layout: default title: Bambini aka The Bambino and Bambino Plus parent: Breville grand_parent: Manufacturers

Frontmatter

  • Yes the Bambinos can pull good espresso.
  • No a 54mm basket isn’t inherently worse.
  • Why was this written? Because so many of you have it.

General Information

Portafilter: 54mm Max Shot Length: 60 Seconds Pre-Infusion: Yes; seemingly lower pressure; max 10 seconds. PID: Built-in with no ability to adjust (Set to 93 Celsius)1 Heating System: “ThermoJet” flat heating element. 3 sec heat up time. Hot Water Dispenser: Yes (Bambino Plus requires a special button combination) Pressure: Rated at 9 bars

Bambino

  • Aluminum Portafilter
  • Fully articulating Steam wand (ball joint)
  • Capable of blooming shots due to the lack of a “3 way valve”2
    • Drips after stopping a shot
    • “Wetter” pucks in theory

      Bambino Plus

      The plus has a few additional features listed below:

  • Stainless Steel portafilter (heavier and larger thermal mass)
  • Milk Autofroth function w/ Auto Purge
    • Results in less free-movement in the wand
  • “3 way valve” that diverts water away from the puck at the end of the shot
    • This prevents blooming style shots of espresso
    • Results in a drier puck and minimal drips when stopping a shot
    • The solenoid does not engage immediately when stopping a shot. There is a small delay.

What’s in the box?

Is this section needed?

General Cleaning

Cleaning your group-head and Backflushing

If you have a Bambino/Bambino Plus you should flush your group-head after each shot or set of shots and give it a wipe at the end of your shot(s) and flushing.

If you have the Bambino Plus; you are able to backflush as needed.

Descaling

Both machines will remind or require you to run a descaling cycle after a certain number of shots. This can be done using the provided Dezcal solution. The manual should include the recommended mixtures and amounts for each machine.

You can learn more about water chemistry here.

Pain-points and Oddities

Drip Tray

It is small; you are going to have to deal with it. Some folks will use a separate cup to catch drips/purges etc.

For the Bambino Plus; if you don’t keep the sensor clean when using the “AutoMilk” feature; it may have trouble detecting the the temperature of the milk.

The tamper

It is bad; it doesn’t fill the whole width of the basket so you will need to tamp again to get rid of the edges. A new one is recommended; but not absolutely required.

Steamwand

Good milk is possible and relatively easy. Its not the most powerful steamwand but very capable of producing good microfoam. The Bambino has a 1-hole steam tip and the Bambino Plus has a 4-hole steam tip.

Steaming

You will need to purge before steaming milk due to condensation gathering in the wand. It is plenty powerful and you can get well textured milk.

(Insert link to milk steaming video)

I’ve found that dairy milk will not come off of a still hot steam wand. I recommend catching some of the water used for flushing the group-head after the shot and using that to wet your towel and to give the wand a good wipe.

Descale Reminders

It would appear different version of the Bambino/Bambino Plus have different parameters for cleaning. Some will let you skip the cleaning and some will not. May the odds ever be in your favor

That being said; descale your machine unless you have water that won’t scale. (Link to water wiki)

Potential Pitfalls

Grinding

It’s not uncommon to have a Bambino sold in stores that don’t offer espresso capable grinders. This can lead to a number of unexpected issues for first time users outlined below:

  • Not having a grinder
    • You can ask for a recommendation in the EAF discord or read the wiki. Since grinders come out what feels like every week; I recommended asking discord.
  • Grinder doesn’t grind fine enough for espresso
    • You can try pulling turbos
    • You can use the pressurized baskets that came with your machine. You may have to coarsen your grind.
  • The difference between grind settings is too great
    • You’ll notice this happening when you change your grind by 1 setting and it goes from gushing to choking. But ask.

Dialing In intricacies

With a 54mm portafilter; you will likely be grinding coarser as compared to a 58mm when considering the same kind of coffee. This is due to the depth of the puck imparting more resistance compared to a thinner puck of a 58mm.

Tips and Tricks

Dealing With a Tiny Driptray

You can purge the steam wand into a separate jar/bowl/container so as not to fill the drip tray as rapidly. Bonus is that you can empty a cup or jug a lot easier than the tray. Pro-tip; use something that you don’t have to tilt to remove from under the steam wand.

Quick Purge on the Bambino (minus)

You can purge the steam wand by holding down the steam button until the pump engage. This will jet out 3 spurts of water to empty the steam wand.

The solenoid and steaming on the Bambino (minus)

From Lexycorn in EAF:

…Inside the machine the heater has to be switched between the group and steam wand. By starting a shot you are connecting the group to the heater and allowing excess pressure and steam to be purged through the group head instead…

The method is as follows:

While steaming you can press the brew button twice somewhat slowly to trigger the brew function. This toggles a solenoid that divers steam/pressure from the wand to the brew group. This stops the steaming immediately.

CAVEAT IMPEROTOR: This can lead to the wand “Sucking up” milk as its not designed to be switched like that. Make sure you purge to prevent or lessen the risk of this.

  1. People have experimented with adding resistors or potentiometers to adjust the temperature. Not for the faint of heart. ↩

  2. 3 way is in quotes because per a teardown The Bambino minus has a 3 way valve as it routes water/steam from the thermojet to the steam wand or grouphead. The Plus has 4 paths so that it can also route from the grouphead to the drip-tray. ↩