# purchasing an oracle today, any owners tips on additional things needed?



## JamesMac (Apr 7, 2020)

Hi folks,

going to press the button on an oracle today while the price is still just below £1000 on the discontinued colour one. Can anyone recommend good scales to use for helping dial in the beans to liquid ratio?

Anyone have any other must haves or must do's when getting an oracle? I have been trying to convince to buy a stand alone grinder and espresso machine so that I can play around with different things and upgrade etc but the oracle is just too handy for the 6 am coffees before work and for my wife to enjoy milky drinks without too much hassle whilst chasing our 4 young children around.

cheers,

James


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## Kannan (Mar 28, 2020)

Hi James

TBH you really don't need scales with an Oracle, I've owned one for 5 years plus and only really needed scales when I purchased a separate grinder and started to grind and tamp myself - the dose is controllable but once you set it you probably won't change it as it requires taking the tamp collar out, not hard but a little fiddly.

The Oracle is perfect for 6am coffees lol - if a little noisy on the grind just FYI so if you have others sleeping who might be woken by it, be warned!

It's also perfect for milky drinks with no hassle, just stick the milk under the wand and hit auto - voila ... You'll love it for the quality of coffee you get vs the effort you have to put in (once it's setup properly mind!)... You also have to get used to the grinder adjustments based on freshness of coffee - I find very fresh coffee needing a coarser and then slightly coarser grind which then goes towards needing a finer and finer grind as the beans dry out more (guessing less oil in the beans)...

Anyway, I have many years experience using an Oracle and for what you want it for it sounds perfect! Use a .1 kitchen scale for now just to approximate how much coffee you are dosing so you can also then weigh how much you are getting out - this is really just to set it up - from there once it's dialled in, all you really will be adjusting is the grind size (marginally) every morning if it flows to quickly or too slowly ...

I used my Heston kitchen scales for this, only recently purchasing a Acaia Pearl S - which is great for what I want it for now...

Great machine for what it is... I've now progressed first got a Sette then more recently a Eureka Mignon (for flat burr grinding) and (after 5 years mind you) to a Dual Boiler (lol, really!) which I've modded and am now playing with flow and pressure control - and also ordered a Decent (way too much time on my hands and trigger happy fingers too - ouch!)...


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## BlackCatCoffee (Apr 11, 2017)

It depends why you are buying the machine. You mention you like the look of separate components.

I personally see coffee at home, particularly espresso a bit like a hobby. Sure we get a great cup of coffee too but that is much like people who enjoy brewing beer or making cheese as a hobby. They love the process just as much as the outcome.

Ultimately if you are buying the Sage just to have a decent cup of coffee in the morning I am sure you will be very happy and I think it will produce good results from what I read.

If you enjoy the process of tinkering and the ritual of coffee making I personally see these bean to cup machines as a bit of a handicap. If you feel this describes you better it wont surprise me if before long you are getting a bit fed up of the grinder not being perfect or annoyed with temperature sensor for the milk steamer like so many others do and then you may feel a bit of buyers remorse. These machines are a compromise no question, it is just for you to decide if this is a compromise you are happy with.


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## Kannan (Mar 28, 2020)

BlackCatCoffee said:


> It depends why you are buying the machine. You mention you like the look of separate components.
> 
> I personally see coffee at home, particularly espresso a bit like a hobby. Sure we get a great cup of coffee too but that is much like people who enjoy brewing beer or making cheese as a hobby. They love the process just as much as the outcome.
> 
> ...


 Agreed it really does depend on why you are buying, and yes first upgrade definitely the grinder - not sure about buyer's remorse though - for me it was a great learning experience with controlled variables - I really didn't get my head around tamping for a while (until the lightbulb moment of realising distribution is key!)... I have no issue with the steaming temp sensor, in fact I miss it ... Yes bean to cup is a compromise (as is every decision in life!), but if you want convenience and really quite good coffee with a shallow learning curve to learning about espresso, the Oracle is (in my mind) the best compromise out there and allowed me to progress at my own pace with the coffee hobby...

If you do want to progress, realistically you'll buy a grinder and scale and then sell the Oracle in a year/two years or so for 6/700 and buy a machine that gives you more manual control (you will miss the automation when you want convenience!) - but what you could get that beats a Dual Boiler or Oracle for that price I'm not sure - Gaggia Classic and Niche Zero (or Sette, Mignon etc)? Sure but again lots of compromises...


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## BlackCatCoffee (Apr 11, 2017)

Kannan said:


> Agreed it really does depend on why you are buying, and yes first upgrade definitely the grinder - not sure about buyer's remorse though - for me it was a great learning experience with controlled variables - I really didn't get my head around tamping for a while (until the lightbulb moment of realising distribution is key!)... I have no issue with the steaming temp sensor, in fact I miss it ... Yes bean to cup is a compromise (as is every decision in life!), but if you want convenience and really quite good coffee with a shallow learning curve to learning about espresso, the Oracle is (in my mind) the best compromise out there and allowed me to progress at my own pace with the coffee hobby...
> 
> If you do want to progress, realistically you'll buy a grinder and scale and then sell the Oracle in a year/two years or so for 6/700 and buy a machine that gives you more manual control (you will miss the automation when you want convenience!) - but what you could get that beats a Dual Boiler or Oracle for that price I'm not sure - Gaggia Classic and Niche Zero (or Sette, Mignon etc)? Sure but again lots of compromises...


 Lots of good points. I guess the OP just needs to consider why he is buying the machine and what he wants to achieve.

In terms of what would beat the Oracle......(I am a dealer here so I will declare interest for anyone reading this)

I would push the budget a smidgen more (100 or so more) and go for a Fracino Piccino and Eureka Mignon Specialita. That does not offer the same level or automation but it does give you a fantastic dual boiler machine with full size commercial components and a super grinder. I would wager you could make a much better end product on this set up but I appreciate the learning curve would be steeper. I also think you would get better resale value and definitely more repairable should anything go wrong.


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