What is a Thermoblock?

Written by Kat
The Espresso Afficionado
Published on May 7, 2012
Kat is a passionate coffee enthusiast and seasoned blogger. Read her posts for insights on brew methods, coffee recipes, and machine reviews.
What is a Thermoblock?

A thermoblock or thermocoil takes water from the reservoir in an espresso machine and heats it on the fly, versus heating up a full boiler of water. This technology is commonly seen on home espresso machines, where it manages either the brew function, steam function or both. The benefit of a thermoblock is that it doesn't take as long for your machine to heat up for either brew or steam; however, the drawback can be that your temperature for brew or steam is not quite as consistent as you might like. Gail introduces us to a few different varieties of thermoblocks/thermocoils and shows how they compare to a standard boiler (specifically, the internals of the Breville Dual Boiler).

Special thanks to Breville for providing the sample internals for this video!

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