If you own a Breville espresso machine — the Barista Express, Barista Pro, Oracle, or Dual Boiler — you've probably noticed a small button near the shot controls marked with two cup icons, usually labelled "1 CUP" and "2 CUP," or on newer models, a metric/volume toggle. Most people never touch it. That's a shame, because it's one of the easiest ways to take your home espresso from "pretty good" to "actually consistent."
What the Button Actually Does
On domestic machines like the Breville range, this button controls the **programmed shot volume** — essentially how much water passes through the puck before the machine automatically stops. Some newer Breville models (like the Barista Touch and Oracle Touch) go a step further and let you switch the display and shot programming into metric units, showing your extraction in millilitres rather than just "1 cup" or "2 cup" presets.
Setting it properly means telling the machine: "when I press this button, stop at exactly this volume of liquid in the cup." Instead of eyeballing it or guessing when to manually cut the pump, the machine does the stopping for you, at the exact same point, every single time.
How to Set It
The process is broadly the same across most Breville models:
1. **Pull a shot as you normally would**, using your usual dose and grind.
2. **Hold down the 1 Cup or 2 Cup button** for a few seconds until the machine enters programming mode (you'll usually see the light flash).
3. **Let the shot run** until it reaches the volume you want in the cup — this is where a set of digital scales is genuinely useful, so you can target a specific weight rather than just a fill line.
4. **Press the button again** to stop the shot and save that volume as the new default.
5. Repeat for the second button if you want a different volume for a double shot versus a single.
If your model has a metric/volume display option, you can usually access it through the settings menu, letting you monitor and program shots directly in millilitres instead of relying on the cup icons.
Why Bother? The Benefits of Dialling In by Volume
A Quick Tip
Pair your programmed volume with a set of scales under the cup, at least while you're dialling in a new bag. Note the weight in, weight out, and time for a shot that tastes right, and you'll have a repeatable recipe you can return to every time you brew — no more guessing where to start with a fresh batch of beans.
If you're after freshly roasted beans to put that newly dialled-in machine to work, browse our range at baybeans.com.au — roasted to order and delivered free across Australia.
What the Button Actually Does
On domestic machines like the Breville range, this button controls the **programmed shot volume** — essentially how much water passes through the puck before the machine automatically stops. Some newer Breville models (like the Barista Touch and Oracle Touch) go a step further and let you switch the display and shot programming into metric units, showing your extraction in millilitres rather than just "1 cup" or "2 cup" presets.
Setting it properly means telling the machine: "when I press this button, stop at exactly this volume of liquid in the cup." Instead of eyeballing it or guessing when to manually cut the pump, the machine does the stopping for you, at the exact same point, every single time.
How to Set It
The process is broadly the same across most Breville models:
1. **Pull a shot as you normally would**, using your usual dose and grind.
2. **Hold down the 1 Cup or 2 Cup button** for a few seconds until the machine enters programming mode (you'll usually see the light flash).
3. **Let the shot run** until it reaches the volume you want in the cup — this is where a set of digital scales is genuinely useful, so you can target a specific weight rather than just a fill line.
4. **Press the button again** to stop the shot and save that volume as the new default.
5. Repeat for the second button if you want a different volume for a double shot versus a single.
If your model has a metric/volume display option, you can usually access it through the settings menu, letting you monitor and program shots directly in millilitres instead of relying on the cup icons.
Why Bother? The Benefits of Dialling In by Volume
- **Consistency, shot after shot.** The single biggest variable in home espresso is human timing. Manually watching the cup and guessing when to stop introduces variation every time — even by a few seconds. Programming a fixed volume removes that guesswork entirely.
- **Easier dialling in when you change beans.** Every time you open a new bag from us, the roast, density, and freshness will be slightly different from the last. Rather than re-learning "how long" a shot should run, you can hold your volume constant and instead adjust grind size or dose to hit the right taste at that same volume — which is a much more controlled way to dial in.
- **Better repeatability for ratio-based brewing.** If you're following a brew ratio (say, 1:2, 18g in to 36g out), a fixed volume shot gets you close to your target output automatically, so you're only fine-tuning rather than starting from scratch with every cup.
- **Less waste, more even extraction.** Shots that run too long over-extract and turn bitter; shots cut short under-extract and taste sour or thin. A consistent stop point protects you from both, especially useful if different people in the household are pulling shots and don't have the same sense of timing.
- **Frees you up to focus on grind and dose.** Once volume is fixed, it becomes one less thing to think about, so you can concentrate on the two variables that actually shape flavour: grind size and dose weight.
A Quick Tip
Pair your programmed volume with a set of scales under the cup, at least while you're dialling in a new bag. Note the weight in, weight out, and time for a shot that tastes right, and you'll have a repeatable recipe you can return to every time you brew — no more guessing where to start with a fresh batch of beans.
If you're after freshly roasted beans to put that newly dialled-in machine to work, browse our range at baybeans.com.au — roasted to order and delivered free across Australia.
