Oracle jet fuses the tablet interface of the Oracle Touch Dual Starter machine, but swaps the slow-heating dual boiler into a pair of fast-heating hot clips that heat water over the steam rod and brew heads - meaning no longer waiting for the machine to warm up.
Note that Oracle Jet performs better than the first espresso on its second or third espresso pull. For ideal results, you may need to have a coffee-free hot water lens through the Portafilter before your first espresso in the morning. Another trade-off is that you can’t steam milk and brew espresso at the same time. Instead, you have to cook the milk beforehand, or wait 30 seconds while espresso brewing to steam the milk. In practice, this is a problem, it is not a problem.
Even after the device comes out, these upgrades are coming with a series of firmware upgrades that add drinks or cleaning capabilities. At this point, most of the time after the equipment was released, every puck I prepared was heartbreakingly on the level. The same goes for volume control of water, which was reportedly run long before some firmware tweaks. During the long manual espresso pull measurements, I found the water temperature to be admirably stable.
The milk steamed wand is powerful, especially when it comes to manual foaming: you can get some serious bubbles and severe smoothness from this thing. And, strangely, cold espresso is actually very good. It's more cold than cold, which is a minute extraction above the room temperature. But if you transport it on ice in an environment grated on ice, it's a crema, low-acid, cold espresso that people might want to mix with milk or vodka, at the time of day and who you are. (Three minutes of cold water brewing is a bit astringent, not very successful for my taste.)
The device also has other small amounts of conveniences, such as a convenient clearing feature when swapping beans or making the first cup (double-click on the grinder icon, about 5 grams appear). It has a removable reservoir on the back, but you can also pour water from the front of the machine. And there is a small lever that lowers and lifts the entire device so it can roll or stay placed on the wheels.
All total $2,000? It depends on your budget and what you compare. But it's all good, it looks good, the espresso tastes great, it's something that inspires jealousy at home.
Like many heavy-duty automated machines, there are things you won't be able to change easily and some specific quirks. By default, the shooting size is large, with about 20 to 22 grams of coffee available for dual shots. The easiest way to adjust this problem is to buy a smaller dose of 58mm basket.
Although Oracle Jet's legume assistive feature is very useful for beginners, it is not overly complicated. Usually, it recommends that you tilt up or down through the grinder dial when changing drinks, or if your shot is long or short. After about a week, you may find yourself turning off this feature. The lack of visible pressure bars can also anger those who automate espresso machines: You are evaluating your lens’ ability to pull out at flow rate rather than pressure.