I battled through years of trial and error with my old Breville bean-to-cup coffee machine to learn to make the perfect latte at home. I wish I’d started my journey with the Breville Barista Sense Espresso Machine, and I might have kicked my takeaway coffee habits years ago.
I’ve been testing this contender for the best bean-to-cup coffee machine for the last three months, and I can say not only is it a good-looking machine, but it also pulls a great espresso. It’s a machine that will grow with you on your journey from a coffee novice to an amateur barista.
In a nutshell
The Breville Barista Sense Espresso Machine is one of Breville’s newest coffee machines, launched at the end of 2025. It has the same slick good looks and automatic coffee doser of the more affordable models, but what sets this one apart is the addition of the TempSense technology in the milk frother and the addition of more customisable settings.
This is a machine that is suited to beginner latte makers who want consistent results without too much trial and error, but can also cater to coffee pros who want a bit more control over their espresso. You can adjust the coffee grind size, coffee grounds dosage, shot volume, extraction temperature, flow profile and milk temperature.
I benefited most from the automated features, which made it possible for me to make consistently delicious lattes at home, even on super busy mornings, and completely replaced my coffee shop orders. If this is your main goal when investing in one of the best coffee machines, I can’t recommend it enough.
Breville Barista Sense Espresso machine
- Type: Bean to cup
- Water tank capacity: 1.8L
- Bean hopper: 250g removable
- Pressure: 15 bar
- Dimensions: 37.6 D x 31.6 W x 40 H cm
- RRP: £599.99
Unboxing and first impressions
Like all bean-to-cup coffee machines, the Breville Barista Sense Espresso machine is not small. Still, compared to other models I’ve tested and my previous Breville bean-to-cup coffee machines, it has a strikingly slim profile.
There is also ample space on top for storing two espresso cups and coffee cups. It is only available in black with stainless steel details that look beautiful on a kitchen countertop.
It is a pretty straightforward espresso machine. It has a steam wand, a light plastic tamp with a metal bottom, a milk steaming jug, filters for single and double shots, a portafilter and a brush. The smaller accessories, like the brush and filters, are all hidden in a compartment in the drip tray.
There is no digital screen, only a collection of simple dials and buttons to control. To make the setup even easier, the machine comes covered in easy-peel off stickers indicating things like where to position the milk jug for hands-free steaming and what milk setting to choose for different milk types. There is also a QR code with more setup guidance.
The water tank sits at the back of the coffee machine and is easy to lift in and out for refilling, or you can refill with a jug.
The bean hopper is on the smaller side; it can just about take 250g of coffee beans, but the lid doesn’t fit as snugly as I’d have liked. The grind is relatively easy to adjust by twisting the whole hopper in line with a dial around the base. While I like the simplicity of this, it is more fiddly if you have limited mobility in your hands.
Before use, you need to wash all the parts, which was easy enough. Then you need to prime the machine by flushing water through the portafilter and the steam wand for 20 seconds.
What is is like to use?
This machine is unbelievably easy to use for a bean-to-cup model. You turn it on using the power button on the front; a light will pulse while it heats up. When it has heated up, the three cup buttons and the steam wand dial will illuminate white. This is relatively quick to do, and by the time you grind and tamp your coffee, it is ready to go.
While it is heating up, you can use the tap-and-go grinder. This is designed to automatically grind the perfect amount of coffee beans for a single or double espresso shot. You slot the portafilter in and then tap the handle for the number of shots. I prefer a double shot in my lattes, so I would double-tap in quick succession.
To test the consistency of the dosage, I used Salter’s coffee scales, which confirmed I was getting 13g of grounds for a single shot and 19.5g for a double shot. I stuck with this setting, but if you prefer more or fewer grounds, you can override the auto-doser and customise it to your preference.
The machine is kitted out with anti-static technology, which promises to keep the coffee grounds where they are and not on your counter. It made far less mess than other coffee machines I’ve used, but it was still a little messy which you should expect a little mess when you’re manually tamping.
The tamp is a little lighter than I would have liked, but I appreciated the neat metal band around the bottom, which added weight to get the perfect puck, and neatly lines up with the edge of the portafilter.
Once the machine has heated up, you can twist the portafilter into the group head. I found this a little stiff at first; however, it has loosened up after a few months of use. Then press the one or two cup button and you’re ready for your espresso.
Making an espresso
It took me a couple of espressos to dial the coffee machine in and find the perfect ground size for my Grind coffee beans to get a smooth stream of coffee and that silky crema. My first couple of espressos were drippy and over-extracted, but it was easy enough to troubleshoot using the guidance in the user manual. In my case, I hadn’t gotten the grind size or tamping quite right.
While I haven’t managed to achieve a perfectly smooth stream, I think that is down to my tamping skills rather than the machine itself. Overall, I have been able to achieve espresso shots with a lovely, long-lasting crema within a couple of days. This is something that’s taken me weeks/months to perfect on other manual machines as a beginner.
There is the option to further fine-tune your espresso by adjusting the shot volume and extraction temperature. As I was more focused on speed and a delicious, low-effort coffee, I only dabbled with this and relied on the automatic features, which delivered great results.
The biggest downside of this machine is the noise. When pulling a shot there is a what I’d describe as a rhythmic thumping which vibrates the drip tray, adding to the metallic brrr sound.
Steaming milk
If you are an Americano drinker, the machine is kitted out with a hot water tap next to the milk wand for topping up an espresso. However, as a latte drinker, it was the temperature-sensing steam wand I relied on.
The temperature sense wand is the big selling point of the Barista Sense Espresso machine. The steam adjustment dial allows you to pick the perfect temperature for your chosen milk and automatically switches off when it reaches it. The four presets are matched up to the optimum temperatures for heating coconut, soy, almond and dairy milk.
I started out using the manual steam settings, but have completely switched to the pre-set options as they were better suited to busy mornings and switching between making a dairy milk latte for myself and an oat milk latte for my partner.
For those who prefer more control over their milk frothing, there is the option to skip the temperature-sense auto-shutoff and instead choose between a high and low steam rate.
The bonus of the temperature sense feature is that, in theory, you can steam your milk hands-free. There is a sticker to indicate where to place the milk jug on the drip tray to do this, both my oat milk and dairy milk screamed blue murder at me when I tried it out. I found that the only way to avoid the screeching was to hold the jug to stretch the milk first before putting it down on the drip tray to finish.
Overall, the steam wand worked a treat, creating the perfect microfoam. What confused me the most at first is actually one of the biggest selling points for the steam want: I didn’t have to angle the jug as much as with other coffee machines to get the whirlpool going. This is how it can get away with the hands-free steaming option.
However, the chunkiness of the temperature sense steam wand might irritate some; it threw me off at first after using the slimmer wand of the budget Breville Barista Max.
What’s it like to clean
Overall, the machine is super easy to clean. The manual comes with a handy timetable of what requires cleaning at what frequency, and the brushes to clean the group head and grinder are all included in a compartment hidden behind the drip tray.
There is also a cleaning light that comes on when the machine requires a cleaning cycle. This is straightforward: just place a cleaning table in the middle of the cleaning disk provided in the portafilter, press the cleaning button, and the machine does the rest. The whole process takes around 7 minutes to complete.
My biggest complaint is that the drip tray fills up quickly, and some of the steam condenses onto the brushes in their hidden compartment. That means you need to take extra care to keep these dry and empty the drip tray regularly.
How does it compare to similar models?
Despite the RRP of £599, you can usually pick up the Breville Barista Sense Espresso machine for just shy of £400, which is a reasonable price for a bean-to-cup coffee machine with temperature sense technology. However, it isn’t the best-value coffee machine I’ve seen; that would be the ProCook Barista Elite Bean-to-Cup Espresso Coffee Machine, which is currently priced at £479. It has a similar product spec, an automated milk frother, but it also features a dual thermoblock heating system.
That is actually the biggest downside of the Barista Sense Espresso Machine; it doesn’t have the dual thermoblock heating system, which speeds up the heating process and allows you to brew and steam at the same time. The Breville Barista Signature Espresso Machine, which is £100 more expensive than the Barista Sense, includes one, alongside a digital screen that displays things like your espresso extraction time to help with dialling in. However, the trade-off is that it doesn’t have the temperature-sense wand.
The Barista Sense Espresso Machine is the only model in the new Breville bean-to-cup espresso machine range to have that feature in the steaming wand. However, if you don’t mind going more manual with your milk steaming, you can get many of the same features with the Breville Barista Classic Espresso Machine for an RRP of £499.
Should you buy this coffee machine?
If you are on a budget and looking for a bean-to-cup machine that will take you from beginner to expert, you can’t go far wrong with the Barista Sense Espresso Machine, especially if you can find it on sale for around £400. There are very few coffee machines with this amount of capability and flexibility at that price point.
Whether you are a beginner or a coffee enthusiast, this machine will have something to offer you. As a relative beginner who likes a low-effort latte, this machine has been perfect for helping me to achieve consistent results.
It is an awful lot noisier than other coffee machines I’ve tested, and the stiff portafilter was very annoying at the start; those are the main things that would put me off. But for the price point, it serves up a mean cafe-worthy espresso, and it looks gorgeous on a kitchen counter.
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