Judging solely by the basic brewing features and price points of these machines, I can already tell the winner between Barista Touch vs Dual Boiler. In this debate, the prizewinner is Breville Barista Touch. So, if you are looking for a mid-range super-automatic espresso machine, here is my honest review!
The winner Breville Barista Touch offers a good set of one-touch beverages that I find highly convenient and efficient for home use. You can easily select between classic espresso and other modern drinks like Americano or Italian cappuccino. The heat-up time is also super fast (3-5 seconds). Overall, this machine is a dream for its price and value.
As for Breville Dual Boiler, this model is all about espresso. Other than that, I don’t see how it’s worth the price tag. There is no one-touch latte or cappuccino, and this model isn’t commercial either, so it’s not made for restaurants or coffee shops with a high volume of customers. However, if you are looking forward to brewing 20 cups per day and froth while extracting espresso, Dual Boiler is the product line that can meet your needs.
Barista Touch vs Dual Boiler: Comparison Chart
Last update on 2023-03-29 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Barista Touch vs Dual Boiler: Differences
Barista Touch wins 3-1 and ties with Dual Boiler in espresso flavor. I find Barista Touch to be a much more worthwhile investment if you are looking for a home-use machine. It has all the fast automatic beverages and rich espresso flavor. I will get into the details of how these machines perform for me below!
Water tank size
Winner: Dual Boiler
In terms of water tank size, Breville Dual Boiler easily wins with its 84oz reservoir. It can entertain a larger group of users and serve more coffee daily without requiring frequent refills. If you are looking for an espresso maker for your large family or office, Dual Boiler will do a good job.
However, note that this model isn’t made for commercial purposes, despite its large water tank. I don’t recommend brewing more than 30 cups per day with this model, and 20 is already reaching enough. Also, despite having commercial features, brewing more than 30 espressos daily will start to throw off the pump pressure. And if you constantly make milk foam, the boiler won’t be able to handle it and will fail miserably at making creamy and hot milk.
As for Barista Touch, the water tank is only 67oz big. With this tank size, you can brew 8-10 cups daily for a small group of 2-3 users. It depends on the amount that they consume.
Grinder
Winner: Barista Touch
There isn’t much competition when Breville Dual Boiler doesn’t even have an integrated grinder. It comes across as weird to me because the machine isn’t commercial. It’s just designed with some commercial details. So taking away the bean hopper and grinder seems like a lazy move for me.
With Breville Barista Touch, I can enjoy its quick and silent grinder. There are 30 settings in total, and it’s adjustable through the device’s touchscreen. The grinder delivers finely grounded beans that allow me to brew delicious cups of Joe. You can also play around with the grinder to your advantage to manipulate the coffee strength more organically.
Espresso flavor
Tie!
This is the most important part of investigating an espresso machine. I have pulled many espressos with these models, and my conclusion is: they taste the same. I don’t notice any difference in the espresso flavor between the two to distinguish them.
The good thing is that the coffee tastes splendid. I always get to pull bold espresso flavor with great notes of sweetness and bitterness. So there is nothing to complain about the espresso!
Heating element and temperature performance
Winner: Barista Touch
Barista Touch is equipped with a ThermoJet heating system supported by PID technology. So the benefits are fast heat-up time with pristine temperature control. I only have to wait 3-5 seconds after pressing the power button to start brewing espresso. Of course, I still tend to wait a bit longer to ensure that the drinks come out hot, but it’s true that it only needs 3 seconds to start brewing.
As for Dual Boiler, the machine takes anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes to heat water completely. I have tried brewing sooner after only 7-10 minutes of warming up, but the coffee comes out flat and not hot. So I learned to wait, and then the flavor came out divine.
Price and value
Winner: Barista Touch
It’s not hard to confirm that Barista Touch is the one with better price and value. For home use, I recommend it much more than Dual Boiler. The machine has all the necessary tools that we need: grinder, milk frother, and one-touch beverages. This super-automatic machine will brew you delicious espressos or lattes of your choice. Program the dose how you want it and take care of the machine for better longevity.
Barista Touch vs Dual Boiler: Similarities
Check out these 2 major similarities between Barista Touch and Dual Boiler.
Milk frother
Barista Touch and Dual Boiler are equipped with a classic Panarello wand, and I find their performance to be exactly the same. Microfoam is these machines’ biggest strength, even though it’s possible to get some out of them. What I like the most is the temperature of the milk. My thermometer reads it at around 145°F all of the time that I froth, so that’s a good temperature for every milk-based beverage.
What drinks do I believe will complement these machines’ milk texture well? Flat white, mocha, macchiato, or latte are impeccable with Barista Touch and Dual Boiler.
Design
Both product lines share the same classic Breville design that we all love. They have a large top section for warming cups and a spacious drip tray to avoid spilling and splashing. Users will work with the portafilter, switching from the coffee ground dispensing chamber to the distributary mouth to get hot water through the puck. Tamping the puck also is manual.
As for the material, both devices are made of stainless steel, so there is no doubt that they are heavier than plastic models. Nevertheless, due to Barista Touch’s smaller water tank and body, it’s still much more lightweight compared to Dual Boiler. Overall, I like the industrial design of these machines.
Quick Rundown Of Breville Barista Touch
- Please refer to user guide or user manual or user guide (provided below in PDF) before first use
Last update on 2023-03-29 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Quick Rundown Of Breville Dual Boiler
- Please refer to user guide or user manual or user guide (provided below in PDF) before first use
Last update on 2023-03-30 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Product Video
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References:
- https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/espresso/bes880.html
- https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/espresso/bes920.html
I am Ralph Mason and I am a passionate coffee drinker. I worked as a barista for a few years and since 2012 I have been trying to convince as many people as possible of good coffee.
I started writing on the barista blog on RepublikCoffeeBar in 2018. It was a pure hobby site and I tested coffee products like coffee machines, beans, mug, and other accessories. After the first year, my blog is becoming a well-known coffee site with about 100 thousand visits per month.
In 2019 I decided to focus on RepublikCoffeeBar only. I became a full-time coffee blogger and was declared crazy by many.