- The top-rated Sage Barista Touch Impress now has a cold espresso mode
- It promises rich, well-rounded cold espresso for cocktails and iced lattes
- We’re testing the new machine soon to see how it compares to its rivals
The Sage Barista Touch Impress (known as the Breville Barista Touch Impress in the US and Australia) has long held a place in our guide to the best espresso machines, and now it’s even more versatile thanks to a new cold espresso mode that should be ideal for making iced lattes and coffee-based cocktails this summer (rather than a shot of hot espresso diluted by adding ice).
The Sage Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction has all the other features we appreciated in the original machine, which make extracting consistently good espresso as simple as possible.
These include the Impress Puck System, which helps you dose and tamp your coffee correctly (essential to avoid over- or under-extraction), plus the Auto MilQ system, which helps you create creamy foam without having to master the art of using a manual steam wand.
Cool beans
Cold brew coffee machines are becoming increasingly popular, promising to deliver authentic-tasting cold-extracted coffee in just a couple of minutes (rather than overnight, as with traditional cold brewing). For example, the Jura Z10 uses pulses of water at high pressure to extract freshly ground coffee, and in my tests I found the results surprisingly tasty and well-rounded.
The excellent Ninja Luxe Café (currently sitting in the number one spot in our roundup of the best coffee makers) also has a cold brew mode, as does the compact De’Longhi La Specialista Touch, though its cold espresso isn’t quite as full-bodied as that from the pricier Jura machine.
I’ll be testing the Sage Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction very soon, and will bring you a complete review as soon as I’ve finished putting it through its paces to see how it compares with its rivals. It’s available today direct from Sage for £1,699.95.
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