A quick look at the Barista Express Impress
Is this bean-to-cup home espresso machine the right one for you?
Launched in Europe at the back end of 2022, the Breville/Sage Barista Express Impress came as an exciting upgrade to the wildly popular and veteran in the home barista market, the Barista Express. The Impress aims to simplify and automate the task of making espresso at home with the introduction of new technology, such as Intelligent Dosing and Assisted Tamping.
The objective of this article is to go through all the important features of the Barista Express Impress and explain how they influence the workflow of the home barista. If you’re looking to buy an espresso machine for home, hopefully this article will help you figure out if this bean-to-cup home espresso machine is the right one for you.
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The old
The Barista Express Impress still keeps many of the standard features that you may find familiar from the Barista Express. For example:
thermocoil heating system (after turning it on, you have to wait a few minutes for the machine to warm up, before you can start making your espresso)
pressure gauge (serves as feedback on the espresso extraction)
54mm portafilter
one-hole steam wand (capable of creating café-quality steamed milk, but it’s slow, requiring a lot of patience and persistence in the process)
The welcome upgrade
Before diving into the more flashy novelties, it’s worth pointing out that the built-in grinder of the Barista Express Impress offers more room for adjustments:
the external dial has 25 grind settings and
if further adjustments are needed, the inner burr has 10 additional steps (you might need to adjust this one in case you reached the finest setting on the external dial, but you still need to extract more from your coffee beans, therefore grind even finer)
This is great, because it gives you more flexibility in finding the best grind size during the dial in process.
The new
What makes the Barista Express Impress so exciting is what’s being dubbed as the Impress Puck System, made of Intelligent Dosing and Assisted Tamping. Its purpose is to offer an easier and more consistent dosing and tamping, particularly useful for the beginner home barista.
Intelligent Dosing
Intelligent Dosing means the machine is capable to automatically measure and adjust your coffee dose. How does this work? After you tamp, if your dose requires a different quantity of coffee (either more or less), you receive visual feedback through a meter that lights up and helps guide your next step. For example:
if your dose is OK, then you’ll be guided to just go ahead with your flow
if you need to add or remove coffee, the machine will let you know, so you can make adjustments as needed, then continue with your flow
The system autocorrects, meaning it remembers the last dose and tamp, and adjusts to deliver a better dose for your next coffee.
Assisted Tamping
Right when you open up the box, the individual tamper is nowhere to be found. How so? The tamper is integrated in the machine itself, folded behind a cover right above the grinding cradle. You activate it by pushing down the side lever, helping you achieve a flat and consistent puck of coffee grinds.
Once the tamp is finalized, this will inform the machine if the dose is right. In case needed, the machine will adjust it accordingly for the following espresso shot.
Conclusion: Is this bean-to-cup home espresso machine the right one for you?
If you’re looking for a more automated experience: this might be it
If you want to start making espressos at home without having to worry about what accessories to get or you simply don’t have the time to spend perfecting your skills, this might be the espresso machine for you.
You won’t have the same control and flexibility over the dial in process. But, you gain speed and convenience. By simplifying and automating parts of the workflow, the Barista Express Impress can be a great starting point for the beginner home barista.
If you’re looking for a more analogue experience: you might find it limiting
However, if you’d like to dive deeper into the art of espresso and you prefer a more hands-on approach to making coffee at home (such as manually weighing and dosing, WDT and manual tamping), then you might find the Barista Express Impress limiting. It might be best for you to consider other options, such as the Barista Express or the Barista Pro.
I hope you find these tips helpful and, if you’d like to dive deeper, you may consider our espresso and latte art home barista workshops. Happy brewing!
P.S. If you enjoyed reading this, you might find this blogpost here interesting too – Barista Express Impress vs Barista Pro