Breville Barista Touch Impress vs Oracle Jet: how much automation do you want?

Barista Touch Impress vs Oracle Jet at a glance

Head to head

The better result in each row is marked, based on my testing and Breville’s specs. Rows where they are equal have no winner.

The tally is not my verdict. Some rows, like automatic milk, matter enormously to one person and not at all to another.

How much automation each one gives you

Both are semi-automatic✕Semi-automaticA machine where you grind, dose and tamp into a portafilter yourself, and the machine controls the water and pressure. machines with a real portafilter✕PortafilterThe handle with a metal basket that holds the ground coffee. You lock it into the machine to brew., built-in grinder and touchscreen. The difference is how much of the puck prep you do yourself.

On the Breville Barista Touch Impress, the machine grinds into the basket, then you pull a lever on the left. A flat tamper presses at about 22 pounds and finishes with a 7-degree twist to polish the surface.

On the Breville Oracle Jet, you lock in the portafilter and the machine does everything. It grinds, spins a distributor across the rising bed of coffee, tamps and polishes, then you move the portafilter to the group.

In daily use, the Oracle Jet saves you one lever pull and the odd top-up. That’s less than it sounds, but it’s also the most repetitive part of making espresso.

There’s also a difference in how mistakes show up. On the Touch Impress, the lever tells you right away if the dose is off; on the Oracle Jet, a drifting dose only shows up in the cup, which is why I kept the hopper topped up.

The Touch Impress tamps with a lever that checks and corrects your dose.

Our tip: Always pull the Touch Impress lever twice, because the second pull polishes the puck surface and gives a smoother, more even shot.

Design, size and build

Both are brushed stainless steel with a color touchscreen at the center, and both feel solid and premium.

The Breville Barista Touch Impress measures about 14.2 inches wide, 13.4 deep and 16.3 tall, and weighs about 24 pounds. The 67.6-ounce tank sits at the back with a magnetic float.

The Breville Oracle Jet is bigger: about 14.5 inches wide, 15 deep and 16.7 tall, and around 27 pounds. Its touchscreen is 5 inches against the Touch Impress’s 4.

Depth on the counter

Both fit a standard 24-inch counter.

The Oracle Jet is a little bigger, with a 5-inch screen and a 58 mm group.

The Oracle Jet’s hopper has a gate that closes when you lift it off, so beans don’t spill. It’s a small detail that shows where the extra engineering went.

Our tip: Check the depth of your counter for the Oracle Jet, because at about 15 inches deep it needs more room front to back than the Touch Impress.

Setup and the first week

Both walk you through setup on the touchscreen: fill the tank, fit the filter, set water hardness and pick your beans.

On the Breville Barista Touch Impress, I chose the single-wall basket✕Single-wall basketA filter basket with many holes and no built-in pressure trick. It needs a fine, fresh grind but gives the richest shots. double basket for fresh beans and set the grind to 10, as the guide suggested. I ended up between 8 and 12 depending on the beans.

If the pump ran but coffee only dripped after 15 seconds, the grind was too fine. Moving two or three steps coarser, say from 8 to 11, and running one purge fixed it.

On the Breville Oracle Jet, setup included the dose calibration I describe below, and a Wi-Fi connection; it’s Breville’s first Wi-Fi espresso machine. Dialing in was quick once the dose was right.

How confident I felt, by week

My own rating of how reliably I got the drink I wanted. The Oracle Jet’s automatic milk held it back.

Both machines walk you through setup on the touchscreen.

Our tip: Start the Touch Impress at grind setting 10 with the single-wall basket, then move two or three steps at a time until a double takes 27 to 30 seconds.

Grinder and dose

Both use Baratza-designed burrs. The Oracle Jet’s precision burrs offer 45 settings, while the Touch Impress shows 30 numbered settings on a stepless dial.

On the Touch Impress, a full double dose took about 18 to 20 seconds, at about one gram per second. That was the slowest part of every drink.

The lever is the clever part. If the dose is too low, the screen asks you to grind a top-up; if it’s too high, it reduces the next dose automatically.

On the Oracle Jet, the factory target is around 22 grams. Bringing it down to 18 or 19 grams meant adjusting the dose mechanically with the included 2 mm Allen key, then confirming it in the software.

Even then, the dose drifted. A target of 17.5 grams crept to 18.0, 18.3 or 18.5 over several shots, and dropped to about 17 when the hopper ran low.

Oracle Jet dose, measured over a week

Target set to 17.5 g. Keep the hopper at least half full.

The Oracle Jet grinds, distributes and tamps on its own into the 58 mm basket.

Espresso quality

The Oracle Jet made the best espresso of the two, but with an important condition: the portafilter has to be warm.

Its 58 mm portafilter is heavy, and heavy metal takes time to heat. Straight after switching on, my first shot scored 5.0; after three hot water flushes, it scored 8.8, and after 20 minutes it reached 9.0.

Oracle Jet espresso by warm-up, my scores

Scores out of 10 with the same beans and recipe.

Once warm, it pulled rich, syrupy shots. Flow settled at about 1.7 to 2.0 milliliters per second, a classic, steady espresso pour, and I brewed between 194 and 203°F depending on roast.

Why the warm-up matters: a cold portafilter steals heat from the water as the shot runs, so extraction drops and the espresso tastes flat and muted. The Oracle Jet heats its group head with a small second ThermoJet, but the handle and basket still need a few flushes.

About once every 20 shots, the Oracle’s mechanism didn’t finish its final polishing rotation. It never ruined a shot, but it’s worth knowing about if you expect perfection from automation.

The Touch Impress was consistent from the first week. My standard recipe was about 18 grams in and 36 grams out, in 27 to 30 seconds, and from week two most shots landed right there.

Its default brew temperature is 200°F, adjustable from 192 to 207°F. A light roast needed 203°F to lose its sourness, and a very dark roast tasted softer at 196°F.

The Touch Impress made balanced, chocolatey espresso from the first week.

My espresso ratings, warmed up

Scores out of 10 for body, sweetness, crema and consistency.

Our tip: Run three hot water flushes through the Oracle Jet’s portafilter before your first shot, because a cold 58 mm portafilter makes the first espresso flat and muted.

Milk drinks

This section surprised me most. The cheaper machine made the better automatic milk, and the expensive one made the better manual milk.

Automatic milk

On the Touch Impress, you sit the jug on the sensor and pick a temperature and foam level. The default is 149°F, adjustable down to 140°F for sweeter milk, and foam level 4 was a good middle for cappuccinos and flat white✕Flat whiteA short milk coffee with a double shot and a thin layer of silky microfoam. Stronger and less foamy than a cappuccino..

The result was reliable and a little coarser than my best manual milk. It was easily good enough for everyday lattes.

Lower milk temperatures taste sweeter. Research from the University of Camerino found milk foam is most stable around 60°C, or 140°F.

On the Oracle Jet, I ran more than 50 automatic cycles with different jug sizes, milk types and positions. The foam was consistently coarse and bubbly, not the microfoam✕MicrofoamMilk foam with bubbles so small you can barely see them. It looks glossy, like wet paint, and blends into the coffee. I expected at this level.

Manual steam

In manual mode, the Oracle Jet’s steam wand made some of the best microfoam I’ve had from a home machine. It’s powerful, dry and easy to control.

The Touch Impress’s manual mode is good too, with quick steam from its ThermoJet✕ThermoJetBreville’s fast heating system. It heats water on demand and is ready to brew or steam within seconds of switching on.. It just isn’t as strong as the Oracle’s.

In manual mode, the Oracle Jet’s wand made superb microfoam.

Cold brew and iced drinks

Only the Oracle Jet has a cold mode, and it’s genuinely useful.

For cold drinks, it bypasses the main heater and pumps water at around 122°F, much cooler than a normal shot. Breville says cold brew takes under three minutes and cold espresso just over one.

Traditional cold brew✕Cold brewCoffee made with cool water instead of hot. It tastes smoother and less acidic than coffee brewed hot. takes 12 hours or more, so this was a big convenience on hot afternoons. Cold espresso over ice made the smoothest iced latte I had all month.

The Touch Impress makes iced drinks the usual way: a hot shot over ice. It works, with a little more bitterness and dilution.

The Oracle Jet’s cold mode made cold brew in minutes instead of hours.

Speed and daily workflow

On the Touch Impress, the ThermoJet heats in about 3 seconds. In practice I could switch on and start grinding straight away.

The Oracle Jet also heats in seconds, but its portafilter needs warming for the best shot. On busy mornings, that added a couple of minutes of flushes.

Two milk drinks, start to finish

Including cleanup, from my timed mornings.

The touchscreens are both fast and clear. The Oracle Jet’s menus go deeper, and its on-screen grind suggestions after long drinks sometimes pointed me the wrong way, so I trusted my taste.

The Touch Impress’s 4-inch screen guides you through every step.

Our tip: Trust your taste over the Oracle Jet’s on-screen grind suggestions after long drinks, because it sometimes recommends a change you don’t need.

Cleaning and upkeep

Daily cleaning is similar: knock out the puck, wipe the basket, purge and wipe the steam wand, empty the drip tray.

The Oracle Jet used more water, through flushes and rinses, and its drip tray filled quickly. I emptied it every day without fail.

On the Oracle Jet, double-tapping the grinder icon purges about 3 grams of stale grounds from the chute. I did it each morning before the first shot.

The Oracle Jet’s flushes fill the drip tray quickly, so empty it daily.

Our tip: Empty the Oracle Jet’s drip tray every evening, because morning flushes can overflow a tray that’s already half full.

Beans, water and accessories

Both hoppers hold about 12 ounces. The Touch Impress’s tank holds 67.6 ounces; the Oracle Jet’s holds about 77 ounces, which it needs because it uses more water.

The 58 mm group is the Oracle Jet’s quiet long-term advantage. Most commercial accessories fit it, while the Touch Impress’s 54 mm basket limits your options.

Both hoppers hold about 12 ounces of beans.

Used pucks make a good addition to compost when mixed with other materials. Both machines produce a daily pile of them.

How four weeks went

First impressions can mislead at this level. Here is how each machine settled in over the month.

By the end, my household split along a clear line. Anyone who wanted a latte without thinking used the Touch Impress; I used the Oracle Jet for espresso, cold brew and hand-steamed flat whites.

If you’ll only ever use automatic milk, that settles it. If you love steaming by hand and want the puck prep done for you, the Oracle Jet is the more rewarding machine.

Getting the most from each

• Touch Impress: pull the lever twice, grind any top-up it asks for and adjust temperature by roast.
• Touch Impress: use foam level 4 and 140 to 145°F for oat-milk flat whites.
• Oracle Jet: calibrate to 18 or 19 grams, keep the hopper half full and flush three times before the first shot.
• Oracle Jet: use manual mode for flat whites and cold espresso for iced lattes.

After a month, the Oracle Jet was my espresso and cold brew machine.

Mistakes to avoid on each

Both machines are clever, but cleverness doesn’t protect you from a few common mistakes. These were the ones that cost me the most.

On the Touch Impress, ignoring the top-up prompt was the classic mistake. An under-dosed basket makes sour, fast shots, and the lever is telling you exactly why.

On the Oracle Jet, brewing straight after switch-on was the costliest habit. The first shot from a cold 58 mm portafilter scored half what a warm one did.

Three flushes before the first shot made the Oracle Jet’s espresso far better.

Our tip: Sit the milk jug flat on the Touch Impress’s sensor, because a tilted jug makes the milk stop at the wrong temperature.

Real-life scenarios

Specs only go so far. These are the situations where one machine clearly pulled ahead during my testing.

On slow weekends, the Oracle Jet’s espresso was the best of the two.

My scorecard

These are my own scores out of 10 after four weeks with each machine. I added automation and value for features because they decide this matchup.

Breville Barista Touch Impress

Breville Oracle Jet

Overall, I rate the Barista Touch Impress 8.6 and the Oracle Jet 8.4. The Oracle Jet does more and makes the better shot and manual milk. The Touch Impress does the everyday things more reliably, especially hands-free lattes.

Which one should you buy?

It comes down to one question: do you want hands-free milk, or do you want to steam it yourself? Answer that honestly and the choice makes itself.

Think about how you drink milk, too. If every latte will be automatic, the Touch Impress is the clear pick; if you enjoy steaming by hand, the Oracle Jet’s wand is the best part of the machine. Still weighing other options? I rank every model I’ve tested in my guide to the best Breville espresso machines.

To see the whole touchscreen line, read my Barista Touch review. For more on each, see my Barista Touch Impress review and Oracle Jet review.

For most homes, the Touch Impress does the everyday things best.

Barista Touch Impress vs Oracle Jet specifications

From manufacturer specifications and my own testing.

How I tested and compared them

I used each machine as my everyday coffee maker for four weeks, making espresso, long blacks, cappuccinos, lattes and flat whites, plus cold brew and cold espresso on the Oracle Jet.

I weighed doses and yields, timed shots and mornings, measured milk temperatures with a probe thermometer, ran more than 50 automatic milk cycles on the Oracle Jet and compared automatic with manual steaming on both.

I ran every cleaning routine and compared my notes with Breville’s specifications, owner documentation and published coffee research.

• Coffee: dose, flow, temperature and body.
• Milk: automatic and manual foam, temperature.
• Workflow: heat-up, puck prep and menus.
• Ownership: cleaning, water use and accessories.