Bezzera BZ10 Overview
The Bezzera BZ10 is a thoughtfully designed heat exchanger that makes a big splash in the espresso market, in spite of its small footprint. It has all the features you’d expect of a prosumer, but often with a design twist, made possible by Bezzera’s commitment to keeping production in house.
Features and Performance
The machine is named for its specially designed electronic grouphead, the machine’s crowning feature. Rather than go with the standard E61 group which syphons water from the boiler to maintain its heat, the BZ10 group is heated electronically and monitored by its own thermostat for serious temperature stability.
Plus, the BZ10 grouphead is up to temp in ten minutes, where an E61 can take twenty minutes or more. Anything that delivers caffeine faster is excellent in our book. Steaming can be done at the same time as brewing, due to the heat exchange design, and both steam and brew pressures can be monitored on the BZ10’s dual needle gauge.
Using the BZ10 is simple, with its intuitive push button and toggle operation; each function designated by a stylized icon. The integrated cup warmer keeps cups at the ready, and we’ve found that the electronically heated brew group really gets the job done. The steam wand toggles on for powerful steaming, and we were impressed by just how much steaming you can get done before the BZ10 needs a breather; though, if you’re expecting to entertain often, you might want to consider a dual boiler machine. You don’t need to worry too much about overworking it either, Bezerra integrated several layers of safety sensors to keep the BZ10 performing reliably for years.
Why You Should Get It
It may be little, but it’s anything but a wimp. The electrically heated group offers some essential temperature stability, and the double manometer on the front of the machine is convenient for monitoring your extraction.
Electrically Heated BZ10 Group Head
The namesake of the machine, the BZ10 group head is a specialized and electrically heated group head, designed for maximum temperature stability. The group head is heated by two dedicated heating elements and controlled by a thermostat. The dual elements help to provide even heating to the group head to aid in maintaining temperature stability.
Heat-Exchange Boiler
A heat-exchanger boiler has an internal chamber that houses the brew water, while the steam is cordoned to the surrounding chamber, preventing them from coming into contact. This design pre-heats the brew water and allows for simultaneous brewing and steaming at all times. It’s capable of steaming 20 oz worth of milk in one session, with a 40 second recovery time.
Toggle Steam and Hot Water Wands
The BZ10 allows you to toggle on steam or hot water immediately rather than turning open a valve. Both wands swivel 360° in any direction for added functionality. The steam wand toggle can be pressed down for manual steaming, or pressed up into its lock position; while the manual wand has manual operation only.
In-House Production
Bezzera is one of the only espresso machine manufacturers to not only assemble its own machines in house, but design many of their own components and assemble those, too. So, rather than buying components externally and designing their machines around them, Bezzera thoughtfully designs each element, bringing them together into a beautiful whole.