Hi,
I’m a newbie here and wanted to pick forum members’ brains relating to the title of the message (surprise surprise). Apologies in advance for any banal questions and any posting mistakes. I should also note that whilst I have always appreciated good coffee, I’m fairly new to home barista as a semi-hobby.
I am upgrading our current Sage Barista Pro (on its last legs). We have narrowed the next machine down to two options:
- Sage Oracle Touch
- Sage Dual Boiler + Baratza Forte AP grinder
I can probably guess which one would be the setup most people on here might suggest and mine would probably be the option 2 in an ideal world, but if I tell you what our normal workflow is it might give some context to suggest what might be our best option. We are a small family - my wife and I drink coffee once a day, sometimes twice a day (not often). There’s mainly only two cups that we’re doing so we’re not preparing lots of coffee at the same time every day. However, we regularly entertain and I found quite often the Barista Pro I would just end up half an hour making coffees and everyone gets really bored of waiting. So a machine with two boilers is the one for us. I’ve tried out an old Oracle machine and what’s great about it is the simplicity with the buttons, but you have to manually adjust settings when making different drinks. With the Oracle Touch you can just choose the drink and it will adjust all settings. Also, if you’ve got guests staying over, the touch screen might be easier overall. So were thinking then Touch might be better for us. However, two things which make us hesitate: the auto-milk frothing on the old Oracle impressed us on the old Oracle we tried - I don’t know if that’s because its an old machine and things have improved.
Since coffee taste is paramount, one of the things that I’ve been considering is whether we go for the Dual Boiler and a separate Baratza Forte AP grinder. I’m guessing that the quality of the shots that will be able to pull (assuming that we know what we’re doing) is probably going to be better with that set up? Only issue is the huge convenience of the puck prep with the Oracle: my wife loves it and isn’t keen on manually grinding beans and doing all the tamping etc. So that’s all the background.
Now the questions:
If one used beans ground from the Oracle Touch in the Dual Boiler, would the taste be same same as if those same beans were used with the Oracle Touch?
How much more is the taste better with Dual Boiler and Baratza Forte AP grinder as opposed to just the Oracle (is it better?)? Is it that much more noticeable - like the difference between having an entry level Sage machine and an Oracle? Or is the difference very subtle and only for the most developed coffee palates?
If we opt for an Oracle Touch – or better said, should I agree to my wife’s preference for the more automated Oracle Touch (easier life anyone?) and also buy a Baratza Forte AP as well, would the quality of the coffee be the same as a Dual Boiler + Baratza Forte AP grinder (again, assuming all other things equal)?
Basically I think what we my wife really wants is the convenience of having the auto dosing and auto-tamping for most days but maybe we might end up getting a separate grinder in the future as compromise, if the coffee would be as good as using a Sage Dual Boiler.
Cheers