# Sage smart grinder



## seeq (Jul 9, 2011)

I know there was a recent post on the new updates expected too. This thread also mentioned it having a fairly major shortfall in a not powerful enough motor and cutting out/over heating or smelling hot.

However this does seem like a good grinder to recommend for home use (for those only making 1,2 or 3 coffees per day max). Especially for the price which is sub £200

Anyone own this grinder or used it and can provide some honest feedback/review?


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

There is quite a bit of info on this tread > http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?12794-Sage-Grinder-initial-thoughts&highlight=sage+grinder


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## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

Some like CC and I think dfk have hands on with the grinder, I am sure they will be able to give a better run down but essentially it grinds ok for a few coffees at a time. All the reviewers we had on this site noticed the overheating motor running back to back shots (think in the 8-15 range i think) but this does not bode well for the longevity of the motor and tells us its cheap.

The grind sits marginally above the Iberital MC2, but well below the Eureka Mignon (which can now be had for about £220 new). Because of this its difficult to recommend when we know for £20 more you can get something that is tried and tested extensively in this community.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

I think burnzy has a smart grinder at the moment too. Be worth asking him ?


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## hilltopbrews (May 17, 2013)

I've tried the sage grinder at work. It's not that bad and there's no clumping at all. It's quite nifty and the screen is bright. It's completely digital so no need for mods (or so sage say). It can be messy esp with portafilter holder. it's not too noisy.

However, during demo at about the 4th grinding, I thought the grounds felt hot to touch.


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

I did buy one, just out of noseyness. They will possibly appeal to the same person who is attracted to the espresso machine. to compar it against a proper grinder only shows its shortcomings. It is nice to look at, does not have a fantastic range for espresso grinds and I found I was always right on the limit and mine was shimmed. It had some nice electronic touches. Playing with it intially to get it dialed in, after pulling a dozen or so shots back to back it overheated and cut out. I suppose you could say that is both good and bad though.

For the lighter user (ie below 75 kilos) it might be fine but if you are serious, or have aspirations to be serious then there may be better grinders, but you will have to spend more


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

I saw Burnzy yesterday and he was quite pleased with his, hopefully he'll see this and comment more!


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

If you can find a used one or even a new one at a sensible price say £150 or less then they make sense, they are most certainly a notch above an MC2 or the cheaper Ascaso/Fracino grinders. The dosing control is pretty good as is the visual of the grind setting on the display. Grind quality wise again a touch above an MC2.To me, particularly as most home users with this level of gear aren't going to be making large amounts of back to back shots then the overheating thing is a none issue, as those of us who have played with them have observed the thermal protection mechanism in them certainly does it's job.

I chose not to keep the one I had as I already had a far better grinder, but if I had still owned just the MC2 then the MC2 would have gone instead. It's worth noting that the Smart Grinder is actually pitched at the lower end of the market in Australia and not touted as an ideal match for the Dual Boiler machine, so for those who have had their grubby mitts on one and haven't been that impressed by the build quality I can assure you the DB is built much much better than the grinder.


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

Sorry, just seen this.

its a perfect home grinder for 3-4 cups of coffee a day.. I have never experienced cut outs or over heating, but then i never do back to back shots.

For me, i have never used a mc-2 or mignon or a commercial mid range grinder so i have nothing to compare it to, people say it has a weak motor, but it seems fine to me... Little to no clumping and i cant see any issues with grind consistency, it runs nice and quiet.. It can choke most home machines now it comes pre-shimmed, so there is some room to play and adjust, maybe not enough adjustment settings for some, but its fine for me, my classic and my coffee consumption... Its also very tidy as well, a little magnetic tray captures all spilt grinds.

I can thoroughly recommend it for pairing with machines like the classic, like others said if you have a higher end machine it may not do the machine justice...

also note sage are bringing a new model out by the end of the year... The bg820 pro i think..


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## hilltopbrews (May 17, 2013)

Burnzy is bg820 pro Sage Oracle? If so, that seems to be quite an interesting coffee machine. A dual boiler with a built in grinder. I have the barista express on company loan but it's just a single boiler.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Sarah0817 said:


> Burnzy is bg820 pro Sage Oracle? If so, that seems to be quite an interesting coffee machine. A dual boiler with a built in grinder. I have the barista express on company loan but it's just a single boiler.


Not easy to tell from the tech specs on the at page at sage

I've emailed them to ask ...I'll let you know


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## hilltopbrews (May 17, 2013)

They emailed me last week to say they were releasing Sage Oracle this year. I presume it's the one you were talking about.

Yea do let us know. I like sage's appealing and modern design.


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

The bg820 pro i was talking about is just a grinder... I believe its the same as the 800 but with more adjustments in it and smaller increments...

Have not heard of the oracle, a machine with built in grinder hey? Sounds like it could be dodgy like a bean to cup machine, i may be wrong though


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## hilltopbrews (May 17, 2013)

Well the oracle is a dual boiler with a built in grinder. Sage calls it "automatic manual" coffee machine. Very similar to sage barista express. Sage is breville and according to breville users, the oracle isn't that different from the barista express. Well who knows. Would love to test it out.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Oracle doses and tamps automatically , it has an auto steam arm, where you can set the temp for the milk , it also auto purges according to the clips and pics I've seen. So a few functionality differences there


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

Mrboots2u said:


> Oracle doses and tamps automatically , it has an auto steam arm, where you can set the temp for the milk , it also auto purges according to the clips and pics I've seen. So a few functionality differences there


Not sure that would be my cup of tea so to speak.


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

its actually quite impressive, personally i would like to control all those variables myself, but im sure there is a market for these...


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

I don't think you can massively adjust the dose ...


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

Mrboots2u said:


> I don't think you can massively adjust the dose ...


You can vary the dose exactly the same way as you can on a Smart Grinder.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Charliej said:


> You can vary the dose exactly the same way as you can on a Smart Grinder.


I thought the auto tamp restricted the dose amount ...but that was from reading on the coffesnobs website, a ton of new users giving feedback on it where it's already out ...


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Anyone interested in the oracle here is the thread I was referring to from coffeesnobs...

http://coffeesnobs.com.au/showthread.php?t=37042


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Didn't find it an issue at LCF maybe got lucky


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

garydyke1 said:


> Didn't find it an issue at LCF maybe got lucky


Think part of the thread refers to saying you can't updose or down dose a lot if your changing coffees..say from 17-20g

I may have totally made this up though , the thread is like 10 pages long now


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

Mrboots2u said:


> Think part of the thread refers to saying you can't updose or down dose a lot if your changing coffees..say from 17-20g
> 
> I may have totally made this up though , the thread is like 10 pages long now


And it's on coffeesnobs as well, so presumably none of their sponsors sell the Breville stuff so we all know what happens then.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Charliej said:


> And it's on coffeesnobs as well, so presumably none of their sponsors sell the Breville stuff so we all know what happens then.


A lot of the thread is from people who have bought them , and is on the whole positive ..try reading it


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

Mrboots2u said:


> A lot of the thread is from people who have bought them , and is on the whole positive ..try reading it


I'm wading through it at the moment just having a coffee break.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Charliej said:


> I'm wading through it at the moment just having a coffee break.


I saw one of the guys from prufrock extolling the virtues and quality of the milk steaming on a clip from lcf


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## VJC (Apr 23, 2014)

Back to the OP - is the Sage any good for brewed coffee? I'm in the market to upgrade my porlex mini - I'm a reasonably light drinker but want more convienence. On that note, how is it to clean?


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

VJC said:


> Back to the OP - is the Sage any good for brewed coffee? I'm in the market to upgrade my porlex mini - I'm a reasonably light drinker but want more convienence. On that note, how is it to clean?


Would you be using a new grinder just for brewed or espresso and brewed ?


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

VJC said:


> Back to the OP - is the Sage any good for brewed coffee? I'm in the market to upgrade my porlex mini - I'm a reasonably light drinker but want more convienence. On that note, how is it to clean?


Nope not super for brewed, grind a little too irregular at coarse setting (IMO)


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

garydyke1 said:


> Nope not super for brewed, grind a little too irregular at coarse setting (IMO)


Just to echo this I found the same even with the shim kit removed.


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## Burnzy (Apr 17, 2014)

Must admit ive never tried it for brewed methods... Once i have it dialled i don't dare move it up to coarser settings. Im going to get a hand grinder for brewed methods soon.. Ive put a chemex on my xmas list!!


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## VJC (Apr 23, 2014)

Mrboots2u said:


> Would you be using a new grinder just for brewed or espresso and brewed ?


Currently just brewed - a home espresso machine is on my Xmas list (maybe a couple of years away).



garydyke1 said:


> Nope not super for brewed, grind a little too irregular at coarse setting (IMO)


Thanks, it seems a few people share this opinion - I'll have to look elsewhere for a decent budget electric grinder.


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

If the grinder is just for brewed then a Vario with the steel burrs, or a Bunn or Ditting would be ideal.

Keep an eye on ebay and other classifieds for second hand ones.


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

if you can get one before the ek boys grab them, the santos #1 is a great brewed grinder


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## VJC (Apr 23, 2014)

aaronb said:


> If the grinder is just for brewed then a Vario with the steel burrs, or a Bunn or Ditting would be ideal.
> 
> Keep an eye on ebay and other classifieds for second hand ones.





coffeechap said:


> if you can get one before the ek boys grab them, the santos #1 is a great brewed grinder


Thanks for the advice, especially about the Vario, looks my best bet but if I'm buying Baratza, would there be a real downside in buying a Virtuoso or even an Encore?

EDIT: I see someone else has asked a similar question in a new thread & the encore was heavily recommended, so I may just get one of those instead thanks anyway guys.


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