Its been a month since I have bought this machine. I have not worked every coffee making device out there but I have operated and tasted many. I had just lost my Deloghni magnifca super automatic machine after seven years of use. It was a pretty good machine for being a super automatic. But I have craved to get a real espresso machine and do a proper cappuccino. I have used french presses, Vietnamese phins, drip, siphon, and single serve kuerigs. Being in the Pacific NW you would except awesome cafe's everywhere, and you would be wrong. To get a good barrista that knows what they are doing, is slim to none. So with the exit of my super auto, I shopped for a good one. I kept coming back to the breville. Only knocks it was really getting was that breville was Australian and new to the game. I took the plunge and bought it, and I do not regret it.
So the good:
It comes with its own grinder. It not the best, but then again its no slouch. It can be taken apart and cleaned. My super never did that. What this means is that as you build up grounds on the Burr, you can pull it apart easily and clean it. It has a hopper that you can remove and place unused beans back in its container, that is just awesome, you can make decafe then switch to a new bean. A reviewer gave a good tip that when you first run it, start at the coarse then work it to fine when you start to grind, good advice. I word of caution from me, every different roast of bean will be a new setting for the machine. If you use a oily bean, then you might have to clean the burr a lot in order to get that fine grind. Also be prepared to go through a lot of coffee to figure out the right setting to get that perfect cup.
Temperature control. You can decrease or increase the temperature by 4 degree's, in 2 degree increments. Doesn't sound like much, but it can change the taste of your espresso.
Easy to program grind amount, and shot times.
It has a gauge to measure the pressure as it goes through the port a filter. It is a nice touch to be able to tell how things are working, several high price machine you have to feel it out and guess, this you can tell right away if something went wrong and you can adjust.
The steam wand is easy to use, the switch on the side is okay, my super did have a better control knob that you could control the amount of steam that came out, but this one is slow enough that its not that bad to operate.
Clean up is a snap, I really enjoy the fact that I can easily and quickly clean it up.
It has a water filter, where I live we have a high concentration of hard water, so having a second filter to go through is nice.
Parts. Breville has all the parts you can buy to fix your machine if they go out or need replaced. I am talking about new port a filters, rings, hoppers, water reservoirs, ect.
It is pretty, looks really good, makes you want to drink coffee.
The things that are not so nice:
You will go through a lot of coffee. This is most true when you first get the machine and try to figure out how to run it. There is a couple of way things can go down. 1) you drink every cup you make, I suggest you do this alone. Anyone around you will worry you are on something because you will be running at a 1000 mph on that much caffeine, no matter what your tolerance is. You will be wondering why everyone around you is moving so slow. 2) invite people over and watch there reaction to find out well you are doing on making that espresso.
Mess from the grounds. It has a tray, but for some reason my grounds always seem to go further then the tray. I placed a small dish under the grinder it that keeps it contained and its easily cleaned. You can also fill the port a filter, tamp, then fill a little more until you reach the proper level. I place a paper towel down and do the tamp on that, it catches the grounds that fall when tamping.
Don't expect a piping hot cup of joe. You can get it hot enough, by following their suggestions. I poor hot water in my cup before and do a single shot on a empty port a filter, that seems to do a good enough job.
My latte art is of clouds, mushrooms, cotton balls. I believe that is my malfunction though.
Overall, for the price (especially now) and the quality of espresso I am getting, its the top choice. Is it the best machine out there, no. But if you can afford those then I am not sure why you are reading things on amazon. Try different beans, they will taste different from what you are used to, each type will need different techniques to get the right pull. The Seattle best coffee bean, I only need to lightly tamp, the Vietnamese Civet I have to really press hard to get to the right tamp. I will trying several others as I go along, but I think that's the best part of this machine. And to the few people ( there is other things I would call you) about the California restrictions, in the manual it does say that the parts on the machine that does come in contact with coffee or water is BPA Free and there is no parts that will make you grow a third limb, unless you already have one. If you read the blasted bill you might figure out what it actually is saying, Anything with a grinder or power cord falls in this warning. I don't know about you, but I am not grinding bits of plastic in my coffee, and I am not sucking on the power cord, but if that's what you want to do, go for it.
For me, this has been a awesome buy, thank you for reading.
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Color: Grey
Cup Capacity: Up to 4 Cups
Cup Capacity: 5 to 8 Cups
Product Grade: Commercial Grade
Boiler Material: Borosilicate Glass
Boiler Material: Plastic
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From the manufacturer
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16 Precision Grind Settings
Auto grind and dose with an integrated conical burr grinder with 16 precision grind settings
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Stainless Steel Dual and Single Wall Filters
Rich, full-bodied coffee achieved using 18g of freshly ground beans, delivered by a 54mm portafilter
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Temperature Control
Thermocoil heating system delivers optimum water temperature control for balanced flavors
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Silky Smooth Microfoam
Powerful steam wands turn milk into smooth microfoam with silky texture ready for pouring latte art
1 Dose-Control Grinding 2 54mm Portafilter 4 Thermocoil Heating System 5 Hand-Crafted Microfoam
Barista Express
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| | Barista-Style | |
| | Microfoam | |
Auto MilQ | ||
| | Built-In Grinder | |
3 Second Heat Up | ||
Assisted Tamping |
| | Barista-Style | |
| | Microfoam | |
Auto MilQ | | |
| | Built-In Grinder | |
3 Second Heat Up | | |
Assisted Tamping |
| | Barista-Style | |
| | Microfoam | |
Auto MilQ | ||
| | Built-In Grinder | |
3 Second Heat Up | ||
Assisted Tamping | |
| | Barista-Style | |
| | Microfoam | |
Auto MilQ | ||
| | Built-In Grinder | |
3 Second Heat Up | | |
Assisted Tamping |
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This Item  Breville BES870CBXL Barista Express Espresso Machine, Cranberry Red |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | Currently unavailable. | $1,498.95 | $894.99 | -18% $655.99 List: $799.95 | $999.95 | $999.95 |
| Delivery | — | Get it as soon as Friday, Apr 26 | Get it as soon as Wednesday, Apr 24 | — | Get it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 23 | Get it as soon as Wednesday, Apr 24 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Blending power | ||||||
| Easy to use | ||||||
| Easy to clean | ||||||
| Flavor | ||||||
| Sold By | — | MBM Brands LLC | Amazon.com | Firemall LLC | Kitchen Kapers | Amazon.com |
| capacity | 2 liters | 67.6 fluid ounces | 2 liters | 56 ounces | 67 ounces | 67 ounces |
| material | Stainless Steel | Stainless Steel | Stainless Steel | Metal | Stainless Steel | Stainless Steel |
| input interface | buttons | touch screen | buttons | dial, buttons | touch screen | touch screen |
| voltage | 120 volts | — | 120 volts | — | — | 120 volts |
| wattage | 1600 watts | 1750 watts | 1600 watts | 1550 watts | 1680 watts | 1680 watts |
| model name | BES870CBXL | the Barista Touch Impress | the Barista Express® Impress | La Specialista Arte, Espresso Machine with Grinder, Bean to Cup Coffee | the Barista Touch™ Damson Blue | the Barista Touch™ Black Truffle |
| weight | 23 pounds | 22 pounds | 14.3 pounds | 21.5 pounds | 12 kilograms | 20 pounds |
Reviews with images
All you need for making excellent espresso
This is my 2nd Barista Express. I got tired of the stainless steel look so I switched to black. Plus it went on sale for limited time so I couldn't say no.As a hobbiest barista, I make about 3-5 drinks a day. Sometimes espresso only and some other times with Oatmilk.This machine has everything you need to make amazing coffee. However, while it provides the right tools and customization, the rest is depended on you. You have to learn and practice how to make your drinks correctly.This rule of thumb applies whether you buy this machine or a $2000 fancy machine with 2 boilers and touchscreen. Learn about your coffee and you will be able to master your drinks.This machine offers some great features at a very good price point:1. Burr grinder with 13-16 levels of grind2. 54mm Portafilter with 2 sets of baskets. My recommendation is to use the single-walled double shot basket. You will gain better control when dialing in your coffee.3. Programming for single and double shot. Once you dial-in your coffee, you can store the extraction time in memory4. You can adjust the water temperature5. Self cleaning programAgain, regardless of which machine you buy, the most important part is prepping you puck of coffee for extraction. Once you understand the different factors - there is no need to spend more $$$ on higher-end machine.Here are a couple of tips to start with:- Get a scale. It will help removing some of the guess work.- ALWAYS buy beans that are fresh and with the roasting date printed on the bag. Ignore the "best by" date. It means nothing because fresh coffee is at peak during up to 14 days from roasting date.- Watch videos on YouTube. There are plenty of great instructional videos to teach you about coffee and latte art.- Don't be afraid to experiment. You will waste allot of coffee and milk at the beginning. But once you get it right, the reward will be priceless.
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2020
Color: Black SesameVerified Purchase
What a machine! I’ll add photos later. After doing months of research into espresso machines I decided the best option for me was to go with the Breville Barista Express and I don’t regret it. My first try resulted in a well-bodied flavorful and neatly extracted espresso that honestly blew me away. I also have a Flair Pro 2, which I also highly recommend, but you must invest in a nice grinder (I use a timemore hand grinder for it - yes it takes forever).
Pros of this machine:
Grinder built-in: produces a fairly consistent grind and has easy step adjustments)
Cleanliness: I wipe the front down each day with a damp rag, but overall it’s easy to clean. I’ve also cleaned the grinder already using the espresso Grindz and the included brush, works wonderfully. The one drawback is the steam wand, which milk burns to easily, I use a wet sponge to clean it after each use which makes cleaning it a breeze.
Pressure gauge: this makes understanding your extraction super easy if you don’t want to time and weigh your shots.
Cons:
Steaming power: it takes a minute or two to get started after selecting steam, and it’s very slow, I’d say I spend about 1-1:30 minutes steaming milk. It does create great milk texture though, and I’ve had success with dairy and non-dairy milks.
Tamper and distribution razor : the tamper and included razor tool suck, they’re not unusable, they just take a lot of practice to get consistent tamping and distribution. This is incredibly important and I recommend checking out accessories that distribute and tamp easier. The razor is just plain stupid, and I never use it.
Portafilter: the 54mm basket is more forgiving than a 58mm (standard size), which actually makes extraction easier for a beginner; however there’s a plastic piece inside this portafiler that I popped out with a screw driver because that’s silly and unnecessary. As you get used to using it, I recommend looking for a bottomless portafilter. It’ll change your espresso experience for the better.
All in all, if you’re new to espresso and want to play barista get this machine. It’s an all a rounder and amazing value.
Pros of this machine:
Grinder built-in: produces a fairly consistent grind and has easy step adjustments)
Cleanliness: I wipe the front down each day with a damp rag, but overall it’s easy to clean. I’ve also cleaned the grinder already using the espresso Grindz and the included brush, works wonderfully. The one drawback is the steam wand, which milk burns to easily, I use a wet sponge to clean it after each use which makes cleaning it a breeze.
Pressure gauge: this makes understanding your extraction super easy if you don’t want to time and weigh your shots.
Cons:
Steaming power: it takes a minute or two to get started after selecting steam, and it’s very slow, I’d say I spend about 1-1:30 minutes steaming milk. It does create great milk texture though, and I’ve had success with dairy and non-dairy milks.
Tamper and distribution razor : the tamper and included razor tool suck, they’re not unusable, they just take a lot of practice to get consistent tamping and distribution. This is incredibly important and I recommend checking out accessories that distribute and tamp easier. The razor is just plain stupid, and I never use it.
Portafilter: the 54mm basket is more forgiving than a 58mm (standard size), which actually makes extraction easier for a beginner; however there’s a plastic piece inside this portafiler that I popped out with a screw driver because that’s silly and unnecessary. As you get used to using it, I recommend looking for a bottomless portafilter. It’ll change your espresso experience for the better.
All in all, if you’re new to espresso and want to play barista get this machine. It’s an all a rounder and amazing value.
Images in this review
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