# Sage the barista pro



## Ivan (Dec 24, 2019)

Hello everyone

I'm new here and as well to the world of espresso so please bear with me.

I plan on purchasing Sage The Barista Pro in the next few day's

Could you guys offer me any insight on this machine?

As well what you would recomend buying it from Johnlewis, Currys or Lakeland.(price is similar)

Looking forward to your answers.


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## GerryM (Feb 6, 2016)

The Barista Pro is a great introductory machine which has one main negative which is the integral grinder as it, theoretically,makes upgrading less straightforward and the grinder is not great if you get seriously in to drinking straight espresso and want to extract the most from the beans.

However, the grinder is good enough and the machine is an improvement on the earlier barista express.

For convenience the barista pro cannot be beaten in my view. It heats up in seconds which makes the decision to make a coffee an easy one, the milk steamer works really well too (much better than the barista express) and the grinder is easily good enough if you're adding milk.

It's a great value machine, I'd wait for the sales and get Lakeland to price match whoever has the best deal, Lakeland's customer service and guarantee are unbeatable.

Remember that the machine is only going to produce great coffee if you buy freshly roasted beans from a specialist roaster and not beans from the supermarket shelf that may have been roasted weeks or months before purchase.

Good luck with the purchase and enjoy the coffee.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## HVL87 (Dec 17, 2019)

I recently purchased the Barista Express and had to adjust the upper burr (internal grinder) setting in order for it to grind fine enough for Espresso. The gap between grind settings is quite significant which makes it difficult to fine tune Espresso to your taste.

The Express is otherwise great and I prefer it to the new Gaggia Classic as far as usability is concerned. The Pro is slightly faster to warm up and switch to milk steaming than the Express.

I am contemplating purchasing the Barista Pro and returning the Barista Express. The Pro is selling for £450 at Costco (black or white), only £85 more than I paid for the Express. I believe you might be able to purchase online as a non-member (for an additional cost). Still significantly cheaper than other retailers.

I spoke with Sage whose technical team advised the finest and coarsest settings on the Express and Pro are the same. The difference is the Pro has 30 steps in the range compared to 18 on the Express. GerryM do you have experience with both machines and if so, does this make a significant difference?

It would also be good to know how the steam wand is better on the Pro compared to the Express. Is it easier to produce textured milk for Latte art?

I think the Express/Pro are very good machines with the grinder being the limiting factor. As GerryM mentioned, not really an issue for milk based drinks.

An alternative is to purchase the duo temp pro and a separate grinder (such as the Eureka Mignon range).


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## Ivan (Dec 24, 2019)

Update:

I was at lakeland today and got the machine.

They were kindle enough and price matched the cotsco price so i got it for the hefty sum of 450.


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## GerryM (Feb 6, 2016)

Ivan said:


> Update:
> I was at lakeland today and got the machine.
> They were kindle enough and price matched the cotsco price so i got it for the hefty sum of 450.


A great price for the barista pro, enjoy your new machine.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Ivan (Dec 24, 2019)

Thank you there is a long road ahead of me


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## Dodds25 (Dec 19, 2019)

HVL87 said:


> I am contemplating purchasing the Barista Pro and returning the Barista Express. The Pro is selling for £450 at Costco (black or white), only £85 more than I paid for the Express. I believe you might be able to purchase online as a non-member (for an additional cost). Still significantly cheaper than other retailers.
> 
> I spoke with Sage whose technical team advised the finest and coarsest settings on the Express and Pro are the same. The difference is the Pro has 30 steps in the range compared to 18 on the Express. GerryM do you have experience with both machines and if so, does this make a significant difference?


 Can't speak for GerryM but I have some experience with the Express and I think the steps are way too far apart. To some extent you can compensate by adjusting the dose, but I still think 30 steps would be a big improvement.


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## Bezzy (Dec 28, 2019)

Just got our pro, upgraded from a Gaggia Classic.

i find the grinder very good and goes down pretty damn fine.

im sure you'll enjoy it.


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## Siyfion (Jan 3, 2020)

I've got a Sage Pro and I'm finding I was finding it really hard to get consistent results, the things I've learned so far are:

- Make sure you dry the basket between shots; I kept rinsing and using the it wet and ended up with massively over-extracted coffee on the second shot.

- Weigh your grind, the default was giving me waaaaay too much grind. And even the manual's recommendation of 19-22g seems too much for the 53mm portafilter. Odd, but I ended up sticking to using an 18g dose.

- Fresh beans are a must.

And here's where I start to struggle: I'm still trying to figure out how coarse / fine my grind should be "ideally" and I've got no idea about ratios, how much coffee my 18g dose should be making?!

Also, are people generally using the one shot and two shot buttons, or pressing and holding to get a manual extraction, stopping when you get the right amount of coffee?


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Siyfion said:


> And here's where I start to struggle: I'm still trying to figure out how coarse / fine my grind should be "ideally" and I've got no idea about ratios, how much coffee my 18g dose should be making?!
> Also, are people generally using the one shot and two shot buttons, or pressing and holding to get a manual extraction, stopping when you get the right amount of coffee?


Start with a ratio of 1:2. E.g.: 18g of coffee inside the basket should produce 36g of beverage in roughly 30 seconds.

As for the buttons to give a pre-determined dose.... first get the ratio right, and, after that, configure the buttons to produce the right dose, although I'm not sure if you can configure them or how consistent they are.


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## lake_m (Feb 4, 2017)

^^^ Use your scales under the cup and weigh out the beverage. Volumetric dose buttons can be set up later but remember; if you alter the dose, grind, or change beans the dose buttons will need to be re-programmed. Most just forget the dose buttons and weight out.


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## Lazyade (Dec 24, 2019)

I had one for a few years (as an upgrade from Nespresso), I was very impressed with it - it made consistently good coffee. Two downsides however... 1) the grinder broke after a few years (it just spun, I think a cog went), you couldn't get individual parts and the whole grinder mechanism needed replacing, at a cost of over £200); 2) you can't make espresso and steam at the same time (fine for one coffee but if you are making a few it's a pain). I upgraded to the Sage Dual Boiler (with the separate Sage grinder) early 2018 and haven't looked back - I like the idea that if the grinder screws up again I can get it alone repaired or just replace, I also bought from John Lewis for the extra warranty (I would advise anyone to get the extra warranty on these units).


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## Siyfion (Jan 3, 2020)

Ok, thanks for the tips all, I'll give them a whirl!


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## Mediaboy (8 mo ago)

another BP users here, this might help…









A short coffee story… (Barista Pro)


…with kit, work flow, settings and results Growing up in a family hospitality business is a great way to get exposed to lots of food and drink experiences. Even so, when great coffee at home passes you by there comes a time to do something about it. Finally putting the French Press and...




www.coffeeforums.co.uk


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