When comparing Breville Barista Express vs Bezzera Strega, the Slant community recommends Breville Barista Express for most people. In the question“What are the best home espresso machines?” Breville Barista Express is ranked 1st while Bezzera Strega is ranked 5th. The most important reason people chose Breville Barista Express is:
There is no need to buy a separate grinder with this espresso machine. It comes with a built in conical burr grinder that allows users to process fresh coffee beans, and can result in delicious homemade espresso.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Has its own conical burr grinder
There is no need to buy a separate grinder with this espresso machine. It comes with a built in conical burr grinder that allows users to process fresh coffee beans, and can result in delicious homemade espresso.
Pro Good entry-level machine for espresso enthusiasts
Breville Barista Express is easy enough for day-to-day use by the layperson, and the manual controls will come in handy for aspiring baristas or those looking to level up their brewing skills.
Pro Great balance between ease-of-use and control
This espresso machine is easy to use and configure. It comes with preset settings that can make espresso without much fiddling. You can make a delicious shot of espresso with minimal effort — adjusting the grind settings for the type of beans you're using is sufficient for most people, and if that's not enough, there are manual overrides that you can experiment with.
Pro Consistent espresso shots
You can dial the desired settings in for the type of beans you're using and get consistent shots of espresso every time, and you only have to do this once every time you change beans.
Pro Great coffee quality
This machine can make great coffee, even without specialised barista knowledge. With some practice, you can pull espresso shots on par or even better than cafes.
Pro Outstanding textured milk
Outstanding results stretching the milk even with soy/almond/coconut. The steam runs a little slower than a full boiler so beginners get a bit more time to get the milk just right.
Pro Excellent customer support
I had troubles out of the box getting enough pressure, phoned support and they worked out it was my beans that were 3mths old.
Pro Heats up in 1 minute
Unlike boiler machines which take 20 mins. Has 2 heat blocks, one for the espresso and one for the milk.
Pro Cafe quality
Real barista coffee.
Pro Solid reliability
Could be serviced to last longer than the user's lifetime.
Pro Powerful steam
To make frothing milk easily.
Cons
Con Can be hard to repair or upgrade
Breville Barista Express is an all-in-one machine that comes with its own grinder. This makes it hard to just buy another grinder if you're looking to upgrade it, and also means that you have to replace the entire unit if anything happens to it.
Con Needs a grinder
Needs to match with a separate grinder.