Breville Barista Express Impress BES876 vs Rancilio Silvia Pro X

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.

The Silvia grown up: two boilers, two PIDs and soft infusion in a 25 cm wide body

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

• +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 with a PID controller each, so brew and steam temperatures are both set exactly.
• +Variable Soft Infusion, an adjustable low pressure pre-infusion.
• +A brass group and chrome-plated brass portafilter, built like a commercial machine.
• +Only 250 mm wide, narrow for a dual boiler.
• +A pressure gauge and a display that doubles as a shot timer.

• −$2,195, and no grinder.
• −Rancilio's two sites disagree on basket size: 8/16 g on one, 8/18 g on the other.
• −No published pump type, warranty or warm-up time.
• −20 kg, which is a machine you place once and leave.