How to resolve Breville Coffee / Espresso Machine Low Pressure issues
I purchased a Breville BES860 Professional Series coffee machine some time ago (2 years). It’s worked flawlessly and produced great results up until recently when I started noticing that the pressure gauge wasn’t showing any pressure at the group head. I tried cleaning, de-calcifying, etc. No luck. Pressure still showed very low and eventually after a week or so stopped moving completely.
I searched the Breville forums and noticed many many users with the same issues. Many people say change beans; however, it’s nothing to do with the beans. The problem is with the design of the pressure gauge – it’s a poor design of the piping that runs to the pressure guage which apparently (according to the tech) tees off from the main line that goes to the group head and gets blocked. Initially this will display as low pressure, eventually no pressure when it’s fully blocked. De-calcification does not seem to clear it unfortunately.
Some threads of note:
- https://getsatisfaction.com/breville/topics/low_pressure_problems (thread is now dead)
- http://coffeesnobs.com.au/brewing-equipment-midrange-500-1500/30766-breville-bes900-dual-boiler-owners-thread-63.html
- http://www.productreview.com.au/p/breville-bes840-infuser.html – people reporting that their pressure gauge failed within weeks
What did I think the problem was:
- A seal had a hole in it or the 3 way valve was stuck
How I got the issue solved / resolved?
- Unfortunately this was not a DIY solution – however if you can order the parts and know what you are doing you could do it yourself.
- I took my machine into the authorised service centre and got them to have a look – they fixed it within 24 hours and it was a reasonable cost ($130)
- They replaced the following parts (you could use this to order the parts and DIY): BES860/08.9 Water Inlet Seal and BES860/14.77 Solenoid Valve Connector (it worked for a few coffees then returned to failed state)
- I took it back again and they replaced the pressure gauge (no part number provided) for free. This resolve the issue and it’s gone strong for another few hundred coffees since.
- I would suggest you replace all three parts as the seal, etc. are cheap. The pressure gauge is likely a bit more expensive.
Also appears to impact the following models:
BES800 / BES860 / BES900 / Professional Series / Fresca / BES860XL
Note: Many people have also reported running a 50% water 50% white vinegar mix and flushing it through a number of times has helped. This would only help if your issue is scale / calcium buildup related.
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My breville coffee maker is rarely used as at holiday residence. pressure guage worked 1st time whwn 1st used then the next time has never worked since. I believe its a manufactures fault. Not impressed as thought it was human error and now warranty has expired of course.
thanks for posting! i have the same problem. now i know what to do! thanks again
Yes thanks from me too. My pressure dropped in the same way after a few months’ use. I tried all the obvious remedies, including adjusting the grind and the volume of ground coffee. Funnily enough the coffee still tasted as good. Having read your post I now realize the gauge is unimportant, and I plan to keep using the machine with the defective gauge.
I’ve been doing that for about 3 years. I wouldn’t sell my coffee at a shop, but all my friends think we make the best home coffee. (Granted, I’m in the US.) I’d prefer the gauge worked, but it hasn’t really dampened my coffee experience.
We are on our second machine and were quite disappointed when this one lasted just long enough for the warranty period to expire but it makes such good coffee that we have bought another one .. I am going to see if we can get this one repaired … never noticed that the pressure gage wasn’t working but the pressure basically disappeared at the group head and the machine running noise sort of cranked down when this problem developed … need to find a repair shop somewhere near London Ontario
When that happens turn on the steam head and flush water through it – turn it off and have a needle handy to poke through the steam wand. I found that if I didnt clean the wand well afyer a few uses it messed with the pressure.
I had the problem of the pump working fine but minimal pressure coming out of the group head and minimal steam pressure. I took the top of the machine and noticed most of the water was being directed to the waste water tank in the base of the machine through the pipe coming off the back of the steam/hot water switch on the left of the machine (looking at it from the back). I figured this wasn’t right so I pulled the back off the machine as well and took the solenoids and their plumbing off (easy to do just pull the clips off the inlet and outlet pipes and pull the power leads off the 2 solenoids. 2 screws hold the whole plumbing assembly to the the back of the block). I found that the right hand solenoid (looking at it from the back) had got a bit of calcification built up in the hole through the solenoid and wedged in the plastic hole in the plumbing bit in the base. Cleared it with a pin and flushed with water. Put it all back together and away it went good as new pressure back to normal for both steam and group head (the water was no longer running down the waste water pipe to the waste tank was the most obvious immediate change). Didn’t need new parts just clean out the calcification. The holes and pipes are only around 1.5 mm so doesn’t take a lot to clog them. Hope this might help someone, as although it’s a fiddle the issue was an easy fix in the end.
Thanks for the writeup, it gave me good info on where to look when fixing mine as I had a similar problem.
I had bugger all pressure going to the group head (needle wasn’t moving making coffees and when I tested the pressure meter by putting in the cleaning insert into the basket, also no movement in the needle, but water was being sent to the drip tray). Steam wand and hot water working fine so seemingly no issue with the pump.
I pulled apart the solenoids, the left one seemed a bit stuck (perhaps, it just didn’t fly apart like the right one ha ha). However, when pulling apart the tee junctions between the solenoids I found a broken seal. I replaced the seal (just happened to have a set of randomly sized o rings bought from a hardware store which had some small enough). Put everything back together and all good. If anyone out there has a similar problem make sure to check the junction o rings as well as the solenoids.
My pressure guage stopped working. I ran a mixture of 50 % vinegar and 50% water. Tons of residue came out and it works great
Are you cleaning the machine regulalry with the tablets? We clean ours at least 2x a month, using the breville tablets that were suggested by the manufacterer (purchaed off amazon for like $15 for 100). We have had this machine for 5 years and have never had an issue until now – the pressure gage just stopped working. Going to try the vinegar thing.
Does anyone know what the pressure gauge actually does other than show the pressure? You mentioned that last thing they did for you was to replace it and it fixed the problem… were your shots pulling without pressure or was the guage just not functioning properly (as in, just not showing the right pressure but still pulling shots just fine)
I had a different issue with mine where after decalsifing it started buzzing like crazy. I replaced the 3-way selenoid vavle just now and it fixed the problem.
However, now its barely giving any pressure when pulling shots. I trying grinding on 1/10 (super fine) and apllied tons of tamp. The pressure went up but barely reached the min optimum level. I heard changing the coffe might help as mine is over a year old but i have sense its somethibg to do with the machine.
Wondering what the Water Inlet seal and pressure guage has to do with this…? :/
Mine buzzes like crazy now as well; however, pressure is fine and always was. It’s due the pressure gauge line being blocked so it doesn’t correctly display what’s going on.
Rashi, can you fix the selenoid valve yourself; what part should you order
I have the BES870XL, pressure guage did not work from day one.
I have had this issue from the start but I’m within the one month return window- I’m going to return for the double boiler. Sounds like they have qa/ manufacturing issues. While not the most expensive machine, a lot of ppl would think $600 on a machine that doesn’t work from day 1 is pretty poor. I worked as a barista so I know how it’s supposed to work. Changing coffee made no diff for me either.
Same here, from day one my machine makes a loud noise and nothing happens. Pressure gauge doesn’t move, water doesn’t move. It just sits there and vibrates very loud and that’s it. I went on this ask Breville forum where some guy was on there from the company. I posted this problem and he said they weren’t responsible and was pretty rude. So it’s okay for a company to sell expensive defective machines and its all your fault that they don’t work.
If the machine is <2 years old you could put a claim in to consumer protection. The place you purchased it from really should be repairing it for you.
If it's quite old (5years) like mine then I don't like your changes
I purchased a remanufactured Barista Express and it makes great espresso. I did have an issue with chronically low pressure to start with. I was grinding on the finest setting… 1 and even that didn’t help. I began experimenting with the tamp and was even overfilling up to the rim of the double wall cup. It helped a little. Then I saw an online video where the person said to make sure you gave the 1/4 twist while tamping. That brought the pressure up just barely into the gray. I changed coffee to a dark roast Columbian from Winco and still had the same results. By the way, I don’t use the automatic grind fill. I do a manual fill in 2 or 3 or 4 grind sessions per cup. Here is something that i found solved all my pressure problems. I would fill about 1/2 way on the grind, then tamp and twist about 1/2 turn BOTH ways. Then I add some more grind and repeat. I use only moderate pressure, not a full white knuckle tamp. Then I finish off the fill to the level that the RAZOR reaches. This actually started to make the pressure too high. I then started backing off of fineness of the grind and am down to 4 instead of 1. That puts the pressure consistently in the middle of the gauge gray range. Coffee flavor actually improved, as well. That is my suggestion. It took me about 3 months of fiddling to figure this out on my own, but the results are well worth it. I am very happy with my Breville Barista Express BES870XL.
This is genius!!!
Tried everything suggested in the manual for setting up and programming a new machine – nothing worked. I could not get the pressure into the “grey area” of the pressure gauge.
Tried this suggested solution and now am getting pressure 1/3 of the way into the grey. Great tasting coffee and lots of crema.
Thanks for sharing.
You rock red thanks so much just completely solved my issue. Double shot grind messing with all of the settings and no pressure. Single shot tamp 1/2 turn add second single tamp voila pressure maxes and finally a nice dry puck. Cha ching!
I took my unit apart and cleaned everything, replaced pressure gauge, nothing helped. Followed your suggestion – issue solved!
That is in fact an inspired suggestion. Why no one from Sage/Breville couldn’t have worked that out in the face of all these complaints is and will remain a complete mystery. Thanks.
I almost never post on forums but just had to add to this growing list of accolades. Same issue,used this approach and perfect pull. Thank you!
That’s not the problem in the cases listed above. I learned all the stuff you listed on Whole Latte Love and everything was great. Then, without warning, I couldn’t get any pressure. After adjusting to the finest grind and using the double wall cup and tamping to the line on the portafilter as Breville says to do — and having no space between puck and cup — I still couldn’t get the pressure past the 10:00 mark… ever. Therefore, I believe the answer to the failed pressure reading is exactly what V5 stated in the original post. On the other hand, if all you suggest hasn’t been tried by someone first, it’s the place to start rather than changing parts. If all else fails, change the parts.
Brilliant! Thank you! The 1/2 turn twist – just as you described above was the answer. I’ve had myBarista Express for nearly 4 years and it has worked flawlessly until the gauge recently started indicating low pressure. Despite me changing beans frequently over the years, this last batch may have been the cause. Regardless, the tamp and turn, after moving the grind setting (and now dialing it back to a 5) to the finest or a statin of 1, did the trick. At a setting of 1 and then 3 the pressure gauge was maxed out so I’m guessing 5ish should be great. Thank you again!
Thank you! I had this same “no pressure” issue with a brand new machine. Was on hold for Customer Support for about 3 hours (about the amount of time it took me to find this posting). I tried it (while still on hold) and viola – it worked!
I always do to single shots, punctures by a light tamp and twist. For some reason the filter allows channels to form, messing with the pressure if you grind a full double shot. Also the cleaning tablets don’t decalcify the internal plumbing, so it’s important to do this manually every couple of months. Finally, I never set the bring to 1…always between 3 and 4, and I never white knuckle grind. Just the downward pressure from my thumb and two fingers. Single wall filter gives the best results. During the pre express it puts black syrup, then when the pressure builds – honey coloured crema. Another very important factor is the grinder. It gets a deep clean every two months. It’s incredible how clogged with oils and grinds it gets under the conical burr. The manual doesn’t show how to do this, but there are a couple of YouTube videos on “grinder advanced cleaning”. These are the main tricks I’ve learned over 3 years of Barista Express ownership. HTH.
Your trick worked for me too! I’ve had my Breville Barista about 4 years. A few days ago the pressure dropped and the latte tasted poorly. I had begun using Starbucks Espresso beans, very oily compared to my usual beans. It had only been a few weeks since I last decalcified the machine and used the tabs to clean the group head. But now my pressure is back up thanks to your twisting method. I didn’t expect it to work but it did, 3 times in a row so far.
Thank you for sharing Red Davis!
I called Breville when my machine started to have problems with the pressure. I always cleaned it, but never did the water/white vinegar cleaning. I just never read that part of the manual. So the girl on the phone told me to do this: use the cleaning disc with the single filter basket, put coffee and then start the process doing one shot coffee water didn’t come through, but the needle showed me the pressure was working! (She told me no coffee was supposed to come, because it was a pressure test). So she suggested me to buy “full circle urnex”, but I couldn’t wait and I did what it was indicated in the manual with tap water and white vinegar. My machine works as always. you are supposed to clean this way once a month and I didn’t do it for the last 3 and a half years!!! That was all my problem. I hope this helps as you helped me with your comments!!!
Yeah very important to clean it as calcium from the water builds up inside the machine and starts blocking things. Vinegar is an acid and dissolves calcium – so the act of washing it through with vinegar a few times regularly keeps the calcium at bay. If it’s not been cleaned for a long time you may need to try a stronger vinegar mix or do it a few more times.
I bought a well cared for 860XL used it cleaning when necessary, etc but in a short period of time it lost pressure. I tried everything and then took it to be repaired – the solenoid valve assembly needed to be replaced. While deciding whether to spend $250 on repair (seller refunded my money) I found another 860XL mint condition, hardly used, wedding gift, all but one filter were still in the packages they came in unopened. I cleaned and decalcified the machine and it worked great. Went on vacation for 2 weeks, when I came back, there was low pressure. Cleaned the machine but haven’t decalcified again yet. I think it may be the solenoid valve assembly again. Is this a common problem with these machines? do I have any recourse with Breville? Unbelievable.
My problem has been the pressure gauge itself failing repeatedly for no reason. It always just suddenly stops working.
It’s a common problem on the BES series.
Try call Breville give them the serial number and see if it’s in warranty or not.
Had the same issue as some of the other messages; used the machine for 2 years without any issues, all of a sudden no pressure anymore, no matter how I changed the grinding dial or how hard I pushed the coffee in. Decided to descale the machine ‘properly’ (i.e. with descaler, instead of the usual tablet). Works like a dream again, no issues what so ever anymore.
Theo
did you put the descaler in the water or in the rubber puck?
Hi, what type of descaler did you use, thanks for any help.
Same issue – 2 years of use and then not seeing pressure on gauge, I still get a crema of sorts but the water runs through way too quickly. Tried the water/vinegar fix and have no improvement. Mine has also started buzzing
Probably have to take it in for a repair.. oddly mine started buzzing after I got it repaired and I still have no idea what the buzzing is from.
I am having issues, I can not turn mine on
Please help
Mine worked perfectly for about a month. One morning I notice shots are unusual and pressure needle barley wiggles. I reset the program back to factory by holding down program button till the beep. Turns out one of my kids messes with the preset shot. Worked perfectly!
I am just starting to develop this problem now after 2 years of use. Have only ever used filtered water through the machine. Thanks for the advice. Its probably due for a service
I read this thread and decided to purge the machine with 50/50 water and white vinegar. Then, tried the single shot/tamp/single shot/ tamp process as opposed to a double shot/tamp. It worked a treat, my pressure shot from the bottom of the espresso range to the top. My grind is set to 3. I will use less tamp pressure next time. The coffee was awesome. Lots of black, followed by abundant beautiful caramel coloured crema. Thank you to those who contributed to this thread.
I have had nothing but problems with this machine, and will NEVER order another Breville product…It was, for about 6 months, a multi hundred dollar paperweight, as apparently a solenoid went out and they could not seem to be able to send me the right shipping items (under warranty) so I finally went out and had it packed at my expense…After I finally got it back, several weeks latyer, I find the pressure gauge doesn’t move…I have read some items saying to try other beans (I am at grind 1, with a fairly heavy tamp) and the pressure needle doesn’t move…I will try some other beans, but given all the issues, I would/will not recommend it, nor will I recommend Breville to anyone…
likewise the machine (I have two – home and cottage) has worked well for a year, but recently the pressure is zero or low, and it makes a weak drink. I’ve used both machines a lot, and can recognize watery or thick coffee coming out. Watery coffee – low pressure, thick coffee – high pressure. So the actual pressure gauge not working doesn’t bother me, but the coffee is weak. I have it on the finest grind, but my belief is that the grinder is out of adjustment. So, can someone tell me how to adjust the grinder??
KFMoore
Problem solved with 50% water, 50% vinegar. I should’ve read the manual in the first place. After 1 year I was about to buy another one. Not anymore; after cleaning it with water and vinegar it works like new.
The machines also don’t seem to go very well if you live anywhere with calcium in the water. I’ve started using bottled water in mine after having to send it in for the third $300 service to have the two way solenoid replaced along with the 3rd or 4th pressure gauge. I still maintain the pressure gauge is a design fault as it shouldn’t go faulty so quickly.
Any one have any ideas for high altitude? I can’t seem to get a correct pull regardless of cleanings/setting/etc.
I just let my 870xl sit all night with full strength white vinegar. Everything is working GREAT now. However, it is showing me that I probably need to replace the pump, it runs Very Loud now. The pumps are $45 bucks. I’ve made a very nice living repairing restaurant gear, I’m now a retired refrigeration guy, I’ll do this repair myself, thanks.
I’m also buying those three parts, thanks
I wanted to share my experience with low pressure on my Breville and what ended up being the FIX. I’ve owned my Breville 870xl for 1.5 years now. I love it! A couple weeks ago I started seeing very low pressure readings during extraction. The discharge was more of a sputter than a steady flow and the crema was watery and thin. During my research to fix the issue, I found this forum and decided to do a full cleaning/vinegar descaling. I actually did it twice…with no success. Pressure readings were unchanged. So I then reached out to Breville directly, thinking I’d need to replace a part (pump), or worse send in my machine to get repaired. They responded with what I thought was a canned response, saying that the bean quality/freshness can cause fluctuations in pressure. They also included a youtube link to test the pressure on my machine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YelT169_ug
To my surprise, my machine showed normal pressure readings during the test! The needle was going exactly where they said it should. Great, right?! Except that when I again made an espresso, I was still getting the same poor pressure readings and watery crema as before. The only thing I could think of was maybe it was the bean quality like Breville mentioned? Did I get a bad batch? I then remembered that my last time at the cafe I purchased a darker roast bean than I normally buy. Usually I stick with medium roasts (I buy a few different ones), and this last time I decided to try a dark Italian roast bean. So, after I ran out of the last of dark roast batch, I went back and bought my usual medium roast beans…and VOILA!! First espresso, the pressure readings went right back to their normal readings during extraction. I couldn’t believe it. I assumed that the various bean roasts/quality could influence the pressure a little bit. I had no idea it could be that much.
Hopefully this helps some of you narrow down the causes for you low pressure readings or even fixes the problem all together. Good luck!!
Man most of you people are helpless. Let’s return a perfectly good working product for warranty and bad mouth the manufacturer. Or let’s take it to a shop and pay $180 to “fix” something that isn’t broken – and even PROUDLY tell everyone “here are the part numbers of the necessary parts to fix the problem”…
IT SAYS RIGHT IN THE MANUAL UNDER THE “DECALCIFYING” SECTION TO “RUN 50/50 WATER/VINEGAR THRU THE MACHINE ONCE A MONTH”. With an ounce of logical thinking, it makes sense that if you have a reduction in pressure, something may be blocking the line. But noooooo, most of you blame the only thing you can see – the “idiot light” (the pressure gauge).
Even after a thorough cleaning (including using the decalcification tablets) I had almost no pressure and no creama. So, I DID LIKE THE MANUAL SAYS and ran an entire tank of 50/50 water/vinegar through the entire system. GUESS WHAT? FULL pressure restored on the gauge and once again there’s a nice think layer of creama again.
C’mon people – quit being so bloody helpless.
Breville – you have an AWESOME product and THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL is very clear on how to make my BES870XL run like the day I bought it 2 years ago.
I think you will find many people have done that already. I’ve taken mine to bits down to the component level and even taken the solenoids apart and they are perfectly clean. The fact there’s no pressure has nothing to do with calcification it’s some weird electrical problem where the second solenoid only sometimes operates despite being brand new and only having had a few coffees go through it. If the power is recycled to the unit the solenoid works fine, on the second cycle it stops working. Power cycling the machine makes it work again. So each pour I have to switch it off at the mains and on again to reset the solenoid so I can get pressure at the group head. Without that solenoid working it just vents all the water into the overflow tube.
Breville’s support has been terrible on all occasions I’ve contacted them for help. Their ask an expert section never responds. They don’t even know how the machine works their technical support is outsourced.
I’d never buy one again.
I have exactly the same problem. Need to re-power every time to get pressure through otherwise water goes to overflow. Did you find a solution other than re-booting every time? Do I need to replace the second solenoid?
No unfortunately I’ve never resolved it. It’s continued working fine ever since but I have to switch it on and off from the mains power for every cup. Breville support were useless and refused to answer any of my questions about what may cause it. I can’t say it’s the solenoid because mine was brand new when this started happening. I assume it must be an electrical thing. If anyone knows the answer please post it.
I have had the same issue. I was using the 2 CUP Single Wall Filter. I called Breville support and they had me insert the 1CUP filter into the portafilter, followed by the cleaning disc. Lock the portafilter into the group head and press the 2 CUP button. The pressure gauge rose up all the way to MAX. This indicated that the pressure gauge was working normally. Then they had me insert the 2 CUP Dual Wall Filter basket into the portafilter and had me push the grinder switch to fill the filter with ground coffee. I proceeded with making a 2 CUP espresso and the pressure gauge was at the Ideal Espresso Zone. The support representative stated that if the coffee beans are not fresh, the pressure gauge will not work properly using the Single Wall Filter.
Your a lucky genius! Our machine pressure gauge stopped working after two weeks. It shouldn’t be such a crap shoot every time you use the machine. Water, grind , bean type , tamp to much tamp tamp to little, position of the sun, relative humidity , season, pointing north, sea level…………good luck everyone.
BUT… Then I Read The Comments here and …
Hi I have had the Breville for 2 years and have used the double-walled portafilter exclusively. I first worried about getting the pressure to the mid point and if I really packed the portafilter and tamped hard I could not really expect to get past the first quarter of pressure gauge. I see the pre-infuse coming out evenly but a bit much(too fast) and I hear a bubbling sound (wondering if that was a leak at the portafilter). Now I could try a little coconut oil to maybe improve the head to filter seal and really turn the portafilter hard to seal. but.. then I read the comments here and here is what I feel is my issue (aside from maybe spelling)?? I think it is the puck density–need a better portafilter fill process.
I had great results at the first or second notch in the grey pressure-wise but , again larger bubbles in the crema so that is too fast a pull. A year ago I bought a collar to place in the portafilter when filling–it was on ebay and I ordered it so I could OVERFILL the portafilter and shake back and forth to move the grains to a settling point in the portafilter. I bang/tap the bottom of the portafilter on a soft silicone mat to further get the coffee grains to fill the space in theport filter tap tap tap… There is a device that does this better but it is approx $60 to 125 and you rotate it to distribute the grains. Anyway, but what I do is next best thing.
I have not tried double packing tamping with the singe shot fill twice(as suggested here) but I may have some fun with that now that it was suggested. I don’t suggest to get the highest pressures a good pressure into the grey is half way at best.
Some other stuff in case I can add something to your espresso process:
My water source is Arizona with LOTS of hard deposits so we got a softener–the water now comes from a 64K grain(super duper) softwater conditioner and then through reverse osmosis machine( not a great water saver but if you lower the pressure in the osmosis container a bit and fill large containers more ofter it is more efficient fyi).A substitute (for longevity of the machine) you can use distilled water in the machine. I clean my machine (not on a schedule–too busy well, usually) with full-on vinegar (which I let evaporate to half volume before using to make it more concentrated (so it is strong enough to kill weeds). maybe the vinegar at that strength is too harsh and I’ll pay for my stupidity or maybe (I do multiple cycles to clean) it will work to my advantage.
SO much to keep in line…
My beliefs:
I grind at 4 (I don’t like the sound of the grinder struggling below that and find a lower grind is too much like Turkish so I would discourage that. this changes sometimes dependent on the coffee brands 4-6.
I set the water at the second from highest temperature (coffee should not be brewed above 196deg there is a espresso brew temp standard temp it is 190 to 196 but I find that turns out sour so forget the rule and change the temp to change the PH to less acid–I like the top two temp settings.
Amount for double pull I put on the collar (from ebay–note: My wife, at one point cut a butter container top into a funnel that worked but not pretty). My setting for volume is 1 tick past the middle if that makes sense.
You can change the water volume in your pull but the standard volume of H20 in a double is For a double shot, (14 grams of dry coffee), a normal uses about 60 ml of water. A double ristretto, a common form associated with espresso, uses half the amount of water, about 30 ml. I have always used 30ml.
Tamp 30 lbs once but most of us would tamp at 100lb if it gave us the right pull. I will have to try the two single pull method described above–it sounds like a fun experiment and maybe I will get the right pull. Here is what I have been doing and my pull is too fast but tasty (see crema below). tamp pressure, trying to tamp evenly(use your full hand to keep the tamp surface in plane–in other words fingers around the outside edge to apply pressure of 10pds then move to happy pressure on handle of 30 lbs.
crema:
50% of the time my crema comes out with larger bubbles in the middle–this is to fast a pull. Crema should be even and smaller bubbles but I have a hard time getting the perfect pull. Still, my espresso from this machine is better than 90% of the coffee shops and that (having tried many machines and grinders) is really high quality–if your Breville is is working as it is intended–so, don’t toss that machine yet until you have tried everything! Try the double wall if you are not an experimenter it will give better results –it gets a bad rap as an amateur method.
coffee blend: There is a nice coffee from c*st*c* that has the words organic rainforest on it (you will find it) it is supreme for crema(don’t know why its so good but it is) that is my caffeine source so 20% that and the from A maze on I get Ve r en a street decaf (oily medium roast). The combined effect is chocolate like no other and less acid (unless I brew at the machine’s lowest temp then it tastes more acid.
This is a hobby as much as it is a way to enjoy a drink. FYI coffee is important, I like the oily decaf medium roast and mix in 20% of caffeinated. Interesting enough a real blend would have both arabica and some robusta for better crema (from what I have read).
i cleaned my machine and now it will not turn back on
Hi — just bought a new machine. Pressure worked fine. Now it’s producing low pressure for no reason. Settings are still the same. I have recently cleaned it too. Any idea what’s causing recent low pressure and or how to start troubleshooting? The coffee tastes weaker now.
All these years later and the machines still seem to be failing, my latest model failed again, this time the pressure guage is just completely non functional, despite the fact it still actually has pressure. Seems it’s a design fault as I’ve had the same issue 3 times now across 2 brand new machines and one repair.