Breville the Oracle Touch Automatic Espresso Machine with Grinder & Milk Frother, Espresso Maker with Touchscreen, Cappuccino & Latte Machine for Home, BES990BSS, Brushed Stainless Steel

I’m truly impressed
Let me preface this review by letting you know how we use our machine(s). We are both busy in the mornings with two kids to get to school. We’re moving around a lot and need something easy, but also want more than coffee and something we can change up a bit here and there. Previously we had the Breville Barista (it now sits in my office). First the Barista has been a great machine for us. Problem was, my wife never felt comfortable making the drinks. The time it took made mornings tough. I actually enjoy making the drinks but when early mornings come along it really is hard to getting a drink made everyday while trying to get out the door.Now this machine: What a machine it is. First, and most importantly, my wife loves it and she uses it daily, twice per day, on her own. It’s incredibly simple to use and clean. The price was something I was shying from at first. In fact I didn’t even tell my wife how much it cost for a week or two. I wanted her to fall in love with it first. My game is on point and it worked. I mean, I did get some backlash but man I dodged a pretty good amount of grief.TIME: I can make a single drink in under a minute. It’s all automated except moving the porta filter from the tamper to the extractor (I don’t even know the correct names most likely but you get the point). The machine has an auto-on setting so it’s on and heated up for us when we go to use it. It even has a heater for the porta filter that gets it hot prior to putting grinds in it. I never knew much about it but I guess it helps the taste of the coffee if the porta filter is hot when the coffee grinds are tamped in it. Most amazingly, it TAMPS THE GRINDS AUTOMATICALLY. My biggest issue was always finding consistent pressure when doing it on my own manually. I’m no pro so it was always a different quality of drink. Here, it’s the same every single time.Another thing that I loved that so few ppl probably think of when buying anything is, the size of the water container AND how to refill it. Unlike most machines, you don’t have to remove the water container or open a lid in the rear to refill the water. You put the container in the machine when you first get it and then on the front is an opening to refill it. So easy. Everything was thought through. Also it holds enough water for us to refill maybe just every few to four days, with regular use.Every thing is touch screen, down to the grind size and temps.Something to address: A previous reviewer said it “cannot make lattes” because of the milk froth. I do want to address this. First, It absolutely can make a latte for the average person out there. Now, if you are a barista, or a person who demands only the top notch froth, yeah maybe this is where the machine is a bit less quality than full manual. When I made froth manually, I could make it absolutely perfect. It’s true, this machine cannot do it “as well” but does do pretty well. However, manual machines, often take twice as long to froth milk and it requires constant attention. This machine allows you to set the temp that you want the milk and the amount of froth. It automatically stops frothing at the desired temp. It’s really fantastic. It makes really nice froth IMO, but not great froth. You are trading this one aspect. As far as the coffee, I believe this makes better than I can manually becuase of the consistency. Now a barista can probably make a better coffee than this machine, but I cannot. I’m an average joe who wants more than coffee in the mornings, and wants nice quality with ease and quickness. This machine requires almost zero cleanining aside from the froth wand, and is super easy to run cleaning cycles on.Another note: You can always change your grind and coffee pour. For example, if you really want a stronger coffee, you can make the grinds smaller. However, this may cause less coffee to come out during extraction. However, the machine very easily allows you to simply go in and add brew time to the shot so that you get your complete two ounces. If you do purchase this machine, I highly suggest purchasing a 2 ounce (minimum) shot glass so that you can test your grind to extraction ratio. Basically if you aren’t getting two ounces, add time. Test when you get it with a small bag. Basically just assume you are going to burn through a test bag of coffee (use the coffee you plan to drink as results change with each bean type). Get it down pat and make sure you get your two ounces and you’re set.CREMA: This machine makes absolutely gorgeous crema. Even on my best “pulls”, I never got crema like this machine creates. Do yourself a favor if you get time, do a shot in a clear glass just to watch the crema bubbling underneath as it is pulled. It’s very impressive.These are my thoughts. If you have the money, get this machine. Don’t look back. I know the progression of thought. It’s this kind of “want, need, doubt, price, doubt, price, want, need, almost buy, back away, price, need, etc” kind of thing. I promise you, unless you are looking for excellence you will feel you just made the best buying decision you have in a long time. Personally, I think it’s better than a Starbucks drink (just my opinion) and truly, considering the price you pay for a Starbucks drink, this machine pays for itself in time. Also, be assured, it’s very well built. It’s a very nice, sturdy (very heavy), solid machine.

So easy to clean and easy to use. Intuitive and makes AWESOME coffee. Price is steep but Breville products never disappoint. This is a great buy for anyone who likes to entertain or is a coffee addict. Think of how much money you could’ve saved from buying a cup or two a day in the future. This is worth the investment.

Leaking gasket and wavy tamp all the time – Damaged piece right out of the box. Spoke with Breville customer service and they asked me to get it repaired from the authorized service centre.I had an opportunity to taste the coffee from this machine at ECS Coffee and was impressed with its quality and purchased. I will buy this machine again.

I just returned it (thank goodness for Amazon!). Day 2, went to make coffee today and grinder jammed again, it’s jammed at least 80% of the coffee’s I’ve tried to make. Fixed that after about 20 minutes of frigging around, now it’s not tamping at all. Tried making about 10 cups of coffee and couldn’t get a single one out.Issues (so far):1. I’ve made 3 drinks so far, the grinder has jammed twice (this was day 1) requiring at least 10 minutes of frigging around to clean it up. My Delonghi (this was supposed to be a replacement) never ever locked up.2. The frothing wand requires the milk jug to have a ton of milk in it to work. This means that I end up throwing out at LEAST a cup+ of milk every drink I make (I don’t like a ton of milk in my drinks, but this is my personal preference).3. The frothing wand also seems to bake on milk to the tip which isn’t cleaned during it’s auto clean. I’ve had to take off the wand tip and scrape the burnt milk residue off (gross) after each drink. It’s on the default milk temp setting.4. The auto cleaning of the wand also sprays water, milk everywhere and yes the drip tray is installed.5. Some of the video reviews online say that the side grind dial has on screen settings I can’t find them anywhere. So you end up just turning the knob randomly and hoping for the best. Next person that comes by and moves it will screw up the machine and I have no way to tell what setting I have now, other than making a coffee and seeing when the coffee starts coming out (between 8-12 second is supposed to be optimum).6. Make sure you buy the correct water filters. Despite Amazon listing the filters I buy as compatible with the unit they are not even close, so make sure you buy the correct ones. (another thing to return now)7. It is really tall, if you have under cabinet lighting likely it won’t fit. I knew this in advance and would have been willing to put up with it if it wasn’t so messy, spraying milk everywhere.8. It’s quite loud when it’s idle. If the radio is playing in the background no issues, but I can hear a fan noise coming from it all the time its on, I can hear it from across the room.9. Unit was leaking a little already, I didn’t spill any water filling it up.Likely there are more issues. For a $3200+ coffee machine it’s crap. Stay very far away from it.