Speak to enough self-proclaimed coffee lovers about home espresso machines, and Breville is sure to be a brand name you hear. So, if you’re looking for a quality, top of the line coffee machine that has all the bells and whistles but no tassels, you’ll want the Breville Barista Touch. Whilst on the pricier side, this machine will pay itself off within the year if you are a regular coffee buyer.
Let’s say you get a $5 espresso beverage, be it a latte, cappuccino etc., once a day. This is around $5, excluding all the extras like syrups and alternative milk. That’s $2,555 per year, which is nearly double what this machine costs. Even when you add in the cost of beans and milk, you’ll come in at less than this value. Now let’s say you get coffee only five days a week, instead of seven. That’s $1,825, which is still more than what this machine costs.
Don’t be deterred by the ongoing cost of the beans and milk because the machine will keep making delicious drinks well beyond that first year, effectively paying for itself in savings over time.
Of course, the comparison only applies if the drinks from the Breville match the quality of those from your favourite coffee shop. According to coffee experts, it will.
The Breville Touch is even the coffee expert’s choice because it balances high-quality results with streamlined design without being so minimalistic that it’s unintuitive to use, which is an issue with other fancy at-home espresso machines, said Lisa McManus, executive editor of equipment testing and ingredient tasting at America’s Test Kitchen.
You can choose a pre-set option from the user-friendly touchscreen menu, or you can customise your own beverage by adjusting the shot volume, milk texture, and milk temperature, which you can then save as a pre-set. There’s also a milk steamer built right into the machine, which delivers hands-free texturing for a smooth, velvety top to suit whichever style of drink you choose.
The thing that separates your coffee from a regular cup of joe is consistency. Generally, more expensive machines can extract better espresso because they can maintain a stable temperature throughout the brewing process, which allows for even extraction. When the extraction is consistent, the acidity, sweetness, and bitterness are balanced in the final cup.
The Breville boasts both electronic temperature control and a pre-infusion process which gently expands the coffee grounds to a consistent size in order to achieve that balance.
However, before you even start extracting, you will need coffee grinds, of course. In the Breville’s case, there is a built-in grinder. Not just any grinder, but a stainless steel conical burr grinder. When considering what piece of equipment to invest in for making coffee at home, the burr grinder should definitely be at the top of the list. The burr grinder uses two sets of abrasive surfaces – burrs – to crush the roasted beans into uniform particles, whereas a blade grinder, which uses blades to chop the beans, leads to less consistent results.
As an added bonus, the Breville Barista Touch also has an automatic cleaning and descaling cycle, so it’s super easy to clean and maintain, no matter how many cups you make.
