Breville Precision Brewer Review: Why This Is My Favorite Drip Coffee Machine

For years, I only drank coffee from a $20 Mr. Coffee drip coffee machine. It was convenient, but the coffee it produced was mediocre at best. Then I mastered manual brewing techniques and never looked back…until I got my hands on the Breville Precision Brewer. This machine is a game-changer for anyone who loves great coffee but doesn’t want to deal with the fuss of manual brewing methods like pour-over or French press.

Don’t think of the Breville Precision Brewer as a regular drip machine. Instead, think of it as a personal barista that makes excellent pour-over coffee for you, but with the convenience of an automatic machine. In this Breville Precision Brewer review, I’ll explain why this is the best drip coffee machine on the market, and I’ll help you decide if it’s the right choice for your home or office.

Quick Breville Precision Brewer Review

The Breville Precision Brewer is a high-end, fully automatic drip coffee machine that offers an unparalleled level of control and customization for home brewers. With its precision temperature control, pre-infusion capabilities, and customizable brewing settings, it produces coffee that rivals the quality of manual pour-over methods but with the convenience of a drip machine.

Overall, the Breville Precision Brewer is an exceptional machine that delivers café-quality coffee at home with minimal effort. While it’s pricey, the flavor quality and customization options make it worth the investment for serious coffee enthusiasts.

Who the Breville Precision Brewer Is For

The Breville Precision Brewer is an ideal choice for coffee lovers who want to enjoy high-quality, freshly brewed coffee at home without the hassle of manual brewing methods. It’s perfect for those who appreciate the nuances of flavor and want complete control over the brewing process but don’t have the time or patience for techniques like pour-over or French press.

Based on my experience, the Breville Precision Brewer is particularly well-suited for three groups of people:

• Specialty Coffee Enthusiasts: If you’re someone who seeks out high-quality, single-origin coffees and wants to bring out their unique flavors and aromas, this machine is a dream come true. With its precise temperature control, pre-infusion capabilities, and blooming control, it extracts the best from your favorite beans. This is the only drip machine I’d ever put “good” coffee into.
• Busy Professionals: The Breville Precision Brewer offers the convenience of an automatic machine without sacrificing quality. For busy individuals who want a great cup of coffee in the morning without the fuss, this machine delivers exceptional results with minimal effort. It might not be ideal for someone on a tight budget, but if you can afford it, it’ll treat you well for years to come.
• Home Baristas: If you enjoy experimenting with different brewing techniques and customizing your coffee to perfection, the Breville Precision Brewer gives you that freedom. With its adjustable settings, you can fine-tune every aspect of the brewing process to suit your preferences.

On the other hand, if you’re someone who doesn’t care much about the nuances of coffee flavor and just wants a simple, inexpensive machine to deliver your daily caffeine fix, the Breville Precision Brewer may be overkill. It’s designed for coffee enthusiasts who appreciate the finer details of their brew, and it comes with a price tag to match.

Breville Precision Brewer Review

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s dive deeper into what makes the Breville Precision Brewer such an exceptional machine. In the following sections, I’ll discuss various aspects of the brewer to help you decide if it’s the right choice for your home or office.

Coffee Quality

If you’re reading this, chances are good that you’re looking for a high-quality drip coffee machine that actually makes delicious coffee akin to what you’d get using a manual brewing method. I can say with confidence that the Breville Precision Brewer is the best drip machine I’ve ever used in terms of coffee quality.

The coffee that comes out of this machine is remarkably similar to what I get using a pour-over cone like a Hario V60 or a Chemex. It’s clean, flavorful, beautifully balanced, and showcases the unique nuances of your favorite beans.

So, what makes the coffee quality from the Breville Precision Brewer so exceptional? It all comes down to the drip coffee machine features and capabilities that most other drip coffee makers lack.

Firstly, the Breville Precision Brewer has precise temperature control, courtesy of its PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) controller. This allows you to dial in the exact brew temperature you want down to the degree, which is crucial for optimal extraction of flavors and aromas from your coffee beans.

Most drip machines brew at temperatures that are too low, resulting in under-extracted, sour, and flat-tasting coffee. The Breville Precision Brewer lets you set the brew temperature anywhere between 197 degrees (F) and 204 degrees (F), giving you the flexibility to find the perfect brewing temperature for your preferred coffee. In case you don’t know, this is the ideal temperature range for coffee.

Another game-changing feature is the pre-infusion and adjustable bloom time. For those unfamiliar with the term, “blooming” refers to the process of allowing the coffee grounds to release carbon dioxide and “bloom” or expand after being exposed to hot water. This step is crucial for optimal extraction and flavor development.

The Breville Precision Brewer lets you set a precise bloom time, allowing the coffee grounds to de-gas fully and expand before the main brewing process begins. This results in a more even extraction and a richer, more nuanced flavor profile in your final cup.

Additionally, the Breville Precision Brewer offers customizable brew strength settings for strong coffee, cold brew, Breville’s “Gold” setting (which is optimized based on the Specialty Coffee Association’s (SCA) recommendations), plus you can create customized brewing parameters to dial in your preference and then have it handy for future brews.

Overall, the combination of precise temperature control, pre-infusion capabilities, and customizable brew settings allows the Breville Precision Brewer to extract the absolute best flavors and aromas from your coffee beans, resulting in a truly exceptional cup of coffee that rivals the quality of manual brewing methods.

Ease of Use

While the Breville Precision Brewer offers an impressive level of control and customization, it’s important to note that it’s still an automatic machine designed for convenience. In fact, it’s one of the rare cases in the world of coffee-making equipment where there isn’t much of a trade-off between convenience and coffee quality.

Using the Breville Precision Brewer is incredibly simple, thanks to its intuitive interface and pre-set brewing profiles. The machine comes with six pre-programmed brewing modes: Fast, Gold, Strong, Over Ice, Cold Brew, and My Brew (for customized settings).

The Gold mode is designed to make delicious, café-quality coffee right out of the box, without any need for adjustments. AND IT WORKS. I feel like this is one of the only out-of-the-box coffee makers that actually does what it claims to do. Simply add your coffee grounds and water, select the Gold mode, and let the machine work its magic. I’m still impressed by it.

If you’re a true coffee enthusiast who loves to tinker and experiment, the Breville Precision Brewer gives you the freedom to adjust every aspect of the brewing process. You can fine-tune parameters like bloom time, brew temperature, and more.

Once you’ve dialed in your preferred settings, you can save them as a custom profile using the “My Brew” mode, making it effortlessly simple to recreate your perfect cup of coffee every time.

Appearance

The Breville Precision Brewer is not only a high-performance machine but also a sleek and stylish addition to any kitchen or coffee bar. Its brushed stainless steel exterior and modern design give it a premium, sophisticated look that complements most decor styles.

Counter Space and Footprint

Speaking of counter space, the Breville Precision Brewer has a relatively compact footprint, measuring 12.7 inches x 6.7 inches. While it’s not the smallest drip machine on the market, its size is reasonable and should fit comfortably on most kitchen counters.

It’s worth noting that the Breville Precision Brewer is a tall machine, standing at around 16 inches in height. This tall design is necessary to accommodate the precision brewing components and the insulated thermal carafe.

If you have low-hanging cabinets or shelves above your counter, you should measure the clearance to ensure the Breville Precision Brewer can fit. Fortunately, the water reservoir has a removable top that doesn’t tilt up, and the grounds basket pulls out sideways, so you don’t necessarily need to remove the entire machine for refilling or cleaning.

I have to dwell on this for a minute because most other drip machines I’ve used have had a tilt-up top to access the grounds basket and reservoir. This never made sense to me since I’d always have to pull it out from under my upper cabinet to use it. The Breville fixes this issue, which is just icing on the cake of an already near-perfect machine.

Brewing Options

One of the standout features of the Breville Precision Brewer is its versatility when it comes to brewing options. Unlike many drip machines that are limited to a single brewing method, the Breville allows you to brew with either a conical filter basket insert or a flat-bottom grounds basket.

The conical filter basket insert is designed to mimic the shape and flow dynamics of a pour-over cone, like a Hario V60 or Chemex. This allows you to brew authentic pour-over style coffee, with all the clarity and nuanced flavors that come with that brewing method. Conical filters highlight fruity and acidic flavors, making this a great option for those who like these lighter, brighter coffee notes.

If you prefer a more traditional drip coffee experience, the flat-bottom grounds basket will deliver a classic carafe of drip coffee, just with better quality and control than most machines. Flat-bottom filters tend to highlight darker coffee flavors, like chocolate, nuts, and caramel, and it will ramp up the bitterness a bit for a more standard cup of drip coffee.

In addition to traditional drip brewing, the Breville Precision Brewer also has a dedicated mode for brewing cold brew coffee. This is a fantastic feature for those who enjoy the smooth, less acidic taste of cold brew but don’t want to deal with the hassle of steeping grounds for hours or days.

With the cold brew mode, you can set the machine to brew a cold brew concentrate, which you can then dilute with water or milk to your desired strength. It’s a convenient way to enjoy cold brew coffee without the extended brewing time.

Price

Let’s address the elephant in the room: the Breville Precision Brewer is not a budget-friendly machine. With a typical retail price around $330, it’s significantly more expensive than the $20 to $30 you could spend on an entry-level drip machine, and it’s even pricier than many mid-level drip coffee makers.

However, when you consider the features, precision, and overall coffee quality that the Breville Precision Brewer delivers, I believe the price is completely justifiable for serious coffee enthusiasts.

Think about it this way: with features like a PID temperature controller, customizable brewing parameters, and total control over the bloom and other aspects of the brewing process, you’re essentially getting a professional-grade brewing setup in a convenient, automated package.

Additionally, the Breville Precision Brewer is built to last. It’s made with high-quality materials and excellent craftsmanship, ensuring that it will withstand years of daily use without compromising performance or reliability.

While the upfront cost may seem steep, the investment pays off in the long run through consistently excellent coffee and a machine that will likely outlast many cheaper alternatives.

Quality

Speaking of build quality, the Breville Precision Brewer is a testament to Breville’s commitment to creating durable, long-lasting appliances. From the moment you take it out of the box, you can feel the heft and solidity of this machine. The carafe alone is a beefy thing that could probably chock your car tires if you needed it to.

The exterior of the main machine is constructed from brushed stainless steel, which not only looks sleek and modern but also resists scratches, dents, and corrosion. The water reservoir is made from transparent, shatter-resistant plastic, allowing you to monitor the water level easily.

Inside, the Breville Precision Brewer features a sturdy metal construction with precise, high-quality components. The PID temperature controller, the precision shower head, and the insulated thermal carafe all contribute to the overall sense of quality and attention to detail.

Based on user reports and Breville’s reputation for quality, the Precision Brewer is built to last for many years of daily use. With proper care and maintenance, you can expect this machine to deliver consistent performance and exceptional coffee for a long time.

Warranty

Breville stands behind the quality of their products with a solid warranty. The Breville Precision Brewer comes with a 2-year limited warranty from the date of purchase.

This warranty covers any defects in materials or workmanship, ensuring that you’re protected against any manufacturing issues or premature failures. If any problems arise during the warranty period, Breville will repair or replace the machine at no cost to you. And Breville is known for its customer service, so you’ll actually get a replacement and not just an empty promise.

While a 2-year warranty may not seem exceptional in today’s market, it’s important to note that many entry-level drip coffee makers only come with a 1-year warranty or less. Considering the premium quality and higher price point of the Breville Precision Brewer, a 2-year warranty is a reasonable assurance of the company’s confidence in their product.

Carafe

Normally, I don’t specifically talk about the carafe when discussing drip coffee machines, but the one that comes with the Breville Precision Brewer Thermal is so good that it deserves special mention. Just a quick note: you can also buy the same machine with a glass carafe, but I strongly recommend the thermal one. Here’s why:

The thermal carafe is a double-walled, vacuum-insulated stainless steel carafe that truly keeps your coffee hot for hours without the need for a warming plate. This is a significant advantage over most drip machines, which use a hot plate to keep the coffee warm, often leading to burnt, bitter flavors after just a few minutes of heating.

The carafe’s insulation properties are impressive. During my testing, I found that the coffee remained at a suitable hot temperature for up to 4 hours after brewing, with only a slight decrease in temperature. This means you can enjoy fresh, hot coffee throughout the morning without having to reheat or brew a new batch. This is perfect for coffee-drinking families with members that wake up at different times.

Another advantage of the insulated carafe is that it eliminates the risk of burned or scorched coffee flavors that can occur when coffee sits on a hot plate for too long. The carafe keeps the coffee at the perfect drinking temperature without exposing it to an external heat source, preserving the delicate flavors and aromas.

Additionally, the carafe has a well-designed spout that pours smoothly and drip-free, ensuring a mess-free serving experience. The handle is also ergonomically shaped and comfortable to hold, even when the carafe is full.

Overall, the inclusion of this high-quality, insulated thermal carafe is a standout feature of the Breville Precision Brewer and a significant upgrade over the carafes found in most drip coffee machines. Just make sure you spend the extra $30 to get the thermal carafe over the glass one.

Wrapping Up: Do I Recommend the Breville Precision Brewer?

The Breville Precision Brewer is an exceptional machine that bridges the gap between the convenience of an automatic drip coffee maker and the quality of manual brewing methods. It offers an unparalleled level of control and customization, allowing you to fine-tune every aspect of the brewing process to suit your preferences.

From the precise temperature control and pre-infusion capabilities to the customizable brew strength and bloom times, the Breville Precision Brewer is designed to extract the absolute best flavors and aromas from your coffee beans. The resulting cup of coffee is truly remarkable, rivaling the quality you’d expect from a skilled barista using a pour-over method.

While the upfront cost may seem steep, the investment pays off through consistently excellent coffee and a machine built to last for years. It’s honestly my favorite drip machine and the one I recommend to anyone who can afford it. I test a lot of coffee equipment, and this is the drip machine that has stuck around long after testing in my house!

Frequently Asked Questions

Can the Breville Precision Brewer grind beans?

No, the Breville Precision Brewer does not have a built-in grinder. It is designed to brew pre-ground coffee beans. For optimal flavor, I recommend using a standalone burr grinder to grind your beans fresh before brewing. I suggest a manual grinder like the Lido 3 from Orphan Espresso for quality and consistency, or an electric grinder like the Baratza Encore for convenience without sacrificing too much on quality.

How much coffee can the Breville Precision Brewer make?

The Breville Precision Brewer can brew between 1 and 12 cups of coffee in a single batch. The carafe has a capacity of 60 ounces, which translates to approximately 12 cups of coffee. You can brew a single cup by using less water, up to 40 ounces if you use the conical filter basket insert, and up to 60 ounces if you use the flat-bottom filter basket.

Is the Breville Precision Brewer easy to clean?

The Breville Precision Brewer requires some effort to clean, but it’s not overly complicated. The removable water reservoir, grounds basket, and carafe make it easy to access the components that need cleaning. Descaling and deep cleaning the machine can be a bit more time-consuming, but it’s still easy. You should only need to descale once every one to two months, and the machine does most of the work for you.