I have been looking to upgrade from the Breville Barista Express for a while, Seen this on sale for $1899 but with 15% off offer it brings it down to $1614.15. No stock in David Jones Adelaide so I messaged The Good Guys on their website and they price matched. Happy days!
I would love to get an Italian machine, But my wife uses it too and says they look too scary and complicated haha
That deal is what had me hunting, My requirements were simple, Dual Boiler. Wifes requirements: Not Ugly, not complicated, all in one. no seperate grinder etc. and similar to the Barista Express, which definatley limited my options. Bonus is the Barista Express gets moved to the caravan.
Yea but that looks fugly, and would def be rejected from my kitchen.
@jaygee: I mean, at least it looks like a machine.
Whilst some of the Breville units pack a lot of functionality in, they still just look like a toaster on your bench. It's an appliance.
Or a dual boiler and a good grinder
Barista pro ( Sea Salt color) at $721 is also a good deal .
These two machines couldn't be more different, the Barista Pro is very similar to the Barista Express internally just with a touch screen
This is akin to a semi automatic dual boiler
My gripe with the "lower end" Barista Express is the single hole water outlet under the shower screen. Coupled with the machine outputting somewhere between 9 and 13 bar…it's a channel blasting disaster.
I found placing a plastic pod filter (Map type) upside down on the right side (water jet outlet side) helps massively with the channeling issue.
The oracle etc has a multiple jet / ring type system for even water disbursement.
breville has quite some nice products, the oracle is the one i dont quite understand (not saying it's bad).
58mm portafilter + dual boiler = it's prosumer, but the integrated grinder is sth i dont like. iirc, it's the same grinder component in the barista express, the pro, and the smart grinder, at best it works ok. worse, a dual boiler needs a lot of heatting up, not ideal to sit very close to your coffee bean every day.
It's more like the dose control I think than the smart grinder, agreed on everything else
What's not to understand, everyone has different values- time, money, taste etc. This would have to be close to one of the best auto machines available. I drink way more coffee with my Oracle than I did my dual boiler. I still understand people preferring and pulling better coffees out of the dual boiler setup, though I prefer the consistency and ease of a 6.5-7/10 coffee every day from the Oracle. 'You could buy an Italian machine for that' they say, cool- if that's the path you want to go down, but people drink instant, bags and pods, not everyone is an enthusiast that wants to invest for the greatest cup.
Had mine for years, will instabuy when it dies.
Same.I love my oracle. It is fast and easy. Even my elderly parents understand it with ease. The oracle pumps better coffee than a lot of my local cafes.
Don't the new Breville Integrated grinders have baratza esp burrs in them?
Barista Pro and up do. I believe the Barista Express does not.
Good Guys unreliable in my experience. They had a sale on these in the past, required full payment and then 6 weeks later advised me they couldn’t get any stock. Also 10 days before last Xmas I bought a large mobile aircon unit from the Good Guys. It was dead on arrival. Advised them next day but they gave me the run around and then ignored all emails and phone calls till they finally picked it up today. 4 weeks to collect the dead unit. Not happy. Won’t deal with them again after this. Customer support really bad.
Same with jb hi-fi during black friday
Have had this for a couple years, make at least 4 coffees a day. WAF is very high, it's easy to use and makes coffee that is as good as most cafe coffees (assuming you're using decent beans). Does take a few mins to heat up from cold.
Mines coming up to 4 years with many coffees a day, had the milk frother snap (no idea how that happened) and replaced under extended warranty thankfully, now the airpump seems to be whacked so the frother has lost some pressure, however still works just takes a bit longer. Great machine for anyone who just wants to get decent coffee without too much playing around.
For this price as well feels like good value (to me imho)
is there any difference functionally between stainless steel / black truffle / black sesame - or is it just an issue of aesthetic?
Just the color.
Stainless steel will scratch.
Coloured one will chip.
Pick your poison. :)
What are people doing exactly to scratch the stainless steel one? Had one for a year and it's just as new - just treat it right.
Literally hit anything against it. I don't think you're looking hard enough.
What are people doing exactly to scratch the stainless steel one?
I am not talking about walls… But the tray… Over years it accumulates scratches no matter what.
Sometimes ceramic cups.. sometimes portafilter fells off because you didn't put there tight enough.
Small things here and there and the tray is no longer "mirror finish".
oddly enough my brothers black seasame machine vs the stainless steel one I got at home, his grinder is kinda awol with the same beans vs mine. I had to change up the step setting inside the burr for it to grind properly.
It got to the point where his machine out of box when grinding it had to be on grind level 2-3 and even then it was too coarse; whereas my machine was on 18 and it was on point for the beans at the time.
Not sure if it was due to the colour version or just out of factory someone set the burrs up differently (didn't touch my burr right out of box on the stainless steel)
I have this exact one since pre COVID. Going strong. Do about 10+ coffees a day.
Have you slept since pre-covid?
Was breeding during Covid. So no
Me too, 2 covid babies.
The BES980 Oracle is an excellent coffee machine. Have had one for years. Like any prosumer coffee machine they need regular maintenance to avoid issues. Clean the grinder thoroughly once a month, descale when it tells you to, use the group head coffee cleaning tablets regularly and most importantly, replace the silicon O-rings on the water level probes on the boilers once a year. It’s a DIY job. If you don’t do it, they will leak steam and cause problems with the internal electronics.
Care to share a link to how to do this and where to buy parts??
I usually Google the part and buy the cheapest.
Might be eBay, might be multiple coffee parts suppliers.
O-rings - my choice is RS Components.
010 size - 527-9784 RS Components part number
007 size - 527-9756 RS Components part number
Some food grade lubricant helps too. I use Haynes Lubri-Film Plus.
What YouTube link did you follow out of curiosity?
@bemybubble: Here is one. There are a few on YouTube if you search for Breville Oracle O-ring replacement. This video shows the earlier design of the two boilers. They used to have o-rings on the steam/hot water pipes linking the two boilers but Breville changed the design to screw in pressure fittings on these ones and no more leaks on these ones. So on the newer design dual boilers, only the water/steam probe o-rings need changing. These are the ones with electrical wiring attached by small Utilux connectors.
O -rings must always be lightly lubricated before installing so they seat correctly. I use INOX MX6 Food grade grease. It is designed for this purpose and handles temps up to 300degC
@Zipline: Thanks Zipline,
So you just lube around and then slip the o ring on??
Co-incidentally my steam wand stopped working today. The machine shorted and now that it's back on it just keeps popping whenever I try to turn it on. All forum posts point to replacing the O Rings… :P
Any feedback on the Barrista Express Impress ?
Heaps of videos on it - it's a solid machine that is semi-auto and I think if you don't/can't afford the oracle then it's the next step down to achieve a more automated work flow. the tamping and dosing takes the guess work out (assuming you don't want to do puck prep) and then you just go off on your way.
The only downside is obviously not being a dual boiler so you can only pull your shot OR do your milk ; one or the other first. then the frothing is a bit weaker.
I was looking at the express impress before to have a machine when I move out and leave the oracle at my parents since its easier for them. having the impress means anyone can make their own coffee since the work flow is simple.
However now, i've more or less settled on the Barista Pro at the moment unless I change my mind again and go for dual boiler + grinder setup. (depends on my kitchen counter top when I move out).
I descaled this machine for the first time in 2.5 years, and it's now busted. It won't heat up past 70c, which seems to be a common problem.
I have also tried the 45-degree angle + 90-degree angle tricks to get it to work, but still no luck. Breville support sucks too. 30 mins on hold with no answer.
Since your machine is out of warranty I am genuine interested if Breville going to help you out or if you have to pay for the repair.
Could you please let us know.
Most likely thermal fuse was blown. ~$10 part with a LOT of labour to replace it.
Will let you know. I have watched a youtube video on taking it apart. It looks like a nightmare
@SickDmith. Just picked up the oracle from repairs. You were spot on - it was the thermal fuse that was blown.
All fixed under warranty (Not sure how?) - no out of pocket so im very happy with the Breville service :)
Awesome!
Thanks for letting us know.
Funnily enough I was told never to descale the machine. Ruins it. And you’ve confirmed this now
I descaled mine and it's doing quite well at the moment still. I only decided to descale because it felt like the milk frother wasn't getting the pressure it needed… after descale, no change. (I'm assuming the pump is kinda boned).
Kind of sucks that your machine is having issues after a descale
Ya sucks big time. Im taking it to a Breville assesment place next week. Fingers crossed 🤞
Tried this procedure? Leaving it overnight seems to be what is needed from what others have said.
https://www.home-barista.com/repairs/breville-oracle-touch-s…
The descaling issues can arise when you leave doing it for too long. Over time the water level sensing probes in the steam and brew boilers get scale on them and don’t sense the water level correctly. Add to this descaling solutions that also reduces the ability of the machine to sense the correct water levels, and you get incorrect tank fills and thermal trips.
The probes are quite cheap and come as a set with new o-rings. I replace them every 2 years.
Hmmmm don't think I did that process. I will give it a crack thanks mate :)
Manual coffee machine? It's got automatic tamping and milk frothing. But yeah you do have to press buttons and lift the coffee cup off the drip tray so yeah that's the manual part I guess.
I use a pod machine, is it a good investment for a few years? I would prefer something simple and better, hapy to pay a bit more if needed. Thank you.
Yeah, this is solid. Have used mine for the last 4 years. Make a couple of coffees in under 3mins is awesome. Milk comes out perfect every time, self tampering makes it easy.
Replaced my nespresso with the Oracle and never looked back; actually went through two nespresso machines (by breville) because the frother broke in one of them … and wanted to stop buying pods overall.
The oracle made much better coffee than the pod machines thats for darn sure.
Thank you for your input, if you don't mind, how would you rate your coffee from Nespresso and Oracle respectively from 0-10?
Mmm Nespresso wasn't bad so it's an easy 6 for me - i ran two pods each time I made coffee; just the capsules + waste from it, then to recycle the pods you need to go to designated spots and pods were costly for me haha.
Oracle gives me probably a solid 8 almost all the time without having to do anything special. on-par i'd say with your local cafes that doesn't suck (i'm looking at you maccas coffee)
You can't go wrong with either - just the grinding fresh beans and having a better coffee taste to start my days is worth it for me.
@atimuslol: Price matched from good guys @ $1580, will pull the trigger before midnight when I am home. Thank you for your input.
Last Q. Whats the diff betw these two/
https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/breville-the-oracle-espresso-…
&
https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/breville-the-oracle-coffee-ma…
@MrPresident: Yah the black sesame doesn't look as nice tbh however… you get used to it at the end of the day.
The black truffle looks nicer but definitely not worth the $$ on top as well.
Go with the cheaper one
Keep in mind that the RRP on David Jones website is wrong. It is actually $2,699 on Breville's website but still a decent discount nevertheless: https://www.breville.com/au/en/products/espresso/bes980.html…
Is this the successor to the dual boiler? I heard it's finally been discontinued
Oracle has been around for a while but it's built off the dual boiler platform, just adds the inbuilt grinder + auto frother for about 1k more than the dual boiler xD
Oracle or the touch impress?
depends on your workflow. my cousin as a touch (barista pro touch though) and wasn't a fan of the touch screen honestly. rather the buttons over the screen.
The oracle will do the grind + tamp for you just but inserting the portafilter and clicking it to the side to activate grind + tamp.
touch impress requires you to pull that lever and press the dose button.
Oracle runs a dual boiler > thermojet system in the touch impress. (IE: can't brew and froth same time, there's a transition, weaker steaming)
So given the touch impress is basically same price as the oracle black sesame and the oracle is a dual boiler system, i vote oracle.
If on a tight budget, probably normal impress.
Note: all of them run the same grinder, just the normal impress has slightly fewer steps.
Cheers
Does the thermo mean it would instantly heat up though?
But it's can't do brew and froth at same time?
Yeah 3 second heat up time.
But can't do both same time.
So you flip it on and you can probably start brewing immediately (though you'd be brewin with a cold portafilter and cup); swapping to milk frothing takes about 3-5 seconds from videos I see for it to ramp up the pressure to froth (vs dual boilers basically instant or the older thermocoil barista express + impress bout 8-15 seconds)
Price matched at jb, very low stock . Seems this model is being discontinued if the sales man was right. Stacked with $30 discount on 300 spent + gc for further savings.
The colour maybe, but I doubt the model is. No competition to require a new model and sits between the 920/ Touch Impress and 990. Even if they have already R+Dd a new model, no need to roll it out.
BES980BKS is the model number of this one, other colours have different model numbers. I was referring to this colour being discontinued.
I don't know why they spout this rubbish all the time, found a sales guy from JB who told me what the real story was when I was looking at the dual boiler.
Breville restricts stock, so the code on their system goes n/a for a significant portion of the year
They're driving the lower end and higher end models usually, so the oracle touch, dynamic duo etc
Getting close to 2k, buy an Italian machine.