REASONS TO BUY
Good and balanced taste
Tons of features including a cold brew setting
REASONS TO AVOID
Expensive
Loud
Breville Precision Brewer Review
Made for anyone who enjoys customizing their coffee-making experience and appreciates consistent quality
Though they aren't dishwasher safe, the components of the Precision are detachable, making for an easy clean.
Credit: Laura Casner
RELATED: Best Drip Coffee Makers of 2024
Our Verdict
One of our absolute favorite drip coffee makers is the pour-over style Breville Precision Brewer. This brewer excels at making a luscious and flavorful cup of coffee that's smooth as silk, and we love its cold brew setting. The Precision Brewer has endless features and an intuitive interface for total customization. Pre-infusion, water flow rate, and temperature are all adjustable to preference so that you can customize your ultimate brew. This machine is the perfect tool for specialty coffee drinkers who enjoy uncovering the unique flavor profiles of their coffees and unlocking hidden taste potential. The Precision Brewer comes with a higher price tag, so it may not be the best option for most. Get the skinny on how it stacks up against other top products in our review of drip coffee makers.
Compare to Similar Products
 This Product Breville Precision Brewer | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards |  Best for Full Brewing Customization |  Best Overall Drip Coffee Maker | Best Runner Up Drip Coffee Maker |  Best Budget Drip Coffee Brewer | Best Drip Coffee Machine on a Tight Budget |
| Price | $330 List $329.95 at Amazon | $339 List $324.99 at Amazon | $360 List $359.00 at Amazon | $80 List $69.99 at Amazon | $78 List $59.99 at Amazon |
Overall Score  |
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| Star Rating | |||||
| Bottom Line | With a wide range of features and customization options, this brewer produces a quality cup and is a good option for specialty coffee drinkers | A well-made, top-quality drip brewer that makes outstanding coffee incredibly quick | A sleek and well-made drip brewer, this is ideal for enthusiasts who enjoy the ritual of making flavorful coffee | Easy to use, programmable options give you the tools to brew your coffee to your liking at a nice price | A cost-effective brewer that makes decent coffee and has more features than expected for its price |
| Rating Categories | Breville Precision... | Technivorm Moccamas... | Ratio Six Series 2 | Ninja 12-Cup Progra... | Black+Decker 12-Cup... |
| Taste (50%) | |||||
| Brew Quality (30%) | |||||
| Brew Time (10%) | |||||
| Ease of Use (10%) | |||||
| Specs | Breville Precision... | Technivorm Moccamas... | Ratio Six Series 2 | Ninja 12-Cup Progra... | Black+Decker 12-Cup... |
| Max Cup Capacity | 12 cups | 10 cups | 8 cups | 12 cups | 12 cups |
| Scheduled Brewing | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Average Brew Time for 6 Cups | 5.9 min | 4.3 min | 6.0 min | 7.8 min | 7.1 min |
| Average Measured Brew Temperature | 195.6 F | 193 F | 192.5 F | 191.6 F | 177.4 F |
| Descaling Time | 27 min | 18 min | 27 min | 42 min | 57 min |
| Dimensions (H x W x D) | 12.4" x 6.7" x 15.7" | 15.0" x 11.4" x 6.7" | 14.2" x 7.0" x 13.1" | 14.5" x 9.5" x 8.3" | 13.0" x 7.4" x 10.8" |
| Carafe Type | Insulated | Insulated | Insulated | Glass | Insulated |
| Preinfusion | Yes, Adjustable | No | Yes, Not Adjustable | Yes, Not Adjustable | No |
| Filter Shape | Cone or Flat | Cone | Flat | Cone | Flat |
| Cleaning indicator | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Power Draw | 1650 watts | 1400 watts | 1400 watts | 1100 watts | 750 watts |
| SCA Certified Home Brewer | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Show full specification detailsHide full specification details
Our Analysis and Test Results
This coffee maker offers exceptional brew quality through its customizable settings, giving you control over the brewing process. The Precision Brewer is a great choice for those who appreciate the flavor profile of a pour-over coffee but want the convenience of a machine. More than anything else, the complete adjustability of the Breville distinguishes it from the other brewers.
Performance Comparison
The Breville is loaded with controls and features that allow you to dial it into your exact specifications.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Taste
The taste of your coffee is what matters most. That's why the taste of the coffee comprises the majority of our overall score for drip coffee brewers. The Breville Precision Brewer produced flavorful cups of coffee that our team of taste testers thoroughly enjoyed, but the brews weren't quite top-tier.
If anything, the Precision Brewer proved to be consistent. Our testers' notes on flavor and mouthfeel were aligned across the board. Using dark roast coffee, the most forward flavors were burnt, nutty, and astringent, with subtle earthy notes detected. Though those are bold flavors, the overall taste profile was light, with a balanced mouthfeel that lingered on the palate. This brewer didn't extract the nutty or roasty notes, but for the resulting flavors, it created a smooth and balanced cup each and every time.
But since this machine has a veritable wealth of customization options, you can really hone your brew. I used the standard brew setting, but you'll likely be able to fine-tune the adjustments on this machine to really lock in great flavor extraction with a little effort and patience.
This brewer is impressively consistent, hitting ideal temperatures with every brew and giving us a full pot with comparable brewing times.
Credit: Laura Casner
Brew Quailty
The Breville impressed us with its adjustability in terms of water temperature and flow rate. Although it's best to brew with filtered water, the Breville automatically adjusts brew settings according to your water quality.
A Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Certified Home Brewer, the Breville reaches SCA-standard brew temperatures of 195°F to 205°F, with an average brew temperature of 195.6°F on default settings. Brew temperature is essential to proper coffee and flavor extraction. Therefore, this coffee maker's precise and adjustable temperature controls are crucial to producing quality brews.
The Precision Brewer offers intuitive controls and a large interface to navigate its seemingly endless settings.
Credit: Laura Casner
I made five pots of coffee one after the other and measured the temperature of each brew. The Precision Brewer had decent temperature consistency; there wasn't too much of a temperature difference in these back-to-back brews, with a variation of less than half a degree.
The preprogrammed and customizable brew settings on the Precision Brewer provide excellent parameters for any of your brewing needs. The Precision has brew modes from a single-cup pour-over to a 10-hour cold brew cycle.
Good water, accurate temp, and brew time are the key to brewing great coffee. This brewer allows you to customize and control all of these things, giving you the best flavor in your cup.
Credit: Laura Casner
The first brew modes on the Precision Brewer's menu manipulate water flow. For example, the Strong Brew setting slows down the brewer's pump, creating a longer brewed coffee. In contrast, Fast Brew speeds the pump up. The general rule of thumb is that the longer a coffee brews, the stronger the caffeine content will be.
The Cold Brew function is a no-heat setting that slows down brew time to 10-20 hours, different from the Over Ice function, calibrating for ice and cream dilution. The Gold setting reaches the SCA's Gold Cup standards for brew temperature and total brew time.
The cold brew setting allows for no-heat brewing in the brew basket for a set amount of time, 10 to 20 hours, before releasing it into the carafe.
Credit: Laura Casner
Finally, Breville appeases the coffee nerd in us all with the My Brew feature. This setting allows for complete customization over bloom time, temperature, and flow rate. My Brew introduces our favorite customizable element of Precision Brewer, the Pour-Over feature. You can automate your favorite pour-over device by using it in place of Breville's brew basket and carafe in this mode. Just pop into place the provided adapter, and you can brew with a V60 or Kalita brewer.
The customization of this brewer gives you so many options and full control of your coffee experience.
Credit: Laura Casner
Brew Time
The Precision Brewer brew time was impressive, with an average of 5 minutes 54 seconds from pressing brew to when the last drip fell. It is important to note that when the machine beeps to tell you the process is done, there is actually around a minute-long wait before the last drops make it through the basket.
Our testers recorded the time for five different 6-cup brews. The Breville was equally as consistent as it was fast. The first pot finished in 6 minutes flat, with the next couple of pots finishing about 15 to 20 seconds faster, and pots four and five both ended back at 6 minutes again.
Brewing time was fast and consistent. If you want a fast and reliable morning cup, it's hard to beat the Breville Precision Brewer.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Ease of Use
The controls and features of the Precision Brewer are simple enough to navigate. Still, Breville includes informative manuals leading both the expert and newbie into specialty brewing and the unique features of this brewer. The Precision's large interface and knob/button selector offer a very intuitive way to navigate the menu options.
The Precision comes with all the necessary brew baskets and attachments for the various brewing modes. Breville suggests using the cone filter basket with a Number 4 filter for single pour-overs and half batches.
This machine easily converts to support your favorite pour-over device, giving even more options and personalization for your perfect cup.
Credit: Laura Casner
For larger batch brews, a gold-tone reusable filter is provided. A small adapter is also provided to convert this coffee maker to brew using your favorite pour-over coffee maker.
The automatic brewing feature makes it simple to wake up to fresh-brewed coffee.
Credit: Laura Casner
Let's face it: grinding your coffee right before brewing will always be the best practice. However, the automatic brewing feature on the Precision Brewer could be your best friend for those mornings when you need to dash out the door. With a total capacity of 60 ounces in about six minutes, using the Precision Brewer is more efficient than manually brewing 12 cups of coffee.
Brewing 20 ounces or less activates the small cup volume setting. Under this setting, the Precision Brewer determines the proper flow rate depending on how much water is in the reservoir. Breville suggests using the cone filter basket to provide a better extraction rate if you're not brewing the total capacity. The reservoir lid is entirely removable, making this chamber easy to fill.
The cone brew basket helps ensure proper extraction for smaller batches that are 20 ounces or less.
Credit: Laura Casner
The Precision Brewer comes with either the insulated carafe or a glass carafe option with a heating plate. In terms of quality, I strongly recommend the insulated carafe.
Although this carafe is a little heavy, it does a great job keeping the coffee warm. In addition, the carafe lid locks in place and regulates the pour speed.
I appreciate the double-walled stainless insulated carafe. It keeps the coffee hot while a secure lid provides an even pour.
Credit: Laura Casner
I found that the Precision Brew was relatively easy to clean but could be made easier. The brewer components are not dishwasher safe, which could be a drawback to some. Overall, the pour-over style brewer makes sanitizing pretty straightforward.
The carafe and brew basket detaches from the brewer, and the opening of the carafe is big enough to clean inside. The easiest to clean is the removable silicone shower head. The flexible material makes it simple to clean by hand. The biggest drawback is the sneak-a-cup feature produces some backsplash. This can lead to burnt coffee that is not always easy to clean.
Single-cup brew methods produced some backsplash, but the single-cup feature is definitely a nice touch on this does-it-all brewer.
Credit: Laura Casner
Should You Buy the Breville Precision Brewer?
The Precision Brewer is a bit of a hefty investment for the typical consumer. However, we think it's an excellent choice and worth every penny if you are the type who is endlessly chasing that perfect cup of coffee.
This is the drip coffee brewer that can do it all, including accommodate your favorite pour over filter.
Credit: Laura Casner
What Other Drip Coffee Makers Should You Consider?
As precise as it is, the Breville Precision Brewer is outclassed in coffee taste by a couple of other drip brewers we tested, namely the Ratio Six Series 2 and Technivorm Moccamaster. Both brew astonishingly good coffee that leaves the Breville in the dust. The Ratio Six Series 2 is great for coffee enthusiasts who like tactile interaction with the coffee-making process, the opposite of the automated-everything that the Breville is capable of. And the true all-star of flavor, the Technivorm, is a fine choice for beginners or advanced users who simply want the best at-home coffee possible. It even has some coffee customization tools to play with despite lacking the programmable settings of the Breville.
—Lesley Robinson, Arthur McMahon, Liz Nelson, and Kendra Ridenour
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