Breville
Barista Touch Impress Espresso Machine with Grinder
About the product
It does nearly everything for you
The best part about eating and drinking out is that you don’t have to do any of the work. That’s about what it feels like when you use the Breville Barista Touch Impress. It doesn’t matter what kind of espresso-based drink you want. All you do is click the image of it on the Touch Impress touch screen, follow the illustrated prompts and, presto, you’ve got a delicious espresso drink.
In the BestReviews Testing Lab, we found this drink-making system not only easy to use, but it also delivered consistently great results. The downside is it costs over a thousand dollars. If you can afford it, we’re confident you’ll love it.
What is the Breville Barista Touch Impress?
Product specifications
Dimensions: 14.2” W x 13.4” D x 16.3” H | Brewing Size Options: Single or double shots | Grinder Type: Built-in conical burr | Water Reservoir Capacity: 67.6 oz | Brew Time: A properly brewed single shot of espresso takes roughly 30 seconds
The Breville Barista Touch Impress is a luxury at-home espresso machine built with beginners in mind. Every step is automated, including the initial setup process. Using its touch screen and illustrated instructions, we were able to “dial in” the appropriate grind size of our beans with the built-in grinder and make a shot of espresso in about 15 minutes, compared to taking an hour or more to get up and running with other non-automated machines we tested.
While we greatly enjoyed the quality of the espresso it produced, we thought the crema on top could have been better. Clearly, a skilled espresso artisan can easily outclass this machine, but getting to that level of skill takes time and effort that this machine lets you bypass by giving you results that are still pretty darn good.
The milk-frothing process for lattes and the like is also automated, using a process branded as AutoMilQ. It offers eight levels of texture to satisfy every taste as well as special settings for almond, soy and oat milk. We had no issues with this and thought the milk texture and amount of foam and froth were perfect every time.
Pros
- We loved that its flawless guided drink-making system with an easy-to-use touch screen means anyone can make good espresso.
- The built-in grinder worked perfectly during our tests and eliminated the need for extra equipment.
- It’s simple to make and save custom drinks by tweaking a few settings, such as milk temperature.
Breville Barista Touch Impress problems
- The high cost of $1,500 is prohibitive for the average consumer.
- The touch screen has a small issue with lagging and stuttering when reading inputs that made it feel cheaper than the cost of the machine would suggest.
- People with experience making espresso can struggle to use this machine manually since it’s designed with automation in mind.
Design
The Breville Barista Touch Impress looks similar to most at-home espresso machines, meaning its controls are centered near the top and its drip tray holds cups and slides out for easy cleaning. Unlike other machines, it has a lever on the side to tamp the grinds into the portafilter as well as a built-in grinder on top.
Also like most espresso machines, the base of the Barista Touch Impress is mostly made of brushed stainless steel. This makes it durable and easy to clean. It has three alternate colors: sea salt (white), black truffle and damson blue.
It’s larger than most at-home espresso machines, though, so make sure to compare its dimensions against the available space you have in your kitchen.
Who is it for?
The Breville Barista Touch Impress isn’t technically made with only beginners in mind, but that’s what it feels like thanks to its guided drink-making. This makes it amazing for people who don’t know how to make good espresso, which is a complicated and time-consuming skill to learn. This also means it’s wonderful for an office breakroom since everyone can easily make their preferred drink without stressing.
Who this isn’t for is anyone who does know how to make good espresso. These individuals can save hundreds of dollars on an unguided machine.
How we tested
We focused on four aspects while testing the Breville Barista Touch Impress.
- Espresso quality: Testing this was a simple matter of making shot after shot. We evaluated its flavor, aroma and crema quality against other espresso shots we’ve tested and found it was always great, but never excellent. The biggest issue is that it doesn’t make much crema at all, and that’s one of the best parts of good espresso.
- Grinder and tamper quality: Testing these was a matter of making fine adjustments to the grind size and seeing how much of a difference it made, both visually and in espresso results. We found it all worked flawlessly.
- Milk-frothing quality: For milk-frothing quality, we made both lattes and cappuccinos using the automated milk-frothing system Brevile calls AutoMilQ. Both drinks had the appropriate level of foaminess. We also tested it manually and found the angle of the frother a little awkward for this approach.
- Customization ability: The Breville Barista Touch Impress lets you adjust settings, such as brewing and milk temperature, and save those settings under a custom drink name. We had no issues making two custom drinks, saving them and reusing them.
We also compared its cleaning and maintenance requirements and overall ease of use against the other espresso machines we tested and machines we’ve personally used in the past.
Price and where to buy
The Breville Barista Touch Impress Espresso Machine with Grinder retails for $1,499.95. You can find it on Amazon, Best Buy and Breville.
Features overview
The Breville Barista Touch Impress is loaded with impressive and helpful features.
ThermoJet heating system
Most coffee machines, be they drip, espresso or single-serve pod makers, take some time to heat up when you turn them on or trigger a brew. The Touch Impress does not. It uses a ThermoJet heating system that takes only three seconds to reach its 200-degree extraction temperature. You can have your espresso shot ready faster than it takes to tell your order to a human barista.
Precision grinding
Normally, you need to weigh your beans before you grind them to ensure you don’t grind too much for your immediate espresso needs. As part of the Barista Touch Impress’ automation suite, it measures the grind for you. Not only that, but it also deposits the freshly ground beans directly into the portafilter to cut down on the chance of making a mess.
It has some fail-safes though, just in case. It can detect if it grinds too little or too much in both the tamping and extraction processes and automatically adjust for the future. Also, in case it grinds too much, it comes with an accessory Breville calls the Razor, so you can scrape the excess out without ruining your puck.
Tamping lever
As part of preparing the beans for extraction, you need to tamp down and twist the ground beans into a tight puck inside the portafilter. Most espresso machines come with a tamper, except the Breville Barista Touch Impress, which uses a tamping lever.
This lever removes all the skill involved with tamping down your puck by applying the 22 pounds of pressure and applying the 7-degree twist a proper tamping needs. Just gently pull the lever down until the touch screen tells you it's tamped properly. This usually takes one tamping, but sometimes it takes two.
Milk type adjustment
The automated AutoMilQ frothing process can take into account the type of milk you’re using to ensure it delivers the best result. Those milk types are dairy, which you use for all your animal-based milks regardless of fat content, almond, oat and soy.
Accessories and storage
Espresso machines require several key accessories to make good espresso. The Barista Touch Impress comes with all of them, including two portafilter baskets each for single and double espresso shots and a suite of cleaning supplies, like a brush and frothing wand de-clogger. Better yet, a bottom drawer of the Touch Impress slides out and contains little bins for you to stash all the small accessories away to prevent losing them.
How does it compare to other espresso machines we tested?
The Barista Touch Impress is by far the most expensive espresso machine we tested; it’s roughly double the cost of the next most expensive, the De’Longhi La Specialista Arte Evo. That machine costs about $750 and has similar beginner-friendly features. However, the De’Longhi’s beginner-friendly features are more about teaching you to make espresso while the Touch Impress just handles it all for you without much learning.
Otherwise, the Barista Touch Impress is a pretty standard home espresso machine as things go.
Is the Breville Barista Touch Impress worth it?
We can’t stop thinking about how easy it is for a complete espresso beginner to achieve cafe-quality drinks at home with this machine. We also can’t deny the considerable investment required to bring one home. If you love espresso-based drinks and have the money but not the know-how, we have no qualms about recommending it. If you have some know-how or you’re willing to put in the effort to learn, there are other, more affordable models (such as the De’Longhi La Specialista Arte Evo) that still offer some help to beginners.