# Sage Barista Express Underextracting - Help please!



## Simon J (Sep 21, 2021)

I just got a Sage Barista Express and am having a lot of trouble getting a proper extraction. I'm using the double shot/large, single-walled basket with 16g coffee. The coffee is decent quality - from a local coffee shop - and fresh (roasted 2-3 weeks ago). Initially I used the double shot button but was getting 50g of espresso so starting pulling it manually to aim for 32g.

I started out in the middle of the grind size dial and the extraction was complete in around 7 seconds, the pressure dial barely moved and was nowhere near the 'espresso zone'. Step-by-step I changed the grind size to a finer grind which had minimal effect on the extraction time or the pressure. I'm got all the way to the finest setting on the grinder and the extraction time was just 10 seconds for a 40g shot (the speed of the flow and lag in stopping the water delivery is making it hard to hit the 32g target).

In addition to reducing the grind size I have tried to check my tamping pressure by pressing on a scale to get a feel for the recommended 15KG of pressure for tamping and I feel I was using the right amount of pressure. After reaching the finest grind setting and thinking tamping was the only variable I could push any further I tried applying much more pressure to the tamping - leaning into it and using body weight in addition to force - that enabled me to just get the pressure needle into the grey espresso zone, but nowhere near as high as I've seen it recommended it should be (towards the top of the grey section). It also stretched the extraction time to 14 seconds, again nowhere near the 25-35 second zone - I also can't help feeling I shouldn't be having to use this much pressure to tamp.

Any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated!


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## MarkHB (Jun 12, 2020)

Simon J said:


> Any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated!


 You are right, you shouldn't need to tamp overly hard. You should be able to adjust the top burr of the BE grinder to enable you to grind finer (search Youtube on how to do this). It seems to be a pretty common issue and this should sort your problem out. If that doesn't work it's possibly a problem with the machine or grinder, but I would doubt there is anything wrong at this point.


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## MarkHB (Jun 12, 2020)

I just want to add that distributing the grinds evenly in the basket before you tamp is probably more important than tamping itself. I'll not get into how to do that as there are many different good opinions on how it should be done, but Youtube has a lot of great information on the subject.


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## Simon J (Sep 21, 2021)

Thank you Mark, really appreciate the suggestions. I have been distributing the grinds - grinding into a separate container then adding to the basket in three batches and tapping in between to level out the grinds. However the adjustment to the grinder is one I haven't come across before so I'll give that a go! Thanks!


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## 24774 (Mar 8, 2020)

Simon J said:


> Any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated!


 First thing is to read the Sage sticky in the Sage forum if you have not.

Once you've implemented all those tips (using 18g is the standard, try that and go up/down from there), you may want to think about changing the top burr setting in the grinder. The thread here discusses that along with some other pointers.

https://www.coffeeforums.co.uk/topic/61744-sage-barista-express-help-please/?tab=comments&do=embed&comment=857202&embedComment=857202&embedDo=findComment#comment-857202


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