Breville Bambino vs Bambino Plus: One Real Difference, Spec by Spec

Rows where the two differ are listed first. Everything below the 'Same on both' line is identical on Breville's spec sheets.

Two rows need context. The heat-up figure is Breville's own claim ('ready to start in 3 seconds' on both product pages), not a measurement of ours. And the 15 bar figure is the pump's rating: Breville's spec line itself says extraction happens at 9 bar after pre-infusion, which matches the 9 bar ± 1 condition the Istituto Nazionale Espresso Italiano lists for certified espresso. Neither machine has a higher-pressure advantage over the other.

On the Bambino you steam milk the traditional way: purge the wand, position the pitcher, introduce air, then sink the tip to spin and heat the milk, judging temperature by hand or with a thermometer. It is a skill, and like any skill it takes repetition before results are consistent.

On the Bambino Plus, Breville lists an automatic steam wand for 'hands-free milk texturing', with adjustable milk temperature and texture levels. In other words, the two judgements a beginner finds hardest (how much air to add and when the milk is hot enough) become settings you choose in advance rather than skills you build. Breville's instruction book for the Plus describes the exact steps; read it before buying if the workflow matters to you.

How much this is worth depends on how much of your drink is milk. The Istituto Nazionale Espresso Italiano describes a traditional cappuccino as 25 ml of espresso and 100 ml of steam-foamed milk, so by volume the milk is four times the coffee. For a cappuccino or latte drinker, milk texture shapes most of what is in the cup; for an espresso drinker it is irrelevant.

In practice this matters most in three situations: more than one person makes drinks (consistent milk regardless of who presses the button), mornings are rushed (you can prepare the shot while milk heats), or you simply do not want to learn steaming. If none of those apply, the Bambino's manual wand does the same physical job. Learning it costs milk and patience rather than money, and the skill transfers to any machine with a steam wand you buy later, including the many boiler machines that use a manual wand.

The tank gap is real but modest: 47 fl oz on the Bambino against 64 fl oz on the Plus. At Baratza's starter ratio of 36 g of espresso per shot, either tank makes many shots between refills; the bigger tank mostly matters if you also steam a lot of milk, use hot water for americanos, or flush the group between shots.

The Bambino has a dedicated Hot Water button. Breville lists the Plus's buttons as 1 Cup, 2 Cup and Steam, with hot water delivered through the steam wand. If you drink americanos daily, check how each machine's hot water works in the manual before buying.

Weight differs by about half a pound (10.42 lb against 10.91 lb) and the footprint is effectively the same: both 7.7 in wide and 12.2 in tall, 12.6 in deep for the Bambino and 12.5 in for the Plus by Breville's listing figures. Either fits where the other fits.

One practical note on size: Breville lists the same 1560 W rating for both, and the same 12.2 in height. Whatever clearance you need above one machine to fill the tank or lift it out, you need for the other, so measure once for both.

On hot water: the Bambino's separate button makes topping up an americano a one-step job. On the Plus, Breville routes hot water through the steam wand. Neither is wrong, but if americanos are your daily drink, the dedicated button is the one functional advantage the cheaper machine has.

Because the espresso hardware is identical, the shot quality you get from either machine depends on the same things: your grinder, your beans and your recipe. Breville lists the same ThermoJet heater, the same PID control and the same 54 mm basket set, so a Bambino and a Bambino Plus fed the same coffee from the same grinder should behave the same way on the espresso side.

That has two consequences. First, neither machine has a built-in grinder, so budget one if you plan to use fresh beans in the single-wall baskets. Breville's manual says single-wall baskets are for freshly ground beans and dual-wall baskets for pre-ground coffee; the Bambino manual gives capacities of 8–11 g for the 1-cup basket and 16–19 g for the 2-cup. Second, the money you save by choosing the Bambino over the Plus is roughly what an entry espresso grinder costs, which for many buyers is the better use of it.

Grinders that suit either machine are listed on our Bambino grinder page. Two examples from makers' specs: Baratza's Encore ESP puts 20 micro-steps (settings 1–20) in the espresso range on 40 mm conical burrs, and Breville's own Smart Grinder Pro lists 60 settings and includes a cradle for 50–54 mm portafilters, so it grinds straight into either Bambino's basket. Baratza's dialling-in advice applies to both machines equally: go finer if the shot is sour and quick, coarser if it is bitter and slow.

Ownership is the same too. Breville ties descaling to the machine's own indicator rather than a fixed calendar and advises against distilled or demineralised water, so maintenance does not separate the two models either.

Choose by milk habits and by what else the budget needs to cover.

A useful way to frame the money: at Breville's list prices, the Plus costs about $200 more. A Bambino plus an entry espresso grinder in that band lands near the Plus's price alone. So the real comparison for many buyers is Bambino-plus-grinder against Plus-on-pre-ground-coffee, and for fresh-bean espresso the first setup is the stronger one. If you already own a capable grinder, that argument disappears and milk habits decide it outright.

If neither feels right, the next step up in Breville's range is the Barista Express, which adds a 16-setting built-in grinder and a pressure gauge but is a much bigger box: Breville lists it at 15.9 in tall, against 12.2 in for the Bambino. Our Bambino Plus vs Barista Express page compares those two directly.