Easy checklist before making espresso on the Sage or Breville home espresso machines
3 steps before kicking off your espresso routine at home
Following these 3 easy steps will not only help you become more consistent, but also avoid breaking your flow because of any inconvenient and unpleasant surprises midway through your espresso routine at home.
Fill up the water tank
Make sure to check it and top it up before you start to make your espresso. The 2L water tank fitted on these home espresso machines is conveniently accessible from the top. Otherwise, you can easily detach it from the espresso machine and bring it directly to your kitchen sink/water source.
Use the right filter basket
As you probably know already, from back when you’ve unpacked your home espresso machine, there are 2 types of filter baskets included in the box. Many times home baristas get confused and have these 2 interchanged. This is why I believe it’s very important to understand the difference between them:
one of them is the single wall filter basket, to be used when you grind whole coffee beans and
the second one is the dual wall filter basket, intended for pre-ground coffee.
Hopefully you’re using freshly roasted whole coffee beans, so you want to work with the single wall filter basket.
Keep your portafilter hot
If your portafilter is cold, it will pull away much of the heat from the brewing water and you will likely end up with an unpleasant and under-extracted espresso. Personally, I keep the portafilter locked in the machine at all times. Also, when I turn the machine on, I usually wait for 10 - 15 minutes, to let it properly warm up, before I start making my espresso.
Alternatively, what you can do to save time: run some hot water through the portafilter and get it up to temperature more quickly in this way. If you do so, make sure you dry it well afterwards, using a clean towel or cloth. Then you’re ready to rock and roll!
I hope you find these tips helpful and, if you’d like to dive deeper, you may consider our espresso and latte art home barista workshops. Happy brewing!
P.S. If you enjoyed reading this, you might find this blogpost here interesting too – 5 mistakes home baristas make with their Sage or Breville home espresso machines