A Few of my Favourites. From Kev @ coffeeblog.co.uk

Hello fellow coffee botherers :-). Kev here from coffeeblog.co.uk,  This post is intended for the bean to cup users among my readers, so if you're a semi auto user then this probably isn't going to be of much interest.  By the way, if you're not sure which type of espresso machine user you are, read the first few paragraphs of this post. If you don't use espresso machines at all and you have no intention of doing so, that's fine too :-). I was the same up until early 2016, at which point I was using manual brewers at home. I'm very glad I made the decision to get into making espresso, I have to say, but it's not for everyone.  But if you are interested in home espresso, and in particular if you consider yourself a bean to cup user, then hopefully you'll find this email an interesting read :-). One of the perks of running coffee blog, is I get to use lots of machines - most of which are sent to me on loan.  I wanted to share with you in this edition of Brew Time, some of my favourites, at both ends of the price range. This all started with the Sage Oracle (read my review here), when Sage appliances sent me their machine to use for review purposes - and this leads me to my favourite high end bean to cup machine. The Oracle and The Oracle Touch are bean to cup machines right at the top end, so I started in reverse order really. These machines are my favourite bean to cup machines at the top end, for anyone who wants a certain degree of authenticity about their coffee making. In other words, if you don't want to embark on a new hobby & to go through the learning curve required to get good results from a semi auto traditional espresso machine, but you don't want to just press a button, and you'd like to look and feel as if you're making espresso the traditional way, then these machines are for you - if they're within your reach budget wise. While The Oracle range looks very similar to the Barista range (The Barista Express, Barista Pro & Barista Touch), the differences is that the Sage Barista range are integrate grinder traditional semi auto espresso machines, while the Oracle range are bean to cup machines. The way the Oracle machines differ from all other bean to cup machines, is that the user performs the task of moving the coffee around via a traditional portafilter, while with other bean to cup machines this is handled internally. This is genius from Sage (well, from Breville Australia - they're sold in the UK by Sage Appliances as "Sage" because they sold the Breville trade mark here years ago) for two reasons.  First, is that dealing with the movement of the coffee internally, especially when it comes to handling the wet grounds, is something that costs money when it comes to designing and building a machine. With this taken out of the equation by giving this task to the user via the portafilter, money can be put elsewhere - which I think is partly the reason that these machines have such amazing features, for a relatively reasonable price tag for high end bean to cup machines. Second, is that it distinguishes the oracle machines from all other bean to cup machines by making them the only machines that give an authentic espresso making experience, with all the other features of a bean to cup machine. Another genius move from Breville/Sage, is that these machines are similar to the top end "one touch" machines, in that the machine steams the milk for you, but with a few big differences. One being that although it's auto steaming (you don't need to develop any skills, you just put the jug down with the wand inserted) you just pour the milk into the jug, so there's no cleaning to do each time as there is with carafe machines. You don't even need to purge the steam wand, the machine does this automatically when you push the wand back into it's position.  With one touch machines with a carafe, you have to clean the carafe and the pipe each time you've used it, but with the oracle machines you just rinse your milk jug after, wipe the steam wand and then push it down into it's home position.  Another benefit of this is that you have control over the milk texture, and the Oracle machines are capable of great texture, including drier foam for cappuccino, and wetter foam for flat white & latte. You can select the foam volume, and the milk temp, and with the Oracle Touch, you can personalise this for every different coffee, so when you touch the coffee you want, it'll produce the espresso how you've set it for that drink, and then it will texture the milk exactly as you like it for that kind of milky, and at the temp you prefer it.  Yet another benefit of this, is that as well as providing a more authentic espresso making experience for the user with the use of a traditional portafilter (with the user inserting the portafilter to be dosed with freshly ground coffee and then tamped, then inserting the portafilter into the group, before finally knocking out the puck into the knock box) the user also gets to pour the milk, which provides for a more authentic experience than a more normal bean to cup machine which simply involves pressing a button.  Not only this, but being able to pour the milk - and milk which has been textured to the correct consistency for the milky you're making, gives you more control, and also gives you the potential to learn to pour latte art, if you wish.  This is a benefit vs one touch bean to cup machines which steam and dispense the milk for you, however the more entry level machines have steam wands, so you'd be steaming and pouring the milk yourself with these two. However, the difference there is that with the Oracle, you get much better milk texture than is possible with panarallo wands, and while you can take these off and just use the steam pipe with most of them, there's a real knack to properly texturing milk, and the Oracle machines bypass the need to go through that learning curve.  By the way, if you laughed when I mentioned the word "reasonable" in mentioning the price of the oracle machine, I know, they're not cheap! But they're not over the top when compared to other high end bean to cup machines. The Oracle RRP is just under £1700, and the Oracle Touch is just under £2k, but you can get the Oracle from just under a grand if you shop around (it's £998 at the moment at ao.com, they offer buy now pay in 6 months too). The Oracle touch, if you shop around you should be able to find a deal. The best deal I can find at present for the touch is on amazon UK, new. Reconditioned though, I've found this listing on eBay, for £1,139. It's manufacturer refurbished, with 12 month warranty. 27 have sold via this listing, and there's no negative feedback, so looks promising. So if you are looking at the higher end of bean to cup machines, particularly if you're looking at one touch machines, but if you like the idea of playing a small part in the process by handling the portafilter and pouring the milk - then I'd be strongly considering the Oracle machines, if budget allows. If you're at the other end of the spectrum when it comes to budget, then my personal favourite is the Gaggia Brera. Read my Gaggia Brera review.  If you're just looking for an inexpensive bean to cup machine, and you're happy to steam and pour the milk yourself, then the Brera is a great machine from Gaggia.  It has a small footprint, it's fairly quiet, it's very simple to use, and if you remove the panarello sheath from the steam wand, it's capable of creating decent velvety microfoam, with a bit of practice.  Actually, who am I trying to kid? ;-). With a bit of practice is an understatement! Learning to properly texture milk, with any espresso machine, really does take some time and effort. It took me a couple of years to get this right, and even now after probably around 4 years of practice, I do fluff it up and either under stretch it or over stretch it at times.  But the point is, the Brera is capable of steaming half decent microfoam once the user has learned how. You can't do it with the panarello on, this will only result in dry foam, large bubble, thick spoonable foam for traditional cappuccino - which is fine if that's what you want. But if you want velvety smooth glossy milk for making lovely flat whites, latte's and "wetter" cappuccino, you'll need to slide of the panarello to reveal the pipe, and use that as if it were a pro steam wand.  The Brera is my favourite entry level bean to cup machine, I really enjoyed using it.  If budget is tight, though - another good machine, and a bargain for the price, is the De'Longhi Magnifica Esam 4200. If both machines were the same cost, or if you're not bothered by the £100-£150 price difference, then I'd recommend the Brera. I just think it's ever so slightly easier to use, a tad quieter, and looks & feels a bit higher quality. I also really like the fact that you can just slide out the brew unit on the Brera, as with the higher end Gaggia bean to cup machines, in order to clean.  But given that you can get hold of the ESAM 4200 now from around £260 (see the current Amazon UK price), it's a good option if budget is tight. I'm not aware of any comparable machines at this kind of price point,  See my Esam 4200 user review. If you're somewhere in the middle in terms of budget, then I'd have a look at the Cadorna range from Gaggia. These start at £699, and they're really clever machines, with a brand new intelligent user interface which features four separate user settings.  There are 6 programmable coffee drinks, each which can be personalised for each user. So if you prefer your cappuccino stronger and hotter, for instance, than someone else in your house who will be using the machine, then all you need to remember is which colour is which user's profile. For this reason I think the Cadorna is worth looking at if there are going to be multiple people using your bean to cup machine. And this brings us to the end of this edition of Brew Time, which is good, as I'm sure your coffee has gone cold by now! ;-) Thanks again, Kev coffeeblog.co.uk cworks.co.uk Follow me on Twitter Follow me on Instagram Follow me on Facebook Subscribe to my YouTube Channel

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