When it comes to home semi automatic espresso machines, the popular Breville Barista Express has to be amongst the best with a great price point. Ever since, the Breville brand constantly refines the technology in their home espresso machines. And there’s an upgraded model of Express. In this post, we shall compare Breville Barista Express vs Touch to see which is better to buy for your home.
Breville Barista Touch is the better option with all the upgrades. You can now spend less time waiting for water to heat up. In fact, 3 seconds is just like a blink of an eyes. There are also greater number of grind size options to adjust the espresso taste. More importantly, the Barista Touch really makes you a Barista with a Touch from Day 1. No guesswork for milk texture and brew settings with the adjustable milk temp and texture as well as the preset coffee recipes.
Breville Barista Touch
If you do not need the automation and can make do with the lower heating speed and grind size options. Breville Barista Express could be a better choice to save a couple of hundreds.
Breville Barista Express
Breville Barista Express vs Touch : 3 Key Similarities
There are a number of similarities between the two since Breville Barista Touch is basically an upgraded model of Express.
Grinding Technology
There is an built-in conical burr grinder in both espresso machines. And they comes with automatic dosage control which basically means that the grinder will stop grinding once the optimal amount of coffee grounds is reached in the portafilter.
Brewing Technology
Breville Barista Express and Touch also share the same preinfusion step which is an important step to get coffee grounds well saturated with water at low pressure. This will allow water to flow evenly when the high pressure kicks in. And this is how to ensure a great espresso extraction.
Brewing temperature is another key factor in espresso extraction. Any inconsistencies can affect the flavor extracted. And both Breville espresso machines come with the PID temperature digital control to ensure the brew temperature remains constant during extraction.
Capacity
There’s no changes to the water tank capacity and coffee bean hopper capacity in the Touch. Both machines have the same 67 ounces water reservoir which is detachable. They can also hold the same amount of 500 grams of coffee beans in the hopper.
Breville Barista Express vs Touch : 5 Key Differences
Other than the technologies mentioned above, Breville Touch comes with several upgrades.
1 Higher Number of Grind size options
While Barista Express already has an impressive 18 levels of grind size options to choose from, Barista Touch is even better. It has an incredible number of 30 options. If you like to experiment with what you get from your coffee beans, you will certainly appreciate the higher level of customization in this department.
2 Faster Heating Speed
Sage Barista Touch also comes with Breville’s latest heating technology – The Thermojet. This essentially brings down the heating from a minute in Express to just 3 seconds in Touch.
3 Display Screen and Automation Level
Though both machines come in the elegant stainless steel housing, they have a different control system. Barista Express use a button and dial knob interface. However, Barista Touch has a more intelligent and classy colored touch screen.
In addition, you have 5 pre-programmed coffee recipes in Touch so you can get a tasty coffee drink from Day 1 without needing to go through a learning curve to figure out the right settings. While Touch has preset recipes, it still offers you the option to customize in the espresso strength and milk temperature and texture. And you can store up to 8 of such settings for future use.
4 Milk Texturing
Express uses a manual milk steamer for micro foaming which requires some learning curve to create the ideal foam texture.
Barista Touch takes away the guesswork with its auto milk steamer which texture milk based on your selected texture and temperature options. Again, this means you can create a perfect milk foam from Day 1.
5 Hot water option
Barista Touch comes with a hot water option. This is not available on Barista Express.
Breville Barista Express or Touch: Which is better?
In this contest, Breville Barista Touch is the better option with all the upgrades. You can now spend less time waiting for water to heat up. In fact, 3 seconds is just like a blink of an eyes. There are also greater number of grind size options to adjust the espresso taste. More importantly, the Barista Touch really makes you a Barista with a Touch from Day 1. No guesswork for milk texture and brew settings with the adjustable milk temp and texture as well as the preset coffee recipes.
Breville Barista Touch
You may ask. Is Breville Barista Express still worth it? If you do not need the automation and can make do with the lower heating speed and grind size options. It could be worth it to save a couple of hundreds with the older model.
Breville Barista Express
If you do not need to have the automation in Touch, but you want to have the faster heating time, take a look at Breville Barista Pro vs Touch
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Hopefully this review on the Barista Express vs Touch has helped you make a decision on which is a better option to buy for your home.
