Breville Barista Express Review (BES870XL)

The Breville Barista Express (BES870XL) is the machine to buy if you want to learn espresso by hand and you want the grinder in the same box. Breville lists it at about $700, and it usually sells for an estimated $550 to $700, which is less than a good separate machine and grinder. If you only want lattes at the push of a button, buy a superautomatic instead. If you drink light roasts, plan for a better grinder later.

This review draws on manufacturer specifications, manuals and long-term owner reports, not on our own use.

Who the Barista Express is for

It fits a person or couple who makes one to three drinks a day and wants to learn the full workflow: grind, dose, tamp, pull, steam. The pressure gauge and the 16 grind settings give you feedback while you learn.

Skip it in three cases. If nobody in the house wants to steam milk by hand, a superautomatic fits better; see our superautomatic vs semi-automatic guide. If you already own a good espresso grinder, you pay for one you will not use; the Bambino Plus or Gaggia Classic Evo Pro is a better buy. If you make four or more milk drinks back to back, the single heater slows you down.

What is in the box

Breville ships the BES870XL with most of what a beginner needs:

• 1-cup and 2-cup baskets in single wall and dual wall versions
• A stainless milk jug
• An integrated tamper and the Razor dose trimming tool
• A water filter and holder
• A cleaning disc and cleaning tablets

The dual wall (pressurized) baskets forgive an uneven grind or pre-ground coffee. Move to the single wall baskets once you grind fresh. They give a better shot and show you what the grind is doing.

The grinder: good enough, with limits

The conical burr grinder has 16 settings and grinds straight into the portafilter. A grind amount dial sets how long it runs. Breville targets an 18 g dose in the double basket. Use the Razor tool to level the dose after you tamp.

The 16 steps are the main limit. With medium and dark roasts, one of the middle settings usually works. With light roasts, owners commonly report that one step is too coarse and the next is too fine. Breville’s manual describes an internal adjustment of the upper burr that moves the whole range finer. Most owners use it once and leave it.

If you later outgrow the grinder, you can still use the machine with a separate grinder. Our espresso grinder guide covers which ones pair well with a 54 mm portafilter.

Daily workflow and shot quality

A typical shot takes about two minutes from beans to cup:

1. Grind into the portafilter. Level and tamp to the Razor line.
2. Lock in the portafilter and press the 2-cup button.
3. Watch the gauge. Breville marks an espresso range on the dial. Above it, grind coarser. Below it, grind finer.
4. Aim for about 36 g of espresso in 25 to 30 seconds as a start, then adjust to taste.

The machine runs a short low-pressure pre-infusion, then brews at about 9 bar. The PID holds the water near 200 °F. You can also hold the button for a manual shot and stop it yourself, which helps when you pull by weight with a scale.

Steaming milk

The steam wand is manual. It makes good microfoam for lattes and flat whites once you learn the technique. Expect a few weeks of practice.

The Thermocoil heats both brew water and steam, so it cannot do both at once. After a shot, the machine needs a short wait to reach steam temperature. Purge the wand first to clear water. After steaming, run a little water through the group to cool it before the next shot. For one or two drinks this is a small cost. For a family of four making lattes, it adds up.

The separate hot water outlet saves you a kettle for Americanos and for warming cups.

Cleaning and maintenance

• After every shot: Knock out the puck, rinse the basket and wipe the group. Purge and wipe the steam wand right after each use.
• Every day: Empty the drip tray and refill the tank with fresh water.
• When the Clean Me light comes on: Run the cleaning cycle with the cleaning disc and one tablet. Our espresso machine cleaning guide covers the steps and tablets.
• Every few weeks: Brush out the grinder chute and burrs. Do not wash burrs with water.
• On schedule: Change the water filter and descale as the manual says. Thermocoil machines have a narrow water path that scale blocks fast. Our descaling guide sets the interval by water hardness.

Barista Express vs Barista Pro and other Breville models

The Barista Pro (BES878) is the step up most buyers consider. It adds a ThermoJet heater that reaches temperature in about 3 seconds, 30 grind settings and an LCD shot timer. It switches from brewing to steam much faster and has a 2-year US warranty. If light roasts or back-to-back milk drinks matter to you, the Pro is worth the extra money.

The Barista Express Impress adds assisted tamping and dosing to the same basic design. The Bambino Plus drops the grinder and adds an automatic steam wand at a lower price. Our Breville brand guide maps the full range.

Running costs

The ongoing costs are small. Plan for cleaning tablets, replacement water filters and descaler, plus fresh beans. A replacement filter is a Breville part. Generic espresso cleaning tablets such as Urnex Cafiza tablets work for the cleaning cycle. Many owners also add a 54 mm tamper and a scale in the first year.

Buying advice

Check the model number. The US version is BES870XL. In the UK and Europe the same machine is sold under the Sage name. Buy from a seller that honors Breville’s US warranty, and register the machine with Breville. Sales on this model are common, so a discount toward the low end of the price band is realistic.