Sage Barista Express

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

Sure, you will need a scales with at least 1 decimal Place - 3fe momentum blend (in the machine right now). I grind at 8 on mine (yours will be different but the rest should be similar)

Recommended 2:1 (coffee out/beans in) ratio, my basket ends up with between 18.2g & 18.6g (has little effect due to the time range) so I am for 36.4 - 37.5g out (extra on the end for drips) in the range of 25 - 30 seconds.

3fe have a brew guide on their website.

I find that due to the limitations of the grinder (its mediocre v their standalone) you need to develop a tamp technique. Have a light, medium and heavy (for me light is tamp holding porta, heavy is a bit of body weight with porta supported by counter)

Rave were good for me starting all coffees had specific advice. Due to brexit the shipping is pricey but might help starting off.

Took me a while. Fresh beans a key. Bell Lane coffee roasters do 1kg house blend for under 25 - good for getting going.


Once I had my one set up for fresh beans I haven't had to change it much, + or - a grind setting then play with tamp pressure.


Havent a clue if what I do is right but the coffee tastes good. 1 tip is go to a local coffee shop, if they sell beans ask for a bag of what they are running and an espresso shot of the same - now you have a reference point.

DaveyDave wrote: »

Yeah done the full clean, removed everything. Surprised to see a felt washer down there. I'm going to set the dial to 1 and see what happens. If I can't choke the machine properly at 1 then they'll have to send some sort of shim kit.

At the moment it's lower burr, spring washer, flat washer, star/fan piece, felt washer and another flat washer I believe (didn't remove the last piece).

All very clean now.

Machine was bought in May/June.

Well done ,try to choke it.
As for the cleaning. It is really depends on beans you grinding.
If it is regular beans from reliable roaster shouldn’t be an issue.
If you grinding Super market , DARK ROAST , oily looking beans, then yes , you have to clean it often.

Dial 1 - 19.3g, 22.90 seconds, 65.3g out.

The Machine is descaled and backflushed thoroughly whenever the light comes on but I haven't been able to pull a proper shot since I got the machine. I'll keep in mind not to use oily beans from now on.

I'll email them back and see what they say now that I 100% can't choke the machine. I know the pressure gauge isn't worth looking at but for reference it barely gets out of the pre-infusion range.

What's the cheapest place to get the water filters for sage machines?

FileNotFound wrote: »

Never really found any particular cheap place just wait for a deal to come up somewhere. Velo coffee have 10% off this weekend. Code "NEWYEAR". Will be 15 each at that point.

Thanks. Code isn't valid for the items in my basket though, actually not valid for any items so maybe too late.

Barista Pro.

Burr @ 7
Grinder at 6
Beans: B&D Blackwater blend Roasted 16/12/20

18g in got yield of 38g out at custom setting of 28seconds.

Getting nice results as B&D recommend 18g in with 40g out at 28seconds. Nice cup I have to say.

Is this a good price ?

https://www.did.ie/sage-the-barista-touch-bean-to-cup-coffee-machine-black-truffle-ses880btr4guk-ses880btr4guk-prd

Klopp wrote: »

Barista Express

Burr 4
Grinder 5
Beans: Indian Monsoon Malabar from Art of coffee roasted on 4th January.

18g in with yield of 41g out at 29 seconds.

I have stopped messing around with the Grinder and settled on the internal burr at 4 from factory 6. I also now give the Portafilter 3 taps on the work counter to help distribute the coffee grinds more evenly at the bottom, maybe just me but noticed a difference already with previous beans and new batch today.

Maybe someone with more experience can comment but I understood that you should not tap the portafilter on the counter, gentle shake when under the grinder to spread should be enough, then just tamp (if there is any gaps just use your finger to spread some of the heap over there).

Think my internal is set to 1, then grind setting 7-9 for pretty much all beans.

Then again seems to be no consistency between machines.

Anyone know if the black/truffle sage bambino plus is back in stock anywhere?

batman1 wrote: »

Two questions on the barista express, more curious than anything ?

How much coffee should you drink to justify the cost ?

What's the life span of these machines? They're not cheap

Well the first question really depends on the second haha.

I have had mine for 3 years I think and it's still working away. I would have used it once a day (maybe twice at weekends) for the first 2 years, but since working from home it's doing 4 doubles a day minimum.

1kg coffee beans gives approx 50 doubles - so thats 50 cappuccinos. 1kg beans delivered approx 30 euro plus 10 euro for milk = 40 euro. 50 cappuccinos in the shop = 150 euro (more in most coffee shops). So even if you only consume 2 coffees a day you'd save 100 quid v coffee shop over a month and get high quality coffee.

carq wrote: »

Anyone have experiences they cannot explain ?
Where the machine behaves inconsistently ?



Got some new beans yesterday - Bell lane Black tie
First cup was 18g / grind 3 and hey presto got a nice 36g yield and nice cup.
Same for a second cup and same result. Sorted.

Did the exact same today and the pressure went through the roof! barely got 10g out and clogged up.
Same for second cup with adjusted lighter tamp.
Had to reduce the dose to 17.5g to get it going again.


Whats going on!?

I suspect your grind is way too fine. Should be around 8 - 10.

Keep the grind amount at 12 o'clock for now and just tamp enough so that the coffee is right where it should be.

Also remeber when you adjust the grind size you still have a small amount of the previous grind size inside the machine.

I got one for my hubby as a Christmas gift, we were easily spending €60-€70 per month between us on take away and nespresso. It’s been fantastic, it’ll pay for itself in no time and even after we get back to the office we’ll still get use out of it

Folks, any experience of pulling 2 consequitive shots and having pressure go far too high on second shot? I have machine dialled in pretty much as good as I can get it for the first shot and pressure is within espresso range. But when I do a second shot the pressure goes to max and only drops come out. I run a shot of hot water through the portafilter between shots. Is there anything else I should be doing between shots as currently I have no consistency between the 2 shots despite no settings being changed.

carq wrote: »

Yes!

i have my doubts on the water volume being consistent.
i did some tests there i pressed the double cup button with empty portafilter and measure output with digital scales, different volumes of water each time!

I haven't investigated it fully myself. The inconsistency on the second shot is pretty much.....consistent I guess. No idea why though, and it's been an issue I've encountered since pretty much the start and I've had the machine a couple of years now. First shot is fine and if I pull a couple of shots within maybe an hour or 30 mins of each other they are pretty much the same so settings don't seem to be drifting there but there is definitely something changing if I pull 2 shots one after the other. Maybe its something I'm not doing between the 2 that I'm not aware of but, apart from running water though the empty porta filter between shots I'm not sure what else I should be doing.

I would say Thermoblock system probably causing this.
This machine doesn’t have a boiler ,I wouldn’t expecting temperature/pressure consistency , not at this price range. It is much easier to control temperature/pressure with the boiler machine.