The Breville coffee maker can really be about a couple of things that we’ll talk about. Breville if you’ve read my previous article on them are an Australian small kitchen appliance manufacturer that became famous for inventing the sandwich toaster maker. Though of course, now they are quite well known for their Breville coffee makers and Breville espresso machine.
When we talk about Breville espresso, we’re talking about the good old fashion cappuccino machine that so many of us enjoy in the comfort of our own homes. The Breville name incidentallly is a portmanteau of the last names of the two founder of the company. Their last names were O’Brien and Norville, and that’s how you get Breville.
The nuts and bolts of the Breville coffee maker
Okay, very interesting you say, but let’s get down to the nuts and bolts of the Breville coffee machine. Well, that’s a good place to start. Breville has a couple of options available when it comes to their Breville coffee machines. Both of them are single cup coffee machines not your regular drip coffee machines. The Breville BKC600XL and Breville BKC700XL both take coffee pods. These single serve Breville coffee makers are fashioned after the Keurig coffee pods otherwise known as the K cup coffee pod.
So either one of these Breville coffee makers will be an option for you if you are looking into the Keurig coffee maker system. As I’ve mentioned before, Timothy’s K cups will also obviously work in the Breville coffee maker as will Caribou coffee K cups, Newman’s Own K cups, Tully’s coffee K cups and Green Mountain coffee K cups. They’re all part of the Timothy’s Coffee brand.
The Breville BKC600XL is the more expensive and more popular of the two coffee makers, and for that you get a LCD screen and the ability to set the time for your brewing, so you can wake up to fresh coffee in the morning. The water tank holds a decent 60 ounces (1.75 liters) and you can have your choice of 4 sizes of coffee from 5.25 ounces to the thirsty man’s 11.25 ounce size (155 ml to 330 ml). Additionally, the Breville coffee maker also has a water filter if you’re concerned about your water quality at all.
Options with your Breville coffee maker
The Breville coffee makers as mentioned above give you an option if you’re one of the many folks who are moving towards and enjoying Keurig K cups for your coffee experience. However, the Breville coffee machines are 2 to 3 times more expensive for similar machines that also take the K cups. And from what I can see, I can’t tell what justifies the additional price tag.
Okay, onto the Breville espresso machine. The Breville 800ESXL is the most popular choice amongst these espresso machines and probably with good reason. From what I can tell, this coffee machine is well priced for the features that are offered. You get 15 bar pressure which is terrific for nice full crema and the machine uses thermoblock in their boiler which helps to create a stabler brew temperature for the water. But this comes at the expense of quicker steaming. Oh well, you can’t have it all.
What I also like, is that the pump releases a few bursts of hot water onto the ground coffee or espresso pods to help them expand to create greater pressure when the water is pushed through. This in theory allows for greater crema extraction on the espresso shot developed.
Personally, if I was interested in a new cappuccino machine, I’d take a good look at the Breville espresso machines. But if I was looking for a coffee maker or Keurig K cup coffee maker I’d likely take a pass on the Breville coffee maker. There are cheaper and in my opinion similar quality machines to be had if you’re looking for single serve coffee makers than what the Breville coffee maker can offer.