Our Sage Oracle Touch review dives into the ups and downs of this premium coffee machine, along with whether we think it’s worth the dosh.
Its charm lies in having both automatic features and the option of using it as a manual espresso machine.
The Sage Oracle Touch is the “cruise control” of bean-to-cup machines.
But, is it right for you? Let’s find out.
Note: The Sage Oracle Touch and the Breville Oracle Touch are the exact same machine! Breville is an Australia-based manufacturer that operates under the name “Sage” in the UK.
Sage Oracle Touch Review in a Nutshell
We all know how it feels to find yourself on autopilot during a busy day. The beauty of the Sage Oracle Touch is that your coffee quality won’t decline on those days.
Not only will your coffee quality not decline, but it will also be consistently barista-level.
This hefty bean-to-cup machine is the deluxe “autopilot” version of coffee machines. It’s a café-style machine that won’t take much brainpower once it’s up and running.
The newer, more advanced version of Sage’s Oracle Touch Coffee Machine has a fair bit to live up to.
And it does, for the most part – it’s easy to use, makes great coffee, and leaves few mistakes for you to make.
It reminds us you don’t have to be a barista to make a near-perfect cuppa.
With excellent automatic settings, digital temperature control, and great pre-extraction technology, it’s actually a struggle to make bad coffee without bad coffee beans.
But, as the priciest of Sage appliances, we’d expect nothing less.
Let’s dive into this Sage Oracle Touch Review, to find out whether this grand machine lives up to the price tag.
Sage Oracle Touch Review: What Are the Best Bits?
It’s about as far from a traditional machine as you can get, with virtually everything automated.
From an automatic grinder and tamper to pre-programmed drinks – the coffee-making process is broken down into three easy steps: Grind, Brew, and Milk.
A conical burr grinder built into the machine automatically grinds, doses, and tamps 22 grams of coffee – and the tamp has been perfected.
One of the most exciting parts of this machine is the five pre-programmed coffees it serves.
Five drinks – espresso, long black, latté, flat white, or cappuccino – have already been programmed into the machine.
So you don’t have to worry about temperature, extraction, and grind size for any of them.
This brings us to another perk – the steam wand. Like many of Sage’s newer models, automatic milk texturing has been well and truly mastered.
You can easily adjust the milk frothing temperature and froth size to make silky, bubble-less milk for any hot drink.
The Sage Oracle Touch is a huge machine that’s well-equipped to make coffee for a crew.
The bean hopper holds half a pound of coffee, the water tank holds 2.5 L of water, and the machine itself weighs a whopping 16.9 kilograms.
It’s heavy-duty, yet lovely to look at. Apart from the touch screen, it has the simple silver design of a classic espresso machine.
While the automated features are great for fuss-free coffee, you can also switch them off if you’d like to take time to brush up on your coffee-making skills.
You can add up to eight customizable drinks to the machine, in addition to the five pre-programmed ones.
The Sage Oracle Touch coffee machine is available on Amazon for a pretty hefty price.
It is probably more expensive than a lot of home-coffee makers want to fork out, especially if you’re new to the world of espresso machines.
Check out our top picks for bean-to-cup machines to find something that best suits your needs.
So, can the autopilot version of an espresso machine really be just as good as the real thing?
Sage Oracle Touch Coffee Machine Specifications
| Capacity | 2.5 L |
|---|---|
| System | Fully automatic machine with a touch control system |
| Pump Pressure | 15 bars |
| Construction Materials | Stainless steel |
| Dimensions (WxDxH) | 39.2 cm x 37.3 cm x 45.4 cm |
| Weight | 20.5 kg |
| Voltage | 240 Volts |
| Power | 2400 Watts |
| Accessories | Mini grinds bin 480 ml stainless steel milk jug Steam wand spare parts 58 mm full stainless steel portafilter One- and two-cup single-wall filter baskets Cleaning kit Water hardness test strip Water filter holder and water filter |
| Special Features | Touch screen operation Five pre-programmed coffees Adjustable grind control Customisable milk temperature and texture Single and double shot options Pre-infusion function |
| Colour options | Classic Brushed Stainless Steel Black Truggle Black Brushed Stainless Steel |
| Settings | Five pre-programmed coffees Single and double shot Milk temperature and texturing |
| Warranty | Two-year repair, replace or refund guarantee |
Sage Oracle Touch Special Features
The Sage Oracle Touch has several noteworthy features that caught our attention.
Pre-Infusion Function
This technology is superb. When pre-infusing coffee, the machine lightly dampens your coffee grounds, so they swell before the pressure begins.
Basically, it allows for better coffee extraction, resulting in a more full-bodied cup.
The proof is in the pudding, with an espresso that’s rich and evenly extracted.
And if you check out your used coffee puck, you’ll see that it’s dry and solid – exactly as it should be.
Touch Screen
This feature adds to the already futuristic feel of this automated machine.
The touch screen is great at stepping you through your coffee making. It even helps you make a test coffee while setting up the machine.
The instructions are clear, so it’s difficult to get confused.
Our only misgiving is that the instructions vary slightly between the manual and the screen when setting it up.
It’s no biggie – but worth knowing before you begin so you can stick to one set of instructions and avoid confusion.
Pre-Programmed Coffee Options
You already have five pre-set options to choose from. Usually, having an espresso machine ends up becoming another addictive hobby. With these options, it doesn’t have to be.
You have espresso, long black (Americano), latté, flat white, or cappuccino to choose from, and the settings for these are pretty good.
The latté is especially impressive, with silky milk that is sometimes hard to find in cafés, let alone in your kitchen.
While the espresso is good, it takes some manual tweaking to make it a great espresso.
This brings us to another big perk – you can customise the pre-programmed coffees to taste with the manual features.
You can also develop your own preset coffee styles if the automated coffees aren’t doing it for you. Just follow the prompts after clicking the ‘add new’ option on-screen.
Adjustable Grind Control
The wheel on the side of this bean-to-cup coffee machine is easy to swivel to your grind perfection, for great extraction.
The grind control is pre-set to 30, which is fairly coarse, to begin with.
But you can easily adjust, with grind size options between 1 and 45 – enough options for you to always have perfectly ground coffee.
We suggest starting on about 20 and changing to taste – a finer grind usually makes a smoother brew with espresso machines.
To read more about grind size and how it can impact extraction, check out our article about coffee grind sizes.
PID Control
This advanced temperature control makes it easy to adjust to taste.
So, with the Oracle Touch’s PID control, you can minimise the slightly bitter or acidic taste you can get from the wrong temperature.
You can manually change the brewing temperature for drawing off espresso, between 86°C and 96°C.
Customisable Milk Texturing
The milk steaming features are truly café grade, as they often are with Sage’s newer espresso machines.
The milk has been more or less perfected for the preset drinks, though you can tweak those settings if you’d prefer.
You can choose the temperature and texture of froth you’d like by selecting your preferences on the touch screen.
Enjoy silky, creamy steamed milk for your favourite coffee order. With the right texture, you can also make some beautiful latté art.
Setting Up Sage Oracle Touch Bean to Cup Machines
So, what’s in the box? Unboxing coffee machines is a bit like unwrapping a Christmas present and this is no exception.
It might be worth opening it with someone. Shifting the Oracle Touch from the box to your kitchen is probably a two-person job.
Like most Sage/Breville machines, this part is easy to follow – mostly.
- Start by removing all labels and packaging materials from the machine and throwing them out. Then, do the same with the packaging and plastic bags containing the water filter and tank.
- With a new machine, you should always rinse the washable machine parts and accessories in warm water and dishwashing liquid. Then pat dry and reassemble.
- Find a place for your machine next to a socket and plug it in.
- Handy hack for moving your machine: turn the wheel found under the drip tray to unlock the brakes. You’ll then be able to move the hefty machine on its wheels.
- Soak the water filter and tank in cold water, then pat dry. Finally, fill the tank with water and lock it into place.
- Fill your hopper with fresh coffee beans. Make sure their roasting date isn’t much longer than a month ago if possible.
- The touch screen will guide you through setting up your machine.
- It will ask you to flush the system and wash and prime the machine to be ready to use.
- Once you’ve set up on your machine, you can start playing with the settings. Or select the drink you’re after.
- Then, if you want to add new custom drinks, select the “create new” option on the screen and adjust the settings to add your favourite.
How to Make Your Sage Oracle Touch Coffee
Possibly the easiest café-style cuppa you’ve ever made. You won’t even have to spare energy tamping your coffee grounds.
The screen will also guide you through making your drink, with a step-by-step tutorial.
Making Custom Coffees
- Turn it on, and wait for it to heat up. Note – it does take more than five minutes to warm up, so make sure you give it plenty of time.
- Pop the portafilter in the grinder for it to grind and tamper it. Beware, the grinder is a little loud and takes its time, too.
- Take out the portafilter and lock it in the group-head with your pre-heated cup underneath. Click ‘brew’.Top Tip: The automatic grind dose is about 25 g, which is too much for a double dose. See the ‘cons to consider’ section to find out how to change it.
- You can easily choose a preset drink – just scroll across the drink selection and press “brew” on your favourite.
- While it’s brewing, put your cold milk in the steam milk jug and put it under the steam wand.
- Start frothing by clicking the button on-screen to start – the texture will be preset to your selected drink.
- Once you pop the wand back into place, it will automatically purge (make sure you still wipe down the outside, though).
- Sit back and enjoy your (almost) ready-made morning coffee!
Set Your Manual Preferences
Perhaps you’re missing a manual espresso machine that lets you choose everything.
Fortunately, you can manually select your temperature, extraction time, and hot milk texturing, just as you would with a traditional espresso machine.
- Adjust the grind with the wheel on the side of the machine. You can choose an option between one and 45.
- To manually change the extraction time, hold down the “brew” button for a couple of seconds.
- Touch the brew button to start the extraction, then tap it once again to stop extracting when you’re ready.
- To manually froth your milk, lift the wand and begin frothing by touching the button.
- Once you’re happy with your milk texture, touch the ‘Milk’ button to stop and lower the wand back into its position so it auto-purges.
Check out our tips and tricks for bean-to-cup-machines for more hints and advice.
Cons to Consider
It would be remiss of us not to mention some clear issues – and potential deal breakers – with our Sage Oracle Touch review.
Let’s dive into potential reasons this machine may not be the one for you!
Big and Heavy Machine
No doubt about it, the Sage Touch Oracle would be difficult to get from A to B. Sitting at more than 20 kilograms, you’ll need someone to help you set it up.
For some, this isn’t a big deal. But if you have a small kitchen, it will take up a lot of the counter space and could look a little bulky.
Slow to Warm Up
The heat-up time is pretty lengthy for a machine focused on making everything quick and easy for the busy person.
It takes about five minutes to heat up, so there could be a bit of standing around and waiting.
You can preset it to warm up at a certain time, but that might take some forward-thinking in itself.
Difficult to Change the Coffee Dose
This is one of the most obvious cons we identified in our Sage Oracle Touch review. Sage says the machine should automatically grind 22g of coffee, yet it actually gives you 25g.
This is much more than ideal for a double shot, which should range between 18 g and 21 g. And this might be okay if it was easy to change. Alas, no.
To change the amount of coffee it gives you, you have to pull off the tamper base and the pen above the tamper base.
This is so you can change the length of the pin by loosening a screw with an Allen key that comes with the machine. This will adjust the amount.
Sound confusing? We agree. For a step-by-step on changing the coffee dose, watch this handy YouTube video.
Once you’ve set your dose amount (we recommend 18 g or 19 g), you’re golden.
But, we didn’t expect to be fussing around with pins and Allen keys with such a premium machine marketed for its ease of use. We’ll deduct a point for that one.
Expensive Bean to Cup Machines
The Sage Oracle Touch is one of the priciest bean-to-cup machines on the market—and Sage’s most expensive. So we’d expect everything to be a breeze.
It makes excellent coffee, but there are a few shortcomings that we can’t ignore.
And it’s for a specific persona – the person who wants great coffee, without the fuss of the coffee-making process.
If you love the sweet science of coffee making – from tamping to milk frothing – you may feel a little bereft by the sheer scale of automated options.
Especially because you’re paying a sizable sum for these features.
However, considering that most people who buy this machine want the easy, fantastic coffee the machine is credited for, it’s probably not a major problem for most customers.
Coffee Machines Comparison: Sage Oracle Touch vs the De’Longhi ECAM650.85.MS PrimaDonna
Before you splash out on a big, expensive machine, make sure you’ve weighed up your options. It’s the best way to decide what’s best for you and your coffee needs.
Both the Sage Oracle Touch and the De’Longhi PrimaDonna are heavy-weight, hybrid automatics, so which is the better option for you?
Both Machines are Automatic
These machines both have plenty of automated features and settings, including custom coffee options.
But, they also have the option of tweaking the settings and pre-programmed coffees manually.
You can add more preset coffee options with the Oracle Touch, as the PrimaDonna only has room for five.
Touch Screens on Both Machines
Both have touch screens, so they can walk you through your coffee making.
It also gives them a modern feel that looks nice in kitchens. They also have clear, simple instructions that are easy to follow.
Price
These machines are pretty similar in price, so that doesn’t have to be a factor in your choice.
Prices vary depending on where you buy, so you can probably scout around. As the newer machine, the Sage Oracle Touch tends to be a little more expensive.
Amazon stocks both the PrimaDonna and the Oracle Touch.
Shape and Size
They’re both big machines, but the Oracle Touch is a fair bit bigger.
The PrimaDonna is 28.5 cm x 42.0 cm x 40.5 cm and weighs about 13 kg.
Meanwhile, the Oracle Touch is 39.2 cm x 37.3 cm x 45.4 cm and weighs more than 20 kilograms.
The PrimaDonna has a taller, thinner and more modern style. While the Oracle Touch’s screen gives away its high-tech features, it has been made in a classic, more angular style.
Milk Frothing Functions
The Sage Oracle Touch coffee machine has the type of wand found on a manual machine. The PrimaDonna has a milk carafe with different settings, depending on the drink you’d like.
The carafe has a spout, so it pours the textured milk straight into your espresso cup. It’s the more automated version of the two milk frothing features.
While the milk frothing process is good, the Oracle Touch’s end result is smoother, with better preset frothing options.
You can rest assured that these machines will consistently produce the kind of drinks you’d usually find in coffee shops.
If you’re looking for a more automated model, we suggest opting for the De’Longhi PrimaDonna.
However, if you’re after something that looks a little more timeless, the Oracle Touch is probably the way to go.
Why Should I Choose the Sage Oracle Touch Espresso Machine?
The Oracle Touch is a heavy-hitting bean-to-cup machine for those who want top-tier coffee without fussing over the intricacies of coffee making.
Our Sage Oracle Touch review confirmed that it’s for those who want to make great coffee, without it becoming an all-consuming hobby.
No one can deny this machine makes a fairly stunning espresso. Is it perfect coffee? No, but it’s nothing to scoff at.
Thanks to the machine’s sophisticated pre-infusion technology, the shot is smooth and nicely extracted.
This machine also comes with a generous helping of accessories. From a coffee knock-box to a cleaning kit – you’ll have everything you need to get going.
But, we expect high-end machines to have everything down to a fine art.
And a few shortfalls – such as the coffee dosing issues – make the process of setting up this machine a bit bothersome.
It’s little things like this that cause you to think twice before spending thousands on a machine promising to make your day easier.
During our Sage Oracle Touch review, we found that this machine is reasonably priced compared to its competitors.
Other brands have priced bean-to-cup machines with similar features and technology much higher.
Without a doubt, this machine makes easy and excellent coffee similar to what you’d find in a decent coffee shop.
So, if it’s important to have a great morning coffee with nothing more than a few clicks, perhaps you’ve found your machine match.
The only question left is how much will you pay for effortless, café-grade coffee? We’d love to hear, let us know what you think in the comments!
If you haven’t found what you’re looking for yet, check out picks for the best bean-to-cup espresso machines.
Perhaps you’re after a super cheap Sage machine that still produces a top-notch espresso. If so, check out our Sage Barista Touch Review.
Dan is a former competition barista and has been honing his knowledge of coffee for over two decades.
He has worked in coffee farms in Peru, as well as roasters in Australia. He now trains new baristas and hosts cupping experiences in Austin.
Jump To a Section Below
- Sage Oracle Touch Review in a Nutshell
- Sage Oracle Touch Review: What Are the Best Bits?
- Sage Oracle Touch Coffee Machine Specifications
- Sage Oracle Touch Special Features
- Setting Up Sage Oracle Touch Bean to Cup Machines
- How to Make Your Sage Oracle Touch Coffee
- Cons to Consider
- Coffee Machines Comparison: Sage Oracle Touch vs the De’Longhi ECAM650.85.MS PrimaDonna
- Why Should I Choose the Sage Oracle Touch Espresso Machine?