The Breville Barista Express is one of the most popular home coffee machines in Australia.
It’s affordable, makes good coffee and comes with everything you need but coffee beans. What's not to like?
Here are our five tips for getting the best out of your Breville. Obviously use high quality coffee as a starting point. Between 7 and 21 days off the roast date. My guess is that if you are reading this newsletter you are already doing that!
Five tips for yours
1. Water
Don’t just use tap water. Particularly if you live in a “hard” water area. (Have a look in your kettle, if there is lots of calcium build up in it, you are in a hard water area).
This has two benefits:
-Cleaner more neutral tasting water makes your coffee taste better. Chlorine not so much.
-Your machine will run better for longer. Scale buildup is the enemy of coffee machines. Like fat in your arteries!
Use filtered water or bottled water if you can. Yes the Breville comes with it’s own filter in the water tank, but it is pretty small and you want to give yourself the best chance of keeping scale and chemicals out of your machine and your coffee.
2. Work out what sort of home barista you want to be
Do you want to be a technical barista or just do the basics? No right or wrong answer. Some home baristas want to invest time in the process, others just want to be a basic barista, make a quick cup and get on with their day.
Basic Barista.
Just worry about two adjustments. Your grind adjustment (coarser or finer) on the left hand side and your “grind amount” on the dial next to the power button.
These two settings will affect how fast or slow your shot runs. You want a shot that looks a bit like honey pouring. Not gushing out but not dripping either.
Adjust your grinder setting, one number at a time, finer to slow the shot down, coarser to speed the shot up.
Once you have that going nicely. Adjust the “grind amount” knob so that the level of ground coffee in the filter basket is about level with the top of the filter basket after you have tapped it gently on the bench a few times.
Simple, fast and you are out the door with a coffee in hand.
Technical Barista
With a bit of time and effort you can make good shots on the Breville and do it consistently.
To do this you have to measure a number of things. You will need a stopwatch and a set of scales that measures to .1 of a gram.
We use the scales to measure two things.
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The amount of coffee going into our double filter basket. Aim for 18 grams to start with.
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The amount of coffee coming out into our cup. Aim for 36 grams. Twice as much weight in your coffee shot as the weight of the ground coffee in your filter basket.
This becomes part of our espresso recipe. 18grams in the double basket - 36 grams out in your cup in around 25 to 30 seconds.
Use the stopwatch to measure your shot time. From the time you press the button until the shot finishes.
Now we can start to adjust our grind particle size using the numbered adjuster on the left hand side of the machine. One number at a time, finer to go slower, coarser to go quicker.
Keep using your scales to weigh the amount of coffee in your filter basket so that you get the same amount every time.
Time and weigh your shot. You should get a double shot of around 36 grams out in around 25 to thirty seconds.
If your shots are weighting much more or less than 36 grams you can alter the shot volume by using the “program” button and changing the shot length of the double button.
Know what type of barista you want to be!
3. The Espresso Gauge
Breville has done a great job of simplifying espresso making. To make good espresso you need to have the internal pump working just hard enough, but not too hard, to get the most from your coffee. It is all about balance between the two.
The espresso gauge in the centre of the machine has an espresso zone. This gives you a quick and easy way of telling you it you have all of the items in section 2 above dialled in. It measures the back pressure against the pump and checks you are getting a good extraction.
Use it as your guide and you are on the way to a tasty cup.
4. Cleaning
A clean machine makes cleaner tasting coffee. No magic there.
Use the Breville cleaning tabs and the rubber blind filter to keep your machine clean on the inside. You can taste a dirty machine.
A sometimes overlooked cleaning job is the portafilter or group handle. Pop the filter basket out and soak it and the handle in some warm water and detergent to get rid of built up coffee oils.
5. Preheat
This small tip makes a big difference. The Barista Express heats up in about 90 seconds. However not all of the machine has heated up in that time. Run hot water through your group head and group handle. At least one shots worth, so that your precious coffee isn't running into cold metal.
Keep these things in mind when making your coffee. And by all means send us your tips as well!
