Breville Barista Express vs. Sage Barista Pro: Which is Right for You? | How to Fix Channeling

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[nanwilson]

Great video, Hoon! I've had the Barista Express for about a year and have thought most of my shots taste bitter. Thought I've been doing something wrong that causes that. After watching your video thinking maybe it isn't me. This was very helpful!

[dawgman]

Great video today Hoon! Hey one thing - I am pretty sure your burrs were touching at about 27:10 when you adjusted down from #6 to #3 on your grinder. Just something to think about. The only thing that would create drag on the motor would be the grinding of beans or burrs touching (otherwise everything should spin freely at designed RPM). Since you adjusted with no beans in it and grinder running (as recommended) what you're hearing is drag created by the friction of the burrs touching, so yeah, just my two cents! Can't wait to see the dimmer! Thanks again!

[MICHAEL-hcqj]

I just picked up the pro and i have learned so much from your videos!
Thank you !

[fredwilson]

You have to grind finer if you're going to pull using the much lower pressure ( prinfusion only like you did in your 3rd shot). You appear not to have noticed, or at least didn't mention, however that shot poured in ca 15-16 secs. Quite a lot faster than the previously two shots, and, of course, it's not going to be anywhere near as developed.

[dumkopf]

I don't think so, on cleaning Hoon. The pressure is useful for ese pods and pressurized baskets. Breville can be wrong. Otherwise how do you backflush the barista pro?

[fredwilson]

Around the 16:00 mark you mentioned that the shots are identical except for the pressure.
We don't know that the temps are the same, nor do we know the temp stability throughout each shot. I would suspect temps and stability are not the same because of the two different heating methods. It's very difficult to do any sort of meaningful comparison between two different machines. 🙂

[JimboJones]

A little bit unrelated but ... The Barista Pro / Barista Touch / Bambino Plus use the Thermojet system where the water heats up in 3 seconds. This is good but the portafilter and grouphead are still cold on first use which results in sour shots on the first shot in the morning.

Best thing to do is insert a pressurized dual wall basket into the portafilter and do 2-3 blind shots so this heats up the Grouphead (most importantly) and also heats up the portafilter.

Note trying to warm up these Thermojet machines the usual way (leaving machine on for 15 minutes) will not work to heat up the Grouphead.

[shahinhyder]

Hi Hoon, I am having an issue with my breville espresso . I can’t get a nice shot of espresso. My shots comes as coffee/watery and pressure gauge never moves? Can you advise? Thank you

[christopherranieriranieri]

If I stirred my coffee like that with my WDT tool the coffee would fly all over the place... I have to go in slow motion so it don't fly out... what kind of coffee are you using??

[jiminyu]

Thanks for your video, Hoon!
However, I don't think your BBE always provides 15 bars. Rather, we should say it can provide up to 15 bars. I strongly believe that it's up to the grind setting (i.e., fineness of your grind). Oviously, your today's video is a perfect evidence. If your BBE really provided 15 bars, your shot should be a lot faster than your pro shot (higher pressure means faster shot with the same grind setting, correct?). However, the time took from the both shots was pretty much the same, which means the similar pressure was applied. So if you really want to compare both machines, you may want to prepare a very fine grind and see if there is any difference in terms of the extraction time and taste, etc. At some point, pro will be choking but your BBE would still extract espresso because it can press harder (15 bars)... That is my 2 cents thought!

[dennisb.]

As long as your Express is in the 14 - 15 bar range, it has to be considered a defective machine. Until you adjust it to the acceptable 7 - 11 bar range, your shots will be sub-par. Of course, if the shot is put in a coffee drink, it doesn't matter.

[BK-plvy]

Pre Infusion only shots looks and taste weak. Not a fan. I think the dimmer option is superior to the OPV option because you can just max out the dimmer and get back to 14 bars. So pretty much the entire pressure range is available by turning a dial. Need to be careful that the dimmer does not impact the workings of the thermocoil or group head settings.

[freezingsunbreaka]

Good afternoon, Mr. Hoon :). When doing pre infusion shot, the shot was faster. I find attached PI shot, grinding finer is necessary. It then also makes it a little thicker. Not like regular shot :(, but not like what you tasted here today :).