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Gregry254

Gregry254

Gregry254

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At the moment I have a 5/6 year old Nespresso machine at home and I am looking for an upgrade. Generally I will drink a flat white type drink.

Top of the list at the moment is the Sage Barista Express. Is this the best bang for buck? Should I be looking at seperate grinder and espresso machine? Budget around £500-600 mark.
 
I have used this one since Nov 2019. It is pretty decent while the price was £470 ish.

However, the volume programme sometimes does not work properly, such as never stop or stop too early. Now, I simply use a scale and stop manually.
Apart from that, I think it just does the job.

If you drink pourover, you may need a separate grinder as the coarsest setting is still too fine for making a pourover.

Hope this helpful and happy to answer questions re this one :D
 
I would go for separate machine and grinder, then you always have the option to upgrade individually later on, also if one fails the replacement is easier.

I started off with the Sage Duo Temp and Smart Grinder Pro, then upgraded the grinder to a Niche Zero, I wasn't expecting it to be any different but it was a huge upgrade.

The Sage machines are plenty for most people and was a great starting point for me.
 
Barista Express is ace in that price range but don’t worry about a separate grinder if your making flat white as you’ll be drowning all the coffee in milk so won’t taste the benefit:P
 
Spend all the money on a grinder and then get a v60 for pour over coffee.

The grinder is by far the most important bit (along with the beans). Unfortunately the grinders in the dual machines are trash, you are much better off getting them separately. I'd suggest spending more on the grinder, something like the Eureka Mignon Silenzio is about £315 leaving you about £200 odd - looks like you can get the sage bambino plus for that sort of money on offer (if your lucky).

Otherwise you can spend a bit more on the machine and go cheaper on the grinder, the lelit Fred or Iberital MC2 are a good place to start grinder wise.
 
Do you want more work, do you want to learn about how to foam milk?
Do you want the maintenance of an espresso machine? Descaling, cleaning, changing the seals etc

Upgrading from a consumer convenience orientated machine into an All-In-One is probably the easier step to accept than a separate grinder and espresso machine. It goes from being an appliance into a hobby. Fine if you are looking for that but do it eyes open or you will get fustrated and annoyed.

chroniclard said:
£300 for a grinder? :cry: Think ours was £60, what does another £240 get me......
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Better coffee (espresso).
 
chroniclard said:
Video too long. £300 grinder is still a lolworthy recommendation, its almost gold HDMI cable level.
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He is only recommending what the OP's budget allows. Like any hobby, the sky's the ceiling and if you are not into it, the prices will almost always look insane.

£10,000 for a guitar?! You can get one for £500, same shape, 6 strings!
£300 for a ginder? You can actually spend 10x that if you want, people do.
Or spend £1500 on a kitchen knife etc.
£10,000 for a watch? What's wrong with a £100 Seiko?

All the cheaper options do the same thing, rules of diminishing returns applies. At some point they all go from utility to luxury goods. The way they work and workflow becomes a part of the selling point, that part is more untangible and where the price difference is. If I have to explain it then I have already lost you and no point trying to convince you, especially when you go "video too long". You simply do not want to understand.

p.s. I think £300 digital cables are for fools.
 
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chroniclard said:
Video too long. £300 grinder is still a lolworthy recommendation, its almost gold HDMI cable level.
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£300 is still relatively mid range for a grinder. As with most things culinary related better tools WILL give you better results. It is pretty much unarguable that the grinding process is fundamentally the best way to get good coffee. It almost starts and ends with it in fact, so much so that you could pair it with a £5 V60 pour over and get an astoundingly good cup of coffee. It's all about consistency of the grind as well as the grind size in general. Generally speaking if you pay more, you'll be able to play with more of those variables and do more as a result. A gold HDMI cable has next to no return on investment, a good grinder does.
 
I think the OP needs to outline what his preference here is before people go down the rabbit hole - upgrading from a Nespresso there's a big gap between retaining the 'one touch' convenience but noticeable improvement of a bean-to-cup machine to 'coffee enthusiast' level £300 grinders and spending 5 minutes pouring water over a V60 bit by bit.
 
Get great results with a £60 grinder, consistent every time with around 10 levels of grind. :) Decent beans have more impact for me than the grinder, albeit not some uber cheap blade "grinder".
 
chroniclard said:
Get great results with a £60 grinder, consistent every time with around 10 levels of grind. :) Decent beans have more impact for me than the grinder, albeit not some uber cheap blade "grinder".
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Like i said, if you can't taste the difference, save your money.

It doesn't mean however others can't appreciate it.
 
chroniclard said:
Is just placebo/trying to justify unnecessary purchases and coffee snobbery. :D
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The only way you can tell is trying it yourself but you can actually test extraction via science and more even extraction is better, it's not may be, it just is. How it translates to your tastebuds however, that i can't say.
 
chroniclard said:
Get great results with a £60 grinder, consistent every time with around 10 levels of grind. :) Decent beans have more impact for me than the grinder, albeit not some uber cheap blade "grinder".
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Whats the grinder & whats it paired with? Your correct in so far as the beans will make a difference, regardless of the grinder, but the quality of the grinder dictates what you get out of the beans as well as how much control you have over the end result.

A cheap blade or bur grinder will give inconsistent results in so far as giving lots of fines and boulders - this means you get over and under extracted sections of the coffee, causing extra bitterness or sourness. It also tends to have issues with retention, ie old grounds getting stuck in the machine giving stale flavours.

If your not tasting these things then yer, don't upgrade :)
 
May be some benefit but just seems silly to wade straight in with a £300 grinder recommendation when you can get probably a high percentage as good coffee from a grinder 1/3 of the price. :p

FYI I have this, paid £65, its down to £50 at the moment on Amazon, works great.


Actually due a espresso machine upgrade as its getting old, might try a better grinder (£80 one at least!). :p
 
Kenai said:
I think the OP needs to outline what his preference here is before people go down the rabbit hole
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I was originally looking at something like the Sage Barista Express where you would grind the beans, get them into a basket and make the coffee that way. I have looked at the AeroPress as well as the V60 but keep going back to an espresso machine with steam wand for milk. We got a bean to cup machine in work a few years ago and I wasn't impressed with it to be honest, I can't remember the brand but it was around £500 reduced from £1000 at the time.


If the grinder is the most important part I could splash out on a decent one now and use an AeroPress until there are deals to be had on the Sage Dual Temp/Bambino Plus.
 
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