Breville Barista Express Help

Q&A
#1

Good Morning!

I am new to BH and purchased my Breville Barista Express roughly a month ago. I wanted to reach out to see if I could potentially get some assistance with my extraction. Per discussion with my local roaster, I’m dosing 20g of coffee, with hopes of getting 40g of espresso out of my 54mm portafilter. That being said, I am getting roughly 35g with each shot and I’m not sure what to do. I thought about grinding a little coarser, but feel that my portafilter is already about as full as it can be without causing issues. The BBE is difficult to time, as it has a pre-infusion cycle that can be difficult to gauge; it warms up for ~8 seconds, and then espresso comes out, all in all my infusion time is roughly 35-40 seconds, which I believe is too long. Can anybody please offer some advice on how to get a more accurate extraction? A few notes below:

-I am using freshly roasted beans (roasted 1/30)
-I feel like I’m tamping adequately
-I’m using filtered water.

Thanks!
Tyler

#2

I’d never work with a dose as big as 20g on a domestic machine. I’d try something like 16g to yield 32-34.

Try that, see how it tastes and report back?

#3

Hey Stevie,

Thanks for the advice! I reduced the amount down to 17g and it came out in 30 seconds at 34g. Thanks for the suggestion! It tasted much better.

Tyler

#4

that already sounds like a decent recipe,…

#5

Hello, I figured this would be the best place to post a question regarding the Breville Barista. I got my Barista Express about 6-9 months ago. During this time I have played around with different grind sizes and amounts but never can fully achieve the 25-30 sec extraction. Nearly each time gets about 20 seconds. Any tips on settings to get the best extraction? I am now using fresh roasted coffee, previously I was using 1-2 month old coffee. Thanks for your help!

#6

How many grams of coffee are you using in each brew? That’s a great starting point for making some changes.