The Barista Express - Bean to Cup Coffee Machine with Grinder and Manual Milk Frother - 16 Grind Settings, 15 Bar Pump, PID Temp Control - With Temperature Control Jug, Brushed Stainless Steel

This coffee machine really is les testicules de chien. The build quality is a joy to behold. Everything feels so well designed and well constructed; lovely and solid. It feels like a piece of engineering from a bygone age, compared with so much of the flimsy machinery you get nowadays. The instructions are comprehensive, it's easy to care for and clean, and it looks darn smashing on your workshop (while you want to hide ugly machines like microwaves). It's like a nice vintage car or something! Certainly, it takes a bit of faffing and experimentation to get your coffee right and achieve the desired crema, but it's all the more satisfying when you do. Personally, I enjoy the process, the steps, the theatre of it. I enjoy the sound and smell of the grinder, the grumbling of the machine when you switch it on and the deafening hiss of the milk frother. You can of course get machines that do everything for you at the press of a button, but I find this more satisfying that's it's not an instantaneous thing. A little effort (not much) is required. I couldn't justify all those little plastic pods on my conscience, so this machine felt like the right one. Definitely feel we made the right choice with this, and manual tamping is fine and part of the process for me, so I don't consider that a drawback. I also think the digital display of some of the more expensive models ruins the timeless aesthetic, for me anyway. And this from someone who doesn't really love coffee unless it's really nice coffee! Bloody great and very bonnie piece of kit. Definitely good value.

This isn't a one push button instant coffee machine. If that's what you're looking for, click away now. This coffee machine does most of the hard work for you. It will allow you to pour a bag of freshly roasted beans into the grinder and have it dispensed into a cup within a few minutes. There is some manual attention to detail required for best results. This can make awful coffee. This can also make some fabulous coffee. I'm not here to tell you the exact answer, because it's something you will learn through using it. I'm here to tell you that it's entirely possible to learn how to make great coffee within just a few weeks of using it and what I personally discovered. So, what did I learn? 1. Buy fresh beans - no supermarket shelf stuff, not even M&S. It isn't fresh enough and your coffee will taste flat. Waitrose do a few types that have the roast date printed on the bag, if it's within a month, that'll do. 2. The included levelling tool isn't all that precise - I always find that slightly above that mark is actually better 3. The amount of pressure you tamp with has a huge impact on the pressure dial - you have to press quite hard, and ensure the level of coffee still sits high enough, yes you can add more and re-tamp. 4. The best shot comes from the double filter with single skin - the biggest one with the most holes. Learn on this one as the single skin ones cheat a bit. They have a single hole which artificially maintains a set pressure so you can't really mess up. The trick is to learn from the start. The single one is very fiddly and easy to get wrong. 5. Milk frothing is still quite hard for me, I think the best thing to do is get the wand deep in the milk to start with, then froth it when it's hot. Latte art is not as easy as the spotty weekend barista makes it look. Since using this, I don't buy coffee from shops anymore. I prefer my own. You can make whatever drink you want from it, single or double shot cappuccino, latte, frapawhatever. Be as pretentious as you want in the comfort of your own home. It also has a hot water dispenser for the green tea drinkers. Cleaning is a bit of a faff. Tray comes out in three pieces laced with coffee dust and water, but that's the price of fine art I guess. Keep it clean and it will keep making nice drinks. Also run the group head with nothing in it from time to time to clear it out. Changing the filter is absolutely vital if you live in a hard water area. Put it in your phone calendar or something. It's a nice product to have, changing beans keeps things fresh for me. I recommend an online subscription of some sort. I look forward to seeing your results on Instagram.

So far so good. Lovely cup of coffee

Fantastic machine. We are really happy with this. Looks great and is easy to use with producing as good as and I’d say better than a coffee shop. Ensure you purchase the right beans. 10/10

The wife convinced me to buy this machine because it would be beneficial for all of us :) I never was a big coffee person, but this machine quickly turned me into a coffee enthusiast and I can finally see and taste the difference. I'd like to say first that we bought the black one the first time but upon opening the box we realized the paint was already chipped in a few places so we sent it back. Not what you'd expect from a £600 machine. It might have been a one off, I can't tell because the next time we ordered the silver one. This one has brushed metal part all around unlike the black one with polished metal parts. They both look great and it's hard to say which I like better, but the silver does look a bit more durable when it comes to the paint. As I mentioned the machine is beautiful even to me and luckily it doesn't actually take that much countertop space. Putting it together was easy enough. This machine is pretty much complete and you should feel like you need to spend extra on gadgets. There is the coffee grinder, the steam wand, and of course the handle with 4 different portafilters. There are 2 single and 2 double sizes one for freshly ground coffee and one for ground coffee. I didn't think there was a difference but there is. There is the tamper which magnetically attaches to the machine. That's super handy. And there is the razor, which is a leveller, once you tamped your coffee you can use this to get any excess coffee out of the portafilter before brewing. But after we got the hang of it we rarely use it but it was helpful the first few times to help as learn just how much force to use when tamping. Oh and also the milk jug! It's got a thermometer on it's outside. It's quite accurate too. Of course you can always buy a nice analogue one that will be better, but it's more than enough to start you off! I really like the controls, everything is well placed and straightforward to use. The buttons are all lit with a nice white light which gives it a very upmarket look. The dial in the middle is a proper pressure gauge no digital screen anywhere to be seen, it actually looks so much better than the more expensive digital ones. Using it is easy. As I said before I never was much into coffees but my mrs used to work in a few coffee shops and learned the trade so she is quite picky when it comes to coffee. Of course it's not going to be as good as the ones used in coffee shops but if you want a mean espresso and don't want to leave the house this does a great job. Even though it's a single boiler one (meaning you can't steam and pull a shot at the same time) it's quite fast anyway and it takes me about 8 minutes to make two coffees in the morning. Things we didn't like that much are the steam wand...it first seemed a bit on the short side, but that seems to be the case with all the machines available to the public and only the real professional ones have longer ones. However we got used to this pretty quickly. Another issue we have and this is a bit concerning is the knob on the right side, this is to control the steamer. It can be turned left or right or kept in the middle. The middle option is off. Turn it right and you can draw hot water. Turn it left and it starts the steamer. Turning this knob is quite the job though. It feels very hard and sometimes it's a real struggle to turn the thing off and it's only 2 months old. It was fine only for a few days after it's like that. However it doesn't seem to get any worse so fingers crossed. We were so impressed with the machine we decided to buy another one for the office, this time went for the black one again as it was on sale. No problem with the chipped paint this time around. The steamer knob however seems to be a lot better though so again...a bit concerned for the silver one in this regard as it's quite hard to turn. All in all great machine which is quite easy to learn even for a complete starter like myself. QC is a bit so so with the chipped paint and dodgy knob though.

If you want to experience the awakening smell of freshly ground beans and amazing coffee at home, this is one of the greatest options at this price point. I’ve owned quite a few espresso machines in my life, this is the more expansive I even had but it gives by far the best results. The difference in quality and taste is huge. Some advice: what the machine requires is some patience at the beginning or when you get a new coffee blend. You will need to adjust a bit the grind level, the amount of coffee, tamping and the time it needs for extraction. It might take a couple of not so good shots until you dial it in, but once you do you are good to go. I’ve been using it for 6 months now, and I have settled in a coffee blend I like, so I don’t need to dial the settings very often. The pro-tip here, is to get freshly roasted coffee (about a month, month and half should be fine). I also tried generic coffee beans from known brands, the ones without roasting date, but the results are not as good. When using the machine, the analog pressure gauge (I love this, feels so professional) gives you a good overview, so you can see and adjust for the next shot: Low pressure and coffee running too fast? Maybe dial the grind level to be more refined, or add a bit coffee if the portafilter can take it. Too much pressure and very slow extraction? Move the grind level dial to be more coarse. Once you play around a bit, you will be able to see what the espresso needs and you will adjust. There are many helpful online tutorials if you want to dive into the whole process, but in general one should be ok with minor adjustments and able to enjoy tasty, velvety coffee – given you use good quality coffee. If you don’t want to buy freshly roasted coffee, you can use the dualwall filters provided in the machine; they allow for some extra pressure control of the extracted coffee, but in my opinion, if you buy this machine, you probably want good espresso, so buy the good coffee as well :) In general the machine is very easy to clean, I pop the tray in the washing machine every now and then and has been looking like new, even though I’m working from home and I’ve been using it quite a few times per day. The provided milk jug, with temperature indicator is great for great cappuccino / latte foam. Overall, this has been an amazing purchase, if you enjoy a good coffee and you are willing to learn how to extract it, this machine will not let you down.

**NEWBIES TIP** Unable to get arrow on the pressure dial to be in the espresso range? Inconsistent under or over extracted? Wasting lots of coffee beans? Going bonkers trying different grind settings and adjusting different amount of grinds? Wanting to return the machine? STOP, DO THIS ONE THING!!!!.... Weigh 18g of beans each time! Simple! Do not fill your grinder(empty grinder out if you already have). Instead each time you want to use your machine, weigh out 18g of beans and put in grinder. Set your grind amount to maximum (more). Press to grind and press again when you hear a change in pitch(the sound of all the coffee beans gone and grinder empty) Extra tip to prevent a mess...grind until porta filter half full, click to stop and knock on counter to flatten down(even a quick tamp is good) then pop back in and finish grinding. This way there is less mess. By weighing 18g (I’ve had success with 17g too), all you have to fine tune is your grind size! Currently mine is set to 6, every bean is different though. So yes you still have to drink some over/under extracted espresso until you find your grind but only one dial to worry about. Make sure you tamp down firm (not ur whole body weight but all your arm weight, if that makes sense). Prior to this method I must have made at least 20 “not in the zone” shots. I’ve had the perfect espresso range every time since weighing 18g out. Not used the razor either (need to find s use for this well made fella) Yes it’s a pain weighing but worth it and the bonus is less waste. Plus if you swap coffee bean brands, you only have to change the grind as you are grinding the same amount! Remember that different grind levels effect the volume coming out. So we don’t have to worry about this as only 18g going in. I’ve yet to make latte art from the milk steamer. Nice silky milk but not quite latte quality. Not sure if it’s the wand or me? Hmm. Heats up a lot slower than the machine at work, but I’m making lattes for me and my other half, not a queue of people. So 30seconds extra isn’t a biggy. You can buy your beans locally. Google “fresh coffee beans near me”. Yes, they are more expensive but they’re fresher(you’ll have a roasted date on them) and you’re supporting the “little man”. Great quality machine and it WILL make you a coffee snob...no, realy - your jar of instant will be pushed to the back of your cupboard “what was I thinking” “how little did I know” “I’m an educated barista now” This machine comes with a 2 year guarantee and a years supply of filters. So I’ll report back if there are any issues. It’s easy to give a product a five star rating to have it break 6 months down the line. So I’ll update my review in due course. Oh this machine is made by Breville in the united states. This may help if you want to watch video reviews. Still called Barista express, just Breville instead of Sage. I’d recommend getting a bigger milk pitcher for 2 person lattes. Use the smaller pitcher for catching your espresso if your cup doesn’t fit. A tall latte glass won’t fit under. Use the hot water spout, to pre warm your cups up. Also keep a wet cloth next to machine to wipe steam wand after you purge it. The milk is a pain to get off as it dries on instantly (this happens with all machines!) Purchase a knock box, it’s not exciting but definitely needed. I’d also recommend having your machine on the same side as your sink (for easier emptying of the tank) It fills up very quickly. Another thing I should mention, if your model number is different to the one on amazon, it’s the same machine. Sage updated their milk jug, to the temperature milk jug and gave the combo a new model number for online ordering. But they didn’t change the packaging to the new model number-cost too much. Think that’s all. Hope my review has helped at least one person. Thanks for reading. Enjoy your new machine! You’ll be wanting a rocket machine after you’ve mastered this one!

I am a coffee addict! If Coffee Anonymous existed, I'd be a member! :) I had a filter machine with a little espresso one-cup part, and could never be bothered filling up the system for one cup. This bad boy! Oh wow! Fill it up in the morning with 2l of clean fresh water, and 1.75l later, which is a LOT of cups of coffee, fill up again. There's a water filter built in, but I live in Birmingham, UK and we get lovely Welsh water (thank Wales!) which is very soft and doesn't really need filtering (IMO). It comes with 2 sets of filter baskets. 1 set for ground coffee and newbies. If you use these baskets with the Dual Wall, you'll almost always get a nice espresso with a good crema, but it can seem a little aerated. So the other filter baskets are better to use, but you have to get the right tamp and coarseness of the bean to get a nice crema, so those baskets take a bit of time to master. But when you do! And it's only 3 settings! 1. Grind amount, 2. Grid coarseness and 3. good tamp, but not too hard! It makes great coffee! I take a note of the 2 settings, the one on the site (coarseness) and the amount on the front, for each different type of beans I buy, so I can remember which are the best settings for each beans! All beans are different! So then it comes to the Milk Steamer. It's good, a bit slow, and I've tried to adjust the temperature, but it does the job, and to know the temperate on the jug and start to feel the temp without seeing it, you start to get better and better. But it's a skill and this I'm no where near mastering yet! Would be nice if the jug was just a little bit bigger, but it makes a good size mug! The hot water that comes out the pipe not as steam, is reasonably hot. Again I've tried increasing it, but I suppose it's good for Coffee, but not brilliant for a cuppa Tea! Cleaning the product is a doddle, by running a cleaning programme and buying tablets to use. Clean the steamer after every use and I clean the product every few days! Emptying the tray is nice and clear with a little Empty Me sign that pops up when its full up. I use this in combination with a good old fashioned Kettle! :D Boil the Kettle to get Half a cup of Hot water, a double espresso from this machine, bit of milk, and that's what I live on! Cost wise. I buy 1Kg bags of coffee beans and drink like a fish. compared to the cost of buying Instant this will eventually be cheaper with the savings per week on not buying Instant and buying bulk coffee beans. If you start charging your guests as the coffee is that good ;) $tarbucks eat your heart out, You'd be quids in before you knew it! :D