Breville Barista Express
BES870XL
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- Type
- Semi-automatic espresso with built-in grinder
- Watch out for
- Grinder duds out of the box, pump wear over years
Why it ranks here. Amazon's best-selling espresso machine and the default recommendation for anyone entering home espresso, with the largest volume of long-term owner testimonials of any machine here, many at ten to twelve years of daily use with only a thermostat or pump swap. The built-in burr grinder and pressure gauge let you actually learn and dial in real espresso, it replaces a daily café habit within months, and a huge owner community means help and parts are easy to find.
The grinder is good but not great, some units arrive as duds, and several owners eventually add a standalone grinder. Pressure and pump issues and a plastic hopper tab that cracks show up after a few years. It needs real technique, so expect sour or bitter shots for a while. Purists argue a separate machine and grinder give better shots for similar money.
What owners like
- A decade of daily use
- Grinder and gauge teach you espresso
- Huge community
What owners complain about
- Grinder merely good
- Pump issues with age
- Learning curve
“I've own one for 12 years now, make between 1 and 3 coffees everyday of the year. I had to change the thermostat once, many years ago. Apart from that and a few scratches, it works like new !” — YouTube comment · @hadrianopolis1968 · 2023-01-12
6 positive · 3 mixed · 3 negative · 12 voices · ✓ all 12 linked to source
Read all 12 quotes (12 voices)
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I've own one for 12 years now, make between 1 and 3 coffees everyday of the year. I had to change the thermostat once, many years ago. Apart from that and a few scratches, it works like new !
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Had mine for little over 5 yrs. No issues so far. Can't give expert advice on quality of shot compared to other machines but I'm happy with the results I'm able to get.
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I’ve had my BBE for about six months and use it twice a day. As for features, it has everything I need and nothing I don’t. Worth every penny!
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Got the BBE in Black Truffle from Amazon on Black Friday sale. 699 USD minus 200 off for the sale. Applied for prime card and got 250 credit. Final price 249 plus tax. Love your vids. Cant wait to dial her in.
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I just purchased one of these . I am very happy with the coffee. Only gripes are the milk sticks to the wand, but I keep it in a glass of water and also it soon gets through the water in the tank .
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barista express has a huge community behind it. i have had one for over 10 years and that thing fux. I really want to upgrade but the thing just keeps going. If you get it all dialed. get scale, wdt tools, have decent filtered water, and good fresh beans and it will make better espresso than 95% cafes.
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Year 10 of owning my BBE and using twice+ a day. If you make milk drinks (lattes etc) you’ll never feel the need to upgrade. If you’re chasing perfect espresso as a standalone drink, you’ll eventually outgrow it.
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I just bought the breville express and the grinder is a dud. Seems like a videos of people with the same problem, all said that the grinding problem is it just needing to be replaced (literally first time turning it on).
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Breville Barista Express losing pressure after 3 months
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A small plastic tab on mine broke off and part of it fell directly into the grinder. I still have the other half. The machine is a little over 2 years old so it is out of warranty, but I reached out to Breville to see what they say. I do not see this as normal wear or even misuse.
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The timing for dispensing the coffee were fluctuating wildely with each 1 click variance in the grind settings... With a dose of 16.5 Gm of ground coffee in the brewing cup, the changes to the grind size made a more resonnable change in the dispensing time of the coffee.
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For $500, you can get a Breville Bambino and a Baratza Encore ESP instead.
