bought the Breville Barista Express Impress last week because of this video after looking at different machines for weeks. Absolutely love the machine and would definitely recommend for beginners!
After previously owning 2 Delonghi machines i'm happy to have bought the Barista Impress on the back of your recommendation. Pours the perfect espresso every time with minimal effort and thats what the average joe like me is after at the end of the day.
I've used my Impress twice a day for almost 6 months. I love it. I make a double in the am and then an americano which i dump over ice and it's a perfect iced coffee.
I'm interested in the Express Impress due to the ease of dialing in and consistency. I'll put up with slower time to heat/steam versus Barista Pro/Barista Touch. Looks like it will be the best/easiest espresso machine to use.
I absolutely love your videos! I’m not even looking to buy an espresso machine as I already own the Barista Touch, but I always watch everything you post. They always leave me smiling at the end with your little bits of wisdom. Love it!
Honestly I am surprised by the oppinion on the DeLonghi. I am a long time user of the entry level espresso machines of the brand and they have been an amazing companion for years each. Recently got the La Specialista Prestigio and I must say it does lack in the dosing compared to the Breville, but with a bit of trial and error I was able to easily find my preferred dosage (it would really depend on your own pallet). I use Lavazza beans, medium roast, 9/10 intensity, and on grind setting 4 (as manual suggests for medium roast) the Prestigio makes consistently great shots, rich without any hint of nasty aftertaste (which I find in literally any coffee shop I have been, hence why I spent the money). About the tamping level - I have found it to be extremely precise (I use the guiding line and tamp twice). Haven't tried the single espresso filter yet, but I have been getting rich and aromatic doubles following that routine consistently, that have nothing in common with my previous entry level DeLonghi E.S.E. with pressurised filter with Crema Disc. I am a complete coffee pleb compared to you, but I am very particular with the taste I am looking for and if I was tasting what you describe in this video I would've returned the machine. I guess it depends on the beans as well - Lavazza have been consistent with quality over the years IMO (at least in Europe).
Do someone understands filter button on Sage? You can choose berween small and big cup, but it has nothing to do with choosing between big or small filter, but between single or dual wall filter. But knowing which is which is very weird. Anyone lost about that?
yeah, i bought the Maestro about a year ago and i must admit it heavily disappoints, especially in the steam wand department it feels very under powered, that's not to mention the complete inconsistent shot extractions, you'll be pulling one shot that has too fast flow and and then on your next shot you decide to go one grind setting finer and then it completely over pressurizes the the brew head and trips the safety valve
I personally didn’t enjoy the sage machine at all as a avid coffee drinker I found it took way too long to find the right consistency it was either too watery or too intense I tried many different beans ground at different consistencies and still no nothing and this drove me to eventually sell up. I’m always looking to try imitate the coffee from an Italian bar and honestly for me you just can’t beat the traditional cafeteria to produce consistent and great tasting shots of espresso. I have chanced my luck again with a bean to cup machine and got myself a la specialista machine today only because it was an absolute steal price but my thoughts are it cannot be as bad as the sage machine was to use overall.
on the Express Impress: is there any ese filter basket that can be used for this machine. sometimes, when I am in a hurry, I kinda prefer to use an ese pod on the go.... would really appreciate it if you could advise me where to get one? thank you
Get out! 😂. Just kidding. You should be fine using ESE pods just with the normal dual walled baskets. I've tried this with the bambino and bambino plus, works fine.
@@Coffee_Kev Ok, I will….😂😂😂 But the impress comes with 54mm portafilter…. So I am not sure whether there double wall single filter that fit the 54…. Do you have any idea where to get them from. I read you on the notes on the De’longhi…. Though I used the brand for quite some time and still think it is a good reliable brand even though your points are valid…
it looks like both shots shown on the Sage is way too fast (and pressure indicator is much below the approx 1pm mark which is generally about right). Same with the Delonghi but likely not a lot that can be done there. Grind finer ;)
That's mainly just down to the way we've edited, but keep in mind that was just a bit of background "making coffees with each" footage done as B-roll to save you from having to stare at my face for 13 minutes ;-). Re the pressure, I'm not sure why you think the 1pm mark is generally about right? 9 bars is in the middle of the gray "espresso range" bar, I've tested it with a portafilter pressured gauge. Cheers, Kev
I have the the impress but you cant get it to hit 1pm on the pressure gauge at all as its limited to 9 bar at the group head un like the old barista express that would hit 15 bar. Even while doin backflush on impress, pressure maxes out at 11AM on the gauge.
It appears that the Impress doesn't have anything resembling a WDT built into its tamping mechanism. Are we to conclude, then, that a WDT is just so much horse feathers?
I think this is probably because of how much of a challenge it would be to incorporate WDT, but I personally believe the overall importance of WDT as an element of puck prep to be very slight. Dose volume, grind size and tamp quality (level and consistent tamp) are far more important overall, to shot quality, as far as I've been able to tell. Cheers, Kev.
Hi coffee kev, I need your help I’m stuck between getting the sage barista pro or the new smeg EGF03CRUK when it comes out which one would you recommend?
Hi Kev! Well done video, and I am sure one that will be interesting for many people considering these two options. I really don't know why Delonghi only offers 8 grind settings. Anyway, I wanted to ask, are you currently using your M6, or did you switch over to BM? Which one do you like more for your videos? Cheers! Tom
Hi Tom :-), very kind of you to say. Re the 8 grind settings, I assume it's because they initially made it as a pressurized basket machine, they later changed it to a standard basket, but it seems that the pressurization now happens in the portafilter instead. I used the M6 when I was doing it all myself, I now work with a pro production setup (Oli & Wes, Brickoven -brickovenmedia.co.uk) who do all of the shooting and editing, they use BM 4k & 6k. Cheers :-) Kev
@@Coffee_Kev Thanks for that info, Kev. You are probably right on why there's so few grind settings. That sounds like quite a nice AV setup you've got with Oli and Wes and BM. BM must make for a nice footage, but I suppose with more post production work. Good thing you've got good help - the videos look great. 👍 Kudos and cheers! Tom
Thanks :) this was something I kind of looked at but I think I'm pretty happy with the Breville Bambino I received less than a week ago. My only complaint is there always seems to be water getting underneath the drip tray and it looks to be coming from when the solinoid valve release pressure and the drip tray isn't quite far enough back in that recess so it squirts down the back of that little extended trough and about a teaspoon or two ends up UNDER the tray in stead of in it from every shot... I don't see anybody else having this issue so maybe I just have an improperly formed drip tray? Did you have this issue on any of the Bambino Plus you were dealing with? I have tried and there's no way I can get the drip trade to go in any deeper
I have the same issue occasionally but, strangely, when I do a cleaning cycle/back flush it seems to cure it. I assume you have a cleaning disc without a hole in it. Maybe worth a try.
@@mvrw I did a non chemical backflush. I'll try that again but it seems to release pressure just fine but it just doesn't entirely get into the drip tray, some of it goes over the back of that little extension every time.
@@mvrw I think I'm going to sit it on my dishtrainer and just pull a shot and watch to see where the water comes out to make sure it's not somehow impeded
Hi, I will do a short on this, I have heard from a few people with this issue, it appears to be a fault with a missing piece if pipe somewhere between the solenoid and the drip tray. you might want to get onto sage support. Cheers Kev
@@Coffee_Kev Thank you very much! I really hope there is a fix even if I have to go through the hassle of exchanging the drip tray (hopefully not the whole machine😭) I've really loved pulling a double shot in the morning and having a cup of decaf tea in the evening. A tip since people complain that the water coming out of the steam one isn't hot enough, I checked with a Thermoworks thermometer and my fix is simple: I pull as much water as I want out of the steamwand into the frothing pitcher Then I put the pitcher down with the wand in it and run the lowest temperature, lowest froth, auto steam cycle and it comes out to be right at 200ﾟ= perfect for tea! (I am going to keep testing this. I'm using a high quality thermometer but so far it's workin)
@@cinemapigeon4898 Hi, Have a look at my new video: ua-cam.com/video/aM_n1lV96js/v-deo.html It should help 🙂. But, yeah, WDT is a puck prep step I would recommend, but I don't think it's huge in importance, and in my opinion it's the dose volume, grind size (and quality), and a consistent and level tamp that are the most important elements to puck prep. Cheers, Kev.
I bought the DeLonghi about a year ago due to the fact it was listed as a dual boiler. Unfortunately it does not operate as I expected with a dual boiler - one in which you can extract and steam at the same time. I thought it was broken when it did not work. I also found that the steaming process will stop if you steam over a determined set of time I guess. If steaming milk for a large cappuccino cup it stopped after awhile, before reaching proper temp. The company said it was so that the boiler doesn't overheat...what???? What I do is have a premeasured 1oz of beans into the hopper. That works pretty well for the grinding. Previously, before moving to the UK from Canada, I had a Breville Barista Express. As the La Specialista does not work as I think a dual boiler should, these would be on the same playing field. The only slight edge to the DeLonghi would be the steaming is a tad faster, but other than that, the Barista Express is far better.
Kinda bashing on the delonghi for no solid reason. Its a great machine and i can create coffee with it that can compete with coffee shops from everywhere
A new Sage coffee machine is rusting like crazy. It makes good coffee but the quality of the stainless steel elements is a joke. And then there are the stupid lines from the customer service person that you can clean it, I wonder how with sandpaper? Not to mention the hard-working steam and water switch. It would be a big problem to accept the product under warranty. It would be enough to replace the rusty and properly working one and I would be able to continue enjoying good coffee. But of course, because of one person in the customer support department, everything gets complicated. Lack of respect for customers.
What I have learned over the years is that the delonghi brand is the Hyundai or Kia of the espresso world and the Breville is the Lexus or the Cadillac of espresso.
As someone who only uses an Aeropress but wants to completely level up my coffee I am very torn by the Delonghi la Specialista because it's 499.99 on Amazon versus the Breville at 699.95 🥲 I don't know enough to know the difference but the price is a pretty big factor, but, I been hearing the Breville has better temperature overall with the 3 way solenoid which is better for extraction. I don't really get it but I also like the Delonghi for the dose knob, as the manual tells you which dose and temperature is good for each roast. I don't really know the differences well enough between Light Roast, Medium, Dark, etc but is the Breville really worth the nearly 200 dollars over the Delonghi? I don't really want to spend 700 bucks for an espresso machine but my mom and I have at least 2-4 cups a day. I have one a day and she has at least 1 or 2 herself but she just uses pods and I use the aero press but I got a house so we are looking for a machine that we won't be settling with since I settle with the Aeropress and she just uses pods now with a Keurig. Apologies for the long winded comment, I am just lost here and not an expert by any means but my mom used to get her own beans and grind coffee but it's been a while and I only been drinking coffee for maybe 6 months or so, maybe less but I know it can be a lot better than the Aeropress and I enjoy having a cup with my breakfast even though I know the caffeine isn't really needed till later in the day I like to have it around 8 but I know 9 am to 11:30 is better. Do you think it's worth spending that extra 200 dollars?
@@yourstrulyjesss Thank you, I did end up deciding. I went with the Breville Bambino Plus :) the automatic milk frothier is a feature I ended up being really glad to have and it's been great the past half a year. Maintenance on it is very easy and it still looks brand new and I use it about 4 times a week. 🥹 I am quite happy with it.
@@piplup10203854 thank you for your response, have been seeing a lot of videos that state it’s better to get a bambino and a grinder to have the separate machines
bought the Breville Barista Express Impress last week because of this video after looking at different machines for weeks. Absolutely love the machine and would definitely recommend for beginners!
Thanks for the feedback, it is a great machine!
After previously owning 2 Delonghi machines i'm happy to have bought the Barista Impress on the back of your recommendation. Pours the perfect espresso every time with minimal effort and thats what the average joe like me is after at the end of the day.
Glad you are enjoying your Impress and more importantly, your coffee :-)
Same here ,. moving from a dedica to impress. Waiting for it to arrive !
Can you do an Delonghi Opera VS Breville Pro comparison
I've used my Impress twice a day for almost 6 months. I love it. I make a double in the am and then an americano which i dump over ice and it's a perfect iced coffee.
Glad you love the Impress :-)
Great and honest comparison.
Quite brutal opinion on the DeLonghi…. Guess after this, they will never sell a machine again 😂
Love my Express Impress! So pleased I bought it and was even more delighted with the price I got from following your antics, Kev. 👍🏻
Excellent, we all love a bargain! 😀👍
I'm interested in the Express Impress due to the ease of dialing in and consistency. I'll put up with slower time to heat/steam versus Barista Pro/Barista Touch. Looks like it will be the best/easiest espresso machine to use.
I absolutely love your videos! I’m not even looking to buy an espresso machine as I already own the Barista Touch, but I always watch everything you post. They always leave me smiling at the end with your little bits of wisdom. Love it!
Thanks so much Gail, That means a lot to me :-)
Cheers
Kev
3:44 There is an additional grind setting inside the coffee grinder.
I bought the de longhi and it’s great
Glad you are enjoying the Delonghi :-)
could you compare "sage express impress" with the new delonghi "la specialista opera"?
Nice video as usual. Thanks.
Honestly, comparing the best delonghi machine to even the Bambino is an insult to Breville/Sage.
cheers.
Can you do an Delonghi Opera VS Breville Pro comparison
Honestly I am surprised by the oppinion on the DeLonghi. I am a long time user of the entry level espresso machines of the brand and they have been an amazing companion for years each. Recently got the La Specialista Prestigio and I must say it does lack in the dosing compared to the Breville, but with a bit of trial and error I was able to easily find my preferred dosage (it would really depend on your own pallet). I use Lavazza beans, medium roast, 9/10 intensity, and on grind setting 4 (as manual suggests for medium roast) the Prestigio makes consistently great shots, rich without any hint of nasty aftertaste (which I find in literally any coffee shop I have been, hence why I spent the money). About the tamping level - I have found it to be extremely precise (I use the guiding line and tamp twice). Haven't tried the single espresso filter yet, but I have been getting rich and aromatic doubles following that routine consistently, that have nothing in common with my previous entry level DeLonghi E.S.E. with pressurised filter with Crema Disc. I am a complete coffee pleb compared to you, but I am very particular with the taste I am looking for and if I was tasting what you describe in this video I would've returned the machine. I guess it depends on the beans as well - Lavazza have been consistent with quality over the years IMO (at least in Europe).
Sage Dual Boiler > other sage machines > DeLonghi
Do someone understands filter button on Sage? You can choose berween small and big cup, but it has nothing to do with choosing between big or small filter, but between single or dual wall filter. But knowing which is which is very weird. Anyone lost about that?
your wrong about the delonhi the shots are awesome
yeah, i bought the Maestro about a year ago and i must admit it heavily disappoints, especially in the steam wand department it feels very under powered, that's not to mention the complete inconsistent shot extractions, you'll be pulling one shot that has too fast flow and and then on your next shot you decide to go one grind setting finer and then it completely over pressurizes the the brew head and trips the safety valve
I personally didn’t enjoy the sage machine at all as a avid coffee drinker I found it took way too long to find the right consistency it was either too watery or too intense I tried many different beans ground at different consistencies and still no nothing and this drove me to eventually sell up. I’m always looking to try imitate the coffee from an Italian bar and honestly for me you just can’t beat the traditional cafeteria to produce consistent and great tasting shots of espresso. I have chanced my luck again with a bean to cup machine and got myself a la specialista machine today only because it was an absolute steal price but my thoughts are it cannot be as bad as the sage machine was to use overall.
So glad I didn’t buy the De’Longhi at Currys last night. Lucky escape. 😂
on the Express Impress: is there any ese filter basket that can be used for this machine. sometimes, when I am in a hurry, I kinda prefer to use an ese pod on the go.... would really appreciate it if you could advise me where to get one? thank you
Get out! 😂. Just kidding. You should be fine using ESE pods just with the normal dual walled baskets. I've tried this with the bambino and bambino plus, works fine.
@@Coffee_Kev Ok, I will….😂😂😂
But the impress comes with 54mm portafilter…. So I am not sure whether there double wall single filter that fit the 54…. Do you have any idea where to get them from.
I read you on the notes on the De’longhi…. Though I used the brand for quite some time and still think it is a good reliable brand even though your points are valid…
Would you recommend the Barista Impress for someone coming from only using Nespresso machines?
What is your opinion on delonghi la specialista maestro?
it looks like both shots shown on the Sage is way too fast (and pressure indicator is much below the approx 1pm mark which is generally about right). Same with the Delonghi but likely not a lot that can be done there. Grind finer ;)
That's mainly just down to the way we've edited, but keep in mind that was just a bit of background "making coffees with each" footage done as B-roll to save you from having to stare at my face for 13 minutes ;-). Re the pressure, I'm not sure why you think the 1pm mark is generally about right? 9 bars is in the middle of the gray "espresso range" bar, I've tested it with a portafilter pressured gauge. Cheers, Kev
I have the the impress but you cant get it to hit 1pm on the pressure gauge at all as its limited to 9 bar at the group head un like the old barista express that would hit 15 bar.
Even while doin backflush on impress, pressure maxes out at 11AM on the gauge.
@@fakenews3676 Yeah the OPV is set to 9 bars on the impress
i regret getting the delonghi. It's flimsy af. Had to take it to repair twice
Hello there, is it possible to review the lelit mara x?
Coming soon 👍👍😁
It appears that the Impress doesn't have anything resembling a WDT built into its tamping mechanism. Are we to conclude, then, that a WDT is just so much horse feathers?
I think this is probably because of how much of a challenge it would be to incorporate WDT, but I personally believe the overall importance of WDT as an element of puck prep to be very slight. Dose volume, grind size and tamp quality (level and consistent tamp) are far more important overall, to shot quality, as far as I've been able to tell. Cheers, Kev.
You are basically making me spend £600 for a coffee machine mate!😂😂
I'm saving you a fortune then pal 😆😎
Hi coffee kev, I need your help I’m stuck between getting the sage barista pro or the new smeg EGF03CRUK when it comes out which one would you recommend?
Hi Kev! Well done video, and I am sure one that will be interesting for many people considering these two options. I really don't know why Delonghi only offers 8 grind settings.
Anyway, I wanted to ask, are you currently using your M6, or did you switch over to BM? Which one do you like more for your videos? Cheers! Tom
Hi Tom :-), very kind of you to say. Re the 8 grind settings, I assume it's because they initially made it as a pressurized basket machine, they later changed it to a standard basket, but it seems that the pressurization now happens in the portafilter instead.
I used the M6 when I was doing it all myself, I now work with a pro production setup (Oli & Wes, Brickoven -brickovenmedia.co.uk) who do all of the shooting and editing, they use BM 4k & 6k.
Cheers :-)
Kev
@@Coffee_Kev Thanks for that info, Kev. You are probably right on why there's so few grind settings. That sounds like quite a nice AV setup you've got with Oli and Wes and BM. BM must make for a nice footage, but I suppose with more post production work. Good thing you've got good help - the videos look great. 👍
Kudos and cheers! Tom
Nice vid
Thanks :) this was something I kind of looked at but I think I'm pretty happy with the Breville Bambino I received less than a week ago. My only complaint is there always seems to be water getting underneath the drip tray and it looks to be coming from when the solinoid valve release pressure and the drip tray isn't quite far enough back in that recess so it squirts down the back of that little extended trough and about a teaspoon or two ends up UNDER the tray in stead of in it from every shot... I don't see anybody else having this issue so maybe I just have an improperly formed drip tray?
Did you have this issue on any of the Bambino Plus you were dealing with? I have tried and there's no way I can get the drip trade to go in any deeper
I have the same issue occasionally but, strangely, when I do a cleaning cycle/back flush it seems to cure it. I assume you have a cleaning disc without a hole in it. Maybe worth a try.
@@mvrw I did a non chemical backflush. I'll try that again but it seems to release pressure just fine but it just doesn't entirely get into the drip tray, some of it goes over the back of that little extension every time.
@@mvrw I think I'm going to sit it on my dishtrainer and just pull a shot and watch to see where the water comes out to make sure it's not somehow impeded
Hi, I will do a short on this, I have heard from a few people with this issue, it appears to be a fault with a missing piece if pipe somewhere between the solenoid and the drip tray. you might want to get onto sage support.
Cheers
Kev
@@Coffee_Kev Thank you very much! I really hope there is a fix even if I have to go through the hassle of exchanging the drip tray (hopefully not the whole machine😭) I've really loved pulling a double shot in the morning and having a cup of decaf tea in the evening. A tip since people complain that the water coming out of the steam one isn't hot enough, I checked with a Thermoworks thermometer and my fix is simple: I pull as much water as I want out of the steamwand into the frothing pitcher Then I put the pitcher down with the wand in it and run the lowest temperature, lowest froth, auto steam cycle and it comes out to be right at 200ﾟ= perfect for tea! (I am going to keep testing this. I'm using a high quality thermometer but so far it's workin)
Some people love whisking their espresso grounds, however is that step really that important? It almost seems more like a ritual.
Hi are you talking about using the WDT tool?
@@Coffee_Kev Yes, that tool.
@@cinemapigeon4898
Hi, Have a look at my new video:
ua-cam.com/video/aM_n1lV96js/v-deo.html
It should help 🙂. But, yeah, WDT is a puck prep step I would recommend, but I don't think it's huge in importance, and in my opinion it's the dose volume, grind size (and quality), and a consistent and level tamp that are the most important elements to puck prep. Cheers, Kev.
@@Coffee_Kev Thanks fam
I bought the DeLonghi about a year ago due to the fact it was listed as a dual boiler. Unfortunately it does not operate as I expected with a dual boiler - one in which you can extract and steam at the same time. I thought it was broken when it did not work. I also found that the steaming process will stop if you steam over a determined set of time I guess. If steaming milk for a large cappuccino cup it stopped after awhile, before reaching proper temp. The company said it was so that the boiler doesn't overheat...what???? What I do is have a premeasured 1oz of beans into the hopper. That works pretty well for the grinding. Previously, before moving to the UK from Canada, I had a Breville Barista Express. As the La Specialista does not work as I think a dual boiler should, these would be on the same playing field. The only slight edge to the DeLonghi would be the steaming is a tad faster, but other than that, the Barista Express is far better.
Kinda bashing on the delonghi for no solid reason. Its a great machine and i can create coffee with it that can compete with coffee shops from everywhere
Glad you are enjoying your Delonghi and your coffee :-)
Delonghi is a joke,feels cheap plastic
This two are not in the same league .Sage is top
A new Sage coffee machine is rusting like crazy. It makes good coffee but the quality of the stainless steel elements is a joke. And then there are the stupid lines from the customer service person that you can clean it, I wonder how with sandpaper? Not to mention the hard-working steam and water switch. It would be a big problem to accept the product under warranty. It would be enough to replace the rusty and properly working one and I would be able to continue enjoying good coffee. But of course, because of one person in the customer support department, everything gets complicated. Lack of respect for customers.
sorry, but if you don't want to make good coffee with the delonghi, you won't make good coffee with it. 🙂
What I have learned over the years is that the delonghi brand is the Hyundai or Kia of the espresso world and the Breville is the Lexus or the Cadillac of espresso.
As someone who only uses an Aeropress but wants to completely level up my coffee I am very torn by the Delonghi la Specialista because it's 499.99 on Amazon versus the Breville at 699.95 🥲 I don't know enough to know the difference but the price is a pretty big factor, but, I been hearing the Breville has better temperature overall with the 3 way solenoid which is better for extraction. I don't really get it but I also like the Delonghi for the dose knob, as the manual tells you which dose and temperature is good for each roast. I don't really know the differences well enough between Light Roast, Medium, Dark, etc but is the Breville really worth the nearly 200 dollars over the Delonghi? I don't really want to spend 700 bucks for an espresso machine but my mom and I have at least 2-4 cups a day. I have one a day and she has at least 1 or 2 herself but she just uses pods and I use the aero press but I got a house so we are looking for a machine that we won't be settling with since I settle with the Aeropress and she just uses pods now with a Keurig.
Apologies for the long winded comment, I am just lost here and not an expert by any means but my mom used to get her own beans and grind coffee but it's been a while and I only been drinking coffee for maybe 6 months or so, maybe less but I know it can be a lot better than the Aeropress and I enjoy having a cup with my breakfast even though I know the caffeine isn't really needed till later in the day I like to have it around 8 but I know 9 am to 11:30 is better. Do you think it's worth spending that extra 200 dollars?
Did you end up deciding? Currently same here debating to get the De’Longhi on sale price or should just spend more for the breville?
@@yourstrulyjesss Thank you, I did end up deciding. I went with the Breville Bambino Plus :) the automatic milk frothier is a feature I ended up being really glad to have and it's been great the past half a year. Maintenance on it is very easy and it still looks brand new and I use it about 4 times a week. 🥹 I am quite happy with it.
@@piplup10203854 thank you for your response, have been seeing a lot of videos that state it’s better to get a bambino and a grinder to have the separate machines