Last time it was this price was Dec 2020 on Myer EBay and they never shipped the orders.
I’ve got this machine and I’ve had an express and a 920. This one is hands down, the best. Once you’ve used the auto tamp there’s no going back. Auto milk frother is a rippa too. Can make a proper coffee every morning in under 2 mins with machine all cleaned up. Also fantastic when you are hosting guests. Worth every cent
Had a 920 too but will buy another Oracle when it dies. I drink more coffee because I have to do less and this tamps consistently, so the main variable is the grind- which is easy to dial in to about 30sec.
I wonder how the distribution is before it tamps. Usually any grinds coming from a grinder will heap in the middle. I wonder if this will result in channeling at the edges.
Even if it distributes well the other issue with the Breville grinder is that the friction from the smaller burrs causes clumps which can also cause channelling. I break them down before tamping.
Yup, I do the same on my express.
part of the auto tamping unit is a distribution tool, it has rubberised edges to help with static and stop clumping.
https://www.breville.com/us/en/parts-accessories/parts/sp000…
Ah, that is good to know.
3yrs using this machine, highly recommend it. If it breaks, I will go get another one all over again. It’s the most automatic a manual can get.
Great price. I bought my Oracle 8 years ago, and it is still working great today. I calculated that I had made 11,650 cups of coffee with it.
How did you find out? Keen to check mine now.
Copied this from Coffeesnobs:
With the machine in standby, press and hold 1 cup and 2 cup buttons for 4 seconds then press the Power button (whilst still holding the 1 and 2 cup buttons).
When the machine powers on, press the Menu button to bring up the shot counter. Multiply the displayed value by 10 for the number of shots.
Switch off the machine with the Power button.
That's for the BES920. It doesn't work for the BES980 Oracle. The procedure for the Oracle is in my post below.
With the Oracle off, hold 1 and 2 cup buttons down for 4 seconds. After that, while still holding the 1 and 2 cup buttons down, hold the power button down. Keep holding all 3 buttons down and the machine will turn on, probably showing an FR:50 message on the screen or similar. Then you press the rotary button once, it will show 3 digits. Press the rotary button again once, it will show another 3 digits. Press it again, then it will either show more digits or go back to the temperature display and your machine will heat up as normal.
Take both lots of 3 digits and line them up. Mine was 116 and 500. So that makes 116500. Then divide by 10, that gives you the number of shots that went longer than 7 seconds. So 11,650 shots in my case.
Thank you!
100 and 725, and that equates to 10,072 shots.
I got mine in 2015.
10014
Cool. I doubt it's accurate though because I'm hitting the shot button to do different things at different times though, like run water for a second or two for every cup.
@bxpressiv: Yes, but from my understanding, it only counts if the shot ran longer than 7 seconds. I did a calculation based on my usual 4 cups of coffee a day and it was pretty close.
@Sleepycat3: 10,034 shots for me, been 6 years I think. What a legend of a machine!
I don't think I've ever descaled it….. guessing I probably should…. never received a warning for it tho… read somewhere you wait for a warning??
@basketcase86: In terms of descaling, it depends on where you live and the water hardness. I'm in metro sydney and the water hardness is perfect for a boiler (about 60-70 ppm).The built in ion exchange filter in the water tank takes care of any access and I've only descaled 3 times in 8 years and it was very clean, I didn't observe any scale flakes coming out.
@Sleepycat3: Cheers, I remember doing the hardness test when I bought the machine. Came back at the lowest level so I guess I'm in the same boat as you. (I'm in Townsville). I'll have the read the manual again but I thought the system was smart enough to tell you when it needs a descaling. I might do one soon regardless… have noted the last few months the boilers are taking a tad bit longer to heat… might be a bit of scale build up?
@basketcase86: Eventually you do get a descale message on the screen, but if I recall correctly, it is every few years, and probably longer than the interval at which I descaled my Oracle.
With regards to the time the boiler takes to heat up, it is probably because of cooler weather at night. I'm not too worried about that. I would be more worried if the boiler temperature dropped from my preset of 93 ºC if I was making a few cups of coffee continuously.
100 + 441 = 10,044.1 shots? Not sure about the leftover .1
Looking at the other replies, four of us all have 100 as the first number - seems odd we'd all be within 100 shots of each other?
I've had my machine for 28 months, I'd say we average 3-4 shots/day, which would give a max of around 4,000 shots. I do use the single cup button (set to 8 seconds) for washing the filter after a shot, maybe that could double the count to 8,000 - but 10,000+ seems very very high.
Username checks out
Wow 8 years, that's a decent amount of time for a Breville appliance to last. My BES920 is over 5 years old (6.5k shots pulled) still going strong. All I had to replace was the ball joint valve (leaking steam wand after 3 years) and a 3 way solenoid valve (loud buzzing noise, today) also some O-rings for preventative measures while I had the covers off. All up my machine has cost me about 2 hours in time and approx $170 in parts.
FYI you can access Breville service mode to find out exactly how many shots pulled. Hold 1 cup & 2 cup buttons for 4 seconds then press the power button.
Are those things easy to DIY? Do you just get the parts off eBay etc? Thanks
You can get parts from Bigwarehouse Spares or Wholesale Appliance Supplies online. They are much better since the parts are categorised based on machine part number, so you know you are getting the correct one. For simple stuff like portafilter/group head gasket, eBay is fine. But when you are trying to replace a solenoid, OPV or pump, I prefer to use these two online stores as I am sure of getting the correct part.
For the Oracle, it is amazing how they managed to fit everything inside the machine! You'll find that there is not much room to work with in order to access the part, so you have to be very handy with your tools and enjoy repairing other household appliances. It's one of the few machines that after opening up, I realised the amount of labour that went into putting it together and as a result, think that the asking price of 1800 is very fair.
When I opened mine up to replace the pump (was quite challenging), I took the opportunity to take every solenoid apart to clean as well. The solenoids were easy to access. The pump, not so much.
The plastic collars in my group head cracked and wore out and the rubber group head gasket too. All very cheap to replace from Breville. Had it for at least 6 years. I have a bad feeling the pump is starting to wear out though.
I bought a replacement pump off Bigwarehouse Spares. The pumps are made in Italy, no wonder they start to do weird things. I read it is also because of the low-pressure infusion stage where the machine seems to pulse the voltage through instead of use a lower voltage to drive lower pressure. So it does wear out the electrical contacts in the pump.
I have not dismantled my old pump to see why it fails to start at low pressure, but I'll probably do that over the Christmas break.
Parents have had their sunbeam ES6900 for close to if not 2 decades, very funny considering the $250 cheap sunbeam they got me as a housewarming present blew up from using fresh roasted finely ground beans
Another Oracle fan here. I was surprised that it was as good as advertised. You will have to maintain it well like any other machine though!
Trying the PLBFSS code and its not accepting ;(
I have the silver machine and love it but moving and cannot take it with me
Code for Ebay plus
Is there any other difference besides the 1800w vs 2400w between this and the current versions?
600w
Probably an upgrade to the power supply so that it can heat up the water quicker.
Dont see bks being mentioned for 980?
Last time this promotion was on I got the bsk oracle from goodguys and they honoured it. It's worth a try
Thanks mate
Cheers for this link - tried our luck and got an ‘approved’ email from Breville a couple hours later.
it shows $1899
Code for Ebay plus
1800w vs 2400w
Different power?
Yeah looks to be different wattage.
1800w is the US version 2400w for australia and always has been must have just been a typo
Oh, get that one then….
To save $300, you need to spend $1M on a flux capacitor and find 1.21 jigawatts of electricy.
What the improvement over the BES878? $1000 more for automatic mode? Really?
Read the product description for both BES878 and BES980.
For this price - not bad.
I’ve got one and scored the $1499 real. No regrets and highly recommend.
Here’s a question though. Are one and two cup basically just pre programmed settings? Or does two cup have more pressure?
Dawned on me early on that they both do the same function (run for 30s)
The pressure will not change - just the volume of water. One should produce approx 30ml and two 60ml. Make sure you use the correct basket in the portafilter. Usually you can modify the volume of water each button is preprogrammed for too.
That makes sense. Yes In 30s I can predict two 30ml shots
I recalibrated mine. One shot does 20 seconds because wife likes weaker. Two shot does 30 seconds or 45ml
I use double shot basket for both
@BarryBargain88: Fun fact without splitting hairs too much - at those volumes you'll be pretty close to pulling a ristretto rather than an espresso. Enjoy!
I have this machine and the only thing that I find doesn't work well is the frother. Can't seem to really make a cappuccino or any kind of latte art. Otherwise great machine :)
Manual frothing is crap. Auto is great. But completely agree the frothed was a disappointment
What kind of milk do you use? It can get really temperamental on auto mode if the wand isn't clean.
Only time you will get good micro foam is if you fill up that milk jug quite high and use auto. It's such a waste of milk if only using for 1 or 2 people. I've tried using a smaller jug and filling high but didn't get great results. Think was too small.
I've had mine for almost a year and I've never made what I would consider a great flat white. I've tried so many things. More milk, smaller jug, chilling the jug, different types of milk. But like others said, still a pretty good cup.
If anyone has any tips for frothing the milk, sing out.
Mine works really well on auto mode, milk straight from the fridge - very dependant on the brand of milk though, I get the best results from South Coast Milk.
I clean the steam wand (and portafilter/etc) every week, including soaking the metal parts in caffetto.
I find that the milk needs to be really cold, straight from the fridge. Then manually froth by holding the tip at the surface of the milk until 20 ºC. Then put the tip under the milk and set the milk steaming to Auto and let it do the rest.
You can also set the steam strength as well in the service menu, but I haven't played with it.
have you cleaned the steam wand recently? and full cream milk will always froth better due to higher fat content
Watch Lance Hedrick (Latte Art Champ) Youtube videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTC3dJvwgUI I find his videos helped me with my milk frothing & limited Latte art skills… James Hoffman is another good person to watch
Thanks OP, got one. Have been looking for a coffee machine for a few months.
just bought the bes920 dual boiler for 979. yet to pick up. wondering if I should get this.
what are the differences between the two? this will be my first coffee machine coming from a pod nespresso machine
Personally I’d get oracle. This has inbuilt grinder, auto ramp so no mess and auto milk frothing. Less stuffing around to get the same outcome
Yup, less stuffing around= you will use it much more. It's almost as easy as a Nespresso machine but real fresh coffee- think of auto grind and tamp as making a fresh pod :)
I try convince anyone getting a dual boiler to get the Oracle if they can afford it. For someone without skills and didn't want to spend time and effort learning, the Oracle will get you more consistent results far more easily.
Wish I read this like a week ago, just picked up a bes878. Super happy with it but it's quiet fiddly with the manual aspect - especially tamp pressure.
@weznagwama: having a level tamp is more important than pressure, try getting a palm tamper to get more consistent results
The inbuilt grinder and auto milk frother is worth the extra money in the long term. You can have it grind or froth, while you are doing other things to prepare breakfast, instead of having to stand in front of the machine the whole time. The grinder's auto tamping is also pretty consistent, so that's a plus.
It is personal preference, if you have tight bench space then this one 980 is better option as it has inbuilt grinder (not the best grinder tho), with 920 you have to buy separate grinder and you can get quality one. Other factors to consider as mentioned by others, auto grind, auto tamp, auto milk froth, hence easier to operate, but no pressure gauge.
For those who do get this, my advice is to adjust the built in grinder. When you take the hopper off, you can remove the outer burr as well. You'll see that there is a fine printing of numbers on the ring of the outer burr and you can further adjust the fineness of the grind. I recommend setting it 1 or 2 steps finer from factory. The manual tells you how to adjust it with that outer burr.
If you leave it at factory setting, it can't grind fine enough to give justice to good quality freshly roasted beans.
Good advice @Sleepycat3. Also good to adjust the outer burrs after a few years as the burrs do wear and finer adjustments are needed.
I am tight on bench space but I don't know if the additional financial outlay on this can be justified.
I for one am interested in the "art" of making a coffee so don't mind the manual settings of the 980 if that makes sense. that might change once I start using it if I can't make proper coffee to save my life.
it's my wife who just wants a quick easy way to make a good coffee (ala pod machines) which is why I'm being drawn to the Oracle.
If you and your wife are planning to make coffee, then better get this one Oracle, it is only $800 extra than the 920, but you don't need to buy a grinder, so not a lot of difference!
The thing I like is that if you like the art of making coffee, the Oracle can get you there 80% of the way. The only drawback is that the grind amount is based on pressure of the coffee distributor/tamper fan against the coffee puck surface, not based on the weight of coffee unless you are going to weigh each dose per cup that you make. Other than that, the Oracle can operate as a full manual machine, or as a semi-auto machine.
I like the Oracle because others who just want a fast coffee can do it easily. It has 2 more steps than a pod, but that just involves you putting the portafilter into the grinder, pushing it right once. Then moving the handle from the grinder to the group head. After that it is the same, just press the coffee button and put your milk into a jug and pushing down on the steam lever once.
Other than that, the pod machine is similar, you have to put a new pod in, press a button to start the coffee and then put some cold milk into the frothing jug machine and pressing a button on that machine.
just bought the bes920 dual boiler for 979. yet to pick up. wondering if I should get this.
It depends if you care about coffee or not.
Most people in this thread don't. So for them Oracle is a good choice.
For coffee enthusiast BES920 is the best machine out of all Breville machines.
The grinder in Oracle is an "entry level grinder".
Grinder affects espresso taste a lot. Again, if you cares about it.
You can get a very good grinder… like Eureka Specialita for $550 from Italy or $800-$850 from local suppliers.
Compared to Breville's grinder Specialita will be
1. Much higher grind quality (uniformity, static, clamping and etc.)
2. Faster
3. Quieter
4. Will outlast all your next Breville espresso machines :)
Few years down the line your Breville machine will be out of warranty and it will start failing (sad but true).
You will feel much more comfortable replacing $979 machine compared to $1799. :)
For people who cares less about taste and more about pressing less buttons - get Oracle - you won't be disappointed.
so it would be best to spend $500 on a grinder? that's probably above what I would probably want to spend at the moment.
is there anything in the $200-300 range? otherwise I'll look into the Eureka and in the interim maybe buy pre grinded beans from my local cafe. I live in Newtown in Sydney is there's a big coffee culture here with lots of good beans thats readily available.
if this machine last 5-7years and the grinder too I'll be pretty happy.
also, would my wife struggle to make a coffee with the 920. the thought of having to make her a cup every day is making me stressed out already.
if this machine last 5-7years and the grinder too I'll be pretty happy.
Narrator voice: It won't.
Sad but true - Breville machines/grinders don't last.
Being on my 3rd BES920 by now… and from experience of other families I know… Most of BES920 would have their 1st failure with in the 2 year (under warranty) period.
Oracle is the same BES920 internally with extra points of failure. :)
I would not expect it to last 5-7 years without investing into repair.
Have you already seen the people in this thread putting their hand up ready to replace a broken Oracle the second it dies?
If you care about coffee or not? Ridiculous. I bet you couldn't pick in a blind test which was which, this for the most part is BS snobbery. If YOU cared about coffee, why buy a Breville? Look at the market segment…
Never ever buy pre ground coffee. You're better off getting the Breville smart grinder pro than that. Grind your beans fresh with your bes920
not sure who you're asking the question to but I care enough to spend 1000-1500 as that's what I can afford.
can't spend money I don't have. I want the best quality I can get for the money I can afford.
@johnthepg: you don't specifically need an espresso machine, this is the order for making good coffee.
1.fresh beans and grind on use paramount
2. grinder capable of grinding for the style/type of coffee you want, finer for espresso/coarser for filter etc
3.machine (not necessarily espresso
4.user input
fresh beans ground finely straight into a cup is how the turks do it and its amazing, it is also how coffee roasters taste, develop and judge flavour profiles.
@abuch47: Comparing a turkish coffee to an espresso/latte/cappucino is like comparing boiled prawns to prawns grilled on the barbie…. Both are prawns, both have similar flavours, but totally different taste and texture.
@Sleepycat3: yep and nobody needs to spend big on an espresso machine to chase the bean experience, after yourself its the least important component and there are far cheaper portable "espresso" methods for almost the same style. espresso and pourover are my two main methods of consumption the latter being far lighter but more intricate, the former being extremely intense and can cut through any other inclusions well.
Starting off at the extreme cost of a good quality espresso machine isn't value for money for anyone looking to get into or further their coffee path.
Would Harvey Norman price match this or should i wait for black Friday?
Is Oracle touch worth the extra $$$ or Oracle is enough?
Touch adds a GUI and that's about it- would recommend purchasing for businesses but not a home user unless you don't mind spending the money for the most high tech looking. From memory there's a tiny bit more adjustability and some memory settings- other than that it will produce the same results.
Thanks for the reply. My Breville Oracle (non-touch version) stops working almost 4 years since purchase from Harvey Norman (service Err is displayed). The good thing is I purchase product care and they give me back the 1,900 credit to spend in HN. I'm now contemplating to get add few more and get the touch version or stick with non-touch version.
Also, not sure if i should wait for black friday
Touch is so expensive for what it is. But it allows you to choose the type of coffee you want and it will adjust all the other settings for you. So it takes away any need to think about the coffee you want to make. I'm not sure about the reliability of the Oracle Touch, but with spare parts availability quite good, even if the LCD touch screen failed, it can still be replaced, even after out of warranty.
I'm just not sure I would pay $3500 for the Touch, given this $1799 price for the Oracle.
service err usually is a faulty milk wand, the way to stop this is to clean every few weeks
@joshyy94: With the Oracle, you can also hold 1 cup + 2 cup for 4 seconds, then hold power in addition to both the cup buttons. Then it will show you the firmware version and the stored error codes. Just like a car. Then you can figure out which part to fix/clean.
![[eBay Plus] Breville The Oracle Coffee Machine Black Sesame $1799 Delivered @ Bing Lee eBay](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/03/664703.jpg?h=70466eba)
Good price!
I’m not a fan of the colour, but at least it’s cheaper than silver :)