What’s all the HYPE about this Breville Espresso Machine?!

[@OneIdeaTooMany]

I highly recommend this as a machine for those who are just starting their journey into the wonderful world of coffee. A few things i recommend to everyone buys this machine: When the light stops flashing, the steam and coffee boilers are up to temperature but the group head and portafilter are still usually stone cold. You can flush some hot water through using one of the buttons to warm them up a little then remove the portafilter, dry it and grind your beans as normal etc. If you're going to steam milk drinks make sure to flush the water out the end of the steam wand by aiming the wand into the drip tray and activating it. Once you see that steam is the only thing coming out, you can turn off the steam, insert your milk pitcher and start steaming your milk. If you don't do this, you'll create giant bubbles in your milk, it won't be textured very well and you definitely won't be able to do latte art. Learn how to tamp. It's probably the biggest thing that affects the taste of your espresso in the beginning that you can fix while spending 0 dollars. If you're not tamping correctly, the shot will channel during extraction and you'll be drinking coffee thats both under extracted and over extracted at the same time. It doesn't taste nice. Always taste your espresso and adjust your grind accordingly. The documentation is pretty good at helping you get into the range but the main thing is that it tastes good to you. That might mean going past the espresso range. From mine and others testing, just before the 12 o'clock position would be 9 bar of pressure on other machines (including many commercial machines) which most recipe guides assume you're using but you're best off tasting. Use good quality water. I personally use BWT water filters jugs. It filters out chlorine and limescale among other things and adds magnesium which improves the taste. Using good quality water will mean you very rarely need to descale the machine and your coffee will taste even better!

[@AmandasProductReviews]

@@OneIdeaTooMany thank you for sharing! I’m going to implement your tips!! 😉

[@perseus068]

I´m italian and I´m surprised to see an american lady (with a italian last name hi) buying a coffee machine to make a better coffee than that of Starbucks. You deserve a ton of likes only for this :-) Enjoy your italian-style coffees

[@AmandasProductReviews]

@@perseus068 aw thank you! Yes, I married into an Italian family :)

[@rubickon]

What a great smile

[@stangmann1521]

I like this Expresso Machine, ty for your review

[@Lizard-of-Oz]

There are a few things that you need for your espresso making: WDT tool to break your grind coffee in the basket before you tamp. And, this is optional, round filter paper to put on top of the coffee before extraction. I used them to keep the group’s head shower screen from accumulating coffee residue after many uses. By the way! Congratulations!! Starbucks got to expensive and most of the baristas in there are just employees, not baristas. Therefore I begin to do my own espresso. I started with the Breville Bambino for about two years, I just upgraded last night with the Barista and it’s way better! Happy Thanksgiving 2024!!

[@AmandasProductReviews]

@@Lizard-of-Oz thank you for sharing!!

[@Lizard-of-Oz]

@@AmandasProductReviews your welcome! If you’re new in espresso making, I recommend the 1:2 ratio method, if are not yet familiar though. Espresso making it’s fun and challenging but not impossible. 🤨 Have fun!

[@tiburonescuriosos4692]

Hi! Thanks for your review. I actually got this machine a week ago and I am still struggling with getting what I want. Which grinder settings are you using? For me it is going rather slow and coffee turns out quite bitter. I am using fresh roast beans that supposed to be good but I really cannot get the grinder setting that will please me. It is also kinda contradictory to the troubleshouting page in the manual. Mine coffee is too slow and takes too long time, but anyway not enough of water goes through it. So now it feels a little bit disappointing but I still have hope

[@AmandasProductReviews]

Oh man.. yes I feel like I have to adjust with each different coffee brand I buy.. a few things I’ve noticed are: I prefer medium roast over espresso beans or dark roast. Right now I have the ‘grind amount’ setting at the 3 o’clock mark. The grinder setting on the side is setting to a 2. I actually prefer doing 2 single shots instead of the double.. maybe some of these ideas will help. Don’t give up! It’s an art!

[@Perezidentify]

Get a different tamp, and make sure you use 18g (double), of coffee. The brew cycle should be ideally 23 to 27 secs from first drop to last. If it's coming too slow that's either too hard of a tamp, or too fine of a grind, possibly too much beans, but that's the least likely. Just keep fooling around with grind and tamp and you'll dial it in. Happy brewing. ☕️

[@mserrano9644]

Two advanced tips: 1) measure your coffee dose with a scale, and 2) convert your grinder to stepless: open the top of your machine, remove the dial screw and remove the plastic tip and metal spring. Close the top and hold the dial when grinding (or lock it with something, like a paperclip).

[@mserrano9644]

And a huge basic tip: your machine is still cold when it stops blinking. Do a dummy (ghost) shot, without coffee, to heat your group and portafilter/basket and wait at least 3 minutes. Then do another ghost shot.

[@AmandasProductReviews]

@@mserrano9644 genius!!

[@rogerrawlings4257]

Thank you😀

[@joannebursey9839]

You dont say what the machine is: Brand make, model no??

[@AmandasProductReviews]

@@joannebursey9839 link is in the description :)