Breville Barista Express

 

Quality comes in many forms. The Breville Barista Express starts with heft. It is a reasonably heavy unit that once put on a counter, will stay there.

Further, I am able to consistently pull a good shot from this unit. Steam never runs out, and can heat up more milk than you can drink.

However, I am most impressed with the design. The beautiful metal craftsmanship is just the start, as are the labels and organization of the packaging.

The (dis)assembly for cleaning shows that the people who designed the Breville Barista Express understand the end user. I am very pleased with the simplicity and work flow of this machine, especially when cleaning it.

From the looks of Breville BES860XL, you can tell this unit has exchanged the hot water dispenser for a bean grinder. This unit is a fully automatic expresso machine with the super automatic feature of grinding a pre-measure of beans for your brew. Note, it is not a super automatic machine as you still need to manually mount the portafilter into the group head, and clean the filter afterwards. This is as automatic as you will want to go if you want to really control your coffee.

• The tamper is magnetically held in place on the front of the machine — you can use it in place or remove for manual tamping.
• There is a dry puck feature – this removes excess water so you get, a dry puck
• Excellent burr grinder — you can dismantle this for cleaning, and it has a wide range of control
• The unit comes with single and double dual wall and single wall filters
• There is a hideaway storage tray to hold all the small goodies
• Steaming — excellent steam temperature and pressure — works very well with the provided frothing jug, very minimal excess water to start
• Makes pure heavenly expresso. Nice crema. This is the real thing.

The pump assembly, heating block, and user interface are terrific.
The buttons have a nice feel, everything about the machine’s style radiates solidity. It is a pleasure to use. The waste reservoir in the base is large enough for several days’ coffee drinking, and is easy and simple to empty. The convenient hidden compartment behind it is a great place to stash the extras and cleaning tablets.

If you don’t want the grinder or the pre-programmable settings, then look into the other nearly identical Breville units in the 800 series (800, 820, and 830 as of this writing). Unless you have a grinder, however, you will want this unit. Trust me – the ease of use and minimal cleanup are well worth it.

I can’t say enough about the Breville Barista Express. It has everything you could ever want in an espresso machine: it’s quick, it’s easy, it’s customizable, it’s durable, it’s convenient, it’s sleek, it’s not too big but not too small. The Breville Barista Express does everything that I need it to all in one machine.

My Overall Rating

 

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