Breville Oracle Jet BES985 vs De'Longhi La Specialista Arte Evo

Cafe-standard espresso and hands-free milk without learning to grind, dose and tamp by hand

Scores higher on shot quality & extraction, ease of use & learning curve, maintenance & cleaning.

A grinder, a real steam wand and cold brew in one machine

Scores higher on value for money.

• +Auto grind, dose and tamp into a 58 mm portafilter holding 22 g, the size cafe machines use.
• +Auto MilQ steams microfoam hands-free with 8 texture levels, settings for alternative milks and a temperature range of 104 to 167 F.
• +Barista Guidance detects an over or under extracted shot and helps you correct the grind.
• +Cold Brew in under 3 minutes and Cold Espresso in just over a minute, which almost no home machine offers.
• +Six finishes, from Brushed Stainless Steel to Black Truffle and Damson Blue.

• −Breville's product page does not publish pump pressure, power rating or water tank size; the tank and warranty figures here come from an authorised dealer.
• −At $1,999.95 list it costs more than twice the Barista Touch, which also grinds and steams automatically.
• −Heating is a ThermoJet group head rather than a boiler, and no steam capacity figure is published, so back-to-back milk drinks cannot be compared on paper.
• −It is built to make decisions for you, so someone who wants to learn espresso by feel will get less out of it than out of a semi-automatic machine.

• +Cold brew in under five minutes, from a function De'Longhi developed with the Specialty Coffee Association.
• +Three infusion temperatures, which De'Longhi calls Active Temperature Control.
• +A manual steam wand, so microfoam and latte art are genuinely possible.
• +A dosing and tamping guide in the box, which is the step beginners get wrong.
• +1600 watts and a 56 oz tank, in a machine 14.4 inches wide.

• −De'Longhi's own page says 8 grind settings in one place and 15 in another, and never resolves it.
• −No portafilter diameter is published, so you cannot check accessory fitment before buying.
• −No bean hopper capacity and no heat-up time are published.
• −One finish only, and no display: control is by button and dial.
• −The machine is sold under two SKUs at the same price and one of them is out of stock.