Best overall
Breville
Bambino Plus
8.4Great
A compact 54 mm machine that heats in 3 seconds and textures milk hands-free; just add a good grinder.
Espresso Machines5$500
Breville
Barista Express Impress
The Barista Express with assisted dosing and a 22 lb auto-tamp lever: same cup potential, far fewer beginner mistakes.
8.0
Great
Coffee Reviews score
See the breakdown →
Community
—/10
- Type
- Semi-automatic espresso machine with built-in grinder and assisted tamping
- Grinder
- Integrated conical burr grinder (steel burrs), 25 grind settings
- Dosing
- Intelligent dosing that auto-corrects the next dose based on the last tamp
- Typical price
- $799.95
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Last reviewed October 17, 2026 by the Coffee Reviews editors · How we score
The Barista Express with assisted dosing and a 22 lb auto-tamp lever: same cup potential, far fewer beginner mistakes.
Breville's Barista Express updated with the Impress Puck System, which doses from the built-in grinder, tamps at a constant 22 lb with a 7° twist and corrects the next dose automatically. It keeps the PID Thermocoil, 54 mm portafilter, pre-infusion, pressure gauge and manual steam wand, and moves to 25 grind settings and a 2-year warranty. Reviewers say the espresso potential matches the original but the workflow is much more repeatable for beginners.
Best for
- Beginners who want help with dose and tamp
- Households with mixed skill levels
- Medium-dark espresso blends
What we like
- Assisted dosing and 22 lb tamping make shots more repeatable
- 25 grind settings versus 16 on the Barista Express
- PID Thermocoil, pre-infusion and analog pressure gauge
- 2-year limited warranty
Watch-outs
- Grinder steps are still wide compared with dedicated grinders
- Manual steam wand only, no automatic milk
- Tall and deep: may not fit under some cabinets
- About $100 more than the Barista Express for similar cup quality
How it scored
The breakdown.
8.0Great
Gear score out of 10, weighted across five factors.
- Performance30%7.9
Same Thermocoil, 54 mm group and pre-infusion as the Barista Express, so Coffee Kev rates cup potential as basically the same; the grinder's wide steps still favor forgiving blends.
- Build & reliability20%7.9
Stainless body and a 2-year limited warranty, double the original Barista Express's coverage.
- Ease of use15%8.6
Assisted dosing and constant-pressure tamping remove the most error-prone beginner steps, though TechRadar needed about 10 cups of trial and error to settle the dose.
- Value20%7.7
$100 more than the Barista Express for meaningful assistance, and far cheaper than the Touch Impress; Coffee Kev says it sits on the right side of diminishing returns.
- Community love15%8.2
Strongly positive creator coverage (Lance Hedrick called it the best budget beginner machine; Tom's Coffee Corner praised the design), with the usual integrated-grinder caveats.
Creator video reviews
Watch it in action.
2 positive1 mixed
Independent creators, verified with YouTube and TikTok. We don’t pay for reviews and creators don’t pay us.
What people are saying
From the forums.
Verbatim from Reddit, forums and long-term owner write-ups — linked so you can read the full thread.
“That’s the important bit. It doesn’t make espresso effortless, but it makes it more consistent. And consistency is what beginners struggle with most.”
“The external steps are quite wide compared with dedicated espresso grinders, so you won’t always be able to absolutely nail every coffee, which is one of the reasons that more forgiving espresso blends are better suited.”
“It took us some time to work out just how much coffee was needed, and it was a matter of trial and error for the first 10 or so cups. We soon got the hang of how to produce the perfect coffee puck, however.”
“It’s tall, too, struggling to fit under our kitchen cabinets, for example.”
Specifications
By the numbers.
- Model
- BES876BSS
- Grinder
- Integrated conical burr grinder (steel burrs), 25 grind settings
- Dosing
- Intelligent dosing that auto-corrects the next dose based on the last tamp
- Tamping
- Assisted tamping at a constant 22 lb with a 7° Barista Twist finish
- Heating system
- Thermocoil with PID temperature control (200°F); adjustable brew temperature
- Pump
- 15-bar Italian pump; low-pressure pre-infusion, then 9-bar extraction
- Portafilter
- 54 mm stainless steel; 1- and 2-cup single- and dual-wall baskets
- Milk
- Manual steam wand
- Pressure gauge
- Extraction feedback pressure gauge
- Capacity
- 250 g bean hopper, 2 L water tank
- Voltage
- 120 V
- Dimensions
- 16.6 × 14.4 × 12.2 in (W × D × H)
- Weight
- 22.6 lb (10.25 kg)
- Power
- 1750 W
- Warranty
- 2-year limited
- Brews
- Espresso, Lattes & milk drinks
- Typical price
- $799.95 (checked October 2026)
Community
Member tasting notes & discussion.
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Discussion
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Own Breville Barista Express Impress? Ask a question or share your recipe — you’ll be the first.
FAQ
Good questions.
What does the Impress Puck System do?
Breville says it doses from the built-in grinder, tamps with a constant 22 lb and a 7° twist, and auto-corrects the next dose based on the last dose and tamp.
Is the espresso better than the regular Barista Express?
Coffee Kev says the cup potential is basically the same; the difference is a more consistent, beginner-friendly workflow.
Does it froth milk automatically?
No. It has a manual steam wand. Breville's Bambino Plus and Barista Touch Impress offer hands-free milk texturing.
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