Sage are expert at designing kitchen appliances with cleverly integrated functions to take the stress out of cooking. Their range of smart appliances, which includes kettles, toasters, and blenders, through to their ice cream maker and microwaves, has been exactingly considered to give you perfect results every time, all at the push of a button. Whether its prepping, boiling, whisking, whipping, grilling, cooking and baking, thanks to Sage, cooking has never been so easy. The Ross Droplet Technique (RDT) involves wetting your beans before grinding to minimize static. It works, so if you have a grinder that does suffer from a lot of static, then you might want to do it, but if you do, I would highly recommend only doing this when single dosing, and using the SPN tool instead. I know from personal experience (I first fell down the home barista rabbit hole only a handful of years ago), that you start off just thinking you're buying a coffee machine capable of making espresso for Americano, cappuccino, latte, maybe flat white – and then next thing you know, you're confronted with a myriad of tools, gadgets & accessories that you apparently need, since everyone else appears to be buying them. 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 But until/unless that happens, if you class yourself as a completely normal coffee drinker, you're just looking for an ultra-convenient cost-effective way to stay caffeinated, then honestly, don't worry about coffee machine accessories.

In an ideal world, I think most people would find both of these machines better to work with if they have a PID.

Sage The Knock Box Mini

If you roll your eyes at the thought of faffing around with scales & gadgets, doing this thing called “dialing in”, and “spending half an hour just making a sodding coffee”, but you have a keen palate and you want “proper” espresso and espresso-based drinks at home, then you're what I'm referring to as the more hands off espresso drinker, but a fully automatic coffee machine, known as a bean to cup coffee machine, probably won't cut it for you. If you're getting into home barista espresso, in my opinion, you absolutely need a coffee grinder – and not just any grinder, but a burr grinder that is capable of grinding for standard basket espresso. 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. As I've mentioned, if you do want to use a WDT tool, then you'll need a dosing ring to place on the portafilter to stop the coffee going all over the place when you use the tool. Tamping Mat

There is plenty to like about this. First of all, it’s certainly big enough to cope with pretty much any domestic use. You will not be needing to empty this every time you use it, that’s for sure. Measuring 17cmx17cmx17cm, but in an oval shape, it is larger than the Sage product that we looked at above, but certainly isn’t large enough to cause a problem on your kitchen work surface – it should fit in nicely around your other appliances. 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.It's as if the marketing department of some of these brands have been given one brief, and the manufacturing team has been given another, leading to other machines being sold as if to provide the same kind of cup quality and experience of the immensely popular Sage coffee machines, but they just don't come anywhere close. 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. Bottomless or “naked” portafilters, as they're sometimes referred to, are great tools for home baristas, as they allow you to see issues with the shot that you might not be able to taste, but I think most people using a hands-off automated portafilter machine will probably find them an annoyance, and if you can't taste the issue, does it really matter?