Breville Didn't End the Barista Express Espresso Machine Prime Day Deal at Its Lowest Price
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Coffee and espresso are meant to be reliable wakeup beverages, so it’s a little ironic that whoever’s in charge of the pricing of the Breville Barista Express BES870XL at Amazon is asleep at the switch and forgot to turn off the 28% off deal from Prime Day. One of the very best and most popular home espresso setups on the market is still $500, down from its retail of $693.
The Breville Barista Express isn’t new — it debuted in 2013 — but it’s never been supplanted atop the home espresso market. That’s due in large part to its integrated precision conical burr grinder. Grind freshness matters more to espresso extraction quality than almost any other variable: Pre-ground coffee goes stale fast, and the difference between ground-to-order and yesterday’s grind is audible in the cup. The grinder doses directly into the portafilter on demand, with adjustable grind size and dose amount to account for different roasts and taste preferences. The full cycle from beans to extraction runs under a minute.
Extraction quality on the BES870XL is shaped by two features. PID digital temperature control maintains water at a precise set point throughout the pull; espresso is unforgiving on temperature, and a few degrees of variance shifts the extraction from balanced to bitter or sour. Low-pressure pre-infusion wets the coffee puck gradually before the machine ramps to full extraction pressure, helping ensure even saturation and reducing channeling, which is the extraction flaw where water finds a path of least resistance through the puck rather than pulling evenly from the full dose.
The steam wand is manual, which means latte art and microfoam texture are skills you develop rather than outcomes the machine automates. Fully automatic milk systems may be more consistent, but the manual wand gives you control over temperature and texture that automated frothers don’t. Breville’s wand produces enough steam pressure to texture properly stretched microfoam rather than just heating milk, which is the functional minimum for a flat white or cappuccino that doesn’t taste like a café approximation.
The included accessories represent a complete kit: a 54mm stainless steel portafilter, single and dual-wall filter baskets in one- and two-cup configurations, a Razor Dose Trimming Tool, an integrated tamper, a stainless steel milk jug, cleaning disc and tablets, a brush tool, water filter and holder, and an Allen key. Breville also includes two free bags of specialty coffee when you purchase and register the machine.
The Barista Express uses a 1,600-watt heating element and a 67-ounce removable water tank, with a half-pound bean hopper that should comfortably cover a week of daily use for most households. While it’s holding steady at $500 at Amazon, it’s a machine that gives you a grinder, PID temperature control, and a capable steam wand in one pleasantly priced footprint.