Reply With QuoteHave a quick search - I know there have been a couple of extensive threads on recommended/good value/top flight machines.
A lot depends on your budget.
I’m in the look out for one ( Geri g ready for Black Friday etc)
With my limited knowledge, what’s good to buy these days. Top of my head the Sage barrista was highly rated. Is that still the case?
Have a quick search - I know there have been a couple of extensive threads on recommended/good value/top flight machines.
A lot depends on your budget.
Bean to cup my Delonghi Autentica has been brilliant!
They sell them on Ebay as ex demos with 12 months warranty a lot cheaper.
It honestly depends on your taste and budget. A sage dual boiler isn’t a bad entry level machine .
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
I've graduated over time from a dolce gusto, to a tassimo which leaked, to a delonghi magnifica which got jammed and now to a sage barista.
If you like straight coffee no messing, I think it's a class act. It feels really well built and it's easy to follow once dialled in.
My only advice with any of these machines is do it manually.
I weigh 20g of beans (20.8g of decaf) using an Amazon weighscale and use a puck tamp to get the exact amount of compacting. If I do that and use the two buttons (reg & decaf) programmed, I get a 25 second pull every time.
Sounds like a faff but it's a doddle once you look at some YouTube videos, and weighing each time means it's easy to swap beans without having to go through the entire hopper.
I know other sage users who use the hopper, timer and hand puck and are frustrated by it all.
I have the sage barista express and have had for couple of years now. Makes beautiful coffee of all types. However, it is a pain to keep clean and stop coffee grindings all going all over the shop.
I’ll likely sell it and get a full bean to cup machine, all enclosed.
Last edited by NickGaters; 31st October 2022 at 16:23.
Type of machine should be determined by how involved you’d like to be in the coffee making process and as such steer you in the route of manual or automatic operation as referenced above.
There’s plenty of choice about, I’d also throw De’Longhi into consideration.
I've had nearly every Nespresso original possible and currently have the dual burner with the frother. Not cheap.
Next coffee machine will be a Jura but I might keep a tiny Nespresso for the occasional decaffe.
As previously mentioned, for ease and convenience Nespresso are very good. I now have a Delonghi Magnifica bean to cup machine and rate this very highly indeed. I was Googling bean to cup machines just yesterday and found lots of reviews rating this relatively cheap bean to cup machine as one of the best buy’s available.
I think there is a wide range of Sage machines and price points and it depends whether you want convenience and are happy with your coffee tasting like a Greggs bean-to-cup coffee or are happy with the extra outlay and effort to get something like a dual boiler and separate grinder with results more like a Cafe Nero coffee.
I'm definitely not a coffee snob and I'd rather drink some freeze dried instants over a Nespresso...really don't like them.
Originally Posted by Snoodles
Yes, have the same and has been very good. I bought it from DeLonghi UK, brand new and not refurbished etc. It is an ETAM machine, so great for lazy people. I use it with Borbone beans
Was a great price, 320 - about 50% of RRP. Probably because it was a discontinued line or similar
I looked at one but looked a bit of a faff for a quick coffee, that said I see them regularly on eBay for a decent price.
We ended up with a Delonghi Primadonna which I picked up from eBay. Excellent machine.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I think some time on YouTube is in order.
Thanks all
You won’t be able to get a decent shot of espresso from a bean to cup machine.
A sage dual boiler paired with a niche zero grinder would give you a good shot. It’s marginal after that, but you do notice the difference and machines hold their value. I have a linea mini and looking to buy a high end single dose grinder.
It has ruined drinking coffee out the house. Apart from the occasional independent, most espresso is terrible.
As well as the machine, some fresh beans and some good water make a difference.
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
I have previously had a full espresso set up, got frustrated and moved back to Nespresso, but then wanted something better quality than the Nespresso so I recently got a Sage Barista Pro.
It’s a great set up; not quite as fine tuneable as my previous set up but certainly makes good coffee.
Compared to what I can get from that, the Nespresso is nowhere near it but still a hell of a lot easier.
The Barista Pro is not bean to cup, despite what many sellers say. Not sure why they say it, but it is an espresso machine with built in grinder. This means it takes some practice and technique to get consistent, good results. Like any hobby it’s a rabbit hole if you want to dive in!
It’s worthwhile checking out CoffeeKev on YouTube. I can’t remember exactly the process, but he had a 20% discount code for the Sage website when I got mine.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
We're back to an original machine. We've just ordered one of these: A hand-built Moccamaster KBG Select by Dutch company Technivorm (in pale blue).
https://www.moccamaster.eu
Last edited by thieuster; 30th October 2022 at 19:19.
I have a Sage Barista Express bean to cup - love it.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
I have just bought the Sage Barista Express because Amazon did a 1 day £200 off a couple of weeks ago. So far I am very impressed, and it is certainly nicer than either of my current Nespresso machines.
I have a Sage Duo-temp pro. It is not a dual boiler machine, but it still makes a good espresso. I would recommend it. To get the best out of any machine you do need a decent grinder, spend the money on a 1zpresso JX-pro or similar. It is worth it.
A dual boiler machine only really pulls ahead of a single boiler dual temperature machine when you are making multiple coffees back to back. With the single boiler machine you draw your coffee at one temperature, then have to wait for the boiler to get up to temperature to make steam, then wait again when for it to drop to the right temperature to draw another shot.
If you are only making yourself one coffee at a time then a single boiler is a perfectly valid choice. Yeah, it will be slightly slower if you want steamed milk, but so what?
The number of boilers does not directly affect the quality of the espresso shot drawn, but other features in the more expensive dual boiler machines may.
I would recommend getting a separate grinder and coffee machine. That way if there’s a problem with one, it doesn’t knock out the other. I have a Sage Duo Temp Pro and Sage Smart Grinder Pro which work really well together. i’ve not had an issue with either.
I think because the OP talked about Sage, and re-reading the first mention about the dual boiler model, I think he meant the Sage model "the dual boiler"...https://www.sageappliances.com/uk/en...so/bes920.html
It's features like PID temperature control will be what makes it produce a better, more consistent, shot.
Just had Sage Oracle serviced. Standard cost is approx £470.
When it was returned it worked but they hadn’t cleaned it. Back to Jura next time breaks down.
Jura is where I'm off to next. Planning to skip the Sage tier and just go to the winner.
The maximum enjoyment for me when making a coffee is pushing a button, not weighing then grinding beans and faffing about.
Mon-Thurs = double lungo with a dash of milk. Fri-Sun I make flat whites but can buy a separate frother for that and just get an espresso only Jura. Espressos ad-hoc.
I’ve got a separate frother also, great for hot and ice cold coffee
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
My Jura was brilliant but apparently the black colour sage matched the kitchen cabinet better. Stupidest thing I’ve done for ages.
We recently got the Nespresso rebadged version of one of these (£200) to froth milk. Makes a mean hot chocolate.
Recently bought an all metal Grind 1 Nespresso Compatible machine. High build quality, way better that all those plastic models, and their own coffee capsules are not only compostable the coffee tastes great too.
Got a 25% discount which paid for the all metal milk frother too.
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
Yep had a Jura fo a good few years now, a J9? Only disappointment was the milk temp, I got a severin induction milk frother job done.
The Duo-temp has a PID controller. Proportional Integral Differential controllers aren't very special, very new or even very difficult to implement. I remember learning about them as an undergrad 30 something years ago, they were old hat then.
Yeah, machines without PID will definitely offer inferior coffee. My point was that having a second boiler will not improve the quality of the espresso.
Sir would not much like the Wacacao Picopresso. Your standard kitchen espresso machine is simplicity compared to the Picopresso. It is messy, complicated and slow, but it makes a superb doppio.
My motorbike had an expresso machine. Delivered the perfect expresso in the mornings when camping in Iceland.
I would recommend a Gaggia Classic (Pro) and a good bean grinder (I have a Eureka Mignon). There is a huge community for the Gaggia Classic machines and I think they are pretty timeless. You do need to 'engage' with the process though - grind size, dose size, puck preparation, temperature etc etc. It's definitely a hobby and probably as far from a capsule machine as you can get.
The Gaggia Classic is indeed a nice machine. It's a bit of a hobby like you say, but the effort you put in gives you way better coffee than any 4x more expensive automatic machines ever can.
Not sure if you mean automatic pump or bean to cup. I’ have never had a shot of espresso from a bean to cup, I can say I have enjoyed.
Started on a la Pavoni and you get to learn how to pull a decent shot, but, the results I get from my linea mini are so good. About 1 in 20 would be close on the la Pav.
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
Last edited by cnjm1; 31st October 2022 at 20:29.
For anyone who wants to go down the coffee rabbithole, James Hoffman's youtube channel is a good start!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMb...BNi-QqPk5T3gsQ
I went from a delonghi bean to cup to a sage oracle and now a separate grinder and machine (Niche Zero and ECM Synchronika). The biggest difference by far is standalone grinder. The built in grinder on the sage machines is limiting.
The journey has taken 10 years!
Cheers
Ross
Deleted
Last edited by joe narvey; 1st November 2022 at 00:04. Reason: Deleted as corrupted link
Grhhh…. I was more than happy with my Delonghi Bean to cup and severin induction milk frother…. It’s now apparent that the coffee I’ve been drinking is substandard and could and should be better…. What am I to do?
I would add that the single biggest difference you can probably make is buying good fresh beans…. Hasbean and pebble and pine are good places to start
Got our Caffe Corso refurb direct from the Delonghi ebay store 3 years ago and still going strong...bought another for our son to take with him to uni 18 months ago...great machine.
[QUOTE=thieuster;6094397]We're back to an original machine. We've just ordered one of these: A hand-built Moccamaster KBG Select by Dutch company Technivorm (in pale blue).
https://www.moccamaster.eu
Big fan here. I do have a Sage Barista too but this is my go-to every morning. Good, freshly ground beans and filtered water make a difference but it's a workhorse and very consistent.
Same here - £140 - perfect
The chap I mentioned above now has a 15% discount code on Sage appliances.
https://coffeeblog.co.uk/?__s=308vkpzqi85ngzollbxj
Some offers on sage grinders and machines
Duo temp pro works out at £237 if use code VirtualDemoUK-lEqKg7U0AU
https://www.sageappliances.com/uk/en...so/bes810.html
For anyone else looking JL have some combo deals on now for a dual purchase on sage items.
Bambino plus and grinder pro for £459 inc delivery. After much reviewing and advice on here to get separate systems that’s going to be the preferred set up I think.
Special offer in Costco at the minute
Excellent machine, very low price. Recommended.
Doing some reading before going probably back for it.
The Nespresso we have was a birthday present from my wife and she's already huffing at the idea of replacing it.
Went back and got it tonight. Awkward shape and not a looker but the coffee smells and looks night and day Vs Nespresso. Will have a cup in the morning.
Wife isn't a fan and thinks it's stupid that we have to do milk separate but will see how it goes.
Do you have this model?
I’ve had a few very similar incarnations of the Jura range. Brilliant machines. We got a new kitchen installed and got the sage oracle touch because it was a black colour and aesthetically pretty - stupid decision but £2k was spent so I’m loathe to get rid. The sage went faulty 2 months after the warranty expired.
The Jura was bomb proof in comparison and on a couple of occasions when I wanted to deep clean it there are plenty of you tube videos to strip, descale and clean.
The coffee will be chalk and cheese against the Nespresso. Treat yourself to some decent beans and keep your stock in sealed container in the freezer.
Afterthought.. my partner drinks coffee with milk and we got a Nespresso froth thing that uses induction to make the bubbles and warm the milk. She uses this instead of the steam wand. The Nespresso thing is about £200 but the hot chocolate it makes (especially with a splash of amarullu) is the best
Posting Permissions
