Breville Barista Touch Impress Review

What is the Barista Touch Impress?

The Touch Impress is the evolution of the original Barista Touch, but now comes with an integrated tamper (that’s the Impress part), and a much nicer looking screen.

Anyway, the Touch Impress is a semi-automatic espresso machine, meaning that it integrates a grinder and espresso machine all in one. It makes the process of making espresso simple, because the process is streamlined. Just press the button, and the machine will start grinding down through the chute, the grinds land in your cradled portafilter, and then you tamp with the lever on the side. The tamper even does a little 7º twist at the end, emulating a barista’s puck polish.

Once you insert the portafilter into the machine, just choose one of the many drinks, and press a button to start the extraction. The Touch Impress will even auto steam your milk for you, although your mileage may vary on this. More on the Auto MilQ steaming later.

Let’s bang out it’s main features, to get that said and done right away:

• 54mm portafilter
• Impress tamping system
• Instant on technology of the ThermoJet heater
• Large touch screen display
• Wifi on board
• Auto milk steaming

Design and HMI

Probably the sweetest thing about the design of the Touch Impress is its handsome touch display. It’s very well done: excellent contrast, excellent viewing angles, and the response time is very good for an espresso machine. The touch display is actually based on Android, which can be observed when perusing the settings menu.

Anyway, the touch display is the main interface of the machine. From here, you select, parameterize and start drinks. The screen also includes some nice instructions and animations, helping new users to get used to the machine, and also maintain the machine by backflushing and descaling.

I’m quite a fan of the execution of the screen, even if I prefer the immediacy of having physical buttons to press. Let’s move on to the next auto feature: the steam wand.

How is the Auto-MilQ Milk Texturing?

The Touch Impress comes with a powerful steam wand that’s great for texturing milk in manual mode. It is powerful enough to get an immediate swirl going for milk incorporation, but not so strong that it will overwhelm beginner baristas. I love the steam wand in manual mode, as it helps provide the milk with excellent texture.

On the other hand, I find it lacking in auto mode. It basically heats up the bottom of the milk, and forms bubbles at the top of the milk. It seems that the aerated milk doesn’t incorporate very well, at least not for me.

There are mixed reviews on this so-called Auto-MilQ feature. Some reviewers have had luck with certain milks. I have not gotten proper microfoam on any milk, be it whole, skim, oat, or soy. I have tried different milk pitchers, milk volumes, positions of the steam wand in the milk, all have helped very little.

I’d really suggest using the excellent steam wand in manual mode, meaning you froth the milk yourself. This is where the steam wand really shines.

How is the Breville Touch Impress for espresso?

I do find that the Touch Impress does well for espresso, especially once the inner pathways and portafilter are completely heated up. I’d suggest running 1-2 empty shots, or dunking the portafilter in a cup with hot water from your water kettle, to get thoroughly warmed. Then you get an espresso with excellent texture, and with a nice depth of flavor, provided you’re using good freshly roasted beans.

I have also tried the machine with lighter roasts, and since you can adjust the PID temperature control from 89-95 °C, you can set the temperature as you like. I set mine at 95°C for a lighter roast, and it provided a nice fruity shot with pleasant acidity, but without the tart sourness of an underheated shot.

The machine comes with single and double espresso non-pressurized baskets, so that you can make a single or double espresso, depending on the strength of espresso and caffeine you’re looking for.

The Grinder

The grinder is a stainless steel, 6 bladed Etzinger burr, as found in the new Baratza ESP. The burr assembly is connected to a stepless dial on the side, which is connected internally via toothed belt to some gears and ultimately to the grinder burrs.

I find that the grinder does a fine job for its purpose, providing good body on the shots. It does a nice job on traditional syrupy espresso, and can grind the occasional lighter roast. It has 30 settings according to the display, although these are read by the encoder. The grind settings are actually stepless.

To dial in for espresso, I am generally right around the middle of the range, somewhere between 12-15. Your mileage may vary here. I’d really suggest using fresh beans, and Breville preaches this as well. Fresh beans still have some carbon dioxide to release, which is what causes the crema. But when beans sit too long (6 months or longer), they have completely degassed, and no longer provide crema.

How to Set the Dose

Setting the dose on the Barista Touch Impress is actually quite easy, since it has what I call “adaptive dosing” technology. After it finishes grinding, you tamp. Based on the depth of the tamper, it will tell you if you need to add a little more or not. If so, just tap on the grind button again, and a little more will be ground into your cradled portafilter. Once it’s right on, you get a green checkmark to let you know the volume is optimal.

The Build

I would say build is on par with other Breville machines. It’s a stainless steel casing on the outside, with a clear plastic water tank at the back. All metal touch points such as casing, top, and sides are grounded, for safety. Cheaper no-name machines sometimes overlook grounding, but not Breville.

On the top, there is a smoke colored bean hopper with ample room for your beans (12 ounces worth). On the right side of the machine jettisons a well built steam wand, which may not articulate, but does provide a good angle for steaming. It has a cute little red pull tab, which adds a dab of color to an otherwise monotone machine.

On the left you can see the the grind dial and tamper lever, which are both built well. I especially like the tamper lever, which is made of metal, is curved, and feels good and solid when pressing down. It retracts automatically, back up into its home position – a nice touch. Even the cradle where you stick the 54mm portafilter is built well, and has never failed. Just stick the portafilter in there, grind, and use the lever to tamp. Done.

Inside the machine, I’d say the build quality is adequate. It includes the aforementioned ThermoJet heater, some solenoid valves, the grinder, and some PTFE (teflon) lines for the water.

Often, people ask me if there is any plastic in the machine. Let me tell you: there are always applications for plastic-like lines inside these machines. The low pressure lines are generally silicone, while the high pressure lines are PTFE (teflon). While these are not defined exactly as plastic, they certainly are more like plastic than metal. Read this blog post here, for more info on the subject.

Specifications

Here are the specs of the machine:

• 14.2 x 13.4 x 16.3″ (height, width, depth)
• 24 pounds, or 11 kg
• 1750 watt power
• Stepless grinder with 30 digitally encoded reference points
• Recipes – Flat White, Latte, Cappuccino, Espresso, Long Black, Babyccino, Hot Chocolate & Tea
• 12 oz bean hopper, 68 oz water tank
• Made in China

What does the Touch Impress come with?

Thankfully, the Oracle Jet finally comes with just about everything you need to get started on your espresso journey. The machine comes with the following:

• 54mm stainless steel portafilter
• 480ml stainless steel milk jug
• 1 & 2 cup single and dual wall filter baskets
• Water filter holder with filter
• Water hardness strip
• the Razor™ precision trimming tool
• Cleaning tablets
• Steam wand cleaning tool
• Cleaning disc
• Cleaning brush
• Descale powder

Barista Touch Impress vs Oracle Jet

Honestly, I find the Touch Impress and Oracle Jet are super similar. The main difference is that the Oracle Jet includes the automatic puck preparation, so that you don’t even have to tamp. It also includes a 58mm instead of 54mm portafilter. Finally, its temperature probe is in the steam wand itself, not below the milk canister, like in the case of the Touch Impress. Oh, and the Jet includes another little heater above the shower screen that helps to balance out the temperature at the brew group.

So, is it worth it to pay $500 more for the Oracle Jet? Hmm, for me, I’d say no. The automatic puck prep is super cool, but I don’t know that it’s worth the upcharge for me. Especially when you consider that recently the Barista Touch Impress has been going on sale relatively often. Just check back on the Breville/Sage websites often.

Pros and Cons of the Barista Touch Impress

The Touch Impress is a nice machine. It looks handsome, and it’s fast. I love the integrated Impress tamper. I really like the steam wand in manual mode. But, considering the price, I’d expect it to be good at auto milk steaming as well.

Verdict

I’ve been following this machine since I reviewed it 16 months ago. It has become a staple in the Breville Barista line, and one of their best sellers, after the Barista Express. So, I think they’re on the right path here for consumers, who are drawn to the touch interface.

While I myself prefer buttons for their haptic nature over a touch display, I do have to admit that the touch display also has the great advantage of guiding the user through processes like back-flushing and descaling, as well as setting temperature, and choosing drinks. So, all in all, it’s I think a good user interface for the upcoming generation of home baristas.

The machine at its MSRP is on the expensive side, and I’d give it a C for value. When it’s on sale though, I’d increase that grade to a B+. Featurewise, I’d give this machine an A-.

How to Save a little..

While the Touch Impress is quite an expensive machine, if you live in the UK or EU, I can provide you with a coupon if you like. Just enter your info in the form below.

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