Sunbeam Mini Barista EM4300

You get what you pay for – I initially loved this machine. I used it daily making one to two coffees and I was impressed with the ease of use and the fabulous results. However, like other reviewers here mine has started making the grinding noise as soon as you turn it on at the socket. It also leaks water into the drip tray. I tried to descale it (I have descaled the machine previously) but it’s of no use as water not only goes through the steam wand but also leaks into the drip tray meaning I have been unable to finish the descaling cycle. Unfortunately for me I can’t find the receipt but the machine would only be about 18 months old. I think I paid about $215 from Myer. Another piece of junk heading for landfill.

Beautiful hot coffee everytime but sadly the grinder failed after a short time and my local seller just referred me to phone Sunbeam .I used the machine without the grinder for a good while but now that has died . I'm really disappointed because it… Read more

was , for me , a big $$$ purchase. We live in a regional town and there are no repairers locally . The closest is 2+ hours away and charge $100 per hour . It's just all too hard so I replaced it with a little cheap machine which I don't love but it makes an acceptable espresso.

Bought the coffee machine a week ago. Immediately upon using it, we could not fit the group handle in easily at all. Finally we managed to get it in, got one good coffee out of it after finding that this is a common problem for new coffee machines. My partner tried for a hot minute, and I like a foolish male said they where doing it wrong. It… Read more

was freaking near impossible and I have made coffee before in hospitality. To get it in, I had to hold it by the side and fully push it in for it to go the center or it would leak coffee.

Waited 3 days, tried to make another coffee and now it will not fit into the group handle at all. Looking at the actually turn and slide mechanism, it seems that the plastic groove it fit into would not actually fit the metal groove part on the group handle.

Extremely disappointed, returning and never buying Sunbeam again.

Water continually pumps as soon as it's switched on at the wall socket – Hi. I’ve had my Sunbeam Mini Barista for about 2½ years, so well out of warranty. Water continually pumps as soon as it's switched on at the wall socket. Mine was a blown triac, a BT137 600e. You can buy them easily from eBay, or in Aus from Jaycar. You have to dismantle the machine to get at the PCB – there’s an excellent ‘how to’ on YouTube:… Read more ·  1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JET1Wcof1E This guy had a different issue (cockroaches causing a short) but the tear-down part is great. You also need a Y #2 screwdriver for two screws – you can get them on eBay. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/386922503932?_skw=tri+wing+screwdriver&itmmeta=01JAXSK92AB15NYEYRJNPV3W5Z&hash=item5a1660defc:g:AHcAAOSw8lhmF~IM&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKlY3Kw0tb0dkZeCk%2F86XdHPLcZtcG2bHPazxuWNTQFoKmhXqFQLKKvYXsDSISPVelYuBO5m7aW1%2BGD8VAao8q0yYxMx05rspWvUvVjdba%2F5lzciuOpPJJV8klXBUek2sKLZ50Lg2snJ0Wzv7WEdlG6wMpYnYIn7B%2BYvfpQNnsU6SyegcmdQMMK872SLYvOWxJZlBsZEC079Fa2vuVHDe%2Fd3zfCvGaMlJTNdMG6CPxq%2BJ%2BTqb4E6UkxVreuyMUuSl2diX2q3G%2BmjVH7DNd5otglFFBCAYvZW9ml8%2FT00OwMkVw%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABFBMopHNuddk It has to be a screwdriver, a Y bit won’t fit down the hole. All the rest are Phillips head. Then you can remove the PCB, de-solder the triac and solder in the new one. Mine's now working perfectly. All in all, this is a great machine, and well worth the money.

Great little coffee machine no dramas – Had it over a year now, still works great (making on average 3 cups per day).. I'm no barista but I'm not sure what ppl are expecting here.. it's one of the cheapest machines around and still makes a good brew. Look after it.. clean after use/turn it off when not using etc and it'll serve you well in terms of convenience and saving money. Some… Read more ·  1

extra tips: for a boost in flavour (and to minimise calcification) use filtered water ALSO be sure to grind the beans nice and fine and pack tight it runs better thru the group head

Top quality coffee for a great price – After 13 years of faithful (usually 2 cups of coffee per day minimum) service, we needed to replace our Sunbeam Café Espresso EM3800. Looking at reviews on the Choice website, I decide on the Sunbeam Mini Barista EM4300 based on its overall rating of 82% (highest was only rated at 85%), the fact that I was quite happy with my previous Sunbeam… Read more

coffee machine and price (got mine for $269). The Mini Barista is pretty similar in size to my older machine (as seen in photos) and is certainly a nicer looking machine compared to the squareness of the of the EM3800. The major differences between the two machines are that the Mini Barista’s coffee group handle (the bit where you put the coffee in) is the same size as what you would find on a machine at a café and that the pour is automatic for either one cup or two) by the selection of a button meaning you don’t have to keep an eye on it to stop it from overflowing).

From out of the box to first use was mere minutes with just a simple flushing with hot water through the machine to rinse it out. It is certainly very quiet on start up and quite quick from being turned on to being ready to use).

I was initially dismayed by the amount of the pour that came out of the machine. I like to use the double cup for my (single) coffee and discovered that the machine pours out 60ml for this. Apparently, this is the standard pour that cafés give. This is equal to cups of 30ml espresso coffee (which is what the single pour button pours).

By looking into the instruction book, I discovered that I could program (set) the time of the pour and once I did that, I found it to be great. For the record, I adjusted it to pour 100ml for the double cup. The consistency of the pour is within a few ml of my programmed every time.

I haven’t used the steam wand and I’m most unlikely too owing to the fact that I just heat my milk up in the microwave and don’t care for “frothy” milk in my coffee, but I’m sure it will work just as well as my previous machine (for the few times I did use that function)

I’ve only had the Mini Barista for two weeks as of writing this review, but so far, I am vey pleased with it and the quality of my (currently) 3 cups of coffee a day. Hope it lasts as long as the EM3800.

Still going strong after 5 years – Excellent product for the price. I got mine for $199 at Harvey Norman five years ago. It has proven to be durable as I've used it daily for the last five years with no issues. The group head is good and full-sized, steam wand works well and the whole unit is easy to clean and maintain. If the coffee grinds are a bit too fine then the pump won't be… Read more ·  1

able to push the water through the coffee, but you can judge the ideal grind level and tamping after a few uses. It comes with dual wall filter baskets - a single and a double. I bought a single wall (non-pressurised) filter basket separately which I predominantly use as my preference. This machine is a good, affordable basic unit that produces consistently great shots of coffee.

Wish I'd found this machine years ago – I bought a mini barista just this morning from The Good Guys in Midland W.A. for $240. I was very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the long black it made for me. Wonderful crema. I bought the new machine because my previous machine, a Sunbeam Cafe Espresso II about 5 or 6 years old, suddenly gave up the ghost and I needed my coffee hit. I… Read more ·  2

only drink long black and I carefully followed the instructions in the manual to produce my first amazing cup of coffee. I never use the wand for milk but it was good to have it for hot water to make the long black. The previous machine only produced steam not hot water. My only beef is that my daughter likes her espresso from a demitasse and the dual output spreads too wide for the diameter of the tiny cup making it necessary to make two cups simultaneously. In the previous machine the two outputs were directed downwards so that both landed inside the demitasse diameter. The flavour of the espresso (and the long black) is a great improvement on the old machine. With the old one I used to raise the temperature in the microwave but I don't need to with this one. So far I have only had one long black and two espressos but they were all great.

My mini barista started up on its own abut 1 am in the morning. Pump ran continuously, vacated the water reserve. Had I not been woken ..Chat GBT says it may have been a fire hazard. Sunbeam indicated that they had no record of this happeneing… Read more

before and that it was an isolated fault. This forum and you tube indicates differently. Its well out of warranty but ..oh well. The issue is safety. Ive raised it with Sunbeam and they say the issue is closed. Its currently with the ACCC for review.

Good for the price – This is a great little machine for the price. We had a lot of trouble with a Breville that was thee times the price, which I returned. This machine is not as fancy but the steamer is more powerful and reliable. We find it hard to get a slow extraction and a solid puck but the coffee still tastes ok, so not bothered. Show details ·  1

I have purchased two of these machines and neither have lasted much longer than 2 years. With the first one, I rang Sunbeam, hoping it was still under warranty but they were very dismissive. With the second one, the automatic shut off stopped working just after the warranty ran out. I only make one coffee a day so it's a lot of money for a year. Show details

Worked for 2 years doing good how ever the machine struggles with making coffee it either ends after 2 seconds or doesn't stop and recently water wouldn't even come through the coffee powder which resulted in a total coffee disaster! It would make noises sound like it was being suffocated then you would twist the handle and boom water would just… Read more

keep building up on top of the coffee not a coffee issue maybe a pump problem either way I'm done with hsi terrible machine and I'm switching to a brevile

Disappointing – This machine produces a good decent coffee and the frother is awesome!! Unfortunately, the first one I bought was leaking from underneath the machine immediately I got it him. I returned it and was given a replacement which also started leaking a short time later - I might have got 12 decent months out of it. As well as leaking from underneath the… Read more

machine, the steamer started leaking boiling water in enormous quantities when producing the coffee. I wont buy another Sunbeam - onto Delonghi next. Sunbeam these complaints are consistenet and not one off occurences. It's not really good enough.

Don’t buy! Warning – I am having the same issue as many others here. I have had my Mini Barista for just about 3 years. Once the power is turned on at the wall the machine's pump runs non stop with water feeding into (and overflowing) the drip tray. It does not respond to the on/off button on the machine. This is my second mini barista and the second time I have… Read more

encountered this problem. My first lasted about 3 years also. I figured I was unlucky, and given I liked the machine, I bought another. Sadly it was a foolish decision. I have now learnt how common this fault is. It is well documented here in other reviews and many similar reports elsewhere online. Suffice to say I won’t be buying another, nor any other sunbeam product given their awareness of the issue but ongoing sale of a defective unit.

Good coffee, but prone to break down – I had similar experiences to others described here. I like the machine when it is working, but I have had two of them break down, the second one after about six months. (This was a replacement machine so apparently not under warranty!) I hope that sunbeam are working on correcting what is clearly a design flaw. Show details

Second Sunbeam EM4300S that has started leaking from the base after 1-2 years – Bought my first sunbeam mini barista in 2020 and it lasted 2 years until it started leaking from the base. Purchased another as I like the machine and the price, just thinking the leaking was a once off. Purchased a second mini barista in July 2022 and now in November 2023 this machine is leaking the same way as the previous machine. Show details

Good little machine – Have had my new machine for a week now after my 4300s model stopped working after 5 years of producing awesome coffees every time. I love the look of the new one and the extraction is great but I cannot get the milk to the same perfection. The steam seems to be much fiercer and the milk does not froth the same, so I end up with a watery coffee which is too hot Show details

Poor build and longevity of machine - fantastic coffee though! – I have had various models of this machine since I was given one for our engagement 15 years ago. It makes fantastic coffee, is compact and a great price. The first machine lasted 5-6 years and since replacing it, each model has lasted less and less. My last 3 machines lasted 2 years, then 18 months and finally 11 months (at least the last one was… Read more

covered under warranty) They all end up having the same issue with water starting to leak from the group head or milk wand and gradual loss of pressure in both. I look after my machine and clean and descale it regularly. We have many friends who have had the same machine over the years but have all had similar issues recently and are now happy to spend more money to buy a different brand coffee machine that will go the distance. Improve the build Sunbeam as it used to be a fabulous machine!

Great coffee machine for 1-2 years and then always ends the same way – I did love my sunbeam barista - I enjoyed the ease of use, quality of coffee and it has a good frother, but my journey with this brand is now ending. This is my second mini barista which I use daily and once again it has started that terrible noise, drawing water constantly and wont turn off using the on/off switch. The only way to turn it off… Read more

is at the wall plug. Once and you think perhaps you have got the dud one, but twice and this is a product wide fault. I have read others with the same experience and poor customer service or acknowledgement from Sunbeam. That's it Sunbeam - I am off to a competitor brand. For those thinking of buying - what you need to weigh up is the price you pay and the likely age of the product breaking down. This is a cheaper product and so perhaps a 1-2 year life is acceptable to you. For me I just feel that Sunbeam knows of the fault but is doing nothing to sort it out and that feels like a company that doesn't value customers.

Made awesome coffee for 6 months, then broke down – I initially bought the coffee machine online from Myer. I could best describe the machine initially as a fantastic little machine - easy to use and made a perfect cup of coffee every time - extremely consistent, with good coffee temperature. Six months into use however, it started to do what a lot of other owners describe in these reviews - it… Read more

made a very loud grinding kind of noise, which couldn't be turned off by the power on/off switch located on the coffee machine. The only way to turn it off was by turning off the electrical switch on the wall - potentially dangerous, as if this fault starts when you're not home, and haven't turned it off at the wall, not sure what the ramifications would be. The noise is most likely the pump, because (like other reviews describe), water spills into the drip tray very quickly, and you've got to shut it down quickly, otherwise it would leak everywhere. I then packed the machine up and took it back to Myer. They initially said that they would get it fixed, but when they entered the details into their system, they stated that they could either do a refund, or I could repurchase the machine for whatever price it was on the day of me returning the machine (I bought my machine on sale, so it would most likely be more expensive to repurchase). I chose the refund, and will use it to buy a different coffee machine. I very much appreciate that Sunbeam have honoured their one year guarantee, but due to the high volume of reviews from people who have had the same problem, I think that Sunbeam should take a close look into this problem and rectify it - due to the fantastic potential of this little machine! If it weren't for this problem, I'd still be drinking lovely coffee every morning, and singing the praises of this fantastic little machine!

Good value – I begin with my genuine sympathy to those who have had a bad experience with this machine. I would be annoyed if I had bought one and had water flooding the bench after a few months. It would be good to know what proportion of machines sold have this flooding issue, and more importantly, what is the cause. I can only write about my experience.… Read more ·  2

Maybe I will have jinxed ours by writing this review but here are my thoughts. Ours has now just clocked up two years. For most of this period, we have made 4 mugs of double shot a day - let’s say 600 days x 4 = 2400 mugs @ $5/mug at current café price = $12000. That’s now ~10c/mug contribution from the cost of the machine. While it is true that we probably wouldn’t have gone to café’s and spent that amount, we have now had two years of great twice-daily coffee. Even if the machine does fail soon, I feel that our $223 investment has been thoroughly worth it, and we will immediately get another. The coffee it produces is excellent (fresh ground beans etc) and equal in quality to that from much more expensive machines that we have tried. After 6 months I discontinued using the milk frother and just microwaved a third of a mug of milk before brewing – the frother worked fine, just easier to microwave two mugs and less cleaning. I have cleaned this machine internally once after about a year with descaling liquid. We only use rainwater, except when we had to use bore water for a few months. It is always plugged into the wall socket (switch on). The machine is easy to use (the group handle is initially tight to attach).

Nice coffee but known design flaw with water pumping nonstop – Mini Barista user since October 2021, used twice a day max. Great price and decent quality of coffee, consistent product and was working fine. As of today 18/04/2023, the machine's pump runs nonstop with water feeding into and overflowing the drip tray. At first we didn't know what was going on, until we saw the water overflowing in the kitchen.… Read more

This is a potential fire hazard as the machine has to be unplugged from the powerpoint as the on/off button will not stop. Imagine if you are on holiday and this happens, the pump surely will burnout as the auto shut down function is not working. Reading all the other reviews describing the same issue, I am surprised how this product has not been recalled. Sunbeam is exposing itself to a massive lawsuit and will be easy to lose after investigators read all the reviews posted here over the years. Users with the same issue please report it to https://www.productsafety.gov.au/

EM4300 not as good as earlier entry level model EM4800 – I am surprised that Willow from Sydney is the only other person reporting the poor extraction on this forum. That is my biggest disappointment with my EM4300. Like Willow, My EM4300 was a replacement for an older machine, so I have a benchmark with which to compare. (The difference from Willow, is my old machine was a 12 year old EM4800, which… Read more

had given good service until developing a serious leak in the steam/extraction selector valve.) I am using the same coffee beans, (the same batch kept in an airtight jar with polyethylene seal). I am using the same 16 gram measure, grinding freshly using the same Sunbeam EM0430 Burr Grinder on the same setting (1- the finest). The extraction by the EM4300 was pathetic compared with the EM4800. It made coffee very weak in flavour. I increased the extraction time from the 14 second factory setting to 25 seconds, with some improvement, but still inferior. I also tried preheating the group head, handle and filter basket, with a hot wash on the 2-cup setting. This gives further improvement in extraction. I’ve also tried increasing the charge of beans to 18 gram, but this results in encrusting the head with spent grounds, so the marginal improvement in flavour is not worth the added inconvenience.

My best guess is that either the water extraction temperature is too low, or it’s a design weakness. This machine boasts a commercial sized filter basket, at 58 mm diameter. The EM4800 filter basket was 51 mm diameter. Thus the EM4300 has 1.34 times the cross sectional area. For the same charge of coffee grounds, that results in a 34 % reduction in flow path for extraction. From my experience in extraction of essential oils, this is bound to give an inferior extraction efficiency. If I was in a position to advise Sunbeam product development people, I would have advised them against changing their entry level espresso machine filters from 51 to 58 mm diameter.

Willow also described the crema as sloppy. I would describe it as frothy, but I suspect we are seeing the same somewhat unappealing appearance. That said, when frothed milk is added, that is of no consequence – to me at least. The poor extraction sure is a huge disappointment to me.

A great little machine – This is my first espresso machine and I bought it when the pandemic started and the coffee shops closed. It is still going strong and causing me no grief. I make sure it is unplugged from the power after each use and I clean and descale every 6 months. If it dies I'll be buying another for sure Show details ·  1

Don't waste your money – The original machine was purchased for my husband for a Christmas present. 3 months into using it it decides to pump water into the waste tray and all over the bench even though the machine its self was turned off, it drew power, and started pumping hot water out. I wrote a review and sunbeam contacted me and we organised a replacement which was a… Read more

reasonably painful process, the replacement arrived and again we have had the exact same issues a few days out from Christmas just over a year later, I tried emailing sunbeam directly to the email I used last time and it has been a horrible experience trying to get their support and there is no record of anything on their end. I ended up purchasing a brand new coffee machine and will never buy a sunbeam coffee machine again, even though soo many people suggested it, and I was told 'I've never seen this issue' from a salesman in regards to this machine.. for 2 out of 2 machines doing the exact same thing it means there is a massive issue with them, I see heaps of others have the same issue with it aswell.. its a machine that should be pulled from the market because someone will get seriously injured by it, so prevent it before it happens sunbeam.