Article
BackgroundBarista Express
The Breville Barista Express is one of the top selling espresso machines in North America, if not the absolute top of the list. Breville claims it’s the #1 in both Canada and the USA and has been for nearly 10 years.
And why not: the price point is absolutely fantastic (at $700 it’s a deal; at the sometimes sale price of $600 or less, even more so); it looks fantastic and serious (especially with the pressure gauge up front); comes in a variety of colours (we’re testing the Black Sesame model), and it functions extremely well based on hundreds of thousands of units sold in the past 11 years.
There was an earlier variant of the Barista Express, released around 2011; it was replaced a year later in Australia by the current model (the BES870XL range), and in 2013 in North America. Only one minor change was made in 2019, when Breville re-set the machine’s OPV (overpresssure valve) to 135psi / 9BAR. There are rumours the machine may be updated to use Baratza’s M2 burrset in the future, but other than that, the machine has remained the same since 2013.
We long hesitated reviewing this model because of very poor experience with combination machines (mostly from Italy) in the 2000s. Back then these “combi” machines, as they were called, usually featured really poor grinders, lousy sound insulation for the pump and grinder, and were designed in such a way that if you got the smallest amount of moisture anywhere near the grinder or doser areas, everything would gum up. Very little thought went into these machines beyond a) making them 110V for North America, and b) slapping the cheapest grinder they could find into an espresso machine housing.
The Barista Express from Breville set a new standard that, frankly, the Italian brands still haven’t caught up to, including the latest Delonghi La Specialista machines, which have a variety of deficiencies when compared to the Barista Express.
A lot of care and attention went into all the things that normally made combi machines bad: the Barista Express’ grinder is excellent and well suited to the job at hand; the machine is quiet and keeps vibrations to a minimum with good use of rubber grommets and insulated areas; and the Barista Express is designed from the ground up to do two things well: grind coffee and pull shots.
We promised a full review of the Barista Express for 2022. I did not deliver on that. I wanted to change this in 2024, but realised our previous “First Look” had some dated aspects, so this is a complete redo of this article, in anticipation of a Full Review later this year.
Out of the BoxBarista Express
The Breville Barista Express looks serious the moment you get the box. It looks great from the operator standpoint, and looks feature rich once you turn the box around and read the back panel.
The Barista Express is packaged extremely well and safe, but with very unfriendly (to the environment) styrofoam. We really hope Breville will continue to introduce enviro-friendly packaging to their machines in 2024 and beyond (they are doing so with some of their product lineup, but existing machines seem to have this legacy packaging).
When you open the top of the box, you see another thing that sets Breville apart: this machine comes with a lot of extras. On top of the styro forms, you see extra filters, a cleaning kit, a Razor dosing tool, a nice heavyweight portafilter (with the standard double basket already inserted), a water filtration system, a coffee scoop, and Breville’s magnetic tamper. And there’s still more inside the box – it also comes with a great quality 450ml (16oz) steaming pitcher (saving you at least $15 or more).
Inside the cleaning kit box, you’ll find a cleaning disk (needed to backflush the machine) and starter cleaning tablets, along with a cleaning brush for the grinder, a special cleaning tool for the steam wand and an allen key for the grinder.
Inside the filter box, you’ll find the 1 and 2 shot dual wall filter baskets (for using older coffees or producing foolproof crema) as well as the single shot normal basket (the double shot basket is already in the portafilter).
Practically the only thing missing is coffee and a knock box. They do sell a very nice mini one for under $30, if you’re inclined.
Unboxing is pretty straightforward, though I did put the box upside down to let the styro-enclosed machine slip out easier. This is fine to do with the machine when it’s brand new; but if you’re storing the machine in this box after use, never flip the machine upside down, as the water remaining inside could damage things. Find a friend to help re-unpack it.
The Barista Express itself is wrapped in lots of plastic to protect its beautiful outward appearance. Tape is also used to secure things like the drip tray and water reservoir. The grinder bean hopper is not attached, and is stored under the machines’ grouphead.
The espresso machine and grinder combo has a nice weight to it. Not super heavy by any stretch, but not a lightweight either, weighing in at 9.55kg empty (21lbs). The Barista Express is a good size too. It measures 41cm tall, by 31cm wide and 34cm deep (15.8″(H) x 12.6″(W) x 13.2″(L)) and will fit under most cupboards on your kitchen counters.
Normally I cover espresso machines top to bottom, but in the case of the Barista Express, I’m going to focus on the things my eye and attention is drawn to first. And the first thing I really noticed once getting the machine all unwrapped is the steam wand. I noticed right away the full rotation and feel of the steam wand. I’m so used to budget espresso machines having wonky, tight and awkward moving steam wands, the Barista Express’ variant feels very “pro”.
The steam wand has a full 360 degree swivel action, for use at almost any angle. It features Breville’s “assist” mid handle ring design, giving you a place to grab the wand and move it without getting burnt (it is not a cool-touch wand).
Unlike other budget espresso machines, the Barista Express has a dedicated hot water tap, which sits in front of the wand. It is in a slightly awkward position (if you want to hold your cup close to it when dosing hot water). Still, this is another “prosumer” feature on this budget friendly machine.
The magnetic tamper included with the Barista Express slots into the front left, and becomes pretty intuitive once you use the machine for a few weeks (ie, you can insert it or remove it without watching). Interestingly enough, Breville designed it this way with the thought that some folks would just tamp upwards, right into the magnetically held tamper, skipping the step of removing it to tamp traditionally. This comes from the old school days of big espresso grinders with the dosing chambers; many of them would have a built in “tamper” in the front of the doser that baristas would raise up to to press down on the dosed coffee. Weird, huh?
The next thing to catch my eye was the cradle area where the portafilter is inserted when grinding coffee with the machine. The cradle is a grippy, flexible plastic that locks down nicely on the portafilter, but also easily flexes and releases it when you remove the PF from the cradle. Another bit of “polished” package here from Breville.
The water reservoir drew my next attention, so I checked it out more. The Barista Express comes in a lot of different colour choices, and depending on the machine’s colour, the water reservoir could be clear plastic, light gray “clear” plastic, or what I had on my test machine: a smoke-grey plastic. Filling it up measured to just over 2 litres at the max line (68fl.oz), and it can be easily removed thanks to the flip top cover that changes to a handle, and brought to the sink for a refill. Since 2018, Breville has included a water filter with their reservoir (nice!), but it remains one of the few machines in their lineup without a low water sensor system built in.
As I looked around the machine, the drip tray slid out, so that garnered the next attention. The drip tray is one of the deepest I’ve ever seen on a machine this size, measuring in at 1.1 litres capacity (37 fl.oz) when you see the “empty me” flip up sign. There’s also a nice multi-element design to the drip tray to help keep stray grounds from the grinder from fully mucking up the drip tray water. And the drip tray also latches onto one of Breville’s secrets of this machine: a hidden accessories tray that slides out along with the drip tray when you remove it.
To be honest, a ton of engineering has gone into the drip tray design, and it shows.
Since I’m all about measurements at this stage, the grinder hopper drew my next attention. It almost holds a standard 12oz bag (250g is more realistic), and has the usual Breville design of a nice bean shut off system for removal while it is still full of coffee beans. The hopper does overhang the cup warmer area a bit, but you can still fit six espresso cups up there easily, or 3 espresso cups and two cappuccino cups with ease.
Now for the main attraction: the Barista Express’ control panel. It may look a bit complex, but in reality, everything is pretty straightforward.
The power button on the left is next to the grind volume amount dial (an electro-mechanical timer dial), and those sit next to the grind dose button (single or double) which also acts as a stop button for the grinder when actively grinding. Below that button are the single and double shot indicator lights for which dose you’ve selected. If I have one gripe here, those indicator lights are way too bright.
In the middle of the Barista Express is the very accurate pressure gauge; in testing, it’s “play” is a lot more accurate some more expensive machines I’ve used.
To the right of the dial is the program button for programming the single and double shot volumes. Next to that is the single and double shot brewing buttons, and below it are two indicator lights, one for cleaning indication, and the other to show when the steam or hot water system is active.
Here’s the layout with some tool-tipping.
On the left of the machine is a rotary dial for selecting the grinder’s fineness setting. On the right side is a two way dial for activating hot water or steaming functions. When the dial is pointed straight up, those two systems are in standby mode. The only other indicator on the machine is a floating “empty me” warning sign built into the drip tray.
The North American version of the Barista Express runs on a 1600W system, which divvies up that power to the grinder, the pump, the electronics package, the lights, and of course, the thermoblock, which chews up the vast majority of the power.
Overall, the entire machine looks polished and well done. I’ve been reviewing a lot of budget machines lately ($300 to $600 range) and the Barista Express, along with other Breville machines (the Bambino Plus, Infuser, and Bambino) all have a fit and finish that is just in a league of their own.
One last note from this unboxing session: I noted the packaging said this machine has a one year warranty. I checked with Breville and yes, the Barista Express has just a 1 year warranty. This is notable, because their newer machines, including the Barista Touch, Barista Impress, and even the Bambino Plus have 2 year warranties. I wonder if this is just an overlook by Breville.
On the Counter
The Barista Express from Breville doesn't take up a lot of counter space, but provides both the grinder and espresso machine, as well as a hot water source.
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Using theBarista Express
Setting up the Breville Barista Express for the first time is a breeze, as the machine automates the process somewhat. When powering it up for the first time (or any time), the machine automatically engages the pump to fill the thermoblock. On first use, this takes a bit longer. Breville also provides a first use guide with their quickstart handout included with the machine.
Breville recommends running the following three steps repeatedly until you go through an entire reservoir of water: Pull a double shot through an empty portafilter; run the steam wand for 10 seconds; then run the hot water for 10 seconds. Repeat all 3. This “seasons” the machine for regular use, according to Breville, and is just solid advice for initial conditioning of the machine. So we did that.
What’s interesting is that Breville’s newer machines — even the super budget Breville Bambino — automate this process the first time you power up the machine. On the older gen Barista Express, you need to do it manually.
The portafilter is a nice weight at 456g (1lb), and uses a 54mm filter basket. There is a plastic insert inside, but otherwise the bulk of the portafilter is stainless steel. For good espresso, you want this thing blazing hot so make sure to run a blank shot or two each morning before pulling your first shots.
Because of the popularity of this machine, a gazillion aftermarket accessories are available for it, including chopped portafilters, including very nice ones for under $35. Definitely consider one of these as your first upgrade part.
The Barista Express, once powered on, gets things nice and toasty hot (the grouphead and portafilter) after about 10-15 minutes on its own, though the machine is sort of ready to brew about 30 to 45 seconds after turning it on (you will have to actively heat up the grouphead and portafilter if you want to pull a shot).
The machine will go into a sleep mode after 1 hour of non use, and after 3 hours total, goes into auto shut off mode. There’s no digital timer for turning the machine on in the morning automatically.
A Nice Double
A double shot pulled on the Breville Barista Express, in our earliest testing.
Transitioning from the portafilter to the grinder cradle becomes second nature rather quickly: the distance and “feel” of it all seems quite natural. One thing I noticed right away after dialing in our grind was how the grinder backloads coffee into the portafilter basket, depositing more grinds away from the handle than close to it.
When you’re levelling and settling your dose, it’s vitally important to sweep a lot of that coffee back towards the PF handle side of the basket, to ensure the dose is even across the entire basket. This comes with practice.
The grind is a bit clumpy coming out of the grinder, but not too bad all things considered. It’s less clumpy than what we tested on with the Baratza Virtuoso, for example. There is no “pause” feature on this grinder (something built into the grinders on the Barista Pro and Touch, as well as the Dose Control Pro and Smart Grinder Pro, all from Breville); I found myself missing that feature, because I liked pausing the grind midway through, settling the grounds in the basket, then completing the pre-programmed grind time.
To sort your dose properly, It might be better to use a dosing cradle designed for Breville portafilters. Thankfully, Breville started including their own dosing cradle with all machines shipped after 2022. There’s also a lot of aftermarket ones available. Using one of these, along with a WDT device will settle the grind down nicely.
You can use the grinder manually, bypassing the built in timer. You do so by simply pressing the portafilter into the activation button in the cradle area, and holding it in place. As long as you are pressing that button, the grinder is active; release the button and the grinder stops.
The grind quality is okay. It’s basically the Smart Grinder Pro grinding system built in, so you’re getting the inner parts of that grinder in this machine. What I like less is the grinder timer dial. In 2024, a timer dial that jumps 1-2 seconds per click isn’t acceptable any longer. That can result in as much as 3g differences in doses.
I’m impressed with the grind quality on this built in grinder; it’s certainly better than the old Smart Grinder (circa 2009) that Breville used to have, and is on par with the current Dose Control Pro grinder from the company. Makes sense too – the burr group and assembly are identical. You basically have a $175 grinder built into this machine.
The Barista Express is very quiet overall, especially considering how much noise is possible: you’re grinding coffee, you’re running a vibration pump. Some machines and grinders require you to almost leave a room if you want to have a conversation; that’s not an issue with the Barista Express.
Programming the machine can be easy, or a “read the manual” adventure. To program the shot timings for the single and double shot buttons, it’s a matter of pressing the program button, then pressing either the single or double button (release it right away), and pressing the single or double button again to end the shot and store your new programmed shot volume. The Barista Express has built in pre-programmed preinfusion — where the pump runs at a lower pressure — that runs for about 10 seconds; I have not found a way to change that in the programmed shot volumes, but you can modify the preinfusion manually on a solitary shot pull basis.
You do it by manually pulling a shot: press and hold the single (or double, doesn’t matter) brew button for as long as you want preinfusion – if you want 5 seconds, hold it that long. If you want 10 seconds preinfusion, hold the button for 10 seconds. As soon as you release the button, the machine ramps up the pump to full pressure and your shot is pulled. Press the button again to manually end the shot pull.
But wait – there’s more programming. The machine leaves the factory with it’s internal PID set at 93.3C for grouphead temperatures (200F). But you can program the machine up or down in roughly 1.1C increments (2F), maxing out at either 95.5C (204F) or 91.1C (196F). To figure out how to do this, you need to read the manual. But in this First Look, we’ll also tell you how to do it:
To change the machine’s set temperature, you have to shut the machine off first, then hold the program button as you power on the Barista Express. You’ll see, visually represented, what the current temperature programmed in is, depending on which of the big circle buttons on the machine’s front is lit up. The program button is the 93.3C (200F) indicator; the next two buttons on the right (1 and 2 shot) are 94.4C and 95.5C, and the two big buttons on the left are 91.1C and 92.2C. To change the machine’s programmed temperature, just press one of the corresponding buttons. The machine will accept that setting, then turn on normally.
There’s some confusion over whether the Barista Express has true volumetric dosing of brewing water. The manual mentioned volumetric in the features list, but several popular vendor video walk throughs say its timer based. When I pull a blank shot vs a normal shot with coffee grounds, the blank shot dumps a lot more water into the cup than the 40-60ml I might program in for the normal shot. I’ll confirm this with Breville for the Detailed Review.
The standard double basket will max out at around 18 grams of coffee. You can get more in the basket, but you’d be mashing it up against the grouphead dispersion screen when locking the portafilter into place. For this First Look, we stuck to 17-18g doses of coffee.
I can’t say enough about the preinfusion mode. It works as advertised, and I believe it makes better espresso. If you manually apply preinfusion (by pressing and holding a brew button to extend (or shorten) the preinfusion time), you can use that to your benefit when pulling ristretto shots. This machine is definitely capable of good ristrettos: the grinder is up to the task of grinding finer, and the pump can handle the increased water pressure needed.
Steaming milk is, simply put, a joy on this machine. It puts machines like the Rancilio Silvia to complete shame. Transition time to steam is relatively quick (under 30 seconds for full steam power) and the “action” of the wand in all facets is excellent: the mobility and positioning of the wand, and the design of the steam tip facilitate easy microfroth creation. If you’re “okay” in your skills creating microfroth, you’ll find it very easy on this machine.
We also liked how the Barista Express automatically transitions back to espresso brewing temperatures after steaming by purging the thermoblock of all the super heated water within seconds of you turning the steam dial back to standby. There is a pause before it does this, because the designers allowed for turning the wand off and on during steaming to check the milk, or steam a second pitcher. It’s a nice hidden feature.
In our first use of the machine, it was pretty easy to dial in coffees. We used our standard coffee for all machine reviews. I like that you can change the brewing temperatures on this machine, because we were able to make the shots better by changing the machines’ brewing temperature setting to 202F, or 94.5C.
ConclusionBarista Express
I can understand why this Breville Barista Express is so popular. Not only does it look great and is priced well, but it delivers in a lot of different ways. This one machine allows you to make just about any espresso based beverage (as an eg, we used in in a forthcoming How to Make Iced Espresso guide, as well as a caffe creme How To), but also delivers ample hot water for tea and other hot drinks. Steaming performance is excellent for its class, and there’s not only a lot of extras included with the machine, but a lot of hidden bonuses as well.
In our forthcoming Full Review of the machine, we’ll test the Breville Barista Express much more thoroughly, diving into temperature tests, repeatability, usability, potential problem areas, and our focus group feedback. We’ll put dozens of pounds of coffee through the machine to find out every positive and negative it offers. We’ll also put it head to head against other machines, including Breville’s other Barista lineup.
For now, I feel very comfortable recommending this machine as an excellent starting point for serious espresso at home, without completely destroying the bank account. At $700, you’re getting a lot, including some class leading features. If you find it on sale, its an even better bargain.
The Barista Express, with regular maintenance and care, should easily last up to 10 years or more of daily use, and that’s not just pulling shots; that includes using it for hot water for teas, and other hot beverages. My wife got to the point where she was using it for instant soups in the morning.
If espresso is just part of your coffee routine at home, you might want consider something else, including Breville’s Infuser machine, which is the Barista Express, sans grinder. Then buy a nice grinder (many under $250 are fantastic these days) that can tackle all your coffee grinding needs. This way, you have a great espresso machine, and a grinder not married exclusively to it.
But if you want an all in one package that doesn’t occupy a huge amount of counter space, and has a proven record, the Barista Express is still the one to beat.
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