If this is your first espresso maker, the DeLonghi La Specialista is the crème de la crème of home brewers. It’s fast, consistent, and boasts of barista-grade features. I’m talking about better control, faster performance, and most importantly, long-lasting consistency.
Even though the La Specialista does not feature a touchscreen display like the Oracle Touch, it’s still a league above. Features such as the Active Temperature Control and Sensor Grinder Technology introduce a more precise way of brewing espresso at home.
Both Breville Oracle Touch vs DeLonghi La Specialista are suitable for new users. The Breville Oracle Touch is more intuitive in that you don’t need to know a lot about espresso to make great-tasting espresso at home. But with the DeLonghi, you do, and that’s one of its biggest strengths. It demands that you possess a few skills or learn them with the help of this brewer to make espresso more like a barista.
Breville Oracle Touch vs DeLonghi La Specialista: Comparision Review
Last update on 2023-03-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Breville Oracle Touch vs DeLonghi La Specialista: Differences
The DeLonghi La Specialista is built for someone who loves to experiment and tweak and discover new ways of making coffee at home. This is why I recommend the design and features of the La Specialista over the Oracle Touch. It wins 4 – 1 against the Oracle Touch for its intricate design and rewarding features.
1. Usability
The Winner: It’s A Tie!
With the Breville Oracle Touch, you’re paying more than the La Specialista for automated and modern features. It features a touchscreen with tap-and-swipe functionality. You can easily adjust a variety of settings to make a cup of coffee.
You can also select from their pre-programmed coffee drinks such as Americano, Latte, Flat White, Cappuccino, and espresso. You can either brew directly from its programmed settings or make some changes of your own – temperature, coffee strength, milk texture, and temperature. And save those customized settings – up to 8 drinks.
The DeLonghi La Specialista’s interface features a grind size dial with 6 grind settings. It’s easy to use… the different buttons for a specific function. You have the espresso button, hot water and steam, the ‘OK’ button to save certain settings, and the unique Latte system for finalizing the different textures of milk you’d like.
There are also Espresso, Americano, and Coffee buttons for quick and consistent use. Even though the machine has tons of features to tweak the intensity and size of espresso, it’s relatively easier to use… it works like a dream.
2. Brewing Performance
The Winner: DeLonghi La Specialista
Even though the Oracle Touch offers some incredible brewing features to make a delicious cup of espresso, the performance drops with time. It’s not the most consistent of espresso machines that are fully automatic.
What works in Breville’s favor is the Automatic Tamping feature that prevents a huge mess on the drip tray. The machine automatic grinds, doses, and tamps 22g – taking away your troubles in guesswork.
Then the dual boiler system will heat up the machine quickly to extract single or double espresso into the cup. The brew ground is made up of strong materials that keep the temperature stable and pressure high… at the professional standard. It also pre-infuses the coffee to keep the flow as it should be.
But the lack of shot volume and the auto tamping are not always great. Because you have control over tamping, it can get quite inconsistent. The machine does not always get the dose right, on account of the poorly designed tamp fan.
Thankfully, the La Specialista features a built-in tamping system with a pressure gauge for an accurate reading. This reverses the inconsistencies of a tamp fan because it shows you everything. You can feel the tamp pressure after grinding it to the correct size to make a barista-style espresso at home.
Other features like the sensor grinder technology 1-second quick start and dual heating systems make the La Specialista a mess-free and consistent winner.
3. Grinding Features
The Winner: DeLonghi La Specialista
The Breville Oracle Touch features the standard burr grinder with 6 grind size settings. Whatever grind size you select or you let the machine select based on its default options, the machine will always tamp between 18 to 22g of coffee grounds.
It grinds according to the options you select. Based on the coffee’s strength, it will grind more or less. It’s easy to clean the bean hopper as it is removable. And the burr grinder stays cool and mess-free for the longest time.
There is automatic grinding in that the machine will stop as soon as the desired dose is acquired. One drawback is that it is not always consistent with the dose amount. But the conical burr grinder is accurate and very easy to use. There is a manual feature for adjusting between finer to coarser settings that coffee geeks would find useful.
The grinder in the La Specialista is not automatic the way Oracle Touch is. It offers more control where espresso lovers need it the most. There’s a grind size dial with 8 size adjustments from a finer to a coarser grind. Next, you have to stop the grinding by turning the knob.
The better you get at dosing the right amount of coffee grounds, the richer and thicker the crema layer will get! My advice to you would be to add only the amount of coffee beans you need per cup.
The Sensor Grinder Technology helps you when don’t understand how an espresso grinder works.
4. Steam Wand
The Winner: DeLonghi La Specialista
The Oracle Touch features an automatic steam wand with milk texture and temperature controls. So you won’t always get the same amount of foam for a latte and a cappuccino. You can adjust the thickness and hotness of the milk accurately.
But again, the Oracle Touch is not the best pick for consistent results. So expect some alterations from cup to cup. This is primarily because it’s not a manual steam wand. So it lacks the control that is needed for latte art and foam consistency.
La Specialista features an excellent and fast steam wand. The dual heating elements make sure you can brew and steam, simultaneously. It’s not a self-cleaning wand, like the Oracle Touch, but it takes only seconds to clean.
To get the best results, dip the tip of the wand up to 1-1/2 inches inside the milk. The steam wand will heat up and froth the milk in 60 seconds, not more! It features two settings: Latte and Cappuccino for a micro-foam suitable for latte art and a foamy texture for a cloudy and buttery flavor of milk.
Breville Oracle Touch vs DeLonghi La Specialista: Similarities
Between the Oracle Touch and DeLonghi La Specialista, the built-in burr grinder performs excellently. They also have the automatic tamping feature in common which lets the machine handle the tamping without your interference.
This necessitates quick and easy brewing for the beginner as well as the intermediate. Both espresso makers ensure smooth and quick temperature controls. Even though both employ different temperature controls and heating systems, the end result of the espresso is the same.
Even in terms of customizations, the Oracle Touch and La Specialista are similar in that the Oracle Touch offers customized coffee drinks such as Espresso, Americano, and Cappuccino, and Latte, among others. And the La Specialista also features a unique Advanced Latte System for the authentic barista-style coffee experience.
Quick Rundown Of DeLonghi La Specialista EC9335M
- 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
- Sensor grinding technology: Exclusive segsing technology delivers precise, consistent grinding and the optimal dose for espresso, every time. Plus, the bean sensor ensures you’ll never run out of beans while grindin. Auto shut-off
- The smart tamping station: Simply pull the lever to tamp the ground coffee with the right pressure for perfect results. There’s no need to remove the portafilter, so you get to enjoy a mess-free experience, for Espresso Made Right(TM)
- Active temperature control with dual heating system: The best temperature stability for optimal coffee extraction and milk texturing. One thermoblock for extracting coffee and an independent heating system for steaming milk or frothing
- Advanced latte system: Micro-foam frothing for Latte Art or rich froth for cappuccino. Just place your cup under the spout and select flat or foam. Now, you can enjoy your flat hot milk, or the perfect foam to express your latte art creativity
Last update on 2023-03-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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
- 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 2023-03-03 / 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
- DeLonghi EC9335M La Specialista from DeLonghi https://www.delonghi.com/en-us/la-specialista-espresso-machine-with-sensor-grinder-and-dual-heating-system-black-ec9335bk/p/EC9335BK
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.