Sage Barista Express transforms your coffee routine with precision engineering and integrated features. With a built-in conical burr grinder, 16 grind settings, and a powerful steam wand for microfoam, this brushed stainless steel machine delivers rich, barista-style espresso at home.
- Bean to Cup Convenience: Enjoy café-quality espresso made from freshly ground beans.
- Precision Grinding: 16 settings for optimal flavor extraction and control.
- Thermocoil Heating: Delivers consistent 93°C water temperature for perfect espresso.
- Steam Wand: Create silky microfoam for lattes and cappuccinos.
- Elegant Design: Brushed stainless steel finish fits modern kitchens.
The grind size and filter quantity needs adjusting depending on the beans you use. You need to find the sweet spot for every different bean you use which is to an extent a very "barista" thing however, the most annoying part sometimes is the quantity as it can impact the flow of the extraction and that can get a bit annoying if you are looking for a simple bean to cup solution. Nevertheless these are small adjustments in comparison to the bigger outcome which is a great cup of coffee.
Would be a nice touch if they gave a few coffee cups in the package
Only negative is they hadn’t updated the instruction manual and so some of the cleaning guidelines were wrong - searching online, it looks like this is common. Not great for a £500 product but otherwise would be five stars.
It is very intuitive and easy to use, thought the instruction book does enhance knowledge and understanding that will help the user go from using it to make coffee, to using it to make great coffee.
My only negative comment is that it arrived with a slight dent on the back panel. Whilst Amazon offered a full refund, it wasn’t possible for them to offer a new one in exchange, and re-buying it would’ve meant paying about 20% more than I originally paid for it, so I decided to keep hold of the one I had and call it ‘character’.
It's great it comes with everything you need, jug, tamper, grinder as I probably paid closer to this price for my old machine when added up the extras.
My only niggles hence a 4*. It's hard to spot the water tank is empty as it's very slim on the back, would be nice to have an indicator. The tamper is a bit cheap and leaves a bit of coffee around the edge so doesn't seem to fit close enough, you can skim it with the razor though to get a perfect finish. I bought a DeLhongi metal one for my last machine and this was better. The drip tray seems to fill quite quickly. Finally it already has a small chip of the black paint come off at the front.
It does feel like you
As I mentioned the machine is beautiful even to me and luckily it doesn't actually take that much countertop space. Putting it together was easy enough. This machine is pretty much complete and you should feel like you need to spend extra on gadgets. There is the coffee grinder, the steam wand, and of course the handle with 4 different portafilters. There are 2 single and 2 double sizes one for freshly ground coffee and one for ground coffee. I didn't think there was a difference but there is. There is the tamper which magnetically attaches to the machine. That's super handy. And there is the razor, which is a leveller, once you tamped your coffee you can use this to get any excess coffee out of the portafilter before brewing. But after we got the hang of it we rarely use it but it was helpful the first few times to help as learn just how much force to use when tamping. Oh and also the milk jug! It's got a thermometer on it's outside. It's quite accurate too. Of course you can always buy a nice analogue one that will be better, but it's more than enough to start you off!
I really like the controls, everything is well placed and straightforward to use. The buttons are all lit with a nice white light which gives it a very upmarket look. The dial in the middle is a proper pressure gauge no digital screen anywhere to be seen, it actually looks so much better than the more expensive digital ones.
Using it is easy. As I said before I never was much into coffees but my mrs used to work in a few coffee shops and learned the trade so she is quite picky when it comes to coffee. Of course it's not going to be as good as the ones used in coffee shops but if you want a mean espresso and don't want to leave the house this does a great job. Even though it's a single boiler one (meaning you can't steam and pull a shot at the same time) it's quite fast anyway and it takes me about 8 minutes to make two coffees in the morning.
Things we didn't like that much are the steam wand...it first seemed a bit on the short side, but that seems to be the case with all the machines available to the public and only the real professional ones have longer ones. However we got used to this pretty quickly.
Another issue we have and this is a bit concerning is the knob on the right side, this is to control the steamer. It can be turned left or right or kept in the middle. The middle option is off. Turn it right and you can draw hot water. Turn it left and it starts the steamer. Turning this knob is quite the job though. It feels very hard and sometimes it's a real struggle to turn the thing off and it's only 2 months old. It was fine only for a few days after it's like that. However it doesn't seem to get any worse so fingers crossed. We were so impressed with the machine we decided to buy another one for the office, this time went for the black one again as it was on sale. No problem with the chipped paint this time around. The steamer knob however seems to be a lot better though so again...a bit concerned for the silver one in this regard as it's quite hard to turn.
All in all great machine which is quite easy to learn even for a complete starter like myself. QC is a bit so so with the chipped paint and dodgy knob though.
Nevertheless, price aside, it is a very good device that probably suits most kitchens, and fits well on a worktop under most kitchen wall cupboards.
Note this is not a fully automated Bean to cup machine, where you just select a drink and press a button, despite some third party sellers labelling it as such. It does require involvement, and experimentation to get right. If you are not willign to learn some of the intrecacies of creating an espresso or other coffee drinks, but enjoy consuming them, then i reccomend you get a casule, or a fully automated bean to cup machine. However, if you are willing to learn this can potentially create far better and more satisying coffee drinks.
PROS:
- I like the fact it is easy to clean, and maintain. My old machine and grinder did leave a lot of mess, this is more contained.
- Its thermocoil is relatively more efficient in electricity than a more "professional" boiler/dual boiler type, as it does not need to heat much more more water than whats being used, and its ready to start within about 30 seconds from cold. its perfect for where there is one or two people living in a household, who drinks coffee 2 or 3 times a day.
It has a nice storage area for the spare baskets/cleaing tools.
- It also comes with both pressurised and unpressurised baskets on both sizes (4 total) which is very handy. Many machines only include either pressurised, or unpressurised, and whilst some home "baristas" dismiss the pressurised ones, they do have a use in certain situations (preground or old or dry beans), and also helps beginners to get a decent enough shot at first, before learning all the intricacies of an expresso machine to be able to successfully use the non pressurised baskets.
- It has a proper 3 way solenoid valve to release pressure.
- You can manually chose the dosage aount as well as automatic (some machines only give either manual or automatic, not both)
- likewise you can also manually do the preinfuse, and extract, or simply set up for 1 or 2 shot to let the machine automatically stop when a certain amount of water as flowed through. You can also problemthe automatic amounts.
- It has a hot water dispenser for americans and other long coffees.
- It has a professional steam wand (not a panarello one) which gives you more control over the steam creating process, however, does require some skill, as opposed to the panarello types, usually found on cheaper machines.
- There is enough clearance to fit a mug underneeth the spout.
- water temp seems very consistant (though see con below)
- pressure guage! the more expensive versions of the barista range (professional and touch) do not include this very usefull tool.
CONS:
- When you switch on from cold, you do need to run at least one or two shots through the machine with the portafilter empty to heat up the pipes and portafilter to a satisfatory. Whilst you may see some on people suggesting that you leave it on for 10 minuites before pullign the first shot, in my experiementation I have done, I find running one or two shots is better at stabilising the temp from the inital cold start, as well as heating the portafilter better, as well as heating the cup/mug.
- the baskets do fit quite snugly into the portafilter, and need a bit of work to take out. I carefully use a teaspoon to lever it out.
- Although more than capable of creating good steamed milk with great microfoam, the steam power is a bit low on this machine (similar to other thermocoil machines) and does take a while to build up. This does mean it takes a bit longer to steam/froth milk compared to more powerfull machines, however, it is also an advantage for newbies, as the slower steaming gives you time to adjust the wand accordingly during steaming, rather than messing up the milk because you were not able to react quick enough,, important considering it is a professional wand, as opposed to a panarello one , which does require a bit of technique. If you need more powerfull steam, look at the Sage Barista Professional.
- Being a single boiler, You cannot steam milk and brew coffee at the same time, as the boiler needs to adjust to the different tasks, which can take a few seconds. Not a big issue for a household makign coupel of drinks at a time, but probably more annoying when making many more, espeically waiting for the temp to change.
- like ANY proper espresso machines it does take time to master!
So, on to the review of the machine itself. It's quite a big old unit but very stylish so looks good on the work surface.
Making coffee is dead easy, you push the portafilter into the grinder part, it automatically grinds and dispenses the coffee, you tamp the coffee donw,, screw the portafilter into the group head, press the button and out comes the coffee. But.....
There is a gauge that shows you the pressure of the water being pushed through the coffee. It has to hit the sweet spot, boy is it hard to get the grind and the tamp right for the pressure to be right. To low and you get a weak washy coffee, too high and you get a strong bitter coffee.
We use a lot of different beans and they all need a different grind setting. I've found 5 or 6 to be the sweet spot, it's getting the tamp right, too much weight behind the tamp and the water pressure is way too high, too little pressure on the tamp and the water pressure is too low.
I can go days in a row (I only have 2 or 3 coffees per day) where I get it right, then I can go days in a row when I think I'm doing the same thing and that flippin' needle will not hit the sweet spot.
I've given it 4 stars overall
5 stars for flavour, when it's right boy do you get a good coffee.
5 stars for easy to clean, which it is, there is some disassembly required but I like wielding a spanner or two.
4 stars for easy to use, it is easy, it also easy to get it wrong!
Quite a frustratingly good machine. I think it's a bit overpriced and I got it when it was on a deal for £370. I'd say it was a £299 machine but then again I'm quite tight!
From turning it on to sitting down with your drink is also very quick indeed.
Couple of points to be aware of that makes it a four, rather than five star:
1. The milk frothing jug is ace, but it's too small. It's possible to get enough for two small cappuccinos out of it, but the milk always feels on the the brink of going everywhere.
2. In recent versions they have changed to a Claroswiss water filter which are *£13 each* for a huge chunk of non-recyclable plastic rather than a fraction of that for a whole box of charcoal capsules. At time of writing the manuals still refer to the old style, and searching on the Sage website for filters will take you to the old-style. The new filters still only last three months, so the annual filter cost has jumped from just a few pounds to £52. If you register the machine with Sage they will send you a years worth of filters (apparently, I've only just filled out the form so we'll see) but still.
So, fabulous machine, looks great, gives great results and I love using it. The jug could be better thought out which is annoying, but the real issue is the filter upgrade results in both a hideous replacement cost and yet more plastic waste. If I were choosing a machine again with this knowledge it'd be enough to sway me towards something else.
This machine is everything I thought it was going to be and more. My milk texturing is already 10 fold better. Whilst it does take a bit of time to dial in grind settings, tamping and shot length etc the results are well worth it.
Now disclosure, I have only had this for 3 days so this is in no means a full review of life with the Barista Express. Cleaning is easy but it does need careful care and attention. I found the instructions decent but I'm not sure how much I trust the guage for dialing in my shot. I found my best shot came in whilst the guage showed over extraction. This could be down to the bean or just how I am used to that bean tasting from my previous machine and experience.
I have a new artisan roast arriving that I have never tried so will see how easy that is to get dialed in.
Now for a couple of not negatives but things I felt could be better. First off is the portafilter being non standard in size this not allowing for customisation. It's not a biggy as given the price point I still feel you get value for money.
Second is the dip tray. I feel the empty me sign should appear a bit earlier than it does as it does fill quickly and seems quite shallow. It will need emptied after every use which you should do anyway to keep clean.
Third is related to the portafilter and that is the tamper. It's nice and handy with the magnetic handle but feels a bit light and cheap for the rest of the machine. With the non standard size I can see getting a separate one being a little more frustrating.
Overall I am delighted with my purchase. The build quality is impressive and for me the steam wand is a dream.
It can be tricky to get that perfect brew dialed in but this is not a machine for the hands off type. This is for the closet barista or like me the coffee hobbiest.
It's not just the result that is great but the feeling of accomplishment when you get it all right.
If anything changes in my opinion in the next few months I will update accordingly.
Barney