Barista Touch vs Barista Touch Impress: which touchscreen Breville should you buy?

Barista Touch vs Barista Touch Impress at a glance

Head to head

The better result in each row is marked, based on four weeks with each machine and Breville’s specs. Rows where they’re the same have no winner.

The tally isn’t my verdict. If you already tamp well, the Impress’s biggest wins won’t change your shots much.

Design, size and build

Both are brushed stainless steel with a color touchscreen at the center, a 54 mm group head and a steam wand on the right. From the front, they’re clearly siblings.

The visible difference is on the left. The Barista Touch Impress adds a tamping lever beside the grinding cradle, and that lever makes the machine wider: about 14.2 inches against 12.6 for the Barista Touch.

The Impress is also a little shallower, at about 13.4 inches deep against 12.6 plus the handle on the Touch, and a little taller at 16.3 inches. It weighs about 24 pounds to the Touch’s 22.

The Impress’s tamping lever sits beside the grinding cradle and adds about 1.6 inches of width.

Both slid under my wall cabinets. On both, I pulled the machine forward a little to refill the hopper, which holds about 12 ounces of beans on the Impress and about half a pound on the Touch.

Both tanks hold about 67 ounces at the back with a top lid for refilling. The Impress uses a magnetic float that a sensor reads, so it warns you well before the tank runs dry.

Width on the counter

Both fit a standard 24-inch-deep counter. Add a few inches for the portafilter handle.

Our tip: Check the Impress float moves freely after you fit the water filter, or the low-water warning won’t work.

Touchscreen and guidance

Both machines run everything through a color touchscreen, and both store up to eight custom drinks with their own names.

The Touch’s screen is clean and flat. Five presets, Espresso, Americano, Latte, Flat White and Cappuccino, plus hot water, and a small info icon that opens short visual tutorials.

The Impress’s 4-inch screen goes further. You swipe through a carousel that also includes Long Black, Hot Chocolate, Babyccino, Tea and plain steamed milk.

Each drink screen has three icons: grind, brew and milk. The brew icon greys out until the portafilter is locked in, and shortcuts for hot water and manual steam sit on every drink screen.

The real difference is the prompting. On my first morning with the Impress, the screen walked me through grinding, told me to pull the lever, asked for a small top-up, told me to pull again to polish the puck and only then told me to brew.

I had a good flat white within ten minutes of unboxing, without opening the manual. On the Touch, I needed a scale, a stirring tool and two days to get to the same place.

The Barista Touch keeps a calm, flat menu with five presets and hot water.

Our tip: On either machine, save drinks under people’s names rather than drink names, so nobody overwrites anyone else’s settings.

Tamping: by hand vs the Impress lever

This is the headline difference, and the reason the Impress exists.

On the Barista Touch, the coffee is yours to prepare. I weighed 17.5 grams in the double basket on a 0.1-gram scale, stirred the grounds with a WDT tool✕WDT toolA stirring tool with a few very thin needles. You stir the ground coffee in the basket to break up clumps so water flows evenly., tapped once and tamped level with a self-leveling tamper.

That routine works beautifully once it’s a habit. But it took me two days to learn, and when I skipped the stirring, shots spurted and turned sour.

On the Barista Touch Impress, you pull a lever. A flat tamper presses the coffee with about 22 pounds of force, then rotates 7 degrees at the bottom to polish the surface and seal the edges.

While the tamper is down, sensors measure how far it traveled, which tells the machine how much coffee is in the basket. Too little, and the screen asks you to grind a small top-up; too much, and it shortens the next grind automatically.

A second pull after any top-up polishes the puck again. That polish is what cut the side sprays I saw through a bottomless portafilter.

Impress doses right on the first tamp

From my four-week log. The machine learns your beans and corrects the grind time.

Shots in my target window

Touch from my shot log with hand tamping; Impress from my dose and shot-time log.

Our tip: If the Impress keeps asking for top-ups, check that oily beans aren’t bridging in the hopper before you blame the grinder.

Grinder and dose

Both grinders show 30 numbered settings and dose by time into a 54 mm basket.

The Touch uses hardened steel conical burrs✕Conical burrsTwo cone-shaped grinding parts, one inside the other. Beans are crushed between them, and the gap sets how fine the coffee is.. My beans landed in neat zones: light roasts around 6 to 9, medium around 10 to 13 and dark around 14 to 17. Its cradle lets you push once to pause halfway and settle the grounds.

The Impress uses Baratza-designed conical burrs. They gave a consistent grind with low retention, so very little old coffee sat in the chute. I ended up between 8 and 12 depending on the beans.

The trade-off is speed. The Impress grinds at roughly one gram per second, so a full 18-gram double took about 18 to 20 seconds. That keeps the burrs cool, but you notice it when making four drinks in a row.

Where my medium roast landed on the 1 to 30 dial

Lower numbers are finer.

Our tip: After a big grind change on either machine, grind and discard a small dose, so the next shot only uses the new setting.

Heat-up and temperature

Both use a ThermoJet✕ThermoJetBreville’s fast heating system. Water is heated as it flows through a compact element, so the machine is ready in about three seconds. heater and both were ready in about three seconds. I switched each one off between coffees, because there was no reason to leave it idling.

The metal is still cold, though. On both, I ran a blank shot through the empty portafilter before the first espresso of the day, then wiped the basket dry before dosing.

The Impress gives you finer temperature control: 200°F by default, adjustable from 192 to 207°F in one-degree steps. I used 203°F for a light roast and 196°F for a very dark one.

On the Touch, I brewed dark roasts at 198 to 200°F, medium roasts at 200 to 202°F and light roasts at 204 to 206°F.

Our tip: Run a blank shot and dry the basket before your first espresso on either machine, because a cold, wet basket makes sour, clumpy shots.

Espresso quality

With good puck prep, both make genuinely excellent espresso. The difference is how much of that prep is on you.

On the Barista Touch, I used manual mode and stopped shots by weight: 17.5 grams in, 40 grams out, a 1:2.3 ratio in roughly 28 to 32 seconds. The crema✕CremaThe golden, foamy layer on top of a fresh espresso. It forms when pressure pushes oils and gases out of the coffee. was thick with golden-brown tiger striping, and it tasted balanced and sweet with chocolate and nut notes.

On the Barista Touch Impress, my standard recipe was 18 grams in and 36 grams out, a 1:2 ratio in 27 to 30 seconds. The crema was thick, hazelnut-colored and elastic, with clear structure, balanced acidity and a strong chocolate note.

The Impress’s advantage was consistency. Stable ThermoJet temperature plus uniform puck resistance from the lever meant one shot tasted very much like the next, without me stirring or weighing anything.

The Impress pulled balanced, chocolatey espresso from the first week.

My espresso ratings

My scores out of 10 from the single reviews, for body, crema, flavor and consistency.

Our tip: Even with the Impress lever, keep a 0.1-gram scale under the cup, so you can check your yield and stop each shot at the same weight.

Milk drinks

Both steam milk hands-free. A temperature sensor in the drip tray reads the jug through its base and cuts the steam at your target.

On the Touch, the default is 150°F with eight texture levels. I lowered it to 140°F because milk tastes sweeter there, used level 3 for flat whites and level 7 to 8 for dry cappuccinos.

The Impress adds two things. Milk-type settings for dairy, almond, oat and soy adjust the heating and air timing for each. And a manual steam button gives you full control of the wand whenever you want it.

Its automatic milk was smooth and consistent, but manual mode made an ultra-silky microfoam✕MicrofoamMilk foam with bubbles so small you can barely see them. It feels silky and glossy, and it’s what you need for latte art. with smaller bubbles, ideal for detailed latte art.

Both machines steam milk to a set temperature with the jug sitting on a sensor.

Foam levels I used

Both have 8 foam levels. On the Impress, I kept levels 7 to 8 for extra-dense foam and used 4 to 5 for an everyday cappuccino.

My milk drink ratings

From the single reviews.

Our tip: Keep plant milks a few degrees cooler than dairy on both machines, because many taste bitter or separate when overheated.

Long blacks, americanos and hot water

The Touch has an Americano preset that brews a shot and adds hot water automatically, plus a hot water option for tea or warming cups.

The Impress has a Long Black preset with a useful twist: the screen lets you dispense the water first, so the espresso lands on top and the crema✕CremaThe golden, foamy layer on top of a fresh espresso. survives. I always chose water first, about 4 to 6 ounces, then a double shot.

Our tip: Choose water first for a long black on either machine, so the crema stays on top instead of breaking up.

Speed: how long each drink takes

Both are quick thanks to the three-second heat-up. What eats the time is different on each.

On the Touch, it’s the puck prep: weighing, stirring and tamping. An espresso took me about two minutes and a flat white about three and a half, with the milk steaming while I cleaned the portafilter.

On the Impress, it’s the grinder: about 20 seconds per double. But the lever tamp is instant, so an espresso took about a minute and a half and a flat white with automatic milk about three minutes.

Power on to first sip

My timings, including the blank shot and wiping the wand.

Our tip: On the Impress, press grind first and run the blank flush while the grinder works, because that overlap saves about 15 seconds every morning.

Cleaning and upkeep

Daily care is nearly identical. Knock out the puck, wipe the basket dry, flush the group head and wipe the steam wand straight after milk; lowering the wand triggers an automatic purge on both.

Both wands have a cool-touch liner inside, so milk doesn’t bake on as fast. The Impress uses a four-hole tip; if steam ever weakens, clear the holes with the cleaning pin.

The Touch’s compact drip tray filled up faster, so I emptied it daily and sometimes twice. The Impress’s tray has a red float that rises through the grate when it’s full.

Both prompt you to backflush✕BackflushingRunning water backwards through the group head with a blank rubber disc and a cleaning tablet in the basket, to dissolve coffee oils. with a tablet and both run a guided descale✕DescalingRunning a mild acid through the machine to dissolve the mineral scale that hard water leaves in the heater and pipes. from the screen.

My daily hands-on cleaning time

My estimates. The Impress saved time mostly because there were no spilled grounds to wipe up.

Our tip: Keep one damp towel only for the steam wand and one dry towel only for the basket on either machine.

Water, beans and supplies

Both tanks hold about 67 ounces and lasted two people about two days. Both use the same Breville charcoal filters, cleaning tablets and descaler.

Water makes up most of every espresso. The Specialty Coffee Association’s brewing standard targets about 150 ppm of total dissolved solids, with calcium hardness roughly between 50 and 175 ppm. Very hard water scales the narrow ThermoJet channels faster; distilled water tastes flat.

Roughly how far one tank goes

Rough maths allowing for blank shots and purging.

Our tip: Use the dual-wall baskets only for pre-ground coffee on either machine, because they hide the difference fresh beans make.

Living with each one as a household

A machine that one person loves can still be a headache for everyone else, so I watched how my household got on with each.

On the Touch, the touchscreen and automatic milk were instantly easy for everyone. The puck prep needed a short lesson: I showed my partner how to weigh, stir and tamp once, and after a few days the shots were consistent.

On the Impress, nobody needed a lesson beyond the first try. My partner used automatic milk every day, a visiting friend made her own long black on day one, and the only habits I had to teach were wiping the wand and drying the basket.

Saved drinks helped on both. Each of us stored a drink under our own name, with our own milk temperature and foam, so nobody changed anyone else’s settings.

Common mistakes on both

Our tip: Show everyone in the house the wipe-and-purge habit on day one, because a clean wand is the one thing neither machine can do for you.

Real-life scenarios

These are the moments where one machine clearly pulled ahead during my testing.

For beginners and busy households, the Impress was the easiest machine to share.

Should Barista Touch owners upgrade?

Plenty of people searching this comparison already own the original Touch. Here’s my honest answer.

If your shots are already consistent, you weigh your dose and you stir before tamping, the Impress won’t make your espresso dramatically better. My scores were only 0.2 apart for espresso.

What it will change is the routine. No scale, no stirring tool, less mess on the counter, and other people in your house can make a good shot without a lesson.

It also adds manual steam, which matters if you’ve outgrown the Touch’s automatic foam and want to pour detailed latte art.

Our tip: If you’re upgrading, keep your old scale and stirring tool, because the scale is still the best way to check your yield.

My scorecard

These are my own scores out of 10. The first four come from my single reviews; I added beginner-friendliness and workflow speed because they decide this matchup.

Barista Touch

Barista Touch Impress

Overall, I rate the Touch 8.4 and the Impress 8.7. The Impress is the better machine for most people; the Touch is the leaner choice for those who already know their way around a tamper.

Which one should you buy?

It comes down to one question: do you want to tamp by hand, or do you want a machine that tamps and checks the dose for you? If it’s the second, the Impress is worth paying for. For the wider picture beyond this matchup, see my guide to the best Breville espresso machines.

For the button-and-gauge version of the same idea, see my Barista Express vs Express Impress comparison. To see how the Touch stacks up against the Express and Pro, read my Barista Express vs Barista Touch matchup, or browse the full Breville espresso machine comparison.

For confident brewers with less space, the Touch is still a superb machine.

Barista Touch vs Barista Touch Impress specifications

From manufacturer specifications and my own testing.

How I tested and compared them

I used each machine as my household’s everyday espresso maker for four weeks, for espresso, long blacks, americanos, flat whites, lattes and cappuccinos. The testing notes were written up together by Michael Reynolds and the HouseholdMe team.

I logged dose, yield, shot time and taste every morning, tracked the Impress’s dose feedback, dialed in light, medium and dark roasts at different temperatures and timed full drink routines.

I steamed whole, oat, almond and soy milk on automatic settings and by hand, ran every cleaning routine and checked my notes against Breville’s specifications.

• Coffee: dose, yield, crema and shot-to-shot consistency.
• Milk: automatic and manual texture, temperature and plant milks.
• Workflow: guidance, tamping, grinder speed and drink timings.
• Ownership: cleaning, water care, footprint and warranty.