SageThe Barista Touch - Bean to Cup Coffee Machine with Grinder and Milk Frother, Black Truffle

Seriously good bit of kit that will still take an element of trial and error when first used. As much as this machine is semi-automated with the simplification of touchscreen controls, the trial and error comes from the getting the coffee beans right through to the tamp/extraction/pour/crema etc. Any feedback you’ve seen online stating that this machine doesn’t work correctly is wrong. A poor workman blames their tools and this runs true with this so if you’re getting poor results you’re not getting it right.My learning experience has taught me this. Heat the portafilter prior to the grind so submerse it hot water beforehand. The quality of the beans are critical to the grind and subsequent extraction so generally supermarket bought beans are not that good. Find a supplier of freshly roasted beans that have been roasted with a roast date of less than a month - ideally within a week. It’s all about the roast date unlike supermarket bought expiry dates. I get decent-ish results with supermarket bought Illy beans (vacuum sealed tin) but nowhere near as as good with freshly roasted.I’ve found that single variety beans don’t produce consistency so I stick to using an Espresso blend. I’ve found by doing this you refine the process and no longer need to experiment with your settings.Grind setting needs to be in the 8-12 range dependent on the bean. Finer grind for supermarket bought, coarser grind for freshly roasted. Default settings for the type of coffee are generally accurate although sometimes you need to up the dose and deliver more coffee dependent on the beans. A firm tamp is needed but getting a feel for this is trial and error. Remember to purge the machine before attaching the portafilter. The milk frother is a no-brainer.Suffice to say this is an excellent machine that I use daily and well worth the money. Just got to put some effort in and you’ll be rewarded.

This fantastic sage coffee machine is very compact and quite heavy, the functionality is very easy to use just touch the digital screen to select what strength you want and the machine will grind the coffee beans automatically to get you the best tasting coffee, the water capacity is very good, the build quality is second to none, and the noise level is not bad either,

Beautiful machine, looks lovely in our kitchen.Pretty easy to get going with to be fair. Get the water filter and hardness test done and then there's a great walkthrough guide to get started on the screen.Now the learning begins - I wasted approx 1kg of beans trying to get a nice slow 60ml double espresso in approx 30 secs. Could not get it to stop flowing like water even on the finest grind setting. Watery, weak, rubbish coffee.I was on the verge of giving up and packing the machine up and sending it back.Was it the grind?Was it my tamping - Too hard/Not hard enough?I just didn't get it....I then happened to see an Oracle Touch youtube video that explained that you could remove the conical burr grinder adjustment (located underneath the bean hopper) and adjust that to a finer grind - I changed it from the default 6 to 3 and put it back in - et voila - I was able to get nice "warm runny honey" flow on grind setting 6/7 using the wheel on the side for about 18 seconds grind time. Tamp firmly and use the razor to level off.Now my coffee is wonderful, rich and smooth.The milk frother is brilliant and gives the most silky smooth microfoam - this is so easy because you just fill your jug and set it down on the correct spot and it does all the work for you.Now every coffee bean will be slightly different so the tinkering and adjusting will never end or stop but that's why you buy this kind of machine right?I buy my coffee beans from Rave Coffee - try the signature blend, perfect for espresso!

I considering this machine vs the Barista Pro.For me, the fact that this is is smaller in size was important.The settings are the same as the pro, however the touch and on screen guidance makes it very easy to use.Milk fothering is amazingly good, it has a temperature sensor for the milk and it is very hard to distinguish between it and an expert barista ...It ramps up quickly.U will have some learning curve if u have not done this before...But u will get there.I received it to Israel in 5 days from order - fatser than local :)I still haven't been able to dial it perfectly to single shots, but the coffee is very good.For those who like coffee with milk, this is a better choice than the Barista pro.It also sits quite nicely in our kitchen, and since bought, more coffee is being consumed .I also got a bonus of 75 pound worth of coffee, waiting for my 1st shipmeng to arrive.Do make sure u use fresh coffee, as it impacts the taste :)