Sage - The Barista Express Impress, Brushed Stainless Steel

Product Information

I discovered this when I received the demo model, people in the US appear to have made judgments about this machine without trying it, and they've mainly come to the wrong conclusion. What I've seen in most threads and in video comments etc., is that the only thing different about the Impress is the tamping handle, that's not right. It's simple to use (as long as you're using the dual walled baskets), the build quality is very good, it has a good sized water tank with water filter, a lovely sized drip tray with an internal storage compartment, and it has a proper steam wand and a hot water spout for Americano. If you think a proper coffee can’t possibly come from a jar or a pod, but aren’t au fait with authentic barista brewing, the Sage Barista Express Impress deserves a spot on your kitchen counter. It simplifies some of the more complex parts of espresso making, letting you swap instant for freshly roasted beans without having to master that art of tamping or dosage first. These kinds of machines really are intended for home use. Whether you could get away with using the Barista Express for your business would depend on how many coffees you think you’ll be selling per day, and how busy you might be in one short period of time. This is the touch screen version of the oracle touch. It's about five hundred quid more, so it does seem quite a lot more cash to stump up just for the touch screen, although it is a bit more than that.

It is very easy to assume that new always means better, and in some ways, I think this is the case with the ThermoJet, but in some ways, possibly not.

I think I'm the right person to write such a post because I've used all these machines, and I've used them side by side. If you think you might want to get into the home barista hobby, but you're not quite sure if it might be a bit too much faff for you, or if you might want to do that at the weekend or when you have more time, but not when you're in a rush on busy workday mornings, then the Barista Express Impress is probably the best alternative to the Barista Express. I really like the Express Impress, and I'd actually recommend it over the Barista Express to anyone who is planning on using freshly roasted coffee beans. It's not a huge deal, the same is true of the Gaggia Classic Pro, but you can very easily mod that machine to change the limit to 9 bars. Whether or not any tank-fed machine can actually feature “true” pre-infusion is a matter for debate among much cleverer people than me, (I'm not even a proper Barista I just play one on YouTube) but pre-infusion would usually be done at line pressure from a plumbed in machine before the pump is then engaged, and tank machines don't have line pressure so it always pumps pressure, but, Sage machines are set to in some way mimic line pressure by limiting the pump pressure initially and then ramping up to full pressure.

The Barista Express features the original thermocoil, while the newer machines (Barista Pro, Barista Touch, Bambino & Bambino Plus) feature the ThermoJet.

On the plus side, this newer faster ThermoJet means the Barista Pro has a faster 3 second heat up time, faster steam ready time, faster shot ready time after steaming milk, and I think it's probably a bit more energy efficient if you're only making one or two coffees within the same 20-30 minute window. The main reason for this is that this gives you more choice where the grinder is concerned, and as long as you go with the Dose control pro, smart grinder pro or upwards from there (upwards from there meaning the likes of the Barazza Sette 270, Eureka Mignon La Specialita) then you're going to have better ability to dial in, and therefore better espresso.