Must-have home barista accessories for the Sage or Breville home espresso machines
Upgrade your home barista setup
You probably have noticed by now that the Sage or Breville home espresso machines come with limitations. But, that doesn’t mean they can’t produce some delicious cups of coffee! By learning the fundamentals behind making espresso and enrolling the help of a few home barista accessories in your puck prep routine, I’m confident you’ll notice significant improvements to your coffees at home.
Home barista accessories you should consider
There’s an unlimited choice of barista accessories that you can pair with your home espresso machine. And, many more options are being released every day. It can get quite challenging to understand which one is actually essential and which one is merely a nice-to-have. To help you prioritize, should you decide to upgrade your home barista setup, I put together a list of my recommendations for accessories.
In Europe
My go-to source for home barista accessories is Barista Essentials. Happy to share that the code HOMEBARISTA10 will grant you 10% off on your first order.
In US
I’m still exploring for a one-stop shop. In the meantime, if you’d like advice and recommendations in regards to a specific accessory, send me a message.
Note: While I wrote this article with Sage or Breville in mind, the recommendations below are very much relevant no matter the espresso machine brand you have at home.
Must-have home barista accessories
Scale
Use a coffee scale, especially when you just got a new bag of coffee beans for home. It’s really the best and quickest way to find your prefered recipe. There are many benefits to using a scale, including the fact that it allows you to reduce waste, be consistent and replicate the same tasty espresso every single time.
Dosing funnel
You attach the dosing funnel to your portafilter right before grinding. Doing so really helps keep all the coffee inside the basket, as you go through your puck prep routine. Your flow is much easier and cleaner this way.
WDT tool
A WDT tool helps you evenly distribute, de-clump and fluff up the coffee grinds in the espresso basket prior to tamping. It’s proven to reduce espresso channeling and increase espresso extraction.
Tamper
Upgrade from the stock plastic tamper (that usually comes in the box with the espresso machine) to a coffee tamper that has: a better fit with the basket of your portafilter, a more comfortable handle and a heavier metal base. A good tamper helps you achieve a more even and consistent tamping.
Nice-to-have home barista accessories
Naked portafilter
Besides the aesthetic part, the usefulness of a naked portafilter lies in allowing you to observe the espresso extraction, and so improve certain steps in your puck prep (for example, distribution or tamping).
If you’d like to include one in your espresso making routine, I wrote about the implications of using a naked portafilter on a Sage or Breville home espresso machine in this blogpost here.
Distribution tool
Many home baristas, especially beginners, choose to add a distribution tool to their puck prep routine. Mainly because it can make the whole process quicker, more consistent and less messy. I’ve done so myself.
But, since I prefer to keep things simple, I’m not using a distribution tool anymore. Although I stopped using one, I continue to achieve consistent espresso extractions. That is, as long as I make sure to work with freshly roasted coffee beans, stick to my WDT tool and use a good tamper.
If you decide to use a distribution tool, keep in mind that it can only adjust the top layer of the coffee bed. In order to be effective across the entire coffee puck, before you use a distribution tool, you first want to make sure the coffee grinds are even at the bottom of the basket (by using a WDT tool).
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!
