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Breville Oracle Owners Thread BES980XL

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  • #91
    Originally posted by wfdTamar View Post
    Paid for one of these today in Myer for $1874.25! It has to be delivered from 'the warehouse' (presumably in Melbourne). 25% off! Really good price for Tassie. I also get about $40 of Myer gift cards for that so it works out about $1840. I also get a second year of warranty through my credit card. (they also offered the BES920 /Smart Grinder combo for $1240 thanks to the bargaining power of a receipt from tanethomas who got that for $1198 in Hobart)
    Any chance you could share the invoice to help with bargaining the good folk of Myer in Melbourne? ( waiting until yours has shipped of course) you've made my mind up at that price. Thanks for the post.

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    • #92
      Hi all,
      First poster here.
      A quick report after owning the BES980 for a couple of weeks.
      First of all, it's very easy to use, and clean. This makes a refreshing change from all of my previous machines. The looks aren't a refreshing change, but I guess that's a matter of personal taste...
      I bought it because I decided to move on from the joy of the process of making coffee to the joy of drinking a nice cup every morning.
      So
      I wanted to keep the settings as stock as possible, so I played with the beans first. As reported before, the grinder seems to like a bean that's around 5 days old but not more than 10 days (Actually I don't like them over 10 days old...). I've kept the same bean from the same local roaster to cut down the variables at this point.
      At 5 days old I need a grind of 21 (settings are 1 - 40 if you're not familiar with the machine), cutting down to 19 as the beans age.
      With these settings the blonding starts at 22 seconds and I get 2 x 3/4 full shot glasses of about 1/2 each of liquid and crema, which settles to 2/3 - 1/3 after a minute.
      I think it's a bit of a short shot, but after the blonding starts the pour instantly gets thin and fast and ruins the drink.
      Any suggestions?
      I might try a different bean first...

      EDIT: I set the tamp up a notch and it's doing a lot better!

      But I use the same batch on the same day at my friend's cafe and get nice long shots with no blonding...

      If I do a finer grind it just comes out more slowly, but then rushes out after the blonding, still at 22 sec, which just gives me a shorter shot. Almost like it's tunnelling, but I've dissected the pucks and they're great, a little wetter with the finer grind.

      In the end, a slightly courser grind and faster flow than I'm used to gives me the most nuanced shot.


      The milk is terrific. I get the perfect creamy texture at the right temp (on auto) every time, with only minor variations with the age of the milk. I run it at about 25% up from the least textured end.
      When I occasionally get the latte art right it has very good contrast.

      All in all it's a great move. Finally my wife can make a decent cup and it's cut about 15min out of my morning routine, mainly down to the twin boiler.
      Best thing - the perfect milk
      Worst thing - I miss playing with a thing of beauty to produce a beautiful cup of coffee.
      Last edited by surfinchina; 18 April 2014, 01:25 PM.

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      • #93
        Another new member and new Oracle owner

        I've had a Saeco Talea Touch Plus for about 4 years. Although the coffee was just OK, the auto was the difference between ground coffee each morning and only using it on the weekends.

        My old Gaggia classic at the holiday house made a much better cup of coffee but was too fiddly when in a hurry during the week.

        I'd read reviews and comments, but was still a little worried that the Oracle would be closer to an auto coffee machine quality wise. Happy to say that after using the Oracle for a couple of days, wow, wow and wow! Great coffee in a hurry. Better by far than most cafes. I love this thing!

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        • #94
          Thanks to the price tip from wfdTamar I've bitten the bullet and ordered my Oracle today.
          Delivery Tuesday. Can't wait!

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          • #95
            Are you able to post your receipt (if your price is the same or better)? I can't get it to upload from here.

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            • #96
              Lets see if this works Receipt for BES980 for A$1874.25 from Myer.

              https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5558/...2acddeeb0d.jpg
              Last edited by Javaphile; 24 April 2014, 05:51 PM. Reason: Fix Link(s)

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              • #97
                Originally posted by wfdTamar View Post
                Are you able to post your receipt (if your price is the same or better)? I can't get it to upload from here.
                Price was the same. I happy to post it but thought after I made the request that I might be stretching the friendship.

                Mods - is there any reason I shouldn't share this? I don't want to annoy vendors (especially Breville) and anyone else who makes a living in the bean biz. I saved over $600 on the retail and it's the perfect machine for me.

                Cheers

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                • #98
                  Just made my first coffee with all settings as out of the box. My beans are about 8 weeks past roasting date, so not very fresh (though they are from a roasting house) and geeez this thing made a fantastic coffee. With fresh beans and getting the setting right it will be incredible.
                  I have to add I'm not a coffee expert and my former machine was a Jura Ena Micro 9 One Touch which is an easy auto coffee maker and I thought made an OK coffee (but compared to this it's not). Been trying with a Subeam 6910 manual I got for my girlfriend and that's pretty difficult after an auto. I can see a manual would take lots of coffees to get the hang of. This BES980 popped one out that rivalled a good cafe coffee first pop.

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                  • #99
                    Same here. Ive had mine for a week after graduating from a pod machine. I watched a couple of videos of people going through the whole grind, dose, tamp, prep process and thought, "That's not for me". I wanted great coffee all the time and the ability to learn more and play with settings when I feel like it.

                    It heats up so quickly, I'm cleaning up with a fresh brew in my hand 5 mins after turning the machine on in the mornings. My wife (who hardly drinks coffee) made a couple while I was out of the house for friends after watching me make a coffee once.

                    Having comfort that the grinding and extraction process is controlled has let me turn to the idea of roasting my own beans. I understand true snobs would want to have full control over the whole thing (and perhaps this kills the "art" in making a great coffee) but I'm really pleased I went the path I did. . . . .

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                    • Originally posted by ToddJewell View Post
                      I've had the machine for a little over a week now and still getting used to it, but so far, so good. I had an issue this morning before work though, but didn't have time to explore before heading out.


                      Thanks,
                      Todd
                      Hi Todd, I've done a pull apart and clean and it all seemed to work correctly straight away when reassembled everything can only really go in one way when you put it back. How did you go with this problem?

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                      • Question to the void (but especially the Breville folk on the forum), has anyone been successful getting a response from Breville at their oracle email address? I've mailed em twice in a fortnight and get crickets. . . . . .

                        Cheers,
                        CH

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                        • Drop me a PM with your email address & questions & I'll get back to you today.

                          Cheers, Phil

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                          • That's very kind of you Phil, I was contacted by email today however so I'll follow the official channel

                            PS great videos, they helped me with the decision making process when I was looking to buy

                            Regards,

                            CH

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                            • what's not to like...

                              It’s a couple of months for me with the Oracle now. Recalling the debate over why someone would buy a Breville vs a fine itallian made fully manual machine, I thought it was worth sharing some updated thoughts on using the Oracle…In a hyphened pair of words: “multi-tasking”.


                              Yes, super-automatics can give you this kind of convenience too, but in my experience with 3 different super-automatics, they can’t even come close to the coffee quality of the Oracle. And I think this is what differentiates the Oracle from both the super-automatics bad coffee, and the fine italian machine’s quirky inconveniences that require patience and dedication to master, sweet though their coffee may be.
                              The Oracle sits in the land between these extremes, with very little compromise to be seen.


                              The Breville allows me to easily multitask the coffee making without worry.
                              There are some really great features to the Breville that I have come to love, and I’ll state them all in order of their ‘appearance’ in the coffee making ritual.


                              1: When I walk up to the machine, it is on and ready to go immediately, thanks to the built-in clock and wake-up timer. No waiting around for it to heat up to 200 degrees. Probably 5 minutes of time saving. Hardly rocket science, but a thoughtful feature.
                              2: I can start steaming the milk right away and go straight to other tasks, knowing the Oracle will stop at exactly 150 degrees. I can’t count the number of times I have over-boiled the milk on other machines due to multi-tasking. Probably another 2 minutes saved. And because of the frother design with programmable foam, I don’t have to hold the milk jug and angle it to get the best foam - so i’m free to do other stuff without any penalty on milk quality.
                              3: As the milk is heating up, I can start the bean grind. Now I’m running task 2 & 1 simultaneously.
                              4: And because the bean grind & tamp is automatic, I can start task 3 as well -grab a cup and add some steaming hot water into it from the Oracle (those top-plate warmers never seem to do that much warming). This separate hot water tap is a great added feature.
                              5: my cup is warm, I empty the water out, the milk is about 130F - I start to brew a shot of coffee - the coffee and milk both finish together18 seconds later.
                              6: Time to perfect my Latte Art, and that too, is much easier thanks to the excellent milk frothing and crema topped-coffee shot quality.
                              7: My wife thinks I’m some sort of professional Barista now!


                              The expression, “what’s not to like”, comes to mind here. Because unlike so many products you buy today, it seems they really thought this one out well.

                              Comment


                              • Great call port3f9. I'd add that I'm really time poor first thing in he morning getting the kids and myself out the door and a well made cup of coffee is just what I need with out all the manual work. Autos have a place for some of us, but I understand not all.

                                That's not to say i don't want to know how to make it all myself though. I have a guru from breville (an "Oracle" Oracle if you will) coming over to show me the finer arts of using the manual features next week. Learning milk frothing techniques and Latte art basics are on my hit list!

                                Cheers
                                CH

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