Sage BES100GBUK the Knock Box Mini Coffee Grind Bin, Silver

Product Information

I've done bottomless portafilter shots, too, trying to see the difference that WDT makes to the shot as it's often easier to see the more subtle channeling (very small spurters) in the shot than it is to taste the difference and to be honest the tests are inconclusive, but as I say, I suspect it does slightly improve consistency, and I certainly have never seen any evidence of WDT having a negative impact. Leveller If you're somewhere in between the home barista and the automatic machine user, but you want mega cup quality, then the Sage Barista Touch , the Barista Express Impress, or the all new Sage Barista Touch Impress may be perfect for you. They need it to wake up (or at least think they do) and don't really care all that much about how it tastes. This category of coffee machine users are what I refer to as “normal” coffee drinkers, and I'm not having a go at this kind of coffee drinker, not at all, in fact, I think this kind of person has a perfectly normal relationship with coffee, it's geeks like me that are weird! 😉 If we're talking about the espresso machines that are really made for the hands-off user, we're really talking about the Sage Oracle Touch, and you don't need a tamper for that as it tamps for you, using the internal tamping fan. The Oracle also has a tamping fan and takes care of the tamping for you, so you don't need a manual tamper for the Oracle either.

It's as if the marketing department of some of these brands have been given one brief, and the manufacturing team has been given another, leading to other machines being sold as if to provide the same kind of cup quality and experience of the immensely popular Sage coffee machines, but they just don't come anywhere close. Again, if you like you can swap out the shower screen, the metal mesh part where the water drips from, with a compatible shower screen, and as with the baskets, you can do that if you like, but it's unlikely to make a big difference, and whether any difference means an improvement, is down to personal taste. Freshly Roasted Coffee Beans Our next selection is the Grindenstein – the flagship product for Australian kitchen appliance inventors Dreamfarm, who have been innovating and creating handy gadgets since 2003.It may seem a bit technical to introduce brew scales to the mix, but it's really not. All you need to do is tare the portafilter on the scales before you pull the shot, note the dose weight, and then put your cup on the scales and tare before the machine pulls the shot for you, so you can see what volume of espresso you're getting. This allows you to know what ratio you're getting, meaning the amount of espresso vs the amount of ground coffee. Obviously, someone can move from one category to the other. I certainly did, I was a very normal coffee drinker up until about 2014/2015 when I started to dip my toes in the proverbial rabbit hole, which is what prompted me to start this blog, almost straight away, just as a hobby for the first few years. Our range of support options ensure you experience an easy and hassle free process when you need to talk to us about your Product Care ™ plan. Whether you are experiencing a fault, or wanting to redeem your entitlements, we will provide you with guidance and support every step of the way. Advantage

On emptying though, a nice little touch from Dreamfarm is that you get a little booklet which details how to use coffee grinds as a natural fertiliser – it’s nothing that you couldn’t find on the internet, but it’s handy to have there. A dosing ring simply makes it easier to get all of your ground coffee into the basket where you want it to be, and if you're using a WDT tool, you'll find it very difficult to do that without a ring, without spilling your ground coffee all over the place. Upgraded Basket Or, should I say, on any coffee machine. The Grindenstein has been specially designed to fit on an espresso machine’s drip tray, meaning that it won’t take up any extra room on your work surface. It measures just 10.2×10.2×10.2 centimetres, so won’t have any trouble fitting in – although obviously this does mean that you may end up emptying it quite often. The Weiss Distribution Technique (WDT) reduces the chance of channeling by breaking up coffee clumps and evenly distributing the coffee in the basket. It's particularly useful if your grinder produces clumps, which most of the more entry-level grinders will do especially when having to grind particularly fine. If you have the Sage Oracle or Oracle Touch, or one of the “in-between” machines from Sage that, as I've mentioned, kind of straddle the home barista and hands-off machine user market, then you'll need a milk jug as all of these machines have a steam wand. They all come with Sage milk jugs, though, so you don't need to buy one.I'm starting off with the most obvious tools and accessories for home barista espresso, so if you're already familiar with most of these, and/or you already have most of them, then just scroll down a bit to the likes of the WDT, RDT, Shower Screens, Mods and so on, that may be what you came here to find. Coffee Grinder I'm sure you've heard of the horses for courses saying, which I'm assuming comes from the horse racing world and relates to the fact that some horses do better on certain courses than others – and it's a good analogy to use for figuring out which coffee machine tools and accessories you might need because as I've mentioned, home espresso really isn't a one size fits all affair. The 9 bar OPV mod changes the pressure limit in the basket from about 13.5 bars to 9 bars. In theory, it's not a big deal. All the over pressure valve does is limits the pressure in the basket to whatever the spring is made to allow, so you can achieve the same aim with the grind size. In reality, having a 9 bar OPV is a big plus, it really makes things easier, and it's very cheap and easy to install. It’s a nice size as well. Measuring 11.5×11.5×12 centimetres, it is big enough for domestic use, but without being so big as to prove a problem to fit on to your kitchen worktop. With its look and size, it won’t look out of place in almost any kitchen. Anyway, just keep in mind that I'm really referring to Sage coffee machine accessories here. If you're looking for accessories for bean to cup coffee machines, the only ones you really need are a milk jug if your machine has a steam wand, and maybe a set of brew scales if you want to aim for a particular ratio (which is possible with Gaggia bean to cup coffee machines, and some other brands which make it clear how much coffee is being ground with each dose setting). Tamper

I know from personal experience (I first fell down the home barista rabbit hole only a handful of years ago), that you start off just thinking you're buying a coffee machine capable of making espresso for Americano, cappuccino, latte, maybe flat white – and then next thing you know, you're confronted with a myriad of tools, gadgets & accessories that you apparently need, since everyone else appears to be buying them. I'm mentioning these machines, by the way, because some people who're looking in the “hands off” category may enjoy the middle ground between hands-off and home barista, which includes the Barista Touch and Barista Express Impress. Leveller In short, this is a really useful item to have in your kitchen. It is also, as you have probably guessed, one of the cheapest items that we’re looking at, so if you’re just after something to do the job, this could be the one for you. Some would say that if you're going to fit a pid you may as well buy an espresso machine that doesn't need modding to include a PID, and while that does make sense for the Rancilio Silvia given that you're actually quite close to the price of the Profitec Go or ECM Casa V by the time you've pidded it, it's not quite true of the Classic.These two categories of people are folk who both enjoy speciality espresso, we could call them speciality espresso drinkers, third-wave coffee drinkers, or espresso connoisseurs (I really don't like that word, though, mainly because I struggle to spell it). That being said, you're not obliged to use the Sage milk jug, obviously, and there are loads of different milk jugs on the market. If you're using a WDT tool, using a leveller after WDT is a good way to make sure that you have a level surface prior to tamping. As with WDT, it's overkill really for the likes of the Oracle or Oracle Touch, but if you are using the WDT method then I think some people may find that also using a leveler after may help with consistency, in a very small way at least. Bottomless Portafilter Most people will make a short trip to the bin, and dispose of that in there. We have all done that at some time, and one or two solid taps is enough to get it into the bin, and out of sight. After all that costs you nothing except the short trip to the bin.