time the tank is nearly empty, the ball has risen high enough that it knocks the pour over device and Hario Dripper to one side, titling it to the point that water starts to spill out. There is no obvious way to stop this and it renders the pour over feature useless.We contacted Breville Customer Service. It took 4 hours for them to answer! The rep, Cecilia, was very pleasant and helpful. She set up a video call so I could show her the problem instead of trying to explain it to her. She saw the problem and set up a return label, which went seamlessly. About a week later, the replacement arrived. I anxiously set it up and tested the pour over, and it has the same malfunction as the first one did! In our experience, it was a 100% failure rate!We tried to call Breville Customer Service again, and as of this writing, nearly 4 hours later, have not received our return call. While we waited, we read the reviews more thoroughly and saw at least one that described exactly the same issue. There were other disappointing reviews about the reliability of the machine, poor customer service, etc. We read that Breville only had a store credit policy, rather than a refund, and decided then and there to stop wasting our time.I contacted Amazon, requested a refund, and promptly tool it back to UPS. You may get lucky and get a machine that works right from day one, but you may have any number of problems. The machine may work fine for a few months until the return time or warranty runs out. My advice is to keep looking for a coffee maker and forget about this pretty face!
Rb. –
I had to leave a review we are so disappointed with this coffee maker. After extensive research we paid the outrageous price for this coffee maker. We have used since Feb. and never stopped being disappointed. We’ve tried every way to get the coffee to taste better—all the brew settings, waters, personalized, gold cup, filter, gold filter and it’s all watery and has no depth of flavor. Church coffee is better. We’ve tried all kinds of coffee, beans and grind settings. We know our coffee—always buy beans and have a Gaggia espresso maker, burr grinder, etc. For this price I should be getting some kick ass coffee. I should have bought a chair for my living room or something like that instead. The fact that we paid it at all demonstrates our high hopes and expectations.Let me be more specific. Cons:1.It takes up a hellova lot of room on the counter. I’m willing to overlook if it earns its space. It does not.2. The scoop it comes with is twice the size of any other coffee scoop one would use for a coffee maker or pour over. At first I thought it was a scoop suggestion as it is made out of ugly clear plastic and enormous. When the coffee was terrible I went back to the instructions and used the megascoop thinking well, with twice the grounds it should taste better or at least be stronger. I’ll try and adjust. Oh, I had to adjust to heaping megascoops and an extra scoop. Sometimes even more if not amazing beans. I had to do this to get it not watery and bland. So now I’m using twice the amount of expensive beans—more money. Yes, I tried cheap ones too. And pre-ground. I do not play.3. It doesn’t stay hot. Period. I’m in a four season climate.I mean what else is left? Don’t buy it.Pros:1.brews crazy quickly. Not sure this is a pro with the bad flavor.2. QuietWe tried so hard to make it work but after another meh cup yesterday, I thought life is too short and hard to keep being so disappointed by my coffee every morning. I decided to admit my mistake, take the monetary loss and order another coffee maker. I chose a Ninja for under $100. Wish me luck.
amb001 –
I love how quickly it makes coffee. Simple to use. Keeps coffee warm without burning it
Robert W. Davis –
The unit makes pretty good coffee as long it does not end up on the counter. Periodically, it leaks between the filter basked and carafe dumping coffee everywhere. I have a support request in to Breville so I’ll see how they handle it.After notifying Breville of the the problem they were pretty quick on okaying a return. After returning it Breville replaced the entire unit. So far no leaks and the carafe pours much better. I’m guessing they knew the carafe top had a problem in both pouring coffee and brewed coffee going into the carafe.Good customer service.
Amazon Customer –
What all are you looking for from a coffee maker? Tastewise, this is an astonishing coffee maker that will ruin your taste for coffee from most other sources. But taste is subjective, let’s talk facts.This coffee maker is well-made, still working great after half a decade. It’s got a timer on it so you can have coffee ready when you wake up. It keeps the water at exactly the right temperature during the brewing process using some kind of German rocket technology. It has options for small amounts of coffee or large amounts of coffee. It’s got a full menu of other options that I never use, because I just select “Gold” and it makes an amazing cup of coffee o nits own. And the caraffe keeps the coffee hot.A good and wise purchase.
Jim N –
loved it to death, used it every day… the time-to-brew mode is truly amazing, the coffee quality is greattoday in the morning just stopped brewing, everything like normal just does not turn red and does not brew (cleaning cycle works), too bad warranty is only 3 yearslittle update a week later… I did a lot of couch research and looked at two possible contendersWOLF GOURMET Programmable Coffee Maker – way too expensive and features I don’t needTechnivorm Moccamaster 79312 KBGT – the amount of cheap plastic lids, loosy parts, carafe screwing, twisting, … I had to return it, it was just driving me nutsyes, I purchased the same Breville Precision Brewer and I am again happy camper
Brad H. –
I have been using a Mr Coffee for about 10 years until it finally died. Was amazed at how bad the coffee was coming out of this machine. Brevelle is much smoother and fuller flavor. Took a couple of day getting use to having less bite to my usual thick coffee as I like to use more coffee than recommended. Love the ability to control the flow as well as temp of the brew. Other than missing the removable water tank the Mr Coffee had, my main complaint is that the coffee cools off very quickly. I have to microwave my 2nd cup after about 15 minutes of sitting in the carafe! Even the $40 Mr Coffee kept it warm for a couple of hours. When the outside of the carafe is warm, this is a clear sign that there is very little insulation. I doubt that this is a true vacuum thermos. Do like the ability to get my hand inside to clean the carafe but am upset that Brevelle could not even use an insulated carafe up to the standards of a Mr Coffee 1/7th of the price! Not a deal breaker but disappointing.
Andrew –
My old regular Mr. Coffee machine died and all I was looking for was a brewer with a thermal carafe. I happened upon this and thought I would never spend that kind of money on a coffee maker, but am I sure glad I did! I was a Barista (not at the star place) for a few years and got use to a certain level of flavor to my coffee based on how it was brewed. There are obviously better methods to brew for best flavor, Chemex, French press, cupping (the roasters do this to taste and get the most unadulterated flavor) and then just old brewing. Never did I think I would care much from home, but this brewer does it all! This is definitely not a coffee maker for the faint of heart or non-electronic user.First of all, you can use either cone, a gold basket filter(included), or basket filters. Be advised, using basket filters requires the larger commercial sized to work best. The store bought ones will work, but you may end up spilling some grounds over. There are different settings in the machine for each filter type as well. You can also set it for a pour over (this requires you to purchase extra pieces). The other functions are cold brew (basically a concentrate that needs to be diluted), Iced coffee, Fast, Strong, and My Brew.I’ve only used the basket filters and done My brew or cold brew. Cold brew keeps the coffee soaking in water for as short as 5 hours and up to a huge amount of time more (over 48 hrs I think) and then automatically dumps it into either the carafe or waiting mug. You can do a max of 20 oz at a time, but like I said, it should be treated like more of a concentrate.The My brew allows you to set your parameters for coffee like brew temperature, bloom time, brew speed as well. This is great for the coffee snob because you can meddle with the setting until you find what tastes best or you can set everything based on your knowledge.The other great feature is that this maker has a pump to move the water within the system rather than relying on heat. Again, coffee snobs delight because you get an even and consistent flow of water to brew a better flavor into your coffee (trust me, it makes a difference!!) because of that even flow. Yes, this pump makes the brewer a little louder than most run of the mill coffee makers, but not to the point that I notice it interrupting anything of leaving me fearing someone is going to wake up from it.Honestly worth every dollar I spend on it and I would not choose a different coffee maker if I had to do it over again!
J C –
We spent a lot of time studying the different available brewers. We had a number of requirements and one ‘nice to have’. Our requirements were SCA certification, single cup capability, and greater than 8 cup multi-cup capability. The primary “nice to have” was the ability to adjust the various elements of the brewing process. This was the only model that had it all. It also includes other features, particularly the pour-over capability, that we found quite interesting as well.We like a variety of coffees mostly the lighter roasts and we almost always have three or four different freshly roasted varieties on hand. Each of us drink two or three cups of coffee a day (‘one cup’ for us being 10-12 oz) and we enjoy almost never having the same variety of coffee two cups in a row. Because of this we most often brew two cups at a time with this brewer. If one of us is traveling on a particular day then we use the single cup feature. When we have guests over we brew more than two cups at a time.We’ve been using this brewer multiple times a day, every day, for three weeks now and it has easily brewed exceptional coffee every single time. Whether it has been a single cup, two cups, four cups, or twelve cups we have found it easy to use – and maybe just as important easy to clean and prep for the next cup or pot. We did not find the set up particularly complicated nor have we found it complicated to use – though admittedly we are both quite technically capable. We simply followed the instructions and easily brewed some of the best coffee we have ever had at home.Two things other users might find helpful:- The brewer comes with basket and cone filter capability. The basket capability comes with a reusable mesh filter, the cone does not. We purchased reusable cone filters and they work great. We compared the taste with a paper cone filter and could not tell a difference between paper and reusable.-The single cup set up makes an amazing cup of coffee. And it works great ‘as is’ for taller travel mugs. But normal size coffee cups sit too far from the drip opening causing the coffee to splash while brewing. When we’re making a single cup into a normal size coffee cup we set it on an upside down heavy bowl with a flat bottom beneath the drip opening. If Amazon had fractional ratings I would deduct 1/4 of a star for this minor annoyance.
Movie Lover –
We have been brewing French Press coffee for years but wanted a programable coffee maker. We were skeptical that the coffee would taste as good. “Wirecutter” avoided rating the Breville due to their difficulty in figuring it out. Nope. Simple and clear directions make it easy to use. We’ve had other drip coffee makers over the years, Cuisinart and Mr. Coffee, but nothing like this one! It is expensive. We saved $ by buying an “acceptable” through Amazon Wherehouse. It showed no damage and although the brew basket was broken, one call to Breville and they sent one out. The motorized spray head in this machine and the ability to control brew time let’s one fine tune. However, using standard settings like “bold” and “auto-on” make excellent coffee. We don’t miss the French press, which required daily emptying of the coffee grounds. Breville make high end espresso machines and you can see some of that technology went into this coffee maker. Great addition to our kitchen.
Serious consumer –
Not so sure about this. Firstly, the cust. svc line is a nightmare. They seem to only have one person working. I called both b4 and after order and got the same, obtuse person. I had to repeat my question a multitude of times.The machine I got did not work properly. She did not understand my questions and took forever to troubleshoot. She is in no way customer oriented. When I got to the part where the unit had a scratch/chip on the front of it when I unpacked it, she told me to call Amazon, in spite of the fact that the manual said to call them and not return it to the store.The coffee is so so. I am frustrated. This is hugely expensive, and so far, the brew is nothing like my 20 year old drip Cuisinart…but then again, the new Cuisinart I bought was also nothing like the old one. So sad.
Lukpla –
Pros:- Excellent coffee- Has a timer- Nice size (not too big)- Lots of ways to customize your brewing- Special setting for Iced Coffee- Special setting for cold-brew coffee- Makes 12 cups (60oz)- Coffee is nice and hot when it first comes out- Accommodates both a cone and basket filter, depending on the amount of coffee being brewed.- Wide enough opening to get hand inside to wipe itCons:- Sort of noisy (measured about 60 decibels for the brew session; Nespresso by comparison measured 75 decibels, but of course it has a much shorter brew time)- Produces a weird, low frequency sound when brewing, and vibrates a little. This made me almost feel nauseous and dizzy the first time I heard it. After a week, it doesn’t really bother me, but I still don’t like to be right near it when it’s brewing.- Carafe does not keep the coffee hot for more than an hour or two (max), even when preheated with hot water. The carafe is not vacuum insulated and the carafe’s lid is nothing special. We replaced a 2007 vintage Cuisinart that DID have a vacuum insulated carafe, and that would easily keep coffee hot for 12 hours. Breville? HA! Not even close. Which is crazy, because who’d going to drink 12 cups of coffee in an hour? We almost returned the Breville, it was so poor at keeping the coffee hot. Instead, we bought a Zojirushi vacuum insulated carafe and pour the freshly brewed coffee right into that.
Amazon Customer –
First thing I noticed was the packaging of the coffee machine was superb, reflecting the pride the company has in their product (a box in a box in another box!). The coffee maker was easy to assemble, and the directions and suggestions for brewing were easy to understand. It has a beautiful, smooth stainless steel finish. There are a lot of options for the serious coffee lover, but I suggest you try the gold setting first. The coffee brews quickly, and stays hot in the well insulated carafe for about 2 hours. It is delicious and tastes just the same 2 hours later. I like that you can put the carafe anywhere, the coffee will still be hot and delicious an hour or two later. The carafe cleans easily with warm water and a mild dish detergent. The opening is wide enough to put an average size adult hand inside to clean. The basket comes with a cone insert for brews of less than 6 cups,. For larger brews the basket comes with a gold mesh filter or you can use a paper filter. The cone requires a cone-shaped paper filter. I recommend Melita brand. I have used this coffee maker every day for three weeks and now my favorite setting is Strong, with 6 level scoops of ground coffee, and a water level of 6 cups. I use good quality, freshly ground coffee and use the scoop that came with this coffee maker. This is the best coffee maker I have ever purchased.
Emrys Corbin –
After more than a year of use I can’t actually recommend this brewer. While everything started off great, there are some serious design issues that, long term, make this thing more trouble than it’s worth, especially for the price.By far the single biggest problem with this machine is the poorly designed carafe lid, which is over-engineered, plastic, and with small interior cavities that are impossible to clean. Even with prompt cleaning, the lid retains liquid that cannot ever be properly and fully drained, and as a result old coffee will dry inside the lid no matter how much or how thoroughly you try and wash and drain it, impacting the taste of your brew significantly over time. The best you can do is prop the lid on its side with the pour channel facing down, but gravity alone is not enough to fully evacuate the lid, and shoving a cotton-swab inside will quickly reveal just how much residue gets left inside behind the various flaps and edges. There is also no way to brew a pot without the lid unless you are brewing 4 or less cups, as the lid itself is required to physically press the release lever on the basket assembly.The second problem, related to the first, is the amount of plastic that is in-contact with the coffee. The cone adapter, the lid, and the interior of the basket assembly are both fully plastic lined and after a year have taken on the pronounced scent of old cigarettes. This again despite prompt cleaning and the use of specialty detergents made for coffee. There is just too much porous plastic in the design with too many crevasses that cannot be adequately cleaned, and again, this impacts the flavor. The first pots I ever made with this machine were wonderful and tasted identical to a properly brewed v60, but now, taste wise, I might as well be using a $20 Mr. Coffee from an office break room.On the pros, the actual boiler itself is great. Brews are fast and It has plenty of nice options, limescale hasn’t been an issue despite living somewhere with extremely hard water, it only prompts me to de-scale every couple months. The carafe is also spectacular at heat retention; a full pot of hot water will remain painfully hot for 10+ hours easily. I wish the water tank was detachable, but that’s not a huge problem, although it does make cleaning difficult.It’s also nice, in theory, that you can order replacement parts. I could “fix” the problems with this brewer by replacing all the chief offending components, but at $37 to replace the plastic basket assembly/adapter, and $59 replace the entire carafe, just to get another lid with exactly the same problem, it is not a real sustainable solution, as I’d just have to keep replacing them every year.At this point I feel like my only option is to buy the pour over adapter and only ever use this to automate single cup brews, so as to completely bypass the carafe lid and basket assembly, because after a year of use the cheap and poorly designed plastic elements of this machine will make even premium specialty coffees taste like a gas station brew that’s been on the burner for six hours.
DavidK –
Let me start by saying that this machine does a great job automating brew temp, flow rate, bloom time, etc. Essentially, it hits the key items you want to address when you brew a more professional pour-over brew.However, one of the biggest failings is that the machine consistently produces a lukewarm pot of coffee. Oddly enough, with a bit of internet searching, there is a solution. However, Breville doesn’t share this in any of its documentation, Q&A, etc. You need to contact them directly to get the answer, which could be interpreted to mean they know they have an issue with the machine but want to hide it from public view. The solution is to run a first pot of water to pre-heat the machine.That solution works well. However, it takes away from the automated aspect and makes it a bit more like a manual pour-over. Additionally, it makes it impossible to set things up the night before and use the brew timer to start the machine in the morning, and wake up to a nice hot cup of coffee.The second flaw is that the lid traps coffee inside and it is really difficult to clean completely. The result is that the lid starts to smell of old, stale coffee. Again, Breville’s documentation does not provide any guidance on how to clean the lid effectively. And when you contact them, they admit that there are sections of the lid that can not be reached for cleaning. One unauthorized solution is to use an espresso machine cleaner like Cafiza to soak the lid. However, these types of cleaners are not meant for plastic, so it is possible that they would break down the plastic of the lid over time. In other words, use with caution.
M. Lynch –
Our last couple coffee makers were Cuisinart’s – one a regular 12-cup maker for around $100, the last one a 12-cup w/ a single serve brewer for around $230. Both stopped working within a couple years – the $230 failed to turn on for good after we had a party and made 2 or 3 pots in a row.We’ve only had this Breville Precision w/ Thermal carafe for about a week, but so far, it’s been great. Good instructions to get you up and going – washing & flushing, brewing a single cup, brewing first pot. After flushing it, I made a single cup of decaf w/ a cone and was the best tasting decafs I’ve ever had.The unit seems very solid and the clean-up easy. The settings are fairly straight forward, there’s ‘fast’ brew setting, and ‘gold’ for a supposedly best cup. Setting for cone or basket as well as a custom setting, though I’ve gone so far with the defaults.I put hot water in the carafe for a few minutes to warm it up before using it for a pot. Coffee is definitely hot enough. Assuming we get several years out of this, the only minor complaint/comment is it might be nice if the clear plastic water tank was removable to make that part easier to clean… the clear plastic might get a bit cloudy looking over time. At $300, it ain’t cheap, but given it’s only $70 more than our last one – which didn’t last more than a year or two, and this one makes better coffee, it’s worth the $$
MICHAEL MARTINMICHAEL MARTIN –
This coffee maker would be perfect if it wasn’t for one serious flaw. The carafe doesn’t keep the coffee hot or even warm for very long. I had a Cuisinart coffee maker that worked great for 20 years. Coffee would stay as hot as when it was first made in the carafe for at least 4 hours. This unit makes excellent tasting hot coffee initially but by time you go back for a 2nd cup, (15 – 20 minutes) it’s luke warm at best. Any longer, it’s has to be warmed up. For a coffee maker at this price point, this is unexceptable. I have a kitchen full of Breville appliances (Food Processor, Toaster Oven, Tea Maker, Ice Cream Maker, to name a few) and I love them all. They are all well built, good looking, quality appliances that work as well as you would expect. And this Coffee maker is the same except it does not keep the coffee hot for very long. Had I known this was the case, I might have purchased the same unit with the glass carafe and warming platform. I went through the user manual several times and changed the settings to a custom set up that made coffee to the hottest allowed temperature but it still cools down way too fast. And of course, considering it was a Breville appliance, I made the mistake of assuming that it must be the way I had the maker set up, so I kept trying everything to correct the issue. I even rinsed the pot out with very hot water first, as suggested but it didn’t make a difference. So unfortunately, because I thought it was my fault, I didn’t attempt to return it within the return period. So, If you want to make ice coffee or you just want to make a single cup of hot coffee and don’t mind paying a small fortune (nearly $300) compared to other quality brands to do so, than this is the coffee maker for you. I, however, wouldn’t recommend this unit, I would suggest you opt for the model with the glass carafe and warming plate instead. I didn’t go that way because I find the coffee that is constantly being warmed has a bitter taste.
Kit Sargeant –
Had the Breville Precision Thermal coffee maker for almost exactly a month and changed my whole view of coffeemakers. My wife and I were both immediately impressed by the change in quality in our coffee using the Breville. Smooth, richer and it regained a High heat in the thermal carafe.But after 4 weeks of carefree use — — one day I forgot to turn on the auto start function for the morning. So my wife simply hits Start button. It starts up — then stops. Keep being told the “Unit Was Too Hot.” And no amount of troubleshooting solved the problem. Not on my own. Or with a Breville rep. We reset the unit. Let it cool. Flushed. Descaled. Cooled, Reset, cooled. No water flowed through and flushing and Descaling did not solve the problem. Clogged? Who knows? Unit NEVER indicated descale was needed.So Breville is going to do something. Replace the unit — I think. Rep wasn’t clear on phone.I’m buying one more cause I can Use AmEx points.But if I have any more problems like this — I’m going to Techvorm and not looking back.Too bad — it’s an awesome machine that makes incredible coffee — but the engineering seem too complicated for its own good.
Roy Harmon –
This pot and the Beville grinder is a huge improvement to my old dripper.
Bob D –
Coffee doesn’t stay hot for as long as stated.The pour of the coffee is good one day and horrible the next. What I mean is it will take you 39 seconds to pour your coffee.