The Sage Bambino Plus is the smallest espresso machine from Sage. Sage? Yes, the company that sells identically designed machines under the name Breville in other parts of the world. The Sage Bambino Plus belongs to the class of thermoblock espresso machines. And as it should be, the Bambino Plus is also ready to operate in about 3 minutes. At around 330 euros and Swiss francs, the Sage Bambino Plus is in the field of more affordable thermoblocks in our test series.
But like all thermoblocks, the Sage Bambino Plus raises some questions:
- How constant is the temperature in the espresso group?
- How does the machine perform in terms of milk foam? Especially here, the Bambino Plus offers more than other machines in the same price segment. But is that any good?
- How is the overall workmanship and how is the energy consumption?
Energy Consumption
If you want to buy an espresso machine based on energy consumption, you're in very good hands with the Sage Bambino Plus. Our procedure for testing energy is always the same. We use an adapter from MyStrom.ch. After a five-minute warm-up time, we extracted 5 double espressos. After a waiting period of another two hours, we extracted another double espresso. Consumption at this point was 0.08 kWh. For comparison: the Ascaso Steel Duo PID, also a thermoblock, which goes into eco mode, had a consumption of 0.28 kWh at this point.
Compared to dual boiler espresso machines, that's still low. The lowest consumption was recorded by the Xenia Espresso at 0.48 kWh and the Bezzera BZ10 at 0.48 kWh. The highest was the Bezzera Magica S with 0.72 kWh.
Small, Compact, Lightweight and Lots of Plastic
The Sage Bambino Plus is small and compact and at 7kg is a real lightweight. Light doesn't have to be bad if a machine has suction cups or is fixed to the ground. Unfortunately, that's not the case with the Sage Bambino Plus. When trying to clamp or unclamp the portafilter, you have to fix the entire machine with your arm. Very impractical, especially since you can't use the surface on the machine that's actually intended as a cup stand. Because somewhere you have to hold the device when clamping it.
At 31 cm in height, a depth of 32 cm and a width of 19.50 cm, the espresso machine fits into any kitchen nook. But be careful! The machine requires an external grinder to make coffee. This should be factored into space planning.
The drip tray is also more of a small dish. We strongly recommend flushing water after each espresso extraction to clean the shower screen. After two or three espresso extractions, the tray is already full. Although a small red float indicates the water level. But if it's always floating at the 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 is that, unlike the stainless steel machines in the dual boiler class, there are no sharp edges.
First-Class Milk Foam Performance
The Sage Bambino Plus has a real strength. The milk foam performance of this machine is unmatched in this price range. With plenty of power, the small machine even froths a large 0.6l jug. Some dual boiler machines have failed at this!
That's a joy. Also very practical for beginners and espresso starters: the milk doesn't heat up too quickly. This gives you plenty of time to circulate (rolling phase) and to really break down the last bubbles.
Also great: the Sage Bambino Plus has an auto-steam function. A temperature sensor in the drip tray not only measures temperature, but also sends control signals to the intensity of the automatic steamer. The final temperature and milk foam density can also be preset. We recommend the middle setting for you. What milk foam is then produced can really impress.
Here Sage shows what's possible in terms of foam technology with a thermoblock. If only they had worked with the same care in terms of temperature consistency…
Espresso Disaster – When Brewing Temperature Isn't Constant
It's a shame what comes out of the Sage Bambino Plus as espresso. Unfortunately not much that's delicious. For one thing, the supplied double-wall basket prevents careful adjustment of a grinder. A double-wall basket is designed for brewing pre-ground old coffee and not for brewing freshly ground coffee. From the inside, such a basket looks "normal". Many openings allow the coffee to flow into an intermediate chamber. However, this in turn has only a tiny outlet, a hole of about 0.3 mm. The espresso then squeezes through this hole, gets blown up by the pressure (see also our Blog-Beitrag on the subject of crema). Precise adjustment of the grinder is as impossible under these circumstances as even extraction.
Since we have other baskets in the coffee academy, we were able to test the extraction behavior of the machine with a single-wall basket as well. Unfortunately, this didn't significantly improve the taste of the espresso. 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 level over a long period of time. Not so the Sage 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 below 85 degrees. That's severe and we haven't seen that very often. Sensorially, this manifests itself in two extremes: the high temperatures contribute an unpleasantly harsh bitterness to the espresso and leave a dry mouthfeel. The low temperatures cause sharp acidity. Overall, the espresso is not extracted evenly.
Really a shame, but we can't really recommend the machine for making espresso.
Export of CSV temperature measurement
Conclusion on the Sage Bambino Plus
The Sage Bambino Plus is a good milk foaming machine. Unfortunately, it doesn't convince us as an espresso machine. Hard to understand what Sage was trying to design here. Perhaps the focus on truly outstanding milk foam performance is also a statement: milk on the espresso neutralizes acidity and bitterness quite well, and milk sweetness brings nice balance.
What we would like to see. The milk performance of the Sage Bambino Plus in the outstanding espresso machine of the Ascaso Steel Duo PID. That would be our ideal thermoblock.
