Sage Barista Express settings for espresso
Espresso machine Sage Barista Express Grinder Sage Barista Express (built-in grinder) Roast date
Your recipe
- Dose
- 18g
- Yield
- 38g
- Time
- 25–32s
- Temp
- 93°C
- Grind setting
- setting 8
- Basket
- To the rim
- Tamping
- Firm, level
- Grind setting
- setting 8
- Shot time
- 25–32seconds
Freshness of your beans
Your beans are in their peak window. Most of the CO₂ has left the beans, which is why your espresso runs nearly the same every time. You don't need to change anything. Use the starting point for your grinder's setting below as it is and only adjust by taste.
This is your tailored dial-in guide for the Sage Barista Express, matched to this bag of EasyEspresso coffee beans. The steps below move with whatever you choose above.
Tip: a scale around €15 is the biggest step toward better espresso.
How to set up the Sage Barista Express for espresso
One time only, before your very first cup
Getting your Sage Barista Express ready to use
Brand new out of the box, or taking it out of the cupboard after a long break? Run through this rinse and setup routine of about ten minutes before you make your first coffee. It stops your coffee from tasting of plastic or factory residue.
Lift the water tank at the back and rinse it out well. In the box you'll find a small filter holder and a water filter. Soak the filter in a glass of cold water for five minutes, rinse it under the tap and click it into the holder. Place the holder at the bottom of the tank and fill the tank with fresh, cold tap water up to the MAX line.
There's a date dial on top of the filter holder. Turn it to the month in which the filter needs replacing. Sage recommends a new filter after three months or 40 liters of water, and sooner if your water is very hard.
Switch the machine on with the Power button below the bean hopper. The light flashes while the machine heats up. Put a large bowl under the group head, without the portafilter, and press the two-cup button. Then turn the dial on the right to Steam for ten seconds and to Hot Water for ten seconds, so the steam wand and the hot water outlet are flushed too. Repeat until the tank is empty, then refill it.
Your water accounts for a large part of the taste, and also for how quickly your machine builds up scale. If your tap water is hard, consider using bottled water with a low mineral content alongside the Sage filter.
Which baskets and accessories should you use?
The machine comes with four filter baskets. The single wall baskets have a base full of tiny holes. They're made for freshly ground beans and give you full control over extraction. The dual wall baskets have just one hole underneath. They're meant for pre-ground supermarket coffee: they create artificial foam but hide mistakes in your grind. For our EasyEspresso coffee beans, always use the two-cup single wall basket.
We don't recommend the one-cup basket at first, because a small amount of coffee is hard to tamp evenly. Want a single espresso? Just pull a double and split it over two cups.
The metal tamper sits in the slot next to the grinder. You also get a trimming tool, the Razor. You use it after tamping to check that the amount of coffee is right. The milk jug that comes with the machine has a temperature strip, which comes in handy in step 7.
On the control panel, press Filter Size until the light next to Double is on. This tells the grinder to grind for the two-cup basket. You don't set single or dual wall on the machine: that's decided by the basket you put in the portafilter.
Let the machine and portafilter warm up properly
Switch the machine on and lock your empty portafilter firmly into the group head straight away. Let everything warm up for at least fifteen to twenty minutes before you pull your first espresso.
The light on the Power button soon stops flashing and the machine looks ready. If you start brewing right away, the hot water cools down against the cold metal of the heavy portafilter. The result is a sour, flat espresso, however well your grind is set.
Just before you grind, run some water through the empty group head with the two-cup button. This rinses away old coffee residue and brings the group head up to the right temperature.
Why should the portafilter be in while warming up?
The portafilter of the Barista Express is a solid block of metal. If you take it cold from the drawer and run water of 93 degrees through it straight away, the metal absorbs a lot of heat. You then start brewing with water that's too cool.
Letting the portafilter warm up in the machine prevents that temperature drop. Is your machine in a cold room, or in a chilly utility room in winter? Then feel free to give it twenty to twenty-five minutes.
Setting the water temperature
For our EasyEspresso coffee beans, set the temperature to 93 °C. That number moves with the roast date you enter at the top: once your beans are past their peak, we recommend one degree warmer, because warmer water gets more out of older beans. Leave the temperature alone until your grind is dialed in. If your espresso still tastes sour after that, go one degree warmer. If it stays bitter, go one degree cooler.
Here's how. Switch the machine off with Power. Hold Program and press Power. You'll hear a beep. Then, within five seconds, press one button:
- 1 Cup makes it one degree warmer, 2 Cup two degrees warmer.
- Filter Size makes it one degree cooler, Power two degrees cooler.
- Program resets it to the factory setting.
Two beeps mean the machine has saved the new temperature. The factory setting is 93 °C, and you can go at most two degrees either way.
Set the grinder to setting 8
The grind setting is the most important setting for your shot time and your taste. For our EasyEspresso coffee beans, start at setting 8. That starting point adjusts to the roast date you enter at the top.
The Grind Size dial is on the left side of the machine and runs from 1 (very fine) to 16 (coarse). A finer grind slows the water down, a coarser grind lets it run through faster.
Note: only turn the grind dial while the grinder is running. If you turn it while the grinder is stopped, beans can get stuck between the burrs. Want to change it? Start grinding, turn straight to the new setting and throw away the first few grams.
Today: use the starting point above as it is.
This is completely normal: the first one to three shots from a new bag of coffee beans are rarely spot-on. That's simply part of dialing in a new bag.
Why this starting point, and what if it doesn't work?
Every machine and every bean is different. For beans in their peak window we start from setting 8. On the Barista Express that's a good middle setting to begin with. If you start too fine, almost nothing comes out and you don't know how far to adjust. A shot that runs just a little too fast, on the other hand, tells you exactly what to do: grind a bit finer.
Freshly roasted beans usually need a coarser grind than beans that are weeks old. As your beans age, you'll notice you need to set the grinder a touch finer each time.
Adjusting the inner burr
Are you on setting 1, 2 or 3 and does your espresso still run through in under fifteen seconds? Then the grinder is calibrated too coarse on the inside. Grind the hopper completely empty, unplug the machine, unlock the hopper and lift out the upper burr. Pull up the metal wire handle, turn the burr one number lower (for example from 6 to 5), line the number up with the opening of the handle again and lock everything back in place. This shifts the whole range of the dial one step finer. Only ever move it one number at a time.
Grinding and dosing
No scale? Use the basket as your guide. After grinding, the coffee should sit slightly domed, with a small mound in the middle. Tamping brings it down to the right height by itself.
With a scale you can be precise: you weigh out exactly 18 grams of ground coffee. Put your empty portafilter on the scale, zero it (tare) and grind until you reach 18 grams.
Push the portafilter, handle towards you, into the cradle under the grinder until you hear a click. The grinder starts by itself and grinds for as long as you've set with the Grind Amount dial. If you keep pushing the portafilter instead of letting go, the grinder runs for as long as you push.
To start, set the Grind Amount dial to the three o'clock position. Check how much coffee is in the basket after grinding. If it's heaped too high and coffee spills over the side, turn the dial back a little. After two tries you'll have the right grind time.
Below 18 grams? Push briefly against the cradle to grind a little more. Above it? Scoop a little out. Within half a gram is more than accurate enough.
Tips against clumps and static
Freshly ground coffee is often a bit static, so some of it lands next to the basket. Tap the side of the portafilter gently while grinding so the coffee settles evenly.
Built-in grinders often produce small clumps. They create uneven resistance in your coffee bed, so the water finds it easier to get through in some places (channeling).
Have a WDT tool, a little tool with thin needles? Stir the ground coffee gently with it before tamping. That breaks up all the clumps and gives you an even coffee bed.
Distributing the coffee and tamping level
Before you tamp, you want the coffee to sit flat and evenly in the basket. Tap the side of the portafilter a few times with the palm of your hand so any gaps disappear.
Rest the portafilter on a flat, sturdy surface, for example the edge of your counter with the handle hanging free. Take the tamper, keep your wrist straight above it and press down evenly until the coffee stops giving way. You don't need to press hard. What matters most is that you press level and use the same force every time.
After tamping, place the Razor in the basket so its shoulders rest on the rim, and twist it back and forth over the knock box. If it trims off a thin layer, there was a little too much coffee and your dose is now exactly right. If it trims nothing and there's a clear gap between the Razor and the coffee? Then there isn't enough coffee in your basket.
Common tamping mistakes
The most common mistake is tamping at an angle. If you press harder on one side, the coffee ends up sloping in the basket. The water then takes the easiest route, through the thin side. You get an espresso that tastes sour and bitter at the same time. So always check after tamping that the surface is nice and level.
Never knock the tamper against the side of the portafilter after tamping to get rid of loose grounds. That breaks the edge of your puck loose, so water leaks down along the wall.
Pulling the espresso
Lock the portafilter firmly into the group head: turn it from left to right until the handle points straight towards you. Put your cup under the spout and press the two-cup button straight away.
Start a timer as soon as you press. For the first eight to twelve seconds you won't see much. The machine first wets the coffee at low pressure (pre-infusion). Then the first drops appear, turning into a syrupy stream that looks like honey. Stop the espresso at around 29 seconds by pressing the button again.
Put your cup on the scale under the portafilter and zero the scale. Press the two-cup button and start your timer at the same time. When the scale is a few grams short of 38 grams, press the button again. A little more drips through afterwards, so you end up at around 38 grams.
Keep an eye on the pressure gauge in the middle of the machine while brewing. For a good espresso, the needle sits in the grey zone, the Espresso Range. If the needle stays below it, you're grinding too coarse, there's too little coffee in the basket or you tamped too lightly. If it goes above it, you're grinding too fine or there's too much coffee in the basket.
How do you set the button to your amount?
From the factory, the two-cup button gives about 60 milliliters. That's more than you need for this recipe. You can set it so it stops at the right moment by itself from now on.
- Press Program once, briefly. You'll hear a beep and the button starts flashing.
- Press the two-cup button to start.
- As soon as you have 38 grams in your cup, press that button again. Two beeps mean the machine has saved this amount.
Want to go back to the factory setting? Hold Program until you hear three beeps.
Controlling pre-infusion yourself
If you hold the two-cup button instead of pressing it briefly, the machine keeps pre-infusing at low pressure for as long as you hold it. As soon as you let go, it switches to full pressure. Press again to stop. This lets you experiment with a longer pre-infusion, for example if you notice your espresso quickly starts channeling along the edges.
Taste, judge and adjust
Always taste your espresso on its own first, without sugar or milk. Give it a good stir with a spoon, because the top and bottom layers of an espresso taste very different. Then ask yourself what you're tasting: does sourness dominate, is there an unpleasant bitterness, or is the flavor full, sweet and balanced?
Only ever change one thing at a time, and start with your grind setting. Only adjust the amount of coffee or the temperature if you can't fix it with the grind. That way you know exactly what each change did.
| What you taste or see | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The espresso tastes sour, sharp and thin, and the shot runs faster than 25 seconds. | The water runs through the coffee too quickly because the grind is too coarse. | Grind one setting finer. |
| The espresso tastes bitter, dry and burnt, and the shot takes longer than 32 seconds. | The water runs through the coffee too slowly because the grind is too fine. | Grind one setting coarser. |
| The time is right, but the espresso tastes watery and weak. | There isn't enough coffee in the basket. | Check that you're really using 18 grams, and add a little more if not. |
| The espresso tastes sour and bitter at the same time, and the stream runs unevenly. | The water finds an easy path through the coffee (channeling) because of uneven distribution or tamping at an angle. | Pay extra attention to distributing and tamping level in step 4. |
Measuring with a refractometer? With 18 grams in and 38 grams out, a good espresso sits around a TDS of 0.1 to 0.1 percent. That corresponds to an extraction of 18 to 22 percent. If your extraction is lower and the espresso tastes sour, grind finer. If it's higher and the espresso tastes bitter, grind coarser. In the end, trust your taste: the meter helps you understand what you're tasting, but it doesn't decide for you.
What does the puck tell you?
After brewing, a puck of spent coffee stays behind in the basket. It tells you less than you might think. Whether it comes out wet or dry mostly depends on your machine and says little about the taste. If your espresso tastes good, there's no need to worry about the puck.
Do look out for small holes or cracks in the puck. They show that the water found an easier way through in one spot. You'll taste that as an espresso that's sour and bitter at the same time.
Write down your settings
Pulled a shot you love? Write down the grind setting you used, how much coffee went in, how much espresso came out and how long it ran. Note the roast date of the bag as well. With the next bag you can start from that setting and you'll be dialed in much faster.
Steaming milk
Fill the milk jug about a third of the way with cold whole milk. Cold milk gives you time to create fine, glossy foam before the milk gets too hot.
The dial on the right has three positions: Steam, Standby and Hot Water. Hold the steam wand over the drip tray and turn the dial to Steam. The light flashes while the machine heats up, and some water comes out first. As soon as dry steam comes out, turn back to Standby, put the wand in the milk and turn to Steam again.
The milk jug that comes with the machine has a temperature strip on the side. It shows you how warm the milk is while you steam.
Hold the steam wand just below the surface of the milk, to the left or right of the center of the jug, so the milk starts to swirl. You'll hear a soft hissing sound: this is where you're adding air to the milk. Keep going until the jug feels as warm as your hand (about 35 °C). Then push the wand a little deeper, so you stop adding air and the milk just keeps spinning. Turn off the steam as soon as the jug is just too hot to hold. The milk is then about 55 °C and at its sweetest.
This is completely normal: after steaming you'll hear the machine release some water into the drip tray. That's how it cools itself back down to espresso temperature.
How hot can the milk get?
Like your coffee hotter? Steam the milk two to four seconds longer. Don't go above 65 °C: beyond that, the milk gets thinner and loses its sweetness.
Keeping the steam wand clean
Wipe the steam wand with a clean, damp cloth right after use and purge it for two seconds. Dried milk bakes onto the wand and can block it.
Cleaning and maintenance
Knock out the puck into the knock box right after use, rinse the basket under the tap and lock the empty portafilter back into the machine. Run a little water through the group head to rinse leftover coffee oils off the shower screen.
When the red float in the drip tray rises and you see Empty Me!, it's time to empty the drip tray. Does the Clean Me light come on on the control panel? Then the machine is asking for a cleaning cycle with a cleaning tablet.
The cleaning cycle step by step
- Put the one-cup basket in the portafilter, place the rubber cleaning disc inside it and put one cleaning tablet on top.
- Lock in the portafilter, fill the tank and empty the drip tray.
- Switch the machine off with Power.
- Hold 1 Cup, 2 Cup and Power together until the cycle starts.
- The cycle takes about five minutes. Afterwards, check that the tablet has fully dissolved. If not, run the cycle again.
- Rinse the basket and portafilter well and run water through the group head once with the two-cup button.
Descaling: when and how?
The Barista Express doesn't warn you when it needs descaling. Sage recommends descaling every three months with moderately hard water, and every two months with very hard water. Put it in your calendar so you don't forget.
Take the water filter out of the tank before descaling. With the machine off, start the descale program by holding 2 Cup and Power together. Then follow the steps in the manual: you flush the group head, the steam wand and the hot water outlet in turn.
This guide is written for the Sage Barista Express (models BES870 and BES875) and the EasyEspresso coffee beans from Easy Beans Company.
Frequently asked questions
Where do these settings come from?
The machine specs, such as portafilter size and temperature control, come from the manufacturer itself and were last checked on 30 July 2026. The grind-setting starting point above was separately verified against the manufacturer itself, with its own verification date of 15 October 2026. The dose of 18 grams and the yield of 38 grams were set by our barista for our EasyEspresso coffee beans.
Do I need a scale to make a good espresso?
No. Fill the basket to the rim, tamp firmly and watch the color and thickness of the stream: that's enough to get started. A scale makes your recipe more precise and repeatable, which is why we introduce it at the "With a scale" level, but it's not a requirement for pulling a good shot.
My espresso has no crema, what am I doing wrong?
That happens to everyone occasionally, and it's rarely on you. A thin or pale layer of crema usually points to beans that are a bit older, or a shot that ran too fast. Check the roast date above first, and grind a fraction finer if the shot is still running fast.
Why 18 grams and not the size of my filter basket?
The dose belongs to the bean, not the machine. Our barista set 18 grams in and 38 grams out as the ratio that gets the most out of our EasyEspresso coffee beans, and that ratio is the same on every machine. Have a smaller basket (14 or 17 grams)? Pick your basket under "Your setup" above: dose and yield then adjust automatically, with the same ratio.
Can I set the water temperature on the Sage Barista Express?
Yes. This machine controls the water temperature digitally with a PID. Set it to 93 °C and leave it alone after that. Only adjust this if your coffee is structurally off: a degree up if the shot stays sharp and sour, a degree down if it tastes bitter and flat.
Does my water make a difference to the taste?
Yes. Water that's too hard makes your espresso flat and also scales up your machine. Filtered water or bottled water with a low mineral content works best.
Why does this recipe differ per machine?
Every machine has a different grinder, portafilter size and temperature control, so the same coffee needs a different starting point on two different machines. That's why we build a dedicated, verified recipe per machine rather than giving one general piece of advice that's not quite right for anyone.
Does the grind setting change as my beans get older?
Yes. Freshly roasted beans up to 6 days past the roast date want a slightly coarser grind, in the peak window of 7 to 21 days you use the base starting point, and beans older than 21 days want a finer grind. The freshness block above calculates this automatically based on the roast date you enter.
Should I adjust multiple settings at once?
No. Always change one variable at a time, usually the grind setting, and taste before going further. That way you know exactly what effect each change had.
That's it. From here, it's your recipe.
Print this page or bookmark it. If the age of your beans changes, open it again and the freshness advice moves with it automatically.