Toaster design hasn’t really changed in the 100 years since the pop-up version was introduced. They’re still built around temperature sensors and timers, despite the explosion of bread varieties available today. And that means the standard toaster doesn’t necessarily cook fruit or sourdough breads like it would a regular white slice.
Breville – the maker of some of the best coffee machines – believes it has found a solution in the form of the Breville Eye Q, the Australian brand’s new toaster which uses a proprietary optical sensor that judges the doneness of your toast based on the color of the bread. In other words, it uses “sight” to achieve the perfect toast.
According to Breville, the sensor “monitors” the slice(s) up to 10 times per second, and once your preferred toasting level is reached, the bread will be gently lifted rather than popping up.
Plus, unlike other toasters, because it bases its cooking on color rather than time, it won’t burn or overcook the second (or third or fourth) batch of slices you put in the Eye Q. This can happen in standard toasters because the elements are already heated and toasting begins as soon as the slices are lowered into the slots.
There are seven settings shades to choose from, but you can also opt for a “little more” color if you’re not happy with the result (a feature already available on existing Breville toasters). The brand says you may have to experiment a little at first to find what your perfect preference might be, but the promise is that your toast – whether it’s white, multigrain, sourdough, raisin, rye or a bagel, crumpet or other non-standard type of bread – will never burn.
Keep an eye on that expensive toast
Breville told me that it took the company’s engineers 10 years to make this toaster and that they almost gave up about five years ago because of the high cost of the technology at the time. The built-in optical sensors still make it a premium product – at $299.95 / £249.95 / AU$399.95 for the two-slice model and $399.95 / £349.95 / AU$599.95 for the four-slice model – its price is undeniably aimed at toast connoisseurs… if such people exist.
However, the use of an optical sensor in a toaster is certainly revolutionary and, interestingly, the Eye Q only uses a single pair placed on one side of the two-slice toaster, not both as I expected. Indeed, Breville says its research shows that most users will toast the same type of bread in both slots. The sensor therefore only needs to monitor one slice, as the rest of the technology ensures uniform heating. You can see the sensor’s green light flashing in the video clip below.
Additionally, Breville claims that if both walls were equipped with sensors, the toaster’s footprint would increase, and the single-wall design allows the Eye Q to be only slightly larger than most other standard two- or four-slice models.
If you want to grill just one slice, Breville has thoughtfully marked where you should place it. If you make the mistake of using the other, you won’t get the results you want and the toast will likely be slightly undercooked.
For artisan breads, the Eye Q sensor has also been programmed to offer a special Sourdough mode. This takes into account the thicker slices, crispier crusts, and denser bread of these loaves, and automatically increases the browning time. To ensure that the exterior of the toaster has a clean, minimalist look, this feature is available via a long press of the main control button.
The traditional defrost/reheat button has been replaced with a Time mode – activated by pressing the main button twice – which allows users to set a time to reheat foods like pies and pastries.
A life-saving feature
If you’ve ever danced with death by inserting a knife or other utensil into your toaster to free a stuck slice (there are approximately 700 toaster-related deaths each year), Breville has solved that problem too with the Eye Q. Not only are the slots slightly wider than those on the standard toaster, but the bread guides automatically (and smoothly) slide down when you press the main control button. When your toast is ready, it rises at the same speed and appears to be placed higher in the machine, so even the shortest artisan slices can still be torn off easily.
Its cleaning has also been made easier. The top of the toaster is a ceramic-coated, non-stick material that slopes inward, so you simply brush crumbs into the slots where they are collected in the Eye Q’s catch-all crumb tray. Unlike other crumb trays on standard toasters, which only cover a narrow section at the bottom of the appliance, the Catch-All provides complete coverage, so that almost all the pieces fall on it to be cleaned.
No more burnt toast
So how does this compare to real-world testing? Well, first, a full disclaimer: I’m pretty much the perfect market for the Eye Q, since I stopped using my toaster a long time ago. I was tired of having to watch the bread because the slices invariably seemed overcooked. And if I walked away, my smoke detector would probably go off. So my old toaster usually sits on a shelf and gets used maybe once a year when I treat myself to a crumpet.
I’m not going to say that the Eye Q is the best invention after sliced bread, but I now want to make toast every morning – mainly because I can’t stop watching the slices fall into the toaster and come back up (see video clip below). I’ve been using it for seven days at the time of writing and my first use was an experiment with sourdough.
I like it very lightly toasted, but even on the second setting the crust was overcooked. The following slices were perfect on first setting for me. Plain white bread toasts wonderfully for me on the third setting. The raisin toast was not burnt at all. I’m a convert now!
As fantastic as the toaster is, its high price will likely keep it out of reach for all but the most dedicated toast lovers. The Eye Q is available to purchase now in Australia in four colorways – Black Truffle, Sea Salt, Stainless Steel and Black (which replaces a white stripe at the bottom of the Black Truffle with dark grey) – directly from Breville and authorized retailers. Availability of the Eye Q in the US and UK has yet to be confirmed, although Breville says it will be available “before the end of the year.”
