Bean to Cup Coffee Machines 2021

Had our first coffee from the Sage BE this morning and as expected - it wasn't great! :cry:

Fully aware we need to get the coarseness, grind amount and whatever else right first.

Looking for bits to complement the machine. Currently our shopping list consists of:
- Bottomless portafilter
- Knock Box
- Tamper Mat

Not sure whether to go all the way and get the scales too... Any recommendations?
 
Cadder said:
Had our first coffee from the Sage BE this morning and as expected - it wasn't great! :cry:

Fully aware we need to get the coarseness, grind amount and whatever else right first.

Looking for bits to complement the machine. Currently our shopping list consists of:
- Bottomless portafilter
- Knock Box
- Tamper Mat

Not sure whether to go all the way and get the scales too... Any recommendations?
Click to expand...

Scales is a must, if you want consistency then you need to be accurate in the amount of coffee you are putting in.
Knock box is next on the list as handy.
Tamping mat you can do without, depending on the portafilter. I used to just tamp a double spout one on the counter resting on a towel.

Bottomless portafilter is useful to see your extraction, not a must but useful.

But a set of scales first and start weighing your amount of coffee you are putting in. If it's 14g one shot and 20g then next then there is just no way you can get the consistency that you need.
 
Yeah scales are the best thing I purchased for our BE. When I first got it I would just pour a bag of beans into the grinder and just let it do it automatically. Since weighing before each shot and timing, it's got more consistent.
 
tbh my flat kitchen scales 3kg 1g, after I had checked their accuracy with coins, are fine for bean weigh; yes, no timer,
but, moving scales around under the cup and doing a warming shot, on an hx machine, aren't too compatible.

- cups are missing from the list - haven't gone back to my Illy cups/others since I bought melitta double walled glass.
 
We have a Delonghi Magnifica S (ECAM22.110.SB) you can pick one up for around £300. It's pretty good, perhaps a tiny bit bitter on espresso shots (over extracted) so
it took a while to find a bean I was happy with (settled on Machu Picchu). It's pretty easy to clean / service as well.
 
We have a Delonghi Magnifica and its very good, we have had different makes over the years but Delonghi seem to be the best.
Whichever one you have it does take a while before you get the proper flavour for some reason, thats without continually adjusting it
 
Barista Express - Had mine about 6 years now I think - bomb proof. Daily use, never missed a beat. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend or buy again.
 
Ayahuasca said:
I wouldn't do it straight away but you can mod the BE grinder to be step-less.
Click to expand...

You got details of this? Our one at work always delivers too much ground coffee even on the lowest amount setting.

And as above, I think I win the bombproof test; had it for over 2 years in an office of 12 people all having 2-3 coffees a day on average (bar 6 months of lockdowns). Replaced a filter ring that split and that's it and we treat it like absolute **** as you can imagine in an office.

Also got one at home but that's treated like a Queen in comparison.
 
Bottomless portafilter has been spraying all over the place. Have tried a few things which has improved it slightly, but not completely. Each step below slightly improved things:

1. More pressure on tamping. I had originally thought it only required a very light tamp but now I see the region of 15kg/30lb force being required.
2. Finer bean grinding
3. Moved the ground coffee around within the filter, with a cocktail stick, prior to tamping

Before each of these steps it would shoot jets of coffee almost instantly, which isn't fun. It still shoots jets of coffee at random points and angles, but only a few seconds from the end.

My next step is to weight the ground coffee and see if different weights affect it. After that I would be looking into mods such as pressure reduction. I'm not really one to void warranties though so it will take me a few weeks of deliberating I'd imagine.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Scales is a must, if you want consistency then you need to be accurate in the amount of coffee you are putting in.
Knock box is next on the list as handy.
Tamping mat you can do without, depending on the portafilter. I used to just tamp a double spout one on the counter resting on a towel.

Bottomless portafilter is useful to see your extraction, not a must but useful.

But a set of scales first and start weighing your amount of coffee you are putting in. If it's 14g one shot and 20g then next then there is just no way you can get the consistency that you need.
Click to expand...

I really should have just taken this advice rather than going my own way. We're having another coffee with our late lunch, I'll try weighing the coffee then.

Got some Rave beans arriving soon, ordered yesterday morning so probably arriving tomorrow. Apparently it could be the beans I'm using that are adding to the issue. They're just Costco San Francisco Bay beans if I remember correctly.
 
Cadder said:
I really should have just taken this advice rather than going my own way. We're having another coffee with our late lunch, I'll try weighing the coffee then.

Got some Rave beans arriving soon, ordered yesterday morning so probably arriving tomorrow. Apparently it could be the beans I'm using that are adding to the issue. They're just Costco San Francisco Bay beans if I remember correctly.
Click to expand...

You won’t get it right the first time weighing the beans. Adjust 1 variables out of these at a time. If you change more than 1 at a time then you won’t know what made the biggest difference.

1 - Weight
2 - Size of the Ground (or how fine the ground is on the grinder setting)
3 - Pressure from the machine
4 - Tamping pressure (some debate that this don’t matter as much).
 
It's been 7 months now and I have learned so much in my time as a Sage BE owner :cry:

The accessories I use are:
- Scales
- Dosing cup
- Dosing funnel
- Distributor/Tamper (heavy little thing)
- Tamping Mat

The dosing cup and funnel are really useful, especially since I was flinging ground coffee everywhere before I bought them.

I'm knocking out some awesome espressos now that we've followed some Hoffman YT vids. Latte art is also coming on well, thanks to Hedrick.

Still using beans from Rave - loving the Indian Monsoon Malabar at the moment.

Edit: and now I feel silly because my thread title was about bean to cup coffee machines, not espresso machines. :p
 
Cadder said:
It's been 7 months now and I have learned so much in my time as a Sage BE owner :cry:

The accessories I use are:
- Scales
- Dosing cup
- Dosing funnel
- Distributor/Tamper (heavy little thing)
- Tamping Mat

The dosing cup and funnel are really useful, especially since I was flinging ground coffee everywhere before I bought them.

I'm knocking out some awesome espressos now that we've followed some Hoffman YT vids. Latte art is also coming on well, thanks to Hedrick.

Still using beans from Rave - loving the Indian Monsoon Malabar at the moment.

Edit: and now I feel silly because my thread title was about bean to cup coffee machines, not espresso machines. :p
Click to expand...

Would you mind sharing links to the accessory items you purchased?

I am very new to this and on the hunt for the right scales etc. :)
 
I’ve had the Sage BE for 5 years now and it hasn’t missed a beat doing at least 2 x 2 double shots a day.

When it goes I’d definitely buy a double boiler version so I could speed up my routine as all Barrista work falls to me.

Ny only complaint with the BE is that it struggles with consistency when producing multiple shots in one go but it’s not designed for commercial (style) use.
 
Ninco! said:
Would you mind sharing links to the accessory items you purchased?

I am very new to this and on the hunt for the right scales etc. :)
Click to expand...

Tamping matt, something like this is fine.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silicone-N...uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl


Dosing Cup.

This looks good?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Espresso-W...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

Dosing funnel I would get a magnetic one.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Haorw-Prod...fix=dosing+funnel+54mm+magnetic,aps,69&sr=8-5
 
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