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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2023
I got this to celebrate a kitchen renovation, and to update the moka pot tradition that's been my coffee ritual for the last five years. Moka pot is great... but it just doesn't develop the pressure necessary to extract espresso... and sometimes you just want espresso.
I was very impressed with the Breville attention to detail. The controls were intuitive, and the detail of the touch points was outstanding- the water reservoir transforms into a bucket with a bail so you can carry it to the sink if you like, or alternatively just top it up on the machine. The assembly was simple enough with quarter-turn to assemble the bean reservoir; it's clear this was designed for easy maintenance. The instruction manual was also well-written and easy to understand.
The grinder controls are well laid out and easy to access, with just a dial and a knob: grind level and dosage. The filling of the portafilter basket was messy, since the manual/auto button took a few tries to understand, and I didn't find the filling funnel accessory in the box until after. This did throw into sharp focus, however, how simple it is to clean and service the drip tray, which holds an impressive amount of overflow and easily lifts out in three pieces for cleaning.
I did get the knock box accessory, and I recommend it just for the simplicity of knocking out pucks against the rubber bar instead of improvising something.
My only gripe with this is the twin spouts on the portafilter don't flow the coffee right- the stream doesn't fall down on the right side, but rides the spout over the edge and misses the demitasse underneath. I'm just going to scratch it up with a file to increase the surface area and get the water to wet out the end better to try to fix it... but it's super frustrating to try to get your magic bean elixir perfect and see it just jet anywhere but into the cup you placed for it. Not sure if there's anything Breville could have done about it.
The milk foaming wand takes a little getting used to, but it's easy enough to wire down and service, with a threaded tip you can remove to clean if it gets gnarly.
For me- it's the perfect mix of bean-to-cup for someone who cares about espresso but maybe not to the point of obsession. You can take it as manual as you like, with puck texturing and fancy tamping or whatever, since you still have to pack your own baskets, but it's also approachable for the other inhabitants of the kitchen who don't want to obsess over perfect extraction but just want a hot cup of coffee. It might not be the perfect machine for the wanna-be barista or coffee snob, but it certainly delivers quality shots of the black stuff if you ask it to. I hope it stays reliable, since it's living up to the promise so far out of the box.
I was very impressed with the Breville attention to detail. The controls were intuitive, and the detail of the touch points was outstanding- the water reservoir transforms into a bucket with a bail so you can carry it to the sink if you like, or alternatively just top it up on the machine. The assembly was simple enough with quarter-turn to assemble the bean reservoir; it's clear this was designed for easy maintenance. The instruction manual was also well-written and easy to understand.
The grinder controls are well laid out and easy to access, with just a dial and a knob: grind level and dosage. The filling of the portafilter basket was messy, since the manual/auto button took a few tries to understand, and I didn't find the filling funnel accessory in the box until after. This did throw into sharp focus, however, how simple it is to clean and service the drip tray, which holds an impressive amount of overflow and easily lifts out in three pieces for cleaning.
I did get the knock box accessory, and I recommend it just for the simplicity of knocking out pucks against the rubber bar instead of improvising something.
My only gripe with this is the twin spouts on the portafilter don't flow the coffee right- the stream doesn't fall down on the right side, but rides the spout over the edge and misses the demitasse underneath. I'm just going to scratch it up with a file to increase the surface area and get the water to wet out the end better to try to fix it... but it's super frustrating to try to get your magic bean elixir perfect and see it just jet anywhere but into the cup you placed for it. Not sure if there's anything Breville could have done about it.
The milk foaming wand takes a little getting used to, but it's easy enough to wire down and service, with a threaded tip you can remove to clean if it gets gnarly.
For me- it's the perfect mix of bean-to-cup for someone who cares about espresso but maybe not to the point of obsession. You can take it as manual as you like, with puck texturing and fancy tamping or whatever, since you still have to pack your own baskets, but it's also approachable for the other inhabitants of the kitchen who don't want to obsess over perfect extraction but just want a hot cup of coffee. It might not be the perfect machine for the wanna-be barista or coffee snob, but it certainly delivers quality shots of the black stuff if you ask it to. I hope it stays reliable, since it's living up to the promise so far out of the box.
