Breville The Oracle Jet
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This is a follow up to my review of the Breville Oracle Jet published in May 2025. In that review I raised a number of "initial impressions" after adjusting to the change from using (several) previous Breville Oracle coffee machines. I pointed out issues I had with the new machine, and concluded that "there's much that can be praised about the… Read more
Oracle Jet .....But it hasn't met my personal, fairy limited, needs for a two cups of cappuccino. I've lowered my aim and I'm becoming used to making one cappuccino at a time - and standing at the coffee machine while my wife drinks hers! But I wonder was it really worth the $3308 it cost me? Probably not."
More than 12 months have now passed, and I'm well "adjusted": the milk frothing function mentioned in my previous review has improved significantly (possibly a software update - the Jet is wifi connected), and I've accepted that only one coffee can be made at a time.
As before, the Jet still gets full marks for being able to make a cappuccino (or a variety of menu coffees) almost instantly - there's no waiting for "the boilers to warm up". (And obviously, there's no risk of the boilers failing either.)
But I've come across more issues that are worth keeping in mind if you are looking at the Jet as a coffee machine option.
Firstly, and most noticeably, it is an extremely "wet machine": it demands far more water than any of my Breville machines - and not all of it on making coffee! As a result, I have to empty the drip tray of a cup of clear water every time I make a single coffee.
And occasionally, and more worryingly, this water seems able to escape. I had a problem lasting some weeks with a pool of water at the rear left hand side of the machine, whenever I checked before using the machine. I attempted problem solving: I emptied the drip tray after every use, so that couldn't be the source. I removed the water tank and checked and cleaned all the valves; and I checked under the machine for possible leaks. I found none. But then, for no apparent reason, just as quickly as it started, the leak stopped a few days ago after about three weeks. Touch wood!
Secondly, there is a EXTREMELY annoying issue with "Notifications" which seem designed to harass the barista! I first noticed it with a Notification to "clean the coffee head" which appeared on the screen just as I was about to make my morning coffee. The Notification offers two options: dismiss or start. I selected "dismiss", and later in the day when it was convenient to me, I ran the cleaning cycle. Ah, but it was a trick! The Notifications continued to appear over coming days until I selected "start" and ran the cleaning program FROM the Notification on the screen.
That's annoying I thought. But then days later, I received a "change the filter" Notification. In this case, I was actually a week ahead of the machine in changing the filter, but the Notifications continued. Obviously, I was expected to change change the filter FROM the Notification screen.
I contacted Breville and found these Notifications can't be changed via the Settings, or by a software update (via wifi). They are hardwired, and MUST BE OBEYED!
As I was contemplating how to defeat this irritating problem, I received yet another Notification - the third in two weeks - this time to descale. This was a bridge too far!
Reluctantly, I did "factory reset" as it was the only way to stop the harassment. I say "reluctantly" because the Jet doesn't allow the machine to be reset then repopulated with your preferences. Instead, like a machine straight from the box, you have to go through the entire original, new product set up process: "this is how you grind coffee beans; try it now", "this is how you fill the puck; try it now". etc, etc, etc, I might say the language in my kitchen as I was being forced through this process was colourful! But at least the 20-30 minutes of (unnecessary) pain stopped the accumulating and demanding Notifications!
Finally, it's worth mentioning that if you have a problem with the Breville Oracle Jet, you can only contact the company via a "case" on the Breville support page. And yet again, you'll face another unnecessary set of over-engineered processes: sign into the Breville home page with your account details; select Support from the menu, and sign in AGAIN to the Support page; then create a "new case" - and despite the fact that your machine is registered with Breville - you have to find all the documentation to populate the "case" with information they should already hold, like serial number, where and when purchased, etc!
The bottom line is this, the primary benefit of the Breville Oracle Jet is that it's fast. Its ability to make coffee is comparable with other reasonably priced coffee machines. Its downside is that it's over engineered and the user is locked out of everything but grind size, pour length and milk temperature. And the longer you have this machine, the more irritations emerge - and they can't be resolved. As a result, I'm unlikely to buy another Breville Oracle Jet. And I wouldn't recommend one to a member of my family - not for close to $3000!
AU$2079. Purchased refurbished via official Breville AU ebay - arrived loose in suboptimal packaging with all parts included + only minor scuff marks. We got through the setup process and it made a nice coffee. Less than a day later "insert bean hopper" error began between pouring shots and halted all functions. We removed the hopper, brushed,… Read more
airpuffed, cleaned all surfaces and checked it was seated correctly and tried again. Same error. Checked the manual, internet, troubleshooting guides. Checked cleaned and tested all parts and fittings multiple times. Even tried a factory reset. The error persists, sometimes fritzing off/back on multiple times per second - my guess is an electrical or magnet fault.
We did the ebay return thing which is a hassle especially with such a heavy unit.
To think they "refurbished" this unit and sold it without thorough testing is highly disappointing. Their staff were slow to respond at first, but civil and helpful in the end -- we're still waiting on the refund so we'll see how that goes.
I received my Oracle Jet (purchased refurbished from Breville eBay) three days ago as a replacement for my old Barista Touch, and so far it’s been excellent. It was shipped with the incorrect hopper but Breville were quick to ship out a replacement. There was a small learning curve at the start, but the on-screen guidance makes a big difference… Read more
and quickly helped me dial in the coffee just right.
The machine is very intuitive and does a great job of taking the guesswork out of making quality espresso, especially compared to my previous setup. Everything feels well thought-out, and once you’ve had a bit of a play, it becomes very easy to use.
It’s definitely an expensive machine, but if it’s within your budget, I’d absolutely recommend it.
Every time my partner & I visited a particular friend, I always came away jealous of the coffee that he serves! I had a Delonghi Dinamica Plus, fully automatic coffee machine, which I owned for over 3 years. The Dinamica Plus produced very consistent & enjoyable coffee (I have received many compliments, for my coffees, from friends over the… Read more · 1
years). I do not like the milk frothing system on the Delonghi as it does not produce dense & creamy froth. So I have been using a Breville BFM600 milk frothing machine, when making Cappuccinos & Lattes. This combination has worked well! However, the coffees I made were nowhere near the 'Coffee shop quality' coffees that my friend makes.
He uses a Breville Dual Boiler manual coffee machine & Smart Grinder Pro coffee grinder. I have used manual coffee machines & grinders, in the past, but could never get consistent results. This could be because I was not diligent & disciplined enough .... But this doesn't mean that I don't enjoy & desire a rich, full bodied coffee with good crema!
So I started researching Automatic & Semi Automatic Coffee machines, with built in grinders. After much time spent watching You Tube reviews, I decided that the Breville The Oracle Jet should suit my needs. From the reviews that I watched the Jet looked relatively easy to set up to get consistent results, with a few more steps required during coffee preparation, compared to the Fully Automatic machines. The on board, 4 core computer system is very helpful, combined with the full color touch screen, which is easy to navigate & will not bamboozle anyone familiar with a modern smart phone. It took just 3 cups of latte to get very nice coffee dialed in, with the quality that I was hoping for. The Jet does go through coffee beans at a higher rate than the Dinamica Plus as it's 58mm portafilter holds a larger shot of coffee grinds for each cup. This is probably part of the reason why the coffees it produces are richer & more full bodied.
This machine is aimed at a user who likes their coffee, but doesn't want to get too involved in the technical side of espresso coffee machines. It offers a level of control which yields consistent results without too much fine tuning.
The Oracle Jet is quite expensive & I suppose from a value point of view, hard to justify. However, if you can afford it, it will provide much satisfaction over the years. There are some cheaper Breville semi automatic machines that you may wish to investigate, if you don't wish to invest as much as the price of the Oracle Jet. Here is a link to Breville ... https://www.breville.com/en-au/shop/espresso. There is also a new Oracle Dual Boiler machine, just released. This offers all the automatic functions as well as optional 'manual' control, which might suit someone looking for more control of their coffee.
As it has been on the market for over 12 months, I was able to negotiate a good discount on a new machine, from Harvey Norman.
After enjoying a series of Breville Oracle and Oracle Touch coffee machines over more than a decade, I naturally turned to Breville again when my old Oracle stopped working a month ago. Unfortunately, I thought my lengthy experience with Breville allowed me to bypass time wasting reviews. But I regret that now. When I saw the Breville Oracle… Read more
Jet on display, I assumed it would fulfil all my well-developed coffee needs! And the extremely high cost only gave me brief pause!
So now, with a month of several times a day experience behind me, let me begin with the Oracle Jet's positives. Firstly, and most obviously, it looks great. It's smaller than the old Oracle; it's shinier and is brightly lit by embedded lighting. It's impressively automated with a significant number of touchscreen pre-programmed coffee options which in addition to the "standards", include Iced Coffee, Espresso Martini, Babyccino and Hot Chocolate. It sure encourages experimentation.
It's also wifi connected, and this allows the Oracle Jet's programming to be updated in the background. Who knows whether this is as useful a feature as Breville suggests. I never updated my old Oracle/Oracle Touch machines, and I don't know whether or not my Oracle Jet has been updated or in what circumstances and update would be performed. So who knows whether is that a positive or not?
But a truly significant positive is that the Oracle Jet provides instant coffee production; I no longer have to wait for the "old Oracle" double boilers to heat up. It offers instantaneous coffee - and that's a truly great feature! But it comes at a cost because while it allows me to make a cup of coffee instantaneously, it doesn't allow me to make coffees the way I used to. My usual practice with the old double-boiler Oracle was to simultaneously make a double-cup of cappuccinos for my wife and I - achieved by selecting a suitable volume for both the coffee and the milk, and placing two cups under the coffee steamer head.
This has proved almost impossible with the Oracle Jet - and not for want of trying on my part! The strength of the coffee crema, while satisfactory for one coffee, is inadequate for two; and more importantly, the milk frother is simply inadequate; it even struggles to provide satisfactorily frothed milk for one coffee, let alone two!
I had a number of exchanges with Breville about this issue, which I considered fairly significant, but couldn't achieve a satisfactory outcome. It was suggested I should change from 2% milk (which I used with the old Oracle) to full fat milk; I should make sure there was not too much milk in the frothing jug; that the steamer outlets weren't blocked. None of these suggestions improved the frothing function, and Breville and I eventually fell into silence concluding that the Oracle Jet was simply not up to the task of providing my expected level of frothed milk.
Had I not rushed to buy the shiny new technology, I perhaps would have read and watched reviews BEFORE purchasing rather than having my experience confirmed AFTER purchase. In relation to the milk frothing issue, a lengthy and detailed YouTube barista review entitled "Sage (Breville) Oracle Jet Review & Test (deep dive)" put up by Tom's Coffee Corner, flagged the trouble he had with the auto milk frothing function, and recommended a solution that involved holding the milk jug. I tried it, but with only limited success.
In summary, there's much that can be praised about the Oracle Jet machine. It's a beautiful and versatile piece of (very expensive) coffee-making technology and I have yet to explore its full potential. But it hasn't met my personal, fairy limited, needs for a two cups of cappuccino. I've lowered my aim and I'm becoming used to making one cappuccino at a time - and standing at the coffee machine while my wife drinks hers! But I wonder was it really worth the $3308 it cost me? Probably not.
Breville Thank You For A Great Coffee – There is simply no other rating i could give for this machine. We are Coffee lovers and after a Jura S8 for 9 years we were convinced to buy a Breville Oracle Jet for a better coffee. Easy set up and easy to use. Yes a couple of extra steps but the coffee result compared to our fully auto Jura is so much better with less cleaning and so many… Read more
positives. Top water tank refill is a special point we love. We purchased the Sea Salt colour and bought with a Harvey Normans product care as well. I never thought we could get a better coffee. Yes we have and enjoying every day. Even at the price it was worth it. Coffee of all types simply delicious. Complaints simply Zero.
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