I Tried Breville’s New $2,000 Oracle Jet Espresso Machine [CNET]

View Article on CNET

If you’d told me I’d be unboxing a professional-grade espresso maker — with a professional-level price tag, second only to the brand’s Oracle Touch — and preparing a barista-quality espresso drink in less than 30 minutes without so much as cracking the user manual, I’d never have believed it. 

My usual morning routine involves a $60 “espresso” device with only one setting that basically makes a decent cup of drip coffee with a portafilter. The name Oracle, then, Breville’s new and top-of-the-line espresso-making technology, seems especially appropriate. It could see the future even when I couldn’t.

Photo Gallery 1/1

Breville first released its Oracle brand, award-winning espresso machine 10 years ago, and the just-released Oracle Jet is the first upgrade to its technology in five years. This is a serious home espresso machine for the serious coffee connoisseur. The price is not for the faint of heart, but with a rising number of Americans reporting that espresso or an espresso-based drink is their morning joe of choice, this could be a worthy investment, but it’s definitely an investment. (You may want to factor in your espresso martini consumption while considering that price. The cost of cocktails may make this worth dipping into your savings for.)

Read more: Here’s How Much You’ll Save Making Coffee at Home

What’s different about the Oracle Jet?

Precision, automation, and speed were the driving factors behind the Oracle Jet’s upgraded technologies, which now features a fully integrated Baratza European Precision Burr that automatically grinds, doses, and tamps by simply holding the portafilter in place under the grind and tamp outlet until the display technology clearly lets you know you’re good to go. The system offers 45 different grind settings, while factoring in the roast or expiration date of the beans you’ve selected.

For non-dairy foam fanatics, the Oracle Jet system now also offers built-in settings for soy, almond, and oat milk, which can also be customized to the temperature and foam quality of your choice. No more scalding hot Starbucks for you.

It’s hard to remember a time before cold brew, but that trend in coffee consumption is only about 10 to 15 years old, with growth skyrocketing over the past decade, and with more to come. The cold brew market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 22.7% through 2031. This is more clairvoyance on behalf of the Oracle, then, which now includes settings for both cold brew and cold espresso. It’s by no means the first home espresso machine to have such functions, but the quality of the output in both cases is arguably worth stacking up against other models.

The new Oracle Jet is also wi-fi enabled, allowing seamless upgrades to the technology as they become available.

Oracle Jet setup: Never fear the professional grade machine

The Oracle Jet is a substantial machine, both in terms of weight and footprint, but getting it from packaging to pulling shots was a surprisingly low lift. The easy-to-read display walks you through a simple setup, including installing the water filter and checking for water quality, running an initial flush of the system with hot water for peace of mind, and establishing a baseline grind setting for your particular preferences and espresso beans. It even gives you a mini barista lesson, running you through what fast, ideal, and slow extractions look like, and how much time each should take. 

After running a test shot, the Oracle Jet let me know that the extraction was too slow and that the coffee might be bitter, and encouraged me to increase the size of my grind, which is simply done using a dial on one side of the machine. I tasted the supposed “too bitter” espresso, and honestly thought it was perfect: bright and not at all bitter, but if the Oracle Jet believed I could have better, it’s a damn Oracle after all, and I was already an acolyte ready to do its bidding.

Intuitive technology at its best

Considering how easy the setup was, it’s no surprise that the Oracle Jet continued to deliver simple-as-can-be functionality for each of the nine built-in drink settings, which included Flat White, Hot Chocolate and Tea, among other expected espresso beverages. 

Once a given drink is selected, the menu shows which steps will unfold, with an option to customize any of the built-in settings for time, grind size, temperature, milk type, foam quality and so on. It may take some time and experimentation to settle on your exact preferences, but it’s easy to navigate, and I found the built-in settings to deliver drinks that would be difficult (at least for me, a non-barista who always spells my own name correctly) to improve upon. 

The system also lets you easily program your own custom settings, once you figure out your specific grind, temperature, milk and foam needs.

The couple of times I came up against something potentially unintuitive were non-disasters, and mistakes you’ll only make once. For example: The steps for making a latte and an Americano looked similar on the display, with the only difference being milk versus water. I assumed the hot water would involve a separate step, like the milk, and so I didn’t initially have a big enough vessel in place to take on both the espresso and the hot water for an Americano, which was dispensed automatically. 

The drip tray is sizable, however, and I switched it all out quickly, so neither my countertop nor clothing were harmed in this experiment.

In a couple of instances when I hit the go button for something that I wasn’t actually ready for, for instance, forgetting to discard the previous puck of espresso before brewing a new one, quickly hitting the same button stops the process immediately with no harm done. That my instinct was correct with a device of this level was surprising to me. Admittedly, I expected to have many more experimentation pains with this machine.

Coffee quality with the Oracle Jet

As even my allegedly too-bitter test batch was top quality with a silky crema, which obviously also speaks to the quality of the beans, it’s no surprise that it kept getting better and better as the Oracle Jet continually suggested grind adjustments based on how long the shot took to pull.

I have a long way to go with cappuccino foam art, but as it’s one part of the technology that isn’t automated, that’s entirely user error. I found experimenting with the foam setting a worthy enterprise in order to come up with an outcome that’s smoother and denser, and less like soap suds, which would be inevitable if left to my own devices and the manual foam setting. 

If you have actual barista skills, simply lifting the wand into the position away from the machine activates manual mode. The display will also prompt you to put the wand back after foaming in order to flush itself out after each use.

The cold brew and cold espresso functions turn out something that’s more tepid than cold, but as these are intended to be served over ice, or in chilled cocktails, fair play. The cold brew was especially delicious, with a robust flavor perfect to be cut with a little water and ice. The cold espresso still delivered crema that was ideal for an espresso martini.

How about that non-dairy foam

The temperature and foam settings automatically adjust when you select different, non-dairy milks. While I’m not a daily connoisseur of non-dairy lattes and the like, as a frequent cappuccino drinker, I’d be completely satisfied with the texture of the almond and oat milks, both of which I tried. The almond milk seemed especially effective and silky. These settings can also be adjusted to your precise preferences.

One missing element

I await the day that a home espresso machine can deliver cappuccino art, but that’s just a wish at this point, not an expectation. I will say, however, that as some other systems have a bypass option that lets you select different beans than those that live in the main hopper, the Oracle Jet doesn’t, so it’s a more complicated process if you want to swap in decaf beans, or a different roast.

The bean hopper is easy to remove, however, so if you do want to make it a switch, it’s not a major ordeal, but will inevitably include some left over beans that are already in the chute.

The price is no joke

Here’s the potential downside. The Oracle Jet isn’t the most expensive espresso machine designed for home use, but it’s up there. As a truly professional grade device, however, with excellent capabilities, I believe the $1,995 price tag is merited, but again, it’s an investment, and comes with a two-year limited warranty. (Again, I’d implore you to consider your espresso martini consumption and make a good choice.) As a comparatively affordable, non-commercial model for a small bar or restaurant, it might be ideal.