Wiping the wand and rinsing the basket is the same job on every Sage espresso machine. The cleaning cycle is not: each of the four models asks for it differently and starts it differently, and that is the step people get wrong.
Outside the UK the same machines are sold as Breville, so a BES500, BES870, BES878 or BES880 manual covers the Sage sold here. Where your own manual differs, your manual wins.
What differs between the four
| Model | Cleaning cycle prompt | How you start it | Water filter change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bambino Plus | 1 CUP and 2 CUP flash alternately after 200 shots | Hold 1 CUP and 2 CUP for 5 seconds | 3 months or 40 litres |
| Barista Express | CLEAN ME light comes on | Hold 1 CUP, 2 CUP and POWER for about 10 seconds | 90 days or 40 litres |
| Barista Pro | FLUSH alert on the LCD | MENU, then dial to FLUSH | 3 months |
| Barista Touch | Message on the touch screen | Follow the screen | 90 days or 40 litres |
Every day
Wipe the steam wand as soon as the milk is poured. Sage’s manual for the Barista Express puts it the way all four do: the steam wand should always be cleaned after texturing milk, with a damp cloth.
Then purge it, and here the models split. On the Bambino Plus and the Barista Touch the wand purges itself once you push it back down. Sage’s Bambino Plus manual warns that skipping this could result in the steam wand blocking, and gives a manual override: with the wand lowered, hold STEAM for 5 seconds. On the Barista Express and Barista Pro you purge by hand, turning the steam dial on for a couple of seconds with the wand over the drip tray.
Rinse the baskets and portafilter under hot water straight after the shot, and wipe the group head interior and shower screen to clear ground coffee.
Empty the drip tray when the machine says so. The Bambino Plus manual asks for it after each use, or when the indicator rises through the grid. The Express and the Pro show an EMPTY ME! float, and on the Touch the indicator is described as visibly floating.
Every so often
Sage’s manuals call these jobs periodic and put no number of days on them, so how often is down to how much you use the machine.
- Strip the drip tray. Lift out the grid, remove the coffee grind separator, pull the level indicator up off its side latches, and wash the parts in warm soapy water.
- Purge the group head with an empty basket locked in, running a short flow of water to rinse out residual coffee.
- Unblock basket holes with the pin on the cleaning tool. If one stays blocked, soak the basket and portafilter for about 20 minutes in hot water with a dissolved cleaning tablet, then rinse.
- Wipe the outer housing with a soft damp cloth. On the Barista Touch, keep the screen dry and clean so the machine keeps working properly.
The cleaning cycle with a tablet
This is a back-flush, separate from descaling. Every model wants the same kit: the cleaning disc in a filter basket, a cleaning tablet on top of it, the portafilter locked into the group head, an empty drip tray and a full tank.
Barista Express
Use the 1 CUP basket. Put a large container under the spouts, switch the machine off, then hold 1 CUP, 2 CUP and POWER together for around 10 seconds. The cycle runs for about 5 minutes. Check the tablet has dissolved and repeat if it has not, then take the disc out and press 2 CUP to rinse the brew head.
Bambino Plus
Place a 2 litre container under the portafilter and the wand, fill the tank to MAX, then hold 1 CUP and 2 CUP for 5 seconds to enter cleaning cycle mode and press either button to start. You can put it off by pressing STEAM, but the alert returns at the next switch-on.
Barista Pro
Fill the tank to MAX, press MENU, use the GRIND AMOUNT dial to reach FLUSH and press to select, then press 1 CUP. Sage’s Barista Pro manual says to repeat the cycle if any tablet is left in the disc.
Barista Touch
Sage’s Barista Touch manual hands the whole sequence to the screen. Load the disc and tablet, then follow the on-screen instruction.
The water filter
Soak a new filter in cold water for 5 minutes, fit it into its two-part holder, and lock the holder into the base of the tank. Set the dial on the holder to the month you fitted it.
The Express and the Touch both say 90 days or 40 litres, and both add that the 40 litre limit assumes water hardness level 4; in a level 2 area you can run to 60 litres. The Bambino Plus manual gives 3 months or 40 litres with no hardness caveat. The Pro manual gives 3 months and no litre figure at all.
The grinder
The Bambino Plus has no grinder. The Pro and the Touch both carry a routine burr clean, described in each manual as removing oil build-up on the burrs which can impede performance. Empty the hopper, run the grinder until nothing comes out, unlock and lift the top burr, then brush the top burr, the lower burr and the chute.
The Barista Express manual has no equivalent routine. It gives only the full strip-down, and says that step is only required if there is a blockage between the grinding burrs and the grinder outlet. All three grinder manuals carry the same warning that the burrs are extremely sharp.
What the manuals rule out
Nothing goes in the dishwasher. All four say to hand wash with warm water and a gentle dish washing liquid, and none allow abrasive cleansers, pads or cloths. The cord, plug and machine body never go in water.
If the shot runs around the edge of the portafilter, the Express and Touch manuals point at the silicone seal around the shower screen. Both treat it as a replaceable part that wears out.
Scale is a separate job. The Express, Pro and Touch manuals each say the cleaning cycle is separate from descaling, and the Bambino Plus manual keeps the two apart as well. See descaling a Sage coffee machine.
