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Product Description
Making good espresso is an art—and the Breville Barista Express has everything you need to do so, from grinding the beans to frothing milk. Backed by a conical burr grinder with adjustments from fine to coarse, plus a dose-controlling tool to give you just the right amount necessary, it’s easy to tweak for any kind of cup Read More
I bought a floor model of this machine (unused) for about US$200. Best purchase ever. I did find the grinder to be the weakest aspect of the machine though, so my kids got me a Breville Smart Grinder Pro for my birthday which is a LOT better.
Initially considered this machine but ultimately decided I was more interested in a cup of coffee than becoming a barista--spent a tad more dough and went for a Super Automatic instead.
There's certainly no shortage of Coffee Snobs around here who will insist a more labor intensive machine with a steeper learning curve, will yield a better (fill-in-the-blank) kind of coffee drink, but without having both kinds of machine available for a side by side comparisons, I doubt most of us would know one from the other. I do admit It does sound appropriately snobby to say so, but I'm more inclined to believe the coffee beans one chooses have a more material influence on taste/flavor, than a choice of machine A or B.
That said, if you're the sort who likes to fuss with the variables in your coffee equation, this seems like a good machine to start with; it's neither too manual nor too automatic. If it's your first of either variety, you should also be aware of the maintenance (cleaning/care and feeding requirements) for machines in this league--there's plenty of it. Nothing too difficult, but one must be regular and diligent.
Lastly, if you absolutely, positively know you are strictly an espresso kind of coffee drinker (have no interest in "milk-based" drinks) you can buy a simpler machine without a milk frother. If you prefer lattes and the like, this machine allows that option as a separate, manual step (complete with it's own learning curve).
I didn't realized it until I bought my machine, but I'm quite partial to Latte Macchiatos (who knew?). That's a milk-based coffee drink I could never have mastered, with this Breville. On a super automatic, it's just a button I push. Which leads me to my final thoughts...if you're the sort of person who drinks coffee at different times (and states of consciousness) throughout the day, you might enjoy the rituals involved in producing whatever kind of coffee you wish to enjoy at that given moment. If, other the other hand, you're the sort who prefers to put off any sort of thinking or decision making until you've had at least one or two cups of coffee in the morning, consider a simpler and faster alternative.
psw212hey buddy, if you live in South Korea then your household electricity operates at a frequency of 60Hz, but the voltage is 220V. The machine sold here is 110V/60Hz.
But, this actually makes it safe to use the machine with a step-down transformer. Funny enough, most of these units are made in South Korea!
What you need: 3KVA 60Hz Step-Down transformer
you should give these guys a call:
http://www.hanilsys.co.kr/
You can probably get it for less that $100.
Of course, it's best to buy a machine that is designed for your native electricity output.
But if none of these machines are sold in South Korea, then this is your best hope :)
$480 right now at Bed Bath and Beyond with 20% off coupon (only works in store). I have literally bought 4 of these. Home. Work. Christmas present. Fathers Day. Excellent machine but this isn't an excellent deal.
I have had the BES860 and 870 express for the last 5 years or so.
I love these machines. I 100% would buy again, repeatedly. The build quality inside is pretty awesome, you can see the clamps are put on by hand, the quality of the parts is very good, and the pressure gauge helps me make amazing shots of espresso every single time. The pressure gauge helps you adjust grind fineness and tamp pressure to nail that perfect shot, so the learning curve on going from "how do I use an espresso machine" to "perfect shot" is really quick, something that other machines you might never really get to- consistent perfect shots.
TainenI have a Barista Express myself and went from an espresso fool to pretty decent in about a week to pretty good in about a month. My daughter's BF worked at a Starbucks through college and he's a fan.
IMO the best brews from these machines are 25/29 second draws.
Sam_I_Am_18Hey Sam,
It's easy. Pull the top grinding burr - unlock and remove the hopper*, the top burr has a wire handle on top - twist it maybe 1/64 of a turn to the left and lift straight up).
Remove the wire handle and twist the indicated number from "5" to whatever you want below 5.
FWIIW I settled on an indicated "3" on the top burr after about a week.
*It's best to unlock and dump any beans from the hopper then replace the hopper and grind out any remaining beans and trash them before pulling the top burr - you can't replace/reseat it with beans in the way.
**Grinder won't work without hopper in place.
Good luck.
Ed
DimaGyeah and it's a workhorse at that!
funny, it might still be economical to buy two or three of them for the office haha!
let's do some meth. err i mean math!
so, like @toiletseat has mentioned, Nespresso is around $0.7 per cup at retail price. (10x sleeve costs $7)
can get real, fresh beans of good quality for as low as $10/lb from a local roastery.
and that can easily run you 50 cups of espresso on an automatic machine. that's $0.2 per cup!
hell, if you cheap out on your deskmates and go pre-packaged beans (not freshly roasted, commercial coffee brand) you can easily get that cost down to $0.1 per cup. even less if you buy in bulk.
return on investment as opposed to buying a nespresso - evens out after 3-4 months (24-32 drinks per day) i'd say that's a win!
I never use the measuring glass I just don't know where to keep it, I think that the Breville is a good machine, I just would buy it with the grinder built in.