If you’re going to spend hundreds of pounds on a coffee machine, the least you need it to do is last. That’s why I’m revisiting my most-used and much-loved day-to-day coffee machine, the Sage Barista Express Impress, three years after I first reviewed the Sage Barista Express Impress to tell you everything I’ve learnt about it in that time.
I have the lucky job of overseeing our guides to the best coffee machines, which means I test plenty of coffee makers at the Ideal Home test centre and on loan in my home. But the one I’ve actually (very luckily) been able to keep hold of is Sage’s flagship Express Impress, which we called ‘a triumph for tidy kitchens’ when we first rated it in 2022.
For a long time, this Sage machine was ranked as the best bean-to-cup machine in our guide, but it’s since been superseded by alternatives offering more functionality for less money. But there’s still plenty to love about this Sage machine and plenty I’ve learned through trial and error – here’s an overview.
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Sage
Barista Express Impress
The stainless steel colourway is classic, but I’m partial to this machine in Sea Salt too.
1. It still looks good as new
A general reservation people have with stainless steel coffee machines is the burden of keeping the surface clean, as the material is easier to mark than alternatives. But despite my reservations, it still looks pretty much as good as it did the day I unboxed it.
It’s an exceedingly easy machine to maintain as long as you follow a few key processes. I never let too long pass before I empty and properly clean the drip tray that sits along the bottom – something helped by the machine’s little ‘EMPTY ME’ float which rises up to greet you as the water level does. And I try to run descaling every 100 coffees or so (about every three months) to keep the inside of the machine ticking along too.
One of the big USPs with this machine is the one-armed bandit tamping system, which is a total godsend for avoiding mess and that still works a total treat – as well as it did three years ago.
All of this unsurprisingly means that the resale value of this specific model remains very high, so if you did want to switch to something else down the line (or upgrade to a newer Sage) you won’t have sunk your money completely.
2. It can take a little trial and error
This machine is my boyfriend’s favourite-ever kitchen appliance (and he’s seen many come and go through our kitchen) but there did come a time where the coffee beans I mistakenly bought caused us a big headache with it.
Yes, I fell into the classic pitfall (which our expert says is one of the most common) of buying dark roast beans when I really should’ve stuck with medium. And we felt the repercussions for weeks after.
After the first few coffees we made came out exceedingly bitter, we stopped using the dark roast beans and switched back to our familiar favourite type.
But that didn’t mean that the headache was over, as it seems the grinder retained the oils from the dark roast (which are much more pronounced than with medium) and therefore polluted the internal workings of the machine for some time with that horribly bitter taste.
It took us weeks of Googling and discussion to troubleshoot the issue – the phrase ‘rancid oils’ has surely never been said so many times – and in that period, we realised how reliant we’d become on our trusty coffee machine. And so the lesson was learnt on the buying of coffee beans!
We’ve also learnt a lot about pulling our own espresso shots. When we first got the machine we were new to at-home coffees and totally baffled by ‘the Razor’ tool you get with it – now we couldn’t be without it for when we’re adjusting the grind size when we get new beans.
3. I’m still hopeless at latte art
I have no excuse for how poor my milk steaming and latte art skills are given how many frothy coffees I’ve made with this machine over the years (it must be almost a thousand) but it does go to show that it’s not a skill gained overnight.
The steam wand on the Sage Barista Express Impress is super powerful and so helpfully flexible to try and help you get the right angle to create the much needed vortex for microfoam.
Writing this retrospective has made me realise I really need to polish up on my skills, something that could be helped by using Sage’s Temp Control Jug (£25.99) to prevent burning.
It’s also why I’m such a big fan of the Sage competitor the Ninja Luxe Café. It comes in at £549 RRP (but you can buy it on sale for at least £100 less) and features an automatic milk frothing wand which for someone like me, who has a lot of barista-improvements to make, is a godsend.
Of course, it’s all down to personal preference whether you’re even bothered about milk frothing credentials, but it’s definitely worth comparing potential coffee machines on the specific drinks you like.
For me, the Sage Barista Express Impress is still an appliance that’s worth its weight in gold and I can forsee it’ll last many years in my kitchen yet – I don’t think my boyfriend could bear to part from it!
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