Barista Pro

The things others here are saying (puck prep, grinder, etc.) are certainly applicable, but a lesser known factor is pressure. A lot of Breville machines (aside from the Dual Boiler) have an issue where the pressure hitting the puck is far, far higher than the claimed 9 bar figure. The over-pressure

Literally came here to say this. Breville too. Barista Pro. 7 years and counting. I still get takeaway coffees, but only one or two here or there, rather than all of them.

Breville Barista Pro. I used mine for years, works great, easy to maintain. It tells you on the screen when you have to scale and flush it, so you can't forget.

La Marzocca espresso machines. cries in Breville Barista Pro

I’ve played with a lot of coffee equipment over the years. While I don’t have a breville on my coffee bar, I really like them! I used the Barista Pro for a while and think it’s a good machine for most people who just want some decent espresso. What I don’t like about it is the built in grinder. I’ve

Moving to a dual boiler made a huge difference. The quality of the steamed milk is night and day different and the consistency between shots is so much better. With the BBP, I was able to get fairly consistent shots on the first pull of the day but anything back to back struggled mightily. The touch

You’re right, they are using $6,000 grinder (jk) but they are probably using a commercial grinder and it’s probably around 3k or more. If you don’t want a fussy grinder do not get a df. If you are going for more traditional espresso and want simple efficiency, go with a eureka grind by time, dial it

Two cents from someone on a similar journey as OP's, who just bought a Profitec RIDE (incidentally, that crapped out after a week due to an electronics issue) as an upgrade from Breville Barista Pro: There is a learning curve moving from a saturated grouphead-style machine to an E61 machine. The wor

Definitely go with a Breville. They are very reliable and there’s heaps of videos on YouTube to learn from. I have the Breville Barista Pro and love it. They regularly come on sale.

I upgraded from a breville barista pro to a 58.5mm Profitec move. It's amazingly more temperature stable, etc. I have had shots that are 2x as good as with my breville, but that's not likely driven by the portafilter size. The biggest difference IMO is that a lot of 58mm machines have better build q