This is a great video, love how you put effort and detail into your videos as well as humor. I have watched like 20+ in the last weeks, fan and subscriber. Most often people just churn superficial "review" videos which give an overview of what you get, but you never feel what's it like to have/use the product consistently in real life, as the one example they give could as well be staged or the best result out of ten tries from a skilled person. This video of yours is a good example of the very opposite, you get to feel what's it like to own it. Thus you helped me decide for this machine. while I love to geek on things, coffee included, I very often have guests to prepare 4-6 drinks at once, and my wife isn't crazy about watching weeks of coffee videos like I am, or taking her time every early morning to get the process right. In a way one of the biggest "splurges" I've done, on the other I know I'm saving substantial money and time not going to coffee shops as regularly, plus "buying" some extra happiness every morning I not only get convenience, but quality. The machine arrived last week, and so far having a blast with freshly roasted coffee (this grinder is amazing). However on the milk (or MilQ…) a few hits or misses in terms of milk texture even with dairy: sometimes it comes out still a bit "bubbly" and I have to whirl the pitcher and tap against the table to get it smooth. When doing it manually I seem to be able to get more consistent results, but seeing the amazing results you got across the board even with with the automated feature, I feel it's probably on me to fix it. I'm wondering if related to the exact positioning of the steam wand and the pitcher. From the camera angle here it's a bit tricky, though: is the steam wand supposed to be "all the way down" or "tilted upwards"? When positioning the pitcher, does the steam wand point straight at the center across the pitcher wall, or should be more like "sideways" (like when you do manually and dip the wand 1/3 to the side to get a swirl motion)? Thanks a lot!
When using the automatic frothing, do you see ( or really feel) a difference between a latte foam vs. a cappuccino? I'm trying to decide between the Touch Impress and a superautomatic and the milk "feel" is where I am completely hung up. Thank you so much for your videos. Subscribed!
I have a Touch Impress, and the milk is perfect in terms of texture and taste. When it comes to microfoam for latte art, it's not as good as a profesional barrista at their best, but achieving nice microfoam for latte art is a tricky skill that emerges from a unique technique. If you watch some videos about how to achieve microfoam for latte art, you'll see why. The milk from ths machine is just as good as I can personally do manually. You can still achieve barista style microfoam using the wand in manual mode, but you won't improve the taste or mouthfeel much. You will definitely never get anything nearly as nice from a superautomatic. If you look at how superautomatics treat milk, they're super violent with it. Heating it that quickly basically destroys it. If you've ever cooked with milk you'll know you need to be gentle with it. The swirling process, air bubbles, and gradual heating, are very important. IMO most superautomatics are a waste of money because they wind up as another unplugged kitchen cupboard appliance. You buy them to save money, but just wind up missing cafe quality coffee, and going to a cafe anyway. Without a decent amount of usage, they are a false economy. OTOH, I've not felt any need to go to a cafe once you have the Touch Impress, and even living in Melbourne, I often get worse coffees when I go out. One of the nice parts about this unit is that I can choose to engage with the hobby as much as I like, or I can have an automatic coffee that a hobbyist would enjoy anyway. My partner is also able to pull nice coffees without asking me for help. It was expensive, but IMO not a cent was wasted. I definitely recommend this machine.
Sage appear to say that with this ‘new’ machine, the milk (or equivalent) is textured with hot air and not steam like some pro machines. Is this the case? Thank you.
Is there any info on what it's changing between milk types? I ask as a Oracle Touch user - curious whether it's doing anything that can't be achieved with just adjusting the temperature and texture controls that the Oracle provides?
I don't think it's doing anything you can't achieve by adjusting temp and texture controls on the oracle, it's just that changing between the milk modes changes the default settings for each drink, so it's just about additional convenience. Cheers, Kev.
I recently purchased one of these machines and love it. What is your ideal dairy setting for the best latte art using whole milk? Would it be the default setting? Foam and Temp?
@@toddvinson1469 Personally I find setting 3 best for flatties, with whole milk, but it can depend on your milk, not all milk reacts quite the same. Temp, I usually prefer about 60, as I like to down flatties, if I wanted to savour it I might go to 65, but I wouldn't go higher, personally. Cheers, Kev.
Hi, without doubt the Milk chocolate and caramel Peru is amazing, and our most popular decaf: www.cworks.co.uk/products/milk-chocolate-caramel-single-origin-decaf-peru?_pos=1&_fid=d4b6d7ed9&_ss=c&variant=43270602391789, Hopefully, this will help with your insomnia!! Cheers Kev
Depends what you mean by a foam top, and depends what you mean by cappuccino ;-). At the preset settings, it does what I'd refer to as a third wave, modern cappuccino, and if you put the setting right to most froth, it's still micro foam, but more dense. You can do the more traditional bigger bubbled foam manually. I'll do a short soon.
Would you generally use a higher setting for skimmed milk on this for a flat white? I’m not sure of the exact texture I should be aiming for but on setting 4 it seems a bit thin.
A proper flat white has very fine pores. That being said: make it however you like. That's the cool thing about this machine: it will let you dial in your drink exactly how you lile it, every single time.
I've been driving myself crazy trying to figure out what cups to get for my touch impress. Do you have any recommendations on cups to get? I'm not into glass btw
Have you looked at the Loveramics range? bit.ly/3IduURi, there's also Acme ozonecoffee.co.uk/collections/acme loads of others, these guys do various ranges: coffeecups.co.uk/collections Cheers, Kev
not bad. However, this machine is still just a piece of plastic which isn't made for repair and will end up as LAND FILL in about 5 years. Please think beyond the price and get a machine that can be repaired and is designed to last decades.
What you're describing is a completely different kind of machine aimed at a completely different market. The kind of people this machine is aimed at are people who would otherwise be buying one touch automatic/bean to cup machines. Cheers, Kev.
I've seen the tear-downs and I have no idea why you'd say that, this machine is just as repairable as any other. The only thing is that it's well engineered enough that you don't need to be repairing it all the time, unlike the Italian-made... anything.
