Breville Barista Express Impress BES876 vs Breville Barista Touch Impress BES881

The Barista Express with the tamping done for you, so the shot is repeatable from day one

Scores higher on shot quality & extraction, workflow & ergonomics, value for money.

A grinder, assisted tamping and hands-free milk behind one touchscreen

Scores higher on steam power & milk texturing, ease of use & learning curve.

• +Assisted tamping at a fixed pressure removes the step most beginners get wrong.
• +The machine reads each tamp and adjusts the next dose, so the puck is repeatable.
• +A built-in 25-setting conical burr grinder, so there is nothing else to buy.
• +A pressure gauge on the front, which shows whether a shot ran fast or slow.
• +Both pressurised and unpressurised baskets in the box.

• −Breville publishes no warranty term or weight for it, on the page or in the manual.
• −The manual allows up to 55 seconds to heat, against 3 seconds on the ThermoJet Breville machines.
• −The steam wand is manual, so milk is still a skill to learn.
• −A 54 mm basket, not the 58 mm most café accessories are made for.

• +Hands-free milk texturing with settings for dairy, almond, oat and soy.
• +The Impress lever tamps at a set pressure and corrects the next dose.
• +Heats to extraction temperature in 3 seconds, Breville's ThermoJet figure.
• +Thirty grind settings on hardened steel Baratza burrs.
• +A 340 gram hopper, larger than the 227 grams on the Barista Touch.

• −$1,499.95, about $500 more than the Barista Touch listed on this site.
• −Breville publishes no pump pressure, pre-infusion detail, warranty or weight for it.
• −No pressure gauge is listed; the touchscreen is the feedback.
• −54 mm portafilter, not the 58 mm the Oracle Jet uses.