My Current Espresso Setup

A few days ago, I wrote a bit about our filter coffee setup. I also promised I would come back and write a bit about the espresso setup. Here we are! Today I’ll share a bit about our espresso coffee ☕️ setup. There aren’t that many things to note, but it can be interesting.

Our espresso journey started towards the begin of 2023. I don’t remember precisely when, but I remember that we looked at Simon Lévelt and they had quite a large discount on the Sage Barista Express. If you’re reading this from some other continents, you may know Sage as Breville.

So, we decided to buy it. It came with some additional things, such as a puck disposal basket. I wasn’t home for the delivery, but my partner was. It was directly delivered by the store and they helped setting it up and everything. Despite not being present, I think that’s quite a nice service they give.

Until now, we’ve been quite pleased with it. Despite being a single boiler machine - and therefore we needing to wait a bit to change between espresso and milk frothing -, it is very nice. The frustrating part is to achieve consistency when pulling espressos. But you know what I mean if you also have an espresso machine.

In the meanwhile, we’ve also bought a bottomless portafilter, as well as a tamping mat. We’ve also bought a heavier tamper than the one that came with the machine. It felt a bit dull, and the one we got feels quite nice.

Regarding espresso beans, we always get them from local roasters. We’ve gotten them many times from Lucifer Coffee Roasters. More recently we’ve been buying them from Coffeelab, as they have a store very close to where we live.

I’m generally happy with it. I think we’ve been making more and more espresso based drinks, and it’s quite versatile, which is nice. You can make all sorts of espresso based drinks, and I’d definitely recommend Morgan Eckroth’s YouTube channel to discover more recipes.

Have a nice weekend!