Coffee machine

[EclecticTree]

De’Longhi Magnifica = YABU

Sage Barista Express = YANBU

If you have used either of these, which one would you rate?

Surely people are only going to vote for the ones they've used and if they've got the one they probably won't have used the other. Why not just read the reviews online?

I've only used the DeLonghi because that's the one we have. It's fab!

I have the delonghi eletta bean to cup and it’s really good.

I've got a sage creatista uno. I love it!

Thank you, are they very noisy?

we have the delhongi cafe corsa its about 7 years old still works perfectly but yes being a bean to cup it is noisy when it grinds the beans and randomly cleans itself which made me jump the first time i heard it but you get used to it

I don’t have the Barista Express but have the Bambino Plus and love it. I really like Sage’s design in general though: very feature heavy without being gimmicky. No experience with Delonghi. There’s an excellent YouTube channel called Coffeeblog UK and he has in depth reviews for most of the Sage Machines and some Delonghi ones as well I think. Might be worth looking at as seeing the pros and cons of each told by someone who has experience with both is probably more useful than people who only have experienced one of the machines.

@toastofthetown can i jump on this thread and ask you if the bambino plus gets the milk and coffee good and hot?

I have the barista express so obviously bias but I think it would make the better coffee.

The other one I think would be easier to use.

The barista express is noisy. I don’t use it downstairs when the kids are still asleep.

We have the Sage one and can recommend it.

[quote mandoforever]@toastofthetown can i jump on this thread and ask you if the bambino plus gets the milk and coffee good and hot?[/quote]
@mandoforever Yes it does. There are three settings they call "warm", "ideal" and "hot". I don't know which temperatures they are exactly (I can measure tomorrow and let you know) but hot is really quite hot. Much hotter the milk would start to burn. And there's always the option to manually steam the milk in which case you could take it as hot as you like it.

We have the delonghi and would recommend it. The sage one is more expensive? Think both would be fine tbh we now just enjoy trying new coffee beans for variety/flavour . Ours is noisy from the beans being ground.

Oops we have dinamica and not magnifica. Not sure of the differences but haven't had a coffee out in 2 yrs since purchased.

Yanbu

Thank you @toastofthetown.

Neither.... the Illy iperespresso is top, because you can't beat Illycaffe

@mandoforever Did some measurements while making coffee today and these were the temps. Hopefully more useful than me just saying it works for me!
Espresso - 63°C*
Milk (ideal setting) - 65°C
Milk (hot setting) - 84°C
Water from steam wand - 61°C**

• NB this was poured into a cold cup. I could see the temperature dropping as I was measuring so it could could be at least 10°C hotter if I was more conscious **Officially the Bambino Plus doesn’t dispense hot water as the Bambino does, but on most machines in the UK you can press the single shot button at the same time as the steam setting button and it will dispense water. Personally I find it too cold so just use the kettle anyway.

Got the Delonghi, it's fab. With the Sage, I think you have to tamp & I get coffee everywhere, so went for one that would be easier. Its great!

I had a Magnifica years ago. It's conked out now but I really liked it while it lasted, and I'm sure newer models are better.

I have heard that De Longhi machines have a 'pressurised' portafilter, which coffee 'experts' turn up their noses at. Apparently it's much easier to use, and much more forgiving of errors, but the end result isn't nearly as good as with a non-pressurised portafilter. I believe Sage have the non-pressurised ones.

Interesting, thank you for all the useful posts. Is it a bit laborious making a cup of coffee with these machines then? I watched a video review on the Sage yesterday and realised as it's bean to cup its quite nosey not sure I need that in the mornings fussy

You can make superb coffee with a £24 Aeropress.

You will have to grind your beans separately if you don't want to use ground coffee.

I like coffee hot and milky. My method is use Aeropress to create a shot of coffee that fills a third of a mug, add a third of milk, top up to the top with hot water, microwave for 30 seconds to restore the degrees of temperature the cold milk took away.

It's simpler to make one cup than multiple cups, for multiple cups I will make the shots into a spare milk jug before distributing them evenly to coffee mugs.

It takes maybe two or three minutes to make a cup of coffee my way, I think. I wash the aeropress under the tap during the 30 seconds the mug of coffee is in the microwave.

The two or three minutes includes time to boil enough water for one cup of coffee.

The two or three minutes does not include time for ginding beans, I buy ground coffee.

@EclecticTree

Interesting, thank you for all the useful posts. Is it a bit laborious making a cup of coffee with these machines then? I watched a video review on the Sage yesterday and realised as it's bean to cup its quite nosey not sure I need that in the mornings fussy

My delonghi isn’t remotely laborious, I shove my cup under it, press go, it grinds the beans and makes me a cup of coffee. I have it set to hot, long coffee, and have it make two cups at once, to fill a Large mug.

If my husband or daughter wants a latte, or cappuccino or whatever I just press that setting and off it goes. Very easy. We don’t make instant coffee anymore.

It’s noisy for about twenty seconds as it grinds beans. Not wake the house noisy.