How to Remove Black Plastic insert in Portafilter Breville Barista Express

[@zorikpeysakhov9095]

This is a message from the future. I wanted to get rid of that blasted plastic liner and did not know how to remove. I was willing to buy 3rd party portafilters, but not all of them fit Breville well enough. This video allowed my get rid of toxic plastic and avoid wasting $$ on buying 3rd party portafilter. Thank so much!! (A like and subscribe from me!)

[@JackD87]

I got my Barista Pro tonight and had a replacement basket waiting. Thank you so much for this!!

[@LM-mq2pj]

I know this is an old video, but thank you so much for making it! I was worried about consuming espresso that was made with hot water that had gone through plastic. It made me hesitant to buy a Breville. You've allayed my worries!

[@AjusCafe]

Its BPA free, but i know less plastic, better. But all the plumbing inside is plastic. Again that's BPA free. All espresso machines use BPA free plastic.

[@LM-mq2pj]

@@AjusCafe Thank you. But I didn't know that the inside of the machine is plastic. Dang! Is there no espresso machine in that price range without plastic?

[@AjusCafe]

@@LM-mq2pj Not that i know of. Even the expensive machine has plactic hose.

[@lorilarson7697]

My plastic insert fell out and got lost, and I was worried about whether or not the porta-filter was still functional without it, as Breville does not sell the plastic liner separately. One must purchase another full porta-filter assembly which is wasteful and cost prohibitive. Glad to see it's not needed. Thank you!

[@AjusCafe]

Yes that's not needed. Safe to remove.

[@mistersilly9012]

i don't know about returning a machine under warranty, but some youtubers have mentioned that when you send a machine back to breville for repair, they don't need the accessories like portafilters. so in that case it won't matter if you modified the portafilter. it also means if they're too lazy to repair the machine and just send you a new one you end up with spare accessories

[@AjusCafe]

Good point

[@Andy-iv5lk]

What's up Aju? I was thinking about removing the insert but had no idea what the thing is called...typed black insert breville and your video came up :D. Thanks for the detailed explanation. I will definitely remove ours too. Take it easy!

[@AjusCafe]

Hi Andy. Glad this video helped. Plastic free is always good for health :)

[@aoma1001]

Great video, much appreciated. Hot water over plastic for years of use is a bad idea. Just preheat the portifilter.

[@Tony-ei1mr]

was just wondering about it. removed. thanks!

[@The_Great_Escapist]

Wow just cleaned mine after watching your video. I was surprised how dirty it was. Your videos have been really helpful in getting the most out of my Barista Express thank you.

[@AjusCafe]

Thanks for the feedback. Appreciate that :)

[@richardvila3]

Excellent explanation and video presentation, thanks so much 😊

[@beetole]

when you see coffee dancing and spurting out of the spout, its due to channeling. this occurs due to improper tamping, levelling and using too little a quantity of coffee.

[@JakobElbaek]

Very helpful video. Thank you for making it.

[@CelestialChef90]

Thank you!! 🥰

[@Ignis-Sanctus]

Small point, but the disc isn't going to help with extraction. It's as you said, for heat-sapping. Extraction is done in the basket under pressure. When it leaves the basket, that's extracted espresso and from that point it's just cupping or using it. The disc is to help maintain QUALITY on an otherwise limited low-power device. Most homeowners wont thrill at the idea of having to keep it on at all hours to keep a portafilter and basket as hot as it needs to be, so what little heat the Breville generates comparatively is maintained from contact with that plastic disc since plastics are generally worse thermal conductors.

[@AjusCafe]

Good point

[@rihamy2nd]

Thanks for the info. I have the Barista Touch and it has that insert in it, or I should say *had* since I just removed mine. It’s ironic that they put it in there to control heat loss. I know enough to preheat my portafilter before pulling a shot by running a partial cycle through it empty just prior, but when I’d do that with the double shot, non-pressurized basket (the only one I ever use), I could never dry out the basket prior to dosing my grounds into it. I would wipe it with a dry towel, but it would somehow always wick water through the filter holes, which I assumed was trapped in the very narrow space between the bottom of that basket and the plastic insert. Not only that, but I could always hear water sloshing around in the portafilter, which was where it had seeped between the sides of the portafilter and the plastic and was trapped there. Very poor design in an otherwise pretty nice machine. Here’s a tip, Breville… leave the plastic out and tell your customers in the owner’s manual to do what professional baristas do and run a partial cycle through the group head and empty portafilter to preheat it just prior to pulling the espresso shot. Anyway, thanks again. This took care of my perpetually wet filter basket and the sloshing portafilter. Awesome video!

[@AjusCafe]

Thanks for the feedback

[@theveganpsychonaut]

Just removed mine! I don’t think exposing hot liquid to plastic is a good idea, too. Thank you!

[@donalmahon]

Does anyone know where i can get a replacement one of these plastic inserts? I had the misfortune of removing it and throwing it away because of videos recommending to do it. I didn't realise it controlled the flow when using the pressurised basket which i prefer to use. Without this insert the brew splashes everywhere so bear this in mind if you decide to remove it!

[@nw5995]

Super helpful

[@konpadelic]

Funny i was thinking about that and here I stumble on your video about it. Cool, yea commercial machines have no plastic in there, You should have tried with double single wall though,

[@AjusCafe]

Glad you found this video 😃. I tried with Pressurized basket and there is no issue. Makes a bit more noisy though.

[@seafoodrestaurant1303]

To heat up the portafilter, I use a hair dryer instead, it only takes about 30s to make the protafilter hot and dry.

[@AjusCafe]

Very good tip. Thanks.

[@jeremyrobinson3399]

Good information as always.

[@AjusCafe]

Thank you Jeremy

[@GoodLifeinChiangMaiThailand]

Thanks Aju 🙏 (11 subs to go... congratulations ! 👏)

[@AjusCafe]

Thank you 🙏. Thanks for all your support

[@Al-rc1dm]

My machine is still under warranty so does it mean I cannot take out the black plastic even to clean out coffee residues?

[@AjusCafe]

You're ok to remove it, but if in case you return the machine under warranty, it must be on it.

[@philthyphil3324]

I removed plastic, I do not notice any thing that would make me put it back in. I usually warm up portafilter anyway.

[@AjusCafe]

You may notice the flow gushes out abruptly sometimes. Otherwise I didn't notice anything either. If you are warming up the PF, then you did it right 👍

[@jianlipan5158]

@@AjusCafe LOL. If it flows fast it means the dose or the grind granularity is not set right, not because of removing the plastic. I removed it as well and didn't see any difference.

[@AjusCafe]

@@jianlipan5158 its now "fast flow", but uneven flow (More on the right, but less on the left spout or vice versa) as mentioned in the video too. That's the only thing i notice once in a while. Not always. Hope this clarifies.

[@Pearfection]

Is the portafilter stainless steel or aluminum?

[@AjusCafe]

It must be stainless steel

[@janezdenzic6069]

What about the pipes..they are also plastic...or coffee machine?😃

[@AjusCafe]

Still less is better 😃

[@andrewberry6546]

Spurts everywhere without it so I wouldn't advise removing and let's face it the machine is full of plastic tubing inside are we expected to remove that too ...... I don't think so !!

[@5577omer]

They could have used copper instead of plastic . So sick of plastic 🙄

[@AjusCafe]

Plastic will always follow humans 😃

[@acat6821]

Copper is an even better heat exchanger than stainless steel…

[@W3TFART]

Yeah copper then it will get the lovely green oxide on it

[@djrickyton]

do you believe removing the plastic affects the pressure of the shot?

[@AjusCafe]

No it doesn't. Because pressure is controlled by Pressurized Basket. If you are using Non-Pressurized basket, then your fine Grind size, tamp pressure etc control the pressure. This plastic insert is only for heat sapping and smoother pour to the cup

[@djrickyton]

@@AjusCafe Thanks for the quick follow up. Much appreciated!

[@ggivensjr]

Do a pressurized basket with and without the plastic insert back to back to compare.

[@BigPoppa-t3z]

Keep plastic out.

[@ggivensjr]

You are getting high pressure because you tamp like you trying to grind the grinds and push them through the portafilter and counter! You don't need to do that! You only need about 30lbs pressure and even that is not necessary. What's more important is consistency from shot to shot. But don't take my word for it. See Mark's videos on wholelattalove channel.

[@advfreedom]

That type of tamper has a lip that stops right at the portafilter edge. You can only tamp for only an finite amount of space. But on the other side if you don't control the quantity and grind it is hard to tell if you tamped the same.

[@ggivensjr]

You can remove it but know that it is BPA free. If you opt to keep it in you have to clean it occasionally just like you clean the machine periodically. DUH people.if you are cleaning it when you do backflush and or descale it will be fine. Just soak it in the backflush cleaner. Again, DUH!

[@AjusCafe]

Some people are against using plastic getting hot which can produce toxic.

[@ivanhozeshed6091]

The color you are wearing is Orange, not red!