inexpensive Breville Barista Touch Espresso Machine BES880BSS, Brushed Stainless Steel
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Customer reviews
Brian
5.0 out of 5 stars AN AMAZING MACHINE!!! AWESOME COFFEE!!!
Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2022
Color: Brushed Stainless SteelVerified Purchase
Ok, I am going to try to split this into two sections- the short review and an extended review.
The short review: It is AMAZING and well worth the expense. Buy good beans and you are good to go.
The longer review:
First of all, this machine is expensive so I would look for any sort of sale. For us, it was worth it.
The expense: At time of purchase this was going for roughly $799, but in terms of value it was worth it for us. Looking at our Starbucks bill, we spent well over that in just a few months because we would go there each morning and sometimes on the way home from work. We haven’t visited Starbucks at all since we bought this machine so it has more than paid for itself, and that is including the purchase of good beans.
Starbucks was always a hit and miss depending on who was making our coffee each morning, but the Barista Touch has been a hit because once you create your settings it is always the same AND you can make micro adjustments until you get it just right (see “Features” below).
The quality: It is very well made and the touch screen makes this a breeze to use- sooooooo easy. It has a drip tray that is very easy to empty and clean. The froth wand is easy to use and makes perfect frothed milk without any hassle at all. The tamper, it was good but not great so we opted for a spring loaded tamper and purchased a grind distributor which made using this even easier. If you have never tamped coffee, it can be tricky but using a spring tamper just made it so much easier however the tamper included is perfectly fine. We purchased the Sccody 53mm Calibrated Espresso Tamper which makes espresso tamping a breeze without any guesswork needed. The Barista Touch does come with a "blade" distributor, but I opted to buy a better one which has made for perfect coffee. We bought the Gurudar 53mm Coffee Distributor which is also a palm tamper but we just use it for the distribution of the grind instead of using the included Breville blade- again the included blade is good butr we wanted something a bit easier to use. Both the Sccody and the Gurudar are perfect additions and take all the guess work out of learning to make espresso, but there are many other options and even using what is included with the Touch you will be good to go with a small learning curve.
The features: First, the touch screen- the Barista Touch comes with a screen that makes it so easy to create your coffee of choice. It has preprogrammed options (which are adjustable) and it allows you to custom build your coffee of choice and assign it an icon. In fact, everything is icon based and it even has a tutorial built in. For instance, if you want to make a latte, press the latte icon and a screen pops up with the easy to follow steps. You can make many different types of coffee including Americanos, Cappuccinos, and even simple espresso shots. You can even custom design your coffee, then assign it an icon, then every time you want that coffee you just hit the icon and follow the steps. Blamo- great coffee every time.
Second great feature-the grinder. It has a built-in grinder which makes all the difference. The grinder is adjustable so you can change the grind size to fit your needs and to customize your coffee (fine or coarse grind).
Next good feature- the water tank. It holds a good amount of water and is located at the back of the machine. You just have to watch the level but it will give you a “water tank is empty” message on the screen when you need to refill it.
The downside: The only real thing we found to be a problem is the grinder and changing beans. We decided to try a different brand of coffee to see if we liked it but the hopper was full. Removing the beans from the hopper was a bit tricky and I know there is probably some short cut, but we managed and honestly it wasn’t that big of a deal.
Comparisons: Our first espresso machine, the De’Longhi 15 bar espresso maker, was a good beginning machine but just isn’t as good as the Barista Touch. The De’Longhi didn’t have a grinder so we used pre ground coffee which was ok, just not super good and certainly not good enough to keep us from returning to our Starbucks habit. Our kid ended up taking it to college, so we upgraded to the touch. One thing that has made a world of difference, besides the included grinder, is the automatic milk frother on the Barista Touch. Super easy to use and is as simple as placing the milk pitcher, which is included, under the wand but it has to sit on a temp sensor to work accurately. We haven’t had a single problem with it to date. You can also use the frother in manual mode if you want, which is a great added feature but the automatic mode is good enough to make latte Art…that is if you know how to actually make latte art unlike me.
As for adjustability, you can adjust how much coffee is ground, how fine you want the grinds, and how long the machine grinds the coffee. You can adjust the temp of the milk froth, you can go from automatic to manual mode to froth the milk so there are several options to adjust and fine tune to your exact specification.
Overall, we love the Barista Touch- it makes amazing coffee. Of course, the beans have a great deal to do with it but still this machine rocks.
UPDATE: Ok, I did find one tiny aspect of this most excellent machine that Breville could fix, aside from the price, and that is the frothing wand. Once you finish frothing the milk you have to clean the wand. It does a self clean, but when it self cleans the wand does not line up directly with the hole in the drain pan. ours is off a slight bit. The drain pan hole should be just a bit larger and that would fix everything. We found that after cleaning the wand we put the damp paper towel or rag near the base of the wand on the drain pan to avoid splashes. not a big deal but thought you should know.
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Donny Cook
5.0 out of 5 stars Great quality and easy to use!
Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2024
Color: Damson BlueVerified Purchase
Very simple, easy to use and easy to clean. It's going to save me a lot of money in the long run, by not having to go to a coffee shop. Plus, I think this tastes far better, as I can make it exactly how I want. The milk frothing is a game changer.
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lunamudblood
5.0 out of 5 stars A Barista's Delight, Right in My Kitchen!
Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2024
Color: Brushed Stainless SteelVerified Purchase
I've been using this espresso machine and what a joy it has been! It's as easy to use as flipping a pancake and cleaning it is a breeze. It heats up faster than a cheetah chasing its lunch. The durable construction and the value for the price is more than I could have wished for. The customizable settings are the cherry on top! But the real hero here is the great tasting espresso which whisks me straight to Italy. Bellissimo!
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Aurora
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2023
Color: Brushed Stainless SteelVerified Purchase
I've been using it for a few weeks now and really enjoy it. It is super intuitive to use, and since I'm far from being a coffee buff, the touch screen display is really helpful. Even a novice like me could figure it out without much difficulty.
Initial setup and calibration took a little while and I'm still tweaking the grind size and quantity. I'm getting better at getting the right pressure on the tamp too. That took a while to figure out.
I've only used Americano and Latte so far but both have turned out great.
The auto milk foaming wand is really nice. I found that having it foam for about 5-10 seconds longer than default allows me to more easily make the art on top of the drink. The wand self cleans which is amazing.
The machine is solidly built and looks really nice on the counter. It is a little taller than I thought, with the bean hopper on top, so I have to slide it out from under my cupboards in order to fill the beans or fill the water behind.
It's making very consistent and delicious coffee, and I'm very satisfied with it. With the high price point though, it'll be interesting to see how long it lasts and whether it ends up saving me any money from buying coffee instead. Time will tell.
The spacing of everything is precise, down to the centimeter almost. The hot water sprayer and the portafiller are both super close to missing my mug, but somehow don't.
I haven't cleaned it yet, as we're using Sparkletts water and the filter it came with, so very soft water and not much buildup. We'll see how the cleaning process goes but if I follow the instructions on the screen, I'm sure it'll be easy.
Making the coffee is a little messy so it's good to have a damp cloth handy.
I think Breville is a well respected brand and this one does not disappoint.
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Daniel
5.0 out of 5 stars Espresso quality far exceeds what is produced by superautomatics
Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2023
Color: Brushed Stainless SteelVerified Purchase
I had previously tried a Philips superautomatic (doesn't matter which, they'll all be about the same in terms of the nature of their limitations), and was pretty disappointed by the lack of espresso that, well, tasted like espresso. I got rid of it and used a $200 unit that was pre-ground coffee only (and it did a far better job than the $850 Philips in terms of sheer espresso quality), but it still left something to be desired. I wanted fresh-ground but with convenience.
This thing was sitting around in my Saved For Later space for a long time, and I decided to snag it when the price dropped significantly due to the recent sales. Very glad I pulled the trigger, blew away my expectations.
It walked me through not only how to set up the machine, but how to make a GOOD espresso with it (dialing in settings, advising how long it should take for the espresso to begin flowing as an indication of grinds being too course or too fine), and this all culminated in a cappuccino I made at home that for the first time took me straight back to Italy, where no prior machine I'd ever tried could. If you want to make good quality espresso drinks at home, this is the style of machine to get, and I recommend this model in particular for its beautiful ease of use and its excellent, refined engineering, from the hardware to the user interface and on-screen interactive guides.
Do not be afraid to learn how to make a real espresso! This machine will teach you start to finish, in a manner of minutes, and you'll be proud of your results. In the end, using this semi-automatic actually requires less of my time for maintenance (cleaning the milk carafe in particular on my old machines was a nightmare, no such problem here), instead utilizing my time to directly impact just how good my espresso will turn out.
As a side note, people seem to insist on trying to get their tamper perfect with just the exactly "right" amount of pressure and the exact "right" dose of coffee into the portafilter, often by buying extra contraptions to make it foolproof, but none of this is necessary (and the machine subtly indicates this while guiding you through your first espresso). The most important thing is that you develop a habit of preparing the portafilter in a SIMILAR way, every time, so that the settings you leave on the machine will produce consistent results (in other words, let the machine do the heavy lifting, you just make sure you provide it with some amount of consistency on your end).
If you want real espresso and want to put your few minutes into making it good rather than into cleaning up after a sub-par "super"-automated facsimile, buy this machine, and not the alluring but ultimately entirely inferior superautomatic.
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Shannon Newton
5.0 out of 5 stars LOVE IT!
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2024
Color: Damson BlueVerified Purchase
Had for a few weeks - super easy set up, works like a dream, and so pretty in my kitchen. My morning coffee game will never be the same.
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BruceLee
5.0 out of 5 stars Goodbye Starbucks!
Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2024
Color: Brushed Stainless SteelVerified Purchase
The touch screen is amazing. First I thought, you won't be able to personalize any drink... then I watched some you-tube videos.. then there you go. There is a learning curve but once you get the proper weight, grind size, and brewing time... you gonna have so much fun... for me, I like doing it... it's the process that gives me so much joy... the aroma of freshly ground coffee. It's a bit loud during start up and when you are brewing. Starbucks is now just a thing of the past.
The auto purge feature of the frother is a big plus.
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Mickey Mouse
5.0 out of 5 stars 8 years later still running like a Swiss watch
Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2024
Color: Brushed Stainless SteelVerified Purchase
We bought this in 2016 and in 2024 still running EXACTLY like the day we got it. We never descale it but we make sure to use ONLY bottled water to keep the lines clean. Everyone who comes into our home loves it and most wish they could afford one.lol
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Nurzada B.
5.0 out of 5 stars My Espresso Journey Just Got Upgraded!
Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2024
Color: Brushed Stainless SteelVerified Purchase
My feedback is really positive because this espresso machine has transformed my mornings. Quick heat up time means I don't need to wait for my daily dose of caffeine. The easy cleaning feature is a lifesaver, no more wrestling with hard-to-reach parts. Plus, it's a good value for the price. This is certainly a must-have for any coffee lover!
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Cory Folts
5.0 out of 5 stars Great purchase
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2024
Color: Brushed Stainless SteelVerified Purchase
Bought for my wife after she learned how to use all the things she now prefers her own coffee over Starbucks
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