Breville BES870 Barista Express: five years of espresso and milk practice

I have used my home coffee machine for five years. A few days ago, it was repaired because the extraction pressure was insufficient. After it was inspected, there was no major problem; it only needed a little adjustment before I continued using it. So, personally, I think this coffee machine is still very well built.

Can a home machine match coffee shops?

Can a home coffee machine make coffee comparable to what coffee shops sell? This is a question many people care about, and my experience is that it can. Below are several coffees I made with my home coffee machine . I am not a professional barista; I make coffee at home for myself and my family, and this is my current level. So, regarding this question, I think a home coffee machine can produce coffee similar to what coffee shops sell, and my machine can definitely do it.

The model of my home coffee machine is the Breville BES870 semi-automatic home espresso machine .

Common extraction issues

If too much coffee is extracted, it is related to the grind size, the amount of coffee grounds, and how firmly you tamp the grounds. If the coffee is ground too coarsely, the gaps between the particles will be larger, so more coffee will be extracted. Similarly, if you tamp too lightly, the grounds will remain too loose because they are not compressed enough, and too much coffee will also be extracted. If the coffee is ground coarsely and you also use too much coffee, the extracted coffee may reach half the cup. The resulting coffee will not taste good. Therefore, after buying a new coffee machine, you generally need to adjust it several times until the extraction amount is right. I generally set the grind size of my coffee beans to 5, and for the amount, I use the position of the second control from the left in the picture above .

If too little coffee is extracted, the coffee may have been ground too finely, the amount of grounds may be too small, or you may have tamped too firmly—or all three factors may be involved. You need to adjust these three factors to suitable positions. After that, the amount extracted each time should be relatively appropriate.

Another reason that can affect the amount extracted is damp coffee beans. After opening a bag, beans that are left unused for a long time will absorb moisture from the air. If you use these beans for extraction, the amount will very likely be too large. Therefore, if your household does not consume coffee quickly, do not buy large bags of beans. If you must buy them, make sure to protect them from moisture. In addition, extraction can change after you switch coffee beans; it may even become impossible to extract because the pressure is insufficient.

Different beans can vary in how dry they are after roasting. Some sellers may even have stored the beans improperly, so the beans may already have absorbed moisture before they are sold to you. This can result in insufficient pressure and make extraction impossible.

Milk frothing

Frothing milk is definitely a technical skill. Watch videos to learn, or take half a day of training; after that, you can slowly get the hang of it through practice.