Heating up · Sage / Breville Barista Express
Sage / Breville Barista Express: STEAM/HOT WATER light flashing
The machine is heating to make steam or hot water; condensed water may drip from the wand meanwhile. It also flashes after 5 minutes of continuous steaming, when the machine switches steam off, and at switch-on if the dial is not at STANDBY.
- Which light
- Steam or hot-water light
- Colour
- Colour not named by the maker
- Steady or flashing
- Flashing or blinking
What Sage / Breville says to do
- Wait for the light to stop flashing: the wand or hot water outlet is then ready.
- If it flashes after long steaming, or when you switch on, turn the dial back to STANDBY.
From the Barista Express® — Instruction Book: Functions, Care & Cleaning (Cleaning cycle, Descaling) and Troubleshooting and the Barista Express™ BES875 / SES875 — User Guide: Functions, Care & Cleaning and Troubleshooting. This is the Barista Express’s pattern; another Sage / Breville machine may use the same light for something else — check the manual for your model.
Other Sage / Breville Barista Express lights
Heating up on other machines
The same need shows up as a different light on each machine — which is why a light cannot be read without the machine.
Sources
Every line on this page comes from Sage / Breville’s own documents, read on the date shown. Nothing is taken from third-party manual sites.
- Breville: the Barista Express® — Instruction Book: Functions, Care & Cleaning (Cleaning cycle, Descaling) and Troubleshooting — Barista Express BES870, US and Canada instruction book (V23 edition). assets.breville.com Checked 2026-09-29.
- Sage: the Barista Express™ BES875 / SES875 — User Guide: Functions, Care & Cleaning and Troubleshooting — Barista Express SES875, UK user guide (UG2 A25 edition). assets.sageappliances.com Checked 2026-09-29.