Breville Bambino Plus Review

Introduction

Breville is known for high-end appliances, and the company’s espresso machines are among the best (and the most expensive) in the world. The term “bambino” means a child or baby, and the Breville Bambino Plus is a smaller version of the company’s massive machines, which typically contain a built-in grinder.

Honestly, the Bambino looks like Breville cut one of its machines in half. However, the Bambino packs a powerful punch and includes lots of features. But how does it compare to our list of the best coffee machines?

Design and features

• Gorgeous design
• Adjustable milk temperature settings
• Includes single wall and dual wall filter baskets 

The Breville Bambino Plus arrived in an unmarked brown cardboard box, and inside of that, a branded brown cardboard box. Everything was packaged so well that I had to turn the 2nd box upside down to get the contents out. 

My immediate impression: this thing is gorgeous! I have the brushed stainless-steel finish, but the Bambino Plus is also available in black truffle, sea salt, damson blue, black stainless steel, almond nougat, olive tapenade, and Aboriginal culinary journey. It’s a compact machine that you could pick up and carry under your arm.

There’s a 64oz removable water tank on the back. And this water tank has 2 interesting features.

The steam wand tip cleaning tool is housed in the lower compartment of the water tank. Also, there’s a cheat sheet engraved on the back of the water tank, which includes step-by-step graphics for filling the water tank, cleaning the steam wand, conducting the cleaning cycle, and descaling the machine.

The Bambino Plus has a simple, user-friendly interface. The control panel is on the front, and includes 3 main buttons (1 Cup, 2 Cup, Steam) along with 2 buttons on the right side for the Milk Temperature (warm, ideal, and hot) and Milk Foam (low, medium, high).

Below the control panel is the group head on the left, which houses the stainless steel portafilter. On the right side is the steam wand.

At the bottom is the removable drip tray and lid. Removing the lid reveals the milk jug temperature sensor for automatic texturing.

Accessories include a stainless-steel milk jug, tamper, razor-precision trimming tool, 1-cup single-wall filter basket, 2-cup single-wall filter basket, 1-cup dual-wall filter basket, and 2-cup dual-wall filter basket.

Cleaning accessories include a steam wand tip cleaning tool (which is located under the water tank), cleaning disc, group head cleaning powder, and descaling powder. 

If you don’t like reading instructions, the Bambino Plus is on the BILT App (downloadable from Google App Store) and features 3D interactive instructions, as well as a list of parts and tools. FYI: the “tools” are a container to use when running a cycle to clean the machine before using, an espresso glass to use during the first cycle, and an optional coffee scale. 

Performance

• Tamper and precision tool ensure correct dosage
• Automatic frother is easy to use
• Feels like I’m a barista (in training)

Breville includes a lot of tools to ensure an espresso-making experience that rivals your favorite coffeeshop. For example, there are two sets of filter baskets.

For the first test, I grinded fresh whole coffee beans, so I used first the 1-cup and then the 2-cup single wall filter baskets. 

The Bambino Plus doesn’t include a built-in grinder, so I used the Aarke Coffee Grinder from the Aarke Coffee System to grind coffee beans. Admittedly, Aarke says the grinder is not optimized for espresso – but it’s a $400 grinder and at that price, it should be optimized for anything I toss into it. The grinder has 60 grind settings and a strength fine tuner, so I was able to play around with it to achieve the desired results. 

After grinding a fair amount of coffee beans, I poured the grounds into the portafilter, tapped it to evenly distribute the coffee, and then used the tamper to press down and rotate. 

Then I took the Razor precision dose trimming tool and inserted it into the portafilter and rotated it back and forth to remove excess coffee. Just going through this process made me feel like a professional (on my first day on the job).

Then I inserted the portafilter into the group head, selected my quantity (1 cup for the first test, 2 cups for the second test), and around 10 seconds later, the espresso started to flow.

The Bambino Plus uses a ThermoJet heating system that’s designed to reach the optimum extraction temperature in 3 seconds. The company explains that the process starts with low pressure pre-infusions, and then the 15 bar Italian pump produces a high-pressure extraction process.

I can’t comment on the inner workings of the machine, but both times, the drinks had a creamy, caramel color, and they were delicious.

My next series of tests involved pre-ground coffee, so I used the dual wall filter baskets, as they’re designed for this type of coffee (and also for beans that are past the 30-day roast date). The beauty of both the 1-cup and 2-cup dual wall filter baskets is that they regulate pressure and optimize extraction, even when the coffee isn’t quite as fresh.

I went through the same process – and during these tests, the coffee also had a lovely crema layer – although sometimes, it wasn’t quite the same as with the freshly ground beans. Some of this could be attributed to the fact that I was using different types of ground coffee. With a light roast, it was less likely to have that velvety crema layer. Medium roasts usually produced a less acidic taste, and then, I used dark roasts on occasion because they retain their flavor in milk-based drinks.

Speaking of milk, the Bambino Plus has an excellent milk system, with three milk temperatures (warm, ideal, hot), and three milk foam settings (low, medium, high). 

Automatic milk texturing was my method of choice, and was as simple as pouring milk into the milk jug, placing the milk jug under the steam wand, selecting a temperature and foam setting (usually I chose ideal, and medium), and pressing the Steam button. Based on the temperature setting that I chose, it would stop automatically. 

Milk texturing worked wonders in improving the tests in which the coffee was too bitter to enjoy. The addition of the textured milk balanced the acidity and made the drink delicious. Other times, the coffee beverages were already delicious, and the milk to it to another level.

I also made an American. Since I tend to be more of a drip coffee person than an espresso person, this proved to be my favorite drink. 

In addition, I tested the manual milk texturing feature – and honestly, I can’t understand how someone would choose to hold the milk jug and fiddle with the steam wand to keep it continuously at or slightly below the surface. Yes, I understand that it offers more control, and lets you create art, but, yeah, no thanks. (Admittedly, when I mentioned this to some of my friends, their response was that they couldn’t understand why I prefer driving cars with a stick shift when I could have an automatic transmission – and that just brought everything into perspective.)

The overall coffee-making experience was sheer fun. Even when my experiments didn’t turn out as expected, I just enjoyed trying different roasts and grinding sizes, as well as my clumsy attempts to create artwork.

And any kitchen appliance that’s fun to operate gets high marks in my book.

Maintenance

• Automatic steam wand purging
• Cleaning supplies included

Maintenance isn’t difficult, but it’s not as simple as with a drip coffee maker. Each time the steam wand is used with milk, it has to be put in the lowered position so it can automatically purge (or else the steam wand could get blocked). Fortunately, there’s a flashing alert (both the milk temp and milk foam lights blink) to remind me. I can also manually start the process by holding the steam button for 5 seconds. 

When the group head needs to be flushed (after 200 extractions), the 1 cup and 2 cup buttons will flash alternately. The 1 cup, 2 cup, and steam buttons will flash when the Bambino Plus needs to be descaled. 

Breville includes a cleaning disc, 2 packs of group head cleaner, a packet of descaler, and a steam wand tip cleaning tool (which is located under the water tank).

The drip tray is rather small, so I emptied and cleaned it after each use. It, along with the filter baskets, and portafilter, should be rinsed under hot water. The machine’s exterior, group head interior, and shower screen should be wiped with a soft, damp cloth.

Should you buy it?

FAQs

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