Breville Barista Express Impress Espresso Machine

Bought this on Prime Day at a great price. Always been a Breville brand fan. I have several of their appliances and (almost) no complaints, other than an expensive (but functionally impressive) toaster that died after 2 years. I’m replacing a Nespresso machine that I’ve used daily for over 6 years. For the last few months, I think I’ve watched every YouTube video made about setting this model up, using and cleaning it. Breville also has videos about the machine. They are informative but irritatingly corny. I spent the day it showed up reading the manuals, re-watching some videos, packing away my Nespresso machine, inventorying the Breville and setting it up. I also ordered Lavazza coffee beens from Amazon just to get started.The first day, took several presses of the “dose” button to get my green okay light. I thought it was supposed to remember the correct dosage for the same beans but the 2nd day, it over-filled the portafilter. That gave me a chance to test the “razor” and it was simple to use. Since then the dosage has been perfect on the first try. Something I learned from the Breville videos is that start to finish, the extraction should take about 30 seconds or you need to adjust the grind. I used my iPhone to time that. 1st day was about 20 seconds, but the expresso still tasted way better than my Nespresso shots, so I just went with that and adjusted the grind by a couple of clicks (making it finer). Next day, the extraction took 25 seconds, so I adjusted the grind again by a couple of clicks. Extraction took 30 seconds and had a great crema.I should mention that I always used 2 shots on my Nespresso machine and about 10-12 ounces of unsweetened almond milk to make a latte. I also used probably 10 packets of Stevia in the Raw to get past the bitter taste. Over the years, I’ve tried most of the Nespresso original coffees and my favorites are the Italian ones. With the Lavazza coffee (also 2 shots) and my new Breville, I’ve cut that back to 4 packets and it’s perfect. Something else I noticed is that the the Lavazza is not very bitter (I just like my latte on the sweeter side) but I noticed a lot of nuance in the taste of my expresso shot. I’m not an expresso expert, so I don’t know the correct terms. But the latte tasted very, very fresh, light with just a hint of bitterness.I haven’t used the steaming wand and I’m not in any hurry to learn that. I’ve always put my almond milk in the microwave for about 90 seconds (with the Stevia in it) and used a $15 frother wand to whip it up. Then I pour that into the expresso. I don’t do art. I have the Nespresso frother and some 3rd party one I bought. They don’t do any better than the wand and are more work to clean up. I also only drink lattes or cappuccinos (when I over-froth!) and am actually not a coffee drinker. I drink tea the rest of the day.My criteria for upgrading machines were 1) improved taste in my lattes, 2) same ease of use as the Nespresso and 3) same or lower costs to make my lattes. I probably spend $50/month on Nespresso coffee and it looks like I can spend $10-$20 on the Lavazza or close to that amount if I want to try some local brewers (and I will). The Breville machine is (when on sale) twice the cost of a Nespresso. But spread that over 5 years and it’s not much of a factor. Ease of cleanup and setup is about the same. Filling up the water tank on the Breville is a tad more work than the Nespresso and will slosh out if you’re not careful. I’d say if you factor in putting water in and warming up the Nespresso machine, it took me about 4-5 minutes to make a Nespresso latte. Factor in the dosing time and the Breville takes me 7-8 minutes. Close enough.Am I happy with it? Heck, YES!!!! I’d give my Nespresso machine 4/10 stars. I didn’t have to get in the car and drive to a coffee shop each day. I knew I was trading quality for (some) cost and convenience. I’d give my Breville 8.5/10 stars. The expresso shots just taste so wonderful. I know some people go down a rabbit hole trying to get a perfect expresso shot. I rank wanting to do that right next to improving (or even doing) latte art. :-). I couldn’t be more pleased with this new setup.

We purchased this during one of the regular Breville sales where many of their machines go on sale at the same time at retailers. At that price I think this is a great value.I had been shopping for an espresso machine for a while, and was mostly looking at saving for a more expensive machine, but this seemed like a great choice to just get something earlier. This makes great coffee and is easy enough to use that it isn't completely overwhelming for novice users. With the integrated tamping and grinder, it's nice that it's a "one thing on the counter" setup with a relatively compact package.There are occasional quirks and various light flashings, but nothing that hasn't been solved by just taking a few minutes to read the manual and do what the machine asks you to do (e.g. backflushing, descaling, brush cleaning the grinder), and a little bit of diligence has kept everything working smoothly. Some more persistent quirks are maybe just preferences; we removed the black plastic fitting from the portafilter and prefer to run an empty shot before preparing a drink to warm the portafilter. You can also warm it by just attaching the empty portafilter to the group head, and letting it sit turned on for 15-20 minutes.Spend the money on some good quality medium/dark roast coffee and you'll be pleasantly surprised how good of a shot this can pull. We did buy some Lavazzo beans from Costco because we couldn't resist the pricing, but I think after we finally finish our first 2lb bag this week we'll stick to better quality beans. It has been a joy every time we have recently roasted beans from a good vendor in the machine.We'll see how things look long term, but after about 10 weeks of almost daily usage we still like our machine quite a lot.

I had the Breville Infuser for several years but the needle/pressure indicator stopped moving. rather than trouble shoot I gave it to a young friend who is thrilled. I bought this Barista Express Impress and yes, I am impressed. I got it because I got tired of tamping and finding the proper amount of grounds to use (I can’t be bothered with a scale sorry) and this machine is PERFECT for me. The machine is heavy enough I can insert the portafilter and only lightly brace the machine with my left arm crossed over the top (I am 71 and not as strong as I once was); inserting the portafilter is very stiff perhaps because it’s new. My old infuser took the portafilter a lot easier. The grounds are always just right and the level and pressure consistent. It makes a GREAT capuccino everytime. I don’t use the steamer as much but it is SUPER easy to clean with a damp microfiber cloth. It has the slower heating system which is fine by me as I myself am slower now too ☺️. The cleaning cycle is very easy, I woudn’t consider it noisy, even the steamer wand is less noisy than my old Infuser. I don’t mind a little noise so you know what’s going on. I love the whole machine and my daily capuccino.