Caffeine has become a massive and important part of my life, and I am not alone in this sentiment. I’ve done a lot of research when it comes to the art of coffee so that I can bring the very best information your way.
If you’re looking for an experience that elevates the typical drip pot experience, then I have a great product to introduce you to that I know you’re going to love! The Sage Barista Express (Sage BES875UK) is a fantastic way to bring the coffee shop experience right into your home!
The Sage Barista Express is packed with all the features of professional coffee shop machines but is easy and convenient enough to operate without all their training, so you can get a perfectly smooth and delicious latte, cappuccino, or espresso without forking over fistfuls of cash every morning for a cup.
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Sage Barista Express Review: Design and Features
One of the great things about this machine is that the process is pretty manual, so you can control your cup better than with fully automated, more expensive machines. This allows you to be in control of your coffee strength, how fine the grins are, and more.
The machine has 2 separate halves, each with its own function. One side takes care of the grinding process and the other half does all your brewing.
Grinding
The bean hopper is completely removable. It will send your beans into the burr grinder, which is amazing at precisely grinding your beans. The machine also has a dial to let you control how fine or coarse you want your grind consistency, and how much coffee you want to be dispensed per shot so you can maximize your coffee strength and caffeine amounts.
Another button lets you choose whether to use a single or double portafilter and choosing a double will double the amount of coffee you deleted on the know so be prepared for the extra dispensation. The tamper is really nice, and it lets you tamp in your coffee then slides nicely back into the machine and out of the way when not in use. The portafilter holder will secure your filter into place while coffee dispenses, and pushing it will activate the grinding and dispensing process.
Read More: Best burr grinders – where does the Sage Smart Pro rank?
Brewing
There are 3 knobs on the right side of the machine that will allow you to program your water preferences. These will control how much water gets dispensed in single and double coffee shots. The steam wand control will dispense steam and hot water. The portafilter attaches here once your coffee grounds have been tamped, and water is dispensed here to brew your coffee. There is also a manual steam wand here.
This machine comes with 4 portafilter baskets. Two of them are pressurized and 2 are not. The pressurized ones are great for people who don’t want to mess with perfect grinding because they’re pretty forgiving. The unpressurised baskets aren’t as forgiving, but if you know what you’re doing they’re also better for making superior coffee. These baskets can all be stored out of sight underneath the drip tray.
Grinder Settings
This machine offers 18 different grind settings, ranging from very fine to very coarse. This huge range makes finding your perfect cup of coffee extremely easy! This is one of the advantages of buying a more manual machine. You can’t press and forget, but you have control over your experience from start to finish!
Milky Coffee
This machine is great at milky coffees as long as you know what you’re doing. First of all, the stainless steel milk frothing jug is nice. It even has a built-in temperature strip that lets you know when the milk has reached the perfect temperature.
The machine comes with an automated steam wand, which you can set through the controls, and a manual wand. Once you learn the art of milk frothing, which takes a bit of finesse to master, you’ll have a lot of fun making perfectly milky coffee. The higher pressure gets a very frothy effect as long as you make sure not to let it go flying.
Perfect Coffee In 60 Seconds
Although this isn’t a press and go machine, it works as quickly as those do under experienced hands. Once you learn how to operate the machine, you get rapid results. In fact, you can go from bean to espresso in under a minute! When you grind your beans just before extraction and use interchangeable filters with manual or automatic operation, you get authentic café coffee in very little time.
Precision
This Sage machine excels at precision. I’ve already told you about the highly customizable coffee grinding but the precision doesn’t stop there. You can choose the right dose for your preferences, too! Most of the home coffee machines don’t taste as good as café brews because they only dose 11 to 13 g of ground coffee. This machine delivers the full 19 to 22 g dose that will create the rich and full-bodied taste you get from a café!
It also offers precise temperature control. Temperature can have a huge impact on the flavour of your espresso, with only 1 degree Celsius determining the difference between balanced or awful tastes. This machine has PID digital temperature control technology so it can detect temperature fluctuations in the extraction process and minimize it, keeping your cup within optimal ranges.
Sage Barista Express Review: Conclusion
As you can see, there are a ton of great features with the Sage Barista Express. You will need to do a little more work than the high end, automated machines, but the results will be worth it. When you’re sipping that perfectly frothed and milked, perfectly to your tastes espresso, cappuccino, or latte, knowing that you didn’t have to pay a fortune every morning to attain it or wait in a long line to get it, you’ll have a fantastic morning!
Whether you’re using this to grab your morning dose of caffeine before a busy day, or as an after-dinner delight when you’re hosting a dinner party, this machine will make the perfect complement to your kitchen. Now, you just need to grab your favourite beans and get to brewing!
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