Breville’s Oracle Touch Espresso Machine, Tested and Reviewed

I fall into a highly specific category of coffee enthusiasts. I’m a bit of a snob about the quality of my drinks (my friends tend to be terrified to take me to a new coffee shop), but I also do not have the patience or mathematical abilities to pore over coffee-to-water ratios, repeatedly tare scales, and futz with fidgety little tools to get my at-home coffee just right. So an espresso machine that takes 20 minutes to heat up only to require me to use my brain to weight coffee beans before I’ve actually consumed caffeine isn’t for me.

I want to be able to drink a perfect latte made with fresh beans on my patio within ten minutes of rolling out of bed. Breville’s Oracle Touch espresso machine delivers exactly that: a latte that’s noticeably better than what I’d pay $7 for at the cafe around the corner from my Brooklyn apartment. Unnamed cafe, you’re on notice: Your furniture is cute, your espresso is always burned.

The Oracle Touch isn’t quite a super automatic espresso machine, but it’s as close as Breville comes. That means it does pretty much everything for you. Grinding, dosing, and tamping your espresso? Taken care of. Your milk will automatically froth to the exact temperature and foam level you prefer—and if that still sounds like too much decision-making for you, just choose flat white, latte, cappuccino, espresso, or long black from the machine’s touchscreen. Pretty much all you have to do is make sure there are freshly-roasted beans loaded into the hopper, turn the thing on, and decide what kind of espresso beverage you want.

It even fits comfortably on a fairly small countertop.

Carina Finn

On a true super automatic machine like a Jura, all you have to do is put a cup under the spout, push a button and both the coffee and milk will come pouring in. This takes a few more steps, but it’s still quite simple. To pull a shot, you just insert the portafilter under the grinder chute and press “grind,” then wait for it to dispense the correct dose of ground coffee and tamp it down. The grind button will turn green when it’s dosed and tamped correctly, so you can move on to the “brew” function. Move the portafilter over, lock it in, and press another button. In the unlikely event that the machine senses the wrong amount of coffee in the basket, with new beans say, the screen will read “stopped” and you’ll have to try again. The machine will automatically adjust the grind time for you.

While your espresso brews, you can fill the milk pitcher, place it under the steam wand, and press that button. You can manually texture your milk if that’s your thing, but I’ve found that setting the automatic steam function to my temperature and foam preferences produces better milk than I’ve ever been able to achieve using my brain and my hands.