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Breville Canada supplied us with a review unit for this First Look, and for our eventual Detailed Review. |
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Super automatic espresso machines. Press one button, get a coffee drink. Pay through the nose for it, but press a button, and you get a coffee drink. Add a milk jug with a tube, and you can also get a coffee drink with milk. Pay through the nose for it, but you do get a coffee drink with milk in it.
And people pay for these things. Pay a lot. There are people who will pay $4,100 to get that kind of convenience from a machine that, in all honesty, uses parts from a machine that costs thousands less.
And here’s the real problem. These automated espresso machines, these super automatics… they just aren’t very good at making espresso. They’re okay, passable, on par with nespresso systems or restaurant espresso, but they just can’t make coffee up to the standard that a seasoned home barista can, or a “third wave” cafe can. They are convenience machines first and foremost, and as such sacrifice quality for the ability to do everything via internal gears, levers, plungers, pushers, and general basic robotics.
Several years back, Breville looked at the super automatic marketplace, and thought there was a better way. The better was was taking a traditional espresso machine and grinder, and automating as many details as possible, without sacrificing quality in the cup. That result was the $2,200 (or less) Breville Oracle espresso machine, the first ever consumer espresso machine that automatically ground coffee and tamped it in a traditional, commercial sized portafilter, requiring the user to only interact by moving the portafilter from the grinder area to the grouphead area. It also automated the steam and frothing process, right down to 1 degree Fahrenheit, with multiple levels of microfoam created. All the user had to do was put a pitcher of milk under the wand, let the machine do it’s magic, then pour the milk into the cup.
The machine was a fantastic success, and a game changer in automated home espresso. 90% of the “barista’s job” was done by the machine, but the output would still rival the best cafes in the world, and the most skilled home baristas. And still that wasn’t enough for Breville.
Breville recently upped the game, by introducing the $2,500 Breville Oracle… Touch. The new machine did everything the old one did, and introduced automated drink builds to the mix. With the new machine, you can automatically build everything from a straight espresso shot to a flat white, from an americano, to a giant latte, just with the swipe of a touch screen, the pressing of a few virtual buttons, and moving a portafilter from location A to location B, and placing a pitcher of milk under the advanced steam wand system.
This is our first look at the Breville Oracle Touch.