# Sage Oracle: Recommendations for Beans + Settings?



## mrpetrov

Hi there!

I've recently purchased the Sage Oracle after enjoying it when in Sydney last Christmas. I'm no coffee expert, so I was looking for some starter recommendations for fresh bean brands and related Oracle settings (eg grind coarseness, tamp pressure, temperature, etc) for your recommended beans? I generally like mid-strong coffee, but not too bitter or tart. We live in south west London (SW6).

Any guidance or suggestions hugely appreciated!

P.


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## Mrboots2u

Ok Oracle doses around 21 g each time

I would not play with the tamp pressure to be honest

Grind setting will be dependent on the type of coffee your using and i cant give you a number to work to for that

What coffee are you using though









Have you read through the manual , id would look at setting up the volumterics programme ( there will be clip and sutff on the sage site to help you with this )

Any questions come back ...


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## NickdeBug

Listen to Boots.

He is the oracle on the Oracle

Looks like a great bit of kit - enjoy!


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## garydyke1

We have one at the roastery . I was very surprised to choke the machine only half way through the grind settings. The dose is very nicely tamped and appears to be based on basket depth. An 18g VST results in 20.5-22g depending on the coffee and its flipping consistent, within 0.5g each and every time.


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## Dallah

Sounds impressive. How does the heat from the boilers affect the beans? I'm just curious, not in the market. As you will see from signature I'm not for throwing stones at Sage kit.


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## Mrboots2u

ridland said:


> Sounds impressive. How does the heat from the boilers affect the beans? I'm just curious, not in the market. As you will see from signature I'm not for throwing stones at Sage kit.


Longer the machine is on , the hotter the temp in the hopper

I weighed out about 30 doses in the basket supplied ( not the vst ) was 21g plus or minis 0.2 each time

Longer then machine is on you tend to find the grind needs to tighten a bit


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## mrpetrov

Many thanks for the tips! I've read through the manual - it would be awesome if I could get a combination of beans and settings that you guys might recommend? MrBoots, what's your choice of beans and settings for your oracle? Thanks again.

As for volumetric settings - do you mean setting the volume settings for the 1CUP and 2CUP settings?

Finally, how should I think about how tight I should put the basket into the group head? I mean do i screw it in as far to the right as I possible can, or just as far as it begins to tighten...? It seems the tamping, grinding etc is all so accurate, but it leaves huge margin of error for the human part of the process (is inserting the coffee filter/basket into the group head)...?


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## Mrboots2u

mrpetrov said:


> Many thanks for the tips! I've read through the manual - it would be awesome if I could get a combination of beans and settings that you guys might recommend? MrBoots, what's your choice of beans and settings for your oracle? Thanks again.


Buy some decent fresh beans from a decent roaster

Have you had your white gloves visit form Sage , they wil help you dial in a shot and set up the volumetrics


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## mrpetrov

Ok, will do. We haven't got the white glove service, we bought it from amazon...do we just call sage and ask for a white glove first time service?


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## Mrboots2u

mrpetrov said:


> Ok, will do. We haven't got the white glove service, we bought it from amazon...do we just call sage and ask for a white glove first time service?


Could do . I dint know if its provided with all purchases or not

Give it a go . Its worth it....

First off buy decent beans - fresh - not supermarket

What drinks do you want to make ( latte? amerciano ? )

What flavours do you want ( chocolate nutty fruity ? )


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## mrpetrov

The coffee we have at the moment is some monmouth fresh beans,. although they're probably a few weeks old now (although no sign of sweating).

We generally make americanos and add a dash of milk. Prefer chocolate/nutty flavours rather than fruity.


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## Mrboots2u

mrpetrov said:


> The coffee we have at the moment is some monmouth fresh beans,. although they're probably a few weeks old now (although no sign of sweating).
> 
> We generally make americanos and add a dash of milk. Prefer chocolate/nutty flavours rather than fruity.


Fresh roasted is a good start

Try and get the white gloves service if you can , they can show you how to set up the volumetrics and the one touch americano functions


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## Dallah

The Oracle has a fan to keep the beans cool. Damn thats a nice touch. Plus the work area lighting, which I do wish my SDB did have. Considering how to add lighting to pimp (yo yo yo) my SDB.


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## Dallah

The more I read the more I am impressed by the Oracle. It might get me off the hook of making coffee for SWMBO. Having said that, I'm not a fan of integrated devices. I have hi fi separates in case the CD drive dies, protects the investment in the amp and power amp. Although nothing has ever died. Maybe I should trust more.


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## mrpetrov

I have a follow-up query. I've been noticing that my oracle reliably tends to start pouring the espresso out of the left nozzle a fraction of a second before the right nozzle. I ran a few tests, and it seems that the left espresso nozzle will fill up an espresso glass about 3-5mm more than the right espresso nozzle. Is this something to be concerned about and is it worth contacting Sage about? Thanks as always!


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## jeebsy

Is your machine perfectly level?


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## froggystyle

I wouldnt worry about that, unless your machine is perfectly level and your bed of grinds is also perfectly level then you will get a pour from one first, if its a second or two+ for the pour to appear from the other side then maybe have a look at the two above points.


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## mrpetrov

Ah, got it. Haven't checked how level it is or not - will do! Thanks again guys.

EDIT: Yup, checked with 2 spirit levels and it's as near to perfectly level as I can tell (to the level of precision of my human eyes).


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## garydyke1

mrpetrov said:


> Ah, got it. Haven't checked how level it is or not - will do! Thanks again guys.
> 
> EDIT: Yup, checked with 2 spirit levels and it's as near to perfectly level as I can tell (to the level of precision of my human eyes).


I hate the Sage spouts, they are too narrow and too flat. anyway.....

Put a small square of paper under the two left feet and try again. Keep adding another square of paper until the pours are consistent. The spirit level wont look to have changed to the naked eye but its a enough to get a proper split pour. I did this with my DB prior to changing the spouts to Nuova Simonelli ones.


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## mrpetrov

Gardyke, great tip, I'll do that and report back tomorrow. Also, can you send a link to the spouts you use on your Oracle please?


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## garydyke1

mrpetrov said:


> Gardyke, great tip, I'll do that and report back tomorrow. Also, can you send a link to the spouts you use on your Oracle please?


http://cafe-kultur.de/collections/accessory/products/spout-bb-standard-2 Although mine are green.

Its the Dual Boiler I have. The oracle is at work with stock spouts

Cheers


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## jeebsy

garydyke1 said:


> The oracle is at work with stock spouts


What does that get used for?


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## garydyke1

jeebsy said:


> What does that get used for?


It's on trial. Possibly will start selling them


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## Pooper

After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, I think I'll be investing in an Oracle in the not-too-distant future. Exciting!

Was originally thinking of the Alex Duetto IV or the La Spaziale Mini Vivaldi S1-II.. but i think the Oracle better suits what I'm after..

Are there any "known issues" with the Oracle or any quirks?


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## kcsteveknight

Picked up my oracle today

need help I will ring sage for wgs monday

i want to do latte art I have been trying all the settings

I am on 30 grind illy beans and cold jug and milk set to one dash above lattee any tips please

thanks love my coffee but new to this

steve


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## risky

kcsteveknight said:


> Picked up my oracle today
> 
> need help I will ring sage for wgs monday
> 
> i want to do latte art I have been trying all the settings
> 
> I am on 30 grind illy beans and cold jug and milk set to one dash above lattee any tips please
> 
> thanks love my coffee but new to this
> 
> steve


Is 30 grind a setting on the oracle? It's hard to give advice on this unless someone else has the same machine and beans, and even then settings will vary between machines.

You would be better served by fresh roasted beans. I'm guess the Illy ones are from a supermarket? They will have been sitting about on the shelf a long time.

As for the latte art, my tip would be to watch some videos. I'm sure there are ones showing how to do it with the Oracle. It's a technique that can take some time to master, but the espresso needs to be good too!



ridland said:


> The more I read the more I am impressed by the Oracle. It might get me off the hook of making coffee for SWMBO. Having said that, I'm not a fan of integrated devices. I have hi fi separates in case the CD drive dies, protects the investment in the amp and power amp. Although nothing has ever died. Maybe I should trust more.


Don't Lakeland offer a lifetime warranty?


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## kennyboy993

Anyone had much experience whether the Oracle hopper cooling fan is effective? Still researching to choose between Oracle and DB


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## ronsil

Each shot delivers at a pre set 22.5 grms. It is set to deliver southern hemisphere heavier bean doses & never been offered set to US/Eur circa 18 grms. Can be adjusted slightly but not much.

To get it to work at its best it is quite wasteful inasmuch as I allow 25 grms per shot & single dose. I only put into the grinder the amount of beans required for the number of shots I am pulling. With 22.5 size shot aim for circa 44/45 grms out.

A direct answer to your question is that even with the fan, left too long the Beans get too warm for my liking.


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## kennyboy993

Thanks Ron - great insight

Have you experienced negative effects of 'too warm' beans in tasting coffee? e.g. towards the end of a day is it reasonably common to notice a difference in taste that you know is probably due to bean warming?

As a novice who has aspirations and the appetite to learn quickly - I'm assuming the 22.5 grms issue might not be a problem for me for a while though bean warming I'm not sure about.

I really like the repeatability of the Oracle from what I've read though still concerned whether it will grow with my expertise against my other option which would be DB and Mignon grinder


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## ronsil

I very much do my own thing with the Oracle. It really is a very good machine.

Not everyone agrees with me but I do find fuller flavour coffee if the beans are chilled just before adding to the hopper.

I have always been anti hopper with any grinder. Beans detoriate much quicker than you imagine. Its alright used in a coffee shop with a fairly rapid throughput but beans in hoppers for home use is a definite 'no no' for me.

IMO DB with a separate grinder would be the way to go.

The Oracle benefits for me is that all the Family can use it with very little practice.

Coffee for myself I invariably make using the EK43 & then the Oracle.

As long as you adjust the weight out (ratio) the large dose is not a problem.


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## kennyboy993

Family using it is main pull for me too - though still I think I'm gonna take your advice and go DB and separate

Sh*t I just checked the price when I googled 'EK43 grinder' - sh*t, still calming down....


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## ronsil

kennyboy993 said:


> Sh*t I just checked the price when I googled 'EK43 grinder' - sh*t, still calming down....


Sorry about that but I'm afraid that's life in the real coffee world.

You probably don't know but I had an EK way before the Oracle came into being.


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## _eMaX_

Hooking in here... Just got the Oracle Touch and am suboptimally convinced. I just use the default setting on Espresso, and the coffee is lukewarm.

I find no setting for that; there is a brew temperature setting that I turned to 96°C, and there's the grind I've twisted to 8, but no change. Also, I put 32 secs but still only a very low amount of very luke warm coffee is coming out.

A cappucino I made though was nice. The milk function works well.


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## GerryM

96 degrees is hotter than I'd go with most of the beans I use, I think I had the Oracle set most of the time at 92 or 94 when I owned one.

It may help to heat your cup before pouring the espresso, I used the hot water tap for this as the cup warmer was pretty poor as I recall.

I've not used the touch, my sense is that you will only get the best from the machine if you customise the settings to suit your tastebuds and ensure you are using freshly roasted beans rather than anything from the supermarket.

Good luck, there is plenty of useful information in this site in the sage section of the forum and from forum members if you get involved .

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Geezercdg

_eMaX_ said:


> Hooking in here... Just got the Oracle Touch and am suboptimally convinced. I just use the default setting on Espresso, and the coffee is lukewarm.
> 
> I find no setting for that; there is a brew temperature setting that I turned to 96°C, and there's the grind I've twisted to 8, but no change. Also, I put 32 secs but still only a very low amount of very luke warm coffee is coming out.
> 
> A cappucino I made though was nice. The milk function works well.


 Have you actually measured the temperature of the water though? I took 2 back as the water was nowhere near the reported temp. I got the non touvh oracle instead. It's been great.


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## TobyAnscombe

_eMaX_ said:


> Hooking in here... Just got the Oracle Touch and am suboptimally convinced. I just use the default setting on Espresso, and the coffee is lukewarm.
> 
> I find no setting for that; there is a brew temperature setting that I turned to 96°C, and there's the grind I've twisted to 8, but no change. Also, I put 32 secs but still only a very low amount of very luke warm coffee is coming out.
> 
> A cappucino I made though was nice. The milk function works well.


 Have a look at a vid I made for another member in

https://www.coffeeforums.co.uk/topic/49117-stupid-new-oracle-touch-owner-question-alert/?tab=comments&do=embed&comment=709181&embedComment=709181&embedDo=findComment#comment-709181

Set yourself up a custom profile, its the only way to make sure that its you telling the machine what to do...


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