Sage Bambino Plus SES500 Review: Worth the Extra Over a Dedica?
The Bambino Plus is the machine people move up to from a De’Longhi Dedica, and it is still sold by Sage’s own UK shop in October 2026 at £399.95. A 2026 editorial test, UK home-espresso owners and nearly 900 retailer ratings agree it is very good. The real question is whether what you get for the extra £220 or so — a proper 54 mm portafilter, both kinds of basket, and milk that steams itself — is what you actually need.
Where the reviews line up
The evidence comes from three different places: a hands-on 2026 test by Ideal Home with a decibel meter and a thermometer, the UK home-espresso owners at Coffee Forums UK and Coffee Blog, and buyer ratings at AO and John Lewis — 4.8/5 from 420 and 4.4/5 from 469. They agree on the big things.
Three points come up everywhere. It is quick: Sage claims its ThermoJet heater reaches extraction temperature in 3 seconds, and Tom’s Guide’s timed test found it ready in under 10 seconds from cold and about 4 seconds from standby — not quite the box figure, but still faster than any boiler machine and a step on from the Dedica’s roughly 30 seconds. The automatic milk is the reason to buy it: you stand the jug on a sensor, pick one of three temperatures and three textures, and it stops itself. And it comes with everything — Sage’s own list puts pressurised and non-pressurised baskets, a steel jug, a tamper and a water filter in the box.
The footnotes. The auto-steam can overheat milk if you do not purge the wand first — Ideal Home measured over 80°C one time and 58–66°C when done properly — and Coffee Forums UK owners report milk boiling over on the hottest setting if the jug is not pushed fully onto the sensor. It is light and needs a firm hand when you lock in the portafilter. And at 69 dB on average while steaming, peaking at 84 dB, it is not quiet.
Dedica or Bambino Plus? If you drink espresso or americano from supermarket ground coffee, the De’Longhi Dedica EC685 at £125–£149 does that well and the extra money buys you little. If you drink milky coffee most days, or you plan to buy a grinder and learn, the Bambino Plus is the better machine: the self-stopping milk, the bigger 54 mm basket and the non-pressurised baskets in the box are exactly what a Dedica owner ends up paying to add.
The three reviews this summary is built from
- Ideal HomeHands-on test published June 2026 with measured noise, milk, espresso and descale times.
- Coffee Forums UK & Coffee BlogTwo UK owner threads (7.4K and 9.7K views, five replies each) and a long-running UK specialist blog.
- AO & John Lewis buyers4.8/5 from 420 at AO and 4.4/5 from 469 at John Lewis, checked 5 Oct 2026 — on pages that sell it.
Before the review: Bambino or Bambino Plus?
Sage sells two machines with nearly the same name. The Bambino Plus (SES500) reviewed here is the one with the automatic milk: a temperature sensor under the drip tray stops the steam wand when the milk is done. The cheaper Bambino (SES450) has a manual steam wand and no sensor. If you buy from a listing that just says “Bambino”, check the model code. In the US and Australia the same machine is sold as the Breville Bambino Plus (BES500), which is why many of the videos and reviews you will find use that name.
Specification at a glance
| Spec | Figure | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Heater and heat-up | ThermoJet. Sage claims 3 seconds to extraction temperature. Tom’s Guide timed under 10 s from cold, about 4 s from standby | Claim: Sage. Test: Tom’s Guide (Breville version), May 2025 |
| Pressure | 15 bar pump; 9 bar extraction | Sage gives both. Which? and T3 list 9 bar; John Lewis lists 15 bar |
| Temperature control | Digital (PID) | John Lewis |
| Portafilter and dose | 54 mm stainless steel; 18 g dose | Sage says 18 g; John Lewis says 19 g |
| Baskets in the box | 1 and 2-cup dual-wall (pressurised) and 1 and 2-cup single-wall (non-pressurised) | Sage and Harvey Norman. John Lewis lists only the dual-wall pair |
| Also in the box | 54 mm tamper, Razor dosing tool, Claro Swiss water filter, 480 ml steel milk jug, cleaning tool and disc | Sage |
| Milk | Automatic steam wand: 3 temperatures, 3 textures, stops itself via a sensor under the jug. Manual steaming also possible | Sage; sensor per Coffee Forums UK owners |
| Water tank | 1.9 litres, removable | Sage’s retailers, Which?, T3 and Expert Reviews all agree |
| Water filter | Yes — a Claro Swiss filter sits in the tank | Sage, Harvey Norman, Marks Electrical, Coffee Blog |
| Power | 1,600 W | John Lewis, Harvey Norman, Marks Electrical |
| Dimensions | 194 × 362 × 304 mm (W × D × H) | Sage and Harvey Norman. Which? lists 17 cm wide; Marks Electrical 195 × 320 × 310 mm |
| Weight | 4.66 kg (Which?) or 6.70 kg (John Lewis) | Disagreement — Sage’s page gives no figure. See below |
| Noise | 59 dB pulling espresso; 69 dB average steaming, 84 dB peak | Ideal Home, measured, 2026 |
| Descaling | Shot and steam buttons flash when due; Ideal Home timed the cycle at 8.5 minutes | Coffee Blog; Ideal Home |
| Guarantee | 2 years, repair, replace or refund at Sage’s discretion | John Lewis and Marks Electrical. Lakeland lists 3 years on a discontinued colour |
| Running cost | Under about 4p of electricity for two milky drinks | Our arithmetic — see below |
| Typical UK price | £368–£399.99; Sage £399.95 | Marks Electrical, Harvey Norman, John Lewis and Sage, 5 Oct 2026 |
On the weight: Which? lists 4.657 kg and John Lewis 6.70 kg. Tom’s Guide, testing the US Breville version, puts it at 11 lb, about 5 kg. John Lewis’s figure may well be the boxed weight; we have printed both rather than pick one. Whichever is right, every reviewer agrees it is light enough that you hold it steady when locking in the portafilter.
On running cost: Ideal Home made two milky coffees in six minutes. If the machine drew its full 1,600 W for all six minutes — it does not, because the heater cycles — that would be 0.16 kWh, or about 4.2p at the 26.32p/kWh Ofgem cap figure we used on our Dedica review. Electricity is not a reason to choose between these two machines.
Ideal Home
This is the most recent hands-on test we could find, and the most numerical. Ideal Home timed a “morning rush” of two milky coffees at six minutes, measured espresso at 60–68°C across five back-to-back shots, recorded 59 dB while pulling a shot and an average of 69 dB while steaming, peaking at 84 dB. Hot water from the wand came out at 71°C. Descaling took 8.5 minutes and the cleaning cycle six. Its verdict is that the machine is a winner and ideal for compact kitchens, with a fast heat-up and simple automatic steaming.
The criticisms are specific and worth having. Locking in and removing the portafilter takes some force, and the automatic steamer can scald the milk if you skip purging the wand first: Ideal Home measured more than 80°C on one run and 58–66°C when it was done properly. That matches Expert Reviews’ older 2021 test, which called the auto-milk “near-perfect hot milk with a fluffy microfoam” but noted there is no manual steam knob, and T3’s 2021 Platinum Award review, which praised the steamer and the 1.9-litre tank but also found the machine light enough to need holding while you tamp. Tom’s Guide, testing the identical Breville model in May 2025, timed 1 minute 10 seconds to steam 200 ml of milk and noted it vibrates a lot while running.
Watch: Sage (Breville) Bambino Plus Home Espresso Machine Review & Test
A review-and-test video of the same UK model — the nearest thing to watching the kind of test Ideal Home ran. Confirmed by search listing only; see the caveat box below.
Watch on YouTube ↗Coffee Forums UK and Coffee Blog
These are small threads, not surveys, but they show what goes wrong with the one feature that sets this machine apart. In the first, an owner eight weeks in — on a second unit — found the wand would not stop heating. Replies point first at jug position (“make sure the jug is over the sensor”) and one owner fixed identical froth problems with several descaling cycles in a row. In the second, a new owner’s semi-skimmed milk overflowed on first use; one reply found it happened “only when on the hottest setting”, and another solved it by swinging the wand towards you and pushing the jug as far back onto the sensor as it will go. The pattern is that the auto-milk is very good when the jug sits squarely on the sensor, and frustrating when it does not.
Coffee Blog, a long-running UK home-espresso site, covers the upkeep. The machine tells you to descale by flashing the shot and steam buttons; the routine uses 1 litre of water and descaler to the line in the tank and starts by taking out the water filter. When the milk temperature and texture lights flash together, the machine thinks the wand is blocked: the fix is the pin tool stored under the tank to clear the tip, and the blog suggests a weekly water-only backflush. One thing worth knowing, because some retailer lists leave it out: this model does take a water filter — Sage puts a Claro Swiss filter in the box, and it comes out before you descale.
Watch: Sage (Breville) Bambino Plus Review After Nearly 4 Years
A long-term owner’s view — the closest video match to what the forum threads are about, and the only clip here that speaks to how the machine holds up. Confirmed by search listing only.
Watch on YouTube ↗AO and John Lewis buyers
Treat these as what they are: ratings hosted by shops that sell the machine. Between them they cover 889 reviews, and the gap between AO’s 4.8 and John Lewis’s 4.4 is itself worth noting — the same machine, rated by different buyers, lands nearly half a star apart. Neither page let us read the star breakdown.
The themes on AO echo the testers: the quick heat-up, the automatic milk producing good flat whites and cappuccinos, and the size. The recurring complaints are spills from the drip tray when emptying it, no pressure gauge to help you dial in, and a learning curve for tamping and steaming. That last point cuts both ways — it is a machine that rewards learning, which is exactly the reason to buy it over a Dedica.
Price, 5 October 2026: Sage’s own UK shop £399.95; John Lewis £399.99; Harvey Norman £399; Marks Electrical £368 with two left at that price. The Dedica EC685 was £125–£149 when we checked it on 4 October, so the Bambino Plus costs roughly £220–£275 more.
Watch: Delonghi Dedica EC685 vs. Sage (Breville) Bambino Plus
A head-to-head of exactly the two machines this page is choosing between. Confirmed by search listing only; we have not watched it.
Watch on YouTube ↗Strengths and weak points
What holds up
- Very fast: under 10 seconds from cold in Tom’s Guide’s test, about 4 from standby.
- Automatic milk with 3 temperatures and 3 textures that stops itself.
- 54 mm portafilter with pressurised and non-pressurised baskets in the box.
- Steel milk jug, tamper, dosing tool and water filter all included.
- 1.9-litre tank — larger than the Dedica’s 1.1 litres.
- Compact at under 20 cm wide; fits where a boiler machine will not.
What people complain about
- Auto-milk can overheat or overflow if the wand is not purged or the jug is off the sensor.
- Light body; the portafilter takes force to lock in and remove.
- Loud while steaming: 69 dB average, 84 dB peak in Ideal Home’s test.
- No pressure gauge and no manual steam knob.
- Drip tray spills when emptied, according to several AO buyers.
- Around £220–£275 more than a Dedica EC685.
Who it actually suits
Buy it if you make milky coffee most days and want it right without learning to steam, if you plan to buy a burr grinder and want non-pressurised baskets from day one, or if you already own a Dedica and keep wishing it had a bigger basket and a proper wand. For a small kitchen it is the obvious next step.
Save your money and buy the Dedica if you drink espresso or americano from pre-ground coffee or pods, rarely use milk, and have no plans to buy a grinder. The Bambino Plus will not make your supermarket coffee taste £250 better.
What we could not check
- The videos. We could not open YouTube from here. Each video on this page was confirmed by its exact watch address and title appearing in two differently worded searches, not by watching it, and the listings did not name the channels.
- The weight. Which? says 4.657 kg, John Lewis 6.70 kg, and Sage’s own page gives no figure.
- Dose. Sage says 18 g, John Lewis 19 g. We have used Sage’s figure.
- Whether you can pull a shot straight after steaming. No source we could read tested it, so we cannot say whether it avoids the Dedica’s wait.
- Which? test scores. Which? has tested this machine, but its results are behind a paywall.
- Long-term reliability. No source gave failure rates; one forum owner was on a second unit, which is one person, not a trend.
- Argos and Currys ratings. Argos’s page did not show its rating to our tools and Currys did not come up in our searches.
- Standby power and the auto-off time were not on any page we could read.
Sources last checked 5 October 2026. Prices on this machine move around sales events — check the listing in front of you before ordering.