Coffee. Grinder and Cafetiere or Pods in a machine

[Sway]

fizz47 said:

Fed up with the nespresso - third machine that’s stopped working. Coffee not great either..

While I would love some of the set ups mentioned here unfortunately with family needs, limited kitchen space, convienience I can’t go down the full manual route which I would love to do…

Thinking of getting this machine…


https://www.johnlewis.com/sage-barista-touch-baris...

Anyone had any experience ?

Also I’m not paying £1000… I can get a brand new one for about £550.

Edited by fizz47 on Friday 2nd September 07:51

I've just picked up a Sage Barista Pro. Don't see what the touch adds for the extra dosh...

Took a fair amount of dialling in. The beans I managed to pick up today are pretty crap - yet once dialled in the coffee tastes bloody good.

Couple of things I think are necessary. I've just ordered a dosing funnel off amazon. The amount of spillage is very annoying, so adding a lot of 'headspace' for the grinder seems a no brainer. I also ordered a stick on thermometer for the milk jug. Annoyingly, the Express has this as standard.

Can't wait to pick up some decent beans on Tuesday - then spend another hour dialling those in...

[AlexC1981]

I've gone a bit coffee mad lately. It started with a Dolce Gusto machine and handheld frother that I've been using to make cappuccinos, flat whites and lattes. I want to upgrade my lattes by steaming the milk to create proper microfoam, rather than the bubbly stuff that I've been making with the handheld frother.

Standalone wand steamers are really expensive, so I've ordered a refurbished Delonghi EC230.BK espresso machine, mainly for the steam wand. It's unusual for a low priced machine to have a standard pipe-type wand similar to that on a commercial machine. Most consumer espresso machines have wands designed to make large cappuccino bubbles, rather than smooth microfoam that is better for lattes.

Also unusual for a low-end machine, it comes with unpressurised baskets. So I would need a high quality grinder to get good espresso out of it.

I'm not really interested in the faff of making proper espresso. One of the things I like about my Dolce Gusto machine over Nespresso is that it requires no cleaning apart from the odd descale. Every Nespresso machine I've seen has a grimy looking pod hole.

If I become more interested in making coffee from scratch, then I'll get a good grinder. When the machine arrives I'll probably end up buying a pressurised basket and some ESE pods for it, which should be fun to compare to my Dolce Gusto.

There does not seem to be much love for ESE pods. I like that you can just chuck them in with the compost or food waste when you are done. Whilst they will not be a fresh as freshly ground, I think that they should keep better than a big bag of pre-ground coffee will.

[pavarotti1980]

Any recommendations for nespresso pods. Fed up of paying top dollar for the Nespresso ones direct and given up on the cheap ones from Lidl, Amazon etc as they are just too bitter

[Blown2CV]

pavarotti1980 said:

Any recommendations for nespresso pods. Fed up of paying top dollar for the Nespresso ones direct and given up on the cheap ones from Lidl, Amazon etc as they are just too bitter

many of the online places such as Pact put their coffee into compatible pods.

[pavarotti1980]

Blown2CV said:

many of the online places such as Pact put their coffee into compatible pods.

Ah excellent. Had some of their filter coffee and that was decent

[Blown2CV]

pavarotti1980 said:

Blown2CV said:

many of the online places such as Pact put their coffee into compatible pods.

Ah excellent. Had some of their filter coffee and that was decent

i think for your first order they throw in some kind of free gifts such as a V60 and filters so you can see the difference.

[AlexC1981]

I've really come to appreciate steamed and properly frothed milk since I got my espresso machine with a steam wand.

I need to try some more settings on the Aeroccino machine we have at work as a comparison. I tried it on the maximum foam setting and it made loads of tasteless foam that sat on top of the milk. Nowhere near as good as the creamy foamy milk that I've been making with a steam wand.

[tim0409]

pavarotti1980 said:

Any recommendations for nespresso pods. Fed up of paying top dollar for the Nespresso ones direct and given up on the cheap ones from Lidl, Amazon etc as they are just too bitter

It’s been discussed on the Nespresso thread; I buy Starbucks pods from Discount Dragon (formerly Yankee Bundles). They are cheap because they are close to their sell by date but I doubt it matters much especially at £17 for 120 pods -

https://discountdragon.co.uk/product/120-x-starbuc...

[Blown2CV]

tim0409 said:

pavarotti1980 said:

Any recommendations for nespresso pods. Fed up of paying top dollar for the Nespresso ones direct and given up on the cheap ones from Lidl, Amazon etc as they are just too bitter

It’s been discussed on the Nespresso thread; I buy Starbucks pods from Discount Dragon (formerly Yankee Bundles). They are cheap because they are close to their sell by date but I doubt it matters much especially at £17 for 120 pods -

https://discountdragon.co.uk/product/120-x-starbuc...

yea but the guy was saying he wanted better tasting ones, not cheaper ones.

[tim0409]

Blown2CV said:

yea but the guy was saying he wanted better tasting ones, not cheaper ones.

I read it that he wants better tasting ones than the cheap capsules from Lidl, which Starbucks arguably are (although I concede they are not nearly as nice as Nespresso).

[RanchoGrande]

Sway said:

I've just picked up a Sage Barista Pro. Don't see what the touch adds for the extra dosh...

Took a fair amount of dialling in. The beans I managed to pick up today are pretty crap - yet once dialled in the coffee tastes bloody good.

Couple of things I think are necessary. I've just ordered a dosing funnel off amazon. The amount of spillage is very annoying, so adding a lot of 'headspace' for the grinder seems a no brainer. I also ordered a stick on thermometer for the milk jug. Annoyingly, the Express has this as standard.

Can't wait to pick up some decent beans on Tuesday - then spend another hour dialling those in...

Touch adds auto milk frothing! I find it's super useful as it does it perfectly every time.

[Sway]

RanchoGrande said:

Touch adds auto milk frothing! I find it's super useful as it does it perfectly every time.

Gotcha!

I'm quite liking learning how to froth... Admittedly currently not always getting it as right as I'd like.

This morning though - managed to make a cortado indistinguishable (to my palate) to the ones I get from my local superb cafe. Using the same beans they do, which obviously helps.

[giblet]

I’ve decided I want a Barista Pro just trying to find a reasonably priced one. Some questionable condition refurbs available on eBay that are missing parts so I’m looking for a lightly used one in good condition instead

[RanchoGrande]

giblet said:

I’ve decided I want a Barista Pro just trying to find a reasonably priced one. Some questionable condition refurbs available on eBay that are missing parts so I’m looking for a lightly used one in good condition instead

I picked up a refurbished touch via ebay and it was like brand new with nothing missing. Think it was around £600. I did note at the time that there were a lot of pro's for sale with missing bits, my guess is that most of them are customer returns as I reckon people don't realise that you need to put a bit of effort into making coffee with one of these.

[giblet]

Had a look at the pro and the touch at my local John Lewis store today. Sage rep was there so had a nice chat about the range and he even made me a flat white on the Pro so I could get a better idea on the process.

For the money it seems like the perfect grinder and machine combo all in one unit. Smallish footprint too

[Sway]

Really impressed with mine. Have manually adjusted the burrs to suit the beans I get from local place - quick and simple job.

I'd also recommend this for anyone with a Sage grinder. Stops any overspill whilst grinding and tamping.

https://amzn.eu/d/0NBc5ux

[Teddy Lop]

Delonghi b2cs making funny noises. Need to pin down what the replacement will look like.

Any thoughts on a pairing of the sage smart grinder and duo espresso?

Reason for the grinder being I want the early morning weekday "uuuggh press button give me coffee" of b2c levels which aside from rinsing the portafilter (no hardship and maybe an upgrade over the way the delonghi utterly soils itself internally) this seems a morning zombie friendly setup?

Barrista pro combines in one unit.. but for a couple hundred more...?

Anything I'm missing?

[pokethepope]

Teddy Lop said:

Delonghi b2cs making funny noises. Need to pin down what the replacement will look like.

Any thoughts on a pairing of the sage smart grinder and duo espresso?

Reason for the grinder being I want the early morning weekday "uuuggh press button give me coffee" of b2c levels which aside from rinsing the portafilter (no hardship and maybe an upgrade over the way the delonghi utterly soils itself internally) this seems a morning zombie friendly setup?

Barrista pro combines in one unit.. but for a couple hundred more...?

Anything I'm missing?

I know it's not an answer to the question you are asking, but one of the real benefits of the Delonghi B2C's is the availablity and affordable price of spares.

[audi321]

What's you guys think of Nespresso Vertuo machines? They're £65 here and apparently half price subscription for 6 months and a free frother via the Nespresso website.

Or are they just glorified Tassimo machines? They supposedly have a patent on the design of 'centrifugal force' to extract the coffee for another 5 years (meaning no one can copy the pods in this time).

Edited by audi321 on Monday 19th September 20:43

[RobbieTheTruth]

audi321 said:

What's you guys think of Nespresso Vertuo machines? They're £65 here and apparently half price subscription for 6 months and a free frother via the Nespresso website.

Or are they just glorified Tassimo machines? They supposedly have a patent on the design of 'centrifugal force' to extract the coffee for another 5 years (meaning no one can copy the pods in this time).

Edited by audi321 on Monday 19th September 20:43

Glorified Tassimo.

If you drink instant, it's a big upgrade and you'll enjoy it.

If you're looking for anything like a coffee from a good independent coffee shop, you'll be disappointed.