Breville the Barista Touch vs the Oracle Touch (2021): Which Breville Touch Should You Get?

With its line of espresso machines, Breville allowed the average individual to craft third-wave specialty coffee straight from the kitchen. Its top-of-the-line Barista Touch and the Oracle Touch made the process a lot more convenient and efficient through their touch display and programmable interface. It’s as easy as getting a cup of coffee from a vending machine, except the quality of the coffee is a lot better.

Despite their similar aesthetics and features, the Breville the Oracle Touch carries a significantly steeper price tag than the Barista Touch. Keep reading to find out whether it’s worth the price jump. 

Breville the Barista Touch vs the Oracle Touch Comparison Chart

Design & Display

Breville’s the Barista Touch is more compact than the Oracle Touch, which has a larger water tank capacity

Breville’s the Barista Touch and the Oracle Touch have the classic Breville aesthetics and stainless steel finish. Considering their features, both Breville espresso machines are compact and won’t occupy too much space in your kitchen. Everything is done on their responsive, full-colored touchscreen display, so adjusting and choosing your preferred settings has never been easier.

Both models come with a built-in conical burr grinder that can store up to 1/2 lb of coffee beans. The most noticeable difference between the Barista Touch and the Oracle Touch espresso machines is their size. The 17.6″ tall Oracle Touch occupies a slightly larger space than 16″ tall the Barista Touch. This is because the Oracle Touch has a larger water tank capacity of 84 fl. oz. while the Barista Touch can only hold up to 67 fl.oz. What this means is less frequent water tank refills on the Oracle Touch. 

Coffee & Milk Quality

While the taste and quality of the coffee depends on the settings, it’s easier to achieve that perfect brew with the Oracle Touch’s completely automated espresso-making process

Breville’s the Barista Touch and the Oracle Touch are automatic espresso machines that come with five pre-programmed settings of the most commonly ordered coffee in cafés. You can make a cappuccino today and a flat white tomorrow without the need to manually adjust each and every setting. The Oracle Touch ups its espresso-making game by automating the whole process. The only thing you have to do after selecting your coffee setting is to move the portafilter to the extraction cradle. It does the tamping for you. Applying an inadequate or too much tamp pressure can result in a watered-down or bitter espresso shot, and the Oracle Touch gets rid of that guesswork. 

In addition, the grinder and temperature settings on Breville’s the Barista Touch are not as customizable as the Oracle Touch’s. Having said that, it’s not that far behind either. Once you get your perfect grind and extraction setting, the Barista Touch lets you save it so you can make that perfectly-bodied espresso and milk consistently. With its powerful ThermoJet coil, the Barista can heat up the water in as fast as three seconds so you can enjoy your morning cup right away.

Both the Barista Touch and the Oracle Touch have a steam wand that can adjust the temperature and texture automatically to help you achieve that flawless froth. In addition, Breville’s Oracle Touch is equipped with a stainless steel dual boiler. This means you can extract espresso and steam milk at the same time, as the Touch has a dedicated boiler for each purpose. If you require your espresso and steamed milk to have a similar temperature as you pour, then this might come in handy. 

Additional Features

Breville’s the Oracle Touch features an automatic-on functionality

Breville’s the Barista Touch and the Oracle Touch can significantly reduce the time it takes to make your cup of coffee. You can save up to eight customized coffee settings and save them under your preferred name as well. Their steam wands are self-cleaning and their bean hopper can be easily detached for more convenient maintenance, too. 

A feature of Breville’s the Oracle Touch that many appreciate is its automatic-on functionality. You can set this espresso machine to be hot and ready to brew when you wake up in the morning. While the Barista Touch doesn’t offer this, its 3-second heating system is already faster than most espresso machines in the market.

Verdict

Breville’s the Barista Touch offers better value for your money overall while the Oracle Touch is for those who want the utmost convenience when making the perfect cup

Between Breville’s the Barista Touch and the Oracle Touch, the former offers better bang for your buck. Make no mistake, the Oracle Touch is a worthy investment on its own, especially when the Barista Touch had not been released yet. However, the Barista Touch can do pretty much all of the things that the Oracle Touch can, and in a smaller frame to boot. It saves as many custom settings as the Oracle Touch and offers similar intelligent features. 

The Breville the Oracle Touch is perfect for bigger households or ones that often entertain guests. Its bigger water tank capacity, portafilter, and dual stainless steel boiler let you make evenly textured cups of coffee in a shorter time. The Oracle Touch’s Over Pressure Valve and auto-tamping feature are also noteworthy factors that make this Breville espresso machine worth the splurge. 

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