Sage and Breville Bambino and Bambino Plus: owner's guide

I have just bought one. What do I do first?

1. Look at which baskets you have. Turn each one over. Holes all across the base is single wall. One small exit hole under a second skin is dual wall. The North American booklets list dual-wall baskets only; other regions' boxes include single-wall ones. Which you have decides how you should use the machine.
2. Wash the loose parts. The maker's instruction is warm water and a gentle washing-up liquid for the drip tray, portafilter and baskets, and the jug, rinsed and dried. The booklets say no part goes in a dishwasher, and the Bambino's says its aluminium portafilter in particular must not.
3. Fill the tank and run the first-use cycle. Fill with drinking water to the MAX line, seat the tank and the drip tray, put a container under the group head and the wand, and press 1 CUP. The booklet says this rinses the machine and primes the heating system.
4. Decide where the ground coffee is coming from. A grinder that can grind fine enough for espresso and move in small steps, with a single-wall basket. Or pre-ground espresso coffee, with a dual-wall basket. Mixing the two the other way round is where most disappointment comes from.
5. Dose and tamp. Fill the basket, tap to settle, and tamp level. As a guide the booklet says the top edge of the tamper's cap should sit level with the top of the basket after tamping. Weigh the portafilter so you know the dose.
6. Warm the group, then pull a shot onto a scale. Run a short flow of water through the group head first, as the booklet advises. Then lock in, put a cup on a scale and press 2 CUP. Note the dose, the weight in the cup and the time.
7. Taste, and change one thing. With a single-wall basket that one thing is nearly always the grind, on your grinder, by a small step, with the dose and the weight in the cup held the same.

The controls, one by one

1 CUP and 2 CUP buttons

Each starts a shot and stops it by itself after a preset volume of water: about 30 ml and about 60 ml as the machine leaves the factory. They do not know which basket is fitted or how much coffee is in it.

Steam button

Starts steam through the wand. On the Bambino you hold the jug and decide when to stop. On the Bambino Plus it can steam to a set temperature and stop by itself.

Hot water button (Bambino)

Sends hot water through the steam wand, for an americano or for warming a cup. The booklet warns that it is very hot.

Milk temperature and foam buttons (Bambino Plus)

Three levels of each. They set where automatic steaming stops and how much air goes in.

Milk temperature sensor (Bambino Plus)

A sensor in the drip tray that the jug sits on. Automatic steaming depends on it, which is why the jug has to be in position and the milk has to cover the tip.

Portafilter and baskets

A 54 mm portafilter, aluminium on the Bambino and stainless steel on the Bambino Plus in the booklets read, with a one-cup and a two-cup basket.

Tamper

Presses the coffee level. The Bambino Plus booklet also lists the maker's trimming tool, which scrapes an over-filled puck down to a set height.

Water tank

Lifts off the back. The machine will not run without enough water in it and shows this with its lights.

Drip tray

Catches spills and the water the machine releases after steaming. An indicator rises through the grid when it is full.

There is no grinder, so the grinder is the first decision

On the maker's larger machines the grind size is a dial on the side. Here it is whatever your grinder, or the shop's, produced. Every piece of espresso advice that begins grind finer or grind coarser is advice about a machine you have not bought yet.

For a single-wall basket the grinder has to do two things: grind fine enough that the puck can hold back the water, and move in steps small enough that one step does not take a shot from far too fast to choked. Many grinders sold for filter coffee can do neither. That is a limit of the grinder, and no setting on the Bambino makes up for it.

If you do not have such a grinder yet, the dual-wall basket and pre-ground espresso coffee are the honest way to use the machine in the meantime. Expect a decent, consistent cup and very little to adjust.

The booklet's instruction on dosing is simply to grind enough coffee to fill the basket and to control the dose yourself. A scale does that. Weigh the dose every time.

The basket and the button are two different things

The two-cup basket and the 2 CUP button are not a pair. The basket decides how much coffee the shot starts with. The button pushes a preset volume of water through it and stops, whatever is in the handle.

So 2 CUP does not make a correct double. It makes what about 60 ml of water makes with the coffee you gave it, and the weight that reaches the cup changes with the dose and the grind. What decides a shot is the dose, weighed dry, and the yield, weighed in the cup.

Stop the shot at the weight you want, by pressing the button again, or reprogram the button so it stops there for you. The longer explanation, with the maker's figures for each basket, is on the page for the machines with a grinder, and applies here unchanged.

Preset, programmed and manual shots

Preset: a short press of 1 CUP or 2 CUP. Pressing the same button again during the shot stops it at once.

Programmed: hold 1 CUP and 2 CUP together for two seconds until they flash, press one to start the shot, and press it again when there is as much as you want. That volume is saved for that button. The booklets describe a separate button combination that restores the factory volumes.

Manual: press and hold a cup button and the pump runs at low pressure for as long as you hold it. Release it and the shot continues at full pressure. Press again to stop.

When you are learning, stop by weight and ignore the presets. When a recipe is settled, program it.

Bambino or Bambino Plus: what actually differs

Milk. The Bambino's wand is manual. The Bambino Plus adds automatic steaming to one of three temperatures and three foam levels, with a sensor under the jug, and clears the wand by itself when it is lowered back over the drip tray. It can also be used manually, which turns the automatic stop off.

Hot water. The Bambino has a hot water button that delivers through the steam wand. The Bambino Plus booklet's list of controls has no such button.

Cleaning. The Bambino booklet describes one combined clean and descale cycle, which the machine asks for by flashing its 2 CUP button. The Bambino Plus booklet describes two: a cleaning cycle with a disc and a tablet, which the machine asks for after two hundred shots, and a separate descale.

In the box. The Bambino Plus booklet lists a cleaning disc, tablets and the trimming tool; the Bambino's lists descaling powder. The tanks differ in size, at about 1.4 litres and 1.9 litres.

The coffee side is the same: the same size of portafilter, the same baskets, the same presets and the same low-pressure start. The maker says both reach extraction temperature in three seconds. Neither booklet lists a pressure gauge, so flow, time and taste are your readings.

Warm-up: fast for the machine, not for the metal

The maker's figure is that the heating system reaches extraction temperature in three seconds. That is about the water. The group head, the portafilter and the cup start at room temperature and take heat from the first shot.

The booklets' own advice covers this: run a short flow of water through the group head before the first shot, and rinse the portafilter and the cup with hot water. A first shot that is sharper and cooler than the second is this, not your grind.

What changes what on a Bambino

For a single-wall basket. With a dual-wall basket the first three do very little, which is what that basket is for.

Grind, on your grinderfiner or coarser

Finer makes the puck resist more, so the same weight of espresso takes longer and usually carries more from the coffee. Coarser does the reverse.

But it also depends on: The grinder's step size and how even its grind is. A grinder with large steps may have no setting between too fast and too slow.

Dosemore coffee or less

More coffee in the same basket resists more and makes a stronger shot at the same yield.

But it also depends on: The basket. The booklets give 8 to 11 g or 8 to 10 g for the one-cup and 16 to 19 g for the two-cup, as what the baskets are designed for.

Yieldstop earlier or later

A longer shot from the same dose is weaker and has taken a little more from the coffee.

But it also depends on: Stopping by weight, since the buttons stop by volume of water.

Tamp and puck preparationlevel and even, or not

An even bed lets water through all of the coffee. An uneven one sends most of it through one part.

But it also depends on: Doing it the same way each time. The booklet says the consistency of the pressure matters more than the amount.

Basket typesingle wall or dual wall

Single wall lets your grind and dose decide the shot. Dual wall makes the basket decide it.

But it also depends on: The coffee and the grinder you have.

Pre-infusionthe default, or held by hand

A longer low-pressure start gives the puck more time to soak before full pressure.

But it also depends on: The coffee and the grind. Leave it at the default until a recipe is settled.

Milk settings (Bambino Plus)temperature and foam level

The foam level sets how much air goes in; the temperature sets when steaming stops.

But it also depends on: The milk. The booklet says different milks and milk alternatives texture differently.

When it goes wrong

For each thing you might notice: what to consider, since there is rarely one cause, and the first thing to try. One change, then brew again.

The shot gushes and tastes thin

Consider

• A grind that is too coarse for a single-wall basket
• A grinder that cannot go fine enough for espresso
• Pre-ground coffee in a single-wall basket
• A light dose

Try first: Grind finer and weigh the dose. If the grinder is already at its finest, the grinder is the limit: use the dual-wall basket until that changes.

Work through a fast shot

The shot drips or does not come, and the machine is loud

Consider

• A grind that is too fine
• Too much coffee in the basket
• A blocked basket
• An empty tank, or one not pushed fully home
• A machine that needs its clean and descale cycle

Try first: Stop the shot. Check the tank, lower the dose if the puck is pressed against the shower screen, then grind a step coarser.

Work through a slow shot

Nothing I change makes any difference

Consider

• A dual-wall basket, which is designed to make changes matter less
• A grinder whose steps are too large to land between fast and slow
• Coffee too old to build resistance

Try first: Turn the basket over. If it has one exit hole, that is the answer, and it is working as intended.

Pressurised or non-pressurised basket?

The coffee tastes sour or bitter

Consider

• How the shot ran: fast, slow or ordinary
• How strong it is: add a little hot water to the cup and taste again
• The coffee and how old it is
• A cold portafilter and cup, for a sharp first shot

Try first: Read taste together with flow before touching the grinder. The diagnosis tool does this for you.

Read a shot in Make my coffee better

The coffee is not hot enough

Consider

• A cold portafilter
• A cold cup
• The first shot of the day, before the group has warmed

Try first: The booklet's answers: rinse the portafilter under hot water and dry it, and run hot water into the cup first.

The milk will not foam, or the steam is weak

Consider

• A blocked or partly blocked steam tip
• On the Bambino Plus, a jug not on the sensor or milk not covering the tip
• Air going in too late when steaming by hand
• A machine that needs descaling

Try first: Run the wand's purge, then clear the tip with the tool stored under the water tank, with the machine off and cool. Then work through the milk tool.

Milk frothing troubleshooter

The lights are flashing and it will not make coffee

Consider

• Low water in the tank
• A cleaning or descale alert
• On the Bambino Plus, a wand left raised or a blocked wand

Try first: Fill and reseat the tank first. The patterns of lights differ between the two models, so look the pattern up in your booklet.

Coffee escapes round the edge of the portafilter

Consider

• The portafilter is not turned fully into place
• Grounds on the rim of the basket
• Too much coffee in the basket

Try first: Wipe the rim, lower the dose a little and lock the handle until it resists.

Change one thing, observe, learn

Each of these changes one thing and holds the rest. Brew the two side by side where you can, and write down what you notice before deciding which you prefer.

• One grinder step, everything else fixed

  Change

  Pull a shot, move your grinder one step finer and pull another.

  Keep the same

  The dose and the weight in the cup, both weighed.

  What to notice

  How far one step moves the time. If it goes from far too fast to choked, the grinder's steps are too large for espresso.

• Single wall against dual wall, if you have both

  Change

  Pull the same coffee through each basket.

  Keep the same

  The dose, the grind and the yield.

  What to notice

  How different the two shots look and taste, and how much less the dual-wall one responds to a grind change.

• The first shot against the second

  Change

  Pull one shot on a cold machine, then another straight after.

  Keep the same

  The dose, the grind and the yield.

  What to notice

  The difference warming the group and portafilter makes, before blaming the grind.

• The 2 CUP button against a scale

  Change

  Let 2 CUP stop itself three times and weigh each cup.

  Keep the same

  The dose and the grind.

  What to notice

  What the preset gives in grams and how much it varies.

What to avoid

• Removing the portafilter while a shot is running. Both booklets say never to do it, and the Bambino booklet warns of injury if the brew chamber is opened during brewing.Maker's instructions: Breville
• Putting the portafilter in a dishwasher. The Bambino booklet says its aluminium portafilter is not dishwasher safe, and both booklets say no part or accessory should go in one.Maker's instructions: Breville
• Steaming milk in anything but the supplied steel jug on the Bambino Plus. The booklet says other containers may lead to dangerous conditions.Maker's instructions: Breville
• Leaving the Bambino Plus wand raised after steaming. The booklet says it must be lowered so it can clear itself, or it may block.Maker's instructions: Breville
• Ignoring the cleaning alert. The Bambino booklet says it is not recommended, because scale reduces flow, temperature and the taste of the coffee.Maker's instructions: Breville
• Removing or emptying the water tank during a descale cycle, or descaling with anything other than what your booklet names. The booklet also asks for caution because hot steam may be released while descaling.Maker's instructions: Breville
• Reaching for the wand the moment you press stop. The Bambino booklet warns that the steam cannot stop at once and needs a few seconds.Maker's instructions: Breville
• Expecting to dial in with a dual-wall basket, or with a grinder that cannot grind fine in small steps. Neither is a fault of the machine.CoffeeHQ reasoning
• Trusting the 2 CUP button to make a double. It delivers a volume of water; the dose and the yield are yours.CoffeeHQ reasoning

Care, and the parts that wear

Every time

• Rinse the basket and portafilter under hot water straight after use, and wipe the shower screen with a damp cloth.Maker's instructions: Breville
• Wipe the steam wand after every use and purge it. On the Bambino Plus, lower it over the drip tray and it purges itself.Maker's instructions: Breville
• Empty and wash the drip tray after use or when its indicator rises.Maker's instructions: Breville

From time to time

• Run the cycle the machine asks for. On the Bambino that is one combined clean and descale cycle. On the Bambino Plus it is a cleaning cycle with the disc and a tablet, and separately a descale, before which its booklet says to let the machine cool completely.Maker's instructions: Breville
• From time to time run hot water through the group with an empty basket in the portafilter, to rinse out old coffee.Maker's instructions: Breville
• The grinder you pair it with needs its own cleaning, by its own maker's instructions. It is as much a part of the coffee as the machine.CoffeeHQ reasoning

Parts that wear

The steam tip

Weak steam or a machine that stops steaming. It is cleared with the supplied tool, or unscrewed and cleaned, with the machine off and cool.Maker's instructions

The group seal

Coffee escaping round the edge of the portafilter with a sensible dose and a clean rim. The two booklets read do not describe replacing it, so ask the maker's support for your model.CoffeeHQ reasoning

The baskets

Holes that will not clear, most often the single exit hole of a dual-wall basket. The booklet's remedy is the pin on the supplied tool.Maker's instructions

What else changes how it is used

Only the things that change the brewing. None of this is a list of things to buy.

A grinder that can do espresso

The largest single influence on what this machine can make. Fine enough, in small enough steps, and even.

A scale that fits under the cup

There is no gauge and no timer on the machine. A scale and a clock are the instruments.

Single-wall baskets, if yours came with dual-wall only

They are what make the grind matter. They only make sense once you have a grinder that can use them.

Fresh whole beans with a roast date

Old coffee will not build resistance in a single-wall basket at any grind.

The maker's descaler and, for the Bambino Plus, cleaning tablets

The consumables the booklet's cycles are written around.

From the first brew to knowing it well

1. Get a consistent cup. A fixed dose, a level tamp, the same button. With a dual-wall basket this is most of what there is to do.
2. Add a scale. Weigh the dose and the yield and time the shot, so that two shots can be compared.
3. Add a capable grinder and a single-wall basket. This is the step that opens the machine up. Expect the first few shots to be far off while you find the range.
4. Dial in with one control. Hold the dose and the yield and move only the grind, one small step at a time.
5. Separate strength from balance. Change the yield on purpose, and use a little water in the cup to tell a strong shot from an unbalanced one.
6. Then milk. By hand on the Bambino, or by the settings on the Bambino Plus and then by hand once you want more control than three levels give.

Improve this, from here

• Choosing a grinder — What an espresso grinder has to do, which is the decision this machine leaves to you.
• Grinder selector — Narrows the kinds of grinder to the ones that suit espresso and how you work.
• Dialling in espresso — The full loop, with worked shots and what to change for each.
• Espresso dial-in assistant — Enter the numbers and taste of one shot and get the change to make. It asks which basket you are using.
• Make my coffee better: espresso — Tick what you noticed and get the possibilities, the quickest check and one change.
• Pressurised or non-pressurised basket? — The two kinds of basket, and which suits the coffee and grinder you have.
• Espresso ratio calculator — Turns a dose into a weight in the cup to stop the shot at.
• Milk frothing troubleshooter — For milk that will not foam, foams too much or comes out thin.
• Water suitability helper — Hardness decides how fast scale builds in a small machine.
• Sage and Breville Barista machines: an owner's guide — The baskets, the buttons and the dose figures explained at length.