Just scooped the Breville Bambino Plus as my first espresso machine. Any tips for getting the most out of it?
Just scooped the Breville Bambino Plus as my first espresso machine. Any tips for getting the most out of it?
by Sinsemillaville
27 Comments
MyCatsNameIsBernie
Get a good grinder – the best you can afford – and fresh beans.
alfred0t0rnad0
1) start with freshly roasted beans 2) get a scale to measure beans in and yield out 3) if you haven’t already, get a great grinder. Using pre ground coffee will yield less than stellar results 4) shot time in the range of 30 seconds at 1:2-1:3 ratio. If too fast, grind finer or dose up. If the opposite, then do the opposite 5) drink the great coffee you just made
I_can_see_threw_time
Run a blank shot, before your espresso shot to have the best temperature.
It’s listed in the manual, and skipping it will likely give variable results.
MikermanS
For the Bambino Plus, some top tips and in no particular order (I haven’t had my afternoon espresso yet, lol):
— With all due respect to it, no need to pay Breville prices for Breville (or via Breville, other) branded cleaning products. Urnex brand gets recommended here and has worked well for me, at a lower price, and buying larger-sized container quantities to save–no need for more-expensive single-serve packets. (My 100-tablet container of cleaning tablets will get buried with me or will be left in my will.) Cafiza for the cleaning cycle (I use the E16, 1.2g size); Dezcal for the descaling cycle.
— When the cleaning cycle is run, there can be some drip tray splashing/overflow, from the force of the cleaning and the size/design of the tray (Breville should re-think there). I simply put a small, folded tea towel under the machine when running the cycle–it absorbs any errant fluid.
— Read the user manual and keep it around as a reference. It has very useful info. Also available online, at Breville.com.
— To keep the machine in good form, I start with a portafilter-less blank shot, to warm the machine up (recommended in the user manual–and you can pull the water shot into your catch-cup, to warm that up as well); and I end with the same, to help clean the grouphead. Easy. (And by the way, doing both into a separate catch-cup helps save your drip tray from getting filled.)
— I avoid doing the auto-purge of the steam wand into the drip tray–I did it once, and what a mold-encouraging mess. Instead, after steaming, I raise the steam wand up, remove my milk jug and use the contents, and then put the milk jug back and lower the steam wand, starting the purging process–no mess and one less thing to clean up.
— A tip from another contributor here: if your milk pitcher is close to overflowing from steaming and you reach to shut the steam off to prevent that, it still will take a few seconds (3-5) for the steam to stop, by which time you can have an overflow; to prevent that, move the pitcher slightly so that the steam wand is in its center, where the milk is a tad cooler–this will give the time needed for the steam to stop without an overflow (hopefully). A killer tip. 🙂
— If you use a standard WDT tool (some studies show that WDT’ing can be beneficial), a dosing funnel (I use a Matow) can save the day to prevent mess and grounds loss–made all the difference for me, in avoiding frustration. And even helpful apart from WDT’ing, if your grounds mound up over the portafilter rim before tamping–tamp or pre-tamp through the funnel. I also put the funnel in place when transferring my grounds from my J-Ultra to the portafilter–no mess. On WDT tools, the subminimal Flick is just plain fun to use. 🙂
— If you don’t yet have one. a .1g resolution scale is a good thing, to weigh your beans; and to weigh your shot, under your catch-cup, as you are pulling your shot. More consistent than the auto-shot system. The Maestri House Mini scale often gets recommended here. Also, the MHW-3BOMBER Cube 2.0 Mini scale gets recommended, and even will calculate the coffee ratio after the shot.
— The dreaded timing of the mandatory cleaning cycle (at 200 pulls, blank shots included) is not your friend, especially at 6 a.m. I avoid it by running a manual cleaning cycle the first week of each month–it re-sets the cleaning cycle counter. I haven’t been interrupted by a mandatory cleaning cycle in well over a year, and the practice probably is good for the machine as well. I also run a manual descaling cycle quarterly, again at my convenience. Instructions for each in the user manual.
— For the future: a tamping station can do wonders to get a level, unsloped tamp (my nemesis). I picked up an inexpensive, 3D-printed one off of etsy and it has made all the difference for me (but that’s me and my own issues).
Have fun–it’s an enjoyable world.
pojohnson
Congrats! Great machine. To really get the most out of it you need a good quality grinder and fresh beans. Depends on the bean and roast level, but I tend to have the most success with a 17g dose in the stock Breville basket. Make sure your puck prep is correct and thorough. Maybe get a new tamper, the stock Breville one is cheap lightweight plastic. Always run a blank shot before your actual shot to warm up the group head and portafilter. Manually preinfuse your shots for 10 sec. Stop flow at your desired ratio. Dial in from there based on taste.
gandalftheghey
Do a pre-shot with no coffee so I can heat up. once your coffee is loaded in your basket hold the double shot button for 10 seconds before doing your timer. I personally like 16 g of beans in 32 g of coffee out in about 25 seconds.
NemeanMiniLion
Bottomless portafilter from normcor and IMS baskets. Add in a Puck screen and a nice scale and you basically have my setup. I am using a Timemore 078s grinder. If something like that is too spendy then I recommend the k6 hand grinder and a drill, which it is compatible with.
Ohheyrobhere
Grind. Fine. Rr.
Mortars2020
I used mine for two years (a few thousand lattes) before upgrading to my Dual Boiler. Run a blank shot to heat up the group head before pulling your espresso. I used a hand grinder almost exclusively the entire time as the bang per buck is gigantic in getting results vs an electric grinder. Weigh your beans; the machine (at least mine did) loves a 17g dose. Learn how to pull the shot manually. When you steam your milk, run it a bit first to clear all the water in the system; otherwise, you’ll be shooting water into your milk instas of steam for the first few seconds. I got a nice aftermarket portafilter that retains heat. Heat your cup, portafilter, and run a blank shot.
Fluid-Mess6425
descale at least once a month
sirsmokesalot403
I paired my bambino with the df54. I like it but also i find static management tricky .
niketspp
Invest in a really good grinder and local beans roaster if you can find one … I have BB+ and paired that with DF54 … love the journey
CK_1976
Its all in the grinder. But I would strongly consider a proper hand grinder before a proper electric grinder, especially if you dont want to keep bleeding out money.
Rmoudatir
Welcome to the rabbit hole 😉
Grape_Salad
Take it out of the box.
iitsNicholas
Practice… a lot
forever_tuesday
Apparently there is such a thing as grinding too fine. That was my mistake when I got this machine as my fist machine a few weeks ago. Got it dialed in nicely though.
315_Jessie
Grinder is a must 54mm bottomless portafilter Spring loaded tamper Scale with timer
RickGabriel
Run a blank shot or 2 (just water) through the portafilter before you add the ground coffee (wipe it dry first) so that the portafilter is hot. Those machines use a thermoblock to heat the water so the group head isn’t passively heated like a machine with a boiler.
PeirceanAgenda
Get a bottomless filter 54mm, and a metal screen for it, 53.3mm, and a funnel, as well as a timer scale. Normcore has all of these but you can shop around. I got mine from them on Amazon.
insidethebarrel
Throw it in the trash and spend $1500 and you’ll never look back.
peatoast
Get a decent grinder and local roasted beans. Doesn’t matter how good everything is if your beans are stale!
Dense_Consequence369
Fresh beans!!! I repeat fresh beans
IndicationCurrent869
Yes, use the double shot basket only. Single baskets are challenging. Don’t be afraid to use the pressurized basket while you practice with the non pressurized one. That way you can enjoy some good shots and milk drinks while you hone your skills, especially if you haven’t decided on a good dedicated espresso grinder yet.
rikkiprince
If you’re using the portafilter that comes with it, aim for a bit less than 18g for a double shot. I’ve found about 17.5g works, though it can vary per bean.
rikkiprince
It comes with 2 single shot baskets and 2 double shot baskets. Use the single wall if your beans are fresh (within a month of roast date, the manual says).
But also make sure your beans are at least a week after the roast date (this comes up in questions here a fair bit).
Latinpig66
Get a very good grinder, naked portafilter and tamper
27 Comments
Get a good grinder – the best you can afford – and fresh beans.
1) start with freshly roasted beans
2) get a scale to measure beans in and yield out
3) if you haven’t already, get a great grinder. Using pre ground coffee will yield less than stellar results
4) shot time in the range of 30 seconds at 1:2-1:3 ratio. If too fast, grind finer or dose up. If the opposite, then do the opposite
5) drink the great coffee you just made
Run a blank shot, before your espresso shot to have the best temperature.
It’s listed in the manual, and skipping it will likely give variable results.
For the Bambino Plus, some top tips and in no particular order (I haven’t had my afternoon espresso yet, lol):
— With all due respect to it, no need to pay Breville prices for Breville (or via Breville, other) branded cleaning products. Urnex brand gets recommended here and has worked well for me, at a lower price, and buying larger-sized container quantities to save–no need for more-expensive single-serve packets. (My 100-tablet container of cleaning tablets will get buried with me or will be left in my will.) Cafiza for the cleaning cycle (I use the E16, 1.2g size); Dezcal for the descaling cycle.
— When the cleaning cycle is run, there can be some drip tray splashing/overflow, from the force of the cleaning and the size/design of the tray (Breville should re-think there). I simply put a small, folded tea towel under the machine when running the cycle–it absorbs any errant fluid.
— Read the user manual and keep it around as a reference. It has very useful info. Also available online, at Breville.com.
— To keep the machine in good form, I start with a portafilter-less blank shot, to warm the machine up (recommended in the user manual–and you can pull the water shot into your catch-cup, to warm that up as well); and I end with the same, to help clean the grouphead. Easy. (And by the way, doing both into a separate catch-cup helps save your drip tray from getting filled.)
— I avoid doing the auto-purge of the steam wand into the drip tray–I did it once, and what a mold-encouraging mess. Instead, after steaming, I raise the steam wand up, remove my milk jug and use the contents, and then put the milk jug back and lower the steam wand, starting the purging process–no mess and one less thing to clean up.
— A tip from another contributor here: if your milk pitcher is close to overflowing from steaming and you reach to shut the steam off to prevent that, it still will take a few seconds (3-5) for the steam to stop, by which time you can have an overflow; to prevent that, move the pitcher slightly so that the steam wand is in its center, where the milk is a tad cooler–this will give the time needed for the steam to stop without an overflow (hopefully). A killer tip. 🙂
— If you use a standard WDT tool (some studies show that WDT’ing can be beneficial), a dosing funnel (I use a Matow) can save the day to prevent mess and grounds loss–made all the difference for me, in avoiding frustration. And even helpful apart from WDT’ing, if your grounds mound up over the portafilter rim before tamping–tamp or pre-tamp through the funnel. I also put the funnel in place when transferring my grounds from my J-Ultra to the portafilter–no mess. On WDT tools, the subminimal Flick is just plain fun to use. 🙂
— If you don’t yet have one. a .1g resolution scale is a good thing, to weigh your beans; and to weigh your shot, under your catch-cup, as you are pulling your shot. More consistent than the auto-shot system. The Maestri House Mini scale often gets recommended here. Also, the MHW-3BOMBER Cube 2.0 Mini scale gets recommended, and even will calculate the coffee ratio after the shot.
— The dreaded timing of the mandatory cleaning cycle (at 200 pulls, blank shots included) is not your friend, especially at 6 a.m. I avoid it by running a manual cleaning cycle the first week of each month–it re-sets the cleaning cycle counter. I haven’t been interrupted by a mandatory cleaning cycle in well over a year, and the practice probably is good for the machine as well. I also run a manual descaling cycle quarterly, again at my convenience. Instructions for each in the user manual.
— For the future: a tamping station can do wonders to get a level, unsloped tamp (my nemesis). I picked up an inexpensive, 3D-printed one off of etsy and it has made all the difference for me (but that’s me and my own issues).
Have fun–it’s an enjoyable world.
Congrats! Great machine. To really get the most out of it you need a good quality grinder and fresh beans. Depends on the bean and roast level, but I tend to have the most success with a 17g dose in the stock Breville basket. Make sure your puck prep is correct and thorough. Maybe get a new tamper, the stock Breville one is cheap lightweight plastic. Always run a blank shot before your actual shot to warm up the group head and portafilter. Manually preinfuse your shots for 10 sec. Stop flow at your desired ratio. Dial in from there based on taste.
Do a pre-shot with no coffee so I can heat up. once your coffee is loaded in your basket hold the double shot button for 10 seconds before doing your timer. I personally like 16 g of beans in 32 g of coffee out in about 25 seconds.
Bottomless portafilter from normcor and IMS baskets. Add in a Puck screen and a nice scale and you basically have my setup. I am using a Timemore 078s grinder. If something like that is too spendy then I recommend the k6 hand grinder and a drill, which it is compatible with.
Grind. Fine. Rr.
I used mine for two years (a few thousand lattes) before upgrading to my Dual Boiler. Run a blank shot to heat up the group head before pulling your espresso. I used a hand grinder almost exclusively the entire time as the bang per buck is gigantic in getting results vs an electric grinder. Weigh your beans; the machine (at least mine did) loves a 17g dose. Learn how to pull the shot manually. When you steam your milk, run it a bit first to clear all the water in the system; otherwise, you’ll be shooting water into your milk instas of steam for the first few seconds. I got a nice aftermarket portafilter that retains heat. Heat your cup, portafilter, and run a blank shot.
descale at least once a month
I paired my bambino with the df54. I like it but also i find static management tricky
.
Invest in a really good grinder and local beans roaster if you can find one … I have BB+ and paired that with DF54 … love the journey
Its all in the grinder. But I would strongly consider a proper hand grinder before a proper electric grinder, especially if you dont want to keep bleeding out money.
Welcome to the rabbit hole 😉
Take it out of the box.
Practice… a lot
Apparently there is such a thing as grinding too fine. That was my mistake when I got this machine as my fist machine a few weeks ago. Got it dialed in nicely though.
Grinder is a must
54mm bottomless portafilter
Spring loaded tamper
Scale with timer
Run a blank shot or 2 (just water) through the portafilter before you add the ground coffee (wipe it dry first) so that the portafilter is hot. Those machines use a thermoblock to heat the water so the group head isn’t passively heated like a machine with a boiler.
Get a bottomless filter 54mm, and a metal screen for it, 53.3mm, and a funnel, as well as a timer scale. Normcore has all of these but you can shop around. I got mine from them on Amazon.
Throw it in the trash and spend $1500 and you’ll never look back.
Get a decent grinder and local roasted beans. Doesn’t matter how good everything is if your beans are stale!
Fresh beans!!! I repeat fresh beans
Yes, use the double shot basket only. Single baskets are challenging. Don’t be afraid to use the pressurized basket while you practice with the non pressurized one. That way you can enjoy some good shots and milk drinks while you hone your skills, especially if you haven’t decided on a good dedicated espresso grinder yet.
If you’re using the portafilter that comes with it, aim for a bit less than 18g for a double shot. I’ve found about 17.5g works, though it can vary per bean.
It comes with 2 single shot baskets and 2 double shot baskets. Use the single wall if your beans are fresh (within a month of roast date, the manual says).
But also make sure your beans are at least a week after the roast date (this comes up in questions here a fair bit).
Get a very good grinder, naked portafilter and tamper