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Breville vs Delonghi
The main factors to consider when choosing a Breville or DeLonghi espresso machine.
Published December 14, 2021
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Johan Hedlund
Coffee experts@The Coffee Lab
Breville and DeLonghi are both leading manufacturers of coffee machines. Both have become a household name for coffee lovers worldwide, with top-rated, reliable coffee makers. But if you want to buy a coffee maker or espresso machine for your home, you will likely need to make a decision as to which brand you are going to go with. Keep reading to find out more about Breville vs DeLonghi to make it easier for you to determine which coffee machine brand is the best fit for your needs.
About DeLonghi
Is DeLonghi a good brand? DeLonghi is an Italian company with a coffee tradition spanning over a century. It is a big name in the household appliance industry and has gained a large share and good reputation in the coffee-maker market over the past few decades. While DeLonghi has been producing coffee makers for quite a long time, they first started getting noticed in 2008 as their espresso machines boomed in popularity. Today, you can expect a large range of coffee machines and espresso makers from DeLonghi, including manual espresso machines, semi-automatic and fully automatic models along with other types of coffee machines like pod and capsule machines through partnerships with other top companies like Nespresso.
About Breville
Breville is an Australian company that was founded as a manufacturer of home appliances by Bill O’Brien and Harry Norville in 1932. The name was coined as a combination of the last names of both founders. This company is credited with making the original sandwich toaster, which was a massive success in 1974 when the product was first launched. Later, they expanded their product range to make even more home appliances including vacuum cleaners. Their line of espresso makers for home use started to get more attention in the early 2000s, and today they are considered to be some of the best available in the world. Today, Breville’s range of espresso and coffee makers include everything from manual machines to fully automatic machines along with pod-based coffee makers for Nespresso capsules.
What Makes These Brands Ideal?
Many espresso lovers who want to get started with making their own coffees at home will only compare Breville and DeLonghi when considering which brand to purchase their machine from, since both have outstanding, top-notch features and technology with a wide range of capabilities that you can use to produce espresso that tastes amazing.
If you want to become a barista yourself, love everything about espresso and want to start making your own espresso-based drinks from the comfort of your own home, the machines offered by both these companies provide you with everything that you need to do just that with the touch of a button. Both Breville and DeLonghi have a wide range of espresso machines to choose from based on your experience and skill level. For those who are just starting out, for example, DeLonghi offers the excellent La Specialista automatic espresso machine while Breville’s Barista Touch is considered to be one of the best automatic home espresso machines on the market. In terms of their most popular coffee machines, these include:
- DeLonghi La Specialista vs Breville Barista Express
- DeLonghi Dedica vs Breville Café Roma
- DeLonghi Magnifica vs Breville Barista Express
Making the Perfect Espresso – How These Two Machines Compare
Anybody who loves coffee knows that the secret to making the perfect brew is to use fresh coffee grounds. Grinding just before brewing is the main way to make the most of all those tasty flavors that are in the beans, since they are lost quickly after grinding. While it might be slightly less convenient compared to buying pre-ground coffee, the good news is that the fact that both the Breville Barista Touch and the DeLonghi La Specialista come with a conical burr grinder included with the machine. A burr grinder is the best choice for making coffee since they provide much more consistent, even grinds for better extraction. With the DeLonghi machine, a sensor-based technology is used to ensure the optimal grind size and dose every time, while the Breville Barista allows you to choose the grind size you want.
The pressure used by the machine to extract the espresso is another important factor to consider when you are comparing coffee machines. The DeLonghi machine is the more powerful of the two, with nineteen bars of pressure compared to the fifteen-bar pressure pump offered by the Breville machine. However, this isn’t a huge problem, since most coffee experts agree that fifteen bars of pressure is definitely enough for creating a rich espresso with a good layer of crema on the top.
Making the Perfect Latte or Cappuccino
If you like espresso-based drinks, once you have the espresso, all you will need to make your perfect cappuccino or latte is a way to make velvety steamed milk and in the case of a cappuccino, a thick milk foam layer for the top.
Many users agree that the DeLonghi machine is the best of the two when it comes to making espresso-based drinks combined with milk. This is because the La Specialista machine comes with two separate boilers, allowing for optimal extraction and steaming the milk at the same time, guaranteeing the ideal temperature without one affecting the other. Along with this, the DeLonghi machine also comes with a top-range Pannarello milk-frothing wand, that will help you create perfect latte art.
Both the Breville and the DeLonghi coffee machine come with automatic milk frothing features; however, there is the option for you to adjust the settings. In terms of this, users say that there is more control offered when using the Barista Touch from Breville. This machine allows you to decide on the milk temperature that you want between 110- and 170-degrees Fahrenheit, and there are eight different levels of froth density to choose from, whether you’re looking for a light and airy foam or seriously velvety, dense steamed milk.
Brewing Time
The brewing time is another major factor to think about when choosing which machine to go with since if you are like most people, you don’t want to be waiting any longer than you need for your coffee in the morning. Every Breville coffee maker including the Barista Touch comes with a quick heating system that allows you to get the machine up and running in no time, getting your espresso ready quickly in the morning. It will take around twenty seconds for a single shot of espresso and around five seconds extra for a double shot or espresso doppio. DeLonghi machines are comparable, with around twenty seconds needed for a shot of espresso. Making a cappuccino with the DeLonghi La Specialista takes on average around forty seconds.
However, bear in mind that when you first turn on your coffee machine in the morning, you will still need to give it some time to heat up, and the brewing time does not take this into account. When parts of the machine are still cold, this will have an impact on the overall flavor of your coffee whether you are using a Breville or DeLonghi machine.
User-Friendliness
If you are completely new to making espresso at home and want a machine that is easy to use, user-friendly and the ideal choice for learning and improving your skills with, both the Breville Barista Touch and the DeLonghi La Specialista are ideal choices. Both have large, intuitive button displays making it easy for you to change the settings as you wish. Both these companies provide super-automatic coffee makers that come with a color touch display that anybody can use. Semi-automatic and manual models may require more trial and error when using to determine the grind size and other variable settings to brew your perfect cup of coffee, and usually require a little bit more skill and knowledge compared to fully automatic machines.
Overall, DeLonghi tends to be the brand with the best reputation for user-friendliness, and the La Specialista requires very few skills to operate successfully. It has a programmable system that allows the machine to take over and do it all for you, making it the perfect choice for you if you are interested in making espresso at home but aren’t interested in learning any more advanced barista skills. On the other hand, since Breville machines allow for more control over the variables, they tend to be a favorite among coffee drinkers who like to experiment.
Maintenance and Cleaning
Finally, cleaning and maintaining any coffee machine is important to keep it in good shape for longer and make sure that you avoid the risk of breaking down, along with producing brews of a consistently good quality. Both the Breville and DeLonghi machines come with self-cleaning options, and their water reservoirs are removeable to make them easy to clean. DeLonghi machines also come with an automatic milk carafe cleaning system. Bear in mind that since Breville machines tend to have a more complex design, some users complain that they are harder to clean on the outside. However, the water filter feature of the Breville machine means that descaling is something that you will rarely have to worry about compared to other machines without a filter.
If you want an espresso machine for your home, Breville and DeLonghi are two reputable brands to choose from.
About the author
Johan Hedlund
I´m living in Karlstad, Sweden with my family. Been working the last 25 years with several start ups in the tech industry. Coffee has been an integral part, both professionally and privately. Eager to learn new things and happy to be a member of the era of we community.
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