expiredphoinix | Staff posted Mar 02, 2026 09:38 PM
Item 1 of 3
Item 1 of 3
expiredphoinix | Staff posted Mar 02, 2026 09:38 PM
Breville Barista Pro Espresso Machine (various)
+ Free Shipping$650
$850
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I have the Barista Pro still. I converted the hopper into a single dose so I wasn't wasting beans because they go stale quicker. After a year I decided was tired of the bean loss due to retention from grinder and upgraded to a standalone grinder.
That said, if you're looking for best cost and quality with Breville, I'd go with a Bambino Plus and separate grinder. If you're looking at ease of cleaning the Pro is nice. I don't see the benefit of the touch personally. The real upgrade is going to a dual boiler so you can steam and pull shots at the same time, but that's considerably more.
My setup was $450 for themachine and $250 for my grinder, Turin df-54
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Essential / highly recommended intial accessories:
1) scale that can weigh tenths/hundreths. (20-$40) ensures dosing out correct amount of coffee beans to grind / final weight in basket / can also help determine if flow rate is appropriate. (rule of thumb being 2:1 ratio, weight of pulled liquid coffee : weight of grounds at a roughly 30s period)
2) knockbox ($30-$45) - removing used pucks gets really old, really quick without
3) wdt tool ($10-$20) - used after the grind to break up clumps, helps with channeling
4) 53.3-54mm puck screen ($13-$15) - placed on top of tamped puck, aids in channeling, keeps group head cleaner
5) aluminum interlocking/magnetic portafilter dosing funnel ($6-$10 for locking, $15+ for magnetic) - sits on the portafiler during grind allowing grounds to fall in and give you a little room to use wdt tool / ensures grounds dont spill out everywhere, i prefer non-magnetic
Get once you've started and want more:
5) Bottomless Portafiler ($40 - $100s) - you interact with this the most, having a nice one that shows you if you have channeling problems (bottomless) can be nice to diagnose things. getting real wood accents is nice
6) Different baskets. I use an IMS 20-24gram basket cuz i like mine fairly robust. but normal/default baskets are like 18gram.
7) better tamper ($30/$50 all the way up to $100s) - easier on wrist, better ergonomics, better tampers give more even tamping for less channeling.
8) silicone bellows for grinder shoot ($9-$15) - lets you pump out the last little bit in the grinder shoot, not great but works ok
9) ground coffee distributor ($17-$40) - used after wdt but before tamp to level the grounds prior to tamp. likely not necessary, i just like ensuring an even tamp
10) water mister($10-$15) -misting your beans before grinding reduces static electricity, increases yield of ground coffee from the shoot. and in my opinion causes more extraction to occur
11) airtight coffee canister ($30-$50) - if your beans dont come in a bag that is air-tight resealable, your coffee can go stale rather fast.
12) separate tamp station ($40-$150) - mainly an accent / convenience. but having a place to tamp is convenient and can reduce stray fine grounds that tend to get everywhere.
13) Separate kettle with temperature control and gooseneck spout - ($50-$150) almost certainly a luxury accessory. picking the perfect temp for my hot water for americanos ensures a consistent / ready to drink temperature beverage every morning. and pouring from gooseneck is much more controlled.
that's about all for now. you'll have to look into "best water to use" since water is your next most important ingredient behind fresh roast beans, i use the costco purified with minerals (DONT use distilled) which is ~ok~ from what i read, but could be better. Also you'll want to look into descaling powder packets and flush tablets, since the machine reminds you quite often to clean it (2-3 weeks for flush, 3-6 months for descale)
Nice list. FYI, the newer machines since ~2024 come with a Baratza burr and a plastic interlocking dosing funnel. They say Baratza on the box.
Indulgences and outright dropping obscene money an icon of shittification are two very different things. This is all about trying to impress everyone who is drinking their K cups, even if it's costing you 32% APR on top of the $650 you don't have.
Drink enough shitty kcups (which arent even espresso) and your costs start adding up. Also, they're terrible for the environment.
Some people should not use quotes unless they are actually quoting.
These absurdly expensive toys, which are usually or poor quality, exist so people can try to impress others while making themselves feel they're of a slighly higher class than the the proles. It's a sign of the K-shaped economy where people buy expensive junk on credit to make themselves feel better not being able to afford the hyper-inflated stuff that actually has some quality or value.
Solution: Get a 5lb bag of price-inflated coffee at Costco. Grind it on-prem, bring it home a put it in your $30 coffee maker. Works great! Don't feed the greed machine by buying these ridiculously expensive trophies. This defines the shittfication economy.
You're not going to do that with a drip machine.
Also, "price-inflated coffee at Costco" ? I'm confused. It's actually one of the cheaper places to get beans....
I bought this with cash, not credit, years ago.
Why do you insist that everyone is poor and shops on 32% APR?
Projection
I have the Barista Pro still. I converted the hopper into a single dose so I wasn't wasting beans because they go stale quicker. After a year I decided was tired of the bean loss due to retention from grinder and upgraded to a standalone grinder.
That said, if you're looking for best cost and quality with Breville, I'd go with a Bambino Plus and separate grinder. If you're looking at ease of cleaning the Pro is nice. I don't see the benefit of the touch personally. The real upgrade is going to a dual boiler so you can steam and pull shots at the same time, but that's considerably more.
My setup was $450 for themachine and $250 for my grinder, Turin df-54
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Thermocoil vs. ThermoJet: When making coffee from the moment you turn the machine on, the Pro heats up in about 3 seconds. This saves about a minute of ready time since I usually run a pre-infusion cycle with an empty portafilter at first use to help warm things up. My 11-year-old Express will heat up the portafilter area if you leave the machine on for about 25–35 minutes, but that's not really applicable in my use case—unless you're preparing drinks for 8–10 people possibly.
Steaming milk with the froth wand is much quicker on the Pro as well. Both machines have grinders that are adequate for their price range. The Pro has Baratza branding on the grinder, but aesthetically it's hard to notice much difference. Both grinders can still miss a few grams here and there.
The Express also has slightly greater temperature swings due to its older-style heating system(not a good thing), but in practice the difference is pretty marginal.
I like trying different beans every couple of months, and it's usually difficult to pull the perfect shot on the first try. However, once you get the hang of it, it's not too hard to dial in a decent shot consistently.
Indulgences and outright dropping obscene money an icon of shittification are two very different things. This is all about trying to impress everyone who is drinking their K cups, even if it's costing you 32% APR on top of the $650 you don't have.
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