# Sage Barista Touch - Experienced advice sought



## Chimaera (Dec 28, 2021)

Hi am new to bean to cup machines and have received a Sage Barista Touch as a Christmas present, but I am struggling to get to grips with making a good cup of coffee and wondered if anyone could suggest what I could try to resolve my challenges?

The machine came with some beans where the recommendation was to grind them on a 13-15 setting in the Barista Touch.

I am only making single cups at the moment using the one cup single wall filter basket.

I have adjusted the grind time to deliver just the right amount of grind to fill the filter basket when tamped down, early attempts saw me wasting a lot of grinds.

I believe I am tamping down to the right pressure, as when I complete I get a nice plug of used grinds falling out of the filter (with a good hard tap).

The issue is that the flow starts after 4 seconds and the coffee that is delivered appears to be over extracted (dark and spotty). The manual suggest that flow starting early in a sign of under extraction but the appearance of the Crema appears to be over extracted!

I think I need to make the grind finer, but am not sure if I should do this in single step increments or if I need to make larger adjustments? If I make the grind finer should I grind for longer as I assume it will take more finer grinds to fill the filter?

I am probably trying to adjust too many things at the same time, ending up with a confused picture and a fair amount of wasted beans 🙂

Thank you in advance.

Paul


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## crowlies (Sep 16, 2011)

I've got this machine... Here's a dump of my experiences.... I wouldn't bother with the single basket... I use a double basket with timer set to 20s grind and grind value at 8. Obviously it depends on the beans, but I aim for around 18g in and I have the brew time set to 35s, I eye ball it and it usually gives me 35g out at around 30s or thereabouts. My favourite beans are arabica slow roast from a Berlin company called guggenheimer. I've used other fresh beans and have had to vary the grind up to 10 with a 18s grind to get the same output. Flow usually starts around 6s. I have also set the water temp up on the standard setting. I heat everything first as I have noticed that the best pour is from the second shot onwards... I usually drink a milk based coffee.

Main thing is to set it all up using scales initially to get a rough 2:1 brew and tinker from there....

Happy to answer questions and hope this helps ...Simon


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## Chimaera (Dec 28, 2021)

@crowlies SImon, thank you for the advice, I do pre-heat mine too, will try with the larger measure and see how I get on.


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## 24774 (Mar 8, 2020)

You need to weigh in (beans) and weigh what comes out (liquid). Pull the shot manually, just don't press button and stand back. ie: Press and hold button for preinfusion time (say 7 seconds), release, run shot for say 29 seconds or until you get the right weight. Then adjust grind accordingly after that.


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

Then adjust grind accordingly after that...........obviously in small increments unless your pour results are miles out


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

dfk41 said:


> Then adjust grind accordingly after that...........obviously in small increments unless your pour results are miles out


 Didn't last long this time


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

Mrboots2u said:


> Didn't last long this time


 am only posting to promote my avatar,,,,,cheers boots


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

Nice to have you back anyway,



dfk41 said:


> am only posting to promote my avatar,,,,,cheers boots


 even if it's for Avatar promoting purposes only.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

dfk41 said:


> am only posting to promote my avatar,,,,,cheers boots


 You cant really see that on a phone tbh


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## soymilk (Aug 22, 2021)

I weigh my beans every time.  18 -20 g. This means my bean chamber is emptied out every time.

grinder setting at 12.

brew time 29 sec.


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## Chimaera (Dec 28, 2021)

@soymilk Thank you.


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