Breville Barista Pro BES878 Espresso Machine

The Breville BES870 has been the best-selling semi-automatic home machine on Amazon for a long time. It’s no surprise that Breville launched an upgraded version, the BES878, to suit advanced users.

The Barista Pro™ | Brew coffee at home like a professional barista

HOW IS THE BREVILLE 878 BETTER THAN THE BREVILLE 870?

• LCD screen displays all configurable settings: Water temperature, grind size, single/double extraction, grinding time adjustment, cleaning modes and water empty alerts…

Intuitive display showing all setting information on the Breville 878 espresso machine

• 30 grind settings: Actually the machine’s adjustment mechanism is stepless, but it just displays 30 levels on the screen.

30 grind fineness levels on the Breville BES878 espresso machine

• Built-in grinder burrs from Baratza: The Barista Pro 878 uses professional conical coffee burrs from Baratza, ensuring coffee quality at a more optimal level.

Breville Barista Pro BES878 uses professional conical burrs from Baratza for fine and fluffy coffee grounds quality

• Thermojet heating technology – just 3 seconds to turn on and use instantly: Normally users turn on the machine then wait for it to heat up before using it. The Breville 878 is the opposite because it’s always in ready mode. (The Breville 870 version uses a thermocoil heating system requiring about 30 seconds, typical machines need over 10 minutes)

The thin Thermojet heating system heats up in just 3 seconds on the Breville Barista Pro 878

• Added water sensor in the tank: The machine will alert on screen when water is empty so users can refill in time even during coffee extraction. The previous Breville 870 version doesn’t have this feature.
• Professional 4-hole steam wand: Much more powerful steam, supporting ultra-smooth milk foam creation for latte art enthusiasts.
• Automatic timer: Allows users to easily know the brewing time and assess the relationship with extraction volume.
• Independent hot water spout: The spout is right next to the group head, so after finishing espresso you can leave the cup on the tray and get hot water for an Americano.

FIRST-TIME SETUP FOR BREVILLE 878 ESPRESSO MACHINE

BREVILLE BARISTA PRO BES878 CAN SET WATER TEMPERATURE AND BREW VOLUME

GUIDE TO PERIODIC CLEANING OF BREVILLE 878 ESPRESSO MACHINE WITH CLEANING POWDER/TABLETS

BREWING AMERICANO COFFEE WITH BREVILLE 878

LATTE COFFEE WITH BREVILLE 878

NOTES WHEN USING BREVILLE BES878 ESPRESSO MACHINE

• The machine only needs 3 seconds to enter ready mode. However, the group head isn’t heated, so if you want to brew coffee immediately, users should flush water to heat the portafilter attached to the group head.
• The machine has automatic cooling flush mode, so after steaming milk just wait 15 seconds to continue brewing coffee normally.
• The diameter of the machine’s filter basket and tamper is 54mm. If users need to upgrade, they must choose accessories of similar size.
• There are 2 grinding modes when placing the portafilter in the holder: Press once for automatic dose grinding and press and hold to select manual amount.
• The machine’s bean hopper holds a maximum of about 250g, however only pour about 100g at a time to prevent coffee flavor from being affected by oxidation.
• Besides adjusting grind size with the side wheel, you can intervene more deeply by removing the machine’s burr set and rotating directly on the burrs. There’s a red dot marked and the factory default sets it at number 6. Users can adjust to number 2 to lower the burrs deeper for even finer grinding.
• The grinder is timed by duration, so when changing coffee or grind size, users need to remeasure so that the set time can grind 16-18g with a double basket or 8-10g with a single basket.
• The 5 temperature levels set on the machine correspond to 91-95°C but the screen won’t display these specific numbers.
• The knob to switch between milk frothing mode and hot water mode is on the right side of the machine.

The 2-mode knob for frothing and hot water on the Breville 878 espresso machine is located on the right side

DRAWBACKS OF BREVILLE BARISTA PRO BES878 ESPRESSO MACHINE

• No pressure gauge: Users don’t know the actual pressure happening during extraction and can only sense it visually through the flow.
• No group head heating system: Even if you attach the entire portafilter to the machine for 10 minutes, it won’t gain any temperature if the user doesn’t flush water. Therefore, if you immediately brew coffee with an unheated portafilter, the espresso will be cold.
• No cup warming system: The top of the machine has enough space to place 4 cups but none of them will heat up during machine use. This privilege only happens with espresso machines using actual boilers.

REFERENCE FOR OTHER HOME ESPRESSO MACHINES

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS OF BREVILLE 878 ESPRESSO MACHINE

• Brand: Breville
• Model code: BES878
• Dimensions: Width 350 x Depth 410 x Height 410mm
• Machine weight: 10kg
• Material: Stainless steel
• Voltage/Power: 220V/1680W
• Vibration pump
• Bean hopper: 250g
• Water tank: 2000ml
• Made in China
• 12-month warranty

BREVILLE BES878 ESPRESSO MACHINE SET INCLUDES

The Breville 878 comes with many essential accessories so users hardly need to buy anything else.

Accessories included with Breville BES878 espresso machine

• 1 x Breville Barista Express BES878 espresso machine
• 1 x Coffee grounds sweeper tool
• 2 x 54mm stainless steel single-wall filter baskets
• 2 x Dual-wall filter baskets for pre-ground coffee
• 1 x Magnetic tamper
• 1 x 480ml stainless steel milk frothing pitcher
• 1 x Cleaning brush, tool and hex key (for deep cleaning the group head)
• 1 x Water filter holder
• 1 x Water filter
• 1 x Cleaning disc and tablets

iCup is honored to bring customers the most suitable espresso machines for their usage needs and value worthy of the price.