This Excellent Espresso Machine Could Not Be Easier to Use and It’s on Sale Right Now
When I started drinking coffee as a teenager, I thought the highest level of sophistication one could achieve in adult life was to own an espresso machine. I also thought this was completely out of reach for me personally. Espresso machines, I believed, cost multiple thousands of dollars and were only for houses in glossy magazines or a particularly classy episode of MTV Cribs.
Luckily, like other kitchen tools that were once only for restaurants (the sous vide machine or the Paco Jet, for example), espresso machine technology has filtered down into more affordable machines, and become available to a wider audience of home coffee drinkers. Case in point: I own the Breville Bambino Plus espresso machine, and I own it despite having amassed no great wealth, nor selling my soul to Howard Schultz for a lifetime supply of espresso.
The Breville Bambino Plus wins a top spot in our product reviews for a few reasons: It’s the absolute best machine for beginners (provided you don’t want to go the pod route with a Nespresso). And it’s extremely fairly priced.
A bit of the Breville Bambino Plus in action:
It’s not that the Bambino isn’t an investment. The machine retails for $500 full price, which is nothing to sneeze at. For Black Friday, it’s on sale for $100 off, making now the actual best time to buy it. “Pro-sumer” espresso machines from high end manufacturers like Lelit and Rancilio Silvia can easily cost more than triple that price, and the Breville Bambino Plus produces a comparatively impressive espresso product. But here’s the real kicker: It probably produces a better espresso product than those fancier machines if you, like me, are the kind of home barista that lacks expertise.
You see, if you love espresso drinks and you overspend on them at your local coffee shop, or you dream of offering dinner party guests a perfectly balanced shot with their dessert, it’s tempting to think that owning an espresso machine will unlock a whole world of cost-saving cappuccinos and awe-inspiring shots. But the fancy machines you’ve seen at retailers like Seattle Coffee Gear or the ones actually used at your local coffee shop require a fair bit of expertise to operate.
If you’re new to making espresso, the Breville Bambino is the perfect machine for learning the ropes. It has a few hands-off features that allow even beginners (or, in my case, lazy people) to pull robust, crema-topped shots. First, the machine is calibrated to pull a shot at the right pressure and time for you. You don’t have to worry about these factors. You simply push a button for a single or double shot, and the machine pulls a really nice shot for you. It also comes with a double-walled filter basket (which regulates the pressure by forcing the coffee out through a small hole), making it fool-proof to pull a shot with a nice layer of crema on top.
Source link
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/zoes-perfect-chocolate-chip-cookies-FT-RECIPE1224-b6441cbbec024ff0b64603f24eacd503.jpeg)