Sage – The Oracle by Heston Blumenthal
The Oracle has arrived!
No, I don’t mean Johnny Vegas in Benidorm (although I do believe the new series had started), I mean the all singing, all dancing Heston Blumenthal Sage coffee machine that was delivered to the Gilbert household today.
It came beautifully packaged, with all the gadgets needed to equip the budding home barista, apart from the coffee beans of course. But I’d already sourced these from that marvellous Bermondsey coffee company, PACT (www.pactcoffee.com).
Their world-class beans are bought from dedicated farmers, roasted in small batches at Pact HQ in Bermondsey and shipped within 7 days. The coffee isn’t roasted until the last possible moment before being sent straight to the customer to enjoy.
Who knew that coffee beans should be used within a relatively short time of roasting? The packet gives the date of roasting and when it was packed and is personalised to the customer. No more supermarket coffee beans for us – who knows when it was roasted and how long it’s been in the packet (who was that who shouted “who cares”? ).
We waited until the evening to apply ourselves to the instructions. You get a quick start sheet and also a more detailed instruction booklet and we consulted both of these simultaneously and off we went. It was surprisingly easy and, amazingly, there were no arguments.
We followed the set up instructions to the letter and we were soon ready to make our first cup of Oracle coffee. The smell when we opened the bag of beans was amazing. Grinding and tamping done, we readied the cup and pressed the button. It was a bit nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time (yes, I should get out more). The coffee produced was so fresh and full of different flavours – we felt like wine tasters. Of course, we’re now so full of caffeine that there’s no hope of sleep tonight. Never mind, it’ll give me a chance to read more about personalising the machine so that his lordship can have his morning coffee just as he likes it!