# Sage Dual Boiler White Glove Service



## kazemik (Nov 17, 2013)

I had my White Glove Service that came with my Sage DB the other day. The person arrived a little late so we only had about 45 minutes to go through it. This is my third machine and grinder, so I have had a little experience with making coffee.

I decided to use my Smart Grinder to for this and the engineer said he would help dial it in. First thing I noticed that he was not drying out the basket with a cloth and dosing a considerable amount more than I would. I am using my 15 gram VST basket and he was probably dosing about 19-20 grams. Un-tamped the basket had a large mountain of grinds on top. I normally only dose 15.5-16.5grams for the 15 gram basket and always ensure the basket is dry before I fill it, so this was different to my technique. I was dubious instantly.

The first shot just clogged the machine. After one of the pours, the puck had concaved upwards as if there group head tried to suck it in.

A few shots later and adjustments we got to the last of my delicious Hasbean 'Bolivian Coroico Montano' and we got a pour that was just a little long but not off the right extraction. I was about to taste it to check the flavor but he pokes his finger in the shot and tastes it. This really put me off as I did not see him wash his hand before he started. Repulsed, I stayed clear of that shot.

We moved onto steaming milk and his first attempt was a not a great result really. But he did do a subsequent attempt which was better. I have always been told starting with a cold jug makes the process easier, however the advice given was that it made no difference but he advised make sure it is dry before you start. Not sure what difference a few drop would makes, given milk is a liquid.

Overall if this is your first machine and you know nothing about making coffee, may be this is a good introduction on how to use the machine along with tips on some basics. But the Espresso extraction technique used, in my opinion, needs some work.

For me I guess it seemed a bit like being told how to suck eggs and a waste of my precious delicious beans.

Luckily I had to get back to work, so I kicked him out.

My question to the forum would how much would you aim to dose in a 15 gram VST basket?


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## funinacup (Aug 30, 2010)

14-16g.

Sounds like he didn't have a clue!


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Did he have a large red nose and a wig?

You need to feed this back to Sage directly.


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## Thecatlinux (Mar 10, 2014)

kazemik said:


> I was about to taste it to check the flavor but he pokes his finger in the shot and tastes it.


If he does this for every visit he is going to go through a lot of white gloves


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

Is this service free? If not i'd be asking for some money back


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Yep let sage know defo


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## Big O (Feb 25, 2014)

This is strange as I had this couple of months back and we at it for 1.5 hours in the end producing some lovely coffee using Italian job. Who was doing it? I do know it's Coffee Classics that have been chosen by Sage to provide this service as well any after sales issues i.e. repairs. Don't want to mention names here actually, but if I were to have a play on words, "gosh"?


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## CamV6 (Feb 7, 2012)

how disappointing


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## kazemik (Nov 17, 2013)

I don't remember a big nose and a wig but he sure was a clown.

This was a free service with every new Sage DB they sell and is contracted out to Coffee Classics. May be I was unlucky but I will look into feeding this back to Sage.


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

I would guess that Coffee Classics just whatever engineer is in that area to go and do the "white gloves" bit and what makes a good engineer doesn't necessarily make a good barista trainer. I would be interesting to see if we could document all the Sage DB owners experience of this service, a note to the newer members; both myself and Garydyke1 did not get the "white gloves" package as we bought the machines we had been sent for review purposes and I also sincerely doubt it would have given either of us any enlightenment given the depth with which we both have and still are exploring with the Sage DB.

On a different note it would also be good to know how many Sage owners we now have as forum members, maybe if there are enough we could even get our own Sage user subforum.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Lets be honest , the white glove service is for total noobs, ie never done anymore espresso/milk steaming prep than walking into Starcrooks and asking for a brown milkshake adorned with a packet of haribo sweets and whipped cream.

Its sound as if the bods doing this service know how to operate the machine and understand the features but are certainly not trained baristas or passionate coffee geeks.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Look I read this thread with interest....what I want to really know is....did he come equipped with white gloves or not, because if he didn't....paaaahh!!!


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

DavecUK said:


> Look I read this thread with interest....what I want to really know is....did he come equipped with white gloves or not, because if he didn't....paaaahh!!!


If he had been wearing white gloves , he would have got them dirty testing the espresso he made ......


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## Big O (Feb 25, 2014)

latex white gloves?


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

DavecUK said:


> Look I read this thread with interest....what I want to really know is....did he come equipped with white gloves or not, because if he didn't....paaaahh!!!


Like this?


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Daren said:


> Like this?


yup...OK, these would be satisfactory and give me total confidence in the service offered.


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

The phrase white gloves originally comes from the business I worked in and was used to describe a sound engineer that just walked in and mixed the band and didn't get his hands dirty moving any gear around or setting it up.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Charliej said:


> The phrase white gloves originally comes from the business I worked in and was used to describe a sound engineer that just walked in and mixed the band and didn't get his hands dirty moving any gear around or setting it up.


I bet that sound engineer is now chairman of the company!


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## Geordie Boy (Nov 26, 2012)

kazemik said:


> This was a free service with every new Sage DB they sell and is contracted out to Coffee Classics.


Remember nothing's free! You paid for this in your purchase price


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

Geordie Boy said:


> Remember nothing's free! You paid for this in your purchase price


Along with the Heston celebrity endorsement fee


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Geordie Boy said:


> Remember nothing's free! You paid for this in your purchase price


Just like the 1000 'free' minutes you get with a phone contract when you pay £30 a month


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## gotters (Apr 12, 2014)

To add some balance to this vaguely snotty thread I had the white glove guy out last week and thought he was excellent, he wasn't rushed, stayed as long as I wanted (kept asking if I needed to see anything else) and overall I thought the service was very worthwhile.

Like most training what you get out of it tends to depend on your attitude going in - if you are acting all David Brent with your guitar ready and think you know more than the bloke coming round your experience may not be as worthwhile as somebody with a more open mind.

In general I suspect most people here would find the training somewhat basic, for somebody like myself moving up from a Nespresso machine it was very useful and meant I'm getting a better drink out my machine than before he came.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

That's for the reply ,looks like you had a more engaged trainer than the previous poster

45 minutes coz he was late isn't acceptable though

....and your right it's a good doorway for people with little or no experience with espresso.

But i would be concerned a noob wouldn't know if they were getting good or bad training from the other guy.

If I were sage I'd be concerned people were being short changed on their training time at the very least

No substitute for good training from a good engaged trainer


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## kazemik (Nov 17, 2013)

Well I am sure he would have stayed longer but I had to get back to work.

I guess the glove service is not about teaching you about becoming the next Barista champion but rather on how to use the machine which he did achieve. Method of extraction is certainly an Art and I am sure there a variety of different methods out there. But for me, on the whole, it was of little value.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Ok sorry I thought he has left after 45 minutes so my bad ......


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

I would prefer 45 mins of bad advice rather than the full 60 mins


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## RagingMammoth (Sep 21, 2013)

The fact he shoved his finger in it... that's awful.


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## Mouse (Feb 28, 2014)

RagingMammoth said:


> The fact he shoved his finger in it... that's awful.


He must go through a lot of white gloves!!


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## RagingMammoth (Sep 21, 2013)

Daren said:


> Along with the Heston celebrity endorsement fee


This is true... the machines SO much cheaper in America.


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## kazemik (Nov 17, 2013)

45 min was enough bad advice. He did not even wear white gloves. The finger thing was terrible or may be I am just pedantic.


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