After a lot of research, I finally decided to purchase this machine. I read a lot about the machine both good and bad and didn’t pay attention to the warnings about the machine thinking that maybe it was just a few bad lemons.
Let’s start with what’s good:
+The machine is capable of producing excellent espresso when the operator has a bit of practice. There is a lot to know about making good espresso but also tons of great reasources out there. Read up and watch videos, I won’t go into all that here...
+Produces excellent steam that’s controlled with a smooth lever
+Fairly compact for being a double boiler
+Precise control over tons of variables: volumetric or time based shots, brew temp, preinfusion pressure, preinfusion brew time and wait time, and others! We basically go back to the idea here that it makes wonderful espresso and you can really play with these variables and see a noticeable difference in flavor.
+Auto on - I didn’t use this feature as I work varying shifts but a nice feature none the less
+Auto-fill - great feature so consumers don’t burn up their boiler
+Double boiler- consistent brew temps for your espresso and a separate boiler for your steam. This allows for brewing and steaming at the same time.
Ok so sounds like the best machine ever, right? Well unfortunately it has major internal build quality problems. I purchased my original machine in August and only four months later and I’m on my third machine (which I sold on Craig’s because I don’t want to deal with sending another machine back to Breville- with my luck it’d be two days after the 2 year warranty expired).
My first machine had a problem where it wouldn’t hold consistent pressure. After doing my routine to get the machine dialed in, I found the machine was acting up when I was in the sweet spot. When pulling a shot at 9 bars, the pressure would bounce all over. The pressure gauge would bounce back and forth from 6 bars to 9 bars durning shot extraction. Sure, I could grind my coffee more course so that the pressure would be less but this would cause my shot to extract too quickly. After talking with Breville, they confirmed the problems over the phone (the rep could hear the pump oscillating) and sent out a new machine.
Second machine comes. From day one, I felt that inserting the portafilter felt a bit more stiff but didn’t really think about it too much. After about a month of use, I was pushing the portafiler in and pulling it out. Usually, if one twists the portafilter to the insert position it wouldn’t stay there and instead would fall out of the group. In my machine after a months use, I was wiggling the portafilter to try and get it out. I thought that maybe there was something in the group so I removed the shower screen and dispersion disk. While doing this I found that there is a plasic piece that holds the porafilter in place. This plastic piece must have swollen and made it difficult to get the portafilter in and out.
When I took out off the shower screen, you really start to see all the plasic that goes into the machine. The Group collar (piece that malfunctioned on my machine), dispersion screen, and top of the group head are all plastic!!! Plastic and 200+ degree water aren’t a good mixture. It’s quite unfortunate because folks are spending a lot of money on these machines thinking that they’re getting a quality product that will last for years and years. Parts are few and far between and once the machine is out of warranty, you are required to spend a few hundred to send it back or buy something new.
I think Breville should focus a little less on trying to pack as many features into the machine as possible and instead focus on increasing the quality of the companants that they put into the machine. I may be out of the norm here, but when purchasing products I want them to last. I want the ability to repair them or take them somewhere to have them repaired. So many products are designed to be thrown away and personally I will be paying more attention to this in future purchases!
Help keep junk out of the landfills and look for a machine that is built to last. My hunt my my next espresso machine is on!
Please let me know if you have any questions, I’m happy to help answer as best I can.
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