Precision Brewer

Breville

Programmable batch brewer with adjustable bloom and flow.

Breville Precision Brewer

The batch brewer with the settings other batch brewers refuse to give you: bloom time, flow rate, brew temperature, and cone or flat baskets. Closest thing to a programmable pour-over.

Roast	Grind	Coffee	Water	Time
light	medium-fine	12 g	180 ml	6:40
medium	medium	11 g	180 ml	6:20
dark	medium-coarse	10 g	180 ml	5:50

Per 180 ml cup. Makes 2–12 at a time.

What goes wrong

Leaving it on the default preset (the adjustability is the entire value proposition), swapping cone and flat baskets while dialling in grind (two different brewers, no stable baseline), a 20-second bloom on very fresh coffee (CO2 lifts the bed, sour), running a full-batch cycle on a small dose (over-fast flow, thin)

Care schedule

3 tasks for this machine.

Wash the carafe properly

Weekly

Coffee leaves a brown film on glass and a duller one on steel. It is not a stain, it is oil, and it goes rancid - a thermal jug that has never been properly cleaned adds a stale note to everything poured into it.

What you need

A long-handled brush. Bicarbonate of soda, an oxygenated cleaner such as Cafiza, or a denture tablet. Hot water.

What goes wrong

Leaving the pot on the hot plate to dry out, which bakes the film on hard. Cleaning the jug and never the lid. Dishwashing an insulated jug. Taking a scourer to glass and leaving scratches that hold more oil than before.

The procedure

Rinse with hot water after every pot, before the oil dries. That is 90 percent of the job.

5 more steps

The full procedure is in the app, along with a reminder when this is next due. Add the Precision Brewer to your shelf and it keeps track.

Get the app

Replace the water filter

Every 2 months

The cartridge in the tank is what keeps scale off the element between descales. An exhausted one stops filtering and starts shedding - carbon fines, and whatever it has been holding onto.

What you need

The correct cartridge for your machine - Breville BWF, Jura CLARIS, DeLonghi or Philips AquaClean, Keurig charcoal, or the maker's equivalent. A jug of water for soaking.

What goes wrong

Skipping the soak, then wondering why the pump rattles and runs dry. Forgetting to reset the counter. Treating the filter as a replacement for descaling. Leaving an exhausted cartridge in for months, which is worse than running no filter at all.

The procedure

Match the cartridge to the machine. These are not interchangeable between brands, and a forced fit leaks past the seal instead of filtering.

4 more steps

The full procedure is in the app, along with a reminder when this is next due. Add the Precision Brewer to your shelf and it keeps track.

Get the app

Descale the brewer

Every 3 months

Scale insulates the heating element, so the water never reaches brew temperature and the coffee comes out thin and sour. It also shortens the element's life - a scaled machine runs hotter internally to deliver cooler water.

What you need

Citric acid powder, about 30g per litre, or a proprietary descaler. Two reservoirs of fresh water for rinsing. No paper filter in the basket.

What goes wrong

Leaving the paper filter in, which collapses and floods. Under-rinsing, so the next three pots taste of citric acid. Using vinegar on a machine whose manual forbids it. Descaling on a fixed calendar while ignoring water hardness, which is what actually drives the rate.

The procedure

Check your machine's manual for the descaling agent it allows. Some makers void the warranty if you use vinegar.

4 more steps

The full procedure is in the app, along with a reminder when this is next due. Add the Precision Brewer to your shelf and it keeps track.

Get the app

What it makes

Batch Brew

95 mg