When we speak of Breville espresso makers, their high performance, long lasting durability and elegant aesthetic design comes to mind. In this post, we shall compare Breville Bambino Plus Vs Pro to find out the best option to buy for your home.
The benefit of having a integrated grinder cannot be understated as it really enhances the consistency in the quality of espresso every time. Grinding beans on a separate grinder will mean your ground coffee will be exposed to air while you transfer them to the portafilter and this exposure is bad since the coffee starts reacting with the air and loses some of its freshness and aromatic compounds. In addition, you really need a good grinder to get the best from your beans and that means another sum of money. In that case, it’s better off just getting Pro since it already comes with a really good grinder with 30 grind size levels.
Breville Barista Pro
On the other hand, Bambino Plus can be sufficient if you are not particular about the espresso taste, and just want a milk-based drink like cappuccino. The advantage of Plus over Pro for milk based drink is that Plus has automatic milk texturing which means you can texture milk like a professional barista without much prior experience from Day 1.
BES500BSS Bambino Plus Breville Espresso Machine
Breville Bambino Plus Vs Pro : 2 Key Similarities
Both Breville Bambino Plus and Pro are the newer models and share quite a few similar technologies.
1 Fast heating Time
Breville Bambino Plus and Barista Pro are equipped with the new Thermojet heating system from Breville. This system allows water to get heated up to the optimal brewing temperature in a mere 3 seconds.
2 Brewing Technology
Both breville coffee machines used the same pre-infusion technology and PID temperature control found in all the breville espresso machines for a better espresso extraction and resulting brew. The pre-infusion allows an uniform espresso extraction by saturating the coffee grounds with water at low pressure before brewing at high pressure starts. The PID aids in making sure that brewing temperature remains constant during brewing to avoid the ashy flavour in an unbalanced extraction.
Breville Barista Pro Vs Bambino Plus : 4 Key Differences
1 Integrated Grinder
One big differences is that Barista Pro comes with a high quality conical burr integrated grinder. However, Bambino does not come with a grinder. That also contributes to Pro slightly more expensive. Having a inbuilt grinder can really improve the quality of espresso since the beans are grind fresh and deliver for brewing in the least amount of time without exposure to the air. Not forgetting you avoid spilling coffee powder while you pour the grind coffee into the portafilter.
2. Milk Steam Wand
In Barista Pro, the steam wand is manual. So there’s some learning curve involved for the beginner before one is able to get the perfect steam foam. However, the Bambino Plus comes with automatic steam wand which will automatically texture the milk based on the texture and temperature options selected by the user. So it is user-friendly for the beginner.
3 Water Tank Capacity
Barista Pro has a slightly larger water tank of 67 ounces compared to 64 ounces in Bambino Plus.
4 Controls and Appearance
The most obvious difference is the design of the two machines. Bambino Plus uses a button interface while Barista Pro uses a LCD display with blue backlit lights. And consequently, you get to see a lot of important brewing parameters in Barista Pro which can help you to control the espresso taste.
Breville Bambino Plus or Barista Pro: Which should I buy?
Though more expensive, the benefit of having a integrated grinder cannot be understated as it really enhance the consistency in the quality of espresso every time. Grinding beans on a separate grinder will mean your ground coffee will be exposed to air while you transferred to the portafilter and this exposure is bad since the coffee starts reacting with the air and loses some of its freshness and aromatic compounds. In addition, you really need a good grinder to get the best from your beans and that means another sum of money. In that case, it’s better off just getting Pro since it already comes with a really good grinder with 30 grind size levels.
Breville Barista Pro
Breville Bambino Plus problem is that the espresso quality is not as good since you are not using the integrated grinder. But if you are not particular about the espresso taste, and just want a milk-based drink like cappuccino, then Bambino Plus can be sufficient. The advantage of Plus over Pro for milk based drink is that Plus has automatic milk texturing which means you can texture milk like a professional barista without much prior experience from Day 1.
Breville Bambino Plus Espresso Machine BES500BSS
If both espresso quality and automatic milk texturing is important, consider the Breville Barista Touch instead.
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Hope this review on Breville Bambino Plus vs Pro has helped you make a decision on the model to buy for your home.
