Breville Barista Touch Espresso Machine BES880BSS, Brushed Stainless Steel.
Semi-Automatic Espresso Machines
Breville Barista Touch Espresso Machine BES880BSS, Brushed Stainless Steel
$4.20
| Asin | B078WMLXXG |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 12.7"D x 15.5"W x 16"H |
| Weight | 21.8 pounds |
| Manufacturer | Breville |
Rossi –
We purchased this as our 2nd Breville Espresso machine particularly for the built in grinder. What I really like: built in grinder, touch of a button controls, very easy to clean milk wand and auto pause when water is low. Things to know: the auto grinder dispenses a little uneven so you have to shuffle the grinds a bit before tapping down; also there is no sensor so when the beans run out, the grinder just keeps going as if there are beans. I haven’t figured out (haven’t taken the time) how to set a custom set of controls. It is a bit frustrating that my changes to the froth (level and temp) don’t stay set.
Mary A. Cohn –
I bought this as a gift for my nephew and his wife. Their old machine (another brand) died. I’m not a big coffee drinker but enjoyed a coffee my nephew would make. The old machine would creat a little bitter coffee. This machine created a lovely cappuccino. I know both of them were excited and said how much better this coffee was. They used the same beans and creamer to make their drinks as the old machine. My nephew said how easy the machine was to use. His wife said the coffee had a great taste better than their old machine. I know coffee is their thing and they were very happy with this machine. They liked that the frothier was automated and would bring the milk to the right temps. The self cleaning feature was an added bonus. I took a leap of faith not knowing anything about coffee or machines but hit this gift out of the park. My cappuccino was delicious that I may get a machine for me in the future.
Jimmy H –
I was originally looking at a model with more manual options, but for a couple of hundred dollars more and touch capability, I couldn’t pass this unit up. Setup is a breeze, and cleaning the unit is as expected and not bad at all. The machine is pretty self intuitive and, overall, the results are excellent. This machine makes great coffee drinks that are tailored to your liking. The frother workers well, and I love the fact that it cleans/ rinses itself after each use. Keep in mind that it will take a few uses to dial-in the machine to your specifications. The most important thing to watch is the grind level. The Breville manual recommended a starting grind at number 12. That was way too fine and did not allow sufficient flow from the portafilter. It was not flowing at all. I have experience with these machines, and I was not over tamping the grinds prior to brewing. I adjusted the grind to number 20, and the coffee flows like a dream with excellent crema on the surface and still very robust flavor. Any finer, and the espresso or cappuccino was way too bitter and did not flow at all. It trickled and sputtered out of the portafilter flow vessels. I use the best coffee beans from boutique coffee roasters around the world — most on the darker side. If you just pay attention to the grind level, you will eliminate any unnecessary frustration right off the bat and the machine will work perfectly for you. To reiterate, adjust the grind level to number 20 to start. You can always go lower, but I doubt you will need to. To conclude, I’m very happy with the purchase and recommend the Breville Barista Touch to anyone looking for a sub one thousand dollar machine.
Brian –
Ok, I am going to try to split this into two sections- the short review and an extended review.
The short review: It is AMAZING and well worth the expense. Buy good beans and you are good to go.
The longer review:
First of all, this machine is expensive so I would look for any sort of sale. For us, it was worth it.
The expense: At time of purchase this was going for roughly $799, but in terms of value it was worth it for us. Looking at our Starbucks bill, we spent well over that in just a few months because we would go there each morning and sometimes on the way home from work. We haven’t visited Starbucks at all since we bought this machine so it has more than paid for itself, and that is including the purchase of good beans.
Starbucks was always a hit and miss depending on who was making our coffee each morning, but the Barista Touch has been a hit because once you create your settings it is always the same AND you can make micro adjustments until you get it just right (see “Features” below).
The quality: It is very well made and the touch screen makes this a breeze to use- sooooooo easy. It has a drip tray that is very easy to empty and clean. The froth wand is easy to use and makes perfect frothed milk without any hassle at all. The tamper, it was good but not great so we opted for a spring loaded tamper and purchased a grind distributor which made using this even easier. If you have never tamped coffee, it can be tricky but using a spring tamper just made it so much easier however the tamper included is perfectly fine. We purchased the Sccody 53mm Calibrated Espresso Tamper which makes espresso tamping a breeze without any guesswork needed. The Barista Touch does come with a “blade” distributor, but I opted to buy a better one which has made for perfect coffee. We bought the Gurudar 53mm Coffee Distributor which is also a palm tamper but we just use it for the distribution of the grind instead of using the included Breville blade- again the included blade is good butr we wanted something a bit easier to use. Both the Sccody and the Gurudar are perfect additions and take all the guess work out of learning to make espresso, but there are many other options and even using what is included with the Touch you will be good to go with a small learning curve.
The features: First, the touch screen- the Barista Touch comes with a screen that makes it so easy to create your coffee of choice. It has preprogrammed options (which are adjustable) and it allows you to custom build your coffee of choice and assign it an icon. In fact, everything is icon based and it even has a tutorial built in. For instance, if you want to make a latte, press the latte icon and a screen pops up with the easy to follow steps. You can make many different types of coffee including Americanos, Cappuccinos, and even simple espresso shots. You can even custom design your coffee, then assign it an icon, then every time you want that coffee you just hit the icon and follow the steps. Blamo- great coffee every time.
Second great feature-the grinder. It has a built-in grinder which makes all the difference. The grinder is adjustable so you can change the grind size to fit your needs and to customize your coffee (fine or coarse grind).
Next good feature- the water tank. It holds a good amount of water and is located at the back of the machine. You just have to watch the level but it will give you a “water tank is empty” message on the screen when you need to refill it.
The downside: The only real thing we found to be a problem is the grinder and changing beans. We decided to try a different brand of coffee to see if we liked it but the hopper was full. Removing the beans from the hopper was a bit tricky and I know there is probably some short cut, but we managed and honestly it wasn’t that big of a deal.
Comparisons: Our first espresso machine, the De’Longhi 15 bar espresso maker, was a good beginning machine but just isn’t as good as the Barista Touch. The De’Longhi didn’t have a grinder so we used pre ground coffee which was ok, just not super good and certainly not good enough to keep us from returning to our Starbucks habit. Our kid ended up taking it to college, so we upgraded to the touch. One thing that has made a world of difference, besides the included grinder, is the automatic milk frother on the Barista Touch. Super easy to use and is as simple as placing the milk pitcher, which is included, under the wand but it has to sit on a temp sensor to work accurately. We haven’t had a single problem with it to date. You can also use the frother in manual mode if you want, which is a great added feature but the automatic mode is good enough to make latte Art…that is if you know how to actually make latte art unlike me.
As for adjustability, you can adjust how much coffee is ground, how fine you want the grinds, and how long the machine grinds the coffee. You can adjust the temp of the milk froth, you can go from automatic to manual mode to froth the milk so there are several options to adjust and fine tune to your exact specification.
Overall, we love the Barista Touch- it makes amazing coffee. Of course, the beans have a great deal to do with it but still this machine rocks.
UPDATE: Ok, I did find one tiny aspect of this most excellent machine that Breville could fix, aside from the price, and that is the frothing wand. Once you finish frothing the milk you have to clean the wand. It does a self clean, but when it self cleans the wand does not line up directly with the hole in the drain pan. ours is off a slight bit. The drain pan hole should be just a bit larger and that would fix everything. We found that after cleaning the wand we put the damp paper towel or rag near the base of the wand on the drain pan to avoid splashes. not a big deal but thought you should know.
ctohio –
I have been making espresso on home machines for 25 years and can pull a good shot from even a cheap machine. Prior to buying this beauty I was using the breville barista pro. It is a very nice machine and I have enjoyed it for many years. I am getting old and my dexterity is not so great now. I started having difficulty steaming milk without burning myself. I watched some reviews on this machine and thought it was worth a try. As with all machines it took some time tweaking the grind size and amount. Those settings are then stored for all the programmed drink selections. The pre-programmed drink selections are actually all the same setting for brew time but different froth settings. The touch screen allows you to tweak each drink to your taste. When you have designed your perfect drink you can label and save it. After that it an easy and consistently good experience. The frothing wand is a pleasure to use. Having that hands-free minute allows for a quick clean up. The foam levels are each slightly different but all are pretty smooth micro foam. I sometimes like some dryer foam on top but haven’t been able to achieve that. For me, that is minor. This is a beautiful machine and worth the upgrade.
Tanner –
Love this machine! So easy to make coffee with and love that it’s half automatic/half manual. So fun to use and makes such yummy coffee.
Aurora –
I’ve been using it for a few weeks now and really enjoy it. It is super intuitive to use, and since I’m far from being a coffee buff, the touch screen display is really helpful. Even a novice like me could figure it out without much difficulty.
Initial setup and calibration took a little while and I’m still tweaking the grind size and quantity. I’m getting better at getting the right pressure on the tamp too. That took a while to figure out.
I’ve only used Americano and Latte so far but both have turned out great.
The auto milk foaming wand is really nice. I found that having it foam for about 5-10 seconds longer than default allows me to more easily make the art on top of the drink. The wand self cleans which is amazing.
The machine is solidly built and looks really nice on the counter. It is a little taller than I thought, with the bean hopper on top, so I have to slide it out from under my cupboards in order to fill the beans or fill the water behind.
It’s making very consistent and delicious coffee, and I’m very satisfied with it. With the high price point though, it’ll be interesting to see how long it lasts and whether it ends up saving me any money from buying coffee instead. Time will tell.
The spacing of everything is precise, down to the centimeter almost. The hot water sprayer and the portafiller are both super close to missing my mug, but somehow don’t.
I haven’t cleaned it yet, as we’re using Sparkletts water and the filter it came with, so very soft water and not much buildup. We’ll see how the cleaning process goes but if I follow the instructions on the screen, I’m sure it’ll be easy.
Making the coffee is a little messy so it’s good to have a damp cloth handy.
I think Breville is a well respected brand and this one does not disappoint.
Charles W. –
NEW UPDATE: August 2022 was able to reach out to Breville support and they sent a replacement unit!
I was pretty upset that my two month old espresso machine broke (what I believe happened after a bit of troubleshooting/cleaning was the bottom of the grinder had a stem/post that broke or came loose where and the grinder was just free spinning). I tried to live chat with an agent but no luck there so I opened a support case on the website, uploaded some photos, and then called them instead. Hold time was estimated at an hour so I did the option to get a call back and they called back within the quoted time frame. The agent I spoke with Alice J. and she was extremely professional and helpful. I got no hassle from them about the issue I was having and before my call was over I had multiple emails with a shipping label and all the instructions on what I needed to send back. It used a UPS VIP product return service that confused the young lady at my UPS store but they did accept it using Breville’s clear instruction sheet (I didn’t need to box up the old machine at all I just took all the accessories off and taped the cord down). I was advised that they would either repair my machine in 5-7 days or ship me a replacement.
It has only been 7 days and my replacement unit was delivered today! What a pleasant surprise to have it show up so promptly. I hope whatever the defect that happened with my pervious machine doesn’t happen with this one! We loved our Barista Touch up until it broke and it was an investment that we really want to have last for a long, long time.
UPDATE: Bought June 2022 now it’s August 2022, so two months of operation.
I made a cup of cappuccino this morning and it worked fine, I made a second cup and it stopped grinding beans halfway through even with a full hopper of beans. I went through the arduous steps of cleaning the burr grinder (yes, tools are involved) and I vacuumed out a ton of coffee dirt but even after all of that the grinder makes noise but fails to grind beans. After just two months this is unacceptable to have it just not function anymore. I am still trying to get an email back from Breville support so I’ll update this review if they are able to resolve the problem. Still the fact I have to deal with this in the first place means I am never going to enjoy this machine as much as I had been this thing is NOT cheap.
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My wife and I got a taste for good cappuccino when we went to Europe last year so for our anniversary we went ahead and got our own espresso machine. The reason I went for the Breville Barista Touch was that there were some glowing reviews online that made me feel it was a good fit. We never had a coffee appliance like this before so we didn’t have a grinder, we didn’t know how to froth milk, and the measurements for a good shot were beyond us. This machine does it all, it grinds very well, extraction is good and the automatic milk frother is the star of the show. It fits well under our cabinets, too! Now we have delicious cappuccino every day and it’s finally fun to make coffee.
D.D. –
I’m not gonna lie, I was intimidated reading the manual. Once I unboxed it, followed the on screen instructions plus the book instructions, it was easy and I was hooked! I went through the first tank of water tasting the difference with fresh grounds, already ground, regular and decaf, with and without milk. I loved every bit of it. I’m so happy and geeked up on caffine. Who needs a transmission pulled? I got you! 🤣
Jean M –
Beware, I purchased the Breville Barista Touch Espresso Machine in December 2022. I started having issues with the “start ” button not working in April 2023 from time to time. When it would happen I would try everything, even unplugging the machine. I thought it might be a fluke. But it wasn’t. In May I contacted Breville by email and got a pretty quick response requesting more information and proof of my purchase from Amazon. Breville has a 2 yr warranty. So I figured I would get a replacement as I only used it for5 months. Then I received an email telling me to try plugging it in in a different outlet. Which I had already but I had another appliance plugged in to the same outlet and it was working. But I still tried a different outlet. Didn’t work. So after providing more information., I the next email I received told me I would be receiving a box with in the next 5 business days, to pack this defective Breville Barista Touch Espresso Machine in and all the instructions on what not to send, that Breville would repair the defective product and return it within 5 to 7 business days after they repaired. To ship it back to Breville for repair.
So I waited and waited and when I didn’t get the box to pack up this defective expresso machine, I wrote an email again and then never heard back for 3days, so I wrote an email again asking them is that how they took care of customers and stated I had thought Breville was a reputable company. By this time after not hearing anything from Breville support, I called the support number. I talked with a representative, who pulled my many emails up and all she could do was apologize. I then asked to speak with a supervisor or manager, she immediately told me one wasn’t available, that shehave them call me back. By thistime I knew I was getting a run around, so I told Breville representative I was contacting Amazon. Said goodbye.
I immediately called Amazon talked with 3 different people, got my issue dealt with but in the meantime I received another email from the Breville representative who I spoke with on the phone stating by 7pm that night I would receive the return box for repair of this defective expensive machine. Never received that return box for the repair. Never heard nothing else back from Breville support. Nothing! Amazon took care of it and made an exception for me but I lost about 200 dollars on it.
I would advise everyone not to purchase a Breville, they don’t honor their warranty and don’t provide customer service at all. They only give you the run around.
They are not a reputable company!!
Oh BTW, I wrote Breville an email telling them that they were not a reputable company when they do not stand behind an honor their warranty and I would never buy a Breville product again and that I was going to write a review on them. Within a couple of hours after sending that email to Breville support, they replied and stated they were sorry for my frustration and sent me a 25% coupon on my next purchase of a Breville product. I wrote them back stating how dare they. I could not believe they totally thought it was ok not to honor their product 2 year warranty and totally disregarded and disrespected me.