BFC Junior double boiler. 1 year update.

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tonythewonderful
Posts: 92
Joined: 8 years ago

#1: Post by tonythewonderful »

Approximately a year ago I bought my BFC...
Now, I feel it's time for an update.

Unlike my previous mega-post which I drooled over so many pages, this time I'll try to be short and up to the point.

Would I buy this machine again, knowing what I've learnt about it? Well, definitely maybe.

Pros:
  1. Quality of coffee I can make with it. Incredible, predictable, absolutely amazing.
    1. I still keep my old Breville The Infuser (in the attic). And recently had a chance to compare, when we went out for a week. Well, leaving aside the fact that I lost much of Breville-skill, the Infuser was a real PITA in terms of getting good results. Breville has a deeper, but narrower basket, which in my hands would make nasty gushes in 10 seconds no matter what I did. The results tasted "hollow", there was no that "richness" and "power".
  2. Great steamer out of the box. We rarely drink straight espresso, so this part is crucial. I just set the PID for the steam boiler up to max 128C (~262F), this raises pressure up to 1.65 bar. It takes me about 10-15 seconds now to stretch a portion of milk. And its re-a-aly easy. Just put the nose of the wand into the middle of the pitcher, and up you go. No nonsense about keeping pitcher at an angle, or getting milk running in a vortex. I confess, sometimes it is too fast, especially in the morning, when I am still half asleep. But, hey! I can't complain!
    1. Again, comparing to Breville. The Infuser sux: (too) long time. Though it is much accurate with the results, provided you have steady hands and patience. Interesting to note, the pattern of steaming with Breville vs BFC is just the opposite. With Breville you start with no steam power, and it slowly ramps it up. With BFC you start with 200 horsepower of steam that slowly drains away.
  3. Cup tray. Maybe a bit on a small size, but accommodates 2 cappuccino cups, and 2 espresso cups, with space in between for a basket.


    And what I love the most, underneath the tray, there is a steel plate that covers the boilers and electronics. So, no worries about some water dripping from cups into inside - it will end up on the hot plate, and quickly evaporate.
  4. Drip tray. Deep, ˜1.5 L. Compared to that, Breville has a plastic toy for a drip tray.
  5. Incredibly durable design and the quality of a built.


Cons:
  1. You cannot plumb it in. That is, it does not have any pre-designed option to do so. 3L water tank might sound like a lot, but it really is not. Once you start rinsing the grouphead after each pull and do an obligatory double backflush with water after each second cup, you will realize the water is running out drastically fast. The machine does not have any indicators to tell you about the water level, instead it will just suddenly stop all heating and pumping... yes, you've guessed it, in the middle of a shot. And you need to remove the cup-tray to re-fill it. So, I eventually plumbed-in mine using a float valve in the water tank approach.
  2. Vibe-pump. It's a hellish thing. At first I thought it's rather OK, but then it started driving me mad with the noise. With all the cups vibrating and making those horrendous noises. Since an upgrade to a rotary pump wanted way too much, I compromised the matter by outboarding the vibe pump (into a separate sound insulated box that sits into the cupboard beneath the machine).


    With some dynamate inside the machine's cover, it's better, but it still vibrates. Less loudly, but only less. No way to make coffee if someone is still asleep.
    1. If you have extra cash, get yourself a rotary version (or better still a version with an outboard rotary pump). These vibes will get under your skin eventually, I guarantee it.
  3. Drip tray cover. The holes are too big, so the practice of blowing just a dash too much steam into the drip tray before and after steaming milk occasionally results in mess all around.