Gaggia Brera Bean to Cup Coffee Machine

Product Information

The prestige version also has options for an extra large cappuccino and an extra large latte macchiato. All of the Gaggia bean to cup coffee machines will flash at you to let you know when you need to do things such as cleaning and descaling, and some of the more premium machines allow you to select your water hardness so that it can prompt you to descale at a schedule which is appropriate.

It instead features six button that make the Anima produce the elements that make (most of) those drinks. That means espresso, milk froth and hot water. While a professional barista wouldn’t be totally satisfied with that array, it’ll let you have a good stab at pretty much any pure coffee drink you’d buy at Costa. The carafe version is the most expensive version, usually called the “prestige” version, and these machines handle the milk via a carafe, funnily enough ;-). Obviously, when it comes to taste, it does matter what coffee you use. The brilliant thing about using a bean to cup coffee machine – is coffee beans! That is, all you need is whole coffee beans, which is a great thing as there's such a massive range of different coffee beans to choose from. To re-set the volumes for espresso or long coffee, you just press and hold the corresponding button, and keep it held until the coffee is ground and you've got the volume you want, when you take your finger off the button you've then set the volume at this level.

SAECO PHILIPS INCANTO CLASSIC HD8911/02

The one touch coffees it'll make, very simply from the tap of a screen, are espresso (single or double), ristretto, coffee, Americano, lungo, cafe au lait, latte, latte macchiato, cappuccino, cappuccino XL, flat white, melange, cortado & macchiatone. You can also select one-touch steamed milk or one-touch textured milk (at your preferred texture setting) to make your own drinks or use the pro steam wand. This is a gorgeous-looking machine, it has a real glass front, so it's easy to wipe clean, and the same glass front covers the touchscreen which makes it the easiest & most responsive touch screen I've used. As with the Magenta milk, the Cadorna milk is the cappuccinatore (or capp in cup as they've started to refer to these particular types of cappuccinatore as) version, but it's a one touch coffee machine as the carafe version is. This coffee machine was super easy to use and impressed across the board in our lab tests. Everything from set-up to selecting your preferred beverage is simple and efficient. And if you do struggle to adjust the settings, the handy manual is easy to follow.

Meanwhile, it looks like a manual machine with a professional-looking steam wand and stainless-steel milk jug. Still, the milk heating and texturizing are fully automated. Just pop the jug of milk under the wand and let the machine take care of creating the perfect microfoam.

There wasn't really a great deal of thinking required, there are only four buttons on this machine. 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 is a newer one touch version of the Naviglio, with an improved cappuccinatore system which they've given the catchy title “cyclonic chamber”. Also, this is one of the cappuccinatore frothers from Gaggia which features the “milk slide” which directs the milk directly into your cup sitting on the drip tray, meaning you don't have to move the cup, so it makes it slightly more convenient. Very simple memory option – you're asked every time you make a change if you'd like to save the changes to that coffee This machine had already been used in Gaggia Direct the demo area, so I wasn't setting it up for the first time, but from what I can gather, there's not much more for the new owner to do with this machine when setting up other than what I had to do with the demo model.

Set-up proved lengthy, but there are plenty of resources online if you need additional assistance. These proved helpful, as the touch panel buttons aren't the clearest.The Gaggia Brera has a stainless steel front panel, giving it a professional look suitable also for environments outside the kitchen. The body is not entirely made of steel: the side panels and the control knob are plastic. Despite its large size, the Gaggia Brera is not very large in terms of water capacity (1.2 L) and grounds repository (8 servings). The Gaggia Brera allows you to combine the delivery of the classic espresso with an integrated grinding performed in the instant, giving the best coffee aroma. The Gaggia Brera is equipped with a ceramic grinder (250g) which allows optimal coffee grinding, and can be adjusted for different coffee weights, from 7g to 10.5g. The Aroma Adjustment function allows you to choose the intensity of the flavour, and has four aroma options. The machine also has a special compartment to hold the ground coffee DESIGN I wasn't expecting a lot from this machine, to be honest, I thought it was just going to be another entry level 15 bar pressurised portafilter espresso machine. I was wrong! The Gaggia Espresso was released in the 80s, and this isn't that. That was a small, mainly plastic (looks really cool, I want one, but they're rare!) precurser to the Gaggia Classic, with a small Aluminium boiler. If you're wondering why you have to adjust while grinding, this is usual, with all grinders, not just the grinders on bean to cup machines. If you adjust the grind while the burrs aren't running, you can get beans jammed & end up stalling the grinder.

Usually, if I'm using a bean to cup machine for review purposes, I'll pull off the Panarello and use the steam pipe underneath as a pro steam wand, which is fine, it's doable with some practice, but it's not quite as good as using a proper steam wand, and you don't usually quite have the length you need to get into the milk jug, so it can be a bit of a faff doing it that way. So, this would be the bean to cup machine I'd go for if I wanted to go down this route. Firstly, most bean to cup machine users aren't going to do much with the grind settings anyway, I know from speaking to people who use bean to cup coffee machines that most people just leave it at whatever it was factory set to, and never change it. One of the cons of bean to cup machines vs using a traditional espresso machine and a separate grinder is that you don't have the same control over the grind when it comes to dialing in. Domestic espresso machines also known as consumer espresso machines or simply as “cheap espresso machines” are made more for the “every day” coffee drinker, someone who just wants to spend a relatively small amount of money on a coffee machine, take it out of the box and start making coffee that they're happy with, straight away with little or no learning curve. Bean-to-cup coffee machines are some of the most expensive home coffee machines you can buy, so if you’re considering investing in one of these pricey appliances, it’s worth getting it right.

TECHNOLOGY

Love ultra-milky coffee? Consider whether you want a machine that’ll make a latte with one button press: you can get this at the price, or from the Anima Prestige, which has presets for Latte Macchiato and Cappuccino. If you want more of a manual feel, the bog-standard Anima has a standard steam spout instead of this hybrid auto-frother one. Gaggia Anima Deluxe – What is the coffee like?