Is The Breville Barista Touch Worth The Extravagant Price? Here's What Users Are Saying

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Most things are cheaper to make at home, but that's never been true of espresso. A latte may cost well upwards of $5 at your local coffee shop, but a truly great espresso machine for your home can cost several thousands of dollars. For coffee lovers who want an excellent espresso shot in the comfort of their own kitchen, it can be difficult to find a machine that strikes a balance between affordability, quality, and ease of use. That's where Breville comes in. It topped our ranking of major espresso machine brands, and it offers an espresso machine that, while far from cheap, is aiming for that market.

The Breville Barista Touch is an all-in-one espresso machine that sits at just about a thousand dollars in price, depending on where you shop. It has an integrated conical burr grinder, a steam wand for milk beverages, and a touchscreen interface that makes pulling shots as easy as a few taps. Its 54-millimeter portafilter comes with several filter styles, and the machine reaches nine bars of pressure during extraction. Just over a 1-foot square and 16 inches tall, it is designed to nest into most kitchen countertops. 

To put all of that in plain English, this espresso machine is aiming for a niche of customer who isn't willing to throw away their life's savings on a coffee habit but still wants a more elevated espresso experience than cheaper espresso machines can provide. But can it deliver? We combed through reviews from everyday users and coffee connoisseurs to find the answer. While it might not impress experienced brewers, the Breville Barista Touch is a great option for its price range, especially for beginners. Here's what you need to know.

If you're already a dedicated coffee enthusiast but haven't operated your own espresso machine before, the Breville Barista Touch is an excellent way to learn the ropes, according to users. Although there are budget-friendly gadgets for making incredible coffee at home, premium coffee grinders can be a lot more expensive than you might assume, so the included grinder on the Barista Touch is nice to have. It lets you dial in the preferred size and time of your grind, which can have profound impacts on the flavor profile of an espresso shot and made it easy for YouTuber Jeremy Judkins  — a newbie to espresso machines  — to quickly create tasty coffee drinks.

Other owners who bought the Barista Touch as a first espresso machine concurred that it makes great coffee easy. Espresso machines can be quite complicated, but aside from learning some basic maintenance, users report a stress-free experience. On Reddit, one user who goes by u/JessicaOkayyy bought the Touch without any prior espresso experience. She followed up a couple of months later to confirm that, after learning how to clean the machine and dial in settings for her lattes, she was enjoying her daily lattes.

General reviewers love the Barista Touch, too. Food & Wine called it "a worthy splurge for anyone who wants to take their coffee game seriously," while Epicurious asserted, "If you've been intimidated by espresso machines in the past, the Breville Barista Touch is a great way to get started."

Although the Breville Barista Touch will undoubtedly satisfy many first time espresso machine shoppers, as well as many consumers who simply don't want to do science to get their caffeine fix, there are some self-styled aficionados for whom this machine won't meet expectations. If you're the kind of coffee connoisseur who knows the difference between a dual boiler and a thermojet heater of the kind in the Barista Touch, or if you have an opinion on the quality of the Baratza European burrs found in its grinder, this is probably not the espresso maker for you. But you probably already knew that. Why are you still reading this? You probably own tons of tech accessories that take your coffee to the next level. Go enjoy your scientifically perfected brews.

However, even among those on the forum unabashedly named Coffee Snobs, some users find that the compromises the Breville Touch makes relative to far more expensive machines are well worth it for the price. One longstanding forum member using the screenname Rami found it to be a great first-time espresso machine, although they did upgrade to a different grinder, and eventually upgraded from the Touch to a Breville Dual Boiler, which retails for $1,600. The bottom line is that it's very difficult to find a mainstream espresso maker that beats the Breville Barista Touch at its price point.