One sad, frugal day, I calculated what my daily coffee habit was costing. Adding up the strong latte every morning, plus the odd afternoon top-up, our caffeinated household of two was handing over nearly $4,000 a year to our local baristas. Cutting this expenditure would hardly help us save for a Sydney house deposit all that much faster, but it was a wake-up call nearly as potent as my daily grind.

Covid converted many households into devotees of pod coffee and espresso machines, and the cost of living crisis has forced many more to take a closer look at little luxuries (like a daily takeaway coffee). Add in the rising costs of coffee caused by cozzie livs, and home coffee machines are having a moment. The market for home espresso machines has grown year-on-year since 2020, with the global industry valued at US$12 billion in 2024 by data collection agency Statista. And one of the biggest players in these appliances is Australian brand Breville.

Enter the Oracle Jet – Breville’s newest, shiniest home espresso machine. While high-end Italian espresso machine brands like La Marzocco are increasingly encroaching on the home market, Breville have carved out a sweet spot with smart coffee machines that approximate professional results with vastly less know-how. My last Breville was the entry-level Breville Infuser – a simple single pour machine with a stripped-back interface. The Oracle Jet, released in July this year, is the Masserati to the Infuser’s Mazda.

What’s different about the Oracle Jet?

The Oracle Jet is a significant update on the original Oracle release 10 years ago, which first offered automatic grinding, dosing, tamping and advanced milk texturing. Like the Oracle Touch just before it, the Oracle Jet has had a complete interface overhaul, replacing the old digital display with a high-def touch screen.

This screen is your command centre, with animations guiding you through everything from the initial set up to the making of 10 different pre-set coffee styles, including hot chocolate and babycinos. Two of these are new options for Breville machines – a cold brew and cold espresso. The former cuts the slow extraction of a cold brew down from the usual 8-24 hours with impressive results, the latter is tailor-made for coffee-based cocktails like espresso martinis. Wi-fi and smart settings lets you save custom pours.

Related story: 8 espresso martini recipes for your daily caffeine fix

Keeping up with consumers, the ‘Auto MilQ’ settings let you program the inbuilt-steam wand to the ideal temperature and ‘microfoam’ texture for alternate milks/mylks including oat, almond and soy – meaning you never need to drink an under-foamed oat again.

An inbuilt grinder and tamper measures out the dose and presses it ready for extraction. The smart-assist interface, dubbed Barista Guidance, suggests optimal grind size (the finer the grind, the slower the extraction). The grind size takes some wrangling, it depends based on your beans and struggles if they have been sitting in the bean hopper for too long and starting to get stale, but we’re able to get a consistent crema. The energy-efficient group head heats up to the optimal 93°C  in seconds, ready to go minutes after you first switch it on.

Three minimalist colour options – Brushed Stainless, Steel Black Truffle and Sea Salt – should suit nearly any kitchen style and the relatively compact size of the unit means it doesn’t hot too much precious space on my kitchen island.

What’s in the Oracle Jet box?

The Oracle Jet arrives ready to plug and go, with all the basic accessories including a stainless steal milk jug and a neat little coffee knock box for used grounds. The cleaning equipment and chemicals for a first clean or two is provided, but to invest in the longevity of your machine you’ll need to stock up on water filters (which should be swapped out every 3 months or so) and the recommended products for regular cleaning cycles. Although it’s yet to appear for me, the machine is programmed to send a little ‘Clean Me’ message when it detects too much build-up.

Why should you get the Breville Oracle Jet?

The Oracle Jet is smart. In fact, it’s the most idiot-proof coffee machine I’ve used, and one of the lowest touch beside pod coffee – a huge blessing for us perennially late sorts. Historically, I’ve ended up only using more manual machines on the weekends. With the Oracle Jet, if you have time to move the portafilter from grind to the group head and press three buttons (or two, if you drink your coffee black), you are good to go.

Coffee nerds hoping to hone their barista skills might be better suited looking elsewhere; while it is possible to take manual control of elements such as milk frothing, it’s the set and forget nature of this machine that is its biggest selling point.

How much does the Oracle Jet cost?

As far as Breville goes, the Oracle Jet is top-of-the-line, with a top-of-the-line price point to match at $3,299. Whether that’s worth giving up your takeaway is between you and your barista, but my coffee spend has slowed to a trickle.