the Oracle - From Breville

[weinoo]

Who has one of these?

 

 

[Okanagancook]

Wow, nice machine.  

I have had my Jura for about ten years and I love it.  It is a bit more 'automatic' than this Breville.  I love it because I am the lone coffee drinker in the house so I always get one or two fresh cups without any waste.  When we have house guests, they get a lesson in making coffee and then I don't have to bother with making coffee to order.  I have not had any issues with the machine.  

I wonder about the Breville's track record.

 

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, Okanagancook said:

I wonder about the Breville's track record.

Yes - there's so much going on, what's the mean time between failure?!

[Okanagancook]

I was recently looking to replace my less than two year old Panasonic Microwave.  The Breville microwaves looked very interesting in their different approach to programming but, many reviews noted that their machine failed within a two year time frame.

Take a look at the Juras.  They are very well made.  I can program mine in terms of water and milk temp, grind level, amount of coffee, auto turn on, etc.  The only thing about them is you must use non-oily coffee beans otherwise it gets clogged up.  I wonder about the Breville's ability to handle oily beans.

I just buy high quality Italian beans where seem to be very dry.  Currently using 'Lavazza Espresso".

[CanadianHomeChef]

I've had my eyes on one of these to upgrade my Barista Express. Have yet to find it at a good price. I was saving Air Miles for it, as they had it on for a good deal, but by the time I collected enough emails, it was no longer available

[Okanagancook]

Humm....some problems:  https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/breville-oracle/q-and-a

[eugenep]

I wish I bought a Jura but I got the Gaggia instead because it was recommended by Cooks Illustrated and they had a 40% off mark down on x-mas so it was about $500 or so rather than $850. 

 

The Gaggia makes a super loud noise like - pluck pluck pluck pluck - and then screams. 

 

It gets better when I clean it with a descaler but it's loud. 

 

I don't know if it'll last that long. It's been about a 1.5 years so far. 

 

If the Jura can last 10 years, I think I might get that next. I had my mind set on the Jura coffee only for about $900 (low end model). I tested it out at Sur La Table and it's super quite. 

[Okanagancook]

I love my Jura.  It is very well made; everything is adjustable; it is not very loud..probably the coffee tamping is the loudest part of it making a coffee.  Mine has dual hoppers for different coffees.  You can even mix the two coffee types in whatever proportion you want.  I have a couple of friends with Juras and they have had them at least five years.  It is also a very beautiful design.  My only complaint is the restricted use of dry coffee beans.

[rotuts]

if well made , the machine might do well for you.

 

most important , what pressures does the machine truly achieve at the brew-head ?

 

is there a gauge that confirms this ?

 

is it wise to incorporate a grinder in a machine ?  is one side fails , then the whole machine fails.

 

how hard is it to clean the grinder ? a clean grinder makes a huge difference over the long run.

 

it seems the machine does an awful lot of stuff.    if it does them all well , then fine.   

 

if one ' section ' of procedures is not done well , then the whole series fails.

 

Id look at this machine only after seeing it work in front of me.

 

and sorry for being  picky , Id take my own favorite beans to see how they taste in the cup

 

too much of a good thing ?

 

 

[paulraphael]

Breville's carved out a niche in espresso machines. By all accounts they make good espresso, and have some features missing from most prosumer e-61 machines, and do it all at a significantly lower price. 

 

But they're consumer appliance-quality machines, full of plastic, and made almost entirely with proprietary parts. If something fails and you're out of warranty, you rely on Breville's good will to get you a replacement part. It's unclear if they're available at all. 

 

The e-61 machines are generally commercial quality (designed for years of holding back heat / pressure / water / electricity) and are made almost entirely from standard industrial parts. All the valves, solenoids, tubes, heating coils, thermocouples, switches, etc. can just be bought from an industrial supply catalog. The brain boxes for the PID controls can be bought from 3rd parties, with their model-specific programming. So people keep these things running for 20 or 30 years. 

 

It's a very different value proposition.

 

[And Rotus makes good points about the built-in grinder. That's a pretty big wild card]

 

[Okanagancook]

Yes @rotuts has made some excellent points which missed back in March.  I have no idea about some of his questions.  Need to investigate.   I guess I just really like the convenience of decent coffee...it is not as good as my brother’s which is made with more skill.  We have a decent number of visitors and the machine allows them to draw their own coffee how they like it and I can get on with other things.

[&roid]

I’ve got one of the Breville oracles (branded as Sage here in the UK). I’ve had it for a few years now and it’s been really good. 

 

It makes significantly better coffee than previous bean to cup machines I’ve had (gaggia and delonghi) both in terms of the shot itself and the way it froths milk. This latter part is what really sets it apart - the milk is properly steamed with a tiny foam rather than the big uneven bubbles I was used to with the other machines. Two proper boilers too so I can happily make coffee and steam milk simultaneously. 

 

It’s more work to make a cup of coffee than those “simpler” bean to cup machines, but it’s significantly less than a fully manual set up. For me it’s the best balance between quality of coffee and effort - ymmv though. 

 

I haven’t had any issues with it so far, cleaning is easy and it’s been 100% reliable. It has certainly opened my eyes to better beans as well - the difference with freshly roasted versus the supermarket packs we used to buy is night and day.