Breville Bambino Plus Stainless Steel Espresso Maker Silver BES500BSS

I bought the Bambino to replace my previous machine from another brand that was not giving me consistent results. The Bambino arrived and after a few adjustments on the size of the grind, it has been great. I need to grind the beans a little coarser than originally thought, but the coffee is delicious and has been one of the smoothest cups of coffee in a long time. The milk steamer is also great. I have tried the automatic setting and it works great, place the jug of milk under the steamer and on the sensor, push go, and it steams a perfect pot of milk. I will keep experimenting with the grind to see if I can get the coffee even better!

In the 2 years I’ve had this machine I’ve had to send it in for repair 3 times, most recently they sent me a new unit because they couldn’t even get it to work and now the new one is experiencing the same issues. Meanwhile AI models are telling me that the espresso machines that cost 1:4 of the price of this are more reliable and experience less issues. No one should buy this, it should be discontinued

I have been using these machines for the last 15 years and I'm very happy for their performance. Thank you for a great job well done.

The Bambino Plus is really a wonderful espresso machine. It makes consistently excellent espresso. The time it takes to heat up and switch from espresso to milk streaming is fantastic. I like that it has a PID for a stable brew temperature, and the automatic milk frothing is really something. The quality of the foam it produces is better than anything I could create, but I still have the option of manually streaming. The machine isn’t too big and pairs well with our burr grinder. I wish it were a little heavier, but again, it is compact, so really a none issue. The fit and finish are very nice. Again, an excellent machine. Now, the tamper…. It’s cheap. This machine deserves a higher quality piece.

I just got the Bambino Plus. I was making delicious cappuccino quickly and I haven't really even played with it yet to dial in settings. Actually, the first cup that I made was excellent. Works perfectly with my Breville Smart Grinder Pro. The auto steam wand works beautifully and worth the upgrade. I really like the foam!

Bought this machine about a year ago. Worked fine for about a month. Sent it out for repair, worked okay but now broken again. Will never buy another Breville machine again. Does not brew, water pours out of the bottom.

with purified water, constant cleaning, descaling cycles and around the clock care you MIGHT be able to get this thing to make you a cup of coffee. or it might schedule itself for another cleaning cycle and refuse... dont throw the manual away you're going to need it to decipher the 10+ different error messages its going to keep throwing at you

Machine is weak. I descale it once a month and it still has clogged up. It made bad espresso before the clog as well.

Broke after a year. Absolute waste of money

I've had this just under a year and it works great. Makes lovely expresso and the frother works well too. Just make sure that you clean and flush it well immediately after each use. Would buy again.

In short, I would not recommend the Bambino Plus. The automatic milk steaming temperature is all over the place. Sometimes it is fine, other times it boils over. Most of the time it is way too hot even on the lowest setting. I sent my original unit in for service and it came back and the issue was not fixed. Brevelle then sent me a new unit and it is still steaming the milk too hot on the lowest setting (190-200 degF). I don’t know what I could be doing wrong. I’m making sure the jug is touching the sensor and the sensor and the jug are dry. I use regular 2% milk and I fill it between the min and max line on the jug. I end up having to measure the temperature with a thermometer and stop it manually. Very disappointed with this considering the price. If I had known the auto steaming function wouldn’t work properly I would have just saved money and gotten the normal Bambino or spent the extra money and bought the barista touch. On the plus side, espresso extraction is great. It is very consistent with both volume and flavor. I make sure to use fresh beans, weigh and tamp the grounds consistently and the Bambino gives me an excellent espresso. the small form factor is good for my apartment, although I wish the drip tray was larger. The steam wand nearly fills it with every purge and since it is shallow, it splatters all over. It forces me to keep it clean that’s for sure.

Makes consistently great espressos once you get the right grind on the beans. Nice to have it make the correct amount of espresso and prep the milk. Nice to have multiple options for milk temperature and how much foam. Only two complaints: 1) I would like to be able to steam a smaller amount of milk. 2) the lines for min/max on the milk pitcher are very difficult to see on the inside when filling

The milk frothed hasn’t worked well after the first couple of weeks. I have cleaned the unit, used the cleaning tool, soaked the frothing head, reset the unit…and nothing has returned it to the lovely thick foam of those first few brews. Not sure what else I can try.

This is a great machine, very easy to learn how to use and makes great espresso for the price! My only con is the auto clean for the steamer tends to leak behind the bottom attachment even when it is properly locked in. Which I tend to clean it every-time I use it anyway so not really a big deal, just an additional step.

We've had this for about a year and it's great. However, eventually the steaming wand clogs ***every*** time you use it. It's not the heat sensor because I am manually foaming the milk. It happens with every temperature setting, If you read up on Reddit, a lot of people have the same issue. You can clean it, descale it, do everything in the instructions and it continues. No known solution except to hit the steam button for 5 secs to do a manual declog, put the wand back and let it flush and reset and then do a second milk foaming. That works - it's a pain but you get your latte.

Great cup of coffee for about a week but then it stopped working.

This machine can make coffee, but it's very crude and have so many shortfalls I would never recommend it to anyway. I purchased this as a smaller device for a caravan, based on many reviews professing it as an excellent espresso machine - including from some professional reviewers. I can honestly say I have no idea what they were reviewing or what their creds are or their incentive for putting this a "best machine". They probably made one coffee, thought "yeah, that's OK", wrote a review so they get a new machine to test next time, and moved on. TL;DR; - One coffee, 50/50 chance of getting a "meh" coffee. - Two coffees in one sitting, you're in a for a fight. - Looking for "automation" or "speed"? Give up. Here are the shortfalls: - As others report, the machine frequently vibrates the coffee cup rapidly across the drip tray. You have to hold it for the entire duration. - The drip tray is really, really small. Empty after every second cup. If the cup starts walking (see point 1) and you miss it, youch. - The drip tray is also badly designed with a lip at the back. The act of removing it (to empty it) causes a small wave and washes the muck all over the base on the machine. Also the overflow marker is useless - it's not clear (but you need to empty the tray anyway, so ignore the marker and empty every two cups). - The "automatic" milk frother sort of works - for one cup. Not a good head for cappuccino, but acceptable. But if you want a second cup, and the jug is already warm - all bets are off as teh temp sensor relied on the exterior temperature of the jug. You'll end up doing it manually and then having to guess the temperature. So far from automatic or convenient it's not funny. - The steaming wand is in fixed position when "out" so you can't be adaptive in positioning. - The steaming wand "automatically" cleans itself when you push it back. But it doesn't. You still need to clean the outside, it just purges the middle. And in doing so it splashes everywhere. So a rag is needed to contain the splash, then you have to repeat to clean anyway. - The head is not heated. If you forget to heat it the coffee is not going to be right. Run water through - but use a second mug as the drip tray is too small otherwise! - Critically - suddenly one morning after about 3 months, it will actively prevent you from making coffees! If it decides it needs cleaning when you turn it on, the 3-second "instant on" turns into a "20 minutes before you can start" level operation. If you don't have time for that during your morning coffee break, tough.* - Worse: it's just gone into this mode MID-COFFEE! How useless. - Not sure if the filter size or the machine, but the pucks are wet. (This shows you it's not working as it should.) - The portafilter has the "artificial crema" holes at the bottom. Which mean if you use a BangBang and the pucks are wet, the water gets expelled upwards rapidly! TNever had this before, but it really makes a mess. (Hold fingers over the holes when you bang to try to prevent it - or wait for the pucks to dry). - The build is so cheap, the end of the handle came off within a week! Personal notes: - The filter is the smaller 54mm filter. This makes it very tricky to get a good strong coffee and the draw time is so very short and finicky. But that's a personal choice as we like strong coffee. - The water reservoir is adequate. (About the only thing that is). My other espresso machine a mid-level home device and I have a 90 - 95% chance of making two good coffees I/wife are happy with in under 10 minutes. With this machine I can probably count the success on one hand, it takes 15 minutes and needs constant attention. * Tip: if you get the cleaning cycle buttons, you can press and hold "steam" for 5 seconds and make a coffee and return later to clean.

Was looking forward to upping my espresso game by upgrading from the standard Bambino I had for a year and a half to the Bambino Plus. After trying multiple grand sizes, volumes, tamping pressures, etc., still cannot pull a better shot than what I had with the Bambino. The Bambino Plus shots are somewhat inconsistent when I try identical methods, and is consistently on the bitter side. The temperature is all over the place - sometimes lip burning hot, othertimes lukewarm, all on the same temperature setting. Not sure if I have a defective unit or not, but wish I has just stayed with the regular Bambino.

Have owned my machine for one year and all family members use it every morning

It took me a long time to decide to buy any espresso machine, but when I decided to take the plunge, the Bambino was my first choice for several reasons. I already own two other small appliances from Breville and they are excellent. I also have a family member who owns a Bambino. I was a bit apprehensive about how complicated it would be to brew a cup of coffee having used a drip machine for years but not only is it simple to do with the Bambino, but it's also a fun ritual! And the coffee is amazing. I always considered myself to primarily be a tea drinker, but with the Bambino the coffee is so good I am having it more regularly.