Breville Barista Express Impress BES876 vs Breville Infuser BES840XL

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

Scores higher on shot quality & extraction, maintenance & cleaning, workflow & ergonomics.

Someone who already owns a grinder and wants the shot control without paying for a second one

Scores higher on build quality & durability, value for money.

• +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.

• +PID temperature control adjustable in two-degree steps, which is finer than most machines offer at any price
• +Low pressure pre-infusion and a 1.7 litre tank
• +$336.50, less than half the $699.99 median

• −No built-in grinder
• −A manual steam wand
• −One-year warranty, where Breville's newer machines publish two