Breville Puck Sucker Evaluation

Go right into a espresso store and also you’ll hear the thwacking of baristas knocking out spent espresso pucks.

Espresso machines use a pump to pressure 9 bars of strain—round 130 kilos per sq. inch—by means of espresso, leaving dried, compacted pucks of their wake. Eradicating these espresso pucks requires some elbow grease (and a rubberized bar to knock the portafilter towards). However, eek! This may be noisy, and a few pucks do not need to budge. To that finish, Breville launched a vacuum pump-powered knock field referred to as the Puck Sucker. We put it by means of two essential checks to see if it really works any higher than a standard knock field.

The Assessments

• Espresso Puck Check: We used the Puck Sucker to take away quite a few espresso pucks from a portafilter, evaluating its ease of use to our favourite knock field.
• Usability Check: We evaluated how straightforward the pucker sucker was to arrange and function.

What We Realized

What’s the Breville Puck Sucker? 

The Breville Puck Sucker is a vacuum pump-powered knock field that mechanically engages while you place your portafilter in it. When the vacuum activates, it pulls the spent espresso puck out of the filter basket and into the catch bin under, so it is easy to get rid of or compost the espresso grounds. 

Does the Puck Sucker Work? 

Sure—with a catch. In our testing, the Puck Sucker did a terrific job of gently eradicating stuck-in espresso pucks with out us having to exert any bodily vitality. The portafilter matches neatly within the cradle, the pump mechanically kicks on, and the puck is neatly eliminated. There’s just one challenge: As a result of the portafilter must create a good seal across the opening for the vacuum pump to work, the Puck Sucker is designed to operate with 58-millimeter Breville portafilters. So it’s solely appropriate with the Breville Twin Boiler, Breville Oracle, or Breville Oracle Contact, making it a much less common product than we’d like. (These additionally occur to be a few of Breville’s priciest fashions.)

Most Breville espresso machines have 54-millimeter baskets, which implies they are not appropriate with the Puck Sucker. And despite the fact that we advocate a number of different, non-Breville espresso machines with 58-millimeter portafilters, they gained’t have the precise proprietary form wanted for the Puck Sucker to function.

The Verdict

The Puck Sucker is a vacuum-powered knock field that quietly and effectively eliminated stuck-in espresso pucks from 58-millimeter Breville portafilters. It prices greater than the typical knock field and is proscribed to make use of with just some fashions, so we won’t extensively advocate it. Nevertheless, for those who’re keen to spend the cash and have a appropriate Breville espresso machine, you’ll take pleasure in its clean operation and mess-free design. 

Good to Know

The Puck Sucker is compact sufficient to suit on an espresso machine’s drip tray for storage, and its catch bin can be dishwasher-safe for simple cleanup. It will possibly maintain 10 to 12 espresso pucks earlier than it must be emptied and we just like the rubber backside that retains it in place.

What Ought to You Get As a substitute? 

When you’ve got an espresso machine that is not appropriate with the Puck Sucker, now we have excellent news: There are cheaper knock bins that work with any machine’s portafilter. After we examined knock bins, we had been significantly keen on the homeffect Knock Field, which has a sturdy column as its knock pad as a substitute of a horizontal bar. It absorbed influence in a approach that popped out cussed pucks whereas lowering the noise and vitality required to take action.

Why We’re the Consultants

• Jesse Raub was Critical Eats’ author and spent over 15 years working within the specialty espresso trade. 
• He was our in-house espresso professional and repeatedly examined espresso gear for this website together with espresso scales and espresso grinders.
• Jesse beforehand examined 10 knock bins.