Breville BES820XL

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Long lost love, oh where have you been all my life?, December 29, 2009

By  A. Andrew
(Sacramento, CA USA)     This review is from: Breville BES820XL Espresso Machine LOVE this machine! I do not claim to be an espresso junkie or aficionado, but I am addicted to lattes and my morning habit was getting to be expensive so we bought this machine for Christmas. It's AWESOME! One of my main criteria, besides great espresso, was a frothing wand that would really do the job, and this one does. It texturizes the milk beautifully and creates delicious, creamy froth for my lattes and cappuccinos. We're still working to get the right grind and tamp combination, but I love that you can also use pods in the machine, which is fantastic for decaf! We drink regular espresso in the morning or afternoon, but every once in a while I want a cappuccino at night but it's not worth keeping the decaf beans or emptying my grinder to replace with decaf so we keep decaf pods on hand for those rare evening cravings. Perfectly convenient! You have to be willing to experiment to get the right tamp/grind combination or your espresso won't taste too yummy, but if you have some patience and try various combinations it really pays off. And I love the hot water wand - heats very quickly and great for hot tea! Super easy to use, pretty easy to clean and maintain, and entirely worth the cost!

Notable stuff:

- heats up quickly
- advertises that the top of the machine serves as a warming station for your espresso cups, but it doesn't get nearly warm enough to actually warm the cups (warm by filling with hot water from the hot water dispenser instead)
- does not require the use of distilled or filtered water (in fact, the instructions say NOT to use distilled water) - just use tap water and decalcify with vinegar occasionally
- the drip tray is nice and large-was able to make 6 lattes, including rinsing in between each one, and drip tray still wasn't full
- water reserve is very large and holds plenty of water
- "programmable" just means that you
can program how large your single shot is and how large your double shot is so that once it's programmed, you just have to push a button to make a shot of espresso - eliminates the guess work that results in inconsistent shots
- the pod attachment only works for single shots, as far as I can tell there are no double pods on the market and even if there were, I don't think they would fit in the pod attachment

 

A good espresso on this machine, April 10, 2010

By  Askari of Panther
Creek (The Woodlands, TX USA) This review is from: Breville BES820XL Espresso Machine This is a review about the quality of the espresso the machine makes, and not about
the short or long term reliability of the machine, since I have only had it for about a month.

I bought coffee beans from a starbuck coffee shop and asked the barista to grind the beans for an espresso maker. Decided not to buy a grinder (since reviews on grinders seem to indicate nothing but trouble). The first results I got were disappointing. No matter how well I packed the 2 shot coffee filter, or how much coffee I packed into it, the pressure on the indicator dial never reached even the beginning of the "optimum" range.

Then I decide to ask the barista if they had a finer espresso grind. They said their finest was #
"2". With that grind, I filled the 2 shot filter with coffee to the top of the filter, and packed the grinds as hard as I could. Started the machine. The
needle started to rise, reached the optimum range, went all the way up the optimum range and beyond it before finally stopping when the machine stopped pouring coffee! I also noticed that the amount of coffee poured was somewhat less than 2 shots of coffee. Removing the filter holder from the machine, it was clear that the filter had water, that had not pressed through the coffee, mixed in with the spent grinds.

The next cup of espresso I made, I did not pack the coffee as hard, or fill as high. I left about an 1/8" between the coffee and the filter rim . That did it. After starting up the scale the needle stopped 3/4 up the optimum level scale, and the coffee it made looked like 2 full shots and, when I removed the filter holder the coffee filter was mostly dry! The espresso had a nice layer of crema, added a little Milk, lots of foam...perfect!

What did it for me was 1) the right grind, 2) the right packing pressure, 3) the right amount of coffee.

I hope this helps some fellow home baristas!

Love It, March 21, 2010

By Moira Mcguinness  (east coast)     This review is from: Breville BES820XL Espresso Machine 

I cannot wait to get up in the morning since I got this machine. No lie. It takes up a good deal of space so if you are in a tight spot the pod style might be better for you. But this one looks totally cool if you have the room for it. I adore it.