Sage Barista Express

DaveyDave wrote: »

How long does this machine take to heat up? I see people say leave it 30 minutes to heat up. When I turned mine on, water was 59C from the moment it was ready to start and 59C a few minutes later. Upping the temperature a bit brought it up to 72C instantly, this was no more than 10 minutes.

Espresso should be around 90C which should apparently be 68-74C when it's in the cup? To measure the water I should try get a measurement at the group head without a portafilter?

Trying to help out a friend who has bought this machine and hasnt a clue

first problem, the puck has a lot of water on top after pulling a shot its that wet you can nearly pour it out

Machine is on factory settings for the moment but have adjusted the grind settings numerous times but still happening

what are we doing wrong?

Thanks. Haven't got that far yet only been using factory settings with cheap beans to show them the basics will have a proper go at it tonight

Cheapest I have seen it for a while now

Managed to snag one yesterday thanks for the tip!

£417 on amazon, with the Jug included

Have one a few days now and find that a neat espresso is extremely bitter, you wouldn't drink it, but it calms down when I throw some hot milk on it (hot milk, defo not froth, might be using the wrong type of milk)

SO, its either the bean or the grind or how hard I press the grindes down or how much grindes I use. Simple :)

I'm going to try and find a sweet bean known for its un bitterness, any recommendations? In Dublin?

TIA

Just removed mine and was pretty grim in there behind it. Pulled a shot and seems to taste nicer which is understandable with all the muck that was in there. Gonna leave it out if only function is to prevent cooling of the shot as I generally always heat the portafilter anyway. Thanks for the tip.

Yep same as now for me, just keep it for times when you need to backflush the machine it probably keeps that little insert in place a bit better, but I was shocked at how grimey mine was as I had been cleaning the portafilter after every use.

@DaveyDave good shout on this, I empty mine regularly but always give it a scrub at the weekend, it builds up a nice layer of grounds pretty quick. I may invest in a dosing cup at some point, I think a lot of it is coming from grounds spilling over the side of my portafilter.

Question regarding cleaning, how often do you descale, and how often would you backflush the machine? Only when the light comes on, or more regularly?

You say you've tried everything, but what are your results? That's what really counts.

To start, aim for 18g of coffee in, 36-40g of coffee out. This should take around 30 seconds from the moment you press the shot button, to the last drop into your cup.

You should be using fresh beans, and the double basket (non-pressurised) while ensuring you have a nicely tamped, level puck.

The "espresso dial" should go to around 1-2 o clock, the espresso range on that dial is really vague.

Of course, this is all subjective and comes down to personal preferences and taste. I find the best results with the machine to be 18g in, 40g out in 33-35 seconds total.

If you are struggling to get shots to take their time like this, then you need to grind finer. Adjusting the upper (internal) burr is probably a step you need to take - the default is 6 but I set mine to 3 and found it gave me more flexibility with grind size overall.

Yep, bought them directly from Sage a couple of months ago. I had my machine a few months with no issues, then one day the gasket burst. It appeared it was just unseated but when I actually removed it there was a small tear in the rubber.

I ordered a couple of spares from Sage, replaced the gasket and everything was fine for a couple of weeks before it happened again. Replaced again and it was gone within 2 weeks. At that point I reached out to customer service and they organised a replacement machine.

Just checked their website, I see they're out of stock (and double the price I paid 😮)

Possibly cheaper from Amazon.de if you can get over it coming with an EU plug, as it's €390.99 plus shipping from there, whereas the UK price comes out in or around €480 when converted

Has anybody any experience with the impress version of this? I was originally going to go b2c but since the impress helps with tamping, dosing and mess it seems like a better option? Price is high since it’s fairly new but I’m hoping there is a price drop by Black Friday.

There’s no way I’d pay that price for it tbh. My assumption is because it’s new it is priced high so in a few months when they drop the price they can say 200 off or whatever. It’s pretty much the standard for appliances as far as I know, they can’t say there is x amount off unless it was sold at that price for a certain amount of time.

The grinder is the same as the normal express and pro but the amount of adjustments is in between both at 26.

Im really looking for the simplest option here and any extra step may stop my girlfriend from using it I reckon so the impress seems ideal. The above tamper does sound great but again the less steps and mess the better really. It’s why I was initially going towards bean to cup but everything you see says this should be better as all semi autos are?