I love playing with the best espresso machines. Every time I unbox a new model, I can barely hold back my excitement. Making flat whites and Americanos and lattes for my colleagues is one of my favorite things to do — it reminds me of my barista days.
As a result, I write a lot about espresso machines. I recently asked you to tell me your favorite espresso machine — and it brings me great pleasure to announce the winner of the poll.
Drum roll, please....
The Breville Bambino Plus!
Yes, the Breville Bambino Plus is your favorite espresso machine. It took a huge 27% of the vote, 6 percentage points higher than the runner-up, the Breville Bambino. Casabrews came in third, the De'Longhi La Specialista Arte Evo and De'Longhi Stilosa joint fourth, and the $3k Breville Oracle Dual Boiler in last place.
Even after testing 43 coffee makers (yes, 43...), the Breville Bambino Plus is my favorite, too. Here's why I agree with you.
The results
Percentage |
|
|---|---|
Breville Bambino Plus |
27% |
Breville Bambino |
19% |
Casabrews 3700 Essential |
17% |
De'Longhi La Specialista Arte Evo |
14% |
De'Longhi Stilosa |
14% |
Breville Oracle Dual Boiler |
9% |
Why I love the Breville Bambino Plus too
The Breville Bambino Plus is the perfect espresso machine for both coffee enthusiasts and coffee beginners. Despite being incredibly easy to use and boasting an automatic milk frothing mode for total newbies, it's also stuffed with features that'll please even the snobbiest of coffee nerds.
I have the Bambino Plus at home, and it's perfect for my household — me, the coffee snob, and my boyfriend, the give-me-hot-bean-water-and-give-it-to-me-now coffee drinker.
You can customize pre-infusion time — when the machine soaks the coffee using low-pressure water — to unveil new subtle notes in your beans. You also benefit from a PID controller, which is a nifty piece of tech that controls water temperature at every stage during the extraction.
This all combines to make a barista-quality espresso that'll whet the appetites of coffee snobs, coffee connoisseurs, and coffee casualists alike.
It's not just espresso that makes the Bambino Plus a near-perfect machine, though. The 4-hole steam wand is intensely powerful and can make barista-level latte art without breaking a sweat.
Despite being such a tiny machine, the steam wand packs a major punch. You can easily create the all-important 'vortex' to texturize the milk as skilfully as a professional barista.
But if you can't be bothered to make your own milk — don't fret! The Bambino Plus has an auto-milk frother that steams your milk hands-free. All you have to do is fill the jug, put the steam wand inside, and press 'go'. The machine starts and stops the entire process.
Personally, I never use this mode, but my boyfriend only ever uses it. It just depends on your barista style.
Another feature I love is the auto-purge. On most other espresso machines, you need to manually purge the steam wand after use, and it's quite easy to forget if you don't have this drilled into you from over three years working in coffee shops.
But not the Bambino Plus. As soon as you turn off the steam wand, it purges into the drip tray. Sure, this means you have to empty the drip tray more often, but you don't want to be leaving nasty stagnant coffee/milk water in your lovely, expensive espresso machine, do you?
Finally, we have the accessories. As much as I love the $299 Breville Bambino — and it is by far the best espresso machine in its price class — the tamper doesn't have the same sturdy heft as the Bambino Plus's.
The Bambino Plus comes with a weighty, mostly metal tamper and weighty, high-quality portafilters. No flimsy plastic accessories here. Breville's milk jugs are the best milk jugs I've ever used, too — the angled spout helps with latte art so much.
You get this angled spout with the Bambino, too, but you don't get the weighty tamper or weighty portafilters with the $300 machine.
What do you think about the Breville Bambino Plus? Is it your favorite espresso machine? What would you recommend instead?
