Barista Express Impress

Sage Barista impress - bought it before xmas and can't fault it. I like all types of coffee so americano's flat whites caps... its expensive but still cheaper than buying coffee and its way nicer than the stuff you buy in most coffee shops once you find a decent bean source.

As a someone who frequents r/espresso. I would recommend a Sage Bambino (or the Bambino Plus if you want to get into making a lot of milk drinks). You will need a separate grinder (it’s usually better to have a separate grinder as most ones that are included aren’t great.) If you have a higher budget and want closer to a bean-to-cup experience: Sage Barista Express Impress. Sage bought a maker of coffee grinders and has been equipping their newer machines with those better grinders. The Express Impress is pretty easy to use. When it comes to beans it’s important to not get really old beans. Most I’ve seen from coop/migros have been sitting on a self for 6+ months. Ideally it’s used within 2 months of roasting. I’m currently greatly overpaying for specialty coffee so I can’t give many recommendations for store bought ones. Whatever tastes best for you.

I had Sage (european Breville) Bambino (normal not Plus), switched to Sage Barista Impress and I definitely prefer Barista. The grinder is decent - I have Comandante C40 to compare, not much of a difference, I find myself using Barista's grinder 90% of the time because it's just more convenient. The Barista feels more solid, Bambino felt cheap and to remove the portafilter you had to hold the machine with the other hand cause the machine is so light. Plus you have temperature regulation with Barista, Bambino doesn't have this feature.

Good choice! I had the Bambino for a week and sent it back and got Barista Impress (so basically Barista Express with automatic tamping). Bambino felt cheap (very light, the portafilter is like taken from a toy kitchen), coffee coming was a bit random, sometimes not hot enough. I made a few great cups with Bambino, but it wasn't much that much better than Delonghi 685 I had previously. I don't really understand the little hype about this machine. Btw when I was cleaning Bambino before sending it back, I accidentally scratched whole side of it by using... a kitchen sponge 🙈

I have the regular express impress, now for about a month. So far I have found it to deliver pretty tasty espresso. Is it a barista grade machine? No, but for ease of use it can produce a good enough shot for me compared to the super automatic we used to have My gripes with it: if you’re pedantic you’ll have to use manual mode every time because you never know if you’re going to get 30 grams, or 35 grams out every once calibrated. I haven’t been able to replicate shots “automatically” but they’re good enough I use a timing scale and manual mode, my wife uses auto based on how I calibrated it. Works for us We use darker roast blends so the grinder has been adequate This place can be a bit of a rabbit hole suggesting you absolutely need all this extra stuff and steps in your work flow for maybe 1% extra. If that’s your bag, then maybe these machines aren’t for you. If you don’t care that your shot is 80-90% decent then I’d run with it like we did. That’s the trade off for getting a tidier and simpler workflow and automating some of the process

Breville Barista Express…..no question about it.

Breville Barista Express…..no question about it.

I got a sage barista impress, was about £650. No regrets really - I find the coffee is nicer and the steam wand is easier to clean than cleaning out the aerocinno. I do miss it in the summer though for cold coffees (I still have the aerocinno but haven’t pulled it out since I got my sage machine). The only thing I’d say was a SLIGHT negative was that I very quickly realised that the machine I chose was at the bottom rung of the ladder in terms of how good coffee could get - to really get the very best out of the beans you need to spend a lot more on a standalone grinder. I don’t have the room for that, and although I don’t have the inclination anymore, I did get tempted a few times. I also really like the look of the newer machines but can’t justify spending three times what I paid for mine on a new one that I don’t need!

I’ll be honest, had the Magnifca Evo. I didn’t find the espresso strong enough at all, I think it’s an issue with these bean to cup machines. I ended up selling after 10 months, purchasing the SageBarista express impress. In honesty, if you want something easy do a bit of research and go for a bean to cup with a strong espresso shot. Manually pulling two shots to get a strong coffee is a pain, the sage produces a nice 18g dose. However dialling on for a beginner is not that easy, chasing the perfect shot is a pain. That’s just my opinion, of course many people love the above. Just wasn’t for me, I drink americano or flat white