Who are they for? People who value cup quality as highly as convenience. If bean to cup machines and pod machines don't quite cut it for you, but you want the kind of convenience and user experience of using a premium bean to cup coffee machine, then you're one of the people Sage have made these machines for. It has proven in many SCACE tests to be similar in temperature stability to saturated group espresso machines including the La Marzocco GS3, which is about six grand! Who are they for? These machines are best suited to people who want to get into the home barista hobby, and who see a coffee machine as more than just means to an end. Many people who buy one of these Sage coffee machines think they're buying a machine with at least partial assistance, which can cause frustration, as there's no assistance. The only difference between these and standard traditional setups is that the grinder is integrated. You can pull similar shots with the Dual Boiler simply by changing the preinfusion power to the minimum setting of 55 (via the LCD) and then pressing and holding the manual button, which keeps the machine in pre-infusion until you take your finger off the button, which you'd do when you start to see the first drips of espresso.

The machine assists you on getting the perfect dose volume (the height of the ground coffee) in the basket the first time you use it (or whenever you change beans or substantially change the grind size), and it then learns how long to grind for each time so you can forget about it. If you're using a lightly roasted bean, and you decide to up the brew temp to 96C for instance, when the LCD tells you you're getting 96C, you're going to be getting this temperature with almost unrivalled accuracy (unrivalled I'd say until you spend over double or possibly even triple the price). If this does happen, which would be diagnosed if you've got water leaking through the group and you changed the rubber seal but that didn't fix it, it's a very simple part, but it's fairly labour intensive, as you'll need to remove the brew boiler. It actually looks fairly straight-forward, I'm sure I could do it – and that's saying something – but it doesn't look like a five-minute job. Vs heat exchanger and dual boiler machines, the main con for single boiler machines is that you can only do one thing at a time, steam milk or pull the shot. Heat Exchanger Lelit Mara is a heat exchanger espresso machine available for just under a grand. As the dual boiler is a machine which can last a long time and can be maintained and repaired, lots of them have sold reconditioned. This plastic part is actually quite sturdy, I wouldn't imagine it would need changing within a few years.

The barista's choice for home espresso.

Breville Worldwide is the manufacturer, and they sell their coffee machines all over the world, but the Breville brand name was sold in Europe in the 80s, so they can't use that name here, which is why they sell under the “Sage Appliances” brand in the UK and most of Europe. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, and it is less conductive than copper alone but also less expensive and easier to work with. They use it in cheaper machines with small brew boilers. I think it's a brilliant machine regardless of your home barista skill, being just as good a choice for seasoned home baristas as for folk who are yet to pull their first shot. All of these settings means that you’ll need to make quite a few shots of espresso while you fine-tune your machine, but it’s totally worth it. Once we’d got The Dual Boiler set up properly, we got, hands-down, the best results we’ve had with any espresso machine so far. Perfect, red-brown crema sat on top of our shot of espresso, which is dark and rich in colour showing excellent extraction from our ground coffee. At 68C, the shot was just about perfect temperature wise, with additional shots coming out at the same temperature. Sage has used PID (proportional-integral-derivative) controllers for its boilers, which ensure that they deliver at a consistent temperature. If you're the kind of coffee lover who wants true espresso, and mega milk quality, but you don't want to have to do loads of learning and turn coffee into a hobby, instead you want the kind of user experience you'd have with a premium touch screen bean to cup coffee machine, then this new breed of coffee machine from Sage will be right up your street.

Litre drip tray capacity – with an “Empty Me” indicator | Big drip tray means fewer trips to the sink to empty it, and the empty me indicator means you don't forget to empty it and end up with an over flowing drip tray. Why this isn't a standard feature I don't know OK so Sage are great when it comes to the little things I've mentioned above, but there are some really big things they've innovated with the Sage dual boiler. Burton, G. (2011, January 11). The E61 Group Head: An Oldie but a Goodie. Retrieved from https://fivesenses.com.au/blogs/news/the-e61-group-head-an-oldie-but-a-goodie grams dose for full flavour. Achieve a consistent and balanced espresso using the right amount of ground coffee. The 58mm porta-filter with 19-22 grams is the key for full flavour and third wave specialty coffee. If you mainly drink espresso and have little requirement to steam milk, or if you drink milkies but only have one or two per day, then this isn't really a big deal in my humble opinion.

Not only can you tweak and save the milk texture and temperature for each drink, but you can choose a default milk or milk alternative type (Moo, Oat, Soy, Almond) and the texture levels and temperatures are automatically tweaked accordingly. In my opinion, the Sage Dual Boiler is for anyone who wants to get into the home barista hobby, regardless of experience. I think it's just as good a choice for the absolute beginner home barista as it is for the seasoned home barista. The little “Empty Me” paddle that pops up when the drip tray is full, it just makes sense, and you'd think drip tray full indicators would be a standard thing, but they're definitely not. Precise and repeatable extraction. Dual stainless steel boilers and heated group head controlled by digital temperature control (PID) brings water to precisely the right temperature (+/- 1⁰C) to extract maximum flavor potential, shot after shot. Stanley, Z. (2022, June 20). How does temperature stability affect espresso extraction? Retrieved from https://perfectdailygrind.com/2022/06/how-does-temperature-stability-affect-espresso/

If you’re more of a grab-and-go coffee enthusiast, bean-to-cup machines can save a lot of time and effort as they can grind and brew your coffee at the touch of a button. More affordable models come with steam wands that require you to manually steam the milk in a jug and add it to an espresso, whereas the milk carafes found on pricier models open the door to cappuccinos, flat whites and more at the touch of a button.

There are single boiler machines, heat exchanger machines, and dual boiler machines. Single Boiler The Sage Barista Express is a single boiler espresso machine. What do they make? Espresso and all the espresso-based coffee shop favourites, including cappuccino, latte, flat white & americano.

Manual espresso has a reputation for being fiddly, messy and difficult to master, but Sage’s Barista Touch Impress changes everything – this ingenious machine guides your hand every step of the way. You can tweak the settings (grind size and ratio) to make something closer to true espresso, but the majority of home bean to cup machines don't quite produce “true” espresso that would cut the mustard for someone who's really into their espresso.

Very visible, LED lit water level indicator | Again, why this isn't standard I don't know, but it's great to be able to see when you need to refill the tank The first thing to keep in mind is that this is a home barista espresso machine – that is, it's a traditional espresso machine, which will require home barista skills to operate.