# Sage Oracle Touch grind time



## cewuk (Oct 29, 2020)

Hi all,

I've had a Sage BE for years and loved using it. Sage have kindly agreed to honour the 50% NHS discount that expired a while ago, hence about to go ahead and buy a Sage Oracle Touch as the automation features appeal.

My only sticking point is the seemingly contradictory info on grind time settings. Obviously being able to adjust the grind time to increase/decrease dose is fairly essential. Some reviews state it's possible electronically, others say it isn't and requires removing the tamp fan to adjust the setting mechanically which sounds a massive pain every time I dial in new beans.

Looking at this review it seems to show an electronically adjustable grind timer: https://myvirtualcoffeehouse.com/sage-breville-the-oracle-touch-review#automation

Would anyone that owns the machine be able to confirm either way?

Thanks!


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## TobyAnscombe (Sep 28, 2014)

Yeah. No.

the grind can be adjusted coarse/fine/superfine but it's regulated by the tamp fan.

Dose is always high - 22g but you can get it lower to about 20g by changing the fan height. When I moved mine I got inconsistent shots due to the grind not being consistent. Reset it back to 22g and it's been fine ever since.


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## JenStokes (Nov 25, 2020)

Hi there! I was browsing for NHS discounts and came across your post. My husband works for the NHS too and I missed the 50% offer. SAGE have said they will honour the offer if I can show them that they have honoured an expired offer before! Do you mind letting me know how you got the discount please? Are you happy with the Oracle touch? Many thanks, Jen


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## earthflattener (Jul 27, 2015)

50% discount.... that is amazing! I wish I'd known that several months ago


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## earthflattener (Jul 27, 2015)

JenStokes said:


> Hi there! I was browsing for NHS discounts and came across your post. My husband works for the NHS too and I missed the 50% offer. SAGE have said they will honour the offer if I can show them that they have honoured an expired offer before! Do you mind letting me know how you got the discount please? Are you happy with the Oracle touch? Many thanks, Jen


 As a personal opinion, but I believe shared by others, A Sage Dual Boiler gives you more control, without necessarily adding complication unless you want to start playing games to improve the cup you get. The big downside is that you need a separate grinder, but a lot of people believe that the Sage grinder is not so great in any case. Cost wise, it probably turns out to be the same. Good luck in finding the discount. Was it something they introduced for Covid?


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## cewuk (Oct 29, 2020)

JenStokes said:


> Hi there! I was browsing for NHS discounts and came across your post. My husband works for the NHS too and I missed the 50% offer. SAGE have said they will honour the offer if I can show them that they have honoured an expired offer before! Do you mind letting me know how you got the discount please? Are you happy with the Oracle touch? Many thanks, Jen


 Hi,

I'd applied for the discount via an email from my work email address during the first lockdown. They sent back an email linked to a case reference number advising to let them know what I wanted via return email and they would email me an invoice with the discount applied to complete the payment.

I never got round to ordering.

A few weeks ago we decided whilst we loved our Barista Express, we found we weren't using it as often as we'd like due to the time taken to make a milk based coffee and mess to clean up afterwards. This meant we didn't make a coffee to take to work on way out the door for example.

I contacted Sage via Facebook messenger. They advised the offer had expired, but said because I'd contacted them when the offer was valid that if I sent them the original enquiry reference number they'd honour the discount. I did that, paid the invoice and had the machine arrive a few days later.

@earthflattener - We thought long and hard between the Dual Boiler with separate grinder or the Oracle Touch. In the end we decided to go with the Oracle Touch whilst the kids are small and them and work keeping us busy, and in future buy a second more premium 'manual' machine and grinder that would be more 'fun' to use and make better than the DB & Sage Grinder would. This video pretty much swung us:






A dual boiler would be almost as quick but require us to stand over the machine whilst making the coffee, something we don't always have time for!

Now I have it it was undoubtedly the right choice for us. Being able to make a reliably excellent milk based coffee whilst getting kids breakfast ready or heading out door to work suits us perfectly. Perhaps once or twice a month I miss the manual aspects of making coffee but this wouldn't be enough for me to want to give the Oracle up. The dual boiler certainly wouldn't get as much use by us.

@JenStokes - I'd say whether this is the machine for you depends entirely on what you want out of a machine. If you want a new hobby where things go wrong and you need to tinker to get it right, get something else - possibly a Dual Boiler and separate grinder (I.e. Niche Zero). If you want an easy, reliable coffee, particularly if milk based - this is the machine for you. We got the touch as liked being able to save drinks. We have a ristretto based latte saved which works well and quite different to the standard shot version to my palate.

These were two other videos we found useful in making a decision:











Hope this is helpful, if you have any other questions please ask.


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## earthflattener (Jul 27, 2015)

Congratulations on getting the discount. Good that Sage offered it in the first place and that they honoured it after it was technically over.

Looks like you have thought through things in a very coherent way and found an optimal solution for your current requirements. The joy of having grown up kids is that time available for 'fiddling around' increases exponentially, but your route makes a lot of sense on a school day!

I like the first video you linked to. Very useful info. I admit that if I had been buying at like for like prices between a DB and something like a MaraX or Appartamento , I would probably have also gone for looks (given quality seemed to be similar - when push comes to shove you could get similar quality shots ..e.g he didn't mention the panoply of tweaks available for the DB ), but I got the DB refurb at less than 1/3 of retail price so is a great starter for me to decide if/when/how to upgrade.


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