Breville Barista Touch Impress (BES881)

The Barista Touch Impress is for the household that wants real portafilter espresso without anyone having to become a barista. It still grinds into a portafilter and pulls a shot through a 54 mm basket, but a touchscreen walks you through each step, a lever does the tamping and the steam wand can texture milk on its own. TechRadar ranks it first in both its espresso machine guide and its bean-to-cup guide as of September 2026, and Reviewed calls it the best espresso machine it has tested. It is the premium pick on our list of espresso machines with a built-in grinder.

It is not the right buy for someone who wants to learn the craft by hand; the Barista Pro gives the same grinder and heater with manual control in a much lower price class. Nor is it for someone who wants to press one button and walk away: a fully automatic machine such as the KitchenAid KF6 does that with less involvement.

The Impress Puck System is the headline. Breville's machine calculates the dose from the last grind, you pull a side lever that applies 22 lb of pressure with a 7° twist at the end, and the machine then corrects the next dose if the puck came out high or low. TechRadar describes the result as cleaner and more consistent than hand tamping, and notes that the machine offers to grind a little more if the basket is short or suggests trimming it with the included tool if it is over. For households where several people make coffee, taking tamp pressure out of the equation is what makes shots taste the same from person to person.

Dial-in help goes further than on any other pick here. Reviewed describes Breville's guidance as spotting when a grind adjustment is needed and suggesting what to change; TechRadar found the machine times the extraction, asks you to taste, and recommends a finer or coarser setting for next time. The grinder behind it is the same 30-setting conical burr set, branded Baratza European Precision Burrs, that Breville fits to the Barista Pro, and the ThermoJet heater is rated at about three seconds to temperature.

Auto MilQ handles milk. Breville lists settings for dairy, soy, almond and oat, temperatures from 104 to 167°F and eight texture levels, and the wand stops itself when the milk is done. Reviewed found it turned even thin almond milk into silky latte foam. The US model now ships as Cold Extraction Enabled: Breville rates Cold Brew at under three minutes and Cold Espresso at under two, and TechRadar found the cold brew close in taste to the slow-steeped kind.

Dairy is the weak spot of the automatic milk. TechRadar found Auto MilQ struggled with full-fat milk while it excelled with plant milks, and suggests steaming dairy manually for the best texture. Because the wand can be run by hand, this is a workaround rather than a dead end, but it undercuts the push-button promise for anyone who drinks mostly whole-milk lattes.

The machine is large and heavy for a home counter, about 13.4 in wide and 16.3 in deep by TechRadar's figures and 24.2 lb by Breville's, and TechRadar found the rear-mounted water tank awkward to reach, which matters under wall cabinets. TechRadar also notes that some popular drinks are missing from the preset menu, though custom drinks can be saved.

Price is the obvious trade-off. The Touch Impress sits in Breville's flagship class, and much of what you pay for is automation. Someone who enjoys tamping and steaming gets the same grinder, heater and basket from the Barista Pro.

Against the Barista Pro, the Touch Impress adds assisted tamping, touchscreen guidance, automatic milk and cold drinks; the grinder, heater and portafilter are the same. Against the KitchenAid KF6, it asks more of you, since you still move the portafilter and trigger the tamp, but it gives far more control over grind and shot and can pour latte art with the wand. The La Specialista Arte Evo also makes cold brew, but it is fully manual on grind, tamp and milk.

The Barista Touch Impress is the premium choice because it removes the two steps that most often ruin home espresso, dosing and tamping, and then helps with the grind as well. It suits shared kitchens and anyone who drinks plant-milk drinks. If you mostly steam whole milk or want to learn technique, the Barista Pro gets you the same core hardware for far less.