Sage Barista Express

DaveyDave wrote: »

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.

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Some of the cheap lidl/Tesco etc. beans could be quite challenging for the grinder, but you definitely should choke the machine with the fresh espresso blend beans from any local roaster.

After two days playing around with this I finally adjusted the internal burr this morning and made my first decent coffee with it. Delighted now.

I think I moved it to 3.

Then I had the grind setting on 5. Worked great. Shot was about 27 seconds.
I think it’s trial and error until you get it Woking in a way that suits you.

fits wrote: »

After two days playing around with this I finally adjusted the internal burr this morning and made my first decent coffee with it. Delighted now.

It's such a game changer.

mad m wrote: »

What coffee?

Can’t remember. We got a selection of four different bags as present. I won’t be ordering those beans again, they just have a taste I’m not into. But it was still a good shot.

Issac wrote: »

Ok thanks for the heads up. Seems a pretty big oversight for such an expensive piece of kit...
Is there something we could all use as a reference? A particular bean, a particular weight in/out, extraction time for the "perfect" espresso?
That way we could all dial in our machines to give similar results

There is no simple way to do it , just trials and errors.
Great guide by Fall Guy

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=115693747&postcount=230

I read over the last few days and rewatched loads of videos and a lot say the Sage Barista for an Espresso tastes better when the grind is finer ( low setting ). I thought this was more dependent on the bean and the roast?

I messed around with my settings today. The last shot I poured, the burr was at 4 the grind 9, 17.5g with 40.1g in 24 seconds and I got decent shot but feel I can get better. If I grind finer, the machine starts chocking with drips?

Any thoughts?

mad m wrote: »

So all the Ponaire is gone. Had 500g of Mahers Italian in freezer. Roasted early December. Took it out few days ago.

Sage barista pro
Burr setting 6
Grinder setting 2

18g in with flow starting at 10 seconds. The flow looked really nice however auto double shot went to 36seconds with a yield of 27g. So will move grinder up to 3.

I got talking to Frank from Mahers Coffee. He reckons I should only be using 16/17g of Italian as its strong and 20-24 seconds output to remove any bitterness that may occur.

Will report back.

Edit: So went and tried 16g with Grind setting 3, bizarrely it dribbled the entire shot....hmmm

Grind setting 4

16g in and pour started at 8 seconds with total extraction of 27seconds , however 52g yield.

Grind setting 3

16g in, pour started at 8 seconds with total extraction time of 23 seconds with 45g yield.

As we all know the tamping can play big part, I didn’t go mad on pressure, which is probably proof of no dribbling this time.

I only tend to use 3 approx tamp pressures for any beans - I'd say go with the last grind setting and put your weight down on the tamper. Try and create your own tamp levels (I have 3 i use: Heavy Tamp using counter for support (Body weight pressure), lighter tamp using counter as support (arm pressure only) and lightest not using counter for support and tamping hard while holding portafilter and tamp.

For any new coffee you might as well write of a bag of beans - get it working, record the settings and then only change coffees every few bags or so.

Changing coffee all the time means a mix of wasted beans an meh coffee...

Also something not often mentioned but making a big difference is whether you knock the filter to level coffee or shake as its dispensing (adjusting space between crounds through means other than tamp makes consistency an issue).

Just me experience

mighty magpie wrote: »

owned my machine now for about a month, lot of experimenting but on my 2nd 1 kg bag i had it working fairly well up until the past few days.

Haven't changed a thing and now everthing is dribbling out as opposed to before it was a nice slow flow.
Tried a few shots going more coaser and it's the same thing.

Beans were roasted less than 1 month ago.

Any ideas?
Does letting the machine heat up for 30 mins or so help with extraction?

First job test the machine - run a blank single wall and blank double wall - singe wall should give the normal flow no pressure, double wall in the espresso range and normal volume (Double is preset to 60-70ml i think). If these work assume machine is operational. If not it may be broken.

I find that after 7-10 days open some beans need me to adjust my settings - they literally dry out and grind (dust easier) best i can tell. Doesn't seem to happen if i use multiple small bags instead of 1 kg bags.

Full clean (Both tablets and descale) may help everything in general.


As for other tips for consistency - heat up machine for at least 10 mins and run 2-3 blanks (I just stick an ikea glass under shower head). Gets the temp right. Then just try and develop some consistent technique really.

Your machine should still give a solid flow even when the pressure gauge is at the 2 o'clock (last marker after latter end of espresso range), anything above that can be drippy.




NOTE: The Barrista express actually gives twice the standard shot volume if you use preset values. To get the same product as sold in a coffee shop you need to leave their advised range behind. I have owned my machine for about 3 years and still experiment haha - welcome to the rabbit hole.

mighty magpie wrote: »

I don't have any pressure in the blank double wall. To be honest, i didn't know this was supposed to happen.

Sometimes i run a single or double to help heat the machine but never check the pressure guide.

I have played with the double shot amounts in manual mode so maybe this affects the test you mention.

You should get in the espresso range with the single shot double wall filter basket no matter what when you just hit the relevant single preset button.

Any manual work should not impact the pressure. Not sure what your issue is but first step would be a full descale - do it 2 or 3 times if you can (Harvey norman stock the descaler - cheaper online but if you cannot wait). Maybe there is a blockage.

If that and doing the grouphead/showerhead (bit you attach the portafilter to) clean doesn't fix your issue it may be mechanical. Sage support time then - your under warranty so will be fine.

Following up on my grinder saga, Sage recommended an advanced cleaning of the burrs. It was caked in coffee and the smell was awful.

I noticed the internal burr was on 3 and not 1 as I previously thought but I don't think this would have changed much as I've had it on 1 before without much success.

I made a coffee with the burr on 1 and the dial left on 16 from when I was cleaning. It wasn't great but seemed a bit better, 18g, 18 seconds, 67g out. The grind was much quicker coming out without any clumps which is a good start.

Is the grinder prone to getting blocked with old coffee? Should a full clean of the burrs be done regularly?

@Davey,

How old is machine.

DaveyDave wrote: »

Following up on my grinder saga, Sage recommended an advanced cleaning of the burrs. It was caked in coffee and the smell was awful.

Have you done advanced cleaning? Have you removed bottom burr and cleaned under it ?
( 10 mm socket , reverse thread )?
You might find few washers under bottom burr . Adding/removing washers would shift grinding range .
That the way it is calibrated at factory.
shim kit they call it . You could ask Sage to post it to you , free of charge.

keith_d99 wrote: »

I have my machine a few months now and love it!

Have never touched the internal burr ... and always ground between 8-9 (double-shot single wall basket) ... getting an extraction time of around 30 seconds give or take.
All good ... but reading countless reviews, and mentions on here .... most Barista Express machines generally have a grind setting of 3-4.

I've never dialled in with scales before so gave it a try for the first time ...

Using fresh beans (Ponaire Columbian) .... I cleared the grinder and weighed out 18ish grams of beans.
I set the grind setting to 4.

The first observation was I definitely over-filling the portafilter before?! There was less ground with the ... and after tamping, there is a much bigger gap at the top.

Once I began extraction - it absolutely choked ... to the extent that only a drip came out - actually stopped it.
A few more iterations ... and I was still getting 45-50 seconds.
I ended up getting the perfect 30 at 9 .... essentially back to the setting I had!

At least I did learn, from weighing it ..... that I was overfilling the portafiller, which I am sure was affecting taste.

The other thing .... it seems leave the factory with grinders working slightly differently from machine to machine it seems.

Same here - I work between 7-9 normally, never needed to adjust internal. Lucky I guess.