Sage Bambino Plus Compact Espresso Machine, Black Truffle

I am working in the area of coffee shops but am not a barista and only make espresso and pour over for myself. I never really got to make espresso for myself at home as I thought it is too much effort as well as all that equipment and stayed with pour over. With the Bambino being relatively small as well as affordable compared to more professional machines I gave it a go and have not regretted the move. It is a very well build machine, relatively easy to clean and maintain and very easy to use. It truly heats up fast so no waiting around for the boiler to heat up just for one cup in the afternoon. I use the non-pressurised baskets and they have provided very good results though on taste I have to admit I am not an expert. There is still enough flexibility in the machine if you are a bit geeky and try to control water amount out manually (i.e. I use a 15g espresso amount with about 30g espresso out in the cup). No control over temperature and pressure though. I have also bought a bottomless portafilter from China which was worth the wait and with a mirror it is great to watch the coffee coming through the basket for improving your tamping skills. Last but not least I can only recommend to invest in a very good grinder in order to get great result out of the machine. As the saying goes, garbage in garbage out. I can recommend the Eureka Specialita at basically the same price as the Bambino.

seems to be good quality and working ok

Had this unit for a month now, initial unit that shipped out was faulty and would not turn on; Breville support eventually replaced it with a new model. It makes decent espresso, the cleaning is easy, it’s not overly loud and is smart looking. Beware a few things: - you’ll need to buy a new portafilter immediately because the included one doesn’t make great coffee. - the machine is really sensitive to fine grind so pick up a WDT tool and spring loaded tamper to help. Basically this is about 75% of what you need for a great coffee. It feels like a very entry level model and I’m not convinced the pressure is high enough for more complex tastes. Auto frothy milk is awesome however!

I've only ever made coffee in a stove pot, so my first espresso machine was quite a revelation. It is, fortunately, very simple. The milk has 3 settings for heat, 3 for foam, and then you just hit go and it does the rest. The min max is quite tight - seems to be about 100ml min and 200ml max, and if you go above/below this there's a mess... The coffee itself involves far more skill - I have a Sage grinder and it took me a while to get the right grind (I'm using a 7 now) and the right amount (18g for a double) and I slightly adjusted the volume up just a tad (easy to do). I can't master the single wall (Barista skills required) but with the double wall I get a lovely crema and beautiful coffee. It does need quite a bit of cleaning up - the drip tray after every use etc. and it's not cheap, but having a coffee better than any shop bought, every day, is such a wonderful treat, and I only wish I'd bought one earlier.

Before buying this gem I reviewed all the popular espresso machines available in the UK. Sage, Delonghi, Gaggia etc. were carefully considered. I bought this bambino plus on offer. Hand grinder on fine, 19 gram dose using decent ground beans and the supplied non-pressurised basket. Update. I've now had this machine for 11 months. I only use quality espresso beans from James Gourmet or Lavazza and get very consistent results, good mount of crema and make lattes using oat barista or semi skimmed milk. I now use 17.7 grams of fine ground coffee using an old Birchleaf hand grinder and the supplied non-pressurised basket. Very happy with my purchase. I now make syrup flavour lattes; Caramel and Hazelnut are amazing. Another favourite is to sprinkle chocolate onto the espresso shot then adding the frothed milk or oat milk. Finish by putting a few more chocolate sprinkles on top. If you're after perfection it's not a ten grand pro machine but takes the hassle out of dialing in. I'm very happy with it and it's just perfect for my morning latte.

This is not a good machine and the customer service needed to ensure your product has a reasonable lifespan is entirely lacking. We got this to replace our De’Longhi; and it felt like a real upgrade. It makes a better espresso than the De’Longhi and has a more robust feel to the machine. I’d previously had two different De’Longhi machine and each lasted about 2.5 years. The Bambino lasted 6 months before the pump completely stopped. The product has a year warranty, so I contacted customer support and waited on the phone for an hour hoping to speak with someone but nobody answered, so they indicated they’d call Me back. They called me back a week later. You must be with your machine when they call, so I couldn’t use my one chance after a week. So I had to call again and the same scenario happened. It took a week to speak with anyone. The repairs then took about a week and a half and it was returned, working just fine. Two months later it’s broken again, I’m back in the purgatory of warranty repairs and with a machine that has now broken twice. Do not buy this machine, buy something that works for your money so you can avoid costly coffee shops. Definitely the De’Longhi turned out to be both a cheaper and better machine for my time and money.

Makes a great cup of expresso and the automatic milk foam work works perfectly. Easy to use and easy to clean up. Compact attractive design fits nicely under the counter. The instruction manual is a series of videos on the app that you download from by scanning the code on the box and instructions are clear and easy to understand. It comes with regular coffee basket filters and double walled filters that the instructions say are better with store bought ground coffee. I use a high quality Italian ground and find the regular single walled basket (with more strainer holes) works best. Expresso is hot and the temperature of the milk and foam level is adjustable from warm to hot. Really an impressive appliance!

Wonderful. Does everything I need. Easily 5*

Leider kam die Maschine fehlerhaft bei uns an. Es tritt Wasser am Maschinenboden aus - daher geht sie wieder zurück.

Phenomenal machine and great value. It’s the UK version of the Breville Bambino so if you’re using it in the US you need a step up/down transformer and then it’ll work exactly as intended. I highly recommend this machine to anyone looking for an easy to make barista quality cup of coffee.

ممتازة

So far a nice product. An improvement over my Dedica. The steamwand does a great job, very easy to use for latte. Extra filters, pressurized and non pressurized included. Not a fan of the included razor but was nice to try it out. Minus is the driptray which is very small but read that's with most 'cheaper' machines. Also good to know: put the milk can totally over the sensor incase of auto steaming otherwise the milk will get very hot.

It makes very good espresso