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Sage DTP vs bambino

8K views 104 replies 16 participants last post by  TomHughes 
#1 ·
Hi all

After all the advice I've settled on a seperate machine & grinder...going for a eureka specialista

in regards to Machine-

what would people go for between the DTP or the bambino?

ive been waiting for currys to restock the DTP at £329 but e mailed to say not restocking, Lakeland also out of stock...is this machine old/discontinued/a replacement coming?

So at the same price of £379, which is the better machine?

probably 1 coffee a day, single dosing..
 
#18 ·
The bambino is more like the Barista pro that I have, uses a Thermojet rather than a Thermocoil heating system. Great for when you want to make drinks quickly, not that the older machines are particularly slow. However the Bambino has the auto frothing wand, where you can choose your level of foam and how hot you want the milk but it does the frothing for you. The DTP has a manual stream wand and like the express and infuser I think it only has 1 hole so it steams a little slower than the Pro that I have as that has 4.

Also I think the bambino only comes with pressurised baskets rather than the single walls which means you don't really have to dial in but you can never get the same result as a properly dialled in single wall. Maybe you can buy the single wall baskets for the bambino?

All in all I suppose it depends how manual you want to go and whether you want old or newer tech, each for sure have their own pros and cons.
 
#28 ·
The bambino is more like the Barista pro that I have, uses a Thermojet rather than a Thermocoil heating system. Great for when you want to make drinks quickly, not that the older machines are particularly slow. However the Bambino has the auto frothing wand, where you can choose your level of foam and how hot you want the milk but it does the frothing for you. The DTP has a manual stream wand and like the express and infuser I think it only has 1 hole so it steams a little slower than the Pro that I have as that has 4.

Also I think the bambino only comes with pressurised baskets rather than the single walls which means you don't really have to dial in but you can never get the same result as a properly dialled in single wall. Maybe you can buy the single wall baskets for the bambino?

All in all I suppose it depends how manual you want to go and whether you want old or newer tech, each for sure have their own pros and cons.
do you think the steam wand tips would be interchangable??
 
#19 ·
@Caffeinated_fiend

thanks for the reply, good helpful comparison & comments

tricky really as I prefer newer tech to older stuff however I'm quite looking forward to testing & not 'having it all done for me'...plus you've jogged my memory about the difference between pressurised/single wall baskets

surely the whole point in going to the lengths of timing extractions etc is to get a consistent coffee so using single wall baskets & having a consistent espresso is a key thing?
I did read on the forum somewhere about seeing if the DTP basket fits in the bambino portafilter & if you buy the bambino just buying a DTP basket from sage?
 
#20 · (Edited by Moderator)
@Caffeinated_fiend

thanks for the reply, good helpful comparison & comments

tricky really as I prefer newer tech to older stuff however I'm quite looking forward to testing & not 'having it all done for me'...plus you've jogged my memory about the difference between pressurised/single wall baskets

surely the whole point in going to the lengths of timing extractions etc is to get a consistent coffee so using single wall baskets & having a consistent espresso is a key thing?
I did read on the forum somewhere about seeing if the DTP basket fits in the bambino portafilter & if you buy the bambino just buying a DTP basket from sage?
I think that you can get good results from a pressurised basket but when I think of pressurised baskets I think of super auto machines that usually only have 8 or so grind adjustments as it's not super critical. Plus you can't usually tell from your shots whether they look good, as for the most part an amazing shot and a terrible one look the same coming out. On a single wall when your shot comes gushing out in 10 seconds you know it's going to be a shocker without trying it

I personally enjoy espresso as a hobby, some days more than others of course, it takes a decent amount of time to get a drink and sometimes I can be throwing about 80g of beans on a new coffee before I've enjoyed one cup. However the difference when you get a properly dialled in shot is night and day for me from a pressurised to a single wall.

Although I have the fancy new steam wand I've made about 4-5 milk based drinks on the machine, as my preferred drink is an Americano. So nice to have but something to consider is how much you are going to use it.
 
#23 ·
@Caffeinated_fiend

i will be making more cortado drinks..

you said you can waste 80g of beans getting your espresso right - is this 80g per new pack Of brand x or 80g per new brand?

- if you bought 500g of x, then continue to reorder it, is your machine set up & good to go or does it still need dialling as as even though it's the same brand it may be ever so slightly different and the grind size may need tweaking ever so slightly

.thanks for the info
 
#24 ·
@Caffeinated_fiend

i will be making more cortado drinks..

you said you can waste 80g of beans getting your espresso right - is this 80g per new pack Of brand x or 80g per new brand?

- if you bought 500g of x, then continue to reorder it, is your machine set up & good to go or does it still need dialling as as even though it's the same brand it may be ever so slightly different and the grind size may need tweaking ever so slightly

.thanks for the info
It's usually with a new brand, I drink decaf more than caffeinated and in general they are more finicky than caffeinated beans IMO. However a lot of it comes down to preparation, I'm not sure how much experience you have with making espresso but being consistent as a human being is hard so unless you're nailing your preparation each time, even when you have it dialled in you can make mistakes that ruin shots. Uneven tamp, different tamp pressure, wrong dose, how hot or cold the day is even. A brand new bean I can usually get to where I want in 3 shots unless I'm really unlucky, once dialled in I can micro adjust per day going forward. Plus I have a little notepad that I write the recipes for the coffees I have tried to reference if I order again I have a good starting point.

It's never quite the same between bags though, like you say I find that you would still need to tweak, you may find that when using say 19g in 38g out that on the old beans was 30 seconds on grind size 10 on your grinder but on the new beans it 35 seconds so grind a little more coarser to lower the time if it tastes to bitter for example, sometimes it might taste better at 35 and you stumble onto greatness.
 
#27 ·
@Caffeinated_fiend

I haven't got a machine yet, I'm just doing my research before committing as I don't want to make a £600 mistake?

was gona get a pro or BE but after comments on here I've settled on a seperate machine/grinder

gona get a eureka specialista then was set on a DTP but now the bambino is £250 I don't know if I should go for this!
the DTP seems to be the most popular choice on here so not sure if I should just wait out for the DTP to come on offer
 
#29 ·
Guys the bambino is a step on from the dtp

It is thermojet not thermocoil
Auto steaming
Comes with unpressurised baskets
Has over pressure valve

What does the dtp have over bambino?

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#33 ·
@kennyboy993

i thought the unpressurized baskets was a negative with not getting consistent shots?

if you only get consistent with single wall, when using pressurised what's the point going to the lengths of timing/weighing if you're not going to get a consistent espresso anyway
Dual wall are pressurised,

single wall are unpressurised - what you want
 
#39 ·
@kennyboy993

sorry I was getting mixed up with single/unpressurized/pressurised etc

ok so both machines come with PID & single wall (unpressurized) baskets which are two points for a machine to have

bambino you can manual or auto steam milk - DTP is manual only
many other key differences?
Bambino is smaller, more kitchen friendly

The rest really comes down to thermojet - it's a big step on from thermocoil

3 second warm up - after you've done a proper warm up routine (you'd need to do the same on dtp) this is a massive advantage imo

Steaming is ready in 3 seconds also - and is powerful

I'm assuming thermojet is more temp stable also though I have no evidence.

Breville are not making any thermocoil machines now - for me you'd have to have a compelling reason so buy old tech

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#37 ·
I have loads of love2shop vouchers to use so I'll wait for both machines to be in stock in Argos/currys/JL and then see if there's an offer like on ao...

in 2 weeks JL will be open so I'll try get a demo also

ive started to buy some bits so will be nice when everything is back in stock & I can pull the trigger & bring it all together!

bot too much point rushing & buying a machine today when I can't get the grinder for 2/3 weeks
 
#38 ·
I have loads of love2shop vouchers to use so I'll wait for both machines to be in stock in Argos/currys/JL and then see if there's an offer like on ao...

in 2 weeks JL will be open so I'll try get a demo also

ive started to buy some bits so will be nice when everything is back in stock & I can pull the trigger & bring it all together!

bot too much point rushing & buying a machine today when I can't get the grinder for 2/3 weeks
What other bits you looking at?
 
#40 ·
If you get one just make sure you warm up using dual wall single basket. See other threads for reason.

Seeing steam coming out of the group head as the hot water hits the cold basket - after the machine has been off for days, switched on and after literally 3 seconds is something to behold.

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