I have a Barista Touch, but the Barista Pro uses the same heating system that Breville calls "thermojet" which is ready at a whopping 3 seconds after turning the machine on. Because this system is an "on the fly" heating system it only heats water on demand as it's being pumped into either the steam wand, hot water spout, or brew head. The downfall of this is the portafilter does not get warmed up until the system is in use as the group head isn't electrically heated or heated by anything except for hot water as it's brewing. Turning the machine on and leaving it on until the machine goes into energy saving mode and automatically shuts it off after 25 minutes, still the portafilter still is no warmer than it was at start up.

Oddly I noticed that even doing a couple blank shots didn't really warm it all that much and the water coming out was only 150 degrees or so, which after doing only 2 blank shots didn't warm up the portafilter like I would have expected. I noticed after doing the automated back flush cleaning the water was extremely hot and I had steam coming from my drip tray. I started to do some research online and read somewhere online about using a pressurized portafilter to do blank shots as the PIDs don't kick on until the system is pressurized. I gave this a shot and sure enough after the 2nd blank single shot I was able to read a temp of 204 degrees coming out of the portafilter basket (my brew temp is set to the highest setting). I drop my double unpressurized basket into my espresso cup and run 2 blank shots into it. After 2 blank shots the portafilter is too hot to touch as is the water inside the cup. Then swapping to the unpressurized basket and pulling an actual espresso leads to the temp being very hot, for some too hot to drink.

I've read a lot about the thermojet system not reaching high enough temps and people disappointed in the espresso their pulling, sometimes so much so they're returning their machines or getting replacements because the espresso is lukewarm. I wanted to share my experience and see if others share similar or different experiences. Also so this pops up in a google search so it may help someone out in the future.

Glad to find someone else discussing this issue in this forum. I've had the same issue with the BBT, and I'm getting ready to return it. Here are my findings with my BBT so far:

-Water temp out of the brew head starts off at around 160-170F then tails off quickly to 140-150F. After the blank shots are pulled, the water in the cup is about 140-145F. Breville website states that the coffee in the cup should be between 160-180F.
-There was no noticeable change in water temp whether I set temp to -4, ideal, or +4.
-Water temp coming out of the dedicated hot water spout came out at 190-195F.
-Steam pressure for the wand is real good, so clearly the heating system is working.
-My shots have all come out sour to super sour even when I try to overextract by going superfine and/or increasing tamp pressure.

I have read the same complaints even on the Breville double boiler machines. But not as much as the BBT.

For the record, I am an espresso noobie.

I have the same issue. My pulls are cool and often toxic. I think Breville is going to replace my machine. I've asked if this is an inherent problem but no response to that question. Should I return it? But then where to go from there.