remember to read a 3 minute page in your manuel about grind and packing your shots and you will be in coffee heaven with zero problems. GREAT MACHINE
Positive Product Points
This product looks great on the counter, pulls nice looking shots with a good taste, The steam wand is long enough and has a 180 degree swivel arm. You just put the pitcher under wand and go on to packing your shots. A real time saver in the morning, has button for hot water use, big water tank and you don't have to pull out from counter to refill. Lots of distance from portafilter and drip tray so you can pour shots straight into cup if you wish. self primer. Just a great machine!!!!!!!!
Negative Product Points
The one and only thing I have to say bad about this product------no dry puck. so dumping gounds is messy. Something I did to make it easier----I put a bowl next to machine to dump the grounds, when it gets full i throw in the garden. The bowl also has a lid on it. Believe me when I say drippy and wet grounds. When you purchase this machine there is a card on top of machine that tells you grounds will be soupy.
Detailed Commentary
I owned a coffee shop for 2 years and know how to draw a beautiful shot, If all of you have been told to put 35lbs of pressure on your shot this is correct but not with this machine. Read your manuel for a good grind and shot, it will take you a total of 3 minutes and well worth it. My industrial machine cost around 10,000. My supplier accidently sent my order with ground beans instead of whole beans, I could not get shots with that grind which goes to show you that every espresso machine is different with the grind. My machine at the coffee shop liked a little finner grind.
I also want to mention I puchased a brevill cafe roma a couple of months ago, after a month I sent it back. They go for around 229.00. This machine was sooooo picky i bet i went through 10.00 of coffee pulling bad shots or no shot would come out, glogging alot, had to pull machine out from under the counter to fill water tank, no hot water for tea. For the extra 100.00 bucks invest in the 800ESXL. Well worth it.
Buying Experience
Dont buy this machine at Macys. They are advertising the machine as ON SALE for 399.99 there reg. price is 499.99. But the truth is that the Breville800 is 399.99 everywhere. That kind of false advertising just pisses me off. I went to bedbath&beyond the price was 399.99 (everyday price) but I had a 20% coupon so I got it for 319.00. If your on the mailing list for bedbath&beyond you will get the coupon in the mail about every other week if not more. 80.00 dollars is a good discount.
