The "Great" Breville Brew Experiment

[jmadowl]

Just let me start off by saying I love your channel, you guys rockl. I use the 830XL with the Non pressurized basket and also use the Breville smart grinder. I'm getting good results but it took a while to dial in, but it is a capable machine for the price. That said after watching some of your videos my next machine is definitely going to be the Rocket Giotto.

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

@jmadowl That would be a definite upgrade!! :) - Kat

[eatmyshorts2007]

good vid, u guys are awesome!

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

@eatmyshorts2007 Thank you!

[sweetfeat1]

Breville's probably pissed with this video 12,300 people watched this lol

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

@sweetfeat1 Breville loves us! - Kat

[omcuriel]

i have the Breville 800ESXL and the Breville smart grinder, and it took me abut 10 shot to adjust the grinder to get a nice Breville espresso

with nice crema and rich aroma and flavor

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

@omcuriel Yeah, it definitely can take awhile to dial it in!! Great to hear you're getting good results :) - Kat

[omcuriel]

thax kat 

[omcuriel]

i have a Breville 800ESXL and i want to buy a new tamper i don't like te plastic one the size of the base 51mm 52mm ???? pleace help me

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

@omcuriel I believe it's a 51mm -- most readily available size, anyway. - Kat

[nat4200]

Love these videos, they're just sooo entertaining I could watch them all day!

Commenting on this as I'm using that grinder and the little sister of the espresso machine (the BarVista BES200 model). I'm using an unpressurized basket I took from another machine and surprisingly happened to fit, and have modified the grinder to go beyond the "Turkish" setting.

Wondering if you had played any further, and had any more insights on perfecting shots with Breville machines that you could share?

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

@nat4200 We haven't really done much more testing on these guys, although we do play around with them every so often. Did you check out their new machine? - Kat

[nat4200]

@SeattleCoffeeGear The "Barista Express" (sold as "Fresco" here in Australia)? It does look nice, sadly it might be a while before I can afford to upgrade though

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

@nat4200 No, it's the Double Boiler -- it's a great machine and great shot functionality. I hear you on the upgrade cost, though! :) Sorry we can't be of more assistance in improving your current setup :/ - Kat

[brewmiester11]

I have an 800ESXL and a rather cheap Cuisinart bur grinder and I can't use the finest grind, I have to back it off about 3 or 4 clicks. If I use the finest grind, or tamp too firm I get no flow through the porta-filter. I think you might need to tamp a little firmer with these machines, but there is a fine line between enough and so much that you get no flow. Once I got the tamp and grind right I was pleased with the results. I'm no expert ,but, I've pulled some nice shots from this machine.

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

@brewmiester11 That is great to hear! Definitely -- if you're using it with the non-pressurized baskets, it's all about the grind and tamp :) - Kat

[paulfitzpa]

I used to have one of those brevilles with the pressurised basket... not good. Moving to a Rancilio Silvia was the best move I ever made. Thanks for the videos ladies, lots of good info!

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

@paulfitzpa Great to hear that you finally found the machine for you :) The Silvia is a great gal ;) - Kat

[Logicdj]

HI there I learnd already allot of your video's but i don't know the differents between a pressurised and a non pressurised portafilter ? and I have another question, my parents are thinking of buying an espresso machine whit a grinder, I found the Ascaso arc fun as best for that price and I think it's a Realy good machine.

My question is: can you two make a review of the ascaso arc fun ?

Thanks allot already !

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

@Logicdj You can read about it on our blog (linked on our main channel page) by searching for 'pressurized and non-pressurized filter baskets' -- you will see an entry from December 2008 that explains the differences. I'd post the link but YT won't let me ;) I have not used the Arc Fun, Gail has, but we probably won't do a review because we don't have a demo model in the store any more. Sorry :( - Kat

[Logicdj]

@SeattleCoffeeGear

No problem thanks for your reply :)

[cito117]

Lol @ the tamper

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

@cito117 I know - it's so silly ;) - Kat

[klarinetta]

I love your videos :)

You seem to have a great big heart and soul for what you are doing and some humor too ;)

Keep up the good work.

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

@klarinetta thank you!!! :D - Kat

[metaspherz]

I've used Breville 800esxl for 4 mos w/ pressurized filter. I've given it many tests. I demoed 8 other machines for about 2 months prior (plus the Breville Roma & the 800 which I returned once & finally kept). I roast my own coffee. About 9 different varieties since the Breville. I use an air popper, stovetop & NuWave oven/Sir Crazy to roast. All roast to 2nd crack. I blend some. I've never had consistent tasting shots with the Breville but most were sweet & tasty. On my budget it's a winner.

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

Great to hear! I personally don't really love the shots of these machines, but I know there are folks that do, and it's a pretty subjective subject ;) - Kat

[metaspherz]

@SeattleCoffeeGear Very true about it being subjective. I suspect that you've had some very fine shots considering the wide range of machines at your disposal. I can only guess at all the 'bad' shots you've had too. Most of my experience is with local coffeehouses and machines owned by friends. BTW, I still get sour shots from one particular local coffeehouse that the owner thinks is a godshot. Go figure....

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

Ha, totally! Velton pulls shots here all the time that he loves and that Gail thinks are super sour...this is where the art part of the science comes into play ;) - Kat

[duck853]

As a control, is there any merit or worth taking the same grind and pulling from a Silvia or Rocket back-to-back for comparison. Just to eliminate the coffee grind as the variable?

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

The grind we used is what is calibrated for the Silvia off the Rocky -- we use it to pull shots on demo every day, so the grind was the same after we switched over from the Breville grinder. - Kat

[ansonng78]

with the non-pressurized basket, how much pressure on the pressure gauge does it go up to?

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

Should go right into the middle, but that will be determined by your grind and tamp. - Kat

[ansonng78]

great video. i was just in on sat to pick up the non-pressurized basket. but i'm getting worse results than with the pressurized basket??? i'm not getting crema at all now. it just resembles bitter drip coffee! when i take out the portafilter the basket is still full of water and the grind is wet. have i over tampered?

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

I would definitely check the grind, but you will need to go finer and we noticed that the finer we went, the more soupy water left over in the basket. If you have time to stop into the store to play around with it, please do. - Kat

[metaspherz]

About the soupy grounds: the Breville produced videos address this as 'normal' with the pressurized basket, correct dose, grind & light tamp. They don't comment on using a non-pressurized basket.

I currently use the pressurized basket & plastic tamper. The fresher the coffee the more complete the extraction & less soup. I roast my own & never use beans older than a week so I get hard pucks that are difficult to bump out. I use a Cuisinart burr mill set at the finest grind.

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

Yeah, soupy grounds are the hallmark of all machines w/o a three way release/solenoid valve, so they will show up on all machines without this tech. - Kat

[QUADMO2]

I was the guy who called from California to comment on the Breville that I bought two years ago and then returned.I called asking you to test the machine and now you have with my same findings. Thank you for your honesty in looking at this machine, like I said I could never get it to work right and took it back to get a Gaggia Classic.Its my opinion that it under extracts due to poor brew temperature,the group has no thermal efficency and the portafilter is not 1 lb marine brass like the Classic

[jerrygalvan23]

Video Content and Quality is Excellent!

[cuquis77]

Yesterday I went to a coffee shop and ask the barista to grind the coffee for me..

The result was several good shots one after other (with the non presurized basket,)....definetely I have to change my grinder., and get a good one.

Maybe I document that on video later.

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

Cool! Yeah, especially with your new basket, a good grinder will make a world of difference. - Kat

[cuquis77]

Thanks for the video, please keep trying.

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

We will and will post anything else we find out :) - Kat

[tkto13]

Please try to ask around. I desperately need help with mine. So far, I've just used vac. packed pre-ground, because there is no point to go with better coffee for mine.

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

We'll keep testing, but this may just be the story of this machine. We feel like we were able to get the best shot possible, but it still wasn't great. This machine may be more suited to lattes and milk drinks that dilute the espresso. - Kat

[merryman42809]

Have you tried fitting a styrofoam cup under the brew head to see if it's getting up to 204 when it's actually hitting the coffee bed? I thought the temperature in the *cup* should be 180....if the stream's 180, maybe it's running cool after all!

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

We may experiment with this more as we try to figure out how to get the best shot from this machine. - Kat

[Crakaveli]

video quality is terrible. what happened?

[SeattleCoffeeGear]

It takes awhile for it to be fully processed by YouTube. - Kat