Breville Barista Express Espresso Machine BES870XL, Brushed Stainless Steel

Its been a month since I have bought this machine. I have not worked every coffee making device out there but I have operated and tasted many. I had just lost my Deloghni magnifca super automatic machine after seven years of use. It was a pretty good machine for being a super automatic. But I have craved to get a real espresso machine and do a proper cappuccino. I have used french presses, Vietnamese phins, drip, siphon, and single serve kuerigs. Being in the Pacific NW you would except awesome cafe's everywhere, and you would be wrong. To get a good barrista that knows what they are doing, is slim to none. So with the exit of my super auto, I shopped for a good one. I kept coming back to the breville. Only knocks it was really getting was that breville was Australian and new to the game. I took the plunge and bought it, and I do not regret it.So the good:It comes with its own grinder. It not the best, but then again its no slouch. It can be taken apart and cleaned. My super never did that. What this means is that as you build up grounds on the Burr, you can pull it apart easily and clean it. It has a hopper that you can remove and place unused beans back in its container, that is just awesome, you can make decafe then switch to a new bean. A reviewer gave a good tip that when you first run it, start at the coarse then work it to fine when you start to grind, good advice. I word of caution from me, every different roast of bean will be a new setting for the machine. If you use a oily bean, then you might have to clean the burr a lot in order to get that fine grind. Also be prepared to go through a lot of coffee to figure out the right setting to get that perfect cup.Temperature control. You can decrease or increase the temperature by 4 degree's, in 2 degree increments. Doesn't sound like much, but it can change the taste of your espresso.Easy to program grind amount, and shot times.It has a gauge to measure the pressure as it goes through the port a filter. It is a nice touch to be able to tell how things are working, several high price machine you have to feel it out and guess, this you can tell right away if something went wrong and you can adjust.The steam wand is easy to use, the switch on the side is okay, my super did have a better control knob that you could control the amount of steam that came out, but this one is slow enough that its not that bad to operate.Clean up is a snap, I really enjoy the fact that I can easily and quickly clean it up.It has a water filter, where I live we have a high concentration of hard water, so having a second filter to go through is nice.Parts. Breville has all the parts you can buy to fix your machine if they go out or need replaced. I am talking about new port a filters, rings, hoppers, water reservoirs, ect.It is pretty, looks really good, makes you want to drink coffee.The things that are not so nice:You will go through a lot of coffee. This is most true when you first get the machine and try to figure out how to run it. There is a couple of way things can go down. 1) you drink every cup you make, I suggest you do this alone. Anyone around you will worry you are on something because you will be running at a 1000 mph on that much caffeine, no matter what your tolerance is. You will be wondering why everyone around you is moving so slow. 2) invite people over and watch there reaction to find out well you are doing on making that espresso.Mess from the grounds. It has a tray, but for some reason my grounds always seem to go further then the tray. I placed a small dish under the grinder it that keeps it contained and its easily cleaned. You can also fill the port a filter, tamp, then fill a little more until you reach the proper level. I place a paper towel down and do the tamp on that, it catches the grounds that fall when tamping.Don't expect a piping hot cup of joe. You can get it hot enough, by following their suggestions. I poor hot water in my cup before and do a single shot on a empty port a filter, that seems to do a good enough job.My latte art is of clouds, mushrooms, cotton balls. I believe that is my malfunction though.Overall, for the price (especially now) and the quality of espresso I am getting, its the top choice. Is it the best machine out there, no. But if you can afford those then I am not sure why you are reading things on amazon. Try different beans, they will taste different from what you are used to, each type will need different techniques to get the right pull. The Seattle best coffee bean, I only need to lightly tamp, the Vietnamese Civet I have to really press hard to get to the right tamp. I will trying several others as I go along, but I think that's the best part of this machine. And to the few people ( there is other things I would call you) about the California restrictions, in the manual it does say that the parts on the machine that does come in contact with coffee or water is BPA Free and there is no parts that will make you grow a third limb, unless you already have one. If you read the blasted bill you might figure out what it actually is saying, Anything with a grinder or power cord falls in this warning. I don't know about you, but I am not grinding bits of plastic in my coffee, and I am not sucking on the power cord, but if that's what you want to do, go for it.For me, this has been a awesome buy, thank you for reading.

This machine makes café-quality espresso right at home. It’s easy to use once you get the hang of grinding and tamping. The steam wand works great for lattes and cappuccinos, and the build quality feels premium. It’s a bit of a learning curve at first, but the results are worth it.

Update May 2024: I purchased this machine in 2015. I've had it almost 9 years. It's now starting to have issues - the 1 cup pour does not stop at automatically any longer, and a few weeks later, the 2 cup pour started doing the same. I'll look into repair, but this is probably it for the machine.Update July 2023: Still going strong!! Using it daily! I've followed their cleaning guide and decalcification guidelines and have had no issues!Update June 2nd 2019: Still use it daily, and it's working well! It's now been almost 4 years! (Time flies when you're drinking good coffee :)Update August-6-17: Still going strong after almost two years!Original Review and Tips:I love this thing. I've been using it multiple times a day for almost a year I think. Every day it makes amazing espresso, and as long as I keep it clean it preforms beautifully. This thing is also easier to maintain and requires less cleaning than other cheaper espresso machines I've tried.A tip for anyone looking to make actual espresso at home, I recommend looking for a local roastery in your area. I use to buy bulk beans online like many people, but once I tried local whole beans and found a blend I liked, the difference was amazing. Bean choice is very important if you actually want to enjoy your espresso!A few tips I picked up for using this machine:1. A few people complained about the grind amount knob not going low enough. To counteract this, I changed the cup size to "Single" and increased the grind amount by turning the knob to the right. This gives me the perfect amount of ground coffee every time.2. If the machine keeps going over or under on the pressure gauge, try cleaning the grinder. And remember to clean the grouphead with those desolvable tablets when the clean me light comes on!3. You can get cheap replacement cleaning tablets here on amazon. I chose Urnex Cafiza Espresso Machine Cleaning Tablets here on amazon, and they work great!4. You do not need to order a separate tamper, the one included is perfect.5. The included frothing cup is small but works for me. Some might need a bigger one.6. Do not underestimate the need for a burr grinder. Trying to make good espresso without one is like trying to hammer a nail with an inflatable hammer!Some of the features I love (Pros)*1) The grinder. I know many would rather use a separate burr grinder, but this thing works perfectly fine, and is easy to clean. Many complained about the coffee machine heating up the beans too much if you leave them inside the hopper, but I actually store my beans in a special container outside of the hopper, and use the included the scoop to pour in the beans when I grind them.2) The frother is amazing. Much much better than cheaper machines.3) Clean me light is awesome. Always reminds me to keep up on this things maintenance, and helps prolong the life.4) The Stainless steel is beautiful. (It is not 100% stainless on the outside though, a little bit of plastic, see cons.)5) The pressure gauge. Absolutely invaluable in making good tasting espresso. I would not recommend buying any machine without one. It really helps with learning and getting it right!6) The included tamper is perfect.7) Creates perfect pucks of coffee to dump out in the trash.8) The hot water dispenser is an awesome addition!9) Is an all-in-one, meaning I don't need to buy a separate grinder!10) Just makes good coffee.11) Great manual included for lots of useful information.12) Has an automated cleaning cycle to clean the insides of the grouphead. Awesome!14) Includes a beautiful copper dosing tool.15) Includes tools to clean out the filters.Some things that bother me (Cons)*1)The top of the machine is plastic.2) The bottom sides of the machine is plastic3) The water tank needs to be refilled often, and it also thick plastic.4) The bottom water catcher thing (sorry) needs to be emptied often, but its not too bad.5) The coffee grind separator doesn't really seem to help much, but it does help keep it out of the water below and little bit, which keeps it from smelling!6) Expensive, but to me, was a very worthwhile investment for how much coffee I was buying from the shop.7) Can't seem to find inexpensive filters for the water tank, however, I use filtered water instead of tap.8) The Lowest grind amount is too much on the "double" setting. QC Should have caught this! But not a deal breaker. See above for workaround.*Might add more later as I think of them!This thing is also great for making sweet frappicinos and iced drinks.For caramel flavored drinks I use Hershey's Caramel Syrup (Edit: I now make my own caramel syrup! It's super easy!)For vanilla flavored drinks I use Torani Vanilla Syrup that I get cheaply from a bulk wholesale store in my town.For my sweet drink of choice I mix the two, add a double shot of espresso, 2% milk, and top with whipped cream and caramel syrup.Nothing beats a great espresso in the morning!Added tons of pictures.Edit: It seems quite a few people had problems with the machine dying on them, If your machine died on your please comment on this review with any information you think may help, such as the level of maintenance you preformed while your machine was working, the brand of water filters and cleaning tablets you used, etc.Maybe we can find a common cause of this defect!