Breville Barista Pro Espresso Machine Review

ASSALAAMU ‘ALAYKUM!

Peace be upon you! I bought my Breville Barista Pro in 2021. I’m not sponsored by or affiliated with Breville at all.

Disclaimer: The newer models of the Barista Pro (2023 and onward) now come with Baratza burrs in the built-in grinder (makes sense since Breville owns Baratza). Unlike the burrs that came in my machine, the new burrs are more likely defaulted at the correct setting range for espresso.

WHY DID I CHOOSE THE BREVILLE BARISTA PRO?

I researched the Breville espresso machine lineup as best I could before buying my Breville Barista Pro. I started by looking at the Barista Express and Barista Pro. I mostly skipped over the Bambino and Bambino Plus machines, but I’ll explain my brief thoughts on them later.

Comparing the Barista Express to the Barista Pro…looks-wise I liked the Barista Pro more. I also liked that the Barista Pro has a display (built-in shot timer and easy navigation menu). But I liked the pressure gauge on the Barista Express. I liked the additional grinder steps or settings on the Barista Pro (30 in total vs. 16 on the Barista Express), and the quick startup time was very appealing. The steam power and wand is supposed to be better on the Barista Pro too.

I considered the Bambino Plus briefly because it appeared to be similar to the Barista Pro on the actual espresso making side of things. But when I looked at and understood the workflow with the buttons on the Bambinos, I again kept preferring the display and easy manual workflow on the Barista Pro. The Barista Pro seemed like it was closer to a prosumer machine rather than a beginner machine. I also didn’t like the portafilter spouts on the Bambino Plus. I know you can use third party portafilters but I’m just being honest about my initial thoughts and comparisons.

But with everything I’d heard about how important the grinder is for espresso…would the Barista Pro’s built-in grinder be worth saving some extra counter space?

I did consider the Breville Dual Boiler as well. Even though I was a beginner at the time, I know that I learn very quickly and tend to want more advanced tech so that I can easily grow into it. As a beginner, the Dual Boiler’s main appeal for me was that it can brew espresso and steam milk at the same time, and that there are actual boilers. Not a thermoblock like in the Barista Pro. The PID means that the espresso and milk would be closer to ideal. Plus there’s a 58mm portafilter so it’s more “legit” (but Breville uses a proprietary portafilter so you can’t easily swap it for a cooler looking one…)

Okay but since this was going to be my first machine, I was hesitant to invest 1600 dollars on the Dual Boiler. It has a larger footprint than the other Breville machines and requires a separate grinder, so that’s more space and money needed. I was also intimidated by the Dual Boiler because the descaling process seemed less user-friendly than the more automated Barista Pro. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have let a descaling process deter me because you don’t have to descale often at all, but still. I’m here to share my honest thoughts. And yes I do sift through manuals online before buying appliances.

Okay so I got the Breville Barista Pro…and here are my thoughts after almost 2 years of using it.

THE BUILT-IN GRINDER

At the time I bought my Barista Pro, the built-in grinder was essentially the same as the Breville Smart Pro Grinder. Breville claims their standalone grinder can grind coarse for like, french press, all the way down to fine espresso grind. I already knew going into it that the Barista Pro’s grinder can be adjusted internally. The burr setting can be adjusted to change the grind range to be coarser or finer. So I adjusted that burr setting to be finer and ideal for espresso before I even turned on the machine for the first time. I don’t recommend doing this right out of the box on the newer Barista Pros (manufactured 2023 and onward). Try grinding and brewing some shots (single-dose them) with the default burr setting. If you can’t get it dialed in, then you might want to consider adjusting the burr setting. I have a YouTube video explaining the burrs on the Breville machines and when/if you might want to adjust them.

For the most part, the built-in grinder is sufficient! Does it retain coffee beans? YES. Definitely. How much it retains can vary from half a gram to 1 gram. A couple months in, I developed the habit of banging on the top of the hopper lid to get the grinds out. But every time I clean out the grinder, there are always whole beans stuck along the rim. As someone who cares about the ratio of beans going in versus espresso coming out, the retention is frustrating. Banging on the hopper ruins the peaceful espresso making routine, and if you don’t want to bang on it, then you need to be okay wasting some coffee beans every time you grind. The retained beans also get in the way of adjusting the inner burr because they’ll literally settle into and block the area where it would screw back in. So you’ll have to vacuum the burrs regularly. Ideally you’ll do it every time you switch to a different bag of coffee.

As for taste…at the time I’m publishing this post (years after I posted the review to YouTube), I’ve tried the Barista Pro with a couple different grinders–the built-in grinder (duh), the Baratza Sette 30, Baratza Encore ESP, and the Fiorenzato AllGround. There is a noticeable difference in taste when comparing espresso from coffee ground in the built-in grinder versus the Fiorenzato and even the Sette 30. If you add sweetener or syrups and stuff to your coffee, I don’t know if you’ll notice the difference in taste. But if you have any intention of developing your palate for coffee or drinking your espresso straight/with a little bit of milk, and tasting the varying notes from bean to bean…this is something to consider. The coffee made from the built in grinder doesn’t taste BAD. But it’s kind of like getting a higher end DSLR camera and limiting yourself to a cheap nifty fifty forever. You won’t necessarily know what you’re missing, but once you pop a 1.2 lens on there, mind blown!

TEMPERATURE

The Breville Barista Pro’s heating mechanism is a single thermoblock. You may have heard other espresso machines have a single or dual boiler, like the Breville Dual Boiler. This isn’t the best analogy but…thermoblock heating is like heating food in a microwave rather than on the stove. The microwave, or in this case thermoblock, turns on quickly and can get your food or water hot..but it doesn’t get as thoroughly heated as when you heat it on the stove…which is the boiler in this analogy.

A common complaint of Breville Barista Pro users is that the espresso doesn’t come out at the advertised temperature of 200ºF. I have noticed the same thing. Leaving the machine on for several minutes before you begin doesn’t make a difference, because there’s no boiler that heated up the machine. And there is no active heating on the grouphead. Nothing starts to heat up until you start running a shot or the steam wand. And since most people aren’t making 5 drinks in a row…the only thing you can do to help is to run dummy shots with an empty portafilter in the grouphead. Let the hot water flow through and into the drip tray, and run at least 3 shots like this. If you’ve ever used a boiler machine, you’ll know that the grouphead and portafilter are hot to the touch. I recommend preheating your cups with this dummy shot water so that the water goes to good use too. The Barista Pro doesn’t have a cup warmer on top anyway, so this is a good move regardless.

THE STEAM WAND and KNOB

When I got my machine, I noticed the steam/water knob was very stiff and difficult to turn. I very quickly changed it to the steam lever from Crema Coffee Products and haven’t looked back since. The steam wand power is fine for an entry-level home machine, taking around 50-60 seconds to steam 6oz of whole milk. What I dislike is how long it takes for the steam to kick in after turning the knob. And when you turn it off (after the initial purge) and back on, it takes long to turn back on. It’s like it gets POWERED off, y’know? So when you purge the wand after steaming, it takes a couple seconds before it even starts purging. This is because it isn’t powered by a boiler, but the thermoblock. And because the machine is powered by a SINGLE thermoblock, the machine has to switch from being ready to brew espresso, to steaming milk. Not only does the steaming take a while, but you can’t use the steam wand while brewing the espresso. That can be annoying because while you’re steaming your milk, your just-brewed espresso will start to set and stiffen, kind of. So you might have to swirl or stir it before pouring your latte art. Alternatively, if you steam your milk first and then brew the espresso, your steamed milk will separate so there’s foam on top and milk on the bottom. You can’t pour good latte art with separated milk. In that case, the usual tap-and-swirl wouldn’t suffice, and you’d probably have to transfer the milk to another pitcher in hopes of reincorporating it altogether before pouring your latte art.

DO I REGRET BUYING THIS MACHINE?

I think I made the best choice for my budget at the time. If I would have gotten an alternate combo and if money wasn’t as much of an issue at the time, I would’ve gone with the Breville Dual Boiler (with a standalone grinder) based on my ability to learn quickly and efficiently. Let’s not even let our minds wander to the La Marzocco Linea Mini…

I really hope everything I covered is helpful to you whether you’re looking to buy a Breville Barista Pro or better understand the one you have. If you’re looking for more how to’s and tutorials using the Barista Pro, please check out the coffee playlist on my YouTube channel. I’ve got a LOT of videos that you will probably find helpful. You can find all of my espresso tools and accessories on my website. If my videos and coffee content are helpful to you, please consider supporting me on Patreon!

I’m grateful for all of you and your support, and I hope that you’re doing well. Til next time…assalaamu alaykum!