BREVILLE BARISTA TOUCH REVIEW: STUNNING HOME ESPRESSO SIMPLIFIED

The Breville Barista Touch has a lot more going for it than just a touch screen. 

My first impression of the Breville Barista Touch was that they had taken the Barista Express, added a touch screen, and jacked up the price. I was very wrong. This is an altogether different model, inside and out.

This review covers my experience with the Breville Barista Touch, including how it compares with the rest of the Breville line. If you’re in the market for an espresso machine that’s equal parts high-quality and easy to use, it might be the best bang for your buck! Read on to find out.

The Full Breville Barista Touch Espresso Machine Review

Breville is known for making some of the top home espresso machines, and in recent years, they’ve thoughtfully pared down their line-up. Each remaining machine has an obvious selling point.

The Barista Touch, in my opinion, occupies a happy middle ground in the line that will appeal to a lot of consumers. It has an accessible price point under $1000 and delivers many of the user-friendly features missing from the low-end models while skipping the extraneous bells and whistles of the more expensive options.

How We Rated It

• Brewing Capability
• User-Friendliness
• Milk Frothing
• Build Quality
• Value For Money

4.1

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What is the difference between Barista Touch and Barista Touch Impress?

This seems like an important place to start before I dig into the meat of my review. I’ve been testing the original Barista Touch. There is a newer alternative, the Breville Barista Touch Impress, which retails for about $500 more.

The biggest difference is that Impress models include an automatic tamper. It definitely aids in tamping consistency, but you can achieve the same result with a $50 calibrated tamper. 

Other upgrades include an improved grinder with new Baratza burrs and a stepless adjustment, and a guided barista mode to walk you through crafting your drinks. The automatic milk system has been updated with new modes for frothing plant-based milks.

The Impress is undeniably an upgraded model, but personally, I’m not convinced it’s worth the price increase – unless you’re someone for whom money is no object.

The Barista Touch In A Nutshell

I’ll discuss the features of the Barista Touch in the order you’ll encounter them as you pull a shot, starting with the built-in grinder.

Integrated Burr Grinder

Grinding whole bean coffee as soon as possible before making espresso ensures the best flavor, so if you’ve been using pre-ground coffee beans, you will immediately notice the improvement when you switch to the freshly ground beans of the Barista Touch.

More settings means you can find just the right grind size for the perfect extraction. With too fine a grind, your espresso will be overly bitter; too coarse, it will be weak and watery. There is nothing worse than knowing the ideal shot is impossible because you don’t have enough settings for dialing in the grind size.

The dose is programmed by time, and grinding is hands-free. Just slot the portafilter into the cradle beneath the grinder, and it will grind as needed for a single or double shot. You can also dose manually by holding the portafilter against the grind button. 

It can make a bit of a mess, but it’s honestly pretty good at landing all the grounds in the portafilter, especially if you use the included dosing funnel – certainly better than some standalone grinders I’ve tested.

54mm Filter Baskets

Like most Brevilles, the Barista Touch uses a 54 mm portafilter basket, which is smaller than the commercial standard 58 mm. Breville claims you can fit a double shot dose of 18 to 20 g in the basket, but in my experience, 15 to 17 g is more realistic. I wish they’d bring the 58 mm group head of the Breville Dual Boiler to this model.

I like that you get four filter baskets with your Barista Touch – both pressurized and non-pressurized options for single and double shots. The pressurized baskets are great as you first learn to dial in grind size, distribution, and tamp. But once your barista skills are mastered, swapping in the non-pressurized baskets yields sweeter and more flavorful shots with a proper silky crema.

Heating System

As one of the newer generation machines, the Breville Barista Touch has the upgraded ThermoJet heating system, which heats in just 3 seconds! Just beware that it only heats the internals, not the portafilter. So pull a blank shot or two before brewing so the cold metal basket doesn’t interfere with extraction.

The brew temperature is PID-controlled, which ensures accuracy and precision (1). It comes preset at “Ideal,” which I measured as about 198 ℉. But you can easily adjust it both higher and lower by navigating to the Brew Temperature option in the Settings Menu. There are 8 options, labeled High 1, High 2, Low 1, etc. as you deviate from the default. I found it a little annoying that they don’t tell you the actual temperature, but that’s a small quibble.

Time To Brew!

Let’s make coffee. This espresso maker offers automatic preinfusion, one of my favorite features for improving espresso quality. The low-pressure pre-wetting of the espresso puck ensures a more even extraction and, thus, more flavorful coffee (2). It would be nice if preinfusion time were adjustable, as with the Bambino Plus, but Breville has opted for a one-size-fits-all in this case.

Start the extraction by selecting your drink from the screen menu and following the instructions. At this point, it’s foolproof; the coffee machine takes over.

The resulting espresso shots are truly impressive, particularly if you’ve taken the time to dial everything in such that you can use the non-pressurized baskets.

Darker roasts were bold, sweet, and balanced. And even lighter roast shots were complex and bright, never sour or watery – especially when I upped the brew temperature a few notches.

Can the Breville Barista Touch make regular coffee?

The Barista Touch always brews at 9 bars of pressure, so it doesn’t make regular coffee. But it does have a dedicated hot water spout and a setting for an Americano, which gives a pretty good approximation. It’s just slightly fuller-bodied than a typical drip brew.

Using The Breville Barista Touch

The Barista Touch is an excellent entry-level espresso machine because it is so straightforward to operate. With automatic volumetric shot pulling, automatic milk texturing, and a touchscreen display to walk you through the drink-making process, anyone can make delicious espresso drinks.

There are five pre-programmed drinks accessible via the touchscreen, helpfully labeled with colorful diagrams: espresso, Americano, flat white, latte, and cappuccino. Each can be customized by adjusting brewing temperature, coffee strength, and milk temperature and texture, and you can save up to eight of these custom espresso beverages.

That said, the Breville Barista Touch is an automatic espresso machine, which you should not confuse with a super-automatic machine. You’ll still need to be involved in tamping, locking in the portafilter, and mixing the milk and espresso.

Automatic Cleaning Cycles

The Barista Touch is easy to clean and maintain thanks to automatic alerts and programs to clean and descale – accessible via the main menu.

All you need to do regularly is keep the 2-liter water tank in the back topped up (it will remind you if it’s low) and empty the drip tray. I’d also suggest keeping a cloth handy to wipe up any stray grounds under the grinding chute.

Breville Nails Automatic Milk Frothing

I am on record as being thoroughly impressed by the automatic steam wand of the Breville Bambino Plus, and the Barista Touch does it one better – with more settings for milk temperature and texture. There is no reason to learn manual milk steaming for this machine unless you want to.

You can set your desired milk temperature anywhere between 104°F to 167°F, at 8-degree increments (3). It uses a temperature sensor on the drip tray, so your setting doesn’t exactly correspond with the temperature of the milk. I’ve been liking 145 ℉, but you can experiment to suit your taste or if you’re using non-dairy milk (4). 

You can also choose one of eight milk textures, ranging from creamy micro-foam for a latte to airy froth for a cappuccino. Then it’s just a matter of putting the steam wand in the frothing pitcher and letting it work its magic. It even purges on its own when it finishes.

Pannarello Wand: Pros And Cons

The Barista Touch uses a Panarello-style steam wand that automatically introduces air as you froth milk (5). It’s a nice way to ensure reliably aerated milk, but I’d prefer a professional-style steam wand – particularly for producing the creamy microfoam needed for detailed latte art.

If you want to pour complex latte art – swans and the like – you’re probably better off buying the Barista Pro and investing some time into mastering its manual steam wand.

The Build Quality Doesn’t Scale With The Price

The build quality of the Barista Touch is on par with the other best Breville espresso machines. That is not to say that the quality is poor, but you aren’t getting a more premium build for your extra cash. That money is going into more advanced technology, not higher-end components.

The exterior of the Barista Touch is stainless steel, and it’s available in the classic Breville-style brushed stainless or in black, white, grey, dark blue, or a pale brown charmingly called “Almond Nougat.” 

It’s impressively compact, especially given the built in grinder. Even with the 8-ounce bean hopper on top adding to the height, it’s only 16” tall so it will slide neatly under your upper cupboards. Its footprint is equally practical, at just 12.5” wide by 12.7” deep.

Is The Breville Barista Touch Worth It?

I think the Barista Touch is a great value for the right user. At just under $1000, it’s not cheap, but it delivers a lot for its price tag – including a 2-year warranty.

I can’t think of a super-automatic machine at this price that can make equally high-end drinks. Similarly, a more affordable automatic machine requires more user skill to achieve the same results. 

An Impressive Assortment Of Accessories!

I always appreciate Breville machines because they come with all the accessories you need, so you don’t have to budget for extras. Along with the portafilter and four baskets, the Barista Touch comes with a milk jug, dosing funnel, water filter, Razor trimming tool, cleaning kit, water hardness test strip, and a nice metal tamper (6). Many tools and accessories can be stored inside the machine in a clever space behind the drip tray.

Don’t Buy the Breville Barista Touch If…

• You don’t care about a touchscreen – If brewing espresso at the touch of a button doesn’t seem worth the extra cost, there are a few other great Breville machines to consider.
  
  The Breville Barista Express and Barista Express Impress both use a button interface, while (my favorite) the Barista Pro has an LCD. Just note that none of these models include an automatic steam wand.

• You already have a grinder – If you already have a good espresso grinder, I’d steer you towards the Breville Bambino Plus, which I think is one of the best value machines on the market. It’s half the price of the Barista Touch and includes high-end features like auto milk frothing, adjustable pre-infusion, and a professional-style steam wand.

• You value build quality over convenience – The price of the Barista Touch puts you in the realm of entry-level prosumer espresso machines, which use commercial-grade components. Semi-automatic espresso machines like the Profitec Go, ECM Casa V, and Rancilio Silvia require more barista skills to operate, but they’re built to last decades.

The Verdict

I started this review by saying it would help you decide if the Breville Barista Touch is right for you, so let me sum it up here. 

The Barista Touch is on par with less expensive models like the Barista Pro when it comes to drink quality and build, but it stands out for its ease of use. If you’re a busy person willing to spend a little extra for the added convenience of a touch screen and automatic frothing, you’ll find great value here.

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