# Oracle Touch?



## AndyJH (Apr 25, 2017)

My Oracle machine has just been written off by Curry’s warranty department. Bit excessive as I’m sure it was just the normal o-rings and solenoid issues. Not complaining though as they have given me the value of a current new machine after 2.5yrs which is £500 more than I paid back then! 

So I can just pick up a brand new Oracle or change to the Oracle Touch for a bit more money…

I appreciate the Touch is the same basic machine but with less controls and a fancy screen but this is all good on the wife acceptance front. She does use the Oracle and likes the simplicity of the grind, tamp process but that’s it. I’m sure she would experiment more with milk if it was simple and easy menu driven…

From my point of view I’ve accepted less controls of the Oracle anyway, came from a Dual Boiler but that was not wife friendly  Would I regret going to the Touch with even less controls?

Such a shame they don’t provide a more detailed advanced menu to actually take control of everything as that would be an awesome machine… 


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## TobyAnscombe (Sep 28, 2014)

Unpopular view but given you seem to already have stand-alone grinders (inc a Niche Zero) then I think she will be happy and you will be disappointed. I'm a longstanding Touch user and bought for exactly the same reasons as you (Wife Acceptance Factor). The lack of control is both a blessing and a curse - when it works its good (but probably not exceptional) coffee and milk textures. When its not then there is not much you can do to vary the workflow.

YMMV


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## AndyJH (Apr 25, 2017)

TobyAnscombe said:


> Unpopular view but given you seem to already have stand-alone grinders (inc a Niche Zero) then I think she will be happy and you will be disappointed. I'm a longstanding Touch user and bought for exactly the same reasons as you (Wife Acceptance Factor). The lack of control is both a blessing and a curse - when it works its good (but probably not exceptional) coffee and milk textures. When its not then there is not much you can do to vary the workflow.
> 
> YMMV


Thanks for the feedback 

I had a big hurdle to overcome letting my Dual Boiler go and buying the Oracle in the first place. Since having it though, I personally do quite like it. In the morning I just use the simple workflow and built in grinder. I have a set of scales under the cup so I can stop the flow at the appropriate time. The wife just presses the button and relies on the machine. 
I use my Niche for all other coffee’s and this allows my to experiment and enjoy a range of beans, whilst the Oracle stays with the same bean we both like. 

I’m happy, she’s happy. 

I think the Touch will work in the same way for me and allow me to make a coffee first thing without having to think too much. Then later, I can use the Niche and other beans?

I hope the wife will be more confident to make herself more drinks if there on the screen…


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## TobyAnscombe (Sep 28, 2014)

That sounds pragmatic - my only missing bit of workflow is the pre-infusion time is fixed but you can work around it. Even out of the box it can make a damm good coffee, with the grinder I tend to waste about 1/10 of shots due to weirdness but I'm happy to tolerate that as its just so easy to get a good milk-based drink out of it.


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## AndyJH (Apr 25, 2017)

Ok, I hadn’t really thought about messing with the pre-infusion time previously, when I had a machine that I could. What are you wanting from this, longer, shorter, change pressure?


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## TobyAnscombe (Sep 28, 2014)

Longer with a finer grind; I tend to normally have light roasts so am deeply curious to see if a slower infusion coupled to a finer grind will make them sing a bit better. Deffo in the 'marginal gains' side of life ;-)


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## AndyJH (Apr 25, 2017)

TobyAnscombe said:


> Longer with a finer grind; I tend to normally have light roasts so am deeply curious to see if a slower infusion coupled to a finer grind will make them sing a bit better. Deffo in the 'marginal gains' side of life ;-)


Ah I see. This is the frustration of the Oracle, this type of control is there in the DB, which the Oracle is based on. They could easily provided an advanced menu that allowed people to control these areas whilst retaining the simple to use menu for 90% of people. The perfect machine for ‘Wife acceptance’ and people who like to experiment and dial in further. 


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## AndyJH (Apr 25, 2017)

TobyAnscombe said:


> Longer with a finer grind; I tend to normally have light roasts so am deeply curious to see if a slower infusion coupled to a finer grind will make them sing a bit better. Deffo in the 'marginal gains' side of life ;-)


I haven’t tried this yet myself but I have come across this information regarding pre-infusion manual control;

*Pre-infusion time can be set manually using the manual brew setting.*

Manual mode activated.
Start pre-infusion by pressing and holding the screen.
Let go and touch the screen again to start 9 bar pressure.
Touch the screen once more to stop brew


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