Breville Barista Touch Espresso Machine BES880BTR, Black Truffle

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!

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:)

We've had espresso machines for years. We had ordered the barista express but the one we got seemed used (loose gaskets and frother covered in milk). When our kids are here, they aren't familiar with these things so we thought this should work better for them. It is very easy to use, gives great results, and looks good. We only use Lavazza coffee and they have started putting grind, temp and time right on the packages so very little guessing involved when switching beans. Will have to see how it holds up as we have only had it a week. Will follow up later with reliability results. The only negative I have is that it won't fit under out kitchen cabinets. Ours have 16" opening and this just won't clear by about 1/4". Since it sets in a corner though, we just put it at an angle and it works fine.

I am glad I purchased! It was easy to setup, it tells you what to do when you power it on. I love coffee and had to get this machine, I love my first cup today. I did a lot of research and end up with this machine. I am hoping and praying it last long because I spend a lot for this machine, I am also hoping the manufacturer be of help when need be because it was a lot of money. I will update my review as I keep using it.