Breville The Oracle BES980BSS (Brushed Stainless Steel)

I purchased The Oracle over seven years ago. I've made over 7,500 coffees in that time. I love the machine. I've obviously had some wear and tear over that time and have had some minor replacement of some parts but that's to be expected after that amount of usage. It makes a great and consistent coffee and milk. Show details

Great coffee machine at the start, then........... Purchased 3.5 years ago. After first 1.5 years it had major overheating issues so reached out to support and had an expensive service. Another year later the same issue but now the actual casing is melting due to the heat and we can't use. Reached out again to Breville Support providing the… Read more

previous case numbers, photos etc. Their response was "Can you tell me what the issue is?" They obviously hadn't read the case (or previous case) notes or looked at the pics or information provided.

Customer "Support" eventually provided a 3rd party service company after requesting again (service provider different to the first time) and a $900 quote later aparantly it's my issue "your responsibility out of warranty" with no regard to fire safety or a faulty machine breaking down every year since purchase. Overheating is a common issue apparantly and Breville ignore the problem and don't stand by their product.

For a $3K machine you would expect it to last longer than 2 years and have ongoing over heating issues every year since to a point where the metal casing is melting.

Do your math before investing in Breville's expensive Coffee Machines. Their products are amazing when they work but they dont work for long and cost a fortune.

It is also dissapointing that they don't care about fire risks and customer safety.

Must have addition to your Kitchen – If you are like me, i need a coffee to start my day and I got tired of paying $5 for a coffee at my local. This is not a cheap purchase, but the money spent upfront will see you break even in year 2 of use. Sooner if you have more than 1 coffee lover in the home. I have owned a Breville Oracle for 3 years and have never regretted the purchase.… Read more

it's so easy to use and the display and functions are intuitive. All the thinking is done for you. The built in grinder can be calibrated according to how you like your grind. You only really need to keep the machine supplied with coffee beans and follow the prompts when it's time for cleaning and descalling. Be sure to keep stock of filters and cleaning tablets. I would encourage you to go on You tube and watch the Breville "how to" guide on how to look after your machine.

Best home brew ever – After using Nespresso machine and stove top moka pot for years the coffee made from this machine is far superior and doesn’t even compare. My husband nearly had a heart attack after finding out I paid over $2000 for this maker, but after his first cup of coffee he said it is worth it. He couldn’t stop at one cup. The coffee comes out thick and… Read more

creamy almost like a toffee texture and is fully automatic. You can really taste the coffee flavour especially the flavoured coffee. I found it easy to set up. Heavy and solid machine. You can set water and milk temp to whatever you like. It grinds and tampers all automatically stopping when done. Then onto the extraction for the coffee. Frother is all auto or you have the choice to froth manually. Because this coffee tastes so good we use it more than once a day. A great cup.

Love, love, love it! Can’t live without it! – Auto switch on everyday, warmed up ready for us to get our smooth organic creamy coffee on! It has a built in grinder and tamper. I’ve used other larger commercial machines and I seriously couldn’t honestly knock this machine if I tried! Show details

Cafe Quality Espresso – I bought this for my husband when our offspring moved out with their Breville. We were missing it and so I did some research and this one came out on top. It's not cheap but it's excellent and very easy to use. I would highly recommend this machine for both quality and ease of use Show details

Excellent UNTIL , its not all good : – We love this coffee machine so much we have purchased it for the 2nd time in 5 years. Makes the best, just like barista made , Have had professional barista use at home and loved it. This all good until its 18mths old , just short of 2 yr guarantee, then the error messages start. From the beginning: 5yrs ago purchased previous model BES900 (… Read more ·  1

separate grinder model) perfect until 18mths old, it went for repair for boiler problem( that took 1 mth waiting for repair) it lasted 6 mths then failed again, Contacted Breville sorry no longer covered by Warranty, So decided to give the BES900 to friend that fixes things, for them to keep. Went out to purchase the current Machine BES980 and loved the grinder builtin feature, this time purchased 48mth product care in case of problems. Dear reader, yes 18mths fail. Now problem is getting it fixed , there is serious waiting problem with the repair company for Breville in Melbourne, they so busy.

DO NOT BUY! It’s a $2,400 coffee machine that barely lasted 2 years and now needs $800 in repairs. Purchased brand new from Harvey Norman and didn’t even make it 30 months (2.5 years). The response from Breville’s customer service? It’s a few months out of warranty, so, too bad even though the machine was making the same electrical buzzing noise… Read more

DURING its warranty period which they were informed of - now it’s for the bin. For the money this machine costs, you’re WAY better off buying something decent than this crap. I could’ve bought a durable Italian made machine for the same price that would’ve lasted decades not months.

Update: the Breville Customer Service Agent STILL DECLINED to help even when trying to resolve the issue with them before posting this review.

So, not only are their products terrible their customer service is just as woeful.

Update 15/06/25: after weeks of back and forth with Breville Customer Service Agents, they finally agreed to cover the repairs under warranty. Changed from 1 star to 2.

OK but expect ongoing costs as well – To be honest, this machine offers exceptional value. You could spend twice or three times as much on another machine. Since owning it, we've found it hard to match the quality of coffee it produces at any café. However, there are a few downsides, which is why I'm giving it three stars. The second coffee of the day will always draw more than the… Read more

first. I cant understand why - you need to watch when you draw it so you don't overdraw on the second and so forth. It's the same issue with all 3 machines.

Our first unit broke down just outside of the warranty period. While Breville generously repaired it under warranty, we still had to cover the cost of the local repair shop’s diagnosis and labor—and it took three months to get fixed. A year later, we encountered another issue with the same machine, specifically a faulty solenoid. Breville wouldn’t sell us the part directly and insisted on sending it to their authorised repairer who would charge a $120 diagnosis fee, despite us already knowing the problem. In the end, we had to source the part elsewhere for a higher price.

Despite these frustrations, we purchased two more of these machines while waiting for the first one to be repaired. It’s hard to find a comparable machine at this price range, though I’m open to being proven wrong. Overall, we’re satisfied with the performance, but the unexpected repair issues have been a letdown.

If you are tossing up between this and the Delonghi La Specialista – I forked out the extra money for this after going through two Delonghi La Specialista (I've been a delonghi person for twenty plus years but the build quality just isn't there any more). A broken frothing wand on the first and broken grinding motor on the second (all within about six months) led to getting the oracle. Very quick comparison though:… Read more

Oracle is close to $1000 more than the Specialista. (score 1 specialista) Oracle lets you use the wand and portafilter at the same time, the specialista doesn't. (score 1 Oracle) Oracle takes forever to heat up (about five minutes) Specialista is much quicker (score 2 Specialista) The auto froth function on the Oracle produces much better quality froth than the auto function on the Specialista (score 2 Oracle) Specialista tells you when you are running out on beans and water, Oracle will keep grinding air until you think its going to catch fire and then it will stop, you have to check the portafliter to see how much coffee grinds you have (score 3 Specialista) Oracle lets you fill the water reservoir from the front or remove the reservoir from the back and fill it. Specialista does both from the back, filling from the top at the back is not easy if you have a confined area (height wise) (score 3 Oracle) Specialista puts water in first on a long black so if you use different size cups it becomes a guessing game not to over fill it (score 4 Oracle) Specialista gives easier control on bean grind and dosage amount, Oracle requires a bit of a work around (score 4 Specialista) Oracle comes with a nock box If it wasn't for the build quality of the Specialista (the ones I bought anyway) I would say this is a very hard choice. The Oracle does make a better automatic cappuccino but both are equally good manually (you can just do the coffee and milk at the same time with the oracle). Specialista lets you play with the coffee more but I hate the way it does the water first in a long black. On the other hand, you're not going to get a quick coffee from the Oracle, so if you're on the run don't expect to hit the power switch and have a cup of coffee two minutes later. A minor point, the Specialista handles my bigger cups. The oracle, they hang up on the bottom of the portafliter and you spill coffee when you try to get the cup out (a pain if you like long blacks in a big cup). I love the dual function of the Oracle, and making coffee and froth at the same time. I love the quality of froth produced by the automatic function and the fact that it does coffee first when making a long black, but I hate that it will grind away at air if it runs out of coffee beans, and I really hate that it takes so long to heat up! For me, the Oracle is better than the specialista (just), the real question thought, is it $1000 better. If you love experimenting with coffee and are full on manual for froth, then I'd say give the Specialista a go (you might get a good one) and save the money. If you are not fussed about playing with your coffee and want the machine to do the work (and you have the extra money) then go for the Oracle.

3 machines, 3 failures – I bought my first Oracle for home in March 2020. It is a great machine to use. Features are user friendly. I was so impressed I also bought one for the office. The office machine was just out of warranty when it had a catastrophic failure with the boiler seals and destroyed the circuit board. One month later the machine I bought for home did… Read more

exactly the same thing. I was able to get my home machine repaired for $600 but was shocked to see the 10 Oracles at the repair shop for exactly the same problem.

Thinking I had contributed to the problem by not descaling regularly enough, I bought another brand new Oracle for the office, this time it took exactly 5 months for it to have the same catastrophic failure, I took it back to the retailer for a full refund.

Three machines, three failures - enough is enough to convince me this machine is poorly designed and poorly constructed with substandard parts.

I've moved on from Breville now. They know this machine is a dud but continue to sell it to unsuspecting coffee lovers.

It is not a case of 'if your machine fails', it is a case of 'when your machine fails' - it will fail.

Disappointed is an understatement.

Ripped off – Breville customer service are saying there was an issue with my registration for promotion, now saying I've missed the cutoff date to register. The person I spoke to was very rude, she would ask a question then cut me off before I got to answer, she essentially told to to bad tuff luck. Ill be returning the product for a refund and buying another… Read more

brand. Shame after buying one of the most expensive retail coffee machines this is the sales service we received.

Dangerous Burn Risk - Steam Wand activates by itself – The steam wand activates randomly (without pressing buttons) on the Oracle coffee machine spurting out 100 Degree steam. Sometimes when trying to use it, other times when it is just sitting there, turned on (is on a morning timer). This is dangerous and I have raised the issue with Breville but got a scripted response about warranty eligibility. They didn't seem to care that it might be a safety issue. Show details

Poor quality machine. Terrible customer service. Ignore the one star. I'd give 0 stars if I could – The machine itself: I've had the exact same experience as a few other people that have posted here and on other pages. And I would look at the positive reviews as to how old they are since purchasing. If under 2 years old, I'd take them with a grain of salt as it seems the life of this machine is 3 years max (and just out of their factory… Read more

warranty).

Approaching only 3 years it has broken down (Clutch) and it cannot be used. I took the unit to an authorised repair shop and there was literally a two row queue of Breville espresso machines on the floor that went the length of the store.

I urge you not to purchase this machine. It produced nice coffee however, spending $2000 (or up to $2500-$3000 in some stores when not on sale) on a product that will only last between 2-3 years is abhorrent.

There are better machines out there that are cheaper and get a better score on Choice Magazine.

I'm back to my $70 machine that has been going strong for 6 years now.

Customer "Service": The following is lengthy but shows you the run around you will receive from Breville Customer Service.

The sign of a good company is how they behave when things go wrong, they stand behind their products and do their best to assist.. Not Breville. It seems quite the opposite in my own experience and after reading other reviewers experience. - Try getting though to them on the phone. "In training" for 2 days. Not sure what they were learning. They do not understand that products must be of acceptable quality.

- I finally received a reply to my email in which the CS said "You took the unit to xxxx Electronics – he then contacted you and gave you the quote - which you accepted and you told him to proceed with the repair." Now, either the shop owner lied or the CS lied as i was not contacted with a quote at all. The repair guy only called once when the machine was already repaired saying I could pick it up and it was xx price, or less for cash)

- The CS also said he escalated to the National Service Manager and signed off with; "we are unable to assist you" No elaboration at all.

- On reply I asked to speak to this National Service Manager. This time no reply from that CS, rather another CS replied with simply "we are unable to assist you" (2 days training for such wonderful service).

- Customer service sends an email that says they have closed the case "If you still need support, please respond to this email within the next 3 days to re-open this case".. from a "noreply@breville.com.au" email.

- Same day they send another email saying "We haven’t heard back from you in a few days, so we are letting you know that we have closed your request."

Breville "customer service" should be renamed.

This is my second one and having to go through product care which are useless . Over priced for what you get – I have had 3 Breville coffee machines in less than 3 years. If it wasn't for extended warranty which i had to pay extra for this can be classified as corporate robbery. All Department stores should be rejecting to selling these overrated products that are known to have defects - Boiler issues, lids not closing, noisy machines when turning… Read more

on. The product care group had me waiting for over 40min on the phone to then be directed to an Oracle team calling a different number. My time in logging a case and time with effort to dropping off a machine that showed to have a defect within 6 months. (evidence or purchase with serial numbers have to be sent by email and to the repair shop) Called Bravo repair centre, they then directed me to call Breville , then Breville asked me to call oracle Team. - that's 3 calls 1 hour and i still have to now drive to St Peters to drop off my machine for them to repair it under factory warranty. Replacement is only an option if the defect offered in the 1st month. This is the service a customer gets for purchasing a $3129.00 coffee machine Margaret Joncevska - Product Care - National Manger Oracle Manager - 0293848100 I don't care about your free coffee bags as they were poor aged beans and they are only good for the garden My Work Order - WO00294402

Makes reasonably good coffee - only within the two year warranty period, and then completely fails – Coffee made can be hit and miss. Sometimes way too much espresso, and other times less. Was prepared to tolerate the inconsistencies. That aside, after 2.5 years of low level usage (2-3 coffees per day) the machine just died one morning. It now requires repair at my expense. Look for something else I’d say. In the meantime, this is going to the tip. Show details

I absolutely love this machine. Can't decide whether I love it or the dog more – I've owned this coffee machine since they were first released. I toyed with buying one but was put off by the price for a few weeks... but then my appliance-buying obsession got the best of me and I took the plunge. It has been my number one appliance ever since. It consistently makes excellent coffees every morning- it makes 3-4 per day and… Read more

never misses a beat. It has a timer-on function so it's always ready to go when I wake up- and my cups are warm because they're stored on top. I've had to have it serviced twice because i used the wrong cleaning products on the milk frother- my own fault- but Breville has been nothing but excellent when helping me out. I clean it probably a little bit less than I should, because the cleaning is a dedicated afternoon if you are stripping and descaling... but because it has on-screen cleaning/ descaling instructions, it's not particularly painful. I'm into about my 4th or 5th year of using it and it still makes the most excellent coffee. I have to adjust the grind size based on how humid it gets in SEQ, but that's just a matter of keeping an eye on the state of each tamp. I would happily buy another one of these if this one gave up the ghost. I'm so pleased that I took the plunge and bought it- and it's paid for itself in terms of takeaway coffees. I have an excellent spill-proof keep-cup and I make myself an extra hot 'takeaway' coffee before I leave for work for the long commute.

Better Than Expected – Brought this machine around April 2020, needed my coffee hit whilst in lock down. The machine was recommended by a barista with a company roasting his own beans. It has made around 3-4 coffees a day since then. Being able to adjust the grind and tamp is great for getting the right brew. Did have one issue with the triac output board that controls the steam wand. This was repaired under the 3 year warranty via a service agent. Overall very happy. Show details

Perfect machine, I brought another when it was on sale for when this one dies! – I've had it since December 2018, I brought it from my work place for $500, they got a more commercial machine. Its had 3 weeks of downtime when it developed a leak, cost $300 to service and fix up, new air pump etc, now its been great for the last 2 years no problems. Great machine, love it so much I brought a black version when it was on run out… Read more

pricing just in case this one finally gives up. Its a ripper coffee machine, makes a beautiful coffee, just took me a week or so to get it right, but taste and temp is exactly how we want it. Mother in law has an E8 Jura, and cannot get her coffee right.

Breville customer service - POOR – Whilst I can’t fault the coffee produced by this machine, the customer service on this expensive machine has been below substandard. It took 2+ months to have my machine serviced, and the input of FairTrading to have damage caused on their part to be fixed. Will not be purchasing from Breville again, the headache is too much. Show details

Two failed machines within 4 years – I purchased my first machine in 2016 which failed in 2019 requiring a complete replacement. Luckily I had purchased an extended warranty so that wasn't a problem. Just two years later another complete failure and Breville is not interested as warranty is only from date of purchase of original machine. $2,500 machine lasts 2 years apparently. Show details

Great Machine easy to use – We looked at a lot of different machines before deciding on this one and I'm glad we did. We use this machine several times a day and it's never missed a beat. It's easy to use and straight forward to clean. After seeing how ours works other family members have also brought the same machine Show details

Great when it's working, unable to get repaired locally – We owned the Breville Oracle for 3 years, purchased it from The Good Guys. When it was working it was brilliant, it was used regularly, on average making 2 cups of coffee every other day. We regularly cleaned it as per the manufacturers instructions, and always removed the frothing nozzle after use to soak it and make sure the hole weren't… Read more

blocked.

After 2 years of use the temperature reading on the wand was excessively high, recording 70 degrees when the milk had barley started to heat. I stripped the wand down, cleaned everything and it seemed ok for a couple of weeks, then the same issue started happening again. After a few days the display just reported an Er code and it never worked again.

I contacted Breville to reach out to a local repair agent, Breville weren't very helpful, just telling me the only course of action would be to ship the unit to the repair agent in Syndey. We're an hour north of Newcastle so that's not as easy as it sounds given it size and weight.

We did contact the repair agents, all of which told us it may be too expensive to repair, given the issues and shipping would be costly. I did eventually find a repair company based in Sydney whose sales pitch was that they would collect and determine the fault for an up front fixed fee, then would quote on the repair. We did contact them to collect the unit, they never showed up. I then gave up. The unit sat in my shed for 8 months gathering dust.

So in summary it's makes great coffee, its really easy to use, but is very expensive, very unreliable and hard to repair. I've since learnt that if you contact one of the specialist coffee machine suppliers, who also sell domestic machines, but by brands whose sole focus is coffee machines, they are much better machines, with greater longevity and can be repaired by the same companies who maintain commercial coffee machines, of which there are several in Newcastle and most large towns / cities.

Good machine but no good for making cappuccino's – Machine is a good machine BUT if your preference is a cappuccino, make the effort and go to Coles fuel stop, 7-11 fuel stop or even a Bunnings café and pay for a GOOD CAPPUCCINO because you won't get one out of the ORACLE. The froth will only last a couple of minutes tops. You buy good coffee beans for $20- $40, just to get a latte or a flat white… Read more

when all you want is a cappuccino. The machine cost me (with extra warranty) about $3000 dollars. That's a hell of a lot of money for a coffee, if you count the cost of beans , cleaning products, time and effort since you can go to 7/11 or Coles Express and get a good cappuccino for a dollar. Don't get me wrong, the machine does everything else pretty well but if you want a good cappuccino, DON'T BUY IT, because you won't get it.

Waste of money – While the Oracle on the surface is a great machine, unfortunately it is let down by lack of spare parts and problems with the electrics when things go wrong, in short once you have problems with the electrical components, its pretty much a terminal problem for the machine, not good enough for a $2.5k coffee machine.  Show details