I clicked this post, and was browsing through their clearance section. Tried applying the listed code, Voila! Probably cheapest price on Ozbargain.
For my address it is click and collect only. Stock available in some stores in Melbourne for C&C.
Thanks to @bargainsgrabber, Probably you can combine with Shopback Cashrewards or/and earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points. Stack with gift cards from the Ultimate deal on Giftz.
Dammit - They have a price match of 574 - I thought I could get that and then apply the coupon for a better deal. They have outsmarted me though.
I tried that before posting but price match is applied as a coupon code.
Good price. Good machine. Have one.
The only thing I'd say is that I would, in hindsight, have preferred a 58mm portafilter.
The 54mm (in this machine) is a well covered standard however the basket is small and makes loading with 18/19g tricky. Grinds heap up and aren't easily levelled without compressing. That said I've secured a nice tamper, repurposed tot glass ;) dosing cup, and scale (with timer) which alleviates the issue.
Calibrated 54mm Tamper, Dosing scale with timer.
Do you use the grinder in this? All I read is that the grinder sucks so I'm waiting for a Bambino and a separate grinder, but that this price……It might get the Mrs off my back to get a coffee machine
I use the exact same setup as OrderedChaos does. Got a spring loaded tamper, scale with timer, WDT tool, dosing funnel and distributor.
The WDT tool helps with the clumping you'll get from the built in grinder. The dosing cup they have would do something similar as you can shake the dose to declump it.
The grinder is fine for a first machine, you may eventually want to get a better grinder if you're seeking easier and finer adjustments (finer as in more steps in between each grind setting). A separate grinder would also help with cleaning as I need to move the entire machine to clear out the build in grinder.
Correct. The grinder sucks. It doesn't make a terrible coffee by a long shot but a separate grinder is certainly recommended.
The grinder is perfectly fine. It needs to be properly adjusted.
The inner burr can be adjusted. Most folks don't realize this and the result is substandard grind.
It uses, what to me looks like, the Smart Grinder Pro style burrs.
Additional thought:
Sure it would be awesome to upgrade at a point, but for a machine such as the Express… it's perfectly ok.
If you get tamp pressure right you will get consistent timing.
Would recommend going with the single walled basket from the get go. The double wall is a pita.
Dosing cup, scale, distributor tool and proper grinder adjustment/dialing in. I get pretty good draws from this machine with fresh beans.
My tip other than that would be to preheat the machine for about 10 mins before you want to use it or run a couple of shots of water through the double wall basket if you don't wanna wait. I've tested thoroughly and keeping dose/grind/tamp constant, this is the only other thing that seems to affect how good the shot comes out.
Grinder works well, bought this few months ago - perfect!
If you're after the Bambino Plus you can pick it up from The Good Guys using the 10% off home gift card (could also combine with 4% cashback via Cashrewards) and use the click frenzy code JULY15. So $510 gift card comes down to ~$460, about 30% off all up (and still about 15% cheaper than Amazon).
Just curious what you mean by 4% cashback via cash rewards? For the gift card? For the good guys? I only see 2.5% cash back from shpoback for TGG but questionable if it will track using the july15 code so I am a little confused what exactly you meant.
yeah I only use 58mm portafilters I wouldn't got out and buy all new trampers, distributers and dosing cups just for this machines at only 54mm…..
If you have a 58mm machine you probably aren't looking for a starter espresso machine anyway
I started with a bdb!
Sunbeam Express max is 58mm and it is a really low priced unit. A starter?
@Weshouldgetsushi: I have one of these tucked away in the cupboard. About as starter a coffee machine you can get, and it has a 58mm portafilter.
@ripoffmerchant: Agree - I checked - it is a Barista Max. Big point is the 58mm of goodness.
Paid $375 last year for my student offspring to use.
@Weshouldgetsushi: yep few years ago paid that too :D but now I have reached the peak of what the machine can do so I need to upgrade at some point to something more pro :D
The Sunbeam barista mini EM4300 is also a 58mm machine at only $200, I've always wondered how good/bad this really is?
How bad could it be with a decent separate grinder?
@JTTheMan: I've had one. It's pretty good in my view but the type of valve switch that's used is a bit prone to getting scaled up. This then starts leaking some pressure into the steam wand when pouring a shot. Ours was good for 3 years and realistically was still making nice coffee with the leaking problem left as is. The 58mm portafilter was awesome. The machine dosent come with single wall baskets so you have to buy those separately.
Because my kitchen is small I bought one if these Breville combo machines in the last deal. Pretty good.
Which 58mm machine do you have?
I've been looking for an alternative option to my old Breville Dual Boiler but every reasonably priced machine is 54mm?
In the Breville line-up only the top 3 in price use the 58mm portafilter, Dynamic Duo, Oracle and Oracle Touch and all 3 are dual boilers.
Honestly I think the biggest thing is getting a dosing funnel. There are a few for the 54mm breville portafilters that actually screw into the ears. This makes it heaps easier to fit in a higher dose and do WDT without making a mess all over the place. You can also look into getting a bigger basket if you want a bigger dose. I got a pesado IMS 20g basket from alternative brewing for like $30. Fits up to 22g or so.
Agreed, I got this funnel with ears off aliexpress for $13 delivered and haven't spilt a thing since. Bonus is it also presses the button for the grinder.
I got this for $16 from Amazon, next day delivery with prime. Totally worth it
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B094JMZ1DH/ref=ppx_yo_d…
How is the fit on that tamper? The one included with the BBE seems a tad small and leaves uncompressed edges.
I use the normcore 54mm v4 tamper which has a pretty good fit around the edges
Note even the Breville Dual Boilers 58mm portafilter is also non-standard. 99% of aftermarket things won't work with it. Except tampers.
I've bought a bottomless portafilter for the bdb and its 👌
NEOUZA 58mm Bottomless Portafilter for Espresso Coffee Machine Compatible with Breville 9 Series BES900/920/980 304 Stainless Steel Two Ears with Filter Basket https://amzn.asia/d/2WSlbY9
sounds like you can solve your problem with a 54mm precision basket.
To be fair, I don't think these really existed for Breville portafilters until the start of the year (most of the precision baskets prior needed some hacking to actually fit properly, something about the lip shape?).
I think you just got to lower the dose. 16-17 is my limit without getting the group head impression.
Dosing cup was the biggest life improvement though. No more spilt grinds. Can single dose and walk away.
No group head impression and I dose 19g.I haven't tried smaller doses. Do you need to grind finer the lower your dose is? I'd imagine the pour would be too quick at my current grind (5) with a 16-17g dose.
What's the go with the impression anyway? I bought the matow distribution tool from the deal posted the other week. Looked it up on youtube to see how to set it up correctly, one guy mentions breville recommend seeing a bit of an impression on your puck for the BES870. No idea where he got that info from but he had thousands of subscribers so he probably knows more than me.
Another video I watched which made more sense said you should tamp enough to not get an impression to avoid burning your grind
Hey mate,
Very generalised advice from r/espresso, but works for me.
So normally the general rule is "for every gram of coffee you put in, you want 2mls of liquid out". So for 18g youd weigh out ~36g of shot. This should happen between 20-30seconds, and is how you would determine your grindsize. coming out too quick, finer, too slow, coarser. Once you find yourself in this area, you can then run it longer/shorter. Too sour, run it longer (extract more), too bitter, stop it earlier. I have found when you lower the dose, it seems a little bit more forgiving.
The complaint with the BBE is that the grinder step size (course to fine) is too large, making it hard to adjust in small increments. The internal burs are what you have to change (i have mine on 3) and then you change the outer one. be aware the the grinder also clumps grinds together, look to using a WDT to loosen them and reduce channeling (path of least resistance through grinds). You want the bed of coffee to be as homogenous as possible.
Yeah the way I heard it about the impression, is that you fill the basket up to the level where you cant seen an imprint (before running the shot). 18g seems to be my limit
@Ceta: Great info, thanks.
I don't know whether it's my machine, I never seem to be able to get the extraction within the espresso zone unless I set the grind to 6 or above but then it pours too quick.
Currently dosing 19g in, 38g out between 20-25s but the pressure is out of the espresso zone. Espresso tastes sour but I drink my coffee with milk and it's good. Would love to be able to make a decent espresso for once (have had the machine for 3-4 years).
I'll try an 18g dose tonight and test out a lower grind setting.
@johnnytran: See how you go! The biggest difference is using fresh beans. Ozbargain have some excellent regular deals for beans from roasters (check out limeblue and airjo), makes getting up to pressure a looot easier.
Ignore the "espresso zone", differs greatly machine to machine.
Really though, if you are happy with how yours tastes don't change a thing!
You could grab the Pesado 54mm precision baskets, they've got a 18g and 20g version which should help with your higher dose
When I master the basics that will be my treat to myself 😁
Secured one thanks
Click and collect only
Secured. Love it.
Appropriate wording considering the relentless demand for everything at the moment
Absolutely.
Off topic
Can I call the good guys and price match? Or do I have to go to a store?
You can call them. They send you a payment link afterwards.
Oh thank you! Saves me so much time.
Looks like there's a new Breville promo starting Thursday, that gives you 1 month of St Ali Wide Awake Blend Coffee Beans (4 x 250g) and a Live Roaster Online Demonstration with this machine:
https://promotions.breville.com.au/images/terms/Australia-Pr…
Am guessing cheaper machine with no promo is better than more expensive machine with promo?
St Ali's owner got himself effectively cancelled for good reason not so long ago. Started with RAT hoarding and opened a floodgate of testimonials re their behaviour across all of social media.
https://7news.com.au/news/coronavirus-vic/melbourne-cafe-st-…
Oh ok - cheaper machine with no promo it is!
I mean it's free coffee that comes with a better machine so who cares?
what exactly is crap? this is a well regarded beginner manual machine, albeit with known issues around the grinder having limitations, the 54 mm portafilter, and the OPV set to high from the factory.
The steam wand is a bit crap.
So is the Breville customer service.
What's opv?
over pressure valve, sets the max brew pressure
Now it's 9 bar for OPV from factory setting. breville australia website also update this info.
Share your experience. Maybe we can help.
Drop it off at my house and I'll see if I can enjoy it more
Been waiting awhile for a great price on this, finally puled he trigger.
puled he trigger.
I can gather your excitement by your spelling. Enjoy your coffee 🙂
Saving money on extra letters to spend on beans
Pulled the trigger with 4% on Cashrewards
Great deal given these sell well used for $350-400 with no warranty
Can be a great machine with some tweaking I’m told by a mate
Any thought on how this one compared to DeLonghi La Specialista Arte Manual EC9155MB? $509.15 after the 15% discount code - https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/delonghi-la-specialista-arte-…
Has a 51mm portafilter. I'd avoid it on that basis. It's even further away from the standard 58mm, than the Express's 54mm is.
Breville / Sage is generally considered one of the better Prosumer brands (after having watched a lot of YouTube coffee vids. Hahahahahaha).
This machine is Elite! Had the machine for nearly 2 years.
I use it everyday and have never had an issue, the grinder works perfectly.
I have the sunbeam barista max. No issues at all with it for my use. Is anyone able to offer a comparison in terms of better tasting milk based coffee with the same beans?
I have both machines. I mostly make Flat white with not that much milk.
The Sunbeam Max will make good coffee too, I put this partly down to the 58mm filter.
Really, if you take the care, there isn't much advantage in spending the money to get this Breville over the Subeam.
The Breville feels a lot better doing it though, more solid feel and should last longer.
Thanks for that comparison. Will stick with my sunbeam then…
If your beans, water and milk are identical, and they're both correctly calibrated, they should taste identical.
The difference between the two seems to be build quality. The Sunbeam seems to have cheaper plastic components, which is an indication of the more complex parts like the thermoblock and pump. My current Sunbeam worked well until bits started failing after 3yrs, and I'm going to see if this Breville holds up better/longer.
Awesome timing. Thanks op.
currently have a 4yr old DeLonghi authentica with milk heating issue, is this an ipgrade or am i better off spending money to fix Delonghi?
Bought the bambino plus because it is ready to make coffee 3 secs after turning it on.
How long do you guys wait for the Express to heat up before you make a coffee?
The dual boiler has a feature where you can program it to turn itself on at a certain time. Despite only taking minutes to warm up from off anyway, I don't have to wait at all when I get up.
I wonder if this model offers the same.
It does not, but you can buy a Switchbot to schedule a wake time. I turn mine on around 20-30mins before I want to use it.
I have a Barista Touch which I think it about the same as the Barista Express but with a touchscreen. I just turn it on, grind and go
Touch and Bambino Plus have the ThermoJet heating system which takes 3 sec to heat up. Express has the Thermocoil which takes longer to heat up.
Ah thanks for explaining. The more you know!
Takes less than 30s. The internals won't however be hot, so you'd need to hit either the single or double button to run hot water through the machine and portafilter. It's pretty quick. The folks at Veneziano coffee suggest using the rubber descaling shield in the portafilter to heat it up. Never tried this myself. Basically insert the rubber shield into the portafilter, hook it up, run a single shot through, take out shield, dry portafilter, you're good to go.
Interesting! What would the descaling shield do?
Backwashes the hot water 😁. Actually it's called the Cleaning Disc. Thought this was odd but it was recommended on a 1hr Veneziano brewing session I got free with the machine. Morning startup routine.
This is it… https://www.breville.com/us/en/parts-accessories/parts/sp000…
Not sure if it's worth buying this or waiting for a Bambino plus + a smart grinder pro
I'd also like to know this!
Don’t think you can get the bambino and smart grinder for $500 even if both were on sale. But what I really like about the bambino plus is the instant start up and automatic frothing. Not only is the frothing very good, but it saves me some time in the morning. I’m new to making espressos so it also lets me focus on getting the coffee into the portafilter correctly.
I decided to take the plunge and bought it. For ~$430 the value seems amazing.
Where did you get the Bambino for $430? Been waiting for a sale for ages but nothing coming.
I would go with separate grinder in case you want to upgrade. Also look into handgrinders like 1zpresso jx pro, they grind just as good as grinders that cost 700 or more
Nice, after promo code, $504.90
Why doesn't JB ever do these kind of deals. I have a jb voucher that I've been waiting for months to use but the deals are always with the good guys
You can swap for TGG voucher in classified
ive got the Barista Pro, cant fault it.. so happy with my purchase i enjoy having a coffee every day… and its very quick to heat up.. im sure the express is pretty much the same.. by the time you turn it on a grind the coffee … good to go.. heat the milk and then by the time you wipe the wand you press for your shot of coffee.
worth buying!! and always buy nice quality beans.. makes the difference.
Ciao
We have one of these, it gets a daily workout of 4-6 coffees + milk frothing. After 3 years I've found the steam is taking longer to heat the milk. We clean / descale regularly. Wondering if the thermoblock is a bit worn out or there's a service we can get done to improve the efficiency of it? It still works but just takes longer.
It seems like Delivery/Click and Collect isn't available in SA, any chance it would delivered from interstate if I did purchase it?
Lol nvm, I can't even check out if I wanted to
How do I earn QFF AND Cashrewards?
Lol - 2017
One hell of a machine at that price. Complete no brainer if you were looking at getting one. Makes ripper coffees. Better than most cafés. No joke.
I bought this at $749 a few months ago. Very happy with it I have stopped going to the cafe for coffee. I make a put 2-3 coffees a day.
You can’t combine it with ShopBack as the code isn’t listed but it is listed on Cashrewards
Stack with gift cards from the Ultimate deal on Giftz
Edit: Reminder that you can only enter two combination of codes on TGG website
If you guys prefer the Cranberry colour, Bing Lee eBay currently have it in stock for $599 delivered. Combine it with PLUSRANGE4 code
Price before code: $599
Coupon: PLRANGE4 (10% off)
Price after: $539.10