Ground coffee or coffee pods
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
103 of 103 people found the following review helpful.
Love it but some things you need to know
By Karen Spray
I just received my Gaggia Classic from an Amazon Prime seller who was selling it at less than £200. As my previous espresso machine finally bit the dust only a couple of days ago, and I ordered the Gaggia yesterday morning, that is pretty good going. I knew a fair bit about the possible machines in my price range as my old machine is very old and I knew that the next time it needed spares I would probably not be able to source them. The Gaggia was about the top of what I could spend, but it had the advantages of a good reputation, a truly classic build which has stood the test of time and for which spares will continue to be available and a large body of reviews both here and on Coffeegeek which let me know what the potential problems would be.Oh, by the way, I was glad to have read somewhere that the mains lead is packed inside the water tank, otherwise I could have spent a long time searching for it in the box!Apart from that, there are two main issues which I am really glad I knew about before I took it out of the box. One should be noted by anyone buying it, which is that the company now ship it with only what is known as a 'pressurised basket' for the filter. Instead of having lots of tiny little holes all over the base, if you look underneath it this has a single tiny hole in the centre and it MUST be used with what the original instructions call the 'optional perfect crema' accessory which is a tiny piece of brown plastic which fits loose in the filter under the basket and by all the laws of washing up is going to get lost in the first two weeks. (There are reviews from people who lost it in unpacking and had to buy another immediately!)If the pressurised baskets are used without the widget, coffee and grounds apparently are likely to shoot out at 90 degrees and redecorate your kitchen for you. So not very optional at all then, unless you like brown streaks. It is a mystery why the company is shipping these as standard. The idea is that they make it more foolproof to get a good crema if you are using coffee that is incorrectly ground etc. However, I would have thought that the market for this machine is likely to be reasonably interested in doing it properly - there are enough good 'point and shoot' machines out there these days, after all. And quite apart from that, to have the whole operation of a £200+ machine dependant on one tiny piece of loseable plastic is just bizarre.However, there is a far better solution which is to order the original style non-pressurised baskets from somewhere like happydonkey.co.uk. I ordered two yesterday shortly after ordering the machine from Amazon and they arrived just as I was setting up the machine so I was able to use them from the start and had no problems at all. The double basket was just under £6. I used my usual brilliant coffee from hasbean.co.uk ground in my usual OK but not superdooper burr grinder and got a fabulous cup of espresso first time out, much richer than I ever got from my ancient (but dearly loved) Krups machine.The second issue will only bother people who a) like cappuccino and latte and b) already know how to microfroth milk like a real barista. The steam wand on this machine is awful for this. The metal wand is very short so even with my smallest frothing jug it was hard to reach the milk. And the plastic easy-froth add-on produces what those add-ons always produce which is a big bubbled foam rather than a microfoam. However, I can see why they do this as the foam produced will satisfy anyone who just wants a foamy top to their coffee and as these things go, it works well. I just wish the wand itself was more useable without it - my old Krups came with a rubber add-on but once you took it off, underneath the wand was great and I could do latte art etc no problem.However, forewarned is forearmed and a lot of people who care about this have replaced the Gaggia wand either with the Gaggia Panarello widget which is apparently better or else with the wand made for the Rancillio machines.There is also an issue with steaming a lot of milk, apparently, but there is a trick on Coffeegeek to avoid running out of steam which I will try if it proves a problem. My husband likes his coffee with cream anyway so mostly I'm only steaming milk for one.So altogether, so far I'm really pleased. If it wasn't for those silly pressurised baskets and the feeble little steam wand I'd give it full marks. I nearly did anyway, as those are soluble problems and it is a great little machine.
206 of 209 people found the following review helpful.
This make serious coffee
By Getty
On returning from holiday skiing in Italy having enjoyed great Italian espresso, latte and cappuccinos, my wife bought me this Gaggia for my birthday. Incredibly generous of her, I had always lusted after a Gaggia.
I was 100% right to.
My wife had done plenty of research into which Gaggia to get me, and the Gaggia Classic seemed to consistently raved about. Now it's my turn to.
Really easy to assemble, though having to remove the chrome overflow pipe to remove the tank was tricky (it's screwing it back on that's tricky as you could lose the pipe you have to screw it onto inside - maybe it was a problem with my machine).
Anyway, with minutes, I had it set up, filled with water and switched on. The tank holds loads and is very easy to fill. There's spaced for a few espresso cups and saucers on top to warm, though if you do want them to warm up, and get really hot coffee too, I agree with the other reviewers that you need to leave it on a while to really heat up.
The filter holder is very sturdy, in fact the whole machine is so robust and well put together you can feel the quality. It comes with two filter cups, one and two cup, but you'll probably only use the two cup filter cup.
It is a bit noisy, but I don't care. It's a powerful machine and you get the impression it's very much function over form with this Gaggia. It does whatever it takes to get the best possible cup of coffee.
The espresso is superb. The milk frother takes a bit of getting used to but is really effective, creating a really good frothy cappuccino time after time - you will have to rinse the frother nozzle though after each use. the only criticism is that the nozzle is quite low to the level of your worktop so getting a cup under it can be tricky. Not a real problem though.
Everyone who tastes the coffee that it produces falls in love with it and wants a Gaggia - I reckon we've probably sold 2-3 machines for Gaggia so far. If you're reading this Gaggia, we'd like commission!
Seriously though, if you want a sturdy machine, built to last, that's great looking, but not just for design’s sake, that makes impeccable coffees, this is it.
131 of 133 people found the following review helpful.
Great coffee, brilliant machine
By A customer
This is a brilliant coffee machine - other machines I have tried do not produce really hot espresso, but this one does. It froths the milk beautifully and I love the silicone pipes that you can see through the water tank. This tank comes out really easily so it's extremely easy to clean. The milk frother gadget is by far the easiest to keep clean of all machines I've had (and I've had a few, believe me). In addition, this is an incredibly sturdy, well built coffee maker. I know it's expensive but the expression 'you get what you pay for' certainly springs to mind here. Don't go for cheaper alternatives - they are not worth it.
See all 220 customer reviews...
