Description
What the Breville Barista Touch Is
The Breville Barista Touch, listed under model number BES880BSS in brushed stainless steel, is a countertop espresso machine that combines a bean grinder, a pump driven brew group and a milk steaming wand in one housing. Breville positions it as a bean to cup machine for people who want to pull shots and texture milk at home without buying a separate grinder. The specification sheet describes the coffee maker type as an espresso machine with a reusable filter, and lists espresso as the specific use for the product.
It suits a household that drinks milk based coffee drinks daily and wants the grinding step handled by the same appliance. It is a poor match for anyone who mostly brews a full pot in the morning, since it produces single and double shots rather than carafes. A household that wants both a pot and espresso would be better served by pairing a drip machine such as the Breville Precision Brewer drip coffee maker with a separate espresso setup, or by looking across the wider coffee machines selection on this site.
Grinder, Portafilter and What Comes in the Box
The listing names an integrated coffee grinder among the special features and describes dose control as part of that grinder. The included components list is unusually specific for an Amazon page and is worth reading closely, because it tells you what you will not need to buy separately: a 54mm full stainless steel portafilter, single wall and double wall filter baskets, a Razor precision dose trimming tool, a ClaroSwiss water filter and a 16 ounce stainless steel milk jug.
The two basket types matter in practice. Double wall baskets are pressurized and are more forgiving of a grind that is too coarse or too fine, which is why they are usually paired with supermarket pre ground coffee. Single wall baskets give more control but require the grind to be dialed in. The Razor tool is a dose trimming device that levels the puck to a set height. Breville supplying both basket types means the machine can be run either way, which is a reasonable answer to the fact that most buyers start on pre ground coffee and move to whole bean later.
Touchscreen Control and Milk Steaming
The human interface input is listed as a touchscreen, which is the main thing separating this model from the button driven machines in the same family. The specification sheet lists the operation mode as fully automatic. That phrase is doing a lot of work and deserves a caveat, because this is a portafilter machine and the user still locks a basket into the group head. Fully automatic here refers to the guided drink programs rather than to a machine that takes a capsule and handles everything on its own. Buyers who want that kind of one button operation should look at a capsule brewer such as the Nespresso Creatista Plus instead.
The steam wand is described in Breville’s short listing copy as an automatic wand for milk texturing, and the 16 ounce jug is supplied for it. The specification table publishes no steam pressure figure, no boiler capacity and no heat up time, so none of those numbers should be assumed. The marketing description attached to the listing claims a three second heat up through a ThermoJet system, but that claim does not appear anywhere in the specification data, which is a gap buyers should note rather than treat as a published figure.
Size, Power and Placement
The dimensions on the specification sheet are 12.7 inches deep by 15.5 inches wide by 16 inches tall, and the item weight is 21.8 pounds. Sixteen inches of height is the figure to check before buying. Standard American upper cabinets sit roughly 18 inches above the counter, so the machine fits, but the bean hopper is filled from the top and that clearance disappears quickly. The listed voltage is 120, which is ordinary North American household power on a standard plug. The listing does not state an amperage draw or a wattage figure, so this data cannot say whether the machine wants a dedicated circuit. Treat it as a normal countertop appliance and avoid sharing a circuit with other high draw devices such as a toaster oven.
Highlights
- Grinder, brew group and steam wand in a single housing, with dose control listed as part of the grinder.
- 54mm full stainless steel portafilter with both single wall and double wall filter baskets included.
- Touchscreen interface rather than a bank of buttons.
- Razor precision dose trimming tool and a ClaroSwiss water filter supplied in the box.
- 16 ounce stainless steel milk jug included for the steam wand.
- Footprint of 12.7 by 15.5 by 16 inches at 21.8 pounds on 120 volt power.
- Country of origin listed as China, with the model first appearing on the listing in December 2017.
Things To Consider
The most important limitation is what the specification sheet leaves out. There is no published water tank capacity, no bean hopper capacity, no pump pressure figure and no wattage. Anyone who needs those numbers should ask Breville directly rather than infer them, and this review will not fill the gap with invented figures.
The description of the operation mode as fully automatic sits awkwardly next to a machine that uses a portafilter, and it is the sort of import artifact that runs through this catalog. Read it as guided rather than automatic. There is also a maintenance load that capsule machines do not carry, since burr grinders need cleaning, group heads need backflushing, and a steam wand needs purging and wiping after every use. Households that will not keep up with that routine tend to be happier with a capsule machine such as the Nespresso Vertuo Next.
Price and value are outside the scope of this review, and the machine is a large countertop object. Measure the 12.7 inch depth against your counter before committing, since the water tank on machines of this class is usually reached from the rear or the side.
Who Should Buy It and Who Should Skip It
This machine makes sense for a household that drinks cappuccinos, flat whites or lattes most days, wants to grind fresh, and is willing to learn dosing and milk texturing. Supplying both basket types and a dose trimming tool suggests Breville expects buyers to progress from pre ground coffee to whole bean, and the touchscreen lowers the barrier for anyone put off by a wall of buttons.
It is the wrong machine for someone who brews a pot for a household of four, for anyone unwilling to clean a grinder and a steam wand regularly, and for kitchens without 16 inches of vertical clearance plus room to pour beans in the top. Filter coffee drinkers are better served by a thermal carafe machine such as the Technivorm Moccamaster KBGV Select, and anyone shopping for a compact milk capable machine should compare it against the smaller units in the semi-automatic espresso machines category.
