Breville the Dual Boiler review by Joshua McBride, Espresso Planet

Features:

Dual Stainless Steel Boilers – Dedicated boilers for each espresso and milk steaming
Dual Pumps – Dedicated pumps for steaming and brewing at the same time
PID Temperature Control
Actively Heated Group Head – Maintains thermal stability throughout extraction
Programmable Volumetric Control – 1 or 2 cup volumes as well as a manual semi-auto function
Programmable Pre-Infusion
Pressure Gauge
Shot Clock
LCD Screen
Storage Tray
Top-Load or Back Removable Water Tank
Hot Water Outlet
Drop-Down Swivel Feet – For easy moving on your countertop

First Impressions:

Wow! What a sleek, elegant yet powerful unit. I have affectionately nicknamed it the Beauty & the Beast. The machine looks very breville… That being said, it is very well done. Breville seems to have managed to fit all the power and features of a $2500 machine into a $1400 smaller more approachable machine. I think it looks great on the counter and I may have to trade in my Rancilio Silvia.

After opening the box and attempting to remove the machine from it’s military grade packaging I was amazed at all the extra little things Breville has become known for. There were extra water filters, cleaning supplies, brushes, all sorts of portafilter inserts, a backflushing disk, a frothing pitcher and tons of literature. It was an early Christmas this year!

The machine now sits happily on our showroom counter… I see the power button but I resist knowing full well a machine with this many features needs a read over. I usually skip the instructions and go straight for priming, but this model gave me the want to read and read well. Of course, the instructions were as simple as could be as Breville did a great job at making the instructions easy to read with lots of pictures.

Fill water tank… check! Power! Finally, I was able to power up this beast for the first time. A simple turn of the water faucet on the left side of the machine while the boiler was filling and the machine was primed. As we recommend on all new machines, I took turns dispensing water from the hot water faucet, the steam wand and the group head until the tank was empty.

Usage:

Grinder: Baratza Virtuoso Preciso with the Esatto attachment.

My first shot on this machine was not very good… I had some tweaking to do. I adjusted my grind and went a little finer. Presto, beautiful espresso. Total PID control is an amazing feature to have, as coffees react differently to heat and other factors. I left mine at 200 and was happy. The heated brew head is great because it keeps temperatures stable. The machine has two programmable buttons, single and double as well as a manual button to make it act like a semi-automatic. The programmable pre-infusion is of course a nice feature to have as it is more forgiving to user error. I especially liked the built in shot timer! No more kitchen timer!!

Turns out, some of the Breville machines are being shipped out with uncalibrated OPV’s (Over Pressure Valves) which will limit your brewing pressure. Good thing that these are adjustable. A quick and EASY fix by popping off the back plate, and rotating the adjustable OPV twice counter clockwise will fix this. If you experience this, do not worry. You will know if you need to calibrate your OPV if you can not seem to brew at 9 BARS, but you are brewing much higher around 12-15 BARS. Give us a call and we can walk you through the fix, or bring it in and we will fix it for you. (If purchased here of course)

Moving on to the milk. I really do like this steam wand and it’s steam tip. If being completely honest… my first attempt at micro foam was laughable. Actually, I think my boss did laugh. I was a little discouraged, but remembered that each machine acts differently when foaming milk. After two more attempts I must have made one of the best Latte’s I have ever had. Latte art was easy and repeatable. It just takes a little getting used to and some practice. It is 100% capable of producing Micro Foam.

I tried to keep this review as SHORT as possible, without going into too much detail. If you would like to know more about it’s programming and my experience, drop me a line or shoot us an email any time. We are here to help.

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