Sage Barista Express

Klopp · 17-12-2020 9:39pm

I thought the lower number on the grinder was for a finer grind when it is the opposite according to the manual? I go higher up from say 6 to 9 to get coarser. Anybody else notices or am I missing something altogether?

mad m · 20-12-2020 12:27pm

I received a sage pro yesterday. More grind settings on this machine. I had 19grams in the double walled basket. Custom pour at 27 seconds,got a return of 50gram shot.

My grind setting was 6. Bit of adjusting to play with. Using Mahers Guatemalan beans.

So I adjusted burr setting to 3 and grind setting to 10. Pulled brutal shots going up n down grinder setting. So put burr setting to 6 and grind setting to 9. Had 16g in basket, pulled custom shot to 25seconds and got out 62grams. Jesus...

mad m · 20-12-2020 4:18pm

Klopp wrote: »

I switched from dual pressurized to single and used 18g and i got a great shot at 26 secs. I am going to say the crema looked way better and the taste is much nicer, maybe i am convincing myself but i am sold

How on earth did you fit 18g in a single. I switched baskets on mine from the fresh coffee basket to per ground coffee, the difference in creama is unreal

ED E · 20-12-2020 4:23pm

mad m wrote: »

I received a sage pro yesterday. More grind settings on this machine. I had 19grams in the double walled basket. Custom pour at 27 seconds,got a return of 50gram shot.

My grind setting was 6. Bit of adjusting to play with. Using Mahers Guatemalan beans.

So I adjusted burr setting to 3 and grind setting to 10. Pulled brutal shots going up n down grinder setting. So put burr setting to 6 and grind setting to 9. Had 16g in basket, pulled custom shot to 25seconds and got out 62grams. Jesus...

Not sure on machine to machine variance but 6 + 9 sounds like you'd have whole beans in the porta :pac:

Ive found it holds quite a bit of grounds in the mech so if you don't clear it your grind will be a combo of this and the last setting which will make it impossible to dial in.

mad m · 20-12-2020 4:40pm

Yeah, I made sure to clear grinder of any left over beans when adjusting. Might grind beans in my Mahlkonig Vario Grinder instead of built in sage grinder and pop them into bracket to see what yield I get. Dialing in is a head melt

alec76 · 20-12-2020 10:08pm

mad m wrote: »

Might grind beans in my Mahlkonig Vario Grinder instead

You own one of the best home espresso grinders on the market and you’ve bought Sage Espresso Machine.... WHY!?

mad m · 20-12-2020 10:25pm

alec76 wrote: »

You own one of the best home espresso grinders on the market and you’ve bought Sage Espresso Machine.... WHY!?

Present....:rolleyes:

You can tell the misses...:)

Edit: actually on that note, she did ask why I was using the Vario grinder

. 18g in, went to 30seconds on custom double shot with dual pressurised basket and got 43g out.

cw girl · 21-12-2020 12:40am

alec76 wrote: »

You own one of the best home espresso grinders on the market and you’ve bought Sage Espresso Machine.... WHY!?

I’ve been looking at getting a good grinder/coffee machine for home & looking at the comments on the Sage machine.

I drink americanos & currently use aeropress. Would the vario grinder (around 495 online now) be a better option then one of sage machines.

ED E · 21-12-2020 2:08am

cw girl wrote: »

I drink americanos & currently use aeropress.

The more knowledgeable members may correct me here but you can't really be drinking americanos at present, you need espresso to make them. The Aeropress can't produce espresso.

A grinder on its own wouldn't get you there.

alec76 · 21-12-2020 8:22am

cw girl wrote: »

I’ve been looking at getting a good grinder/coffee machine for home & looking at the comments on the Sage machine.

I drink americanos & currently use aeropress. Would the vario grinder (around 495 online now) be a better option then one of sage machines.

No , It just they from different leagues altogether.
VARIO - almost top of line Grinder for the HOME espresso lover and Sage.......not.
Besides, VARIO normally comes with ceramic burrs, they are perfect for espresso, but definitely no so for the filter coffee. You could buy separate , stainless steel set of burrs for VARIO ( €80-100) if you plan using it for the filter , but I think it just a bit of a waste.

alec76 · 21-12-2020 8:24am

mad m wrote: »

Present....:rolleyes:

You can tell the misses...:)

.

Yeah, no chance to return then?

mad m · 21-12-2020 9:52am

alec76 wrote: »

Yeah, no chance to return then?

I may sell it on. Will post in here if someone is interested will do a deal

Alanstrainor · 21-12-2020 7:07pm

cw girl wrote: »

I’ve been looking at getting a good grinder/coffee machine for home & looking at the comments on the Sage machine.

I drink americanos & currently use aeropress. Would the vario grinder (around 495 online now) be a better option then one of sage machines.

I think we need to know more about your plan here. If you do buy a Vario Grinder will you also buy a dedicated espresso machine? The espresso machine will likely add 500 to your budget (or more...).

But to answer specifically about the Sage machines, I got a Barista Express in Aug/Sep and use it daily. I find it fantastic, and with the built in grinder I can pull great shots. There are a few small/cheap tips and tricks that you can follow to get the best out of it. Stirring the ground coffee with a paper clip helps a lot, using a dosing funnel etc.

If you are coming from a Aeropress(a great coffee maker btw), I would imagine that you don't necessarily want to get knee deep in this straight off the bat, with the best of the best grinder and machine. The Sage options will get you fantastic espresso/americano and latte style drinks.

In my mind there is diminishing returns for your money with a lot of this gear. The Sage will get you a good way there imo.

cw girl · 21-12-2020 7:13pm

ED E wrote: »

The more knowledgeable members may correct me here but you can't really be drinking americanos at present, you need espresso to make them. The Aeropress can't produce espresso.

A grinder on its own wouldn't get you there.

When I buy coffee it’s americano but I maybe I’m mis-naming it. I find the aero press coffee ok but not barista level.

Thanks!

cw girl · 21-12-2020 7:16pm

Alanstrainor wrote: »

I think we need to know more about your plan here. If you do buy a Vario Grinder will you also buy a dedicated espresso machine? The espresso machine will likely add 500 to your budget (or more...).

But to answer specifically about the Sage machines, I got a Barista Express in Aug/Sep and use it daily. I find it fantastic, and with the built in grinder I can pull great shots. There are a few small/cheap tips and tricks that you can follow to get the best out of it. Stirring the ground coffee with a paper clip helps a lot, using a dosing funnel etc.

If you are coming from a Aeropress(a great coffee maker btw), I would imagine that you don't necessarily want to get knee deep in this straight off the bat, with the best of the best grinder and machine. The Sage options will get you fantastic espresso/americano and latte style drinks.

In my mind there is diminishing returns for your money with a lot of this gear. The Sage will get you a good way there imo.

Thanks - while I, willing to spend 6-700 that’s probably my limit.

Klopp · 22-12-2020 11:29am

I am confused or maybe i have watched to many videos. All the videos on the Sage Barista and getting the right pressure, extraction to seconds is all about grinding your beans finer? In the manual, if the pressure is over extracted, it tells you to grind coarser?

Klopp · 22-12-2020 2:14pm

My current setup on the Sage Barista

Ponaire Colombian Whole bean
Single 2 Cup Basket

Grind 12
Internal Burr 5

18g Coffee with an extraction time of 27 seconds.

I thought the grind should be much finer? The coffee taste OK, a small bit bitter but lots of crema..

rowanh · 22-12-2020 11:14pm

I got mine from Velo and they gave me two bags of the Velo Tandem beans they had in aldi.

I was putting in 18g of beans @ 8 and pressing the double shot button, the gauge was just past 12 oclock and it was taking around 25 seconds from when the coffee started coming out. This seemed good, taste was better than with the grind finer or coarser.

I think noticed that the coffee coming out was too much, like 56g or something.

I changed the grind to 7/6.5 and up and down a bit and started weighing out 36g or so of coffee coming out but it was always taking around 15 seconds and gauge was right up the top.

Someone gave us some beans, not freshly roasted. Seems having it on 8 now takes around 25s to do 36g of coffee, weird its that different, they are much darker than the Velo ones..

Do people always weigh the beans and coffee or do you set up the time on the machine to grind out and extract 18/36 or whatever you go for?

Fall_Guy · 23-12-2020 2:21pm

rowanh wrote: »

I got mine from Velo and they gave me two bags of the Velo Tandem beans they had in aldi.

I was putting in 18g of beans @ 8 and pressing the double shot button, the gauge was just past 12 oclock and it was taking around 25 seconds from when the coffee started coming out. This seemed good, taste was better than with the grind finer or coarser.

I think noticed that the coffee coming out was too much, like 56g or something.

I changed the grind to 7/6.5 and up and down a bit and started weighing out 36g or so of coffee coming out but it was always taking around 15 seconds and gauge was right up the top.

Someone gave us some beans, not freshly roasted. Seems having it on 8 now takes around 25s to do 36g of coffee, weird its that different, they are much darker than the Velo ones..

Do people always weigh the beans and coffee or do you set up the time on the machine to grind out and extract 18/36 or whatever you go for?

When dialling in new beans I weigh out a dose and stick with that dose for a while (more often than not somewhere between 17 - 17.5g rather than 18g, just personal preference).

I normally like my coffee when I make to a brew ratio of around 1: 1.5 - 1:2 so I'll normally measure my shot and stop the machine when there's around 27g of coffee in the cup (and around 30g when the last few drips have come out of the portafilter).

Then i'll taste and note the time of the shot. Provided the time isn't way too short or way too long I normally adjust my next shot by just increasing or decreasing the yield by a few mls (increasing if the shot is sour, decreasing it if overly bitter).

If I can't improve the taste enough just by altering the yield I'll look at changing the grind settings.

When I pulled a shot this morning (using Bell lanes espresso blend) I got my desired yield (28g) from my standard dose (17g) in around 28 seconds. I use a coffee scales/timer which is a great help.

I don't know if any of that makes sense but seems to work for me.

In short, I weigh what I put in, control how much comes out, and take note of the time. Then I adjust accordingly to taste next time.

mad m · 23-12-2020 9:01pm

Klopp wrote: »

My current setup on the Sage Barista

Ponaire Colombian Whole bean
Single 2 Cup Basket

Grind 12
Internal Burr 5

18g Coffee with an extraction time of 27 seconds.

I thought the grind should be much finer? The coffee taste OK, a small bit bitter but lots of crema..

What grams do you get out at 27 seconds with the 18g

DaveyDave · 24-12-2020 2:57pm

I used my Delonghi burr grinder with 3fe beans roasted on the 17th. 18.5g beans, tamping reduced size a fair bit so probably could have fit 19-20g in. Back to the single wall basket, shot came out about 10-12 seconds after pressing the button.

Espresso was a bit bitter but a sip was manageable. Americano fairly smooth, similar to the black coffee I had from my sister's Chemex yesterday. Obviously room for improvement due to shot time.

I'm not near a coffee shop to get beans ground but my burr grinder helps pinpoint the Sage grinder being the issue. Haven't heard from Sage since but I'll get back to them with the new results.

I'll mess around with the Delonghi a bit more and time and weigh them for better results.

CWF · 24-12-2020 3:18pm

My portafilter wouldn't lock properly this morning and as a result the coffee was only dripping out. When I was locking it there was no resistance, it was locking too easily if that makes sense. Any idea what was going on?

Fall_Guy · 24-12-2020 5:41pm

DaveyDave wrote: »

I used my Delonghi burr grinder with 3fe beans roasted on the 17th. 18.5g beans, tamping reduced size a fair bit so probably could have fit 19-20g in. Back to the single wall basket, shot came out about 10-12 seconds after pressing the button.

Espresso was a bit bitter but a sip was manageable. Americano fairly smooth, similar to the black coffee I had from my sister's Chemex yesterday. Obviously room for improvement due to shot time.

I'm not near a coffee shop to get beans ground but my burr grinder helps pinpoint the Sage grinder being the issue. Haven't heard from Sage since but I'll get back to them with the new results.

I'll mess around with the Delonghi a bit more and time and weigh them for better results.

Sage aren't being genuine in dealing with your issues here, coffee only STARTS dripping through my portafilter 10 seconds after pressing the button. For them to be basically blaming the beans your using on their machine not working properly is outright cheeky.

DaveyDave · 25-12-2020 4:04pm

Delonghi KG79: 18.5g in, 63.2g out, 18.06 seconds, Americano mostly drinkable

Sage: 18.5g in, 59.6g out, 18.27 second, barely drinkable. Internal burr 1, dial 1.

Takes about 7 seconds or so for the first drip in both cases. The Delonghi grind isn't as fine as the Sage but still produced better coffee. Same 3fe beans measured, roasted on the 17th.

ExMachina1000 · 25-12-2020 4:28pm

DaveyDave wrote: »

Delonghi KG79: 18.5g in, 63.2g out, 18.06 seconds, Americano mostly drinkable

Sage: 18.5g in, 59.6g out, 18.27 second, barely drinkable. Internal burr 1, dial 1.

Takes about 7 seconds or so for the first drip in both cases. The Delonghi grind isn't as fine as the Sage but still produced better coffee. Same 3fe beans measured, roasted on the 17th.

The first few seconds is pre infusion. Ie wetting the coffee.
Dont include this time in your shot time.

Wait until you hear the pitch of the pump change then count

alec76 · 25-12-2020 7:11pm

DaveyDave wrote: »

Delonghi KG79

Delonghi kg79 would be the worst espresso grinder available on the market AFAIK , it is a bad sign if you think it outperforms Sage grinder.
There are 3 main things you normally aspect from the good Espresso Grinder
1) how fine it can go , basically at finest settings it should choke your machine all together, you won’t get flow at all .
2) grind consistency,ideally every particle should be equal to each other.
3 ) Clumps .You’ll get no cofffee clumps even at finest settings.
I wouldn’t aspecting all 3 things from Sage grinder , as it is only cheap , entry level machine, but it is surely must outperform Delonghi.

DaveyDave · 26-12-2020 12:21am

alec76 wrote: »

Delonghi kg79 would be the worst espresso grinder available on the market AFAIK , it is a bad sign if you think it outperforms Sage grinder.
There are 3 main things you normally aspect from the good Espresso Grinder
1) how fine it can go , basically at finest settings it should choke your machine all together, you won’t get flow at all .
2) grind consistency,ideally every particle should be equal to each other.
3 ) Clumps .You’ll get no cofffee clumps even at finest settings.
I wouldn’t aspecting all 3 things from Sage grinder , as it is only cheap , entry level machine, but it is surely must outperform Delonghi.

Would cheap Tesco/Lidl/Aldi beans manage to choke the machine on the lowest setting? Just wondering if even with cheap beans would you manage to dial in with the single wall basket, that would rule out the beans excuse.

Does dose make much of a difference, for example would 19g choke the machine where 18g wouldn't?

I know the Sage has a reputation of not having a great grinder among coffee lovers but the fact I can't choke the machine at all is obviously an issue. I used to be able to choke the machine (or just about) at dial 1 as I remember dial 2 was too fast and the difference between the two was significant.

skerry · 26-12-2020 1:32pm

Black and silver version of Barista Express is down to £399.99 on Amazon at the moment

ryanmatty · 26-12-2020 3:24pm

Will there be import duty due on top of this?
Amazon still calculating VAT at the Irish rate so I take it that's covered.

skerry · 26-12-2020 3:56pm

ryanmatty wrote: »

Will there be import duty due on top of this?
Amazon still calculating VAT at the Irish rate so I take it that's covered.

Think things aren't changing on that front until the 1st Jan so you should be good

Sage Barista Express

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