Review on ☕ Breville Barista Pro Espresso Machine - BES878BSS - Brushed Stainless Steel by Hamilton Larcony

I have had several different espresso machines over the last ten years and have tried and returned a few. This is by far my favorite car for several reasons. Throughout the review I will mainly focus on the differences to the Barista Express as I have also owned it for a while. The overall impression of the car looks good. I have the stainless steel version and it looks sharp and well built. Breville is the only company I know of that has a magnetic tamper holder under the top of the device, which is a nice touch. A place where you can place a pounder and always know where it is. Also, the pusher is made of beautiful metal, not the thin and light plastic that many other brands use. I also like that most if not all that comes in contact with hot liquids is metal rather than plastic (although there is some plastic in the portafilter, I use a baseless portafilter as noted below). I like the lightness of shot-grinding, pounding, and hauling machines, but I'm uncomfortable with the group's plastic head. I try to minimize contact of hot food and liquids with plastic. While plastic particles can leach out of water bottles, heated plastics are likely to leach out more. In terms of performance, I'll address the grinder, grist pull, hot water spout and, very importantly, the steam nozzle: I've seen a few complaints about Breville grinders and I don't understand why. Of course, I think most of the complaints come from people who are much more advanced and understand coffee making than I am. However, I find that the coffee grinder does its job well. It has fine adjustments that you make with a dial on the left side of the machine, as well as larger adjustments that you can make with the grinder itself under the bean hopper. I wouldn't say big tweaks are very easy, but definitely doable if you follow the instructions. I made an adjustment on the grinder myself and only rely on other fine adjustments. As a side note, I saw in another reviewer's tutorial video that you want to make fine adjustments when sanding so nothing sticks. I'm not sure if this is necessary, but I'm doing it just in case. I'm impressed with how little mess the sanding leaves behind. Dosage amount and grind size are the same if I have everything and left it there. In addition, it is easy to switch from a single to a double dose. Shooting is pretty easy too, but it takes time to get it right. It depends more on the size and dosage of the grist, as well as the strength of the pounder to get it right, but you'll see results as you pull through the shot. I don't use the included portafilter because I've always liked the look of bare bottom portafilters, so I found one at Revain that was the right size for this machine. Uncoated bottom filters look cool when shooting, but create a little more mess than a standard portafilter and are a little less forgiving than the one that comes with it. With a fairly good size and amount of grind, you can get good, consistent hits. With my Barista Express, I noticed that the second portion, a few minutes apart, was usually more bitter and not as tasty as the first. With this machine, I can make a double batch, steam the milk, and then make another double batch without any issues or difference in taste. The Barista Pro also has a three-second warm-up time, compared to around thirty seconds on the Barista Express, which isn't a big deal on its own, but I find the newer heating element is more advanced and gives a better second press. The hot water spout is angled and can be poured directly into the cup after pouring without having to move the cup to another location. I also like the curved spout compared to the Barista Express spout. As for the steam wand, it doesn't seem like much is being advertised or discussed as an improvement over the steam wand over the Barista Express, but in my opinion it's a lot more powerful. I really struggled to find the right milk texture for latte art, but with the Barista Pro the steamer wand feels much more powerful, steams milk faster and can more easily achieve the right texture and consistency for good latte art. (My latte art isn't great, but I'll put it down to my skill, not the steamer). To be fair, my skills have improved somewhat since I've had the Barista Express, but I definitely feel a significant difference with this vapor wand. So I think that alone is worth the higher price compared to the Barista Express. I also tried automatic. I would argue that automatic machines are easier to use, require less training (although there are still some), and most also give you the ability to make regular filter coffee. They don't usually have as good a draw or flavor as this device, and I personally like the "fancy" part of the loop-to-handshot transition. In conclusion, I definitely recommend this machine to anyone looking for very good espresso drinks, better than what you usually find in cafes, without leaving your home. If you want to learn how to properly use a latte and cappuccino steam wand, I think this machine beats the Barista Touch and better than other machines in this price range. In a matter of months, the machine pays for itself compared to buying a latte a few times a week at a coffee shop.