Breville Precision Brewer Review

Why choose Breville Precision Brewer over other machines?

Breville has made its name in blenders and juicers. Recently, the company has been entering new and uncharted territories of espresso machines and drip coffee makers. In my experience, its coffee makers have been pretty reliable. As you will see in this Breville Precision Brewer review, this machine is not too different in terms of sophisticated feature set and high performance.

I really love how much thought Breville put into creating Breville Precision Brewer BDC450. In my mind, what truly differentiates the BDC450 Precision Brewer from other machines is the possibility to customize and save a brewing process that yields the most delicious coffee for me. I can decide on brewing temperature, strength, blooming time, flow rate and many other settings.

• Customizable brewing process (+ability to save the settings)
• Robust functionality that allows users to brew phenomenal coffee into a carafe or a mug
• Very easy and convenient coffee brewing
• Modern and versatile exterior appearance

Who is Breville Precision Brewer perfect for?

In my opinion, Breville Precision Brewer is a very strong coffee machine that can appeal to a variety of different users. As I was researching or testing for this Breville Precision Brewer review, I found this machine to be very simple to use yet with a great feature set. It also yielded very good coffee, and I was able to customize the settings to fit my coffee preference.

I feel that Breville Precision Brewer can be a perfect choice for those who are looking for an espresso machine that has any or all of the following characteristics:

✓ Flexible and customizable coffee brewing

✓ Ability to control the brewing process (e.g. temperature, strength, blooming time, flow rate)

✓ Ability to save settings to brew my favorite coffee beverage

✓ Cold brew (10 hour immersion of coffee grounds in water) and brew over ice

✓ Fairly easy to clean

✓ Families and individuals who value a strong brand and high quality

Who is Breville Precision Brewer NOT perfect for?

Just like with other coffee maker reviews, I would love to remain honest in this Breville Precision Brewer review. I think that there are a couple of examples where where Breville Precision Brewer might not be a perfect choice:

✗ Desiring transparency in terms of inclusion of materials, plastics, chemicals and toxins in the appliance (I found Breville to be vague and not transparent about materials used)

✗ Plastic-free appliance

✗ Super easy appliance to use

✗ Easy to clean (and to clean properly)

✗ Consistency in quantity and quality of coffee

✗ Glass carafe

✗ Affordable, or with a strong price-to-value ratio

Breville Precision Brewer Review and Evaluation 🕵️

→ Appearance

When I first set my eyes on the Breville Precision Brewer BDC450 Coffee Maker two things came to my mind. First, the unit was clean and professional looking, with the majority covered in matte stainless steel, and some dark gray plastic. Second, there was a cute small LCD display on this brewer.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that there was a whole palette of clean-looking colors, from a matte silver design, a transparent glass water reservoir, to dark gray and black parts (e.g. plastic parts on the basket, the carafe and the bottom of the brewer).

I really enjoyed the LCD display, which came with a light blue color. Interestingly, the LCD was not touch screen. There was a dial “Select” underneath the screen, which allowed me to make proper selections for a variety of options (to brew coffee just the way I liked it). Right below it, there were 2 additional buttons.

Breville Precision Brewer fitted quite well in my kitchen. It was medium size, measuring about 16 inches in height. However, I did not love its un-removable water reservoir.

I would like to emphasize in this Breville Precision Brewer review that though the machine fitted quite well, I had to pull it out from under the cabinet each time to refill water and perform operations. Because the unit is fairly heavy (13lbs), I was tired after a couple of days of using it.

Overall, I was really fascinated about Breville BDC 450 Precision Brewer Coffee Maker. It had a clean-cut, professional and modern-looking design.

→ Features and technical specs

Voltage: Breville Precision Brewer BDC450 is made for 120V, and can be used in Canada and the US only.

Basket size: I really loved that Breville Precision Brewer came with two filter baskets, which allowed for different volumes of coffee. First, there is the regular brew basket called “Flat Bottom.” With it, I can usually brew 8 to 12 cups of coffee. I looked up what the standard amount of ground coffee would be with the Specialty Coffee Association of America, and I found out that that the recommendation is about 3.5oz. Second, there was a smaller basket called “Cone Filter.” It was smaller, about half the size, which allowed me to brew anywhere between 2 to 8 cups with about 2oz of ground coffee.

Beverage size: Breville Precision Brewer BDC450 brews up to 12 cups of coffee. Again, I was able to use different basket sizes for my desired amount and strength of coffee.

Weight: I found the weight of this product rather heavier compared to other similar brewers. The Breville BDC450 Precision Brewer weighs about 13 lbs. Though a bit heavier, it was not a big problem for me. I just set it in one place to brew delicious coffee.

Unit size: Breville BDC450 Precision Brewer is medium-to-large in size. It measures about 12.4 x 6.7 x 15.7 inches. I suppose this may not say much, but my first impression was that it is was rather usual compared with many other best drip coffee makers. Though my kitchen is not big at all, I never had any problems with it fitting this drip coffee maker in.

Water reservoir: Unfortunately the water reservoir is non-removable. However, filling it is really simple, there are no parts “standing in the way”. There is also a scale on the reservoir which allows me to know the exact amount of water I’ve just put in. It gets really useful when choosing the Over Ice mode for example. There is usually a bit of water left after every brewing, but as I’ve heard from Breville customer service, it is for the health of the brewer to let a bit of water into it.

Additional perks: Breville Precision Brewer BDC450 comes with a unique and robust feature set. This robust feature set allowed me to brew different (but overall excellent) coffee each day, to my liking. There’s a lot to cover, but focusing on just a couple of main features:

✓ Breville Precision Brewer allowed me to control coffee strength. When I selected “stronger” coffee, Breville turned up the heating temperature and slowed down the water pump to allow coffee grounds more time for extraction.

✓ Breville Precision Brewer can automatically adjust to brew coffee according to the pre-set best standards defined by the Specialty Coffee Association. In my experience, Breville did quite a phenomenal job with auto-adjusting. I cannot tell for sure, but it seems like the machine knows how much coffee is going to be brewed, and it self-adjusts.

✓ Breville Precision Brewer allowed me to not just find but save my own brewing settings that yield coffee I enjoy day after day, year after year. It took me quite a bit of time experimenting with different settings, but I was so happy to try so many different coffee variations. I was able to set the bloom time (the amount of time the hot water spends on ground coffee), brewing temperature (176-208F), flow rate (fast or slow), and the pour over, to name just a few.

✓ Just like some other best drip coffee makers, Breville Precision Brewer BDC450 comes with an automatic drip-stop valve. As soon as the carafe is removed, the dripping ceases. With this feature, I was able to save some time on cleaning afterwards.

In addition, there’s some other perks of this coffee maker. It comes with a 60oz water reservoir. Unfortunately, the reservoir was not removable and it was a bit challenging to clean. Further, because this machine is so tall, I had to pull this coffee maker out from under the cabinet.

The machine can also brew coffee over ice, and can brew in the cold mode. With the cold mode, I was able to set the machine to brew coffee for about 10 hours. Water stayed even for about 10 hours on ground coffee. That way, my cold brew reached a smooth and tasty flavor.

Further, I really enjoyed that I had the flexibility to choose between the carafe and my own mug to brew coffee. Whenever I wanted to make only one cup of coffee, I could just take out the carafe and put my favorite mug in instead. The drip-stop valve then kept the pouring automatically closed for like 40 seconds.

→ Performance

Brewing time: It took me about 7-8 minutes to brew a full 12-cup carafe. However, the machine comes with a fast brew mode. With it, I brewed a full 12-cup carafe in about 5.5 to 6 minutes. Interestingly, I did not get consistent brewing time across my different brewings. Perhaps, Breville Precision Brewer BDC450 is able to detect how much ground coffee and water I have put in, and it further accounts for various settings to brew my perfect beverage.

Flavor: I was quite happy with Breville Precision Brewer. It combined a perfect temperature, sufficient brewing and blooming times, and great strength. I like my coffee different ways from dark, rich and strong to more fruity and flavorful. This Brewer did the job phenomenally for me.

Temperature: I was really pleased with Breville Precision Brewer’s brewing temperatures. Not only was I able to set my preferred temperature, but the Brewer actually reached those temperatures. In one brewing, the brewing temperature reached 203 F degrees. Interestingly, however, the temperature did not remain consistent throughout brewing. With each additional ounce of water that passed through, the water was getting less and less hot.

Noise levels: I thought that the noise levels were unremarkable in this machine. With Breville BDC450, I did not experience any major noise problems. It seems that the brewer is high-tech, so it does not produce or yield any aggravating noises.

Cleaning: Cleaning is easy though not perfectly easy. It takes me about 20-30 minutes to properly clean the machine. A lot of parts are removable, but the water reservoir is NOT. This was a huge disappointment for me, as I am never able to truly clean out the reservoir. I always wonder if some bacteria began living there.

When cleaning the unit, I tend to just wipe down the exterior with a soft cloth. I wash some removable parts, like the reusable filter and carafe in warm, soapy water.

Breville recommends at the very least emptying and rinsing the carafe and lid after each use, and descaling the coffee maker when the “descale” light flashes.

There are no specific instructions regarding descaling solutions in the owner’s manual, so I contacted Breville. A customer service rep told me that I could use any commercial descaling solution meant for use with coffee pots, or a 50/50 mixture of white distilled vinegar and water.

Customer-reported technical issues

During my use of Breville BDC450 Precision Brewer, I had come across no issues. However, there appear to be very few users experiencing minor (and hopefully rare) technical issues with the coffee brewer:

• LCD screen crashing
• he whole brewing system crash: it appears that there are 2 ways to fix this: a) unplug, plug and restart, or b) get a replacement from Breville

→ Health and safety

Breville BDC450 Precision Brewer Coffee Maker has a solid stainless steel body with a few plastic parts.

Initially, Breville did not provide much information on what plastics were used. However, Breville has recently been publicly confirming that the parts that come in contact with hot water were BPA-free.

However, as you might be aware by now, we are particularly concerned about coffee makers and espresso machines where plastic comes in contact with hot water. Though the machine may be BPA-free, there are other potentially toxic plastics that may or may not be used in the manufacturing process.

Further, Breville Precision Brewer was flagged under the California Proposition 65. This means that the product was classified in California as possibly containing substances identified by California as causing cancer or reproductive toxicity.

→ Price to value: is Breville Precision Brewer worth the money?

Breville BDC450 Precision Brewer Coffee Maker sells for anywhere in the $$$$$ price range. I find this price good for the value it offers. I am mesmerized by the feature set, which I can take a full advantage of to brew my favorite coffee. On that note, Breville Precision Brewer brews really delicious coffee, and adapts to my needs and flavors. I enjoy flexibility and adaptability of this coffee maker to my own individual needs.

However, I am seriously disappointed in Breville’s lack of transparency in terms of materials used in the manufacturing process (as I explained, I was not able to find much detailed information officially released by Breville). Further, the product was identified by the state of California to include materials that are known to the state of California to cause cancer or reproductive issues.

With all these considerations, I know that I can find better drip coffee makers, which satisfy my expectations. Those coffee makers are more affordable, or come with a much stronger feature set (and more delicious coffee!).

Should I buy Breville Precision Brewer? Owly’s verdict! 🔨

Breville Precision Brewer is a strong position among drip coffee makers. It comes with a really great feature set and good coffee. However, in my humble opinion, this coffee maker is very expensive. For the price point that it sells for (anywhere between $199 and $299), I would expect a drip coffee maker that’s almost entirely plastic-free (and most definitely BPA-free).

I still believe that Breville Precision Brewer can be a great choice for some. It brews really good coffee, and I was really impressed with how customizable and flexible this coffee maker was.

Do you like your Breville Precision Brewer? Did you enjoy our Breville Precision Brewer review? Let us know in the comments!