Breville Barista Touch Espresso Machine BES880BSS, Brushed Stainless Steel

My wife really wanted to purchase an espresso machine, but I was skeptical. I didn't think I'd want to make espressos every day or clean the machine every so often. I was also concerned about the quality holding up since it's not cheap. After 6 months of usage I'm converted and now can't believe we didn't buy one sooner. I figure I should share our experience and recommendation for others that might be in a similar position. So far we have not had any issues with the machine. The espresso it produces is very good. We use high quality beans, but not different than in quality coffee shops in the PNW, and I would say it's a better cup of espresso. It can produce several different styles of espresso drinks and can be programmed for multiple favorites. The LCD touch screen makes it very easy to make any style of drink even if you don't know how to make it. The auto frothing is also a nice feature. Overall, I highly recommend this espresso machine.

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. UPDATE: I have been using a trick when frothing the milk- when it finishes frothing the milk and wants to do the automatic wand purge to clean the frothing wand, I put the wand back in the empty milk pitcher and the water/steam purge empties into the pitcher instead of the drip tray. Makes cleaning so much easier and I don’t have to empty the drip tray as often. By the way- it is Dec 2024 and we have used it every day since we purchased it without a single issue, so this is a very good machine!

Yes, it's an investment on the front end, but when I tell you this is the best cup of coffee I've ever made at home, it makes that investment an easier pill to swallow. It took a few times to understand how to use it, akin to anything, but I've got it down pat and can make a bomb cappuccino every morning before work. I prefer this over purchasing coffee, to be honest. Yes, it takes up space but it's an espresso machine, you want to show it off on your counter! The stainless steel has a nice, clean look that goes with everything, and the area on top of the unit to the right of the grinder is a great space to hold daily use items. There is also a tray under the machine that comes out when you remove the bottom/catchall tray and is good for the additional tools not needed daily. Highly, highly recommend this if you like good coffee and saving money.

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.

I could talk for an hour about this machine. I love it! It was definitely expensive, but worth the price. Some notes: seriously, its the best coffee drink I can make or find. While you can see all the normal functions, customizing my own drink was life-changing (I'm 50/50 if that's hyperbole, it's that good). No coffee house can match this, and it's very cost-effective. If you have a latte or whatever daily, that's roughly $5 a day X $365, well over $1,000. Now spread that over a couple of years, and the savings are impressive, even with the money you'd be spending on the coffee beans. Again, this is the best coffee drink I can find, and all my coffee loving family and friends agree. My drink (not that you care, lol), is a combination of an americano and a vanilla latte, the perfect balance. Coffee beans- it may seem obvious, but without the perfect bean, this machine may not seem that impressive. I'm quite picky, and tried a number of companies and blends until I found one that worked, and boy did it. (Not an ad in any way, but Trade Coffee was great for this). ---You'll also need to experiment a bit with each different bean, as some will need finer or coarser grinding to get that perfect shot. I both love and hate this part if I"m honest. I like the fact that I have figured out what works best, and in theory I like the experimenting part. However, when all you want is that coffee, and you spend a couple minutes prepping, only for it to be disappointing, that part stunk. I suppose if you want great coffee, a bit of effort is involved, so fair enough. ---The automatic frothing wand. I have mine on the highest temperature and froth setting, and it couldn't be easier. I only need 1-2 ounces of milk to get that amazing cappuccino type drink. Even with 5 stars, here's the bad part: The machine just broke on me a few days back, about 2 years, 1 month after purchase. I'm not defending this machine, but I've had several other fancy, but not as expensive machines (in the $500 range), and they all broke after about 2 years (usually just after the warranty expired). I don't usually buy extended warranties as I think they are BS, but having this experience with these machines over the last decade taught me a lesson, and I was very happy to see I bought the 3 year warranty on this. I put in my claim, and quite literally got my credit in 2 days. And if you're curious, yes, I bought this machine again, so I suppose that says it all. Odd note- this will make me sound old, but I was surprised they don't even attempt to fix the machine. No complaints, although it seems very wasteful, but they just confirm they received it and send an amazon credit. Lastly- 1 downside is that I got the machine on sale, so I did have to put out $100 plus $72 in tax, and then another $99 for a new 3 year warranty. I'm not loving that, but again thinking of cost at Starbucks or wherever, you're still coming out ahead on this, and you don't need to leave your house:). If you have questions I'm genuinely happy to help! I need Breville to sponsor me or something as I talk about this machine way too much:)

I love this espresso machine. I've had another for about 6 years and it finally died. My old one made great espresso and I was nervous to replace it, but this one is even better. The espresso is smooth, and the fact it sends the hot water to your cup at the same time is amazing. it's sleek design and not so big it's obnoxious on my counter. It was easy to set up and get going. I love it!

Really like this espresso machine, BUT let me explain. Pros: Makes an amazing cup of coffee(I'm not an expert, just a family that likes good coffee), even our daughter who's not an avid coffee drinker says as long as her drink is made on this machine she is enjoying coffee. We really like the way it can be programmed exactly to each persons specs(and saved!!!!). The grinding does a perfect job!!! The steamer can be set to exactly which temp you prefer AND even cleans out after each use. :) Easy to follow directions even for the newbies. Overall we would recommend this machine!!! Con: ITS LOUD!!!!!!! Not as loud as our Breville that we bought(used) from a friend, but Breville still has not figured out how to make a machine that is quieter. We have to stop conversations til we're done making coffee, which is really aggravating!

I had previously tried a Philips superautomatic (doesn't matter which, they'll all be about the same in terms of the nature of their limitations), and was pretty disappointed by the lack of espresso that, well, tasted like espresso. I got rid of it and used a $200 unit that was pre-ground coffee only (and it did a far better job than the $850 Philips in terms of sheer espresso quality), but it still left something to be desired. I wanted fresh-ground but with convenience. This thing was sitting around in my Saved For Later space for a long time, and I decided to snag it when the price dropped significantly due to the recent sales. Very glad I pulled the trigger, blew away my expectations. It walked me through not only how to set up the machine, but how to make a GOOD espresso with it (dialing in settings, advising how long it should take for the espresso to begin flowing as an indication of grinds being too course or too fine), and this all culminated in a cappuccino I made at home that for the first time took me straight back to Italy, where no prior machine I'd ever tried could. If you want to make good quality espresso drinks at home, this is the style of machine to get, and I recommend this model in particular for its beautiful ease of use and its excellent, refined engineering, from the hardware to the user interface and on-screen interactive guides. Do not be afraid to learn how to make a real espresso! This machine will teach you start to finish, in a manner of minutes, and you'll be proud of your results. In the end, using this semi-automatic actually requires less of my time for maintenance (cleaning the milk carafe in particular on my old machines was a nightmare, no such problem here), instead utilizing my time to directly impact just how good my espresso will turn out. As a side note, people seem to insist on trying to get their tamper perfect with just the exactly "right" amount of pressure and the exact "right" dose of coffee into the portafilter, often by buying extra contraptions to make it foolproof, but none of this is necessary (and the machine subtly indicates this while guiding you through your first espresso). The most important thing is that you develop a habit of preparing the portafilter in a SIMILAR way, every time, so that the settings you leave on the machine will produce consistent results (in other words, let the machine do the heavy lifting, you just make sure you provide it with some amount of consistency on your end). If you want real espresso and want to put your few minutes into making it good rather than into cleaning up after a sub-par "super"-automated facsimile, buy this machine, and not the alluring but ultimately entirely inferior superautomatic.