The Sage The Bambino Plus is the smallest espresso machine from Sage. Legend? Yes, the company that brings identical machines onto the market in other parts of the world under the name Breville. The Sage Bambino Plus belongs to the class of thermoblock espresso machines. And as it should be, the Bambino Plus is relatively ready for use in around 3 minutes. At around 330 euros and Swiss francs, the Sage Bambino Plus is in the field of cheaper thermoblocks in our test series .
As with all thermoblocks, there are some questions about the Sage Bambino Plus:
- How constant is the temperature when making espresso?
- How does the machine perform when it comes to milk foam? This is precisely where the Bambino Plus offers more than other machines in the same price segment. But is that any good?
- What is the overall processing like and what is the energy consumption?
power consumption
If you want to buy an espresso machine based on energy consumption, the Sage Bambino Plus is a good choice. Our approach to testing the energy is always the same. We use an adapter from MyStrom.ch . After a five-minute warm-up time, we made 5 double espressos. After waiting another two hours, we extracted another double espresso. The consumption at this point was 0.08 kWh hours. For comparison: the Ascaso Steel Duo PID , also a thermoblock, which goes into eco mode, had a consumption of 0.28 kWh hours at this point.
Compared to the two-circuit espresso machines, this is also little. The Xenia Espresso recorded the lowest consumption with 0.48 kWh and the Bezzere BZ10 with 0.48 kWh. The Bezzera Magica S came last with 0.72 kWh.
Small, compact, light and lots of plastic
The Sage Bambino Plus is small and compact and, at 7kg, a real lightweight. Lightweight doesn't have to be a bad thing if a machine has suction cups or a fixation to the floor. Unfortunately, this is not the case with the Sage Bambino Plus. When attempting to clamp or unclamp the portafilter, the entire machine must be secured with the arm. Very impractical, especially since you can't use the area on the machine that was actually intended as a cup shelf. Because you have to hold the device somewhere when clamping it.
With a height of 31 cm, a depth of 32 cm and a width of 19.50 cm, the espresso machine fits into any kitchen niche. But be careful! The machine requires an external grinder to make coffee. This should be taken into account when calculating space.
The drip tray is also more of a bowl. We strongly recommend rinsing with water after each espresso to clean the shower sieve. After two to three shots of espresso, the bowl is already full. A small red float shows the water level. But if it always floats on top, that's not very helpful.
The black parts of the Sage Bambino Plus are made of plastic. The plastic itself feels "high quality", but it's still plastic. The advantage, unlike the stainless steel cars of the dual-circuit class, there are no sharp edges.
First-class milk foam performance
The Sage Bambino Plus has a real strength. The milk foam performance of the machine is unparalleled in this price range. With a lot of power, the small machine even foams a large 0.6l jug. Some two-circuit riders have failed because of this!
That's joy. Also very practical for beginners and espresso starters: the milk is not heated too quickly. This gives you plenty of time to circulate ( rolling phase ) and to really crush the last few bubbles.
Also great: the Sage Bambino Plus has an auto-steam function. A temperature sensor in the drip switch not only measures the temperature, but also gives control impulses to the intensity of the automatic foamer. The final temperature and milk foam density can also be preset. We recommend the middle level. The milk foam that is then produced is really impressive.
Here Sage shows what foam technology is possible in the thermoblock. If only work had been done just as carefully in the area of temperature stability...
Espresso accident – when brewing temperature is not consistent
It's such a shame what espresso comes out of the Sage Bambino Plus. Unfortunately, not much tasty. On the one hand, the included double-walled sieve prevents a grinder from being carefully adjusted. A double-walled strainer is intended for preparing pre-ground old coffee and not for preparing freshly ground coffee. From the inside, such a sieve looks “normal”. Many openings allow the coffee to flow into an intermediate chamber. However, this only has a tiny exit, a hole of approx. 0.3 mm. The espresso then forces itself through this hole and is inflated by the pressure (see also our blog post on the topic of crema ). Under these circumstances, precise adjustment of the mill is just as impossible as consistent extraction.
Since we have additional sieves at the coffee academy, we were also able to test the machine's extraction behavior with a single-walled sieve. Unfortunately, this didn't improve the taste of the espresso much. The reason for this lies primarily in the inconsistent temperature of the Sage Bambino Plus.
The average perfect brewing temperature for espresso is 93 degrees. Good espresso machines maintain the brewing temperature at this same temperature for a long period of time. Not so the legend of Bambino Plus.
First, the temperature in the extraction rises to at least 98 degrees. In some cases we also measured temperatures of 102 degrees. Then the temperature drops to below 85 degrees. That's intense and we haven't seen it that often before. From a sensory perspective, this manifests itself in two extremes: the high temperatures contribute an unpleasant, harsh bitterness to the espresso and leave a dry mouth feeling. The low temperatures cause pungent acidity. Overall, the espresso is not extracted evenly.
It's a real shame, but we can't really recommend the machines for making espresso.
Export of CSV temperature measurement
Conclusion on the Sage Bambino Plus
The Sage Bambino Plus is a good milk frothing machine. Unfortunately, it doesn't convince us as an espresso machine. Difficult to understand what Sage was trying to construct. Maybe the focus on the really outstanding milk foam performance is also a statement: milk on the espresso neutralizes acidity and bitterness quite well and the milk sweetness brings a nice balance.
What we would wish for. The milk performance of the Sage Bambino Plus in the outstanding espresso machine of the Ascaso Steel Duo PID . That would be our dream thermoblock.
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