Sage Appliances BES100 Espresso Knock Box, The Knock Box Mini

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More often than not, when you use bottomless portafilters, you get one of the most common signs of channeling, spurters, where espresso decides it wants to go on your worktop, your pants, or straight in your eyeball if you're crouching down looking up at it (that has happened to me on numerous occasions). In my humble opinion, while WDT isn't a huge thing, it won't harm your espresso, it may help it, and it'll probably help with consistency (in terms of consistently slightly reducing channeling), and it's quite a fun thing to do, I find, so I say why not.

Please bear in mind that not all manufacturers provide correct imagery and we may put a similar or alternative image to the actual product for illustration purposes only.The actual item you receive may differ from that which is displayed, for example the box may have changed or a model may have been upgraded or changed after we have added the product online.They need it to wake up (or at least think they do) and don't really care all that much about how it tastes. This category of coffee machine users are what I refer to as “normal” coffee drinkers, and I'm not having a go at this kind of coffee drinker, not at all, in fact, I think this kind of person has a perfectly normal relationship with coffee, it's geeks like me that are weird! 😉 If you've just invested in an espresso machine, or you've not done it yet but you're planning on it, you may have found yourself “falling down the rabbit hole”, and if you haven't, just be warned ;-), you're probably about to. This usually involves discovering that there are a million and one espresso machine accessories you need, also known as home barista tools. When I say “normal”, coffee drinkers, I mean the majority of the population of the UK at present, who just see coffee as a means to an end. People who just want a cup of coffee because it's part of their daily ritual.

I'm sure you've heard of the horses for courses saying, which I'm assuming comes from the horse racing world and relates to the fact that some horses do better on certain courses than others – and it's a good analogy to use for figuring out which coffee machine tools and accessories you might need because as I've mentioned, home espresso really isn't a one size fits all affair. OK so now we're probably getting into the stuff most people came here to find out, thinking “Do I really need a WDT tool, an RDT spray bottle, an OEM leveler” and so on, and the answer for most of these is not necessarily.In an ideal world, I think most people would find both of these machines better to work with if they have a PID. I'd strongly advise against spraying your beans in the bag, or your hopper, or wherever you store your beans, because wetting your beans and leaving them wet, will in (theoretically at least) increase the aging process. If you do store your beans in the hopper, by the way, I'd advise against that too, hoppers aren't intended for storage. See:

Some would say that if you're going to fit a pid you may as well buy an espresso machine that doesn't need modding to include a PID, and while that does make sense for the Rancilio Silvia given that you're actually quite close to the price of the Profitec Go or ECM Casa V by the time you've pidded it, it's not quite true of the Classic. I'm starting off with the most obvious tools and accessories for home barista espresso, so if you're already familiar with most of these, and/or you already have most of them, then just scroll down a bit to the likes of the WDT, RDT, Shower Screens, Mods and so on, that may be what you came here to find. Coffee GrinderThat being said, you're not obliged to use the Sage milk jug, obviously, and there are loads of different milk jugs on the market. I know these aren't really “hands off” machines, because the user still has to handle the portafilter, but really I'm referring to the user rather than the machine, if that makes sense? In other words, if you're the kind of espresso machine user who would want as much convenience as possible, but you want true espresso, not bean to cup espresso, then the Oracle touch in particular is aimed at you, and the Oracle too to a large degree, just without the colour touch screen and the personalisation that this brings with it. Some may see the plastic body as a disadvantage, when compared to the stainless steel that some of the others are made out of, but it does have the benefit of not being as noisy when you are emptying the portafilter. Anyway, the reason I'm not discussing coffee machine accessories for “normal” coffee drinkers, is that I honestly don't think there are any accessories or gadgets that the normal coffee machine user actually needs, that won't come with their coffee machine. I do it, because I quite like doing it, I find it quite therapeutic, and if I've had to go particularly fine with the beans I'm using I think it probably has more of a benefit, as there tends to be more clumps to break up when you grind finer.

It’s a nice size as well. Measuring 11.5×11.5×12 centimetres, it is big enough for domestic use, but without being so big as to prove a problem to fit on to your kitchen worktop. With its look and size, it won’t look out of place in almost any kitchen. Our next selection is the Grindenstein – the flagship product for Australian kitchen appliance inventors Dreamfarm, who have been innovating and creating handy gadgets since 2003.

Personally, I think most people using the Oracle or Oracle Touch aren't going to want to mess about doing this, and I think it's fairly unlikely that they'll notice the difference in cup quality anyway unless they happen to have an amazing, Q-grader level palate. Dosing Ring Most people will make a short trip to the bin, and dispose of that in there. We have all done that at some time, and one or two solid taps is enough to get it into the bin, and out of sight. After all that costs you nothing except the short trip to the bin. If you get into pouring latte art (or at least learning to, as it's a skill that takes a lot of practice to develop) then you might want to try other milk jugs. Brew Scales The 9 bar OPV mod changes the pressure limit in the basket from about 13.5 bars to 9 bars. In theory, it's not a big deal. All the over pressure valve does is limits the pressure in the basket to whatever the spring is made to allow, so you can achieve the same aim with the grind size. In reality, having a 9 bar OPV is a big plus, it really makes things easier, and it's very cheap and easy to install. So I'm breaking this post into two main sections, the two groups of coffee machine users who I think actually need coffee machine accessories, and that are hands-off speciality coffee drinkers and home baristas.