Sage Appliances BES100 Espresso Knock Box, The Knock Box Mini

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I'm sure you've heard of the horses for courses saying, which I'm assuming comes from the horse racing world and relates to the fact that some horses do better on certain courses than others – and it's a good analogy to use for figuring out which coffee machine tools and accessories you might need because as I've mentioned, home espresso really isn't a one size fits all affair. The Weiss Distribution Technique (WDT) reduces the chance of channeling by breaking up coffee clumps and evenly distributing the coffee in the basket. It's particularly useful if your grinder produces clumps, which most of the more entry-level grinders will do especially when having to grind particularly fine. 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. If we're talking about the espresso machines that are really made for the hands-off user, we're really talking about the Sage Oracle Touch, and you don't need a tamper for that as it tamps for you, using the internal tamping fan. The Oracle also has a tamping fan and takes care of the tamping for you, so you don't need a manual tamper for the Oracle either. Our next selection is the Grindenstein – the flagship product for Australian kitchen appliance inventors Dreamfarm, who have been innovating and creating handy gadgets since 2003.

In fact, I think they're more than great. For the person who has a relatively normal relationship with coffee, bean to cup coffee machines are amazing, you can get them for a few hundred quid, representing a MASSIVE yearly money saving for most people who regularly get their coffee fix from chain coffee shops, and they'll give you much better coffee than any other type of “normal” coffee machine, using fresh coffee beans!You abso-chuffing-lutely need brew scales. You need to know what weight of coffee you've dosed into the basket, and how much espresso you've ended up with in your cup, so you know what your ratio is. If you don't know this, you can't possibly dial in, and you'll never be able to get consistent espresso. Anyway, just keep in mind that I'm really referring to Sage coffee machine accessories here. If you're looking for accessories for bean to cup coffee machines, the only ones you really need are a milk jug if your machine has a steam wand, and maybe a set of brew scales if you want to aim for a particular ratio (which is possible with Gaggia bean to cup coffee machines, and some other brands which make it clear how much coffee is being ground with each dose setting). Tamper

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.

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Most people will make a short trip to the bin, and dispose of that in there. We have all done that at some time, and one or two solid taps is enough to get it into the bin, and out of sight. After all that costs you nothing except the short trip to the bin. As you would expect, we’re looking at a quality stainless steel unit here, which just glistens and oozes with class. It’s a lovely thing to have in your kitchen, and wouldn’t look out of place in the trendiest of coffee shops. So I'm breaking this post into two main sections, the two groups of coffee machine users who I think actually need coffee machine accessories, and that are hands-off speciality coffee drinkers and home baristas.

On emptying though, a nice little touch from Dreamfarm is that you get a little booklet which details how to use coffee grinds as a natural fertiliser – it’s nothing that you couldn’t find on the internet, but it’s handy to have there. 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 I'd strongly advise against spraying your beans in the bag, or your hopper, or wherever you store your beans, because wetting your beans and leaving them wet, will in (theoretically at least) increase the aging process. If you do store your beans in the hopper, by the way, I'd advise against that too, hoppers aren't intended for storage. See: I know this isn't a coffee machine gadget, but many people don't understand just how important the quality of their coffee beans is to the quality of their coffee. 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 get into pouring latte art (or at least learning to, as it's a skill that takes a lot of practice to develop) then you might want to try other milk jugs. Brew Scales If you're happy with the hands-off approach, you don't “need” brew scales as such, but the fact you're using a coffee machine of this type would indicate that you're wanting great cup quality, and in my humble opinion, you can't really get great cup quality without brew scales. When you don't get it right, it's not so mesmerizing to watch when you end up with an espresso spurter to the eyeball, so you may want to invest in a shot mirror! ;-). You don't need a tamping mat for the likes of the Oracle or Oracle Touch unless you're planning on manually distributing and tamping. The same is true with the Barista Express Impress, but you will need a tamping mat for the Barista Touch. Similarly to the above, this will depend on whether you can get decent replacement shower screens for your particular machine, you can for most, but whether you'll actually find much of an improvement in the shot is unlikely, I'd say. You may find a difference, but whether it's necessarily an improvement, is hard to say.

If you have the Barista Touch, you do need to tamp manually, and that comes with a tamper that fits in the magnetic tamper slot. There's nothing stopping you from buying an aftermarket tamper though, there are loads of tampers available these days that are compatible with the Sage 54mm group machines, including hand tampers, and calibrated tampers, but you don't “need” one, as it comes with one. 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. Or, should I say, on any coffee machine. The Grindenstein has been specially designed to fit on an espresso machine’s drip tray, meaning that it won’t take up any extra room on your work surface. It measures just 10.2×10.2×10.2 centimetres, so won’t have any trouble fitting in – although obviously this does mean that you may end up emptying it quite often. 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.An SPN tool is a revolutionary tool invented by ancient Egyptians (probably) that can also be used for stirring, and spooning. I'm mentioning these machines, by the way, because some people who're looking in the “hands off” category may enjoy the middle ground between hands-off and home barista, which includes the Barista Touch and Barista Express Impress. Leveller 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. I know these aren't really “hands off” machines, because the user still has to handle the portafilter, but really I'm referring to the user rather than the machine, if that makes sense? In other words, if you're the kind of espresso machine user who would want as much convenience as possible, but you want true espresso, not bean to cup espresso, then the Oracle touch in particular is aimed at you, and the Oracle too to a large degree, just without the colour touch screen and the personalisation that this brings with it.