You can absolutely get great results with this machine. Same with the Barista Pro. To be honest, the touch screen brings more to the aesthetics than it does to the functionality, but I still think this is a good machine for the price point. I wasn’t sure about the wand on this at first either, but having got used to it, I really like the feel of it now, and because it doesn’t move all over the place , you can rest the pitcher on it more easily when streaming.

Thanks, glad it was helpful!

It doesn’t matter which way you tilt the pitcher to be fair- just whatever feels most natural

It’s probably just the camera angle; on the 2nd step when stretching the milk, the wand top is just touching the surface. If you look at the wand tip, I’d say 2 out of the 4 holes on it are submerged. You can tell if you bring it out too far as it will start making massive bubbles

Yeah I’m just finishing it off- I’ve been busy the last few weeks, but I’ll try to get it done soon

@@davewellscoffee This is by far the best on KZfaq for this machine! Thanks so much, and looking forward to seeing more on other kinds of milk frothing!

Yes, I was thinking of doing that, I’ve got a couple of videos in the pipeline, that’s included 😁

It’s a tamping mat. They cost about £6 on Amazon. Just allows you to tap the portafilter without baking your worktop and helps catch some of the mess!

@@davewellscoffee Thanks!

Of course I’d never advise going against the manufacturers instructions, but it will absolutely not cause a problem filling below the line; just make sure the end of the wand is covered (so full to the ‘min’ line on the pitcher)

I am the same, I do baby lattes some times (one shot coffee). I think that black line is to do with auto frothing performance as when I underfilled the end results were poor. But I'm a lot more confident it would be fine if manually steaming after watching this vid

When you raise the wand, none of the auto froth functions apply. You fully control the process by the length of time you froth the milk and how much air you introduce into it.

@@davewellscoffee Thanks!

Watch my top tips video- the settings vary between machines, but I aim to extract twice the weight of espresso to the ground coffee I put in.

I don’t really use soy milk, but the reason milk alternatives are difficult is that they don’t contain the same fats and proteins as dairy milk. This means that they are not quite as forgiving, so the foam breaks down more easily- basically, don’t give yourself a hard time, and try to just be patient. There are a couple of different things you could try however: Oat milk is generally a little easier to froth than Soy, and pours a little easier. If you’re fine with dairy, but just wanting to avoid lactose, then it’s worth giving Lactaid a try. It reacts a lot more like regular milk. Either way, it’s worth trying a few alternatives, being patient, and try not to over-stream the milk. Once you have streamed the milk, keep swirling the pitcher to prevent it separating.

You just pull the milk wand out towards you and that puts it into manual mode- then you just use the on screen button to start and stop the stream. No need for the sensor if doing it manually- just keep going until it feels hot enough by touch (until you can’t touch it comfortably any more)

I was looking for the answer to this very question. Great video thanks

This is just the standard jug. The ‘min’ line is around 150ml. The ‘max’ line is about 300.

I have a few more videos in the pipeline- hopefully I’ll push them out shortly, it’s been crazy busy at work recently!

Basically, the lower the better. They all get unstable at high temperature, so you’ll get better results at lower temps. Obviously, it’s down to personal preference as to how low you can go and still enjoy the drink.

When you manually froth the milk, the settings that you had don’t apply. You control the temperature by how long you steam it for, and the froth level by how long your stretch it. You’re looking to stretch the milk until the jug is at body temperature, then re-submerge the milk wand and keep steaming until the jug is getting too hot to touch.

Hello Dave, What settings would you use for the automatic proces? Would be usefull when in a hurry :). Amazing video btw!

When you do it manually there are no adjustments. You control the level of froth by how long you ‘stretch’ the milk with the tip of the wand on the surface. You control the temperature by how long you keep streaming for.

Ok so how do I know which works for a flat white, latte, and cappuccino?

@@amoussa89 for a latte or flat white, you want very little froth, so (with the Barista Touch) stretch gently for just 5-7 seconds. For a cappuccino, you want to stretch slightly more aggressively (with the wand very very slightly further out of the surface to make a louder paper tear sound) and keep stretching until the pitcher starts to get hot to touch. In both cases, after stretching, submerge the wand and keep streaming until the jug becomes too hot to touch. If you’re using a machine other than the Barista Touch, the principle is exactly the same, but the times will be different- the more powerful the steam wand, the less time the whole process will take.

@@davewellscoffee sometimes I get it spot on, sometimes I ruin the milk and get huge bubbles.. how do I avoid that?

@@amoussa89 mainly just practice, but also using very fresh milk helps. If you use filtered milk (like cravendale), this stays fresh and works better for longer. Other things that help; don’t stretch the milk for too long, make sure you have the vortex going (notice the position you’re holding the pitcher on the times it works well), tap the jug on the worktop after you have finished to help break up bubbles and swirl the milk around - reappear the tapping and swirling and you will improve your milk and can help rescue really bubbly milk.

You vary the froth by how long you stretch the milk (ie keep the top of the wand on the surface putting more air in it). Do it longer for more froth and submerge the wand sooner for less froth.

@@davewellscoffee Thank you so much. I'll try it. (:

Yes you can, although you can get a much more even foam manually, so it is much better for art if you do it manually. If you really want to do latte art with the auto frother, then it’s best to use a low to middle foam setting (say 3ish). Once it has finished frothing, tap the jug on the worktop to break up any big bubbles, and swirl the milk around the jug right up until you pour to incorporate the microfoam evenly.

@@davewellscoffee ok, thanks a lot for your quick reply and tips!

I will- I’ve been working on a few videos like this, I’ll post them before too long

Thank you

You don’t have to go into the menu and it will work in any of the preset ‘recipes’ or your own. All you do is lift the wand up, and that’s it- manual mode. It starts and stops with the Touch screen button. Put the wand down with the jug on the sensor and that’s automatic. Simple!

@@davewellscoffee thank you

If the noise is when you’re manually streaming, it will vary depending on the volume of milk in the pitcher, the angle you’re holding the pitcher and how close to the surface the tip is. You should get the paper tearing kind of noise when you hold the top on the surface of the milk as Air is introduced at the beginning. After a few seconds, when you submerged the tip, the noise should reduce. It will always make the thumping noise as the machine creates the steam- no getting away from that noise.

I share your frustration. The purge does a half decent job of getting rancid water and milk out of the wand tip, but that’s about it. If the wand came slightly lower or the drip tray was slightly higher so it actually fired through the hole in the drip tray, that would help. It also annoys me how it doesn’t give you a quick blast of steam to purge before use. I know you can press the screen, but it takes a few seconds and is just generally not as easy as a knob on the side of the machine would be. To get around the mess, I just give the whole area a quick wipe with a cloth after using the machine- aside from the milk frother, I’ve normally got a few drops of coffee everywhere too

What gets to me is that the wand tip does not align well with the hole in the tray for my machine, so the purged water goes everywhere. The workaround: I am using a wide metal mug to purge in, instead of purging in the tray, and thus I avoid the mess and the drip tray doesn't fill up as fast. The purged water in the mug does not reach the tip when purging is complete. Also, I tend to manually clean the wand once a month, so this works for me. I don't know if this approach is right or even recommended.

@@somodean mine seems to line up with the hole ok, but still creates a bit of spray around the place. In terms of cleaning it manually once a month, I’d say that sounds entirely sensible- I tend to just do mine when the machine says, but that seems to be about once a month anyway. As long as you wipe down the steam wand after use it tends to stay *reasonably* clean

Breville market these machines under different names depending on region. In the uk (and I think the rest of Europe), the Sage name was used after a partnership with Heston Blumenthal. Same machines though. Skimmed milk or dairy alternatives do work, they just takes bit more practice as they don’t hold a microfoam quite as well.

The auto function is ok. My wife uses it because it’s easy and she doesn’t want to manually froth milk. Use very fresh milk (full fat for the best results). Whichever way you look at it though, you can make much better foam manually.

If it’s just coming out as hot milk, you’re probably just not getting enough air into it at the start. Try lowering the pitcher just slightly more until you start getting a slight bubbling sound, with the tip of the wand just resting on the surface. Hold that for 5-10s (or even more if you want a really thick Cappuccino foam) , before submerging the wand tip in the milk again. Then keep steaming until the pitcher is too hot to touch

Depending on the drink, I generally go up to the ‘min’ mark on the jug

@@davewellscoffee Thank you for your response. I think the min mark is about 100ml or 100g of water/milk (assuming similar density). Can you confirm that for me?

My issue is that if I put too little milk, the wand won’t even touch the surface of the milk. But I don’t like too much milk.

@@AnlamKif you’re using the automatic steam feature, you’ll need to fill it at least to the minimum mark. If you’re doing it manually, you can get away with a lot less, as you can tilt the jug until the wand gets submerged- i regularly fill it less than half way to the min line for drinks like a cortado

@@AnlamK also, just measured it, the min line is 150ml, or about 5oz, the max is about 250ml or 9oz

What sort of milk are you using? A thin foam is what you want for latte art- if it’s too thick it will set before you have poured your design. The key is to avoid big bubbles, and you should only need to stretch for around 8 seconds on this machine (much less on machines with more powerful streamers). After streaming the milk, tap the jug and keep swirling it right up until you pour to stop the foam separating.

@@davewellscoffee Thanks! I'm using whole milk straight from the fridge. I'm still trying to get the hang of it, also by not putting too much milk in the jug leading to pouring liquid only, not foam.

@@LERobbo having the milk cold is good- You want that stretch to happen while it’s still cold. You want to be very gentle as you lower the pitcher down to expose the tip and introduce air- less IS definitely more- you don’t want to see big bubbles. Keep at it, it will definitely get there 👍