The Breville BES920XL Dual Boiler Espresso Machine is one of the latest innovations in the Breville’s line of automatic espresso machines. But even though this machine is equipped with two boilers, the espresso maker remains easy to operate.
At the heart of this machine, the double boiler system assures both amateur and expert coffee brewers of the added efficiency of this machine. The Breville Dual Boiler is primarily designed for home use.
With this Breville Dual Boiler review (also known as Breville BES920XL or BDB model), you will be able to understand more the concept and operation of having a twin boiler inside your preferred coffee machine brand.
Contents
What is a dual boiler?
Breville’s double boiler by definition is having two heating systems in one machine that can brew and steam milk at the same. To attain this, one boiler is set at a lower temperature to be used as a brew boiler while the other one has a higher temperature serving as the steamer.
So, for your quick understanding, one boiler is for the espresso shot while the other one (separate) gives powerful and instant steam on demand.
The coffee machine has been improved to meet the criterion for brewing great espresso. In addition to the dual boiler system, the BES920XL also innovated the state-of-the-art electronic controls, which we will discuss later.
Features
Aside from the two boilers, here are other ergonomic features of the Breville Dual Boiler BES920XL:
The BDB has a user-friendly digital menu system that allows coffee fanatics to monitor and modify the various settings of the coffee machine. The settings, like the steam boiler temperature, the brew temperature, and the pre-infusion time, are controlled by the built-in PID (Proportional Integral Derivative) system, which you can easily manipulate.
The default setting of the Breville BES920XL for the brew temperature is 200F for espresso blends while the steam temperature is set at 175F. But you can easily adjust these temperatures by using the dual electronic and precise PID temperature controls.
You can adjust the temperature between 265 and 285F for the steam temperature to give you consistent extraction. The BDB has not one, but two PID controllers.
Also, the digital display tells you when it is time to refill the water tank and when it is time for maintenance. Quite clever, isn’t?
Two Pumps
Because of the two boilers, the Breville Dual Boiler also has 2 pumps. BDB uses dual vibe pumps, such as the 15-bar Ulka pump for brewing and the Ceme pump (4.5 bars) for filling the steam boiler with water.
The addition of the low-pressure Ceme pump is to allow the steam boiler to be filled up without disturbing the brewing pressure at the time of extraction.
Brew Temperature
The Breville Dual Boiler can deliver water to a puck of coffee with a 9-bar of pressure with consistency and stable temperature (3). Also, for cappuccino lovers, the BDB can produce latte-art micro-foam with ease and of very high quality.
Furthermore, BES920XL has 3 unique heating systems: a group head heater (100 watts), a brew boiler heater at 700 watts, and a steam boiler heater at 900 watts of power. On the steam boiler, the water is super-heated to produce steam where it can be adjusted on the digital menu.
The water for brewing is heated by the stainless steel boiler with enough heat for brewing coffee. The group is equipped with heating elements that improve the temperature.
Auto Start Setting
This setting will allow you to pre-heat the coffee maker at your pre-programmed time, so you don’t have to wait longer while you prepare other things for work in the morning.
Settings
The Breville BES920XL has both manual and automatic settings. It can give you a single or double shot of espresso with personalized temperature settings.
The Dose
You might be surprised that other automatic coffee machines ain’t as good-tasting as the one bought in cafes. That is probably because those other machines only dose 11 to 13 grams of ground coffee.
But for the Breville 920, you got the full flavor as it doses 19 to 22 grams of coffee with its provided standard 58 mm portafilter.
The OPV (Over Pressure Valve)
Just like any other Breville coffee maker, the BES920XL is equipped with Over Pressure Valve to actuate when it senses over-pressure in the system. This will make you safer and provides more precise temperature for brewing.
Retracted Swivel Foot
Because of its heavy and bulky stature, the BDB is equipped with a hidden drop-down swivel foot under the drip tray so you can move the machine within the countertop easily.
Accessories
Here are the accessories that come with your purchase: Breville 58 mm twist blade, 58 mm stainless steel portafilter (double spout), single wall filter baskets (1 & 2 cups), dual-wall filter baskets (1 & 2 cups), integrated tamper, 25 fl.oz (750ml) stainless steel frothing jug, cleaning disc and tablets, cleaning tool and an Allen wrench, water filter holder, and water filters.
More Pros & Cons about Breville Dual Boiler
Pros:
- With a traditional (manual) steam wand.
- Both boilers are made from non-corrosive stainless steel.
- Machine body made from brushed stainless steel.
- Espresso capacity: 10 oz., steam boiler capacity: 32 oz.
- With an 84-oz. top-fed stainless steel water tank.
- Programmable pre-infusion duration and power.
- Temperature display in either ℃ or ℉.
- With an LCD screen and a shot clock for great timing and extraction.
- With hot water spout for Americano brew.
Cons:
- No automatic tamping.
- Waiting time for heating from the cold start-up is 15 minutes.
- Brew pressure is factory-set at 10 bars and can’t be adjusted.
- Too heavy at 30lbs.
- Not a quick brewing coffee maker.
- A bulky coffee machine.
Is the Breville Dual Boiler expensive?
If you compare the price of the Breville Dual Boiler to Jura’s Giga 5, which also has 2 boilers but with more high-tech innovations, the former is just a fifth of the price of the latter.
If you want the more stable temperature in brewing without much fuss in operation, the BDB can be considered cheaper than its closest competitors.
Video on How to Operate Breville’s Dual Boiler Espresso Machine
Conclusion
There is still a wide range of options for the Breville 920XL; far too many to list in this review. But we can surmise them as some of the best features to come in the long history of Breville in producing quality coffee makers.
Although the Breville BES920XL’s cost crossed the $1,000-mark, it is still considered ‘cheap’ compared to other high-end espresso coffee machines with almost the same automatic functions and features.
The automatic and some manual operations are combined to give you more freedom in controlling your desired brew and take out the barista skills in you.
Furthermore, we hope this Breville Dual Boiler review may be useful to those who are undecided yet on what espresso machine to buy for home use.
By the way, before we forget, we give this coffee machine a round of applause for a job well done and 4.8 stars (out of 5 Stars) for ergonomic designs and impressive features.
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