Welcome, coffee enthusiasts, to an engaging comparison between two of Breville’s finest espresso machines: the Barista Pro and the Barista Touch.
For those of you considering an upgrade to your home coffee brewing experience, this article aims to provide a thorough breakdown of the features and capabilities of both machines. With a balanced and informative approach, we’ll help you navigate the decision-making process, ensuring you find the Breville machine that best aligns with your lifestyle and coffee preferences.
So, prepare a cup of your preferred coffee and join us as we delve into the Breville Barista Pro vs. Touch Showdown. Let the comparison begin!
Design and Build
When it comes to selecting the perfect espresso machine, design and build quality play a crucial role in ensuring durability, ease of use, and aesthetic appeal. In this section, we’ll take a closer look at the Barista Pro and the Barista Touch, examining their design, materials, and user interface.
Aesthetics and dimensions
Barista Pro: The Barista Pro boasts a sleek, modern design that complements a variety of kitchen styles. With its stainless steel finish and compact dimensions (35.4 x 34.3 x 40.6 cm), it easily fits into most kitchen spaces without taking up too much room on your countertop.
Barista Touch: Similarly, the Barista Touch features a contemporary design, but with a similar footprint (32 X 32 X 41 cm). The stainless steel finish gives it a polished appearance, making it a stylish addition to your kitchen.
Construction materials and durability
Barista Pro: Constructed primarily from stainless steel and BPA-free plastic, the Barista Pro is designed for durability and longevity. The robust build ensures that the machine can withstand daily use while maintaining its performance and appearance over time.
Barista Touch: The Barista Touch follows suit with a combination of stainless steel and BPA-free plastic materials. Its solid construction guarantees long-lasting performance, even with consistent use.
User interface and ease of use
Barista Pro: The Barista Pro features an intuitive LCD interface that displays grind size, grind time, and shot duration. The digital temperature control (PID) and adjustable grind settings provide precision and customization, making it easy for users to experiment and perfect their espresso-making skills.
Barista Touch: The star feature of the Barista Touch is its color touchscreen display, which simplifies the coffee-making process for users. With pre-programmed cafΓ©-style drinks and the option to save custom recipes, the Barista Touch allows users to craft their perfect beverage with just a few taps. Like the Pro, it also has a PID temperature control and adjustable grind settings for greater control over the brewing process.
Quick Summary
In summary, both the Barista Pro and Barista Touch showcase attractive designs and robust construction, making them reliable choices for your home coffee setup. While the Pro offers an intuitive LCD interface, the Touch takes it a step further with a user-friendly touchscreen display that simplifies the brewing process.
Features and Functionality
When investing in a high-quality espresso machine, it’s essential to understand the features and functionality that each model offers. In this section, we’ll explore the key aspects of the Barista Pro and Barista Touch, focusing on grinding and dosing, brewing capabilities, milk frothing, and cleaning and maintenance.
Grinding and dosing
Barista Pro: The Barista Pro comes equipped with an integrated conical burr grinder, offering 30 grind size settings that allow for precise control over the coffee grounds. Its adjustable grind amount feature also ensures consistency, enabling users to experiment and perfect their espresso shots.
Barista Touch: The Barista Touch also features an integrated conical burr grinder with 30 grind size settings. The primary difference lies in its intuitive touchscreen, which offers a user-friendly experience when adjusting grind size and amount, making it suitable for beginners and experienced users alike.
Brewing capabilities
Barista Pro: With digital temperature control (PID), the Barista Pro ensures optimal extraction by maintaining a consistent brewing temperature. The machine also offers pre-infusion, which gently soaks the coffee grounds before full pressure is applied, resulting in a more balanced and flavorful espresso.
Barista Touch: The Barista Touch mirrors the Pro’s digital temperature control and pre-infusion capabilities, but with an added convenience: the touchscreen interface. Users can easily choose from pre-programmed cafΓ©-style drinks or save custom recipes, streamlining the process of crafting the perfect cup.
Milk frothing and texturing
Barista Pro: The Barista Pro’s steam wand allows for manual milk frothing, providing users with complete control over temperature and texture. This feature is ideal for those who wish to hone their latte art skills or create cafΓ©-quality milk-based beverages at home.
Barista Touch: The Barista Touch takes milk frothing to the next level with its automatic milk texturing system. By simply adjusting the temperature and texture settings on the touchscreen, users can achieve perfectly frothed milk without the need for manual intervention. Additionally, the Barista Touch automatically purges the steam wand after each use, ensuring cleanliness and easy maintenance.
Cleaning and maintenance
Barista Pro: The Barista Pro has a cleaning cycle that alerts users when it’s time for a full clean/descale cycle. The removable drip tray, water tank, and portafilter make routine maintenance a breeze, ensuring your machine stays in top condition.
Barista Touch: The Barista Touch offers a similar cleaning experience to the Pro, with the added benefit of guided cleaning prompts on the touchscreen display and the automatic cleaning of the steam wand. This feature provides step-by-step instructions, making the cleaning process even more effortless for users.
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Quick Summary
In conclusion, both the Barista Pro and Barista Touch are quite similar in terms of features and functionality, with key differences lying in their user interfaces and milk frothing systems. If you prefer ease of use and automated processes, the Barista Touch would be a great choice.
On the other hand, if you’re more hands-on and want to dial in your espresso and milk-frothing techniques, the Barista Pro is the way to go.
Performance and Taste
When it comes to performance and taste, both the Barista Pro and Barista Touch deliver exceptional results that satisfy even the most discerning coffee enthusiasts. With precise temperature control and pre-infusion capabilities, both machines consistently produce well-balanced and flavorful espresso shots.
The Barista Pro offers greater hands-on control for those who wish to fine-tune their brewing process, while the Barista Touch simplifies the process with its touchscreen interface and pre-programmed settings. In terms of milk-based beverages, the Pro’s manual steam wand allows users to achieve their preferred milk texture, whereas the Touch’s automatic milk texturing system ensures consistently frothed milk with minimal effort.
Price and Value
When choosing between the Barista Pro and Barista Touch, it’s important to consider the price and overall value that each machine offers. While both models are undoubtedly investments, they bring the convenience and quality of cafΓ©-style coffee to your home, potentially saving you money in the long run.
Barista Pro: The Barista Pro, being the more hands-on option, generally comes with a lower price tag compared to the Touch. Its precise control and adjustability make it an excellent choice for coffee enthusiasts who enjoy perfecting their brewing process. The machine’s long-lasting build, paired with its performance, ensures that you’ll get great value for your money.
Barista Touch: The Barista Touch, with its user-friendly touchscreen interface and automatic milk texturing system, is typically priced higher than the Pro. The additional cost, however, is justified by the convenience and ease of use it provides, especially for users who prefer a more streamlined coffee-making experience. With its pre-programmed settings and custom recipe-saving capabilities, the Touch offers a great balance between performance and user-friendliness, making it a worthy investment for many home baristas.
In my personal experience, I encountered some issues with the Barista Touch, which required me to send the machine back for repairs twice. This could have been a matter of bad luck, but it led me to choose the Pro version instead. Ultimately, the decision to go for the Barista Pro or Barista Touch will depend on individual preferences, budget, and experiences. Keep in mind that product reliability can vary, so it’s essential to consider factors such as warranty and customer support when making your decision.
Pros and Cons of Barista Pro and Barista Touch
Both machines have their pros and cons; here is a quick guide to help you decide.
Barista Pro
What we like
- Lower price point: The Barista Pro is generally more affordable than the Barista Touch, making it a more budget-friendly option.
- Greater hands-on control: With its manual steam wand and adjustable settings, the Pro allows users to fine-tune their espresso brewing and milk frothing processes.
- Intuitive LCD interface: The LCD display offers a clear and straightforward way to access and adjust settings, making the machine user-friendly.
- Precise temperature control: The digital temperature control (PID) ensures optimal extraction by maintaining a consistent brewing temperature.
What we don’t like
- Steeper learning curve: The Barista Pro’s greater hands-on control may require more practice for beginners to master the brewing process.
- Manual milk frothing: The manual steam wand requires users to learn and perfect milk frothing techniques, which might be challenging for some.
Barista Touch
What we like
- Touchscreen interface: The user-friendly touchscreen simplifies the coffee-making process, allowing users to choose from pre-programmed settings or save custom recipes easily.
- Automatic milk texturing: The Barista Touch offers a hands-off approach to milk frothing, providing consistent results with minimal effort.
- Guided cleaning prompts: The touchscreen display offers step-by-step cleaning instructions, making maintenance more accessible and straightforward.
- Streamlined brewing process: The pre-programmed cafΓ©-style drinks and recipe-saving capabilities make crafting the perfect cup of coffee more convenient for users.
What we don’t like
- Higher price point: The Barista Touch is generally more expensive than the Barista Pro due to its additional features and automation.
- Less hands-on control: The automated milk texturing system and pre-programmed settings may not be ideal for those who prefer more manual control over their coffee-making process.
- Potential reliability concerns: As mentioned in my personal experience, there may be reliability concerns with the Barista Touch, although this could be a matter of individual cases and bad luck.
Final Conclusion
When it comes to choosing between the Breville Barista Pro and Barista Touch, the decision ultimately depends on your personal preferences, budget, and desired level of involvement in the coffee-making process. Both machines offer exceptional performance, brewing capabilities, and design, providing cafe-quality coffee experiences in the comfort of your home.
The Barista Pro is an excellent choice for those who seek greater hands-on control and enjoy perfecting their espresso brewing and milk frothing techniques. With a lower price point and precise temperature control, it caters to coffee enthusiasts who want to hone their skills without breaking the bank.
On the other hand, the Barista Touch is ideal for users who value ease of use and convenience, thanks to its user-friendly touchscreen interface, pre-programmed settings, and automatic milk texturing system. While it comes with a higher price tag, the added features and automation justify the investment for many home baristas.
In my personal experience, I encountered some reliability issues with the Barista Touch, which led me to choose the Barista Pro instead. However, this may not be the case for everyone, and it’s crucial to consider factors such as warranty and customer support when making your decision.
In the end, both the Barista Pro and Barista Touch are excellent choices for creating delicious, coffee and no doubt will save you money spending a fortune in your local coffee shop!
