Best Sage coffee machines: a complete guide

Sage is one of the leading domestic coffee brands in the UK. Here’s our ultimate guide to the best coffee machines in the range, as tried and tested by our reviews experts

By Imogen Hope

Published: Friday, 08 March 2024 at 11:21 AM

Sage is one of the biggest domestic coffee machine brands in the UK. With a wide range of premium models on offer, there’s something for you no matter what you’re looking for in a coffee machine.

How do you take your morning coffee? Espresso? Flat white? Cappuccino? However you enjoy it, the best way to get great coffee at home is with a high quality coffee machine.

Our expert reviews team have put every coffee machine in Sage’s range to the test, using criteria including ease of use, design, quality of coffee taste and sustainability.

In 2024 we’re taking a tough stance on packaging for everything we test: sustainability is one of the key categories we score products in. For some of the more recently tested Sage coffee machines, we’ve deducted points due to the amount of unrecyclable polystyrene and plastic. However, a spokesperson from Sage has assured us that this is a priority for the brand, with different packaging due to be rolled out over the year ahead.

Read on for our guide to the best Sage coffee machines.

If you’re looking for accessories for your coffee machine we’ve also got you covered. Read our guides to the best coffee grinders and best milk frothers. Our coffee expert, Celeste Wong, has also found the best coffee beans and best eco-friendly coffee pods for you to choose from. 

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What is the difference between Sage coffee machines?

We’ve tested a range of Sage’s coffee machines and can safely say they’ve all performed impressively. So when choosing between models it’s important to think about how you’re going to use yours and what you want from it.

Coffee machines fall broadly into four types: bean-to-cup coffee machines, espresso machines, coffee pod machines and filter coffee machines.

Bean-to-cup coffee machines

While some coffee experts will describe Sage’s machines as ‘integrated-grinder coffee machines’, for the sake of clarity we’re going to continue to call them bean-to-cup machines as they take coffee from a bean to a drinkable product.

These machines are the most comprehensive in Sage’s range, with a lot of options to choose from. If you’re passionate about coffee but want a one-stop-shop rather than having to worry about having a separate grinder, this is the piece of kit for you.

Sage’s bean-to-cup models offer a choice of automation and manual settings and prices range from £630 to over £2,000.

Espresso machines

Espresso machines usually give you the choice of pulling a single or double shot, and all of Sage’s models include built-in steam wands, offering greater versatility.

If you go for a Sage espresso machine it’s important to note that you will need to invest in a separate grinder. Since Sage’s machines are designed to operate with speciality coffee, you’re unlikely to achieve the quality of espresso you’re after if you use pre-ground coffee.

There’s a good size and price range on offer from Sage’s espresso machines. The super-compact Sage Bambino is available from £330, while at the other end of the spectrum there’s the impressive Dual Boiler for £1,250.

Coffee pod machines

Coffee pod machines take away a lot of the fuss and guesswork from using a coffee machine and can bring you your morning brew in a matter of seconds.

Sage works in collaboration with industry giant Nespresso to make its coffee pod machines. There are two options for regular Nespresso pods, while the Vertuo Creatista works using Nespresso’s larger Vertuo pods.

Filter coffee machines

Filter coffee moves away from using espresso as a foundation and has a very different flavour profile.

Sage makes one filter coffee machine, the Precision Brewer Thermal, which is different from the majority of competitors in that it has a built-in brew temperature control. This is technology that Sage uses in all of its coffee machines and offers greater consistency in brewing.

Best Sage coffee machines at a glance

Best Sage bean-to-cup coffee machines

Best Sage espresso coffee machines

Best Sage coffee pod machines

Best Sage filter coffee machine

Best Sage coffee machines to buy in 2024

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Best Sage bean-to-cup coffee machines

Sage Barista Touch Impress
Sage Barista touch impress with olive accreditation badge

Best automated Sage bean-to-cup machine

Star rating: 5/5

Machine type: bean-to-cup

This is one of Sage’s top-of-the-line bean-to-cup coffee machines, offering a balance between convenience and customisation. It has a touchscreen with eight drinks on offer, plus options for further customisation through the steam wand, which can be used manually.

It has built-in assisted tamping which auto-corrects each dose for the next use, meaning that there’s fewer errors to make. We found that setting up this coffee machine took a while, with the dialling-in process being quite lengthy – but the machine takes you through the set-up process on the touchscreen, which is easy to follow.

The espresso from this machine was excellent: hot without burning our mouths, with a rich flavour and glossy crema.

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Sage the Oracle Touch

Sage the Oracle Touch with badge

Best blow-out Sage coffee machine

Star rating: 5/5

Machine type: bean-to-cup

This machine is the priciest in Sage’s range, at over £2,000. For your money you’ll get a statement machine with elegant design, which is sure to be a talking point in your kitchen. It features a touchscreen, levels of automation and customisation and elements which make it easier to use, like a water tank which can be easily filled from the front of the machine.

Alongside your machine you receive a plethora of accessories including a mini grind bin, selection of filter baskets, stainless steel milk jug and cleaning kit.

We found the auto-dosing and tamping function really user-friendly, removing all the guesswork if you’re a beginner. You can save eight custom drinks in the menu, which would be useful if making your morning brew in a hurry, or if you’ve got a busy household full of different coffee preferences.

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Sage the Barista Express Impress

Sage the Barista Express Impress with badge

Best bean-to-cup for automatic tamping

Star rating: 5/5

Machine type: bean-to-cup

This is quite a compact machine compared to Sage’s other bean-to-cup models, and at £730 is at the lower end of the price range.

It has more limited automation than other models. For example, the manual milk steaming wand means you need a level of confidence with frothing milk to achieve the correct temperature and texture. However, you do still get a comprehensive 25 grind settings to choose from, plus assisted dosing and tamping of the grinds.

The interface of dials and buttons contributes to an impressive aesthetic, and once we found the right grind for our beans we were impressed by the espresso the machine produced – thick, with a delicious aroma.

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Sage the Barista Express

Sage the Barista Express with badge

Best affordable Sage bean-to-cup machine

Star rating: 4.5/5

Machine type: bean-to-cup

This machine is the most affordable in Sage’s bean-to-cup range at £630, and if you want to be involved in all the manual elements of making coffee without needing lots of separate equipment, this could be a great choice. It allows you to put in whole roasted beans and produce a delicious coffee, while still giving you manual control over grinding, dosing, tamping, extracting and milk frothing.

It’s very similar in design to the Barista Express Impress, except with manual rather than automated dosing and tamping. There are fewer grind settings to choose from – 15 rather than 25 – but on test we found this still allowed enough scope to produce a great quality espresso.

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Sage the Oracle

Sage the Oracle with olive accreditation badge

Best for a built-in coffee grinder

Star rating: 4/5

Machine type: bean-to-cup

The Oracle is one of the most imposing machines in Sage’s range. Weighing nearly 20kg and with a large footprint to match, this model is for if you want to dedicate an area of your kitchen to coffee. While there’s no getting around the size and weight, the elegant design is reminiscent of the professional machines you might find in your local coffee shop. Plus there are extra features which make it easier to use, like wheels which pop up from the base and mean you can turn the machine or move it on the countertop with ease.

This bean-to-cup machine combines manual and automatic features. It has automatic grinding, dosing and tamping (just pick from an impressive 45 grind settings), but the brewing is manual, with a choice of single espresso, double espresso or long black. You can use the milk steaming wand manually or programme it for your preferred texture.

On test our espresso had a nice level of bitterness with a thick crema. The milk steamed using the automatic wand was creamy and worked perfectly in our latte.

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Sage the Barista Touch

Sage the Barista Touch

Best touchscreen Sage bean-to-cup coffee machine

Star rating: 4.5/5

Machine type: bean-to-cup

This is one of Sage’s best-known machines, in the middle of the brand’s price range at £1,050.

One aspect that we found slightly more difficult on test is the fact that the user manual is largely diagrammatic, with few written instructions. This was different to other Sage machines we tested and slowed the set-up process, but there is information available online to help.

As the name would suggest, this model has a touchscreen, which makes it intuitive to select your drink and make the most of automatic and manual functions. The main difference between this machine and the Barista Touch Impress is that this model doesn’t have automatic tamping, although there is a dosing funnel, which we found helps reduce messiness when grinding.

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Sage the Barista Pro

Sage the Barista Pro

Best mid-range Sage bean-to-cup coffee machine

Star rating: 4/5

Machine type: bean-to-cup

If you’re after a machine that does it all without breaking the bank, the Barista Pro is at the more affordable end of the bean-to-cup spectrum at £730.

The integrated grinder has a comprehensive 30 settings and the digital screen clearly displays your chosen grind size. You can choose either to grind by time (the default is 15 seconds) or manually, before using the included tamper and razor.

You have a choice of a single or double shot, which can be extracted by time (for 30 seconds) or by volume, which is what we’d recommend. The built-in manual steam wand means a host of drinks options are available, and we found it user-friendly on test.

If a bean-to-cup machine is a priority for your kitchen but you’re looking for a lower price point with less automation, this would be a great choice.

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Best Sage espresso machines

Sage the Bambino
Sage the Bambino

Best espresso machine for one

Star rating: 4.5/5

Machine type: espresso

The Bambino is a super-compact coffee machine which lets you pull great quality espresso without taking up too much kitchen real estate. At £330 it’s also the most affordable espresso machine in Sage’s range.

The pared-back design has four buttons – for single espresso, double espresso, hot water and steam. One of the things that puts Sage machines ahead of the rest is that even on a small machine like this, there’s still a milk steaming wand, allowing you to make more than just an espresso or long black. This also means that, although you’ll need a separate grinder, you won’t need to add a standalone milk frother to your kitchen.

It’s quite loud when heating up, but this didn’t take more than 30 seconds. Once the machine was ready it produced a dark espresso with a nice (if slightly thin) crema.

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Sage the Bambino Plus

Sage The Bambino Plus SES500BSS espresso machine

Best compact Sage espresso machine

Star rating: 4.5/5

Machine type: espresso

The Bambino Plus is the bigger sister of Sage’s the Bambino. This means it’s slightly more expensive at just under £400. For this you get a wider machine with room for a cup and the milk jug to sit on the drip tray side by side, as well as an automated steam wand.

While it might be larger than the Bambino it’s still very compact and would fit comfortably in most kitchens.

On test we were impressed by the espresso produced. It was lovely and thick, striking a good balance between rich flavour and drinkability.

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Sage the Duo Temp Pro

Sage the Duo Temp Pro with olive accreditation badge

Best manual Sage espresso machine

Star rating: 4.5/5

Machine type: espresso

This manual espresso machine sits in the middle of Sage’s espresso machine range, both in terms of size and price. It’s most similar in design to the Dual Boiler (see below) – it’s tall, square and has about double the footprint of the Bambino. Pared-back and simple, this is for the espresso lover who wants a machine with manual elements that won’t take over their kitchen.

There are two buttons, with a dial to switch between espresso and steam. The onus is on you to dose the coffee, tamp, and choose your volume. This is not a machine we’d recommend for a beginner – you need some confidence and knowledge of espresso machines to make the most of it.

After some tinkering to find the optimum grind size we extracted espresso in 28-30 seconds, which produced an excellent result with a well-rounded flavour and silky hazelnut crema.

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Sage the Dual Boiler

Sage the Dual Boiler with olive accreditation badge

Best blowout Sage espresso machine

Star rating: 4.5/5

Machine type: espresso

When it launched this was the hero product in Sage’s range, and it still lives up to that title. It’s a large and weighty machine, similar in size to some of the priciest bean-to-cup models.

The clever design includes pop-up wheels on the base, making it easy to move on the counter, and a slot at the front to fill the water tank, which means you don’t need to regularly remove it from the back of the machine.

There’s no getting around the fact that you need to know what you’re doing to get the most out of this machine. Sage bills it as ‘the barista’s choice for home espresso’, and while you don’t quite need a barista’s skill set, all the elements require manual involvement, from dosing and tamping to brewing and milk frothing. After playing around with grind size and extraction time, our final espresso was strong, with a thick crema and pleasant aroma.

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Best Sage coffee pod machines

Sage the Vertuo Creatista
Best coffee pod machines
Nespresso

Best for Nespresso Vertuo pods

Star rating: 4.5/5

Machine type: pod

This coffee pod machine, created in collaboration with Nespresso, makes use of Vertuo pods, offering a wider range of drink sizes than conventional pods. The design is in line with Nespresso’s other Vertuo models, with a stainless steel finish giving it a distinctly Sage look. It has a fairly large barrel-shaped pocket to accommodate the bulkier pods.

On test the machine produced a rich, dark espresso with a thick, bubbly crema. The steam wand is automatic and can be programmed for different microfoam textures – everything from bubbly cappuccinos to creamy lattes. We liked that there is a choice of five drink sizes, from a 40ml espresso up to a 535ml carafe.

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Sage Creatista Pro

Sage Creatista Pro with olive accreditation badge

Best for quick coffee

Star rating: 4/5

Machine type: pod

This coffee pod machine has an intuitive touchscreen, making it an easy piece of kit to use. It has features you wouldn’t usually expect on a coffee pod machine, like an adjustable drip tray and automatic steaming wand, which reflect both Sage’s high quality and the price of this model.

We liked that on automatic settings this model brews coffee and froths milk simultaneously, whereas with most models you need to insert a pod to brew the coffee first, then move on to frothing the milk. This makes it ideal when you’re in a hurry.

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Sage Creatista Plus

Sage Creatista Plus with olive accreditation badge

Best affordable Sage coffee pod machine

Star rating: 4/5

Machine type: pod

With an RRP of just under £500 this is Sage’s most affordable coffee pod machine, but it still has a comprehensive range of features.

The machine has one of the most compact footprints in Sage’s range, making it a good choice if you have limited counter space. On test we were impressed with how neat it was to use — we simply inserted our pod and selected the drink type we wanted. Once finished, the pod automatically goes into an easy-to-clean drawer, plus the removable drip tray is really easy to empty and clean.

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Best Sage filter coffee machine

Sage Precision Brewer Thermal
Sage Precision Brewer Thermal with accreditation badge

Best for filter coffee

Star rating: 4.5/5

Machine type: filter

This is the only Sage coffee machine that doesn’t produce espresso, instead focusing on brewed filter coffee.

There are five pre-set functions to choose from as well as a manual setting which lets you adjust brew time, temperature and flow rate. The machine is a joy to use, with elements that put you at ease, like the timer indicating how long ago the batch of coffee was brewed. We also like the fact that, unlike many other filter models, there isn’t a hot plate, which can lead to burnt coffee, but instead a thermal carafe, which kept our drink warm for at least an hour.

We found this produced excellent coffee, with a flavour similar to a manual pour-over. During our wider test of filter coffee machines, we found it very difficult to achieve coffee of this quality and were very impressed by Sage’s model.

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Sage Bambino vs Sage Bambino Plus

Both these compact espresso machines will make you a great coffee and each scored an impressive 4.5/5 stars on test. The main differences between them are the size, cost and level of automation on offer.

They differ in design from the majority of Sage’s range in being more rounded, versus the square shape the brand usually favours. The Bambino Plus is slightly wider, with enough room for a cup and milk jug on the drip tray, whereas the Bambino only has room for one at a time.

Both espresso machines have a built-in milk steaming wand and come with a milk jug. The difference is that the Bambino offers manual milk steaming, so you need a level of confidence and know-how to achieve the correct temperature and texture of your milk. The Bambino Plus has an automated steaming wand, allowing you to select the desired temperature and foam consistency, taking away any guesswork.

The other difference between the two models is price. At £330 the Bambino is Sage’s most affordable espresso machine, while the Bambino Plus is just under £400.

How do I clean my Sage coffee machine?

Cleaning your machine is key – not only in achieving great tasting coffee, but also in making your machine last. Many of Sage’s touchscreen machines will tell you when they think they need cleaning.

When using the steam wand on your Sage coffee machine, it’s a good rule of thumb to wipe the wand with a clean cloth straight after use, and then to turn the wand on while it’s directed into the drip tray, which will remove any residue.

Depending on the type of machine you have, it’s likely that you’ll need some accessories to conduct a full clean. Some machines come with cleaning tools, but they’re also available at Sage online.

We’ve been consistently impressed by the information in Sage’s instruction booklets, including everything you need to know about cleaning. Otherwise, Sage has a lots of information and tutorials online.

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