Sunbeam Mini Barista EM4300S (Silver)

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

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

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.

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

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!

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.

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.

Have had 2 fail now – Sadly we have tried 2 of these machines. First failed 11 months into the warranty. All of a sudden it started flashing all the lights, tried everything, read online that its a common fault where something fails inside the machine and it thinks it has no water left even though the resovoir is full. Second machine the pump just wasn't working strong… Read more

enough and so although it could pump water through when the basket was empty, once there was coffee in the filter basket it couldn't pump any coffee through.

Loved it most the time – Once I set my own preference for shot pouring it was great. Also it must be de-scaled fairly often otherwise it starts leaking. Sadly, today when I flicked on the PowerPoint the pump started running and wouldn't stop even though I never turned the machine on. This seems to be a very common problem with this model. Show details ·  1

Excellent for the money! – We purchased this coffee machine when we had to put our larger Breville dual boiler in for service. I looked at both Breville option and Sunbeam. The equivalent Breville has a few extra gadgets and the group head feels heavier (but surprisingly doesn’t seem to fit as much coffee in it). For about $200 less than the Breville this does exactly what… Read more ·  1

we want, no fuss, with a small counter footprint & fewer extra bits & pieces to store.

To get our perfect shot we’ve learned to not pack down the coffee grind too much or it won’t come through. Steam is consistent & dry, after heating to temp. Other reviews I read says it was loud but I’ve found this the case only fleetingly if you let it get to temp and gradually lower steam wand into milk. This is a great back up machine for us & a perfect housewarming gift for someone starting out! Definitely would recommend!