Breville Infuser Espresso Machine,61 ounces, Brushed Stainless Steel, BES840XL   Import  Single ASIN  Import  Multiple ASIN

Don’t Waste Your Time With Cheaper MachinesGoing into this, I had zero idea how to make espresso. I’ve been using a french press for years, and decided that I wanted to step up my coffee game a bit. This review is for those people that are considering this machine and have no idea what they’re doing. Keep in mind that I paired this machine with the Breville Smart Grinder Pro, which is important in this review. I highly recommend the grinder as a companion to this espresso machine.**Why You Should Buy This Machine Over Cheaper Ones**Simply put, this machine offers professional-quality features packed into an entry-level machine, and will produce a far better quality espresso than cheaper machines like the Mr Coffee. If you are considering getting into espresso, don’t waste your time with cheaper stuff or else you will likely be disappointed with the results or just find yourself upgrading everything in a couple of months. A POOR ESPRESSO DUE TO “CHEAP” EQUIPMENT IS WORSE THAN A CHEAP CUP OF COFFEE. Understand that “cheap” is relative here. This is an expensive drink to make, but it’s worth the money to be able to make a great drink.1. My perfect pulls taste EXACTLY like coffee-shop quality (at least to me). I can make a Caramel Macciato and it tastes and looks better than Starbucks. ISN’T THAT WHY YOU’RE WANTING AN ESPRESSO MACHINE? Let’s face it, most of you are wanting lattes and cappuccinos that taste good so you don’t need to spend five bucks a day at the coffee shop. You aren’t just slugging back straight shots of black espresso and writing down the subtle flavor notes to share with your friends. YOU WILL NOT GET THIS KIND OF QUALITY WITH CHEAP MACHINES. It will taste watery, sometimes a bit bitter, and just not really worth the money. You’ll spend a couple hundred bucks and be totally disappointed. This machine is expensive, but at least I feel like I’m actually getting good espresso out of it. and I have zero desire to return to another coffee shop when I can make it just as good at home.2. This is the only unit for under $500 that will let you make decent latte art with the milk steaming wand. Other cheaper units simply do not have enough power to make your milk the right consistency. Again, it goes back to the quality of the drink. Do you want to pay $300 for a really mediocre espresso every day, or pay a little more money and have a really good espresso every day? You can get better units for milk steaming, but if you’re looking for a standalone unit that also does great milk, this is it. If you aren’t drinking lattes, then it won’t matter much to you. But trust me when I say that well-steamed milk makes or breaks your latte/cappuccino. Perfectly steamed milk is sweet, frothy, and creamy. Poorly steamed milk tastes like it was microwaved, or just plain warm milk. Yuck.3. The pressure gauge and pre-infusion (pushing a little water into the espresso before the real pull starts happening) make this a great tool to learn how to make proper espresso. The gauge is immensely helpful and helps you understand what you are doing wrong, and when you’re doing things really right. Few things are as satisfying as making a perfect espresso and seeing the gauge sit in the perfect spot.4. Built-in temperature control, which means more consistent espresso results. Cheaper units that don’t have one are not really worth the money in my opinion. A poorly-made espresso is terrible, and you can honestly make a better drink with a $10 french press and a $50 grinder.Finally, you need to understand that espresso is actually kind of difficult to make if you’ve never done it before. This isn’t a Keurig, this isn’t the same machine that Starbucks uses (theirs cost almost as much as your house does). You aren’t going to make a perfect pull of espresso your first time. It took me TEN shots before I made anything even remotely drinkable, and then I went through half a pound of coffee beans before I pulled my first GOOD shot. This machine makes it easier to make really good espresso, but it requires a good amount of work and calibration from you in order to do it correctly. However, once you figure it out, it’s really easy to do it right every time.In my opinion, this is the “sweet spot” of espresso making. You can make a really great cup of espresso with this machine at an affordable cost. Any more money and you are paying MUCH more to slightly increase the quality of the drink, but it’s not the night and day comparison between this machine and a $200 Costco or Mr Coffee espresso maker. Highly recommend!**If you’re an owner of this machine, the following might be helpful**The biggest difficulties that I ran into while trying to figure out how to make espresso were:1. Grinding the coffee to the perfect size2. Realizing that the Single Shot cups are terrible, save yourself heartache and use the Double Shot (not double walled)3. Getting my shot to pull for the correct time (25-30 seconds)**Grind Size**This was the most confusing part to me, because I had it in my head that I SHOULD be able to grind all of my beans on the absolute finest setting on the Smart Grinder Pro, which was why I spent all the money on the nice grinder, right? I had seen a couple of videos where people were using my same setup and grinding down to a 1 or 2 setting on the grinder and pulling perfect shots in the Infuser.THIS IS WRONG.Clear your mind completely about grind, and realize that it has more to do with the perfect grind for your particular coffee rather than the grind number itself. Using Lavazza Super Crema, I could not go finer than a 17 on the grinder or else the machine would max out the pressure and I would get just a few drips of disgusting sour water. Using fresh coffee beans from a local roaster, I was able to go much finer on the grind, and actually a 17 was too coarse for that coffee and ended up ruining the shots. It’s okay if you have to use a 17 or 18 with some coffees. You’re buying a nice grinder because those 17 and 18 grinds are perfectly consistent, which means the pressurized hot water will evenly distribute rather than find a weak spot to channel and ruin your shot of espresso.See what I’m talking about? This is not a Keurig. You will need to calibrate your grind for each new coffee you try, which can either be a huge pain or a lot of fun, depending on why you’re buying this machine. I found it fun, but I’m also glad that I took an entire day to play around with this machine. Once I figured it out, I was blown away with the quality of the espresso that came out.**Single Shot and Double Shot cups + Shot Pull Time**This is where I found success after a lot of failure. See, I don’t drink a ton of espresso in one sitting. I’m perfectly content with a small latte consisting of a single shot of espresso. I actually put the double shot cups in a drawer, because I didn’t think I would be using them. I was pulling drinkable espresso after a few hours of trial, but my shots were coming out way too fast (15-20 seconds), when I knew perfect shots should be around 30 seconds from the time you push the button. A helpful user online told me to ditch the single shot cups and switch to double shot, because of how finicky the former cups seemed to be. So I switched over to the single-walled double shot cup, and my first pull was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT. It poured like golden honey, ran a perfect 30 seconds, and had amazing crema. It was beautiful and I wanted to cry.Apparently, shots pull more consistently in double shot cups than they do in single shot cups. Note that I’m talking about the size of the cup (single vs double shot) and not the double-WALLED cups, which are garbage and meant to be used with pre-ground espresso.Anyway, do yourself a favor and just use the double shot, single-walled cup. If you only want a single shot of espresso, move the cup over so you only catch liquid from one of the cups. You will waste coffee, but it will be so much, much more consistent and better-tasting than if you use the single-shot cup. I now pull nearly-perfect shots every time, where before I was doing 2/5 if I was lucky. Best piece of advice anybody gave me.

A Safe Bet for Your First Real Espresso Machine – But Be Patient with Yourself!—UPDATES 5/25/15—1. Used this every day for over a year. Solid buy, would do it again. No breakages. I do follow the cleaning instructions religiously.2. I was wrong about the machine only delivering 1 or 2 ounce cups. This morning I finally read the instructions on how to “program” the machine and made myself a 4-ounce cup of strong coffee, similar to what you find in europe. Divine! I got everything ready as usual. Hit the program button. Hit the “one cup” button. Let it fill up about four ounces. Then hit the “one cup” button again. The “one-cup” is now programmed to deliver about 4-oz of coffee. Brilliant!—Original Review—I found it difficult to research espresso machines:- Price range is huge, from $50 to $5000.- Reviews come from a bewildering range of backgrounds: coffee-snobs & anti-snobs, professional baristas & novices.After reading reviews for a couple of days, I selected the Breville 840XL.I’ve had the machine one month.I am no barista, so this review is geared towards the novice explorer.General Observations:- The pressure of the water/steam is controlled by the machine. It is amazingly repeatable & scientifically-precise.–> i.e. the pressure gage on the machine responds to even tiny changes in grain size or tamp-pressure.- The temperature of the espresso is also very controlled, and it’s not as hot as your regular cup of Joe.- It’s taken me one month to find & consistently reproduce a cup that I enjoy. It was worth the wait.- My guests & visitors have all been amazed by the shots. They unanimously say they’re the best they’ve had.- This machine serves exactly one-ounce or two-ounce shots. It will not make a pressed cup of coffee like you get in Europe.- It’s strong. I mean really strong. Like I-feel-it-in-my-brain strong.–> i.e. after two older guests got hot flashes and a third got heart palpitations, I stocked up on decaf beans.Specific Tips:- Buy a burr grinder first, learn how to use it, clean it, etc. (I bought the Breville & am happy with it.)- Buy the Breville milk frother second, learn how to use it, clean it, etc.–> It’ll change your life.–> Way easier than wand-frothing: faster to make, easier to clean-up.–> The Breville milk frother makes Angelina’s-style hot chocolate easily, which makes it worth the 120-bucks right there.—-> Guys, if you don’t know what that is, then look it up & make it for your girl. & beware the consequences!—-> Only change from the instructions: don’t drop room-temp chocolate into the frother, nuke it first & use a spoon to drop it into the hot cream.—-> …but, I digress.Bean Selection–> Consensus from Amazon-reviewers is that Lavazza Super Crema whole bean is the ideal. My guests seem to like this bean the best.–> Personally, I prefer Starbucks Sumatra. These beans are very oily.–> NOTE: if you decide that the bean you like best is an oily bean, then you’ll need to clean the grinder weekly. Takes five minutes and gets less messy as you get the hang of it.Grinder- Follow the darned grinder instructions!–> Start at the coarse end of the espresso-spectrum, work your way towards fine.–> Only go as fine as you need to get the results you want. Middle worked best for me.Espresso Machine Pressure Gage- Watch the pressure gage carefully for every shot. But defer to your palate. The machine can’t tell you what tastes best.- I find that the best tasting shots come at lower pressures. I go with the lowest possible pressure that still produces a nice crema.Water Source:- I use a five-gallon water-dispenser to fill the espresso-machine’s tank. TDS reading is about 4, which is almost distilled.- Rationale: for five hundred bucks, I don’t want to fill it with rusty-calcium well water & then have to decalcify every month or have it break. You can get a TDS meter for about twenty bucks on Amazon. Buy one. Test your water. Only use water with a low TDS reading. Don’t assume bottled water has a low TDS. I’ve seen it as high as 200.My Patronizing Opinions:- Many people point out that this machine is Barista-Child’s-Play, since you control only four variables: bean, amount, fineness, and tamp-pressure. (Not temp or pull-pressure.)- I took a rigorous scientific approach and it still took one month to find the right combination.- Other reviewers bought this machine & made an espresso they liked on the first pull.- Pay attention to the process and you will begin teaching yourself how to be a barista.- Be willing to work with the four variables for several weeks to get it right.Transition from Coffee-Drinking to Espresso-Drinking:- Until now, I’ve made a brutally strong batch of French-pressed coffee each AM.- When I go to Starbucks, I get either a triple-tall Americano or a four-shot Grande Americano.–> Either way, each would last about 2-hours each AM.- This machine makes only one thing: a single-ounce or a two-ounce shot of espresso, like in Italy.- The Italians drink it straight, right there, standing up, within five minutes. I’m guessing that even an Italian would rate this espresso as authentic.- This machine forced me to depart from my old ways: It’s a smaller cup & I have to drink it within 15-minutes or so before the flavor goes sour.–> I’m aware that the ideal Americano has the hot water in the cup prior to the shot, to preserve the crema. Will do that eventually. Right now, I still taste each shot first.Conclusion:- This machine is a safe bet for your first real espresso machine.- Be willing to work at it- Be aware that drinking shots of espresso is a very different experience from regular coffee-drinking.- Cappuccinos or lattes are also a safe bet. But, they get cold quicker than those made at Starbucks. Maybe Starbucks makes shots at a higher temperature?Biggest surprise so far the joy it brings to guests. Let them watch you make one, then ask them to play the barista. They have so much fun! Go all the way & buy a burr-grinder, knock box, & tamping mat.There’s a documentary on Netflix on the history of the cappuccino called “Perfect Cappuccino.” Content aside, this 1.5-hr documentary will give you plenty of opportunity to see professional baristas making espressos & hear their theories on how to pull a good shot. Watch it after you buy it and you’ll really appreciate how much they put in, how they tamp it, and how it looks as it comes out. Personally, I enjoyed the documentary — I found the narrator’s views compassionate & well-balanced. Other reviewers found her anti-Starbucks.Lastly, if you buy all three pieces of equipment at once, then you’ll be on instructions-overload. I staggered the purchases by two weeks for each machine: Burr Grinder, then Milk Frother, then Espresso Maker. This may sound silly, but many of the reviewers say things like: “I Couldn’t get a pressure reading on the espresso machine, so I cranked up the grinder to super-fine and then grinder wouldn’t work.” All of that is covered in the grinder instructions. But if you get all three things at once, you’re going to try it blind (come on, admit it) and only go to the instructions for each machine as a last resort.It’s only been one month. Perhaps in another month, all of my advice will be different. I’m still on the left side of a steep learning curve.Good luck!

Excellent machine when you are ready to move up to using an non-pressurized filterIf you just want to make espresso drinks at home and want something quick and easy, there machines a lot less than half the price to use with pressurized filters and that have an easy to use steam wands. But if you are ready, or plan to soon, move up to professional style non-pressurized filters, then this is a great machine for the beginner up through intermediate user at a very good price.One thing I want to say upfront, ALWAYS run an empty shot before making your espresso. The first shot runs about 20 degrees below the optimal 200 degrees and will result in an under-extracted espresso. It is also good to heat up your grouphead, portafilter and cup. It makes a very very good espresso that probably can only be beat by a $2.000+ machine. I used a non-pressurized filter on my previous machine, but noticed that the shots with the infuser brought some of the subtle tasted characteristics from my coffee beans. It is important to use a good quality conical burr grinder in order to grinds that are fine enough to use with a non-pressurized filter. I use the Breville smart grinder pro. I think this is a better way to go rather then getting the Breville Barista Express with the built-in grinder, for numerous reasons. One is that it is more flexible than the built-in one, which only has 30 settings. The smart pro has 60 settings so you can use it to get coarse grinds for a French press and other coffee makers. It is also much easier to clean and allows you to upgrade to a more advance espresso machine without having to buy a new grinder.The steaming wand works very well after a small bit of practice. There are some videos on youtube that are helpful. After some research it seemed the best milk to use is grassfed whole milk. So I bought organic grassfeed whole milk, and wow it is the way to go. It tastes great and easy to get an excellent microfoam. I highly recommend that you give it a try.The pressure gauge looks cool, but is totally unnecessary. I wish the tamper were a heavier all metal construction, though this lighter one is needed to use the magnetic holder, which is convenient. The tamper words oaky, so I will just have to get used to it. Overall this is a great machine at this price.update: 13December:thought I would address of common complaints I’ve noticed in some reviews. One being that it uses too much water and that the drip trays fills up to fast. Both are due to the fact that the steam wand purges (through the back of the tray) hot water after use, which is good so that if you pull another shot the water won’t be too hot. To me, it’s not a big deal to refill it. As far as the tray filling up, just do what I do … empty the tray each time you use it. It is very simple and only takes a few seconds. A plus is that the tray design is very easy to remove and install .. it is really no big deal at all.

Amazing home espresso machine, once you get the hang of itFirst and foremost, this is an absolutely fantastic home espresso machine for the price. It definitely takes some practice to learn how to get the most out of and find the sweet spot (which i’ve learned always differs depending on the type of beans & grinder you are using). But now after 3 months and a LOT of researching/learning/practice/more practice, I am now consistently making absolutely fantastic espresso drinks. If you are new to the world of espresso, or have some knowledge, I wanted to write about my experience buying this machine 3 months ago knowing little to nothing about espresso, to now consistently pulling absolutely delicious espresso drinks on a daily basis with this machine. Here we go:I waited 3 months after purchasing this unit to write a proper review, and I wanted to give a lot of information I have learned and discovered to help others looking into buying a home espresso setup. I honestly knew little to nothing about espresso before purchasing this machine, and have done A LOT of research, reading, testing, and barista questioning in order to learn how the art of making quality espresso is done. I now make 2-3 espresso drinks a day with the Infuser and am EXTREMELY satisfied with its performance. It’s not easy to make a high quality espresso by any means, but once you figure out how to manage all the important espresso variables (type of beans, grind coarseness, dose, tamp pressure), this machine produces truly remarkable results that any professional barista will be highly impressed with (yes I did receive this feedback).The most important aspects of making this machine work well (and any espresso machine for that matter) are having a quality grinder and fresh, quality beans.When I first got this machine, I was under the impression you wanted to grind as fine as possible for making espresso. I set my Infinity Burr Grinder to its finest setting, using some peet’s espresso beans, and immediately the machine clogged up, not producing any espresso. I tried again, dialing the grind a little coarser, and again the machine clogged up. Same thing with the third time, although this time I was able to produce a few drops of espresso. After about 5 tries I was able to pull an actual shot of espresso which tasted incredibly strong to me but good (at this point in time I didnt really know what to look for in a quality shot of espresso).Long story short I realized the beans I was using were INCREDIBLY oily and played a huge factor in easily clogging up my machine. Next I purchased some Blue Bottle espresso beans, which got along with my machine MUCH better. Now I was making some great progress, tasting more like espresso, but still not close to what the baristas at Blue Bottle were serving.I went through a lot of beans & brands playing with the grind coarseness, and soon became familiar of the “sweet spot” settings on my grinder where the espresso came out tasting best. I was now becoming more familiar with what a good shot of espresso was supposed to taste like after spending a bunch of time at Four Barrel & Blue Bottle cafes in San Francisco. I also learned to start timing my shot times and that also helped me immensely improve the quality of my espresso (typically between 24-30 seconds depending on the type of beans you are using).So now I soon learned my Capressa Infinity burr grinder did not have nearly the adjustability I would need to lock in the perfect grind setting for espresso, so I decided to upgrade to the Breville Smart Grinder. The Smart grinder ended up being a much better grinder, but again long story short, it also seemed to lack the real “fine tuning” ability that I was learning is truly needed with espresso. After using the Smart Grinder for 3 weeks, I decided to pull the trigger on a much higher quality grinder, the very highly recommended Baratza Vario. After getting familiar with the Vario by some trial & error, I must say this was the ultimate step (and proved to be most important) towards producing amazing quality espresso. I’ve also ground for drip coffee with it a few times and the taste was truly amazing compared to both of the other grinders I had tried.So, back to the Infuser. After much more research into the art of espresso, I purchased a gram scale in order to weigh my doses of coffee & amount of liquid being extracted from my shots, which also have helped a LOT in improving the quality of my shots.Now after a couple solid months with all of the above in my home espresso setup, I believe I have dialed in this machine to its maximum potential, and it is really producing fantastic results which I get excited about drinking every morning as soon as I wake up.Some notes I would like to share which I have discovered that may or may not relate directly to this machine, or to every espresso machine:-The type of beans used almost always require a different coarseness setting in order to pull the perfect shot. For example, beans like Four Barrel & Blue Bottle always require much more fine grind settings, where beans like Stumptown & Barefoot require much coarser grinds. This seems to be hard to get used to, but now that I have tried many different quality espresso roasts and have narrowed down my favorites (Sightglass is #1, Stumptown #2, Barefoot #3) I know what setting to use ahead of time and I can almost always nail a perfect shot on command.-The milk steamer does a great job, but now after trying so many quality cappuccinos & lattes through the area, I feel like this steamer does the milk more on the creamy side. I believe I understand the technique for creating quality microfoam to use for cappuccinos & latte’s, and im using the same Clover Organic whole milk that almost all cafe’s use, and mine always seems to turn out a bit sweeter & creamier. It seems hard to get the microfoam as velvety thin as Sightglass/Four Barrel/Blue Bottle does, and because of this, my cappuccinos dont have quite the “intense coffee bite” but its getting pretty close. I believe this is as good as I can ask for again using a $500 home espresso machine.-The hot water dispenser is great. One trick I figured out a while back was when I pulled OK shots and didnt want to waste them, I would just instantly make them into Americano’s, since its a bit harder to taste a bad shot in an Americano than it is in a Cappuccino or Latte.And thus has been my experience with the Breville Infuser since purchasing about 3 months ago. I’m sure I will be updating this review further as time goes on, but so far it has been an incredibly positive experience and I would HIGHLY recommend this machine to anyone looking for a semi-automatic machine in this price range. Hopefully this was helpful and not just me rambling.

Wonderful – but Breville should update their manual / web site !!Great machine, makes excellent coffee. Others have reviewed that aspect, so here I am focusing on cleaning the machine. It’s easy BUT the instructional manual that I received (May 2020) AND the instructions on the Breville web site (as of today, 8/19/2020) are wrong – and they have been wrong for at LEAST the past two years. BREVILLE – PLEASE CORRECT THIS!!Here’s the issue. The instructions (and innumerable YouTube videos) tell you to clean the machine (when Descale / clean light is flashing) by putting the 1-cup basket into the portafilter, then placing the rubber cleaning disc (with a small hole) into the basket, and putting the portafilter into the group head. Then, they tell you to place a large tray under the portafilter, to catch the cleaning solution that pours out during the cleaning process. In reality, for several years, Breville has used a cleaning disc without a small hole, so no (or VERY little) liquid comes out of the portafilter. Instead, the cleaning fluid is (i) backflushed through the group head, and (ii) expelled into the drip tray. However, because of their wrong instructions, I poked a hole through the Breville-supplied cleaning disc, to make everything work as described by Breville. After I realized Breville’s errors, I bought a new, third-party, cleaning disc on Amazon.So, here is the correct procedure. You can do this anytime (you don’t have to wait until the cleaning light starts to flash).1. Turn the machine off.2. Ensure the water tank is full.3. Empty the drip tray, and place it back into machine.4. Put the 1-cup basket into the portafilter, then add the rubber cleaning disc (without a hole in it). Ensure that it is well-positioned in the basket (level; not tilted to the side).5. Place a cleaning tablet on the disc. I use tablets with a blue dye, so that I can tell when all detergent has been flushed out of the group head (see point 18 below).6. Put the portafilter / basket / disc / tablet onto the group head.7. Place a clean white cup under the group head (why white? See point 18).8. Hold down the 1 cup & 2 cup buttons, then press & hold the power button.9. After about 5 seconds, cleaning begins. Release all three buttons.10. If the Descale / clean light wasn’t already flashing, it will start flashing now.11. The pressure gauge starts low, but very quickly rises above the grey Espresso level. It remains there for ~12 seconds, then drops back to zero pressure. Contrary to Breville’s instructions, you should NOT see a lot of liquid pouring out of the portafilter (because the cleaning disc does not have a hole).12. It does this 5 times over a period of a little over 5 minutes. The final high-pressure stage is longer than the others (~30 seconds).13. The cleaning cycle ends immediately after the fifth high-pressure stage. The machine beeps twice, and cleaning stops; the Descale / clean light stops flashing. The machine stays on.14. Very little liquid should have fallen into the white cup during cleaning.15. Carefully remove the cup & drip tray, empty the hot blue water into the sink, then replace the empty tray.16. Remove the portafilter, and its contents, from the group head. There may be a few residual grains of detergent on the rubber disc. Thoroughly wash the portafilter, basket, and disc.17. If necessary, clean any material (which will be blue) from the white cup, and return the clean cup to its position underneath the group head (do not insert the portafilter).18. Push the 2 cup button. This flushes the group head with hot water, removing remaining detergent. At first, the water will be bright blue, indicating that detergent remained in the system. Empty the cup, and repeat the 2-cup flushes until the water is clear; using a white cup, and tablets with a blue dye, helps me tell when the water is clear (i.e., that the detergent has been flushed out). Usually, this takes a total of four to five 2-cup flushes.19. Refill the water tank. You’re done.