Sage coffee machines are growing in popularity year on year, and they’re coffee machines that I’ve had loads of hands-on experience with, in fact, just looking behind me right now in the studio, there’s only one or two of their range I don’t currently have here.
So if you’re looking for someone who really knows Sage coffee machines, you’ve come to the right place.
You’re more than likely wanting to know which is the best Sage coffee machine, and this may seem like quite a difficult question given the size of their range, but actually, it’s very simple when you approach it the way I do. So if you thought you were in for a really difficult read, fear not, you’ll know exactly which Sage coffee machine is best for you within a few minutes!
This is a full, detailed rundown of all of the current 2023 range of Sage coffee machines, with a simple explanation of exactly who each machine is made for.
Understanding the Types of Sage Coffee Machines
Sage don’t just make one kind of coffee machine, they make various types that are specifically made for different markets of coffee drinkers that they’ve identified.
Sage is a speciality brand, they’re very different from the mainstream brands in their approach. The mainstream coffee machine brands mainly operate via the shotgun approach, they’re aiming for the bulk of the mass market, so they produce the kind of machines that sell the most.
This is why the bigger brands focus on price and convenience, as this is what sells the best.
Sage are focused on speciality coffee, also known as the third wave of coffee, nearly (more on that a bit later…) all of their coffee machines operate on their “four keys formula” which are based on commercial, professional espresso machines.
Rather than just aiming to have machines in all price points, Sage have worked on expanding their range to cover specific needs, so that they have machines to suit everyone.
So in order to figure out which is likely to be the best Sage coffee machine for you, all you need to do is to understand which kind of machine is right for you based on your specific requirements, which will narrow down the search for you.
You’ll find a really simple description below of each type of coffee machine that Sage offers, with an explanation of what they are and who they’re made for.
You can simply click whichever type of coffee machine seems to be the right choice for you, and that will take you straight to that section with my reviews for each option, so you can create a much smaller shortlist.
Fully Assisted Espresso Machines:
What are they? These are traditional espresso machines with a level of assistance that makes them ultra-convenient and user-friendly.
What do they make? Espresso and all the espresso-based coffee shop favourites, including cappuccino, latte, flat white & americano.
Who are they for? People who value cup quality as highly as convenience. If bean to cup machines and pod machines don’t quite cut it for you, but you want the kind of convenience and user experience of using a premium bean to cup coffee machine, then you’re one of the people Sage have made these machines for.
Partly Assisted Espresso Machines:
What are they? These are traditional espresso machines with partial assistance, to reduce the learning curve and the effort required.
What do they make? Espresso and all the espresso-based coffee shop favourites, including cappuccino, latte, flat white & americano.
Who are they for? People who want to get more involved when they have the time, but want assistance when they’re rushed, and for homes where there are people who want a more “one touch” type experience and also people who want to explore the home barista hobby.
Integrated Grinder Espresso Machines:
What are they? Traditional espresso machines with an integrated grinder.
What do they make? Espresso and whatever espresso-based drinks you want to drink.
Who are they for? These machines are best suited to people who want to get into the home barista hobby, and who see a coffee machine as more than just means to an end. Many people who buy one of these Sage coffee machines think they’re buying a machine with at least partial assistance, which can cause frustration, as there’s no assistance. The only difference between these and standard traditional setups is that the grinder is integrated.
Stand alone Espresso Machines:
What are they? Traditional espresso machines made for the home, to be paired with a separate coffee grinder.
What do they make? Espresso and whatever espresso-based drinks you want to drink.
Who are they for? As with integrated grinder espresso machines, this kind of machine is best suited to people who want to develop home barista skills. You can reduce the skill requirement by using the dual walled baskets they all come with as well as the traditional baskets, but if you don’t want a learning curve, you’d be much better looking at the assisted machines.
What are they? Erm.. filter coffee machines 😉
What do they make? Filter coffee.
Who are they for? I would be sarcastic & say “people who want to drink filter coffee” ;-), but there’s more to it than that. Sage only make one filter coffee machine, and it’s really quite a special filter coffee machine. These are for people who are really particular about their filter coffee.
What are they? Nespresso machines, but not as we know them.
What do they make? Whatever coffees want to make with them
Who are they for? Anyone who wants to make coffee shop favourites but with the convenience of a Nespresso machine
This is all of the kinds of coffee machines Sage make, so if you know what coffee you want to drink and which kind of machine makes the most sense to you, you can just click on the link to go down to that category of Sage machines, rather than spending your precious time trawling through content that really isn’t of interest to you.
If you’re not quite sure which kind of machine may be right for you, you can work it out by what kind of coffee machine you’re replacing, and why you’re replacing it.
Bean to Cup Coffee Machine Users
If you currently have a bean to cup coffee machine, and you’re replacing it because it’s stopped working, then the question to ask yourself is, was there anything wrong with using a bean to cup machine, do you need to upgrade or would you be happy with another bean to cup machine? If you would, see:
Best Bean to Cup Coffee Machines
Sage don’t make bean to cup coffee machines.
That may come as a surprise to you if you’ve been researching for a while and have found various websites calling the Sage machines bean-to-cup machines, which some of the bigger retailers do, and I’ve seen some big commercial blogs referring to them as bean to cup machines, too.
A bean to cup machine by definition, is a coffee machine which has replaced the portafilter and the requirement for barista involvement, with a brewing unit.
Integrated grinders are a prerequisite for bean to cup machines, and it’s a common misconception to call any machine with a built-in grinder, a bean-to-cup machine, but it’s only a bean to cup coffee machine if it has a brewing unit.
These machines work differently, and the espresso they produce is different. It’s actually closer to cafe crema, a very popular drink in Germany, Austria & Switzerland, which may be why bean to cup coffee machines are hugely popular in these countries in particular.
You can tweak the settings (grind size and ratio) to make something closer to true espresso, but the majority of home bean to cup machines don’t quite produce “true” espresso that would cut the mustard for someone who’s really into their espresso.
Most people are more than happy with the cappuccino, latte and Americano these kinds of machines will make, and if you are, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with bean to cup machines, they can be a very cheap, convenient and reliable way to drink great quality coffee shop favourites at home.
When things can go wrong, however, is when people buy Sage integrated grinder espresso machines believing them to work just like their previous bean to cup machine.
I quite often hear from people who’ve clearly done this, who have ended up being what I refer to as “set and forget” users, which means they’re attempting to use Sage integrated grinder traditional espresso machines as if they’re bean to cup machines. Using a Sage coffee machine like this will cause hit and miss results with each bag of beans, especially when people select to use the single walled baskets because they hear that they’re the best.
There are people who buy Sage coffee machines because they’ve heard that they make better espresso than other bean to cup machines, but the point is, they’re not bean to cup machines.
So unless you get one of the fully assisted Sage machines, you may in some cases actually end up with worse-tasting coffee from using a non-assisted manual espresso machine as if it were a bean to cup machine.
The Sage Vs Breville Confusion
Just to quickly clear this one up, if you’re aware that Sage is also Breville, this isn’t quite true.
Breville Worldwide is the manufacturer, and they sell their coffee machines all over the world, but the Breville brand name was sold in Europe in the 80s, so they can’t use that name here, which is why they sell under the “Sage Appliances” brand in the UK and most of Europe.
The Breville brand is owned in the UK by an American firm called Newell Brands, and they sell coffee machines using the Breville brand, but they are not the same as the Sage coffee machines that sell as Breville in other parts of the world.
This is made even more confusing given that the UK Breville brand are selling some machines that look quite similar to some of the Sage machines, and have similar sounding names, so I do hear from people who made the assumption that they’d basically found great deal for a sage coffee machine.
So just be aware, any coffee machine selling in the UK with “Breville” on the box, will not be a Sage coffee machine, it’s a completely different brand.
Fully Assisted Coffee Machines
If you’re the kind of coffee lover who wants true espresso, and mega milk quality, but you don’t want to have to do loads of learning and turn coffee into a hobby, instead you want the kind of user experience you’d have with a premium touch screen bean to cup coffee machine, then this new breed of coffee machine from Sage will be right up your street.
The good news, in a way, is there’s not much choice, and one is almost double the price of the other ;-), so if a machine like this is for you, it’s going to be quite easy to figure out which is the best for you.
Sage Barista Touch Impress
Features:
Grinder: Etzinger 38mm conical burrs, 30 grind adjustments.
Portafilter: 54mm stainless steel portafilter (single and double baskets, standard + dual walled)
Assisted Espresso: Intelligent machine learning dosing + assisted 10Kg calibrated tamp + dialing in guidance
Boiler: Sage ThermoJet®
Milk Steaming: MilQ hands-free microfoam with 4 presets, full control over texture and temperature
Menu: Pre-sets for all the usual plus babyccino, hot chocolate, tea with 2 temp options & 8 customisable drinks
Water tank: 2L, with water filter. Top (rear) accessed with quick-release handle
Drip Tray: Large capacity drip tray with hidden storage space
Dimensions (w x d x h): 33cm x 33cm x 42cm
Adjustable brew temperature: Yes from 91- 95C in 1C increments
Preinfusion?: Yes, pre-set
My Observations:
This category of machine, fully assisted, started out with the Sage Oracle Touch. The Oracle too, to a certain degree, but the Oracle doesn’t quite have the same level of user experience as it’s a standard button user interface.
I think many people over the years just assumed that other integrated grinder coffee machines from Sage were assisted, no thanks to some retailers saying that they are, and some bigger publications talking about them (some still do!) as “bean to cup coffee machines”, which always annoys me.
Machines like the Barista Express and Barista Pro don’t have any assistance, they’re no easier to get great espresso and great milk texture from than any other traditional espresso machine, integrated grinder or not.
The Barista Touch Impres, though, really does assist the user, and it does it in a way that I think is genius!
To be honest, in some ways I think Sage have knocked it so far out of the park with the Touch impress, that they may have “shot themselves in the foot” so to speak, by creating huge competition for the Oracle Touch, although to be fair, a huge chunk of the market wouldn’t be shopping at that end of the price range anyway.
Not only is the Touch Impress cheaper (almost half the price!), I think it the assistance works better, and I think the overall user experience is also better, and although the Oracle touch has the edge for espresso quality, there’s really not a huge amount in it due to the fact that they both have the same grinder.
Espresso Assistance
Espresso making is assisted with what Sage call the Impress Puck System. This means all the nerdy stuff that has to be done well in order to ensure consistently good shots of espresso, is sorted for you.
The machine assists you on getting the perfect dose volume (the height of the ground coffee) in the basket the first time you use it (or whenever you change beans or substantially change the grind size), and it then learns how long to grind for each time so you can forget about it.
When you push the tamp lever, which is a really light push that can be done with one or two fingers, the machine converts this into 10Kg of force on the coffee, to create the puck, and it twists the tamper just slightly when tamping, to polish off the surface of the puck, although this is a very small (7 degree) twist, so one tamp doesn’t do a great job of that.
You’ll notice when the machine is first learning the dose, and you end up tamping a few times, that the surface is really neat, but the next time you make a coffee and the dose is correct so you only have to tamp once, you’ll see that the surface isn’t as neat. This really doesn’t matter, but if you like a polished puck like I do, just give it another one or two quick tamps, and it’ll clean it up for you.
Grind Size Assistance
One of the things that really surprised me when I first saw the touch impress, was that they’d managed to give it the ability to adjust the user on achieving the right grind size. I’ve wondered in the past if this might be possible, but I’ve always just assumed it must be too tricky as no manufacturer has previously done it.
Not only have Sage done this, but they’ve done it really well! This was the next thing that suprised me, as I was expecting it to give really vague guidance, but it’s actually really quite specific.
For example, I was a grind size 13 for Chocolate Brownie Blend when I was putting the machine through it’s paces in the studio, and I topped up the hopper, and the next shot pulled too fast followed by a message on the screen that the shot was to fast, change it to grind size 8.
I realised at this point that the reason for this was I’d accidentally opened a bag of a different coffee (Chocolate Fondant Blend), and when I changed it to grind size 8 as suggested, it was perfect. I’ve never had such a quick and simple experience getting the grind size dialled in, with any espresso machine!
I’m very happy about this, mainly for selfish reasons ;-). I get a LOT of emails/comments from readers asking me what grind size they should use, and the stock response is that you just need to start somewhere and go from there, there’s really no way I can tell someone what grind size to use.
Barista Guidance
As soon as you turn the machine on, the machine starts guiding you. It takes you through the setup process, tells you where to find all the bits, what to do with them, and guides you step by step through the setup process. I’ve used machines that are almost this convenient to setup, but not quite to this level!
The machine even asks you what kind of coffee beans you’re using, supermarket beans with a sell by date, or freshly roasted beans with a roasted on date, and guides you to using the dual walled baskets and a courser starting grind size if you’re using store bought beans.
This is also very handy, as so many people have problems partly as a result of using the standard baskets with mainstream, commodity coffee beans. If you pick up your beans from the supermarket, or buy big brand commodity beans online, they’ll usually have a sell-by date but no roasted on date.
It’s often very difficult to try to use these kinds of beans with standard baskets, so people use the standard baskets because they hear they’re the best, but what they’re missing is they’re only the best if you dial in, and you can only really do this with freshly roasted beans.
You’re then taken through a tutorial on making the drink of your choice, in which you’re given a bit more guidance than you will be on a day to day basis. You can go back into the menu at any time, and go back into the tutorial, if you want to do it with another drink for example.
MilQ System With Alternative Milk Pre-sets
The touch impress automatically froths milk and milk alternatives, and it does a flipping good job of it too!
Where it differs from the other Sage coffee machines that have auto milk frothing, though, is that it allows you to queue up the milk to steam after the shot has finished brewing, or the other way around if you prefer.
This means you can just press the milk icon first if you want the espresso to pull after the milk steams, or do it the other way around, and in either case it means you don’t have to stand in front of the machine for a minute or so.
A minute or two saved each time you’re making a coffee might not seem like much, but if you’re usually running late in the morning as most of us are, this gives you an extra couple of minutes to find your other sock, feed the cat, or in my case go and feed Aristotle, my daughter’s Axolotl (Similar to a Salamander. He looks like Jabba the Hutt but he lives in water, and just sits there motionless waiting for food).
This queing also works when making Americano/Long black, you can press water first, or espresso first, and the other will pour when the first thing you select has completed.
Also exclusive to the Touch Impress is the alternative milk settings.
Not only can you tweak and save the milk texture and temperature for each drink, but you can choose a default milk or milk alternative type (Moo, Oat, Soy, Almond) and the texture levels and temperatures are automatically tweaked accordingly.
So if you don’t want to mess about, you’re happy to let the machine dictate how wet or dry (how much air is pulled into the milk, more for drier, less for wetter) and what temperature the milk is steamed to for each drink, you can just tell the machine what kind of milk you’re using, and let it do the rest.
But if you want to get closer and closer to your perfect flat white, latte or cappuccino, you can tweak these settings until you’re happy with it, and then save that exact setting as a new drink.
My only constructive criticism of this system is that I wish they’d have given the user the ability to overwrite the main menu items with their new settings. It’s great that we can create a new version of a flat white, for example, but I think it would be even better if we could also just save a change to the main menu item simply by not changing things back if we make a change to a menu item, but that’s just the way I’d prefer it, maybe I’m wrong.
Sage Barista Touch Impress Review
Sage Oracle Touch
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Features:
Grinder: Etzinger 38mm conical burrs, 45 grind settings.
Hopper: Locking hopper (for easy beans removal) with UV protection & gasket
Portafilter: 58mm stainless steel portafilter (single and double baskets, standard + dual walled)
Assisted Espresso: Automated dosing and tamping
Boiler: 950ml steam boiler + PID controlled 450ml brew boiler + heat exchanger
Milk Steaming: Hands-free microfoam with 4 presets, full control over texture and temperature
Menu: Espresso, Long Black, Latte, Cappuccino + 8 customisable drinks
Water tank: 2.5L, with water filter. Top (front) access and removable from rear.
Drip Tray: Huge 1.2L capacity drip tray with hidden storage space
Dimensions (w x d x h): 41cm x 38 cm x 45cm
Adjustable brew temperature: Yes from 86 – 96C in 1C increments
Preinfusion?: Yes, pre-set (adjustable) & manual, control over power and length
My Observations:
This was Sage’s first machine in this category, it’s their most expensive coffee machine, and it really is a premium machine. It’s based on the Sage Dual boiler, my home espresso machine, in my opinion one of, if not THE best espresso machine on the market at anywhere close to what it sells for, at least where performance and flexibility is concerned.
So being a dual boiler, it means you can simultaneously pull shots and steam milk, and that’s the main benefit of the Oracle Touch Vs Barista Touch Impress, as it means you have your coffee quicker. The Touch Impress is based on the Barista Pro, so it has the on-demand water heater (Thermojet).
Theoretically the Oracle Touch has the edge (quite a big edge, to be fair) over the Touch Impress where potential shot quality is concerned too, due to the superior temperature precision and stability of the dual boiler with heated group and dual pids, but in practice what allows an espresso machine to reach its full potential, is the grinder, and the Oracle Touch and the Barista Touch Impress have the same grinder.
It’s a good grinder as far as integrated grinder espresso machines go, but it’s not a grinder that I would class as being the ultimate pairing for the Dual Boiler.
I class the shot quality potential of the Oracle & Oracle Touch to be about on parr with that of the Sage Dual Boiler paired with the Sage Smart Grinder Pro, which is good – but not as good as if you paired it with a more premium espresso specialist grinder costing 2-3 times the cost of the Sage Smart Grinder Pro.
I’ve not done any blind tasting yet to really put this to the test, but my opinion at this point is that most people who’re considering either the Oracle Touch or the Barista Touch Impress, probably wouldn’t quite have a sensitive enough coffee palate to be able to tell the difference.
I don’t have a Q-grader’s palate, as I’ve not trained to that level, but I believe my palate is more sensitive than the average coffee drinker, and I doubt I’d be able to notice the difference in a blind taste test, but I will be testing that theory in the future.
The other plus for the Oracle Touch vs the Barista Touch Impress is that there’s more room for cups on the drip tray, which seems trivial but it’s important to some people.
If you have wide cappuccino cups, and you like to make two lattes at a time for yourself and your better half, for example, by splitting a double shot, you’ll probably have room for that on the drip tray of the oracle touch, but there isn’t quite the same horizontal space on the drip tray of the Touch Impress, so you may have to split the shot into two shot glasses and then decant these into the cappuccino cups.
The Oracle touch does have more grind settings, 45 vs 30, which gives you a bit more ability to finely tune the grind size, in reality though I’ve found the touch impress does a really good job of dialing in, and the fact that it tells you what to change the grind size too is a big plus for the Touch Impress.
Another big difference, and not really a plus or minus either way as it’s subjective, is that the Oracle and Oracle Touch double basket is a 21/22g basket, which is what I’d refer to as a triple shot.
If you like to split a shot for two cappuccinos or lattes as I’ve just mentioned, then this will allow you to create two slightly more intense drinks without pulling two separate shots, in which case you may see this as a pro.
If you mainly make one coffee at a time though, and you like a fairly standard 40ml 1:2 ratio shot (18g in to 40g out) then you may see the triple shot as a con, although it is relatively straight forward to amend the dose on the Oracle Touch, by taking the tamp fan out and just adjusting a screw with an Allen key.
Partly Assisted Coffee Machines
Sage Barista Express Impress
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Features:
Grinder: Etzinger 38mm conical burrs, 25 grind settings.
Hopper: Locking hopper (for easy beans removal) with UV protection & gasket
Portafilter: 54mm stainless steel portafilter (single and double baskets, standard + dual walled)
Assisted Espresso: Intelligent machine learning dosing + assisted 10Kg calibrated tamp
Boiler: Sage Original Thermocoil
Milk Steaming: Manual steam wand with single hole steam tip
Water tank: 2L, with water filter. Top (rear) accessed with quick-release handle
Drip Tray: Large capacity drip tray with hidden storage space
Dimensions (w x d x h): 36cm x 33 cm x 40cm
Adjustable brew temperature: Yes from 91- 95C in 1C increments
Preinfusion?: Yes, pre-set & manual
My Observations:
If you’re looking for partial assistance with your espresso machine for any of these reasons:
- You think you might enjoy the home barista hobby but you’re just not sure, so you want a machine you can use either fully manually, in what I call “geek mode” or with assistance.
- You want to geek out and really try to hone your skills on your day off or when you have some downtime, but you want an easier user experience in the mornings when you’re in a mad rush.
- You want to geek out with your coffee machine but your significant other, or someone else in the home, would rather poke themselves somewhere tender with something pointy than start faffing around with scales, tampers, barista tools and so on.
- All of the above.
Then in my humble opinion, you’ve probably found the perfect coffee machine for you, if you want to make espresso and espresso-based coffees.
In theory, the Touch Impress also fits this bill and is better suited to the non-home barista, the only negative is that you can’t just push a button to go from auto to manual, you have to go into the settings via the touch screen, it only takes a few seconds though.
Also some home baristas may find the touch screen a bit too mainstream for them vs. the buttons on the express impress, so it just comes down to how much you want to keep the other half happy if it’s you that is the home barista, which probably means in most cases the touch impress will be the winner ;-).
The Oracle is another choice if one or more of the above applies to you, but the Express Impress is a lot cheaper, and similarly to the Oracle Touch vs the Barista Touch Impress, it’s the same grinder only with less grind adjustments than the oracle.
At the time of writing, all machines in the Sage range except the Barista Express, have the European Etzinger burrs, so the Oracle has better-shot potential due to the superior temperature stability and precision, but mainly via bypassing the integrated grinder and pairing with a premium espresso specialist grinder.
The Barista Express Impress features the same “Impress Puck System” found in the Barista Touch Impress, which includes the consistent dose via machine learning, and the calibrated tamp via the tamp lever. It doesn’t have the same grind size guidance though, that’s currently exclusive to the Touch Impress.
If you want to use it in what I refer to as “geek mode” you can, and you have multiple options.
Until the Touch Impress came along, the Express Impress was my favourite assisted machine from Sage, I think it’s very clever and is absolutely perfect for people who’re finding themselves leaning towards the more home barista end of things but just aren’t fully committed, or aren’t sure that it’d work on busy weekday mornings, or that other people in the home would get on with it.
When it comes to the Express Impress Touch Impress, the way I’d make that decision (if budget doesn’t rule out the Touch Impress as it’s quite a bit more expensive) is to try to determine whether the grind size guidance, auto milk steaming and being able to queue up the milk for milkies and the water for Americano/Long Black is more valuable to you than being able to use analogue buttons and to toggle faster from auto to manual.
For more in-depth info, see:
Sage Barista Express Impress Review
Sage Barista Touch
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Features:
Grinder: Etzinger 38mm conical burrs, 30 grind settings.
Hopper: Locking hopper (for easy beans removal) with UV protection & gasket
Portafilter: 54mm stainless steel portafilter (single and double baskets, standard + dual walled)
Assisted Espresso: No
Boiler: Sage ThermoJet®
Milk Steaming: MilQ hands-free microfoam with 4 presets, full control over texture and temperature
Menu: Espresso, Long Black, Latte, Cappuccino + 8 customisable drinks
Water tank: 2L, with water filter. Top (rear) accessed with quick-release handle
Drip Tray: Large capacity drip tray with hidden storage space
Dimensions (w x d x h): 33cm x 33cm x 42cm
Adjustable brew temperature: Yes from 91- 95C in 1C increments
Preinfusion?: Yes, pre-set
My Observations:
The easiest way to describe the Barista Touch for anyone who has already read my review of the Barista Touch Impress, is that it’s the same machine but without the Impress puck system, and without the grind size guidance, the alternative milk settings and the ability to queue up the milk for milkies and the water for long black or Americano.
The Barista Touch Impress makes more sense to me than the Barista touch. I used to say when talking about the Barista Touch, that I just didn’t quite get why someone who would want a touch screen would want assistance on the milk side of things, but not where espresso is concerned.
To me, it makes perfect sense that someone who would want a touch screen and on screen guidance would want that assistance and guidance from start to finish, but now there is the Barista Touch and the Barista Touch Impress, there’s more choice, and I’m sure there are some people out there who do only want assistance with steaming milk and are happy to be unaided where espresso is concerned, and if that’s you, then the Barista Touch may be the machine for you.
One thing the Barista Touch does have in it’s favour vs the Barista Touch Impres, is that it’s cheaper, especially when you can find a great deal for it, which is more commonas the Barista Touch has been around for a lot longer so there are more resellers competing to sell it.
Sage Oracle
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Features:
Grinder: Etzinger 38mm conical burrs, 45 grind settings.
Hopper: Locking hopper (for easy beans removal) with UV protection & gasket
Portafilter: 58mm stainless steel portafilter (single and double baskets, standard + dual walled)
Assisted Espresso: Automated dosing and tamping
Boiler: 950ml steam boiler + PID controlled 450ml brew boiler + heat exchanger
Milk Steaming: Hands-free microfoam with 4 presets, full control over texture and temperature
Menu: One touch espresso & long black
Water tank: 2.5L, with water filter. Top (front) access and removable from rear.
Drip Tray: Huge 1.2L capacity drip tray with hidden storage space
Dimensions (w x d x h): 41cm x 38 cm x 45cm
Adjustable brew temperature: Yes from 86 – 96C in 1C increments
Preinfusion?: Yes, pre-set (adjustable) & manual, control over power and length
My Observations:
If you read about the Sage Oracle Touch in the fully assisted Sage espresso machines section above, then I can explain the oracle in one very short sentence, it’s the Oracle Touch without the touch screen, and therefore without the touchscreen guidance.
As with the Oracle Touch, it’s based on the Sage Dual Boiler, so it’s a dual boiler machine which means you can make milk-based drinks quicker as you can make the espresso while the milk is steaming, which generally takes a bit longer.
As I said when talking about the Oracle Touch, having the dual boiler at its core does give it more potential for shot quality, but it’s not quite the same as having the Sage Dual Boiler where shot potential is concerned.
When it comes to shot potential, really we’re talking about the long game, for people who’re improving both their barista skills and their coffee palate.
If you started out with the Sage Dynamic Duo for example, the Dual Boiler paired with the Smart Grinder Pro, anyone who’s come from using bean to cup machines or a more entry-level home barista setup, will probably find that the espresso quality they can produce absolutely blows their minds.
Over time as they hone their skills, they also hone their palate, this has been my experience at least & I’ve heard from many others who’ve had the same experience.
So someone starting out with this setup may get to the point where they feel like the setup is holding them back, and the weakest link there would be the grinder. The Smart Grinder Pro is a great all-rounder grinder, it is great for the money, and it’ll take machines like the Bambino and Bambino Plus about as far as they can go in terms of shot quality.
If we use track day cars as an analogy, let’s say you decided to get into track racing and bought your first track day car, you’d probably do well to start with the standard engine. Later, you might upgrade the engine, but the car would determine the engine. You’re hardly going to want 800 BHP with a Mazda MX5 for example.
This is a good way to look at espresso machine and grinder pairings.
The Smart Grinder pro is probably as powerful an engine the entry level machines such as the Bambino, Duo Temp Pro and Bambino Plus can really take, in that pairing with a higher-end grinder wouldn’t yield big improvements, but with the Dual Boiler, the tires would only just be getting warmed up with the Smart Grinder Pro, it has the ability to take much higher tuned super charged engine.
So to a certain degree, the shot potential of the oracle is held back by the grinder, but only when we’re talking about the upper echelons of barista skill and palate sensitivity.
If you’re planning on really developing your skills and your palate, you might want to go for a setup that gives you the ability to upgrade the grinder, for example starting off with the Dynamic Duo would give you similar shot potential, but further down the line you can upgrade the grinder to the Niche Zero, Baratz Sette 270 and so on.
Yes you could do the same with the Oracle, you could just use the integrated grinder as a backup and pair it with a more premium grinder in the future, and I’ve heard from people who’ve done this as a route for a home barista to share the Oracle with more “normal” coffee drinkers in the home.
So overall, the Oracle is great, I really rate it, and personally, I prefer it to the Oracle Touch simply because I prefer analogue buttons, and for me (for the way I use espresso machines) the touch screen gets in the way and actually slows me down, vs the Oracle.
I do much prefer the touch screen on the Barista Touch Impress, by the way, but the reason for that is the innovation that this brings with it, including the grind size guidance and the enhanced barista guidance, and the really clever milk system with the queuing option.
For a more in-depth review of the Oracle, see:
Integrated Grinder Coffee Machines
Sage Barista Express
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Features:
Grinder: 38mm conical burrs, 18 grind settings.
Hopper: Locking hopper (for easy beans removal) with gasket
Portafilter: 54mm stainless steel portafilter (single and double baskets, standard + dual walled)
Boiler: Sage original thermocoil
Milk Steaming: Pro steam wand with single hole steam tip
Water tank: 2L, with water filter. Top (rear) accessed with quick-release handle
Drip Tray: Large capacity drip tray with hidden storage space
Dimensions (w x d x h): 34cm x 32cm x 40cm
Adjustable brew temperature: Yes from 91- 95C in 1C increments
Preinfusion?: Yes, pre-set & manual
My Observations:
The Barista Express is what I refer to as the original integrated grinder machine. It’s been a best seller in many countries since 2013 when it first launched, and it’s still a great machine, although I don’t think it’s the perfect Sage coffee machine for everyone, as I’ll explain.
It has the original Sage thermocoil vs the newer smaller thermojet that you’ll find in the Barista Pro, Barista Touch & Barista Touch Impress. This just means the Barista Express has a slightly slower heat-up time, slightly slower steam-ready time & steaming speed, and it makes a bit more of a song and dance about cooling back down to espresso temp after steaming milk.
Re the heat up time, we’re talking a difference of around 27 seconds, but there’s not much in it when you weigh up the fact that the brew path, group & portafilter will be stone cold, so they’ll need heating up anyway, which takes about the same amount of time on the Sage Thermocoil machines as it does with the machines that have the faster thermojet.
The Barista Express takes slightly longer (20 seconds or so) to get up to steam ready vs the thermojet machines which start almost instantly, and it’s slightly slower to steam milk than the machines with the thermojet. It does a great job of milk texturing, it just does it a bit slower than the Barista Pro.
When it comes to cooling down after steaming milk, the heaters are flushed with water to cool down, which sounds a bit like dropping cold water into a hot pan (I always enjoy doing that, I’ll never grow up!). With the Barista Express, as it has the bigger original thermocoil, this lasts longer, a few seconds, vs a split second or so with the Barista Pro and the other thermojet machines.
These things are relatively small, and overall if the Barista Express cost the same as the Barista Pro, I’d probably say the Barista Pro is the better choice.
The Barista Express has a lower RRP, though, and because it’s been around for so long, there is more competition for it, and the price you can get it for at times makes it a very, very interesting proposition, especially vs other usually lower priced options.
When I said it wasn’t for everyone, though, I don’t think the Barista Express is the best choice for people who’re really looking for home barista experience. In my opinion the Barista Express is the most mainstream-focused Sage coffee machine with integrated grinder.
If you’re wondering what I mean by “mainstream”, I’m referring to “normal” big brand coffee beans. Basically, we’re talking about coffee beans that are traded and roasted in massive volumes, and the main difference between these kind of coffee beans, and coffee beans from a small batch roaster or speciality coffee supplier, is how freshly roasted they are.
If your bags of beans have a sell-by date but no “roasted on” date, then this is what I mean by mainstream coffee beans. If you like this coffee, then there’s a good chance you’ll get on well with the Barista Express, as long as you stick to the dual-walled baskets.
I do hear from people quite regularly who appear to be having issues with the Barista Express, and it’s usually because they’ve heard that the single walled traditional baskets are better, so they switch to them, without realising that this is only the case with freshly roasted beans. If you’re using mainstream beans, and you try to dial in using standard baskets, you’re likely to struggle.
So if you enjoy mainstream big brand coffee beans, and you’re looking for the best value for money integrated grinder coffee machine from Sage, then the Barista Express is a great choice.
The reason I don’t think the Barista Express is the best choice for home barista use, is that it’s really designed more for mainstream beans and dual walled baskets. Unlike the Barista Pro and most other Sage coffee machines, the OPV (over pressure valve) is set to 13/14 bars, which is better for use with dual walled, pressurised baskets than it is with standard baskets.
All Sage espresso machines come with both types of baskets, dual walled pressurised baskets which they recommend for use with mainstream big-brand supermarket coffee beans, and standard baskets, for using with freshly roasted beans.
If you’re using standard baskets and freshly roasted beans, the aim is to get the grind size correct so the pressure in the basket is about 9 bars. So having the over pressure valve set to fire off if the basket pressure exceeds this, makes dialing in a bit easier. So if you’re planning on using freshly roasted beans and the single walled standard baskets, the Barista Pro would be the better choice, in my humble opinion.
Also the Barista Express is the only machine in the range that is still using the original “Full Nice” burr set, while all the others have been switched over to the European Etzinger burrs.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the original burr set to be honest, but Etzinger burrs are well known, they’re the burrs used in Baratza grinders, so this tends to make home barista users a bit happier, whether it actually produces much difference in cup quality vs the original burrs.
So in a nutshell, the Barista Express is a great value for money option if you’re not aiming for home barista use and freshly roasted beans, but if you are heading in that direction I’d recommend having a look at the Barista Pro instead.
For the full in-depth Barista Express review, see:
Sage Barista Pro
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Features:
Grinder: 38mm Etzinger conical burrs, 30 grind settings.
Hopper: Locking hopper (for easy beans removal) with gasket
Portafilter: 54mm stainless steel portafilter (single and double baskets, standard + dual walled)
Boiler: Sage original thermocoil
Milk Steaming: Pro steam wand with single hole steam tip
Water tank: 2L, with water filter. Top (rear) accessed with quick-release handle
Drip Tray: Large capacity drip tray with hidden storage space
Dimensions (w x d x h): 35cm x 41cm x 41 cm
Adjustable brew temperature: Yes from 91- 95C in 1C increments
Preinfusion?: Yes, pre-set & manual
My Observations:
The Barista Pro is the Sage machine I’d recommend to anyone who’s looking to get into coffee as a home barista, and who wants an integrated grinder espresso machine.
I’d also look at the Barista Express Impress too, as the “Impress Puck System” is very helpful, but it’s assistance you can choose to use or not, so if you find the home barista thing isn’t quite for you, you can just use it in auto mode, or you can use it in manual or semi manual mode when you have the time to play, and use it on auto when you don’t.
If you’re not interested in assistance, the Barista pro is a great choice.
If we’re comparing to the Barista Express, the Barista pro is just a tad bigger, it has a slightly more modern looking finish, an LCD screen vs a pressure gauge, 30 grind settings vs 18, the Etzinger burr set vs the original Full Nice burrs in the Barista Express, 9 bar OPV, and it has the newer Sage Thermojet heater vs. the original Sage Thermocoil, and a four-hole steam tip vs a single hole tip.
So the pro is heated up and ready to go slightly quicker, the steam ready time is a bit quicker, and the overall steaming time is a bit faster too, partly down to the themojet and partly due to the four hole steam tip.
The automatic flush to cool the heater down after steaming milk is much faster than with the Barista Express, with it being a much smaller heater, so there’s just one very quick hissing sound similar to dropping water on a hot plate, this goes on for a bit longer with the Barista Express, it isn’t louder but it simply makes that noise for longer. Also there’s no pressure gauge, but you get an LCD screen instead, with a shot timer.
I can live without the pressure gauge, if you’re doing the home barista thing you don’t really need the gauge, and you’ll probably find the shot timer and the ability to quickly change brew temp and program the shot buttons via the LCD more valuable than a pressure gauge that doesn’t tell you anything that shot time doesn’t indicate.
As I said earlier, with the Etzinger burrs, the increased grind settings and the 9 bar OPV, the Barista Pro is clearly targeted more toward the home barista side of the market than the Barista Express. The great thing about it though, is that similar to the Barista Express, it’s been on the market a while now, so it’s more common to find really good deals for the pro than with their later releases.
Stand Alone Espresso Machines
Sage Duo Temp Pro
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Features:
Portafilter: 54mm stainless steel portafilter (single and double baskets, standard + dual walled)
Boiler: Sage original thermocoil
Milk Steaming: Pro steam wand with single hole steam tip
Water tank: 1.8, with water filter. Top (rear) accessed with quick-release handle
Drip Tray: Good capacity drip tray with hidden storage space
Dimensions (w x d x h): 32cm x 26cm x 33.5 cm
Adjustable brew temperature: No
Preinfusion?: Yes, pre-set
My Observations:
The Duo Temp Pro is Sage’s answer to the more old school single boiler espresso machines such as the Gaggia Classic and Rancilio Silvia.
It has two temp settings (hence the name) espresso and steam, and you select from one or the other via a rotary dial (there’s also a selector to toggle from steam to hot water), and it’s incredibly simple, just turn the dial one way for espresso, and the other way for steam or hot water.
It has the same original thermocoil as with the Barista Express, but there’s no pressure gauge, and no shot buttons, you literally just grind your coffee, dose the basket, turn the dial to the left – the shot will start along with approx. 8 seconds of low pressure pre-infusion, then when it’s done you turn the dial to the right and toggle hot water or steam via the selector button.
I hear from a lot of people who have this machine, who love it. It’s Sage’s most old-school and fuss-free espresso machine, no bells and whistles, just an old fashioned simple to use espresso machine, with a 9 bar OPV, and a PID for ensuring temperature stability.
Quite often I’m asked whether I’d go for the Gaggia Classic Pro vs Sage Bambino Plus, that’s a very common comparison question, but I think the Duo Temp Pro is a much more obvious comparison to the Classic.
If you’re thinking about the Gaggia Classic but think you might benefit from the ease of use that the PID in the Duo Temp Pro provides, and the fact that the OPV is 9 bars out of the box, and both of these would be a case of modding with the classic (albeit a very simple mod for the 9 bar opv, just a case of buying a £10 part and a very simple swap) then I can completely understand the hesitation between going for one or the other.
This is one of Sage’s least sketchy machine in terms of longevity and repairability out of warranty period, as there’s just so little in terms of electronics or non-standard parts, but the Gaggia Classic is very difficult to compete with where longevity and durability is concerned. They last decades, as I know as mine is 20 years old.
If you’re comparing the Duo Temp Pro to the Bambino and Bambino Plus, it’s old school vs new school. The Bambino and Bambino Plus have programmable shot buttons, 3 second warm up time, the Plus has auto steaming. So these machines are all about user friendliness and creature comforts, but generally speaking, I’d expect the Duo Temp pro to go on for much longer after the initial warranty period vs the Bambino and Bambino Plus.
If you’re comparing the Duo Temp Pro with the Smart Grinder Pro vs the Barista Express or Barista Pro, the Barista pro is the better comparison as they both have a 9 bar OPV, yes the pro has the newer thermojet vs the thermocoil, but this doesn’t make a difference where shot quality is concerned.
The Barista Pro is more sophisticated than the Duo Temp Pro with programmable shot buttons, an LCD screen, a shot timer and the ability to change the brew temperature, but pairing the Duo Temp Pro with the Smart Grinder Pro is a very similar setup where shot potential is concerned, but with the ability to get slightly better shot quality from the Duo Temp Pro by upgrading the grinder further down the line.
Going up a level where the grinder is concerned doesn’t give you the same kind of shot quality potential boost as with the likes of the Sage Dual Boiler.
If you pair the Dual Boiler with the Smart Grinder Pro via the Dynamic Duo package (great value for money!) and then upgrade to the Baratza Forte or Niche Zero for example, it’s like taking an F1 car with a polo engine and swapping it for a Maclaren engine, as the machine as so much more to give.
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But there is some shot potential boost to be had with the Duo Temp Pro by pairing it with a higher end grinder, and you can do the same with the Barista Expresso or Barista Pro, but then you’re taking up more space than you really need to by pairing an integrated grinder machine with another grinder. Some people do this, though, and I suppose it does mean you have a back up grinder if your stand-alone grinder has an issue.
Anyway, the Duo Temp Pro is a great choice if you’re looking for a more old school espresso machine and you’re not too fussed about bells and whistles.
For my full in-depth review, see:
Sage Bambino Plus
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Features:
Water Tank: 1.9L
Dimensions: 19.4cm wide x 32cm deep x 31 cm tall
Weight: 5 Kg
Boiler: ThermoJet (Sage’s new thermocoil)
PID?: Yes
3 Way Solenoid?: Yes
Portafilter Size: 54mm
Pump Pressure: 9 bars
Interface: Buttons
Preinfusion?: Yes, pre-set and manual
My Observations:
The Bambino Plus is the more premium version of the two Bambino machines, and it’s one of Sage’s most popular coffee machines, certainly one of their most popular stand-alone espresso machines.
It features the thermojet, so it has the super fast heat-up time, quicker steam-ready time, shot ready time after steaming, and slightly faster milk steaming.
It has the auto steaming (you can use the steam wand manually too) with three texture levels and three temperature levels, and it does a very good job of auto steaming, I have to say! Sometimes if I want to do some latte art for instagram etc., I’ve used the bambino plus rather than steaming manually, as it’s just so convenient and consistent.
My only criticisms of the Bambino Plus, really, are the small drip tray and the portafilter.
The drip tray is very small, and because it has a solenoid valve, you get nice dry pucks and no portafilter sneeze, that you can get with machines that use a brew valve instead, but it does mean you get a lot more water in the drip tray, and it fills up very quickly.
The Bambino and Bambino Plus come with the same portafilter, it’s not the same higher quality more pro looking portafilter that you get with all the other Sage machines, it’s a cheaper portafilter with more plastic, and with stubby spouts, and I’m just not a big fan.
To be fair, the stubby spout portafilter, as call it, is way better than the portafilter found on most other similarly or lower priced machines, I just prefer the one that comes with all the other Sage machines vs the one that comes with both Bambino machines.
The espresso quality isn’t impacted at all, but I just like a nice quality portafilter. With the Bambino Plus you can buy the nicer portafilter for the Barista Express & Barista Pro, and it’s compatible. For some reason the Bambino doesn’t work with that portafilter, it seems to fit but pressure escapes the group, so it clearly doesn’t quite fit for some reason.
Overall though, the Bambino Plus is a mega machine for the money.
If we’re comparing with the Gaggia Classic Pro, as many people do, then it’s a very different machine, Tesla Vs Landrover Defender (the original defender I mean). If we’re comparing with other machines at this price point, and you’re wanting the kind of user-friendliness that the Bambino Plus provides, the Bambino Plus doesn’t really have any competition, other than the Bambino.
For my full review of the Bambino Plus, see:
Sage Bambino
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Features:
Water Tank: 1.4L
Dimensions: 19 cm wide x 30.4 cm deep x 31 cm tall
Boiler: ThermoJet (Sage’s new thermocoil)
PID?: Yes
3 Way Solenoid?: No
Portafilter Size: 54mm
Pump Pressure: 9 bars
Interface: Buttons
Preinfusion?: Yes, pre-set and manual
My Observations:
The Bambino is the base level version of the Bambino Plus. It’s currently the lowest-priced machine offered by Sage, and it’s the lowest-priced traditional espresso machines on the market that comes with standard baskets and a 9 bar OPV out of the box.
It’s also one of the most compact espresso machines on the market and it’s 31cm tall so it’ll fit under any standard-height kitchen cupboard.
If you’re looking for the best value for money Sage espresso machine, this is probably it, in the short term at least. The Duo Temp Pro costs a bit more, so in the short term that isn’t quite as good value for money, but that’s such a basic machine internally that I think most people will end up getting more years out of the Duo Temp Pro, so that machine may produce more value or money in the long term.
If you’re considering getting into the home barista hobby at the very entry level, and you were thinking along the lines of DeLonghi Dedica, Swan Retry and so on, and doing some modding or buying an aftermarket standard basket portafilter, I’d recommend considering the Bambino instead.
It’s set to 9 bars, the PID might not quite be up to the level of the Sage Dual Boiler, but it’s still a PID, so the temp stability is way better than with most cheaper options. It comes with standard baskets, as well as pressurized. It comes with the water filter holder & water filter, and a tamper albeit the lightweight plastic one which I don’t really like but it’s better than the plastic scoop tamper a lot of the cheaper machines are bundled with.
It doesn’t have a 3 way solenoid valve, it has a brew valve instead, so what this means is that it doesn’t fire all the pressure and excess moisture out of the basket into the drip tray.
On the negative side, this means the pucks are slightly wetter when you knock them out, and it means if you choke the machine with too fine a grind, you need to just give it 20-30 seconds before removing the portafilter to give the pressure time to be dispersed via the valve.
On the plus side, this actually makes the tiny drip tray a lot more practical with the Bambino than it is with the pro, you won’t find yourself having to empty it anywhere nearly as quickly.
The Bambino doesn’t have the auto steaming feature, and that’s a good feature for anyone who doesn’t want to texture their own milk, but if you’re not bothered about that then you’ll save some money by going for the Bambino, and the shot quality is the same.
The water tank is slightly smaller, 1.5L vs 1.9L, so you’ll have to fill it slightly more often, but I’ve come to the conclusion that smaller tanks are fine for most people. I recommend emptying the tank at the end of every day and filling it again in the morning, it just doesn’t quite seem right to leave water sitting in a tank for a few days, given most of us wouldn’t do this with our drinking water bottles or our kettles.
On the plus side, the Bambino has a hot water button (it delivers water via the steam wand) which the Plus doesn’t have. You can get water through the steam wand on the Bambino Plus, but with a series of button presses not a single button.
Also, the Bambino Plus steam wand only moves up and down, while the Bambino wand is on a ball joint which gives you more flexibility over the steaming position.
Personally, the only thing I don’t like about the Bambino, is that you have to use the stubby spout portafilter that comes with it. The Bambino Plus will take the nicer quality portafilter for the Barista Express and Barista Pro, but that doesn’t quite fit the Bambino.
This might not bother you, I’ve not actually heard this complaint from many people at all, my dad has the bambino and he’s more than happy with the portafilter. I’m just so used to using heavier weight portafilters with metal splitters, that it feels a bit weird using the lighter weight portafilter with the little spouts.
Also, I wish they bundled the Razor tool with the Bambino, you get it with the Bambino Plus but not with the Bambino. I would recommend buying one, but they’re about a fiver from Sage, so not a massive deal. I think they just needed to bring the selling price down, so they had to remove something from the box, and they chose the razor tool and to replace the tamper with a plastic one.
To be fair to Sage, they probably made the decision based on the fact that they know most people don’t use the razor tool, anyway!
I’d highly recommend using the razor tool, as it allows you ensure the dose volume is the same every time, without that you have a constantly changing variable as you’re dialing in.
Even if you’re weighing the dose, it’s the volume, not the weight, which is important where extraction is concerned. This is something that trips up a lot of beginner home baristas.
Sage Dual Boiler
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Features:
Water Tank: 2.5L
Dimensions: 40.3 cm wide x 37.3 cm deep x 37.8cm tall
Weight: 15.5 Kg
Boiler: 950ml steam boiler + PID controlled 450ml brew boiler + heat exchanger
PID?: Yes
3 Way Solenoid?: Yes
Portafilter Size: 58mm
Pump Pressure: 9 bars
Interface: Buttons & steam lever + digital display
Preinfusion?: Yes, pre-set (adjustable) & manual, control over power and length
Adjustable brew temperature: Yes from 86 – 96C in 1C increments
My Observations:
This is Sage’s best stand alone espresso machine, without a doubt. In fact, it’s one of the best espresso machines in the world, and this isn’t only my opinion, if you spend some time researching the Dual Boiler (google Breville Dual Boiler too, to find info about the machine in Australia and America, as Sage machines are sold under the Breville brand outside of Europe) you’ll find many people who really know their stuff, agreeing with my opinion.
When it comes to shot quality, and flexibility (in terms of what the machine allows to to do in terms of adjusting temperature and preinfusion pressure and time) the Dual Boiler punches way above its weight.
The brew boiler and the group are connected via dual pids, and the group is heated, so this gives the kind of temperature precision that is incredibly rare unless you go quite a bit higher with the spend.
You can control the brew temperature over a much bigger range than usual, 10 degrees in 1C increments, from 86-96, and you also have control over preinfusion power, and a much bigger range of preinfusion time than with any other similarly priced dual boiler espresso machine I’ve come across.
This makes the Dual Boiler a very interesting machine for anyone who wants the power to get good results with light roasts.
Many people spend somewhere between four thousand to ten thousand pounds for machines that give enough control in these areas to get great results with lighter roasts, with machines from the Decent Espresso machines, La Marzocco GS3, and Slayer, but even without any modding, the Sage Dual Boiler has the ability to work with light roasts, and with a very simple completely reversible (virtually free) mod, you can use the water knob to control the pressure, for manual flow profiling!
I could go on and on about the Dual Boiler, but I already have done in my review post ;-), so if you want to find out more about it, see:
Filter Coffee Machines
The Sage Precision Brewer
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Here is my youtube review of the Sage Precision Brewer:
OK, that should really be “filter coffee machine” as Sage only produce the one filter coffee machine, the Precision brewer, and I can understand why this is the case, because simply put, the Precision Brewer is among the very best filter coffee machines on the market, I don’t think they really need to release another one, and if I they did I don’t know how they could make it any better.
The precision brewer is a brilliant filter coffee machine, and it’s a new breed of filter machine vs the original old school machines that simply deliver water into a filter holder and have a hot plate to keep the coffee warm.
It has a PID, meaning brew temperature control, something all Sage coffee machines have, and this is fairly rare with filter coffee machines, it’s only what I refer to the new breed of filter machines that have this, and what this brings to filter coffee is consistency.
The cleverness doesn’t end there though, the user interface on the Precision Brewer gives you control over brew temperature, bloom time, bloom volume and flow rate, so this means you can play around with these variables to dial in the beans you’re using, to get as close to perfect as possible.
Not only that, but if you can’t be bothered messing about with stuff like this and you just want the best quality coffee possible, you can just select “gold” which is SCA approved setting where all these variables are concerned.
It has a fast brew setting for when you just need coffee fast, a strong brew setting for when all you’re bothered about is brewing a strong coffee (to wash down your paracetamol the morning after the night before, for example) a pourover setting (you can change the filter holder for your favourite pourover device, i.e. V60 or Kalita) and a cold brew setting.
Instead of an old school hot plate for nice overly bitter pots of filter coffee, and I say nice only slightly sarcastically, as I remember many hungover mornings in sales meetings when I was a trainee sales rep, being very, very happy to drink the thick bitter black stuff that had been sitting on a hot plate for ages until I dragged myself into the room, late, half-dressed & half asleep, mumbling some half-arsed apology.
It brews up to a whopping 1.7L of coffee, and you can set it to turn on and start brewing so your morning coffee is ready for you when you wake up – an amazing feature!
If you want to hear what someone who REALLY knows their stuff thinks about this machine (I’m just Kev, but this guy is a coffee legend) watch James Hoffmann’s Sage Precision brewer review below.
For more information on the Sage Precision Brewer, please see this post:
The Sage Precision Brewer Review
Nespresso Machines:
Sage Creatista Plus
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Features:
Water Tank: 1.5L
Dimensions: 17.1 cm wide x 39.3 cm deep x 31 cm tall
Weight: 5.2 Kg
Water Heater: Sage ThermoJet
PID?: Yes
Milk Steaming: Pro steam wand with auto-steaming
Used Pod Capacity: 12
Pod Type: Original Nespresso Compatible
Milk Temperature Settings: 11
Milk Texture Settings: 8
One Touch Presets: Ristretto, espresso, lungo, flat white, cappuccino, latte & latte macchiato
Interface: Digital colour display + select dial and button
Construction: Stainless steel
My Observations:
This is essentially the same machine as the now discontinued Creatista Uno, only in a more premium all-stainless steel shell, and with a colour digital display, more milk texture and temperature settings and one touch milkies.
I say “one touch”, this isn’t quite the same one touch as with one touch bean to cup machines where the milk is delivered directly into your cup, you do have to pour the milk into the espresso, or the espresso into the milk for latte macchiato, but for me that’s even better, as it gives you the ability to learn to pour latte art, which is frustrating but fun.
So if you want a cappuccino, for example, you just use the selector dial to toggle the digital screen to get to cappuccino, plop in the pod, press the the start button, and the milk will be textured to the default temp and texture for cappuccino, unless you’ve changed it in which case it’ll froth and heat the milk to what you set it to, and then you just pour the milk into the cup.
You have way more control over the temperature, with 11 settings vs 2, and a bigger texture range with 8 vs 3.
So, overall the Creatista Plus looks more flashy, and gives you more options plus the handy one touch milkies.
Sage Creatista Pro
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Features:
Water Tank: 2L
Dimensions: 19.7 cm wide x 42.9 cm deep x 33 cm tall
Weight: 6.5 Kg
Water Heater: Sage ThermoJet
PID?: Yes
Milk Steaming: Pro steam wand with auto-steaming
Used Pod Capacity: 12
Pod Type: Original Nespresso Compatible
Milk Temperature Settings: 11
Milk Texture Settings: 8
One Touch Presets: Ristretto, espresso, lungo, Americano, flat white, cappuccino, latte & latte macchiato
Interface: Digital colour touch screen
Construction: Stainless steel
My Observations:
The Creatista Pro differs from the Creatista Plus only in a few ways, but these few differences do add up to make this a very clever premium Nespresso machine.
The water tank is bigger at 2L, which doesn’t really impress me, but it has a colour touch screen interface, and a hot water spout, which allowes the Plus to deliver one-touch Americano. It also has adjustable coffee volumes, 7 of them in total, and 7 hot water volumes.
If you can get over the price (better still if you can get it when there’s a deal on, as Sage Appliances, John Lewis & Amazon often feature this machine in deals in the run-up to Christmas etc) then this is an amazing Nespresso machine, as it should be for this kind of money!
Check Price - Sage AppliancesCheck Price - John Lewis
Features:
Water Tank: 2L
Dimensions: 23 cm wide x 42 cm deep x 32.1 cm tall
Weight: 7 Kg
Water Heater: Sage ThermoJet
PID?: Yes
Milk Steaming: Pro steam wand with auto-steaming
Used Pod Capacity: 12
Pod Type: Nespresso Vertuo
Milk Temperature Settings: 3
Milk Texture Settings: 3
One Touch Presets: Espresso, double espresso, gran lungo, XL mug, carafe
Interface: Buttons
Construction: Stainless steel
My Observations:
The latest addition the the Creatista range, the Creatista Vertuo is the most interesting Vertuo Nespresso machine on the market, in my opinion.
My main issue with Nespresso original, when it comes to the coffee itself, putting sustainability and cost per cup etc., aside, is that it only produces very small shots, ristretto, espresso and lungo, and they’re all made with a 5-6g dose.
So whenever I’ve used Nespresso machines, if I’m making a flat white for example, I couldn’t drink a one pod flat white, that would be coffee flavoured milk to me, I’d need to re-load 3-4 pods to get the kind of intensity I’m used to and similar for Americano.
This is the main thing Nespresso did with the Vertuo, as the range of pods includes much bigger doses, including mug pods, and even carafe-sized pods. OK, some may argue that what they really did when creating the Vertuo range is to give themselves another range that they have pod exclusivity with as it’ll probably be a long time before anyone is brave enough to start releasing compatible pods.
So the main benefit of going for the Vertuo machines over Nespresso original is the bigger pods, so you can just slap in a mug pod, or an XL mug pod for example, or a double espresso pod if you want a more intense flat white or cappuccino.
The main downside of Vertuo vs original, though, is that with Nespresso original thanks to Dualit and others having the balls to go to battle with them, there are masses and masses of compatible pod options, so you don’t have to stick to Nespresso pods, if you don’t have to – with Vertuo, at the moment you’re locked into Nespresso pods, and I think this is likely to be the case for years.
The other downside of Nespresso Vertuo is the lack of choice where machines are concerned, but this is something that has been improved with the release of the Creatista Vertuo.
The Creatista Veruo is more or less the same machine where performance is concerned, as the discontinued Creatista Uno, with the three temperature and texture settings, but with the more premium shell of the pro and plus.
Personally, I’d say if you’re not fussed about the ability to use the bigger dose pods, and you’re happy to re-load when you need to, I think the Nespresso Original Creatista machines are the better choice, but if you really need the bigger Vertuo pods, then at the time of writing in my opinion the Sage Creatiesta Vertuo is the best Nespresso Vertuo machine on the market.
Sage Coffee Machines – Conclusion
You probably know everything you could want to know about Sage coffee machines now, and probably quite a bit more, and hopefully you read the section in the intro guiding you towards finding the right kind of machine for you, as this should have saved you a lot of time reading about machines that just aren’t the right kind of coffee machine for you.
As long as you’re shopping for the right kind of coffee machine for you, in my opinion, you really can’t go wrong with Sage. Overall, they’re among the best coffee machine brands, especially when it comes to speciality coffee, at the entry-level to mid-level price range.
If you want to look at other options and not only Sage, also see:
