Breville Barista Express Espresso Machine BES870XL, Brushed Stainless Steel

Good espresso, slight learning curve.
Owned since Oct. 2017, no issues yet. Avg. of maybe 2 double espressos per day, steamed milk less often, so relatively low use. We have a whole-house water softener (and 5-stage RO filter for drinking water), so scale buildup is not an issue at all. I do run the cleaning tablet when the “clean me” light comes on. I did descale it once so far, but might not have been necessary (eg. our electric kettle doesn’t build up any scale). We only use the non-pressurized filter baskets (tried the others, didin’t see the point, harder to clean).My best advice for an easy and consistent “Italian café style” espresso is to get a can of Illy medium roast beans. Especially if you’re new to making espresso (actually in this case you may want to start with a can of ground Illy — still tastes great and takes one major step out of the equation, and you then know the desired coarseness for grinding your own). This gets me a great espresso every single time. With local roasts (we have several roasters in the area I’d prefer to support instead of Illy) I found it is much more finicky… can change from cup to cup, and definitely from batch to batch. While I’ve gotten some great espressos from locally-roasted sources, with interesting flavors, I’ve gotten way more poor shots. With the Breville and Illy I can make a better (IMHO) espresso than any of the local shops can manage… honestly. Mind you we live in a small college town. I guess most ppl drink frothed milk with a little coffee and don’t really notice the espresso part.Don’t try to grind a double all at once… a lot of it will overflow (wasteful and messy). I grind one shot, take the filter out, spread out the grinds and give it a couple taps on the counter to settle them, then grind the 2nd shot on top of that. Makes almost no waste or mess this way. I’ve found that the “half a double” grind amount is typically one click less than an actual single-shot grind (so eg. twice at 1 o’clock for double, once at 2 o’clock for a single).Also forget the metal “leveler” thing they include… it’s silly. Spread the grinds out in the filter with a finger edge. If the double filter is full to the brim before packing, you’re good to go. The single filter should be a little under full before packing. After packing either filter, the metal rim on the press should be even with the top of the filter (as shown in the manual). Hardest part is making sure you’re not tilting the press while pushing down, as it is easy to get a “cockeyed” pack. Again, watching the metal rim of the press vs. the filter rim is a good way to check that.Low pressure can be a direct result of old beans — really. Came home after a 2-week trip once and tried to make espresso with beans from an Illy can that had already been opened (and had made good coffee before trip). Couldn’t get the pressure high enough, regardless of grind size or amount, or tamping. Even tried a cleaning. Opened fresh can of Illy, et voilá, good pressure again.I didn’t find any other accessories necessary (except eventually some cleaning tablets). You will want something on the counter to put the filter on while packing (and banging it to settle grinds) — a folded kitchen towel works well. The space under the filter allows for a wide variety of drinking vessels (whoever suggested using paper cups… really? Wasteful and ruins the taste IMHO).The grinder maybe isn’t the best — the grind is good. and can be set very fine, but would be better to grind based on weight instead of time. It’s important that the beans are fed into the grinder consistently. Make sure they’re spread out evenly in the hopper, and as someone else mentioned, tapping on the hopper while grinding may help (esp. if there aren’t many beans in there). You can hear the grinder sound change when it is grinding beans vs. air. Regular cleanings help as well.This is not a great machine for serving a party of people. Unless they like cold coffee, or you serve them all individually as the coffees are ready… the first ppl you serve will be done by the time you serve yourself. It’s fine for a couple of servings, but beyond that it starts to get awkward. Especially if they want steamed milk…. you’d want the double-boiler model for that at minimum.Overall very happy with this machine. I had never made my own espresso before owning it, but I certainly knew what I liked. This machine delivered, after a modest learning curve (and the Illy beans helped a lot).

I’ve had this almost two years now, so I figured it was time for a proper review.If you don’t want to read my in depth review but just my quick opinion and are in the market for a semi-automatic espresso maker (with grinder!), you can’t beat this machine for the money it costs (especially here compared to a department store). It comes with a satisfactory grinder (anything better itself will cost you hundreds of dollars on its own), and an easy to use (and learn) espresso maker which makes good espresso, latte’s, etc. (assuming you don’t use garbage beans of course). Its been nearly two years and I’ve yet to have a problem and still works just as good as it did the day I got it.I’ll start with the cons, because there aren’t many and they are very minor, picky issues.The grinder: I find the size setting to be slightly misleading. I’d assume you could use the full range of grind sizes, but anything less than a 4 you’ll have trouble pulling a shot with the proper pressure. Over time I’ve found I’ve needed to reduce the grind size more and more, but that could be to poor (lack of) regular cleaning habits because I’m lazy.The pressure gauge. There’s an “espresso range” on it which you may think anywhere in that is OK. Its not. To get a good pull you’ll need to make sure it starts around at least “12:30” and ideally about “1:00” if you treat it like a clock (pointing straight up would be 12:00). Once you get a feel for the grind and how much tamp pressure to use, you’ll be able to do this with regular ease after a couple weeks of use (assuming you mainly stick with one type of espresso).The port-a-filter. Its not standard sized so it may be hard to replace. No big deal. Those interested in this probably have more “professional” machines anyways and aren’t in the market for this.Now onto the good things:If you’ve never used a steam wand before, this is probably a good machine for you. Enthusiasts may say its not good or powerful enough, but its great to learn on. Its not a “double boiler” machine where you can froth milk and do the espresso at the same time, but for starter home use its great. Those double boiler machines start at 2-3 times the price of this. If you only make lattes for yourself a couple times a day (like me), its perfect. Because its doesn’t use a boiler, its a little slower. That actually makes it EASIER to make perfect milk for the novice (also like me!). By the time I’m done making a latte, I’ve probably spent about 3 minutes. That’s about 6 minutes out of my day which is quicker than waiting forever at st*rb*cks for something worse.The grinder: Its built in. Enough said. Clean it out once in a while and you’ll be fine.Making espresso: You can adjust the temperature within 4 degrees of 200f (the factory setting). Adjust according to your taste and beans you are using (I’m not an expert, there’s a ton and probably too much info out there on the subject). I keep mine at 202 as it brings out slightly better flavor for the standard bean I use. If you’re using relatively fresh coffee beans, you shouldn’t have much trouble pulling a decent shot.Maintenance/cleaning: its easy to use the cleaning cycle. Don’t buy the cleaning tabs or descaling solutions. Buy Cafiza tabs as they will cost you a fraction of what the Breville ones cost for regular cleaning. Dezcal can be bought for descaling also with the same cost difference. The drip tray is dishwasher safe (top shelf). I put mine in about every two weeks. In between that, I give it a good rinse when the tray is full to get rid of any grime that may have built up.If I get 2 more years out of this, I’ll be extremely happy. I’ve already gotten back my return on investment.

This is affordable, with quick shipping, and the product is exactly as described. I purchased this for my daughter while she was staying with us in India from the USA. She uses the same company and model (but a higher version) in her house in the USA. She is totally satisfied and happy. Highly recommend!

Esta cafetera destaca por su sólida construcción y funcionalidad. Incluye un molino ajustable que permite personalizar fácilmente la molienda según tus preferencias. Su uso es sencillo, con un adaptador que asegura que el café molido quede dentro del portafiltro sin derrames.El vaporizador de leche hace un trabajo decente, suficiente para la mayoría de los usuarios. Aunque existen opciones con un rendimiento superior, suelen ser significativamente más costosas. Además, incluye filtros específicos para preparar café de máquina regular y te permite elaborar espressos simples o dobles con facilidad.El depósito de agua tiene una capacidad de 1 litro e incluye un único filtro. Por ello, es recomendable adquirir un kit adicional de filtros para prolongar su utilidad. Algo a tener en cuenta es que la máquina desperdicia algo de agua, acumulándola en un contenedor interno que avisa cuando está lleno. Sin embargo, este depósito requiere vaciarse cada 10 o 15 espressos, lo que podría ser un pequeño inconveniente.Llevo un año utilizando esta cafetera y estoy muy satisfecho. Me gusta especialmente que es fácil de mantener limpia y que incluye un tamper magnético para compactar el café, lo que le da un toque elegante y funcional.En resumen, una excelente compra que combina calidad, diseño y practicidad a un precio razonable.