Sage - The Oracle Touch, Brushed Stainless Steel

Product Information

The espresso quality isn't impacted at all, but I just like a nice quality portafilter. With the Bambino Plus you can buy the nicer portafilter for the Barista Express & Barista Pro, and it's compatible. For some reason the Bambino doesn't work with that portafilter, it seems to fit but pressure escapes the group, so it clearly doesn't quite fit for some reason. So this machine, the entry level in the Creatista range, has the ability to blow just about any other Nespresso machine out of the water, where milk texture is concerned. If you're looking for an impressive pod machine for an Airbnb for example, as I know some people choose these machines for, you can't get much better than this – unless you splurge a bit more on the Plus or the Pro, which so more or less the same just with one touch pre-sets for milkies, and more settings. Not least because it does look rather lovely. The touchscreen is bright and colourful and the design and graphics are as pleasingly stylish as the Oracle Touch’s physical exterior. All the cutely-styled little coffee icons are labelled clearly and the interface is pretty easy to understand without having to pore through the instruction booklet – and, moreover, tapping the ‘i’ symbol gives you a helping hand when you need it, so you’ll mostly be able to leave the manual in the drawer.

A benefit of the Touch over the standard oracle where milk texture is concerned, is that you can save the milk texture setting for each drink. So let's say you create your own perfect personalised flattie, with a custom milk temp and texture, the next time you select that drink it'll remember the milk temp and texture level.

Perfect lattes, no skill required

When it comes to shot quality, and flexibility (in terms of what the machine allows to to do in terms of adjusting temperature and preinfusion pressure and time) the Dual Boiler punches way above its weight. I think many people over the years just assumed that other integrated grinder coffee machines from Sage were assisted, no thanks to some retailers saying that they are, and some bigger publications talking about them (some still do!) as “bean to cup coffee machines”, which always annoys me. The reason I don't think the Barista Express is the best choice for home barista use, is that it's really designed more for mainstream beans and dual walled baskets. Unlike the Barista Pro and most other Sage coffee machines, the OPV (over pressure valve) is set to 13/14 bars, which is better for use with dual walled, pressurised baskets than it is with standard baskets. It has a fast brew setting for when you just need coffee fast, a strong brew setting for when all you're bothered about is brewing a strong coffee (to wash down your paracetamol the morning after the night before, for example) a pourover setting (you can change the filter holder for your favourite pourover device, i.e. V60 or Kalita) and a cold brew setting.

If you love coffee, hate faff and have the money to spend, then the answer is yes. Sage Oracle Touch review: What you need to know The water tank is slightly smaller, 1.5L vs 1.9L, so you'll have to fill it slightly more often, but I've come to the conclusion that smaller tanks are fine for most people. I recommend emptying the tank at the end of every day and filling it again in the morning, it just doesn't quite seem right to leave water sitting in a tank for a few days, given most of us wouldn't do this with our drinking water bottles or our kettles.Then, there are people who either have a keen palate where espresso is concerned, for whom nothing but well extracted “true” espresso will do, or they just love the idea of being able to produce great quality espresso regardless of whether they currently have the palate to enjoy it (this was me several years ago). The Bambino and Bambino Plus come with the same portafilter, it's not the same higher quality more pro looking portafilter that you get with all the other Sage machines, it's a cheaper portafilter with more plastic, and with stubby spouts, and I'm just not a big fan. Then in my humble opinion, you've probably found the perfect coffee machine for you, if you want to make espresso and espresso-based coffees.