Breville Barista Touch Espresso machine: Extraction

Portafilter and filter basket

When I make a Flat White for my wife and me, the espresso starts flowing in under seven seconds. This means the extraction is too fast. This indicates the grind is too coarse.

One must adjust the grinder to a finer setting by turning the dial on the side of the machine. Change the grinding size one unit at a time. A change of two is the limit.

The goal is to increase resistance, to slow the flow of espresso through the filter basket, resulting in a drier, more compact puck.

How to Adjust the Grinder for a Slower Flow

1. Adjust the Side Dial: Turn the grind dial on the side of the machine to a lower number. This results in a finer grind.

2. Adjust in Increments: Change the grind size by small increments (about 1–2 units at most). 

3. Increase Dose: If the dose is underweight and the razor does not touch the surface of the ground coffee in the portafilter with attached filter cup, you can increase the amount of coffee grounds by increasing the grinding time.

4.  Adjust Internal Burrs: This is a real last ditch effort. I have never tried this but I did find this recommendation on the Internet in a couple of places. 

   If the side dial is already at its finest setting (1 or 2) and the shot is still too fast, you may need to adjust the inner top burr. Remove the hopper, take out the top burr, and adjust the metal wire handle to a lower number (e.g., from 6 to 4 or 3).

Puck Condition

• Drier Puck: Because a finer grind requires higher pressure to pass through, the machine, the extraction will be more efficient, resulting in a drier, firmer, and more compact puck.

• Faster Flow Equals Damp/Muddy Puck: If the coffee is too coarse (flowing too fast), the puck will often be damp and muddy, as water passes through without being properly trapped.  

The goal is to aim for an extraction that begins in roughly 8–10 seconds and finishes around 25–30 seconds. If all goes as planned, you now have an espresso with nicely balanced flavour.

And, if the puck, while still in the portafilter, looks quite wet with a centre hole running right through the entire puck, you have forgotten the filter basket. Oops! The coffee streams will have started quite early and there will be coffee grounds in your drink. Toss the drink and start over.

Making a Flat White using the Breville Barista Touch Espresso Machine

My Flat White has a round glob of thin foam.

I am not a coffee freak. So, why am I putting up a post with instructions on brewing a Flat White using a high end espresso machine? 

I'll tell you why; I bought my wife a Breville Barista Touch Espresso machine for Christmas. Need I say more? I cannot let a coffee brewing machine of that calibre gather dust.

As a new-to-the-scene novice coffee brewer, I settled on the Flat White as my coffee of choice. The Barista Touch has a number of automatic brew settings. Among them is Flat White.  This is a is a double espresso with about an equal amount of heated milk, maybe little more, and minimal froth. 

Before starting

• Fill the water tank almost to the maximum fill line.
• Fill the coffee hopper. Do not use green beans.
• Gather everything you will need: 

portafilter

double shot, 2-cup filter basket (While learning, I do not use the Dual Wall filter basket.)

dosing funnel

Razor coffee grounds levelling tool

a six-ounce, insulated coffee cup 

stainless steel milk frothing container

ample cold milk (not skim)

sugar 

teaspoon 

two small towels or dish clothes–one dry and one damp.

Step 1 – Press the on/off button and select Flat White on the screen

• From the main drinks menu, touch Flat White on the touchscreen.​

• The screen will show three steps: Grind, Brew, Milk, with preset shot volume and milk texture/temperature appropriate for a Flat White (less frothy than a cappuccino).

Step 2 – Grind and dose

• Snap the double shot, 2‑cup, filter basket into the portafilter. If you forget, coffee grounds will fly from the machine. To stop the grinding, immediately push the on/off button or the grind button.

• With the dosing filter locked in place inside the portafilter, attach the dosing funnel and slide all into the grinder cradle.

• Touch “Grind” or push in the portafilter to start grinding. For this first Flat White, accept the default settings for time and grind size.

• After grinding, remove all from the cradle, use tamping tool to compact the ground coffee, remove the dosing filter and finish tamping down the coffee. Level using the Razor tool if necessary. After using the Razor, tamp firmly one last time.

Step 3 – Attach portafilter and extract espresso

• Lock the portafilter, minus the dosing filter, into the group head by rotating the handle to the right until it stops.

• Place an insulated, dual wall, cup under the spouts.

• On the Flat White screen ensure “Double” is selected and touch “Brew” to start extraction.

• Watch the flow: two thin streams should start at the seven second mark or a second or two later. The brewing will finish at the preset time. (At this point, I like to add the sugar to the hot espresso.)

Step 4 – Heat and froth  milk

• Fill the stainless steel milk jug to just above the fill line on the steam wand. The stainless steel jug has minimum and maximum levels marked on the jug but I have a difficult time seeing the marks from the inside.

• The tip of the steam wand should be sitting in the milk just below the surface. The jug must be sitting on the temperature sensor.​ Try not to let the sensor get wet. Keep the sensor dry at all times.

• On the Flat White screen, check the Milk settings: 

 Temperature: medium to medium‑high (around 150 °F is typical).

 Froth level: low (4). This results in less foam than called for by latte or cappuccino).

• Touch “Milk” to start auto heating and foaming.​

• Make sure the stainless steel jug is sitting on the sensor at all times. This is important.   

Step 5 – Flush and wipe the steam wand when finished

• As soon as the unit is finished heating and texturing, remove the jug, wipe the steam wand and tip thoroughly with a clean, damp cloth.​

• Place a small, dry towel or small, dry dish cloth over the sensor. It should not get wet. Then lower the wand to the down position. It will automatic purge itself into the drip tray with a short burst of steam and shot of hot water. This clears milk from inside the wand.​

• If auto‑purge did not run, briefly start and stop steam (“Milk” button) with the wand pointed into the drip tray to purge, then wipe again.​

Step 6 – Pour milk and add foam

• Begin pouring from a couple of centimetres above the cup so the milk integrates with the espresso and carries crema to the top.​

• When the cup is about halfway full, bring the jug closer to the surface and pour into the centre to create a white circle.

A Flat White should end up as about a five ounce drink with a strong espresso flavour modified by a little more than an equal amount of heated milk. The foam layer is visible but thin.

After enjoying your Flat White

Every time you finish enjoying a milk‑based drink, do these quick tasks to keep the machine performing well and to avoid sour milk residue.

1. Knock out puck and rinse portafilter

• Remove the portafilter and knock out the used coffee puck.

• Remove the filter basket and rinse both the basket and portafilter under hot water to remove coffee oils and grounds.​

• Dry with a dish cloth.

2. Quick group head flush

• With clean portafilter with filter basket clicked in place, installed the portafilter just as you would to brew coffee. Place an empty cup below the group head. Briefly start “Brew” to run hot water through the group head for a few seconds, rinsing out any remaining coffee residue.​ Some users do this step without the portafilter and filter basket in place. I like the attached approach better.

• Stop the water, remove portafilter with filter basket inserted, separate, wash and dry. 

3. Drip tray and work area

• Check the drip tray. It will have collected some water. Clean and rinse all the drip tray parts.

Wipe any spilled coffee or milk from the tray and surrounding surfaces. Take care not to let the milk temp sensor get wet.

Of course, Breville has posted some instructions. Here is a link to: 


How to make a flat white at home