Breville The Oracle Touch BES990

For a coffee machine costing nearly $2.500 I would have expected better. And I only gave it a 1 star review, as the review process will not allow me to leave a 0 stars. I purchased the Breville on the bases that apparently Breville are the biggest sellers of coffee machine in Australia. That was my first mistake. Second was that this particular… Read more

model comes with a 2 year warranty. Which I guess was just as well that it did. After 18 months of ownership I started having problems with my machine. I contact Breville and I was told to take it to a particular repairer which I did. Once at the repairer I was promptly told that it was a common fault, where the steam from the water boiler escapes and condensates into water which then drips on the curcit board shorting out the machine. Easy fix I was told we do these machines all the time. When I returned to pick up my repaired machine the repairer said I will see you in about a year. And sure enough my machine failed again. This time out of warranty. Having now looked at a lot of reviews I find that this is a common fault, but Breville still insist on selling this particular machine knowing that it has a major design flaw.

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.

Nails the balance of what to keep manual and what to automate to make it easy to have really delicious coffee – The semi-automatic configuration suits me perfectly. Keeps the group head from manual machines that is needed to make really delicious coffee while streamlining and automating the flow to make it really quick and easy to use. Strong duel boilers giving the power to exact full flavour from coffee while steaming milk rapidly at the same time. Show details

Our second purchase of this excellent coffee machine – Coffee is something our household (and I am guessing many others are the same) cannot live without. Like the title states, this is in fact our second purchase of the machine. The former, which was silver in colour I would guess gave us 6 years worth of use. Towards the end we were having some minor issues with it. This was sold, and we decided to… Read more

get the black truffle (its a matt black) to match our kitchen. I'm pretty sure that this colour did not exist back then.

So this review is the context of a former Cafe owner/barista who has had the pleasure of making many coffees over an 8 year period on commercial machines. Like all coffee making there are various steps you need to get right to achieve 'cafe' quality brew. If one of these steps are off, then the end product, your coffee of choice will be comprised, the net result depending on which step was wrong. We did own a Rocket Espresso coffee machine (a prosumer? coffee machine) but my wife found it to difficult to use.

The Oracle touch does take the most of the guess work or need for 'additional' skills out in certain areas, like correct coffee dose, tamping (appropriate pressure to the coffee grind in the portafilter) and stretching (frothing) of the milk. The stretching of milk would likely be most the challenging aspect of getting the cafe replica of your Latte or Cappuccino. In this regard, having regard to its automated nature in stretching the milk, you will be super happy with the net result. The bright touch screen is intuitive to use, you can customise your own particular brew with temps, frothing level and so on and then save this as a user selectable icon with a name of your choice.

So what are the areas the user needs to understand so they can make great coffee with this or any other machine? The first one is to understand the grind size. The machine comes with an inbuilt grinder which the user needs to select the correct grind size of your coffee beans. It is imperative that the correct grind size for the particular coffee bean in the hopper is selected, and you must also understand that the grind may need further adjusting for the same hopper of beans as result of different factors. The final 'pour' of the coffee is important for flavour of the shot. To quick a pour results in under extracted shot, where a too slow pour can result in over extraction. Get this pour right and you will get a great cuppa every time, as the Oracle Touch does the rest for you, in terms of tamping the coffee with the correct pressure and stretching of the milk.

Pro's * Intuitive easy to read LCD * The Oracle Touch monitors your usage and suggests cleaning it and the appropriate intervals. It walks you this process on the screen. * User definable coffee, which can be saved under a icon and name of your choosing. * Tamping sorted for the end user automatically with correct pressure in the portafilter * Stretching of the milk is far better than the machines of the bad old days where you would get a bubbly frothy mess in a cup. A nice tight 'micro foam' is achievable every time as long as your milk is cold. * Various coffee styles are already pre-programmed and available from the touch screen, for example Long Black, Latte, Cappuccino and the like. * Dual boiler machine, with electronic (PID) temp control. This allows for a better 'work flow' if you are making multiple coffees back to back. * Standard 58 mm Portafilter size. Most commercial machines use this size. * The machine is a nice compact size. * Fast heat up times - you can get to coffee making relatively quickly. * Timer functionality. You can set a time for the machine to turn on, so it is ready for you when you want to use it. It also has and user selectable off timer. Nice. * Love the black truffle colour.

Con's *Expensive. No getting around it, this is a pricey unit which a big hurdle to get over. *A weird metallic rattling sound when the water pump kicks in has developed on our new unit. This is a relatively new occurrence, in that, it wasn't present when the machine was brand new. Our other Oracle Touch never did this over the 6 or so years we owned it. It sounds like something has come loose and the sound is only presnt when the water pump kicks in. Hopefully it isn't something fatal.

Conclusion. It's a very expensive machine, but makes great coffee with the above caveat that you need to be careful about your grind. Once this is sorted, you will get a great brew. Is the price worth admission? Price is subjective, but the way I look at it is this - how many coffees will you make a day, times that buy the reasonable expectation of the life of the machine (5-6 years at least) and multiply that by the price for a store bought coffee (approx ~$5) and I get a figure of $21360 over 6 years @ 2 coffees a day - this is an 'average' sometimes it is be more. So maybe in this context, it is worth it? For me it is, as I have stated this is my second one.

Without a doubt THE best coffee machine on the market! – I have had many coffee machines over the years, Saeco, Delonghi Prima Donna, Jura and the Breville Oracle is hands down the winner in my books. It combines the accuracy and consistency of automatic tamping with the variation and customability of a manual machine. The extraction is sublime and flows like warm honey. The automatic frother provides… Read more

a dense, velvety consistency at the perfect temperature every time with little to no skill required. The touch screen with automatic programs and the ability to create your own takes all of the guess work out of making the perfect coffee every time. It looks amazing on the bench, a combination of style and sophistication that is a centrepiece of the kitchen.

Perfection at home – We are thrilled with our new coffee machine. The quality of the coffee is first class cafe style at home. It is very consistent with automatic touch choice of coffee style. The temperature shows you when its heated correctly and the milk frothes to the correct temperature. Show details

Perfect Machine, and Quality Coffee - even on our 4th replacement Machine from Brevilles excellent support Team – Our Review of our excellent Breville Oracle Touch coffee machine, purchased during the Melbourne lockdown in mid-2021. This machine has been an essential part of our daily routine, especially during the lockdown period and has surpassed our expectations in terms of its intuitive and user-friendly design. The quality of coffee produced by the… Read more

machine is exceptional and has even surpassed that of some baristas on their off days.

While we have had a few issues with the machine, we believe that these were due to a faulty product and circuits. After 6+ months of use, at 2-3 coffees per day, the steam wand began to turn on automatically, as did the machine's group head, and eventually stopped responding. This also caused an issue with our house's electrical system. We contacted Breville immediately, but our “Breville Oracle White Glove Agent” quickly resolved the resolution process. We had no issues once approved by Breville to return the machine to JBHIFI, who helped us obtain a new machine with the correct serial number (BES990BSS2JAN1), which worked perfectly.

We highly recommend double-checking the serial number before purchasing this machine, as there have been issues with older versions. Additionally, keeping receipts and using consultants can help resolve any problems. We recommend following YouTube videos for a helpful guide rather than relying on Breville's videos.

Update 2022-2023: However, eight months after the replacement machine 01, we had two other machines. All with similar to worse issues, Breville has never confirmed why the machines broke as they did, which included grinding on its own, Pouring hot water from the group head, etc. Breville has been amazing and always supportive of the replacements!

We are now on our 4th replacement! Overall, we are thrilled with the Oracle machine and its higher temperature for frothing, better build quality and higher heat options. We hope this review is helpful to those considering purchasing the Oracle Touch.

Had this coffee machine for 4 yrs, it’s so good and easy to use. Made really good coffee. But broke down 4 times. It started releasing steam and started making loud noises and water started coming out from the hot water spout instead making the coffee. First time it was covered under the warranty second and third time it cost $325 to $375 for the… Read more

repair. 4th time quoted $990 which we refused. Still we could make coffee just before it started to make the loud noice and the leak of steam, but then it stopped working all together. Replaced it with the Oracle Jet, with extended warranty from Harvey Norman, which will replace the machine within 2 years if it breaks.

When this machine is working it is fantastic. But there is a fault in one of the parts (boiler leaks) and it is only a matter of time before it will break. This causes loud mechanical noises, steam to hiss out randomly, the machine to overheat, and the power to trip. We have bought 3 of these machines (we live between 2 locations and also bought… Read more

for parents in law). Within the first year of purchase all 3 had the same fault. It was a lengthy drawn out process to get them fixed as the repair places are too busy. (meaning weeks without a coffee machine) 2 of the 3 repaired machines broke again within months. Breville agreed to replace these 2 but there is no warranty on the replacement machines. The 3rd machine that was also fixed once has now faulted & is out of warranty so we will not bother to repair. If it happened to one machine I would understand, but all 3? Breville should have done a product recall as they must be aware of this recurring fault. Even the repair shop said they had seen quite a few of the same machine with the same fault.

Cheap rubbish – Update - I offered Breville the chance to mediate the issue and concerns I had. I got a copy-paste standard response that paid no mind to my concerns of corrosion and 'don't dishwash parts' which I already know. It's the old 'we will let the right departments know your feedback for future improvement' which translates in big company speak to 'I… Read more

don't care, Breville doesn't care, we are going to do nothing and we will ignore the issue that steam failures are patched up'. They probably know that these machines that suffer internal steam leaks should be tossed out and brand new machines supplied because all the exposure to steam causes corrosion of the internal parts, but why do that when you can just fix the steam parts because the customer won't know until it is too late that all the insides are corroding especially when the repair team conveniently take no photos.

It is throwing error codes 11 and 12 and won't make coffee. AGAIN. This is after an undetected internal steam leak that went on for god knows how long and no they didn't replace the machine, just a few parts so no wonder it is now error coding a year after the initial issues, everything inside has probably now corroded to death from the steam leaks! The machine is 3 years old and now had 2 catastrophic failures.

You pay extra for the black truffle but it's just a cheap wrap. This means you can't dishwash parts. Which I didn't, I hand washed and the black still pealed off! So had those parts replaced. It also suffered a steam leak internally that resulted in the unit tripping power. It had to be sent for repairs. The repair report does not include any photos, but reading other reviews here I see that the steam leaks cause corrosion of the inside of the machine meaning they'll break again. So really, it's a band-aid fix to limp Breville through the remainder of the warranty period so they can wipe their hands clean of your very expensive machine and say 'no their problem'. In my opinion, these units with internal steam leaks should be replaced completely, not just little parts. Needless to say, if my machine has issues again I will be fighting for a brand new machine because if a machine has boiling steam purging through the insides, that is cause for a whole new coffee machine not just the parts that leaked the steam! The fact no photos are taken makes me extra uncomfortable in that this probably indicates that the insides had already started to corrode and they want to hide that from me. As advice to others, if you pay above average for a product it is fair for the consumer to expect this to outlast cheaper brands. If it doesn't, warranty doesn't really come into it. I fear Breville know these machines aren't made to last with such a small warranty period on them anyway. This machine no longer makes consistent coffee, it's sketchy at best.

This was a very expensive unit marketed as a premium coffee making product. It is cheap junk with cheap wraps and nothing premium about it. Avoid Breville at all costs. I'll never buy anything Breville again.

Brevilles lack of regard to customer service really matches the distinct lack of quality in the products they sell and goes to prove that with Breville, even if you spend a lot on one of their products it's actually no better than the cheap lines they sell. It's just got a different name on it.

Such a disappointment – Such a disappointment and ultimate waste of money. There is something very defective taking place on the inside of this machine. A steam leak saw it in for repairs after less than 12 months, took more than a month to get it back, and then a further steam leak saw it returned for repair again right at the 5 year mark. However, the steam leak had… Read more

corroded the machine from the inside and it was not repairable. $3,500 for 5 years and repaired twice doesn't seem like a fair deal. Breville didn't offer any options other than disposing of the machine for us. Now I know why the steamed milk never seemed to have those micro bubbles the way I thought it would. It was bubbling the chassis instead. Going with a different fully automated machine from now on and for a third of the price.

Beware - dangerous! Steam wand spurts steam out randomly & machine short circuits house – Consumer beware - dangerous! Steam wand spews steam out at random times and machine short circuits house power! Third time I have had the same issue with this machine. It works for a few months until then makes a very loud mechanical type noise and then steam starts spewing out at random times. On a couple of occasions this has been right near my… Read more

daughter’s face. So given that it is burning hot steam I hate to think. If you read the reviews this is a very common problem. People have had a machine fixed multiple times or like me had multiple machines with the same issue. Will have now had the machine fixed 3 times which takes weeks sometimes months because the repair shops are so overrun with faulty Breville machines it take weeks before they can even look it as and then weeks for it to be fixed. Last time after multiple calls to Breville and having to really push them they replaced it and the same issue yes again. Customer service is difficult as it’s a different person each time. There is no supervisor or anyone else they will let you to speak to escalate issues so there is no recourse . This is an accident waiting to happen. Last week it short circuited all the power in my house. I feel so stressed and upset as we spent so much money on this and I l now I just want a refund after 2 years of danger, time spent trying to resolve and anxiety over Brevilles service.

Disappointing for the price – Purchased my machine in 2019 at the beginning of Covid. It has always had issues with inconsistent pour volumes. Sometimes the pour would be great, other times very watery. Recently my machine started tripping out my circuit breakers, so I’ve taken to an authorised Breville repair agent, after some discussion he tells me how these machines… Read more

regularly get internal water leaks, and short out the electrics. After asking the repair agent to replace evehe could possibly imagine, so I can get another 3-4 years semi reliable service from this machine, here we are 6 weeks later with the same problem. I need several cups of coffee every day, and to be without my machine again is not an option. And Breville, you will not be in the running for a replacement machine.

Descale issues – We read reviews before purchasing this machine. First time for descale and it wouldn’t reheat. After a farce, managed to get a replacement. Had the replacement 6 months and followed instructions to descale to the letter and helloooooo we won’t reheat again. Clearly this is a big issue for many and nothing that’s on the net works to fix it so… Read more

don’t waste your time trawling to find a solution. If you have one of these machines, don’t descale it, and if you thought about buying one, I wouldn’t recommend it. The reason for the 2 star rating is because it works fantastically before you descale it, and a machine you can’t maintain is pointless. We paid over $4,000 for this machine a year ago. Now the battle will commence with Breville.

Great coffee, when it works – Bought in 2020, after about 6-9 months, it started making a weird sound and Breville had me send the unit in for service. They returned it but it started tripping the power. They then sent a refurbished replacement in 2021 and gave a 6 month warranty on the replacement unit. Now, January 2023, the machine is making a horrible noise. Turning the… Read more

machine off doesn’t work, unplugging it is the only way to stop the noise and prevent the machine from heating. Keep in mind, I am a very light user: 1 cup a day, regular maintenance as prompted, and a whole house water softening system. Now, Breville wants me to send the machine in for repair at a cost of $555 (USD).

Tripping GFCI outlet – I purchased this unit last June roughly. It was functioning okay for almost one year, but somehow it's started tripping GFCI outlet and making weird sounds (similar to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRjvjq5u41s) since last week. Considering the price we pay for this expensive unit, its durability certainly doesn't meet our expectations... Show details

Great for 3 years now starting to have issues – UPDATE: the machine spent Christmas and New Year in the repair centre. It was returned last week and seems to be working as expected. Second new steam wand has been installed along with replacement shower screen and outer. I’m hoping it won’t need a fourth visit for repairs and we’re now back to being able to use it every morning for our kick… Read more

starter for the day.

———— Bought this after a previous more manual euro machine had worn out. It’s been great for 3 years and it’s been making good coffee for family and friends. We’ve enjoyed the internal grinder and automation of the milk and coffee dispenser as well as the auto on timer and the various programs available …. but …… now the steam wand has starting giving issues it’s been back to breville service ( and we’re thankful, on the extended warranty we purchased) twice in a few months. Firstly for steam issues and corrosion on the body, then back for more steam issues. Today , just before Christmas- on a Saturday - it’s mucked up again with firstly an ER16 error while steaming milk and now an er15 error on startup . So back to repairs again !! We can’t even run it for coffees only. We sub in a Little Kogan $89 machine and our mini grinder while the big Breville is in hospital. Honestly, this does a really good job despite being a cheap plastic machine and a little slower to get things done. Super annoyed this expensive machine has started showing issues, we’ve had a Saeco and a Diadema previously so not new to coffee machines and how they work.

All up the Oracle is a great gadgety machine with cool automatic functionality but long term it doesn’t seem to cope. 2 -4 coffees a day with auto start up scheduled for all days of the week and a couple of personalised programs for soy and almond milks has been nice to have but now we’re second guessing the whole purchase.

Great coffee but flawed build and terrible warranty policy for a premium coffee machine – I've now had this unit for 4 years and have updated my review. I initially gave this review 2 stars. But I've now updated it to 4 stars. The good: Its primary function, to make good coffee at convenience is still far better than most other machines I have used in the past. It takes a little tinkering around to get the perfect grind and duration… Read more ·  1

points with the specific beans you are using, but once you get it, its committed to the units memory so it will make the same coffee over and over without needing to calibrate anything. Finally, all of this can be saved in profiles to suit each persons liking. Its very convenient!

The Bad: Milk frothing, though not bad, is not perfect but will do the job.

I've had overall 3 breakdowns with this unit over the past 4 years. Totalling of about $1200 in repairs. So the total cost of the unit over 4 years has been $3200 (unit) + $1200 (repairs) + $660 (in filters and cleaning maintenance) = $5060. Which is more than what we were expecting but it has still paid for itself with the amount of coffee we normally purchase outside.

The breakdowns consisted of boiler cracking and electronics being damaged due to the steam it generates. On the 3rd repair, the repairer came up with a solution and added ECU silicon to cover all the electric boards from the steam and since then we have had no issues.

Conclusion: Function: 9/10 Design: 8/10 Build Quality: 2/10 Value for money: 6.5/10

Will I buy Breville again? For the features, yes, but only if they have fixed the issues. It needs to be defect free for at least 3 to 5 years.... its not German engineering, its aussie laid back engineering. I hope they have fixed it.

No Regrets – Purchased this machine in April 2021 in the hope that we could make some decent coffee during Victoria's extended period of lock downs. Before we opened the box we watched some videos produced by Breville on You Tube that explained the unboxing/ setup and making several different brews and a hot chocolate. At first it was a little daunting but… Read more

after a week or so the process became second nature. We also took advantage of one Breville's consultants to visit us and demonstrate the finer points on brewing a perfect coffee. We both like our coffee hot and to achieve this we preheat our double walled glass mugs with hot water from the tap. This works fine for us. We have tried beans from different retailers and have found ours at the supermarket which goes to prove you don't have to spend a fortune on beans to get a good brew. Once we have adjusted the machine to our liking the coffee is consistent. You also need to factor the cost of water filter replacements and other consumables. We would recommend this product but we feel it will be expensive to repair if it breaks down out of warranty.

Terrible machine matched by terrible service – I purchased this machine not long after it came out in 2018. My wife and I had a smaller machine from Saeco and wanted to step up to a better quality of coffee. We chose the Oracle Touch because of the automated functions while still retaining the traditional style group head /portafilter design. So far the machine has been repaired twice and is… Read more

now in for it's third repair. Once the steam wand failed and created an error, the second time the steam wand had an issue but without the error. Now it leaks water all over our kitchen counter and can only prepare 1 coffee at a time (most likely due to the leakage of water and steam). I called Breville for the first and second issue but haven't even called them for the latest issue because their outsourced contact centre is just terrible. When I called for the second issue I got asked have I changed the seals and steam wand parts? I enquired how I would know this as it's not in the manual or ever mentioned by anyone I have spoken to in Breville (the machine was 2-3 yrs old at this time). I raised a complaint following this conversation and the same person I spoke too replied to my email without sending through to Breville for review. My advice is go with a different product. The $$$'s you pay for this machine could get a great fully manual machine from a better supplier. UPDATE : The third repair cost over $500 and the machine is, for now, back in working order. After being contacted prior to posting this review I have now wasted another 5 days going back and forward with Breville with no outcome. I was offered some coffee or cleaning products as compensation but I politely declined. My advice above remains the same, go with a fully manual machine and better supplier.