The 4 Best Home Espresso Machines of 2025

The Breville Oracle Jet is an espresso machine and countertop barista in one gleaming package. We’d consider it a suped-up Barista Touch, with a better grinder, more guidance, a more-effective portafilter shape, and a slightly better steam-wand design, plus an automatic tamper. It’s as close to a super-automatic machine as you can get with a semi-automatic.

You don’t need any prior espresso-making knowledge. The Oracle Jet guides you through every step of the espresso-making process, from setting up the machine to the adjustments needed to ensure a properly extracted shot.

During setup, the large screen displays an interactive diagram of the machine, which allows you to learn what each part does and how to use it, effectively teaching you the basics of an espresso machine.

When making your first drink, the machine walks you through each step, with supplemental video clips showing you what to do. As you pull your first shot, the Oracle Jet reflects the extraction on its screen, and it tells you if the shot was over- or under-extracted, based on how long it took to pull.

It then recommends which grind size to adjust the grinder to before trying again. Following the instructions of the machine, it took us only two tries before we pulled a balanced shot.

Of course, if you understand how to dial in a shot and what the extraction for your beans should look like, you may wish to disregard the machine’s guided dialing (which can be turned off in the settings) and use your own judgement. But it’s a helpful tool for those starting out, and it won’t lead you astray.

But manual experimentation is limited. Unlike any of our other picks, the Oracle Jet does not allow you to set your own dose. The machine automatically doses for you based on the size of your filter basket. By adjusting the tamp height, you could change the dose size, but it’s not an accurate method.

Unlike with our top pick, you can’t adjust the pressure—which we don’t think is a feature most people need anyway. You are, however, still able to change the brewing temperature.

It has an automatic tamper. Tamping evenly can be a pain for new espresso drinkers (and causes literal wrist pain for seasoned baristas).

With the Breville Oracle Jet, tamping is taken out as a factor. After locking your portafilter into the grinding outlet, the machine automatically doses and tamps for you, without any stray grounds making a mess on your counter.

It’s like a magic trick—in goes an empty filter basket, and out comes a smooth, level espresso puck. The consistency of the automatic tamper allows you to focus on other aspects of dialing in your shot, which gets you to a balanced cup of espresso faster.

The built-in grinder is high quality. Like the Barista Touch, the grinder on the Oracle Jet uses burrs made by Baratza, the same manufacturer behind our recommendations for espresso grinders and our top pick for coffee grinders (Baratza is owned by Breville).

There are 45 grind-size settings, which allows for more adjustment than even the Baratza Sette 30. The grounds produced by the Oracle Jet have a consistent size, and the finest setting produces grounds identical to the finest setting on the Sette 270 (though that’s likely finer than you’ll need).

Small features make it easier to use. A couple features, though not integral to the espresso-making process, add to the ease of use of the machine. A small lever underneath the drip tray raises the Oracle Jet onto a wheel, which allows you to move the 27-pound machine around your countertop with little effort.

Though the water tank is removable, it sits at the back of the machine, and it can quickly become annoying to reach around or swivel the machine when you need to refill it. A small port above the touchscreen gives you the option to fill the water tank from the front instead.

Accessories are included. Like Breville’s other machines, the Oracle Jet comes with a stainless steel milk pitcher, as well as single-wall one-cup and two-cup filter baskets. It also comes with a knock box, which you can knock your portafilter against to remove a spent puck. The knock box is a nice inclusion and makes the cleanup process quick and easy.

The Oracle Jet also includes a standard 58mm portafilter. It’s wider and shallower than the portafilters included with the Barista Touch and the Bambino Plus, which allows for a more-balanced extraction.

It can make cold espresso. We were pleasantly surprised by the Oracle Jet’s cold-espresso setting. It took only about 20 seconds longer to brew, and the espresso came out noticeably cool (though not cold). It was balanced, though slightly watery. If you prefer cooler drinks or need some cooled-down espresso for cooking or baking, it can be a handy feature.

The cold-brew setting was less impressive. It made a mug of lukewarm coffee (about 95 degrees Fahrenheit) that just tasted like an Americano left on the counter for too long. But if you just want a cool-ish drink and don’t want to add ice to your Americano, it does the job.

The steam wand is an upgrade. Like the Barista Touch and the Bambino Plus, the Oracle Jet has excellent automatic milk-frothing functions, with a range of textures and temperatures to choose from. But it can also froth non-dairy milk quite well, and it includes programs for frothing soy, almond, and oat milk.

And unlike the Barista Touch, the temperature gauge on the Oracle Jet is built into the tip of the steam wand, so you don’t have to balance the pitcher on top of a sensor. But while the machine can make glossy microfoam for you, learning to pour latte art is still your responsibility.

But it’s very pricey. The $2,000 price tag is no small thing. For a single-boiler machine, we’d normally balk at such a cost. But you won’t feel cheated with the Oracle Jet—the entire experience is smooth and utterly undemanding.

The built-in grinder is high quality, and it would cost a few hundred dollars to buy a similar standalone grinder. You also save time, mental energy, and beans with the machine’s guided dialing-in.