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With all the new style espresso machines on the market (Tassimo, Keurig, Flavia, etc.) I was convinced that Nespresso was more of the same: a set of stylish gimmicks designed to convince you that this “espresso” (though not real at all) was “the real thing.” It never is.

Which is why the Nespresso is so great. It IS the REAL THING. The capsules contain nothing more than espresso coffee grounds. The machine is simply an automated and miniaturized “real” espresso rig. And the results speak for themselves:

– full bodied crema like you get from the best barista

– speedy and HOT cups of espresso

– the espresso produced is crisp and clear, full bodied, and smooth

– my Sicilian wife and all her relatives (numerous, and mostly named “Maria” “Antonina” and “Dominic”) all fully approve of the espresso that comes out. Comparing is to “Nonna’s” would be sacrilege, but although those words have not been spoken yet, I am conviced the thought has crossed a couple minds.

– all this in under 30 seconds and within a square foot of counter space.

The frothing unit that comes with the machine is nothing short of black magic. I have NO IDEA what it does or how it does it, but the results will amaze you. And the best part is it’s easy to clean: no sticky milk mess left behind to make you wonder who’s gonna get sick first.

Coffee for this machine is 55 cents per cup, and Nespresso delivers online orders with astonishing speed (which is good, because you can’t get the coffee from anyone else!). A bit pricey, but in this case you DO get what you pay for… and then some.

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We all have our little passions. Over the years, I have devoted too much time, money, and study to perfecting the art of making the perfect coffee and espresso. I searched the world (and the internet) for the best beans, grinders, equipment, and even tried roasting my own beans and became able to produce better potions that one can ever find in the coffee boutiques. Still, as it turns out, my efforts were in vain. The Nespresso Essenza (and probably the other Nespresso machines similar in design) produces the perfect cup and the ease of doing so, sadly, puts my efforts to shame.

The secret seems to be in the strong pumping mechanism (19 bars of pressure, same as their more expensive machines) and their superb coffee capsules. After being such a stickler for the freshest roasted estate grown beans, I balked at the use of capsules and considered it the coffee for dummies approach. I also thought that they might be kind of similar in quality to the coffee “pods” used in the new single serve coffee machines, which range from bad (for the manufacturer and supermarket brands) to only fairly good (for the best of the gourmet, limited-edition pods at over $1 each).

Against all odds, the Nespresso pods are pure magic. I ordered new pods right away, but even the sampler pods that came with the machine were incredible, despite being past their “best before” expiration date. I’m equally mystified as to how they can have about twelve varieties and almost all be exquisite, despite noticeable differences not only in strength but in flavor. The “lungo”capsules are also fantastic (these produce 4 ounces of coffee-espresso instead of the classic 1 to 2 ounce espresso). Being partial to espresso and very dark coffee, I wasn’t so impressed with the two or three pods weakest in strength, but those who like traditional American coffee might prefer them.

The Nespresso capsules completely dispelled my concern that they would be limiting compared to the use of coffee beans. It turns out that the opposite is true. Sure, there may be hundreds of different beans available, with infinite possibilities of blends and roasts, but they rarely reach the superior flavor these capsules achieve. Moreover, ordering coffee beans limits you to only one or two roasts for awhile, unless you buy a variety of green coffee beans (which last much longer than roasted beans) and roast them yourself in small quantities. With the capsules, a nice variety of espresso variations are available instantly.

Having been in the habit of ordering expensive coffee beans, I find the cost of the Nespresso capsules at $.50 each and the two-day shipping charge of only $5.95 (for any quantity) very reasonable. When buying roasted coffee beans, the shipping cost for one or two day air was much higher, and I had to reorder them every few weeks to keep fresh ones on hand. Since the Nespresso capsules stay fresh much longer, I can order a several month supply at one time.

The only criticism of the machine is that the espresso might not be quite hot enough for some aficionados. However, it is just hot enough for me, and the temperature can be raised slightly by heating the cup first.

It is amazing that I can now enjoy the best espresso almost instantly. This is truly the perfect way to enjoy espresso, even if I can no longer take credit for concocting it.

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Be prepared to have to experiment with the settings a few times before you achieve the perfect espresso (especially if you are working with the equipment/settings for the experienced). Have patience – it does take some finessing.

I love that it has the coffee bean storage bin – very convenient. The grinder is amazing (putting out a superfine grind).

The water storage tank is a generous size so you don’t have to refill it constantly.

All in all, I am extremely happy with this purchase – the Breville Barista Express made a wonderful addition to my kitchen, and I highly recommend it.

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The pump assembly, heating block, and user interface are terrific. The buttons have a nice feel, everything about the machine’s style radiates solidity. It is a pleasure to use. The waste reservoir in the base is large enough for several days’ coffee drinking, and is easy and simple to empty. The convenient hidden compartment behind it is a great place to stash the extras and cleaning tablets.

The grinder is indeed adjustable and delivers consistent sized grind when it is working. But there are several problems with it — it’s obviously Breville’s first attempt. First, the bean reservoir has very shallow sides — they are not sloped enough for most beans to autofeed, so we often end up pulling the top open and stirring the beans with our fingers, to get them to feed down into the grinder. Second, the grinder *will* jam if you use oily beans — which is too bad as we like a very dark roast. Mixing oily and dry roasts 1:1 seems to be OK, except… Third, the grinder *will* jam if you get even a little bit of water in it, which is inevitable if you fill the tank in-place on the back of the device. The molding at the top of the machine seems custom designed to direct otherwise-harmless drops of water straight down into the grinder where they will do the most damage.

The worst thing about the grinder is that it is a bitch and a half to clean. You can disassemble it — at least as far as getting the stator blades out from around the burr — but the part that jams is the feed paddles that push grounds out of the area under the grinder, into the top of the chute that feeds the espresso head in its holder (as pictured). That part is nearly impossible to get to. When the grinder jams, I vacuum out the coffee beans and grounds with the blade head on our vacuum cleaner (incidentally, Dyson vacuums rock), then go after it with a combination of toothpicks, pipe cleaners, and dust-free canned “air”. This generally happens in the morning, so I wake up the kids with the vacuum, and then everyone’s in a bad mood — the kids want sleep and/or breakfast, I want my coffee, and I’m rooting around with a toothpick cursing the designers.

We do run the clean cycle when the “clean me” light comes on, but I suspect it is on a fixed timer — we user reverse-osmosis water, shouldn’t have any boiler-scale issues at all.

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I made a cursory read-through of the manual and having never owned a machine like this, but certainly having purchased a lot of coffee shop espressos across the globe, I thought I could jump right in and make some great drinks. Well, in part true, but I hit a point where I almost returned it. I started off with the double-wall filter and it made a very decent shot. Then I figured I try out the single wall filter. 2 weeks later and after joining the ranks of Corn-holio, I hit the jackpot.

During the first 2 weeks, I went from a moderate grind and a middle grind amount to the finest setting and about 2/3 away around the grind amount dial. I even far exceeded the recommended tamping pressure. The result was always an under extracted and bitter shot. Most of the time the puck was wet on top and a bit messy to clean up. Each time I pressed the double-shot button, the pressure wouldn’t even rise into the darker colored scale. No matter how fine the grind, or how hard I tamped the coffee the result was the same. I thought maybe it was the bean I chose or just a lousy grinder. Nope.

The day before yesterday I decided to read through the manual very carefully and try doing what they say step by step, not just what the cartoon correction diagram showed. I pre-heated the cup by running hot water through the filter and portafilter, thereby warming it. Then I immediately dried the portafilter/single-wall filter and filled it with freshly ground coffee. I added some coffee, pressed it down lightly into the filter with my fingers and added more. Then I tamped it with about 20 pounds of pressure. When finished, the tamper’s stainless rim near the bottom was not completely recessed in the portafilter, leaving it filled to within 1/8″. After cleaning the rim thoroughly I simply attached the group head and pressed the pre-programmed double shot. Killer espresso – like ones I’ve had in the finest Italian shops. Cleanup was a dream because the puck was nearly dry – it just popped out. Wow. Cleaning between shots is important – reheating is as well. If you follow these (Breville’s) directions you will be more than pleased with this machine. I now feel like I got my $600 worth.

I changed a few things all at once, so I can’t necessarily put my finger on exactly what changed the output. Pre-heating and filling the single-wall filter to an after-tamped level near the top seems to be the key. I love this machine now. As with the other reviews, I think the “clean me” light comes on with just a pre-set number of cycles since I too use filtered water and clean incessantly. The machine is heavy, solid and well laid out. Watch out while filling the reservoir so as not to get even a few drops close to the hopper – jamming problems and a difficult clean. I don’t like leaving the tamper in the magnetic mount to tamp my coffee, but it’s a great place to store it. The wand for frothing is fantastic, but I normally prefer straight espresso. My lovely wife prefers cappuccino and we’re now working on some good cup art, no longer worrying about trying to nail the perfect shot. I do recommend this machine, but I highly recommend reading the directions word for word, front to back in the manual and adhering to their advice. Breville designed it and they know how to get the best results. With practice, you too will snub your nose at Starbucks from now on.

Best of luck.

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So, I liked the Breville from all the reviews but was worried about some of the negativity on the “wet puck” I had read. All the reviews mentioned excellent coffee though, so it was on my short list.

Then I saw the Breville BES860XL, also known as the Barista Express Programmable Expresso. From the looks you can tell this unit has exchanged the hot water dispenser for a bean grinder. This unit is a fully automatic expresso machine with the super automatic feature of grinding a pre-measure of beans for your brew. Note, it is not a super automatic machine as you still need to manually mount the portafilter into the group head, and clean the filter afterwards. This is as automatic as you will want to go if you want to really control your coffee.

But, let me walk you through the pleasure:

1. the box. this has excellent graphics — even as you open, the getting started guide and pictures guide you along. The unit removes easily.

2. The tamper is magnetically held in place on the front of the machine — you can use it in place or remove for manual tamping.

3. New: -there is a dry puck feature now for all the fussy reviews — this removes excess water so you get, a dry puck

– an excellent burr grinder — you can dismantle this for cleaning, and it has a wide range of control

– for those that previously complained about the “cheat” dual wall filters — the unit comes with single and double dual wall AND single wall filters

– there is a hideaway storage tray to hold all the small goodies

4. Steaming — excellent steam temperature and pressure — works very well with the provided frothing jug, very minimal excess water to start

5. The real test. I am using the dual wall filters, and the Illy whole expresso beans I got from Italy were made into pure heavenly expresso. Nice crema. This is the real thing.

This is one finely engineered machine. From a mechanically inclined electrical engineer to the folks at Breville: you have created an exceptionally functional piece that does the job. Did I mention it is beautiful on the counter as well? I have it on an island, no bad sides.

Drawbacks: none. BUT, when making a real expresso shot, make sure you pre-warm your demitasse. Otherwise the expresso will heat up your cup and your coffee will not be hot. I run a water cycle first into my cup to heat up the group head and the cup.

In my opinion this is the best buy in the market under $1500. At the office, daily I use a super automatic machine that is at that top end.