I think the purpose of pre-infusion is to minimize channeling. Less pressure allows the grounds to moisten uniformly before assaulting them with high pressure. I always use manual mode and watch for the flow to begin before taking my finger off the button triggering full pressure. I continue to watch for the espresso cup to become full before pressing the button again to complete extraction. Enjoying your channel !

Thanks. This was helpful in combination with your pre-infusion only video. This morning I tried simply closing my steam valve after 6 seconds of preinfusion to start the extraction and got better results than stopping and restarting the pump. Too bad the Sylvia doesn't have automatic preinfusion, but this works fine! Always learning new things. Thanks again!

Thank you Aju for an excellent, detailed presentation with the detail that is often missing in other videos. Cheers!

Dear Aju, I think you have solved my problem with single shot basket! I was struggling to get decent shot from single basket, I think part of the problem was that during the pre-infusion, with single basket, liquid started flowing very early and continued during whole pre-infusion and as a result I think 50% or more brewing was done during pre-infusion - resulting in bad espresso. Now, I cut the pre-infusion early adter 2-3 seconds and the espresso is fuller and tasting more closely as it should. Thanks again, the video was very helpful. All the best wishes from Prague!

Very helpful to know the magic number of 8 to 12 seconds particularly since you got this straight from Breville support. Also the explanation that things are "slower" on BBE than on a commercial grade machine makes sense to me.

Great info. I have been doing manual mode for a while now but did not know the time for pre-infusion. (Lost my manual sometime ago and hate scrolling the online one to find stuff). Thanks, watching part 2 shortly.

Great explanation! Very insightful, thank you.

Thanks for the clear and detailed explanations. Excellent video!

Nice 😊

I know some coffee shops that server similar 'espresso' . So here we have another opportunity for them to mess with my expectations! 🤣 Thank you Aju 🙏

Nice hack. Seems I missed that chapter in the manual (probably it wasn't there at all) ;)

Hello good morning can we save a pre-infusion time to use it in automatic mode? thanks you

This is why in your dialing in video I said you should count pre-infusion in total brew time because extraction starts moment water contacts coffee just like with pourover and French Press.

Over time you will find auto pre-infusion time is pretty consistent between 10 and 11 seconds.

This is really good information... i have a question. The pre infusion on my machine is less than 6sec. What could be the reason for it?

Awesome videos Aju

Good one 👍

should the machine be pouring coffee during the pre-infusion?

Does the machine remember the pre-infusion time after you manually did or you have to manually do it everytime? Thanks!

What if you poured into 236g H2O?

So its more bitter?

Hi, I am your subscriber and I watch your videos about the coffee machine and still do not understand what is the most normal temperature for a coffee machine ? Thanks.

How tight should the portafilter be tightened in the machine?

Hey I have a question here, alot of coffee youtubers including James Hoffman have mentioned that these entry level home espresso machines have pressure that is too high for espresso more than 9 bars. Recently alot of people have been recommending the keep your finger on the singe or double shot button throughout the entire shot until you get your desired output of 36g or whatever. I've been noticing much better flow in the shot from doing this the past few months. Otherwise I always experience really messy shots regardless how dailed in my grind size is (I use 1zpresso hand grinder for better results) Wanted to know if you have tried this and if u agree that the barista express full pressure is wayyyy too much pressure for espresso

You have the single cup button on? Why for double cups

Question, were you using single wall basket when pulling the shot?

Can i ask , if i making a 12 g in espresso, what should i adjust in my brevilee express machine ? Because i use the default one cup setting, the espresso tatse bad.. too bitter

during pre infusion the meter reaches the espresso range. anyone know why this might be happening?