Last Updated on September 3, 2021 by YourBestCoffeeMachine
With the right coffee maker, you certainly can unleash the true barista within you and the Barista Express Bean-to-Cup Coffee Machine might just help you do the trick.
This coffee maker is from the line of internationally distinguished coffee makers by Sage and was designed by none other than Heston Blumenthal himself, a renowned English chef. This coffee maker has a lot of interesting features and characteristics that will make you feel like a true blooded barista and definitely leave you in awe.
The Professional Way of Making Coffee
Professional baristas always recommend that you use fresh coffee beans as much as possible in order to come up with a delicious coffee. If you will not use fresh beans, the coffee will turn out weak and very dark and the creamy texture of the crema will not be achieved.
But the road to that perfect cup does not stop there. How fine the coffee beans are ground is also a great factor to consider if you want your coffee to come out to be perfect. The coffee beans must be evenly ground in order to achieve the strong and rich taste that you like.
One of the features of this coffee maker is its built in grinder that will crush your coffee beans fairly and finely in just a matter of minutes. Unlike other coffee machines, this grounds your favourite coffee beans in an instant. The built in grinder will help you in achieving the finely ground coffee beans with no hassle whatsoever.
15 Grind Settings
Another feature of this coffee maker that will help you in grinding your coffee beans as finely as possible is its wide array of grind settings. This unit allows you to choose from 18 different grind settings which range from coarse to fine in order to fully optimize the extraction of your espresso.
Having the adequate amount of beans to grind is also essential in achieving the perfect cup. If you use and grind too much coffee beans, you will still get a good crema but you will not achieve the perfect strength and flavour that an accurately measured amount of coffee grounds could achieve.
This is why this coffee maker is such a blessing since it comes with a conical burr grinder which mediates the amount of beans to be ground and only grinds the amount of coffee beans that you really need for your drink and automatically delivers the ground beans into the portafilter. Plus, its burr grinder allows you to adjust it according to the size and dose of the beans so you will have no trouble at all.
High Power Steam for Top Quality Milk Froth
This coffee maker also features a high pressure steam output that allows you to texture milk like a professional and it also makes operation super easy because of its simple buttons.
For example, if you want to heat cups in advance or if you want to make long black coffee or Americano, this coffee maker’s separate hot water wand will do all of that. It also has a PID digital temperature control delivers water temperature precisely during the extraction process. 
Other Amazing Features
Another one of its smart characteristics is its automatic hands free dosing feature that will allow you to deliver a uniform amount of consistently ground coffee into the filter in just a touch of a button. It also has a low pressure pre-fusion feature that expands your coffee before its high temperature extraction by gently soaking it.
These features make your coffee have the balanced amount of acidity, bitterness and sweetness and a very rich flavour. In addition to all of these amazing features, the Sage by Heston Blumenthal Barista Express Bean-to-Cup Coffee Machine’s Razor dosing tool, which has been patented especially for this product and brand, allows the puck to be trimmed consistently during the extraction process.
It’s Also an Elegant Looking Espresso Machine
Not only does this coffee machine excel in terms of its quality and specs. It also does extremely well in terms of design. It looks super clean, chic and super elegant because of its minimalist look. It looks robust and well-built which guarantees the durability of this unit.
A Few Things To Watch Out For Before Buying
However, despite this machine’s excellent features, this also has downsides and faults. If you are a novice in brewing coffee, you might find it hard to get the perfect taste during the first few tries. This is perfectly understandable and can be aided by consistent practice.
Another flaw is the space between the tray and the portafilter because it seems that the portafilter does not appear to be the standard size. The distance between the two is quite far since this coffee maker is designed to accommodate mugs and cups. In effect, you need to use tall espresso cups or else you will experience spills all over the place. But if you have mugs at home, these will do the trick and will suffice.
It is also quite expensive so I don’t recommend it for people who are not willing to shell out too much money on coffee makers or to those who have extremely tight budgets. If they are looking for more affordable coffee maker, then sorry to say that Sage is not the brand for them as this brand sells pricey line of products.
2 Years Warranty
The best part of buying this coffee machine though is the fact that Sage guarantees buyers with a 2-year service warranty (T&Cs) so you can ask for their technicians to repair your unit or ask for a replacement if ever your unit breaks down within the period specified. It also comes with a comprehensible manual complete with pictures and clear instructions. Overall though, with its service and maintenance offers, you can safely say that you are getting just what you expect out of the price you paid for.
Check out this video where Best Buy explains how to set up the Sage Barista Express:
Final Thoughts
To cap this review, it can be said that the Barista Express Bean-to-Cup Coffee Machine, although quite expensive, is really worth every bit of your money because of its amazing features that will help you have the best coffee experience ever. Are you adding this on the list of choices?