Breville Barista Express BES870XL: What Reddit Actually Thinks

What Reddit Actually Says

The Breville Barista Express BES870XL has a reputation problem it doesn't entirely deserve. Reddit threads are full of newer owners genuinely happy with their shots, pushing back against the loudest critics. As one commenter on r/espresso put it:

> I think the BBE gets hate in the espresso community because a lot of the loudest voices here are from folks with $1000+ dollar setups... For me, the grinder really isn't as bad as people say.

The consensus from actual owners is more nuanced than the gear-obsessed corners of the internet suggest.

The Good

Owners consistently point to the all-in-one convenience, compact footprint, and the brewer itself — which even hardcore hobbyists concede is genuinely good hardware. One Redditor who ran theirs hard summed it up plainly:

> I used mine 3-4x daily for like 4 years before upgrading. You can make a world class cup of coffee on a BBE.

For anyone coming from a basic drip machine or an entry-level espresso maker, the jump in quality is significant. Redditors who pair the stock grinder with a cheap WDT tool, a scale, and a better tamper report pulling shots that rival local café output. Several threads also note the machine rewards learning — by the time you want to upgrade, you'll actually know why.

The Bad

Two hardware constraints come up in nearly every thread. First, the single boiler means you brew or steam — never simultaneously. Switching from shot to steam requires waiting through a ramp-up period. One detailed breakdown described it bluntly:

> Warmup time is slow — not an issue for pulling shots, but a pretty big PITA for steaming milk. Have to start the wand and let it sputter and ramp up over ~15s to get up to full steam.

Second, the grinder has a ceiling. Redditors in the pro-tips threads report the stock burrs can't grind fine enough for a bottomless portafilter without choking, and the stock portafilter's tapered design compounds the problem. One owner wrote:

> I found the built-in grinder, even at the finest setting, wasn't fine enough for a bottomless portafilter.

And once you buy a standalone grinder, you're left with a bulkier machine than necessary — a point that comes up every time someone considers upgrading.

Who Should Skip It

Anyone planning to make back-to-back lattes for a household will find the single-boiler steam situation genuinely annoying. If your end goal is a serious dual-boiler setup and you're treating this as a short-term step, the Bambino paired with a dedicated grinder is the path multiple Redditors recommend instead. Also skip it if you want to run a bottomless portafilter straight out of the box — that requires aftermarket work.

Bottom Line

The BES870XL is a capable, well-built entry point that gets unfairly dragged by people who've spent three times as much on gear. The grinder has real limits and the milk-steaming workflow is genuinely clunky — but for someone learning espresso and pulling mostly straight shots, it delivers.

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