From Kev, Bean to cup coffee machines Vs Sage Barista Pro & Express.

Hello fellow coffee botherers :-),  This email is for anyone who is trying to decide between the likes of the Sage Barista range, and bean to cup coffee machines. I get a lot of emails from people asking me something along these lines, who're often mistaking the Sage machines as being bean to cup machines, and not understanding that they're actually making a decision between two different types of coffee machine.  The Sage Barista range, (Barista express, Barista Pro) are commonly mistaken for bean to cup coffee machines, and this is due to the presence of an integrated grinder. Many people (including the people responsible for categorizing machines on retail websites, which isn't helpful) see the integrated grinder, and think "bean to cup" - but an integrated grinder isn't what qualifies a machine as bean to cup.  A bean to cup machine is what a bean to cup machine does - and by that I mean that what qualifies a machine as "bean to cup" is that you put beans in the top, and you get coffee out of the bottom, simply by pressing a button.  Bean to cup machines do this thanks to this relatively small and inconspicuous looking component called a brewing unit - and this replaces the group and portafilter, that you'd see on a traditional espresso machine, and therefore replaces a lot of the user effort. So if it has a brewing unit - which you'll know from the lack of a portafilter - then it's a bean to cup machine, and you simply put coffee beans in the hopper, and press a button for coffee.  The Sage Barista range (Barista Express and Barista Pro) are traditional espresso machines with integrated grinders. As well as putting coffee beans in the hopper, you need to manually take care of grinding, dosing, tamping (getting the coffee ready in the portafilter) before locking the portafilter into the group and pressing the button to pull the shot.  To get rid of the used grounds, you then knock out the portafilter into the knock box, while with bean to cup machines the puck of coffee is expelled internally and you'll be prompted to empty the dreg drawer when it's full.  Using a traditional espresso machine with traditional baskets requires the development of some home barista skills, and it requires more time and effort for each shot than using a bean to cup machine does.  The Barista range do also come with "dual walled" baskets, AKA "pressurized baskets" which do take some of the effort and some of the skill out of it, and do limit the quality to a certain degree, but there's still a little bit more effort involved in using one of these machines with pressurized baskets than there is using a bean to cup coffee machine.  If you want a bit more of an authentic home espresso making experience than just pressing a button, but you don't want to take on a new hobby, then getting the Barista Express or Barista Pro and using the dual walled baskets, is not a bad idea. OK, it's not quite as automated and it's a little bit more effort than just pressing a button, but if you use the dual walled baskets there's not much to learn, the coffee will be at least on par with (if not better than, in my humble opinion, but obviously that's subjective) the coffee from any bean to cup machine.  Also, with one of the Barista machines, if you decide you want to jump down the home barista rabbit hole you can just switch to the standard baskets.  For more on the Sage Barista range, see:    Sage Barista Pro Review Sage Barista Express Review If you definitely want "bean to cup" - meaning that you want a machine with a brewing unit, so you can just press a button and walk away with your coffee, then just keep in mind that there are various different types of bean to cup coffee machine.  Standard bean to cup coffee machines are "one touch" for the coffee, but then have a steam wand for the milk.  Machines that are usually labelled as "one touch", are usually milk carafe machines, and with these kinds of machines milkies (latte, cappuccino) are a one touch affair too.  The higher end bean to cup machines are usually milk carafe machines, but just keep in mind that while many people would assume that the more you spend on a bean to cup machine, the better coffee you'd get from it, this isn't quite true. In fact, the machines at the top of the price range usually have the same (or very similar) grinder and brewing unit as the machines at the bottom of the range, so just be aware that additional investment in bean to cup machines usually gives more bells and whistles, and one touch milk drinks, but not necessarily better coffee.  For more on bean to cup machines, see:  Best Bean to Cup Coffee Machines So, hopefully if you were stuck between going for a bean to cup coffee machine or one of the Sage Barista machines, which is a very common quandary, hopefully this will help :-) 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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