Breville Barista Express Impress BES876 vs Breville Dual Boiler BES920XL

The Barista Express with the tamping done for you, so the shot is repeatable from day one

Scores higher on maintenance & cleaning, ease of use & learning curve, workflow & ergonomics.

Two boilers and a 58 mm portafilter, brewing and steaming at the same time

Scores higher on shot quality & extraction, steam power & milk texturing.

• +Assisted tamping at a fixed pressure removes the step most beginners get wrong.
• +The machine reads each tamp and adjusts the next dose, so the puck is repeatable.
• +A built-in 25-setting conical burr grinder, so there is nothing else to buy.
• +A pressure gauge on the front, which shows whether a shot ran fast or slow.
• +Both pressurised and unpressurised baskets in the box.

• −Breville publishes no warranty term or weight for it, on the page or in the manual.
• −The manual allows up to 55 seconds to heat, against 3 seconds on the ThermoJet Breville machines.
• −The steam wand is manual, so milk is still a skill to learn.
• −A 54 mm basket, not the 58 mm most café accessories are made for.

• +Two boilers, so you can pull a shot and steam milk at the same time.
• +PID control on the espresso boiler for stable brew temperature.
• +A 58 mm portafilter taking a 22 gram dose, the café standard size.
• +A pressure gauge and a shot clock, the two readouts that teach you the most.
• +A 2.5 litre tank that fills from the top.

• −No grinder; a good espresso grinder is a second purchase.
• −Breville showed it out of stock on its own site on 2026-09-24.
• −Breville publishes no warranty, weight or wattage on the page or in the manual text.
• −Steaming is manual; there is no automatic milk option.