While both are incredible choices, one is a super-automatic espresso maker and the other a semi-automatic. It was a close call between the Breville Oracle Touch vs Barista Pro. But the decided winner is the Breville Oracle Touch for its automated features and classy design.
A super-automatic espresso maker is better for a beginner, intermediates, and any and all espresso lovers! It directly shares all the tools of the trade with you while also giving you the chance to adjust the coffee strength, temperature, and texture!
The Barista Pro needs to be programmed from the start to produce a nuanced espresso taste. It has a more involved, if not evolved, interface for newbies which could take a long time to get used to.
Breville Oracle Touch vs Barista Pro: Comparision Chart
Last update on 2023-09-26 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Breville Oracle Touch vs Barista Pro: 8 Key Differences
As for the comparison, the Breville Oracle Touch wins 5 – 4 against the Barista Pro. On account of its intuitive one-touch brewing technology, making you feel like a pro already!
1. Bar Pump System
The Winner: Breville Oracle Touch
Because the Barista Pro uses a 15 bar pump for brewing coffee, do you think it’s better than the Oracle Touch which uses 15 bar but puts to use only 9 bars of pressure?
The answer is simpler than you think. 9 bars of pressure for extracting a balanced and strong flavor from ground coffee is ideal. And the Oracle Touch does it better than most other homebrewers I’ve seen.
It also perfects the time for pulling single and double espresso shots to maintain a better espresso flow cup after cup.
That said, the pressure gauge on the Barista Pro is an important feature if you appreciate a bit more control over your espresso extraction. There is no pressure gauge in the Oracle Touch; this is its only drawback with regards to monitoring proper pressure to get consistently rich espressos.
Even still the Breville Oracle Touch makes better espressos with its low-pressure and pre-infusion technology than the Barista Pro.
2. Interface
The Winner: Barista Pro
I’ll tell you why the Barista Pro is better even though you have the touchscreen display in the Oracle Touch. The Barista Pro features an LCD display with buttons and a grind size dial.
Everything about the Oracle Touch is accessed using the touchscreen. You have to swipe and select the grind size, temperature, steam wand mechanism, etc. It’s more modern, appearance-wise, but it doesn’t replicate the authentic barista experience.
If you genuinely crave a good espresso shot and that consistency and precision that goes into tweaking important coffee variables, this is for you. The stainless steel buttons are stable. The display shows you all the correct information to avoid confusion. It’s easy to understand and navigate because of the wide display – the words aren’t cluttered.
3. Temperature Controls
The Winner: Breville Oracle Touch
Between the Dual Boiler of the Breville Oracle Touch and the ThermoJet heating system of the Barista Pro, the former is more versatile and allows faster performance. A dual boiler system ensures that you can put together a delicious cup of coffee without losing time.
Oftentimes, when you’re pulling an espresso shot first, the espresso sits and turns stale while you’re frothing the milk. I’ve never heard of anyone frothing the milk first then brewing espresso but I’m sure it must happen.
Heating elements like the Barista Pro’s ThermoJet heating system do not let you brew and steam at the same time. But the Oracle Touch does and that’s why it’s faster, sturdier, and longer-lasting.
The ThermoJet is not as bulky as dual boilers which makes it a more portable and featherweight option. But for precise and fast temperature handling, go for the Oracle Touch.
4. Adjustability
The Winner: Breville Oracle Touch
Programmability from grinding the coffee beans to steaming the milk is more versatile with the Barista Pro, even though you are in charge of some of the controls. It features 30 grind sizes with 5 different temperature selections. You adjust the espresso you want to drink when you want to drink it. Its programmability is direct, intuitive, and quite responsive.
The Oracle Touch features coffee customizations that rival all else. You can choose your coffee drink, you have 5 café-style drinks ready to go. If that’s not enough, program a personal coffee drink by adjusting the grind, coffee strength, temperature, milk texture/temp. Save it and the machine remembers what you like.
The Oracle Touch is more user-friendly and wholesome than Barista Pro. The lack of programmable coffee drinks in the latter puts Oracle in the lead.
5. Capacity
The Winner: Barista Pro
I’m going to give this one to the Barista Pro. It’s so multi-functional yet so lightweight and portable. The Oracle Touch, with its dual boilers and larger water capacity, can become a nuisance to deal with if you have a smaller countertop.
Based upon 1-3 fluid ounces in an espresso shot, the difference between Oracle Touch and Barista Pro is 17 ounces – that is 12-14 single espresso shots and 6-8 double espressos. A bit less if you count the steam wand.
The lightweight portability of the Barista Pro pardons its slightly smaller water reservoir capacity than the Oracle Touch. Both espresso machines can be quickly refilled from the top/front.
6. Steam Wand
The Winner: Barista Pro
The Oracle Touch features automatic milk frothing which is good but not barista-grade. The Barista Pro features manual frothing which offers more control as well as consistency.
Granted that with manual steam wands, you need to focus more on the steaming mechanism. You can’t just set it and walk away from the wand, just like with the Oracle Touch. But the end result is creamier, smoother, and richer than automatic steam wands!
Manual steam wands also take more time but the Barista Pro is not one of them. It’s more powerful, making the steam pressure more focused and easier to steam milk to get the perfect latte art.
7. Tamper
The Winner: Breville Oracle Touch
Automatic tamping is better because the Oracle Touch grinds directly into the portafilter and tamps it for you. All you have to do is carry the portafilter to the proper slot for pulling an espresso.
Barista Pro’s tamper is magnetic and portable. There is a bit of a learning curve involved to decide how much force to use while tamping. The Oracle Touch simplifies this by making it automatic and out of your hands!
8. Heat-Up Time
The Winner: It’s a Tie!
The time the Breville Oracle Touch takes to brew and steam is slower. Owing to the Dual Stainless Steel Boilers because it takes some time to heat up. But it reduces time in between espresso and milk steaming which is a good plus point!
The Barista Pro doesn’t let you brew and steam simultaneously, like the Oracle Touch does, but it brews and froths quickly. It does not take a dreadfully long to get the steam wand ready, only 2-3 seconds, making it just as fast are dual heating elements.
Breville Oracle Touch vs Barista Pro: Similarities
Let me preface this by saying that both the Oracle Touch and Barista Pro are amazing products! Despite their long-standing differences, they offer convenient features.
Both feature 1 and 2 shot volume control, this is pre-set so you don’t have to manually dial in the shot volume after setting up the machine.
The fast and adjustable grind control requires no prior skill to maneuver. The useful grind size controls ensure smooth and consistent grinding performance, no matter what coffee beans you put.
And lastly, both espresso makers employ high-quality PID digital temperature control. Supervising hot water temperature, the water is pushed through the puck, but in a gentle and smooth manner. All this in a few seconds but they never fail at producing a distinctive and pleasant espresso taste.
Quick Rundown Of Breville Oracle Touch BES990
- Note: 1)Too coarse a grind, too little coffee, or insufficiently tamping the grounds before brewing can all lead to inadequate pressure for a proper brew. 2)It is important to note that the amount of espresso extracted will vary depending on the grind size and amount and reprogramming may be needed when the size and amount are adjusted.Please refer to user guide or user manual or user guide (provided below in PDF) before first use
- The Breville Oracle Touch Espresso Machine with automation at every stage with touch screen operation to simply swipe and select for espresso, long black, latte, flat white or cappuccino and enjoy third wave specialty coffee at home.
- Dose Control: The integrated conical burr grinder automatically grinds, doses and tamps 18-22 grams of coffee, similar to the commercial espresso machine in your favorite cafe.
- Espresso Machine with precise water temperature: Achieve balanced tasting espresso with the Breville Oracle Touch Espresso Machine complete with a digital temperature control (PID) technology, which ensures the temperature is kept at its optimum range
- Optimal Water Pressure: The Over Pressure Valve (OPV) is a commercial feature included in the Oracle Touch. This limits the maximum pressure throughout the extraction, helping prevent bitter flavors in the coffee shot. It also has true low pressure pre-infusion, which gradually increases the pressure to gently expand the grinds for an even extraction.
Last update on 2023-09-26 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Quick Rundown Of Breville Barista Pro BES878
- Please refer to user guide or user manual or user guide (provided below in PDF) before first use
Last update on 2023-09-26 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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References
- Breville Oracle Touch BES990 from Breville https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/espresso/bes990.html
- Breville Barista Pro BES878 from Breville https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/espresso/bes878.html
I am a passionate coffee drinker. Since I left my job as a barista a few years back in 2012, I’ve been sharing my expertise on coffee and buying the best coffee equipment online. That’s how Wild Boar Coffee came to life.
I write about everything coffee-related under the sun. Where to buy the freshest coffee beans from? How to test coffee beans based on texture, aroma, and acidity?
I know all this from scratch – all thanks to my years and years of experience as a barista. So I’ve gotten real up-close-and-personal with coffee beans and different brewing techniques.