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Do you wake up thinking about that first tasty cup of coffee? Imagine you could get this without leaving your home! Well, the Breville Oracle coffee machine might be the answer for you.
You may ask why you would invest in an espresso machine that is not 100% automatic?
TASTE!
Even so, is the taste of good coffee worth the hefty price tag associated with it for the Oracle coffee machine. I’ll let you decide.
The Breville Oracle coffee machine is an innovative automatic, manual espresso machine. This means it automates aspects of the coffee making process to give you barista made coffee at the touch of a button.
Click here to check out the price.
Breville Oracle Coffee machine – design
As a novice at-home-barista, my most recently owned (and loved) coffee machine has been fully automatic. The reason being, is that it provides a quick cup of coffee whilst I rushed through my morning routine getting ready for work. What I didn’t realise was that I was compromising on the taste. This was until I purchased the Oracle coffee machine. This innovative machine has been created to allow the user to enjoy a delicious cup of coffee, the quality you would get from your local barista, with the ease of automation.
Even though it makes a delicious cup of coffee, this machine may not be the right design for every household. The Breville Oracle coffee machine weighs 16.9 kgs and measures 40.9 x 37.3 x 45.3 cm. You will need adequate bench space to store the Oracle. Some forethought was put into this aspect of the design though, with the introduction of retractable wheels. These wheels can be locked/unlocked to allow you to swivel the machine around in order to find the water tank at the back, or move it around the bench top to clean underneath.
Breville Oracle coffee machine – bean Hopper
The Breville Oracle coffee machine can hold up to 280 grams of whole coffee beans in it’s hopper. This hopper is in-built, connects to the grinder and can be removed to clean. The bean hopper automatically closes to encapsulate the beans, stopping any bean spillage or mess during the removal process.
Breville Oracle coffee machine – Grinder
The Oracle coffee machine, has one of the most premier in-built coffee grinders. With the inbuilt 45-grind settings dial; ranging from fine to course, it allows you to set whichever setting you would like. Whilst this may seem overwhelming for coffee novices (I know it did for me), it wasn’t hard to find the setting I liked and start to play around with different beans and coarseness.
Once you insert the portafilter into the grind head and give it a slight push to the right the fully-integrated conical burr grinders will automatically grind your coffee.
One of the selling points of this machine is that it automatically doses 22 grams of coffee grounds into the filter basket every time. It then is programmed to tamp automatically, you are not required to do anything other than select your grind settings and click it into place. These settings on the Oracle coffee machine are automatically programmed to ensure consistency – same amount of coffee into the basket and same pressure tamping even when grind settings are changed or different coffee beans added.
**The Breville Oracle coffee machine comes with both 1 cup and 2 cup filter baskets.
Is the Oracle coffee machine a dual boiler?
Yes. The Oracle coffee machine is a dual boiler.
This means it saves you time, allowing you to pull your espresso and steam milk at the exact same time! The brewing system is comprised of a 15 bar Italian pump.
Dual stainless steel boilers and a heated group head are all controlled by proportional–integral–derivative (PID) temperature controls. This essentially ensures that maximum flavour is extracted every time, as it automatically delivers the correct water temperature. Even when trying out different coffee beans, the Breville Oracle coffee machine will deliver the correct water temperature and extract the right amount of flavour each time.
Once you have placed your porta head into the group head, the coffee extraction process can begin.
Breville Oracle coffee machine – Pre-infusion
The Oracle coffee machine has an adjustable pre-infusion time and pressure: soaking your coffee for a short time before extracting it. This function, mildly delivers water pressure of 2-4 bars, which enables the grinds to expand before extraction at the optimum 9-bars. This allows the oils from the grinds to be released further to produce a delicious expresso.
Breville Oracle coffee machine – overpressure valve
This feature limits maximum pressure during the extraction process (similar to commercial machines) for a desirable espresso flavour.
Breville Oracle coffee machine – settings
This machine has an enormous amount settings to adjust to each individuals taste. The benefit of the Breville Oracle coffee machine is that for an entry-level user, these settings can be left basically unchanged, and it would still produce a fantastic cup of coffee. But, for those baristas out there, you can change a multitude of options on this machine to suit your taste buds such as:
- Hot water
- Programmable pre-infusion
- Independently adjustable brew & steam boiler temperature (+/-1 °C)
- Auto on timer
- Adjustable volumetric or timed shot control
- Programmable Milk Temperature and Texture
- One/two shot buttons
- Create and save 8 customisable coffee settings
Breville Oracle coffee machine – Long black coffee
Another purpose built aspect of the Breville Oracle coffee machine is its long black function. It delivers a long black with the touch of a button. It ranges in sizes small, medium and large, meaning it delivers one shot and then adds more hot water depending on the size chosen. I have been using this function for months now, on all sizes with different beans and the taste is spectacular. No burnt coffee, and the underlying flavour of each bean is very evident.
Breville Oracle coffee machine – milk frothing
One of the main selling points of the Oracle is its milk frothing wand. The wand is extremely variable as it can be used to either:
automatically froth milk
Or
manually froth milk (adjustable settings for milk temperature and texture)
Both options are followed by an automated purge of the steam wand (doing the cleaning for you)
Breville Oracle coffee machine – water tank
The water tank is located at the back of the machine and has capacity for 2.5 litres of water. To fill the water tank up there is a push button on the top of the machine which opens up a small compartment. This small compartment allows you to pour water directly into the tank at the back. The level of water in the water tank is displayed in a small clear window visible at the front front of the machine.
The Breville Oracle Water filter
The Breville oracle water filter, is a small filter to ensure your water remains free of impurities such as chlorine and sediment.
It is recommended that you use a water filter in the machine, to purify the water from these contaminants. This stops the machine from any limescale build up caused by magnesium and ensures ideal brewing quality for your coffee. Using a water filter should also minimise the amount of cleaning and reduce the possibility of problems with the machine over time.
Installing the Breville oracle water filter is simple. The process requires you to click the filter into the water filter holder. This holder is then clicked into place within the water compartment (it has a dedicated spot). The benefits of using these water filters is that they can visually display the month you installed it. Prompting you when to replace, every 3 months or after 40 litres (based on water level hardness 4). In doing so regularly, it will reduce the need to descale the machine. You can find extra filters here.
Breville oracle coffee machine – Water hardness
This machine comes with a water hardness test strip. Which allows you to test the water you will be using for the machine and then setting your machine to correlate with the hardness of the water.
What is water hardness?
Water hardness is the total amount of mineral content (mostly magnesium and calcium carbonates) within water.
Why is water hardness bad for coffee machines?
If water is too hard, over time, these minerals can crystallise in the coffee boiler and pipework resulting in a blockage of water flow or even corrosion.
Breville Oracle Coffee machine FAQs
How to clean Breville Oracle coffee machine
The Breville oracle coffee machine is extremely intuitive; displaying a ‘clean me’ prompt when a cleaning cycle is required (approximately after 200 shots of coffee). This clean cycle back-flushes the group head and cleans the shower screen.
The steam wand is recommended to be wiped and purged after every use. Steam wand powder is recommended to be dissolved in water and the removed steam tip placed into it if it becomes clogged at any point.
The Breville Oracle coffee machine comes with its own cleaning kit comprised of:
- Burr brush
- Grind outlet brush & tamp removal magnet
- Cleaning tool for steam wand tip
- Water hardness test strip (x1)
- Espresso cleaning tablets (x2) – More can be purchased here
- Cleaning disc (this stores the espresso cleaning tablet during the clean cycle)
These slide neatly into a dedicated container that is hidden inside of the coffee machine so you wont ever lose them.
Information on how to best utilise these tools when cleaning your machine and how to clean other parts of the oracle, can be found in the manual here.
How to descale Breville oracle coffee machine
Descaling the Oracle coffee machine is important as it helps your coffee machine run at its best, by ensuring the break down of any built up contaminants from such things as coffee residue, lime scale or bacteria.
Although the machine may not prompt you to do this, as good general maintenance it should be completed every 2-3 months (obviously depending on how often you use your coffee machine).
Simple instructions on how to descale Breville Oracle coffee machine can be found in this informative video.
Does the Breville Oracle come with a knock box?
It should be automatically be included, however always a good idea to check with the retailer you are purchasing from.
Find it here otherwise.
The Breville knock box is highly recommended to reduce mess from carrying the portafilter across the kitchen or outside. It also looks better than having a random container or rubbish bin on your bench.
The Breville knock box allows you to knock the portafilter against it for a quick and mess free disposal of coffee grounds. The middle bar is easily removable for cleaning and the bottom has anti-slip rubber to reduce any movement during this process.
Breville Oracle manual
If you want to see further specifications before buying it, you can find the Breville Oracle manual here
It even provides troubleshooting ideas if an issue occurs.