Breville BES870XL Confusion

[thepourover]

Hi Coffee Pals,

So I am incredibly confused. I found a very lightly used 870XL locally for $250. I was stoked, grabbed it immediately. Then started reading about how awful the machine was, so many problems making decent shots, difficulty of dialing it in, etc. Buzzkill for sure. Especially not being a professional espresso maker. I have dialed in the pour overs, so i'm used to the things a lot of folks skip, warming the vessel, etc.

Here is what I cannot wrap my head around. After the majority of threads/forums related were littered with "you need to spend $2K+ on the machine, and another 2K on a grinder to get anything more then mediocre" I grabbed my scale, watch, and temp gauge and went to work. I got 18g out of the grinder every time, pressure gauge was smack in the middle, 60ml's from a 28 - 31 second poor every time, and wonderful espresso from a local roaster. The wife's results were identical. So what's the problem? I did nothing more then follow the directions, of which most videos online did not.

Why all the trash talk about this machine? Maybe my mouth sucks at coffee?

 

[zinzan8]

I'm happy with my 870, a Christmas present from me and my wife to ourselves.

Seems like different beans need different settings, but I've managed to get nice espresso after just a little trial and error.

Still, we've gotten to where we are sticking mostly with one primary locally roasted whole bean. We have some local decaf beans as well, but we don't indulge in these too often.

While I have read some criticism about the 860 and 870, I did not interpret the overall opinion to be that this is an awful machine.

 

[shadow745]

If you ask me those that constantly spout off about having to spends thousands to obtain good/consistent espresso at home are likely lacking skill to make use of better equipment. I know for a fact after having owned/used some really good equipment over the last 8-9 years that once you get to a certain level of equipment you're not necessarily getting better espresso, just getting there with less effort. Don't listen to the coffee nerds claiming you can't create quality espresso on what you have. As long as you're satisfied that's all that matters.

 

[streem26]

[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif] My parents[/FONT] had their going over 3 years now and zero issues. Honestly, for this price range it's up there with the best (check out cozzy reviews) I wouldn't worry about upgrade path etc yet. Once you get the knack of the machine and home espresso in general, you'll do what everyone does after a few years and start looking at the next jump up (usually the $800+ brackets) The BBE is a perfect place to start though. Be patient, experiment, get your own process down (ignore the machines auto dosing for example) and use quality beans always. You won't regret it.

 

[thepourover]

Great feedback. Thanks everyone. We've loved our machine since taking it over from the previous user. I am still struggling with the auto dosing. It either gives too much, or waaaaaaay too much. So I hit grind with my finger and let it go into a cup, weight out the correct amount and we are getting great espresso. perfect 30s pours etc. Good beans are easy to come by here in Bend, Oregon. The hipsters have well taken over the coffee market.

Next step is learning how to properly steam milk! That is much harder for me then the espresso.

Thanks again everyone!