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Breville espresso machine

 
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cookster



Joined: 04 Feb 2007
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 5:46 pm    Post subject: Breville espresso machine Reply with quote

Hello everyone,

Was wondering if anyone has experience with the Breville brand. saw it an upscale home decor place and it looked professional and well-made. I think it dam well should be with the $400 price tag. However, one thing I do tend to allocate more funds for is coffee...cant do without the golden grain!

Anyone have an opinion or a comment about this brand of machine? Know very little about the manufacturer, quality or rep.

Thanks,

Jim
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EngineeringProfessor



Joined: 07 Sep 2006
Posts: 77

PostPosted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 12:42 am    Post subject: Re: Breville espresso machine Reply with quote

cookster wrote:
Hello everyone,

Was wondering if anyone has experience with the Breville brand. saw it an upscale home decor place and it looked professional and well-made. I think it dam well should be with the $400 price tag. However, one thing I do tend to allocate more funds for is coffee...cant do without the golden grain!

Anyone have an opinion or a comment about this brand of machine? Know very little about the manufacturer, quality or rep.

Thanks,

Jim


My wife gave me one of those Breville wine chillers for my birthday and I was skeptical at first about its ease of use, effectivity and quality. Well, we use it literally all of the time. So, that said, I would tell you that Breville is a "good brand". Nevertheless, I bought a DeLonghi espresso pod (E.S.E.) machine for less than a third of what you would pay for the Breville. It makes great espresso and the key is in the pods. Illy or Lavazza Grand Crema. If the machine is "E.S.E." certified, then it conforms to a standard that was developed in Italy and is sanctioned by their government. The Italians know espresso and their pod system guarantees repeatable and delicious results.
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cookster



Joined: 04 Feb 2007
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 2:13 am    Post subject: pods Reply with quote

Engineeringprof:

Thank you for your quick, informative reply. Well, that is certainly an encouraging sign, if other products by them have proven well-made (though im not naive enough to think its a gaurantee). Nevertheless, an encouraging sign indeed.

I have no doubt the Italians make great coffee, but the very best Ive tasted in Europe and Latin America was Spanish and then Colombian, closely followed by Costa Rican. Excellent freshness and sweetness. I currently use a late-80's Krups espresso maker. It makes excellent brew, but Ive always ground my coffee when using it, so I dont know what the "pod system" is at all. I guess thats my next question, what is a "pod"?

(I'm guessing its a type of bag or pak that the coffee comes in, so you dont have to ground your own?)

Thanks again for coming to the rescue with your knowledge.

Jim
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EngineeringProfessor



Joined: 07 Sep 2006
Posts: 77

PostPosted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 2:11 am    Post subject: Re: pods Reply with quote

cookster wrote:
Engineeringprof:

Thank you for your quick, informative reply. Well, that is certainly an encouraging sign, if other products by them have proven well-made (though im not naive enough to think its a gaurantee). Nevertheless, an encouraging sign indeed.

I have no doubt the Italians make great coffee, but the very best Ive tasted in Europe and Latin America was Spanish and then Colombian, closely followed by Costa Rican. Excellent freshness and sweetness. I currently use a late-80's Krups espresso maker. It makes excellent brew, but Ive always ground my coffee when using it, so I dont know what the "pod system" is at all. I guess thats my next question, what is a "pod"?

(I'm guessing its a type of bag or pak that the coffee comes in, so you dont have to ground your own?)

Thanks again for coming to the rescue with your knowledge.

Jim


Hello Jim,

Some background: my coffee of choice is "Seaport Dark Roast", which is unique to Beaumont, Texas. I do not know how far their distribution is. It is very similar to "Cafe Bustelo", a dark roast from Puerto Rico, which was my favorite daily brew when I lived in Florida. I use the German "filter kaffee" method, with a Melitta #4 filter directly into a cup. This produces a dark, strong brew that is completely free of any bitterness.

For espresso, I like it full bodied with a "lot" of crema. Years ago I had a junky Salton machine that was worthless. I graduated to a Gaggia home unit that my wife bought me that made passable espresso, only after a great deal of effort and luck. That is also when I discovered that if a machine has no pump, it will not make acceptable espresso--period. When the Gaggia gave up the ghost I gave up (at the notion of espresso at home with less than a $500 machine). Then I read about ESE.

I then went looking for the cheapest ESE machine made and found the DeLonghi. The ESE certification basically guarantees the result. The "pod" is just a compressed cake of espresso roast coffee covered with filter paper (think "Senseo", but the ESE pod is very, very different). The ESE standard controls the size and shape of the pod, the water temperature, the pressure and the flow rate. This gives you repeatable results--or at least I think so.

I am not a spazz about espresso, but I really demand a full-bodied taste and lots of crema--that is why I suggested either Illy or Lavazza. I prefer the Lavazza because the pods come individually packaged in foil with a nitrogen fill so they pretty much last forever. As an engineer, I appreciate the simplicty and efficiency of the ESE pod system.

Hope this helps.
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cookster



Joined: 04 Feb 2007
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 3:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Engineering prof,

Once again I am in your debt for your patient and exacting advice & info you have generously offered me. I am now in a much better position to look for a good quality machine/system, armed as I am now with this knowledege. It's funny, I always suspected that the pro machines were engineered differently from my Krups...after reading your post it dawned on me that my current machine most definitely does not use a pump to create the coffee, but is a steam-based unit! No wonder I've never heard a motor when the unit is running, only the sounds of forced steam. But thank goodness about this ESE standard, eh? I've got to check this out! Sounds like a great system and a serious initiative, a win-win situation for the consumer. Anyway, its now my turn to start googling and learn more. One thing,though, I've always believed it was best to ground the beans freshly, as close to the time they'll actually be brewed as possible....I'm assuming the coffee in the "pods" has been vacuum-packed? or has grind dates very close to their shelf availabilty from the merchant? Is that where the nitrogen you mentioned comes in?

Best,

Jim
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EngineeringProfessor



Joined: 07 Sep 2006
Posts: 77

PostPosted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 4:14 am    Post subject: Hermetically sealed with N2 Reply with quote

cookster wrote:
Engineering prof,
But thank goodness about this ESE standard, eh? I've got to check this out! Sounds like a great system and a serious initiative, a win-win situation for the consumer. Anyway, its now my turn to start googling and learn more. One thing,though, I've always believed it was best to ground the beans freshly, as close to the time they'll actually be brewed as possible....I'm assuming the coffee in the "pods" has been vacuum-packed? or has grind dates very close to their shelf availabilty from the merchant? Is that where the nitrogen you mentioned comes in?

Best,

Jim


I know what you mean about the steam units, this explains why they are so cheap--but thre really is no way for them to get the "crema" that you want with espresso. As for fresh ground, I could not agree more. The DeLonghi machine that I have takes both ESE pods and ground coffee. I used to have a Krups burr grinder (let's not get started on the virtues of burr vs blade), but I found that the sealed pods retain their freshness and produce a barista quality cup each and every time. There is no longer any mystery to a good cup of espresso and there is no need to spend over $150. Of course, I do not do espresso every day nor do I make more than a cup or two at a time. If you are a heavy drinker, you may want to spend more for a commercial style machine.
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