Sage the Dual Boiler Espresso Machine, Coffee Machine with Milk Frother, BES920UK - Brushed Stainless Steel, Silver

Product Information

So just be aware, any coffee machine selling in the UK with “Breville” on the box, will not be a Sage coffee machine, it's a completely different brand. This gives you a lot of control over the shot and makes it possible to pull different shots to the usual zero or short preinfusion and a 25-30 second shot time. The coffee grinder is incredibly important, anyone who knows their stuff will tell you that, so if you're thinking of buying the Sage Dual Boiler, you'll need to carefully consider which grinder to pair it with. The Dynamic Duo

A milk carafe connects via a small tube, and this allows the Barista TS Smart to serve up a range of milk-based coffees at the touch of a button. Simply choose your drink and the Melitta grinds, brews, steams and pours the results into your cup – it’s a digital barista on your kitchen worktop. I've read a few complaints online about bigger issues, usually outside of warranty, and in many cases, I suspect that these have been caused due to very insignificant issues such as a worn internal O-ring leading to some internal leaking which then causes a much bigger problem. The Dual Boiler from Sage is a serious machine aimed at people who want the full coffee shop experience at home. It’s exceptionally well made, has industrial-quality components and comes with dual boilers so you can steam milk and pour espresso at the same time. 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.I class the shot quality potential of the Oracle & Oracle Touch to be about on parr with that of the Sage Dual Boiler paired with the Sage Smart Grinder Pro, which is good – but not as good as if you paired it with a more premium espresso specialist grinder costing 2-3 times the cost of the Sage Smart Grinder Pro. Anyway, I've used and reviewed various other Sage coffee machines over the past few years, but the Sage Dual Boiler is the one that has got away until now.

While it did get on my nerves, to begin with, this isn't the fault of Sage, and as I mentioned earlier, although it's an annoyance it's probably a good thing. If you’re someone who prefers their coffee served with milk, then your next coffee machine really should be equipped with a built-in milk frother. You can buy standalone milk frothers that both heat and froth the milk, but these are markedly inferior to the built-in milk frothers found on the machines recommended here. While a machine with a fully manual steam wand will give the best results once you get the hang of it, there are plenty of automatic and semi-automatic alternatives that can serve up beautifully steamed, frothy milk at the touch of a button.

Litre water tank, filled from the top at the front or by removing the tank from the rear | Big tank with different filling options means less filling and less faff. Grinding slightly finer than I usually would (At the moment I'm using my Cranberry & Pomegranate blend, at approx grind size 7 on the Niche Zero, and I'd usually be at around 9 for this coffee) But if you want to get closer and closer to your perfect flat white, latte or cappuccino, you can tweak these settings until you're happy with it, and then save that exact setting as a new drink. The Breville brand is owned in the UK by an American firm called Newell Brands, and they sell coffee machines using the Breville brand, but they are not the same as the Sage coffee machines that sell as Breville in other parts of the world. OK, that's not really my nutshell review ;-), but it is my overall opinion – as long as you're looking for a home barista espresso machine, not bean to cup. There's really not much that competes in terms of these kinds of features for this kind of money.

This was Sage's first machine in this category, it's their most expensive coffee machine, and it really is a premium machine. It's based on the Sage Dual boiler, my home espresso machine, in my opinion one of, if not THE best espresso machine on the market at anywhere close to what it sells for, at least where performance and flexibility is concerned. The Oracle touch does have more grind settings, 45 vs 30, which gives you a bit more ability to finely tune the grind size, in reality though I've found the touch impress does a really good job of dialing in, and the fact that it tells you what to change the grind size too is a big plus for the Touch Impress.Internal cable tidy | So any cable not required is stored inside the rear of the machine, rather than looking messy