Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

******UPDATE!******** We have had this machine for almost a year. I purchased it because I was under the impression from some comments that Breville's customer service was supposed to be very good. That has REPEATEDLY not been our experience. Every CSR has sounded bored, short and uninterested. No warm customer service here. My machine is under warranty still and as gasket went out. I called, very clearly explained the part I needed and the rude lady charged me for the replacement part. I get it home, and it's the WRONG part! I touched base with them via facebook and through their online customer service form multiple times. They have ignored every single attempt to contact them about this issue. Looking around on facebook, I see I'm not the only one having this experience. The machine is starting to make noises and their customer service isn't interested in honoring their warranty. It was a $600 machine that we have gotten about a year out of. I will never purchase from Breville again. I will be saving my money and going with a company that builds better machines that have a record of lasting 15-20 years. **********Original Post**************** We have really enjoyed this machine! I am a first time owner and was hesitant about the learning curve. I had whole beans on hand that were a couple months old and I'm awful glad I had them to practice on. My recommendations for newbies and those on the fence about purchasing: 1) Get on YouTube and watch several videos specific to this machine's operation. There are many good ones out there. Also watch general videos on espresso making, latte art, 101s. Most are short and informative, while giving newbies a decent point of reference to start from. 2) When starting out, use cheaper whole beans to get the feel of grinding and tamping. Expect some spillage and some waste. It also gives you an excellent starting point for comparing those fresh roasted beans you'll buy after you get your technique right. ALSO, if you have a good, local coffeehouse, try a shot of their espresso if you've never had a straight shot. It's one thing to have a flavored latte, but it's a whole different animal when you want to know what a good shot should look and taste like first hand. Spent grounds are excellent organic matter for gardens, so definitely pass them along to a gardening friend if you don't have one yourself. 3) Others have said this, Breville recommends it, but it's still worth mentioning. Make a method and stick with it. I started out with Kicking Horse 454 whole beans and also purchased Kroger's Simple Truth organic beans along with Sbx's espresso roast. All off the shelf with no roast date. I started on ground size 6 (where it was when I opened the box) and manually ground, tapped on the counter, ground, tapped, ground, tamped. When that didn't produce the desired pressure, I altered 1 variable. Usually ground size or tamping pressure. The 454 beans produced the correct pressure at ground size 5, while Sbx was a 1 and Kroger's was an 8. The crema varied greatly and you could definitely taste the differences between over and under extracted. Taste those shots, too. I now know what a seriously undesirable shot tastes like, simply because I didn't just chuck it out. Taste, taste, taste. Also, in order to find the right tamping pressure, I filled my portafilter and tamped with what I thought would be enough pressure, noted the results, pulled another shot while tamping with what I thought was too much pressure, noted the results and again with what I thought wasn't enough pressure. I don't have a scale to measure pressure at the moment, but that gave me a good idea of what was too much or not enough. 4) After you've gotten comfortable with the overall process, buy some really good beans! We have a wonderful coffeehouse in our town and I got with the owner about buying some of his beans. He picked up his fresh roasted beans from Austin on Monday and I bought mine on Tuesday. These puppies were practically still off gassing! And let me tell you, the difference was out of this world! The crema was so thick, the shot was the pouring texture of warm honey, the flavors were pronounced, smooth, amazing! I did nothing different in my technique. The results using fresh beans cannot be overstated. 5) The dual-wall filter is a life saving device for up and coming baristas. It is very forgiving and was the reason my very first shot was quite good! :) But, don't let that stop you from trying out that single wall basket. I had never operated an espresso machine, yet 2 days after unboxing it (and 2# of practice beans later) I was using the single wall basket to make lattes and Americanos for (some very honest) guests who were raving about how good they were. One even text me the next day saying she couldn't stop thinking about the vanilla latte she had. It CAN be done! 6) Amazon has a pretty good return policy and though I haven't spoken with Breville's customer service department, from all indications in these reviews, they are excellent to work with. This made me feel confident that if the machine didn't work out, I wouldn't be stuck with a paperweight that I hated. Aside from all that,the machine is gorgeous. The steaming wand works, but I could definitely use some 1-on-1 training in milk stretching and microfoaming. From others that know about steaming milk, there seems to be some room for improvement, however I have been able to make some cute works of impromptu art by altering whatever foam pattern poured into my cup. (Think cloud watching.) The grinder is the best I've owned or used. Zero complaints. All in all, it's a great machine that I feel is a wonderful value. It has allowed me to learn something new at a comparatively low price. I feel the warranty is reliable and I would gladly recommend it to anyone that is willing to put a little time into figuring it out.