I bought the Cubika last summer from Amazon. I was impressed with the speed of Amazon's delivery, and the "out of the box" experience.
I had read very positive reviews for this machine, and it was the "style" which tempted me in the end. I wanted a pod machine, but my other half convinced me otherwise - her father travels to Italy a lot, so we have a plentiful supply of good quality reasonably priced beans.
I have not been impressed with this machine. First off, lets talk about cleaning it. To remove the water tank, you have to remove the brew basket, move the steam nozzle round and then try to wriggle it free without crushing the rubber tubing that dips into the water.
Not easy.
When you get it out, the awkward shape is difficult to get most dish-brushes into.
There is a "useful" feature that you can slide the tank along for side-on filling, but unless you use up the ENTIRE tank every day, you're still going to have to empty out your stale water in the morning.
The brew basket also has a habit of wedging itsself up in the holder. I guess this could be remedied by not letting it cool in this position, but I don't always have time to fully clean the machine after using it.
Now lets look at the coffee you can get out of it:
This machine is great if you use ESE pods. Whittard's do an OK line of paper-wrapped ESE pods, as do Waitrose, both of which make a fairly passable cup of the black stuff. For a really good coffee, however, I would suggest the Illy ESE pods (They come in a sexy tin, of course, but are quite a bit dearer than the Waitrose ones.
Don't even bother with loose ground coffee in this. If you open a pack of pre-ground coffee, you will get a good shot for the first 24 hours of the bag being opened. After that, you will struggle to get a decent crema or taste.
I have tried everything, from buying top of the range pre-ground to grinding my own beans in a mid-range burr grinder. Nothing could get satisfactory results with this machine. No amount of variation in the grind or tamp made an improvement. I swore lots, and wasted lots of beans on producing dirty water.
No complaints about the steamer nozzle, it was easy to produce a jug of milk at the right density with minimum fuss.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend this machine to anyone. As well as the points above, it's also very noisy (the all-metal construction rattles and rattles, more so if you use the "cup warming plate" on top!).
I expected better from the "inventors of the espresso". I now have a Magimix M200c which uses the Nespresso system. I am VERY happy with it!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
This is the thing when it comes to a proper Espresso machine, they are hard work and require regular cleaning, compared to the more common Senseo type of machines. As for not getting a decent cup of black stuff, it actually sounds like you are not getting enough pressure coming through the head which is often the cause of dirty looking water.
RichPrice 07.02.2007 15:33
Quite a good Review , but I think that it needs a bit more information and detail to justify a higher rating. You might find it helpful if you read and rate some other peoples’ reviews that have been rated VH or E. It might give you an idea of the sort of things you need to include. It might also be helpful if you had a look at the Ciao guides to writing Reviews and Rating I found them really useful. If I can be of any help feel free to put a note in my gb. Rich
Expired-Account 07.02.2007 15:31
I could do wiith one of these every morning, helpful review
Gaggia Cubika The design objective of the Gaggia Cubika was to accommodate as many ... more
features of a top of the range machine in a small home model capable of satisfying the needs of a wide audience. With a neat brushed stainless steel casing, larg...
Postage & Packaging: refer to website Availability: In stock
Advantages: makes espresso, steamer, easy to use, safe, looks good, cheaper than most other similar models Disadvantages: has a cappuncino milk frother but no thermometer
thesquadronleader 01.01.2008 (01.01.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Gaggia Cubika
Advantages: makes espresso, steamer, easy to use, safe, looks good, cheaper than most other similar models Disadvantages: has a cappuncino milk frother but no thermometer
thesquadronleader 01.01.2008 (01.01.2008)
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Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Gaggia Cubika
Feb 7th, 2007
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