This Is the BEST Breville Espresso Machine Out There Right Now

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If you’re trying to identify the best Breville espresso machine, look no further.

This post will tell you the definitive winner among all Breville espresso machines.

And just in case the winner doesn’t have exactly what you need, we’ll break down a few other Breville espresso machines, so you can make a well-informed purchasing decision.

What Is the Best Breville Espresso Machine?

The best Breville espresso machine is the Breville Barista Express, given its ideal balance between features and cost. This machine has everything you need to make delicious, artsy lattes and other fine espresso drinks without difficulty. It isn’t as pricey as some other Breville models, yet it still offers an impressive range of features.

Breville BES870XL Barista Express
Breville BES870XL Barista Express
  • DOSE CONTROL GRINDING: Integrated precision conical burr grinder grinds on demand to deliver the right amount of freshly ground coffee directly into the portafilter for your preferred taste with any roast of bean
  • OPTIMAL WATER PRESSURE: Low pressure pre-infusion gradually increases pressure at the start and helps ensure all the flavors are drawn out evenly during the extraction for a balanced tasting cup
  • MANUAL MICROFOAM MILK TEXTURING: The powerful steam wand performance allows you to hand texture microfoam milk that enhances flavor and enables creation of latte art
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To help you make an investment in an espresso machine that will last you for a long time, we’re showcasing the nine best Breville espresso machines that are worth your consideration. We’ll give you the pros and cons you need to know for each model.

Top 3 Best Breville Espresso Machines at a Glance

9 Best Breville Espresso Machines

Breville Cafe Roma

Breville ESP8XL Cafe Roma Stainless Espresso Maker Check availability

The Breville Cafe Roma is an entry-level espresso machine, priced attractively for those who want to up their coffee game but aren’t quite ready to invest in the big guns. That’s not to say this machine is subpar. Quite the opposite, in fact. The Cafe Roma has plenty of outstanding features that outshine those of similarly priced machines.

This machine features a stainless steel design, a 15-bar pressure pump and a 1.2-liter water reservoir that together deliver a quality size of rich espresso. The Thermoblock heating system achieves the ideal water temperature to push through and extract the espresso from the beans. As with most espresso machines, the Breville Cafe Roma includes an integrated steaming wand that enables you to take that fresh espresso and create delicate milk-based coffee drinks such as cappuccinos and lattes.

Pros:

  • Affordable espresso machine boasting all basic features and then some, such as a 16-ounce frothing jug that gets you started on making delicious coffee drinks as soon as you plug in the machine.
  • Beautiful easy-to-clean stainless steel design.
  • Easy-to-use controls.
  • Filter compatible with espresso pods.
  • Indicator to alert you when water is too low.

Cons:

  • Does not come with a burr grinder or other more advanced features.
  • Steaming wand is a bit noisy and its short stature means you’re able to manually froth only a small amount of milk. Good for one person enjoying a small espresso drink, but if you want a large drink or want to serve more people, this probably isn’t the right pick.

Breville Bambino Plus

Breville BES500BSS Bambino Plus Espresso Machine, Brushed Stainless Steel Check availability

The Bambino Plus espresso machine is an upgraded version of the old Breville Bambino machine. It has everything that’s included in the original, but with more automatic features. It’s also built a touch wider to incorporate the added features, but still quite smaller than most espresso machines.

The Bambino Plus is a gorgeous-looking machine, with its automatic microfoam texturing steam wand located just to the side of the espresso pull. The steam wand includes temperature adjustments so that you can get the exact degree and texture you want from your milk.

This unit can heat up water in just three seconds, enabling a fast extraction of quality espresso flavor and delivering a delicious frothy drink.

Pros:

  • Compact for your kitchen, but still easy to handle and operate.
  • Quickly heats up water and milk, so you don’t have to fumble around in the morning.
  • Automatic steam wand creates a nice frothy milk texture.
  • Fits large mugs, including 16-ounce tall insulated cups, as well as a tiny standard espresso cup.

Cons:

  • Like its smaller companion, it’s pretty bare bones out of the box. You’ll need to buy your own grinder, measuring tools and scales as needed.
  • Drip tray is quite small and requires regular cleaning to prevent overflows. See our post about how often to clean your Breville espresso machine.

Breville Infuser

Breville BES840XL Infuser Espresso Machine, Brushed Stainless Steel Check availability

The Breville Infuser espresso maker ranks among the very top recommended espresso machines on Amazon, largely due to its great balance of cost and features. To extract the coffee, this machine starts with low and steady water pressure, which steadily increases to full pressure. This technique, called low pressure pre-infusion, results in what many coffee enthusiasts consider to be the ideal flavor balance for an espresso.

With a stainless steel backdrop and controls paired with a metallic black facade, this espresso machine is very handsome looking. Four dials are evenly spaced across the machine, bordering the central temperature gauge. These dials are part of the Breville Infuser’s features which enable you to manually create your favorite cup of coffee art.

Pros:

  • User-friendly dials and controls for both automatic features and manual coffee creation. 
  • Design and build allow for easy cleaning on a regular basis.

Cons:

  • Machine is quick to heat up, but some users complain that it doesn’t have quite the same steam power that other Breville models have.
  • Brewing and steaming must be done consecutively, which makes the coffee-making process more meditative but also somewhat tedious.

Breville Duo-Temp Pro

Breville BES810BSS Duo Temp Pro Espresso Machine, Stainless Steel Check availability

The Breville Duo-Temp Pro has become a popular model among serious coffee drinkers. Connoisseurs love the machine’s attractive design and integration of advanced features, such as the auto-purge system by which the machine automatically purges its heating system after each steaming. This purge is key for ensuring the subsequent espresso gets extracted at the desired temperature and is not overheated due to the previous espresso extraction. This feature alone makes the Duo-Temp Pro a solid choice if you have more than one coffee drinker in your house.

Of course, a single feature can’t justify this machine’s high price tag. The Duo-Temp Pro also includes manual microfoam milk texturing for creating your own latte art, a nifty maintenance indicator that helps to reduce maintenance and ensure the machine’s longevity, and all of the starter accessories you need to make great lattes and cappuccinos out of the box. 

Pros:

  • Wide range of accessories, including a razor dose trimming tool, stainless steel milk jug, and single and dual wall filter baskets. Very attractive as a one-package deal.
  • Semi-automatic machine does all the precision work, while you can manually add the finishing touches, such as latte art.
  • Integrated controls are easy to use and adjust. Setting your ideal milk temperature and froth texture is largely effortless.

Cons:

  • Lacks a 3-way solenoid valve, so your espresso sometimes won’t come out as clean as desired.
  • Hardly a quiet machine. The noise alone might disqualify it from some people’s shopping lists. 

Breville Barista Express

Breville BES870XL Barista Express Espresso Machine, Brushed Stainless Steel Check availability

Our pick for the best Breville espresso machine, the Barista Express is possibly the best known of the company’s espresso machines. This one is more expensive than most units on this list, but its features more than justify the price.

This gorgeous appliance boasts a durable and slick-looking stainless steel body, and it’s a pretty big machine due to all the unique features it carries.

The Breville Express comes with a built-in conical burr grinder that nicely grinds beans, so you can fill the portafilter to your desired taste level. Although the grinder has set industry standards for shot sizes, the Barista Express lets you make easy adjustments to meet your taste profile.

Pros:

  • Built-in conical burr grinder sets this model apart from others in the Breville line, making it easy for you to get started crafting perfect cups of in-home espresso.
  • Components on the unit are very easy to clean.
  • Thermocoil heating system quickens the heating time for making coffee, delivering a delicious espresso taste.
  • Easy-to-use frother creates an elegant texture for your shot. 

Cons:

  • Although main components are made of durable stainless steel, some other components are plastic. For some people, plastic can be a deal-breaker.
  • Regular maintenance is needed to prevent leftovers and messes from gathering, otherwise the machine becomes very noisy. 
  • This is a BIG machine. It will occupy a significant amount of your counter space.

Breville Barista Pro

Breville BES878BSS Barista Pro Espresso Machine, Brushed Stainless Steel Check availability

As its name suggests, the Breville Barista Pro is built to satisfy the professional barista as much as the amateur. The Barista Pro looks like a complicated machine—and it sort of is. You’ll want to read the unit’s operating instructions thoroughly before getting started on your first espresso. Fortunately, the manual is an easy read.

In addition to an integrated grinder, the Barista Pro features a smart grinder that truly delivers the perfect grind. But the big selling point here is that it takes just three seconds to start up and deliver a steaming espresso shot. Getting that shot delivered from bean to cup is made easy thanks to an intuitive interface accessible via the LCD display on the machine’s front.  

Pros:

  • Comes fully loaded—the ideal choice if you desire the crème de la crème of espresso machines.

Cons:

  • Extended shared drip tray can get messy, so expect a fair amount of clean up after each use.
  • Large appliance that occupies significant counter space. If you have limited room, consider taking measurements before you buy.
  • LCD screen is fantastic for synthesizing the process of grinding and pulling espresso, but digital displays aren’t for everyone. Those who prefer a more physical or manual machine should look elsewhere.

Breville Barista Touch

Breville BES880BSS Barista Touch Espresso Machine, Brushed Stainless Steel Check availability

The Breville Barista Touch is very similar in size and design to the Breville Barista Pro, with a few key differences.

The big drawback is that this unit has a conical grinder but not a smart grinder. So while you can complete the entirety of the brewing process from bean to pour, it may require more dialing in to get that perfect cup of joe.

The Barista Touch has two advantages over the Barista Pro.

First, this unit comes with an automatic milk frothing wand that’s useful if you enjoy cappuccinos and lattes.

Second, the Barista Touch earns its name from its intuitive touch screen display. This display system and the integrated computer behind it allow users to easily scroll through pictures of programmed specialty coffees to make on demand. You can also program your own custom drinks into the system.

Pros:

  • Looks pretty and operates flawlessly. Touchscreen display makes you feel like you’re ordering a drink at your favorite cafe or coffee shop.
  • Automatic milk frothing is a major plus and its fast heating element ensures you’ll get exactly what you selected on the screen. 

Cons:

  • If you don’t like digital screens with your espresso machines, you’ll want to pass on this model.
  • Touchscreen display makes this one a bit more expensive than competing machines that are otherwise comparable in features and build quality.

Breville Dual Boiler

Breville BES920XL Dual Boiler Espresso Machine, Brushed Stainless Steel Check availability

The Breville Dual Boiler is one of the most expensive Breville espresso makers in the company’s lineup, so it isn’t the right choice for everyone. This commercial-grade espresso machine was redesigned for household use. It’s big, it’s bold, and it delivers a truly fantastic cup of coffee.

The Dual Boiler gets its name from having two internal boilers. Doubling up on the boilers means you get a lot more water to work with, allowing you to pull several shots of espresso, steam up all your desired milk, and pour a cup of piping hot tea (or two) and still have hot water left to use. If you fill up the Dual Boiler, you’ll be ready to go all day long, even if you’re serving hot teas and custom coffee drinks for multiple people.

Pros:

  • Durable, heavy-duty machine that won’t quit or dry up throughout the day.
  • Precision dials enable you to fine-tune everything from temperature to milk texture. 

Cons:

  • Very expensive.
  • Not fully automatic.
  • Despite its high price, this machine lacks several features you might expect an espresso machine of this caliber to have. For example, there’s no built-in grinder, so you’ll have to grind your own coffee, fill it into the portafilter, tamp it down, put the portafilter into place, and only then can you hit the brew button and let the Dual Boiler jump into action.

Breville Oracle Touch

Breville BES990BSS Oracle Touch Fully Automatic Espresso Machine, Brushed Stainless Steel Check availability

The Breville Oracle Touch is arguably the highest-tech, best quality machine out there. And at a price point outside most people’s price ranges, it better be.

The Oracle Touch features the same twin boiler system that the Breville Dual Boiler does, giving you the same extended coffee-making abilities. But where the Dual Boiler doesn’t offer those cool automatic features, the Oracle Touch does. It also has a touchscreen display that allows you to scroll and pick your desired cup of coffee by image. 

The computer system behind the Oracle Touch is quite incredible and goes beyond simply matching touched pictures with algorithmic recipes. For example, the Breville Oracle Touch constantly monitors temperatures and will adjust the steam temperature precisely as needed. So regardless of whether you use milk straight from the fridge or milk that’s been slightly warmed after resting on the counter, the Oracle Touch can adjust the steam pressure used to froth the milk in order to produce the optimal temperature and textured drink.

Pros:

  • Functions as an all-day brewing and steaming machine. Fill with water in the morning, and enjoy a fresh shot of espresso, frothy latte drinks, and steaming hot teas well into the night. 
  • Essentially has it all, including a built-in smart grinder and built-in tamper to give you a consistent amount of coffee grounds ready for extraction.
  • Unlike other large models that can be messy and difficult to clean, the Oracle Touch is clearly designed for easy maintenance and general clean up. 

Cons:

  • Very expensive.

When the Breville Oracle Touch first appeared on the market in 2013, there were some more serious reasons to pass on it. First, the computer system integrated within the machine could not be updated at home. Instead, you had to send the whole machine back to Breville if you wanted to update the firmware. This issue has since been fixed.

The other big issue, according to some review websites, was the non-replaceable water filter. This required owners to take extreme care of the component and follow strict maintenance guides. But this issue has also since been fixed, and you can now order a replacement water filter. This fix was applied to newer units, so if you’re buying a used unit, make sure you check whether or not the water filter is replaceable.

Thumbnail image: © Coffee-rank.com | Creative Commons

 

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