Sage The Oracle Touch Black Truffle

When making espresso you have to deal with several variables that each listen very closely. The beauty of the Oracle Touch is that it takes away a lot of those variables. You actually control the coffee solely by the grind of the beans and the throughput time (and to a lesser extent by the temperature). That makes the device very user-friendly and removes a lot of the learning curve. As a result, as an inexperienced home barista, you can make good coffee. An additional advantage of the bean grinder/tamper combination is that you get very few coffee crumbs on your countertop. Furthermore, the milk frother is phenomenal, really unprecedented good milk foam. You will not be able to go back to a separate milk frother or a mediocre cappuccino afterwards. As far as I'm concerned, the automatic milk frothing is the best feature of the device. Many of the problems I discuss below are also much less noticeable in the case of cappuccinos or lattes because they are well masked by the excellent milk. The following annoyances are particularly relevant if you expect to drink predominantly espresso. What disappointed me about the device was the accuracy/reproducibility. The first cup of coffee of the day was ground considerably finer than subsequent cups, causing your first double espresso to fail. In addition, it was more common that the tamp did not work properly, as a result of which the water runs through the coffee too quickly (and it becomes sour (underextracted)). There was also quite a lot of variation in the amount of ground beans at a time (deviations of 1.5-2g higher or lower than average, so a range of 4g). This makes it difficult to always make equivalent coffee. The amount of coffee is also always on the high side, there is not much you can do about it (only adjust to a limited extent). Rather 20-22g, compared to the 18g that many coffee recipes use. I can't rule out that this was the copy. I returned my copy due to defects and after consulting Sage customer service. This may seem like nit-picking, but for $2000 I would have expected a product without inconsistencies like this. For the record, it is therefore not possible to set the device 1x and then get good coffee with a few actions. You should adjust the device regularly (not daily, but several times a week). Sage also has excellent customer service; I was helped every time by patient and helpful people. Conclusion: On paper, the device is fantastic, and it is when it works correctly. Unfortunately, the consistency is the biggest culprit, and the device does not qualify as a fully automatic machine in my opinion. As a potential buyer it is especially important to realize that it requires more work than a fully automatic machine (but also with a higher quality as a result). For me, the device is not so suitable for espresso drinkers. However, for cappuccino and latte drinkers, it could still be a good option.