Advantages: Looks good and makes superb coffee. Disadvantages: Frustrating to use and occasionally verging on the dangerous.
I'm a difficult person to buy presents for, so when I mentioned to my husband last summer that I liked the idea of an espresso machine it was inevitable that one would appear on my birthday. He went for what seemed to him to be the best of the domestic machines - the Gaggia Classic - as it's a well-built basic machine with none of the frills which rarely get used and have the potential to cause problems. It will also make a cappuccino, but not a filter coffee. The Classic is also one of the most powerful domestic machines - water is forced through the ground coffee with 17.5 bar of pressure. To give you some idea of how powerful this is, my central heating operates at 1.5 bar.
An espresso coffee is so-called because it comes from the Italian for express. It's meant to be brewed and drunk within a matter of seconds - minutes ...
SueMagee 05.07.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Gaggia Classic
I bought this after my krups machine died on me. I like this gaggia it gets hotter and steams much better then the krups. The filter spoon is much bigger and heavier (better for keeping your brew hot)
I dont find the water tank a problem at all, just dont fill it too full, The clear tank is great for keeping an eye on the water level inside.
The smaller filter basket supplied is ideal for pods, gaggia pods make a great espresso but I also like ones from cafepods.com.
I bought my machine reconditioned from gaggia.uk.com. It was about half price and seems as good as new.
So I can recconmend this machine as I can find little wrong with it, These types of machine come in many different price ranges but I feel you would have to spend a lot more to get a significantly better machine. And why go to all the fuss ...
Advantages: A wonderful array of hot drinks Disadvantages: Other than price, none
After a long day's shopping in Nottingham recently our final port of call was House of Fraser and the wonderful smell of coffee wafting around the shop floor led us to the Gaggia display counter.
The barista immediately asked us if we would like a drink and it seemed a shame not to, so black coffees were produced for hubby and myself and a hot chocolate for the grandson.
The salesman/barista was passionate about his products and told us all about them at length and our eye was caught by one particular model, the Selecta, which was on promotion at half price. For a limited period this machine was on sale for £134.99 instead of the usual, double priced amount.
The beauty of this machine is that as well as being able to take the pods which we still had left from another machine, it also makes tea from bags or loose leaf tea ...
