Breville - the Barista Pro Espresso Machine with 15 bars of pressure, Milk Frother and intergrated grinder - Brushed Stanless Steel

With more people working from home, many are missing out on that authentic morning latte experience. And while you can remedy that with pod styles espresso machines, whole beans is always the way to go with coffee or espresso. In comes Breville with its new Barista Pro which truly brings a craft espresso shop into your home! SET-UP & FINE TUNING: - I think the most important thing to know about this espresso machine (or really any authentic espresso machine) is that it takes time to understand how to get the best espresso possible and I hoped to go through that here. - Before that, right out of the box there is some minor set up you have to do. Mainly just follow the quick setup guide to make sure you rinse out a few things, set up the filter, and run water through the system. It's pretty easy stuff but just be aware of that! - Once you are ready to go and have the whole beans in, now is the important part: the fine tuning. Just like coffee beans, espresso beans can have different characteristics to them and because of this they all grind slightly different. So between this you will have to run a number of practice runs through the machine before you are ready to go. This just means that you adjust the grind size and grind amount until you get the perfect time of pour, color, and taste. - And really once you are done with the grind settings, you will be ready to go! Just keep the settings the same every time until you change the espresso bean you are putting in there. PROS: - The Breville Barista Pro is a gorgeous machine! I really like the updated stainless steel look to it as well as the improved angles and set up. - I think the digital display face just makes for a more inviting experience. Its a nice crisp color, easy to understand how to use, and just makes for simply operation all around. Seriously the controls were very easy to use on this display! - I was seriously blown away at how fast this Barista Pro heats up! The new "ThermoJet" is very noticeable on how fast it heats up and how quiet it is. In comparison to other espresso machines, I was also really impressed with how quiet it is. - After setup, the ease of use is so simple! Put the portafilter (handle with the shot at the end) under to grind the beans, pack it down, and pop it under to make the shot. All done! Once you get good at it, you can have an espresso in less than a minute. - On that note, there is really something about the smell of fresh ground espresso beans and packing your own shot. I have really enjoyed the hands on approach to this espresso machine that makes me more involved in how my drink turns out. - The steam wand is another reason why this espresso machine is so incredible. Now a steam wand doesn't just whisk up the milk like other "frothers" do. The steam wand creates genuine coffee house froth at the top of the milk while also heating it up to the temperature you want. I recommend watching some videos on how to perfect the skill but its pretty easy! - I do also like the hot water spout it has in case you need a bit for a drink, or to mix honey with, or really anything. - And of course, my drinks taste wonderful! It makes a really great shot of espresso because the involvement of fresh ground beans, hand packed shots, and freshly frothed milk make for a very enjoyable latte! Or make it your own, you can pour the espresso over ice and make an ice latte, use a lot of froth for a cappuccino, or use the hot water spout for an americano. DOWNSIDES: - I can't really thing of any "Cons" about this espresso machine as I think they really thought of everything! But I can list some downsides to owning something like this that some might not like - This isn't just a press one button and you have your drink ready to go. This is a craft you have to put some effort into to make, its rewarding but just something to be aware of. - There is cleaning involved when making shots aka clean out the drainage tray, wipe down the steam wand, and clean out the portafilter. It's a good way to keep everything looking nice but it's not something you can just clean once a month like a pod system or coffee pot. - Although it's quiet compared to others, its still going to be louder than a coffee machine. But if you have ever been into a coffee shop you know that espresso machines are not quiet. BOTTOM LINE: - If you are craving something than something from a coffee pot, then the Breville Barista Pro has you covered. It really is an enjoyable part of my morning to hand craft a drink, smell the fresh beans, and have a nice warm latte all from the comforts of my own home. Yes its a more involved process than a pod system, but that's what gives it the flavor you desire and it makes up for it with the high end look of the Barista Pro. I have really enjoyed being my own Barista every morning while having a strong cup of espresso to start my day, and I think you will too!

just a super machine, I make the best coffee for myself and recommend that everyone love to make coffee themselves, but you have to suffer a little with the study of the whole process, but believe me, it's worth it and after three months of studying and buying additional accessories you will make coffee better than anywhere else. number and better people in Starbucks

Overview: I could not wait to receive the Breville Barista Pro, if it looked half as beautiful as it did on the website, I would be happy! The design of this machine is very nice, it looks like it’s good enough the be a professional machine, but made for home use. It’s quite large, measuring 13”x13”, you’ll need a decent amount of counter space for this machine! The machine comes with many accessories to help you successfully prepare a consistent cup of coffee. A water filter, a “razor” to ensure you use the same amount of coffee each time, a frothing cup and several coffee baskets. The one I like the most is the tamper that is magnetically stored neatly, out of the way on the coffee machine! All the included accessories feels nice and solid. Breville includes an excellent instruction manual, take a few minutes to read it. I found it to be very informative and well written. If you haven’t purchased the machine and you’re curious what you’re in for with this machine, download the pdf version. It seems a bit intimidating at first, but it’s not very difficult to learn how to use. Layout and features: The “Thermojet” heating system does heat up very fast. I’ve owned expresso machines in the past, and they usually take minutes to heat up, this takes seconds! With the Barista Pro, I can even use the steam wand to froth my milk while it’s brewing coffee! I found the layout of the knobs, buttons to be very intuitive and easy to use, although I did find myself looking for a button for hot water more than once (it’s the knob on the right, turn it away from you for hot water, towards you for steam). It’s a nice touch that they have a hot water nozzle for Americano’s or for heating up your cup. The results: The coffee that comes out of this machine is excellent!! Needless to say, my wife and I are very well caffeinated this past week! You’ll want to make sure your extraction is just right, not too slow to flow out and not too fast (page 15 of manual goes into more details). I found the default grind size of 15 to work for me, I did have to shorten the amount of time it grinded coffee, it was overfilling with the default setting. The Barista Pro makes it easy to customize grinder settings. I typically drink mostly brewed coffee from Starbucks, but with this machine, I’ve been trying latte’s, cappuccino’s, Americano’s and even an espresso. This machine makes brewing coffee enjoyable. To learn about the various coffee drinks and to be able to make it all is such a pleasure. I’ve made Lattes and Americano's for family visiting (using Kona coffee beans from Trade Joe's) and they all loved the results! Conclusion: I cannot say enough about the Barista Pro, we absolutely love it! After using it for a week, my wife and I have become a bit spoiled with the great tasting coffee it makes! I cannot go back to boring drip coffee. I’ve also become a bit obsessed with trying to create “latte art”, I still need more practice. If I had not been provided with a Barista Pro for this review, after tasting the results, I would definitely purchase one! On a side note, if you end up purchasing this, you might want to also pick up the Breville knock box for your grinds! Pros: 1. Great tasting coffee…just like a coffee shop 2. Beautiful design 3. Water reservoir has a unique handle, I was able to remove and fill up water with minimal clearance. I have 4” between the top of the Barista Pro and my cabinet, with that, I’m able to remove the water reservoir and fill with having to move the Barista Pro! 4. Easy to clean up – large drip tray, clean up once a day. Cons: (minor pet peeves that would improve the overall experience) 1. It would’ve been nice if the manual had some recipes for common coffee drinks. It’s easy enough to find on the internet though. 2. The frothing pitcher should have measurements on the inside so you know how many ounces of milk you’re frothing etc. This would make creating coffee drinks a bit easier. Frothing cups with measurements are easy to find online.

Great machine if you are a true espresso connoisseur and/or have barista experience! Makes a phenomenal cup truly tailored to your individual preferences as the appliance is quite customizable. This machine is designed for semi-pros who have a basic understanding of both grinding whole beans then the brewing process as their are settings that need to be configured respectively. That being said, anyone could learn how to use it but will have to do some research online about the basic concepts of coffee grinding and brewing along with some experimentation to get the proper settings (but this will vary coffee to coffee). I will say this has allowed my wife and I to no longer need to visit Starbucks and other such coffee shops as this really brings the coffee shop to home! This is not an intuitive machine to use in that if you have guests or kids (old enough to drink coffee of course), you will initially have to make their drink for them as it is too complicated for them to figure out on their own, unless they have experience with using a portafilter, grinding and brewing. BEWARE: This machine is semi-automatic! This is not a good or bad thing, just a fact and for your awareness. This is why the coffee is always consistently good but essentially, you need to understand the basic principles of coffee making (like on a Barista level - hence the name) before you use it (you can YouTube it for the most part). This is not a machine whereas you select the type of coffee you want and it instantly does all the work, there are various manual stages that require you to know what you are doing so do not buy it and return it because it was too hard to use or figure out! PROs: - Eliminates going to the coffee shop as it the same level of quality (if not better in some cases) surprisingly - Color touch screen along with software adds automation to take the legwork of making a particular type of coffee (for the most part) but again, there are still two (three if you want milk) distinctly manual stages you will need to perform - Truly makes a remarkable cup of "real coffee" types and allows you to create and save custom drinks too - The built in self cleaning options for the brewer, milk frothing and water descaling are neat and useful. They neglected the hopper cleaning process however (see below). - When water tray (drip till) gets full, you will see the water level EMPTY ME pop up slowly as it fills (manually) - When water is low, you will be notified CONs: - Expensive but good quality costs money and this would be of good example of you get what you pay for! - Machine could have been QA'ed better as far as on screen verbiage (see attached screenshots) - Hard to get a hold of their support and customer service is not great as far as follow-up (had to call vendor as they did not return tickets I submitted). Might be a training issue. - As previously pointed out, the water temperature could be hotter but its not a deal breaker as its still "entry level hot". One workaround that helps is to preheat mug or cup in advance. - Milk frothing was not designed well as far as self cleaning as it makes a mess. - Cleaning the underneath the hopper grinding component (after removing) it very hard! If all the small particles of beans are not removed, you will not be able to secure the grinder back in place. The only way to clean successfully I found is to use an air can, which as you can imagine is very messy. This is poor design in my opinion as consideration should have been taken to make cleaning much easier. - No way to remotely update firmware for typos or misinformation (see screenshot) so machine has to be sent to HQ Bottom line: Its a great machine overall, I just think my expectations were higher due to the cost. My standards are akin to the Bose and Apple standards whereas you almost always get consistently great customer service and product support. I think if they can work on that, this could be a 4, maybe 5 star product. If this was at a lower price point, my review would reflect accordingly and I wouldn't be as critical but in this category, I expect perfection or close to it.

My husband and I love it we could never go back to a regular coffee maker again!

I haven’t spent money on Starbucks or any coffee shop since I bought this last month. It’s easy to set up, use and clean. It’s a very good middle ground espresso machine I suppose as far as cost goes from the research I did. But I don’t think I’d get anything else more pricey. I also really like the grinder that’s built in- only complaint is the grounds make a mess, so I set a small bowl underneath it. The steamer works very well and is easy to use. This is our first espresso machine and we are pleased! Worth the money!

The Breville Barista Pro is a semi-high end 'Café Quality' coffee maker. Unpacking the machine was borderline 'fun', the way all the individual elements were packaged/labeled. Setting them all out, you are pretty much covered for any brewing scenario! First thing you'll notice is the quality of the machine and all the metal components. They are well built and sturdy. However, in contrast, a couple of the plastic pieces don't inspire the greatest of confidence. In setting up the machine, first off, you need to soak and prep the filter. No problem, same with pretty much any machine of this caliber. Once soaked and rinsed, clipped it into the filter holder, instructions suggested turning the grey dial for 2 months ahead to remind you to change the filter. This was my first issue with the plastic. Couldn't get it to move at all by hand, even though it 'should' rotate smoothly. Finally got it into position by forcing a towel through the loop to add some grip to my finger. Not a huge deal at all, but as step 2 in the instructions, it was a little infuriating (but doesn't affect how this machine works overall). Time for coffee! Filled the grinder with some tasty Lavazza beans. The grinder, with removable hopper and automatic grind control, is superb! Works fantastically, you have a grind coarseness adjustment and time of grind. You push the basket 'into' the machine to turn on the grinder. It would be really nice if there was a little LED light that came on with the grinder motion. The backing to the grind area is black rubber/plastic and the grounds are dark brown, so it was tough to see how much grounds were in the basket. The tamper is nicely weighted and makes tamping down the grounds a breeze, and the included stainless steel trimmer levels off the basket nicely. The large capacity (68fl oz) water tank on the back means that you don't have to keep filling the machine up every time you use it. However, as noted at the beginning of the review, here again, the plastic for the handle on the water tank is quite flimsy and doesn't inspire confidence when the tank is full. Inserting the basket with your grounds into the machine to brew your espresso is very tight. Once it's in there, it's not going anywhere for sure. The ThermoJet Heating system heats up in around 3 seconds, meaning your coffee is coming hot and fast! No hanging around for over a minute waiting for the system to heat up. Here you have almost instant espresso! There are 4 filter baskets included 2 regular and 2 dual walled, for one cup and two cup doses. We had some difficulty changing out the filters from the basket, no tool provided really helped with this (the Razor Precision Dose trimmer was closest, but didn't want to damage anything). Ended up using a towel and a screw driver to change out the baskets, as they are in there tight. Thankfully, it's not something we'll need to do often, but wanted to note it. On to the steamer/dedicated hot water outlet. The multidirectional steam nozzle is incredibly handy and versatile. It's nice to be able to steam milk and move it around easily. I still have some work to do to get the silky micro-foam texture (as labeled on the box!), but overall, very satisfied with how the milk heated and foamed with this machine. Having a dedicated hot water outlet is a nice feature too if you want to just top up your coffee quickly with hot water. Overall, I am very impressed with this machine, it has a great build quality with all of the metal components, the very first espresso out of the gate was superb, the grinder is very proficient, and the milk steamer is fantastic.

Being a hot tea and occasional coffee drinker, I thought "Why Not?" when the Barista Pro popped up. They are not kidding with this system - this is a serious tool and making a good cup of espresso takes time to figure out the right combinations of settings. Even then, a change in one component can turn it all upside down. In my experience, the main contributing factor is absolutely the grind; just as the grind for regular coffee can affect the outcome, here it can do so as well. This is a trial and error part of the overall process so, if you're looking at adding this to your caffeine-ingestion regimen, plan on investing the time needed to get this right. The built-in grinder is fantastic and widely adjustable; I also like the ability to unlock and remove the hopper while beans are still in it, great for cleaning the burrs. Like cable TV where having so many choices can become overwhelming, I've finally settled in with grind and time settings and can consistently make a pleasing cup now. It took time to dial it all in, tried several different bean choices and even a ground coffee trial [no thank you] but results are now predictable and repeatable. 4 different filters are included for single and double cups, whole bean or ground coffee. A milk cup as well as water filter and cleaning tools are included as well. I have used the steamer a single time and it's easy to dial in and use though cleaning takes some doing. Plan on a 14" x 14" x 14" space for the unit plus space to store the accessories. Not for the amateur, it has a single purpose, making the best espresso and in my book it does just that.