Breville Bambino Plus Review

Before buying the Bambino Plus, answer one question: do you own a grinder, or are you ready to buy one? If not, this is the wrong machine. The Bambino Plus is an extraction-only device, it expects ground coffee to arrive at the portafilter already prepared. What you get in return is a footprint barely wider than a laptop, a heat-up time so fast it stops feeling like a wait, and shots that compete with machines at twice the price when you feed them correctly.

Here's the catch, and I'll say it now before anything else: the Bambino Plus has no built-in grinder. You need to buy one separately. Budget $150-300 for something decent. That's a real cost on top of the $499.95 machine price, and skipping it, using pre-ground supermarket coffee, will produce mediocre espresso from a machine that deserves better. That's criticism one. Criticism two: the auto steam wand, while genuinely good at producing microfoam, gives you less feel for the milk than a manual wand. If you want to develop real latte art skill from scratch, you'll hit a ceiling faster here than on the Gaggia Classic Pro.

The Short Answer

The Breville Bambino Plus is the right machine for someone with limited counter space who already owns a grinder, or who's willing to buy one, and wants fast, consistent espresso without a learning curve. It's not the right machine for someone who wants everything in one box.

What Makes the Bambino Plus Special

The ThermoJet heating system is the headline, and it earns that position. Three seconds from off to extraction-ready. I've tested the Gaggia Classic Pro (about 40 seconds), the Barista Express (around 35 seconds), and the De'Longhi Stilosa (almost a minute), none of them come close. For weekday mornings, this matters more than almost any other spec.

The footprint is the second thing that reorients how you think about this machine. At 7.7 inches wide and about 12.6 inches deep, it fits places where nothing else will. Under a cabinet that's too low for the Barista Express. On the corner of a narrow kitchen counter. In a small apartment with one surface to work with.

The 54mm portafilter and 9-bar extraction are standard Breville specs, same as the Barista Express line. What's different here is the low-pressure pre-infusion: the machine wets the puck at reduced pressure for a few seconds before ramping to full extraction. It evens out minor inconsistencies in the grind and improves shot-to-shot repeatability, especially on freshly roasted beans that off-gas quickly.

One thing that genuinely surprised me: the 64oz water tank. That's the same size as the Breville Barista Express Impress. For a machine this small, it felt disproportionately generous. I refilled it every three to four days for two drinks per day, same as on the bigger machines I tested alongside it.

The thing the Bambino Plus doesn't have: a grinder. That's covered in detail in the next section.

The No-Grinder Tradeoff (Read This First)

The Bambino Plus is an espresso machine, not a grinder-espresso combo. It expects you to arrive with freshly ground coffee already in the portafilter basket. If that's not your situation, you need to solve it before you buy.

The standard pairing I recommend: the Baratza Encore ESP, which runs around $195 and grinds well at espresso fineness. It's not the only option, the Breville Smart Grinder Pro at $200 is popular with Bambino Plus owners specifically because of the integrated portafilter cradle, but both land in the $150-300 range that makes the most sense for a machine at this price.

Here's the math that makes the Bambino Plus interesting despite the separate grinder requirement: a Bambino Plus at $499.95 plus a Baratza Encore ESP at $195 comes to roughly $695 total. A Breville Barista Express Impress, with a grinder built in, runs $789.99. For about $95 less, you get a dedicated grinder that's easier to dial in, a machine with a faster heat-up time, and better shot-to-shot consistency because the separate grinder gives you more precise control. The trade is counter space and the cognitive overhead of managing two devices.

If you want one box that handles everything, the Breville Barista Express Impress is the better fit. If you're willing to buy a grinder separately, or already own one, the Bambino Plus setup often produces better espresso for similar money. Our best espresso machines guide maps out both paths.

Bambino vs Bambino Plus (The Difference)

The standard Bambino and the Bambino Plus look nearly identical from the outside. They're not the same machine.

The Bambino Plus adds three things the standard Bambino lacks: an automatic steam wand with three milk temperature settings (140°F, 149°F, 160°F), a larger 64oz water tank (the standard Bambino runs 47oz), and low-pressure pre-infusion before extraction. The Bambino Plus also adds a digital temperature control button that lets you select between three brewing temperatures, useful if you're dialing in lighter roasts that need higher extraction temps.

The standard Bambino saves you about $70-100 depending on where you buy. It ships with a manual steam wand and the smaller tank. For pure espresso drinkers who don't make milk drinks, the savings are real and the shots are comparable. For anyone who drinks lattes, flat whites, or cappuccinos regularly, the auto steam wand on the Plus is worth the gap, it produces consistently textured microfoam without the learning curve a manual wand requires.

My verdict: buy the Plus. The auto steam wand alone justifies the premium for most people.

What the Shots Are Actually Like

Good. Genuinely good, with the right grinder. I need to keep coming back to that qualifier because the Bambino Plus is essentially inert without a quality grinder feeding it, but with one, the shots are café-quality in a way that surprised me for a $499.95 machine.

I pulled most shots at 18g in, 36-38g out, targeting 26-30 seconds, the standard 1:2 ratio. The ThermoJet holds temperature tightly enough that my first and fourth morning shots tasted the same. Real crema, not the artificial foam from pressurized baskets. The low-pressure pre-infusion visibly improved my extractions on freshly roasted beans. I got more even puck wetness and fewer channeling incidents once I switched to a fresh bag.

The automatic steam wand is the other half of this machine's identity. You submerge the wand, press the button, and it heats the milk to your target temperature while producing microfoam without much input from you. I set it to 149°F for lattes and it hit that target within 2-3°F across fifteen consecutive drinks. The texture was latte-art ready by day two, better than I expected from an auto wand. The limitation is real though: because the wand controls the process, you don't develop the manual feel that a Gaggia or standard Barista Express wand teaches. It's a ceiling, not a floor.

Bambino Plus vs Barista Express

The comparison that comes up most in forums, and worth addressing directly.

The Bambino Plus is smaller, faster to heat up (3 seconds vs 35 seconds), and produces slightly more consistent shots when paired with a good external grinder. The Barista Express bundles a grinder, removes the need to buy separate equipment, and takes up more counter space, about 13 inches wide versus 7.7 inches. The Breville Barista Express Impress adds auto-tamping on top of that.

Total cost is roughly comparable when you add a decent grinder to the Bambino Plus. Where they diverge is in workflow: the Barista Express is one device to learn, one device to maintain, one device to clean. The Bambino Plus setup means two devices, more counter space in total (machine plus grinder), and two things that can break. For the right person, that tradeoff produces better espresso. For someone who wants simplicity, the Barista Express wins clearly.

If pure espresso machine quality matters most and you're willing to add a separate grinder, also look at the Gaggia Classic Pro, it's in the same price territory with a 58mm commercial portafilter and a different performance ceiling.

Common Issues and Maintenance

Flashing lights. The most common Bambino Plus support question. The machine uses different light patterns to tell you what it needs. A steady flashing blue light on the steam button typically means the machine is still heating, it goes solid when ready. A flashing amber or alternating pattern usually signals the cleaning cycle is due or descaling is needed. The display differentiates them; check the manual's light guide before assuming something's broken.

Running the cleaning cycle. The Bambino Plus prompts a cleaning cycle roughly every 200 shots, a cleaning icon lights on the display. To run it: insert the cleaning disc into the portafilter basket, add a Breville cleaning tablet, lock the portafilter in, and press the 1-cup and 2-cup buttons simultaneously. The cycle runs automatically for about 5 minutes. The machine does this itself; you just need to start it. Don't skip it, backpressure cleaning keeps the group head seal healthy and prevents bitter shots from residue buildup. For the full cleaning routine including daily habits, weekly scrub, and steam wand care, see our guide on how to clean your Breville.

How to descale the Breville Bambino Plus. Fill the 64oz tank with 1 liter of water mixed with descaling solution. Place a container under both the portafilter and steam wand. Press and hold the steam and 1-cup buttons together until the DESCALE light activates. The cycle takes around 20-25 minutes. Run two full tanks of clean water through afterward. Full steps in our guide on how to descale your Breville.

Portafilter size: 54mm. Breville's standard across the Bambino and Express lines, not the 58mm commercial standard. Aftermarket baskets exist but the selection is narrower than 58mm.

Who Should Buy the Breville Bambino Plus?

The right fit: counter space is your primary constraint, you already own a grinder (or you're ready to buy one), and you want fast consistent espresso with auto milk frothing. The 3-second heat-up and 7.7-inch footprint solve a specific problem that no other machine at this price solves as well.

The wrong fit: you want a single machine that grinds and extracts without any additional purchases. The Breville Barista Express Impress handles that with auto-dosing and tamping. Or if counter space isn't a constraint and you want to learn manual technique, the Gaggia Classic Pro at a similar total spend gives you a 58mm portafilter and a machine built to last 15 years. Also worth reading: our best espresso machines for beginners covers how the Bambino Plus fits against the full field.