This is the same machine as the slightly cheaper Anima Class, above, but it has a stainless steel front and top – so it looks and feels a bit more luxurious. If you use the cappuccinatore, it'll deliver exactly the same milk texture as the carafe system. If you want better milk texture than is possible via auto frothers, you can just slide the cappuccinatore off and use the pipe underneath as a steam wand. This machine is clearly a Gaggia machine when you look at the internals. With the removable brew group & ceramic burrs, I'd say this is a Gaggia coffee machine that was at some point also sold under the Philips brand, rather than vice versa. With the Accademia, you get 4 milk foam levels. The lowest level is great for drinks like cortado or flat white, whilst the foamiest setting gives that nice cap on your cappuccino or latte macchiato. Very well constructed. Very complex machine. Highly customisable. You need to learn how to dial-in the best coffee taste based on coffee type (bold/dark roast) etc, grind settings, temp, SBC pressure, dose etc. You can get this machine to behave a bit like a manual machine. Albeit a manual machine using a Tamper that holds a much larger coffee dose. The extra control does get potentially better results. That said, if you are geeky, there are manual customisations in the service menu (entirely separate to the general settings menu – usually used by Gaggia service engineers). To get access to it, you need to press a key combination at start up. The type of milk you choose (oak, dairy, coconut, soya) etc will influence the coffee dose, grind, flow and temp. You need to dial this in. Highly recommended to use a water filter (Intenso) and also fill it with mineral water. Sounds counter-intuitive but it helps to extend the life of the machine and your coffees tastes a lot better. Once you get your head around it, the coffee is probably as good as it gets for a fully automatic. The water trays needs frequent emptying which is a but irritating but you don’t want discarded coffee and liquids sitting around inside the machine for long periods. Brewer unit requires weekly cleansing but its a very simple process. The Caraffe milk frothier is simply brilliant. To improve on this you need to get a Sage Oracle or above. Or beyond that the pro-consumer machines like the Marzococo at 4.2k. Overall I would say a great looking product that performs exceptionally for a fully automatic. Despite being 11 years old from launch, its probably still better than most if not all of the glitzy looking fully automatics out there today. Built to last, so highly recommended.

Cleaning is simple thanks to the color screen that guides you through every process. But, due to the automatic rinses every time it turns on and off, I felt like it was asking me to empty the drip tray very frequently - it could be as often as every four drinks. And there are various cleaning tasks to do on a weekly and monthly basis, like deep cleaning the milk carafe, cleaning the brew group, and descaling. It’s certainly more involved than the cleaning procedures for a simple espresso machine - but that’s to be expected for such a big automatic coffee maker. Home barista espresso machines, also known as prosumer espresso machines, are basically commercial-grade espresso machines made for home use. Although they're made smaller, and (most of the time, but not always) cheaper, they use the same technology as commercial machines – to pull shots of espresso at 9 bars of pressure via standard filter baskets. The milk carafe self-cleans the dispensing system but you’ll want to clean the container weekly at the absolute minimum. Maybe every few days to be extra safe. Philips (who own Gaggia) used to sell this same machine under the name “Philips 2100”– but it seems they decided to move it over to the Gaggia brand.The whole front panel of the coffee machine is hinged and opens like a door to reveal a second drip tray and the used coffee container as well as a part called the brew group that needs to be removed periodically for cleaning. This is the new version of the Accademia, and they've basically given it a design overhaul along with a few upgrades, including a much bigger touch screen display, with the option of controlling it via the dial if you prefer, or a combination of the two. The Eletta Explore is for those who want to change up their coffee quite frequently, or a household/office full of people who all like different things. It can’t be dialed in to the same level of precision as the Accademia though. I have friends who have had this machine for 5 years and it never broke or needed repair, so that’s proof enough for me that the product is robust and reliable.

It differs from the Besana in a few obvious ways. It has a much bigger 1.8L water tank, a bigger bean hopper, it has three strength settings (7g, 9g, 11g), and it has the ability to pull double shots. The flavor of the coffee produced was vastly improved when I switched from the Gaggia branded beans supplied in the box, to freshly roasted beans from a local roast house. After I made the switch, the coffee was more nuanced, fruity and much less bitter. And you can of course adjust the aroma via the settings. I tended towards the coffee boost aroma setting. When in this setting, the machine performs a double grinding for a more intense flavor. But it does increase the time it takes to brew the coffee. Once you’ve figured out your favorite settings, you can save drinks to one of four profiles, so that you don’t have to adjust the settings every time you make a drink. And you can even set a timer to switch on the cup warmer every morning in advance of you coming to make your coffee.

Having dedicated boilers for coffee brewing and milk foam means you get the optimal temperature for each, better milk quality, and no waiting between espresso and milk. 10. Espresso Plus System The benefit of this, and the reason these are usually the best selling versions, is that they're one-touch machines, whereas the cappuccinatore machines require two button presses to make your coffee instead of one. Save your favorite coffee to your own profile on the Accademia. This allows everyone to have a selection of custom coffees available at a touch. 3. Ceramic Grinder I used the Brera as my coffee machine at home for a few weeks in the leadup to writing my Gaggia Brera review, and overall I found it to be a really good, compact bean to cup coffee machine, for the price. It's also more advanced where espresso is concerned than most home bean to cup machines. You have 5 dose settings, plus a boost setting which adds another ristretto to any coffee, it'll do a true double shot when you select two cups instead of one (via two consecutive grind & shot cycles), it has a flow restrictor on the front which allows you to choose from three settings (it shows up on the touch screen which one you've selected), you even have control over brew temp (3 settings) and pre-infusion (also 3 settings).