Coffee Appreciation

Yeh they look ok - why bad rep?

Or Gaggia Classic. Change the panarello steam wand to a Racilio Silvia one and you’re good to go 👍

I don’t think a bad rep, everyone is aware that sage(breville) pretty much nailed them, it’s just they’re made by a kitchen appliance brand, not a coffee machine brand so I think people psychologically attach them in with appliance level rather than enthusiast level machines.

^ this really. and they're not hugely customisable

I have one. It's been great. It makes perfectly decent espresso for not much faff or money. I'm sure I can get a better setup but I don't want to geek out on it enough to bother

Spare parts are not readily available, compared to other machines like a Gaggia Classic, rancilio, la pavoni etc.

Sage would rather sell you a new machine than sell you a 5p seal to fix a leak.

I quite like the Barista Express machines and I'm an avid La Pavoni owner! I've repaired a few in my time and the knowledge is out there too.

There's not much to customise really - steaming-wise once it's up to pressure it's fine and has a single hole tip, grinder can be adjusted using the inner burr and the dial, you can buy single dose bellows and stuff too which help (if you're into that).

You can even adjust the brewing temperature too!

I mean that's part of the reason they might not be loved by the home espresso crowd, rather than it's a problem the machine has. It works for me perfectly well

I think the answer to anyone asking a similar question to the one above is - Sage. Just don’t think it’s worth the other alternatives.

Yeah - +5 on the sage. Very happy BE owner here. The Sage Bambino is also a decent machine, and you can get a separate grinder (sage smart grind is okay, or get fancier with DF whatever/Niche etc etc) and have a more flexible set up that will also let you grind for filter

Another couple kilos in and I'm getting occasional sweetness out of beans that haven't had it before. Big fan of that. Still visually more fines than I'd imagine is ideal but might just have to realign or something simple?

My step dad bought a Sage BE a couple of years ago and it makes pretty good coffee (as long as I've recently bought him some nice beans and he's not using poison flavoured Lavazza).
The benefit is that it's really easy to use. My mum was really skeptical initially but she uses it quite happily now and can make a decent coffee without too much faff.

New beans this morning and I tried everything I could think of and failed to make a cup of coffee that I wanted to drink- I did manage to get it from “unbelievably sour” to “far too sharp”, but that was it.

That’s great wisdom thanks all

Phew

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this was the Linkedin post I really wanted ;p

New LCS is great, stickers too

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Coffee grinder 1 - Edward 0

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