Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
64 of 65 people found the following review helpful.
My 6th Super-Automatic and the Best so Far!
By CBG1977
I have been using super-automatic espresso machines since 2001. This is my 6th machine and by far my favorite. Having owned one Capresso C1500, three Jura-Capressos, one Saeco and now the Gaggia Academia, I've found this machine to outperform the rest by far. I loved the quality of the Capresso and Jura-Capresso machines, but having to send them in once a year for service at a cost of over $300 was excessive. There is no way to service the inside of these machines. Plus, I could never get the milk hot enough with the built-in frothing system on the S9 One-Touch or the Z5 and these machines lacked an external frothing wand so it was impossible to heat the milk any hotter than it came out of the machine. Next I purchased Saeco Primea Touch Plus and that was a complete mistake. The milk system is internal and constantly clogged and refused to function. This machine was returned shortly after purchase. I began looking for a machine that was as well-constructed as the Jura-Capresso, but had the ease of maintenance like the Saeco. I learned that Philips had recently purchased the Saeco/Gaggia company, so I decided to take a chance on a Gaggia machine after seeing a demo in-store.What I Like:- The machine is fully adjustable by coffee strength, milk amount, water amount, etc. You can even adjust these settings on the fly via the color screen.- The machine is bomb-proof. Another reviewer noted that there is still a lot of plastic and yes this is true (although much less so than in Jura machines), but the machine is all metal where it counts. In the in-store demo, the demonstrator lifted the machine by its hinges to show how well it is constructed. This machine will undoubtedly hold up to years of use.- The machine has a "sealed" bean container that keeps the beans fresher that other brands of super-automatics that lack this feature.- The automatic frothing container could not be any easier to use. You snap it in a press a button. It automatically cleans itself after use and any leftover milk can be left in the container and refrigerated for next use eliminating waste.- Machine rinses itself before and after every use, so there is no "old" coffee taste when you brew your next cup.- The quality of coffee is amazing! This machine produces coffee very close the the Pasquini semi-automatic at my office. The quality is much better than my Jura machines.- The Mavea water filter removes the chlorine taste from tap water and lessens the amount of maintenance you must perform on the machine.- The adjustable coffee "spout". One of my biggest complaints with the Jura machines is that you aren't able to fit a proper sized cup under the automatic spout. You're limited to cups about 4" in height. Because of the nearly infinite adjustments available on this machine, my 16 oz to-go mug fits no problem.- The built-in frothing wand. Most of the milk that comes out of super-automatic machines is not hot enough if the latte or cappuccino is not going to be consumed immediately. This is not a problem with this machine. If the milk is not hot enough simply activate the built in steaming wand and heat it up a few more degrees. This is one of the few fully automatic machines that has this feature.- The ease of maintenance - my favorite feature by FAR. The brew-group is removable. Simply remove it from the machine and rinse it out. No expensive trips back to the manufacturer for cleaning.What I don't:- The price. This machine is very expensive. If you have couple-of-times-a-day trip to S'bux like I did, then the machine will pay for itself in about a year. However, it still in the same ball park as a lot of nice used cars.- The pickiness with coffee beans. With super-automatics you can not use beans that are oily AT ALL. This limits my bean choice and I am unable to use the beans of some of my favorite artisan coffee roasters.- The frequency of emptying the internal and external drip trays as well as spent coffee pucks. The machine has two trays and an internal coffee grounds drawer and they have to be emptied at least every other day or about after every five coffees. The Jura-Capressos had very large drip trays and dump bins that only had to be emptied about once a week. This can be annoying if you're in a hurry in the morning and the machine flashes this message before you can brew a coffee.- The small water tank. This tank is very well designed, but it must be refilled after about 6 coffees. My Jura machines would brew about 20.My complaints are very few and after using this machine for over 6 months, I couldn't be happier. Even with the high price, I believe I got exactly what I paid for - a well-built machine that easily brews quality coffee and coffee drinks with ease of use and little maintenance. I would highly recommend this machine to anyone l who loves coffee, but doesn't want to grind, tamp, brew espresso, and froth milk manually. Within 30 seconds, you can have a coffee drink that rivals that of all but the best baristas.
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful.
Well designed, sturdy machine that lives up to the promises
By Matt D
I just purchased this machine from Amazon and have been incredibly impressed with the build quality, features, and quality of the coffee produced. You can't beat this machine in terms of the product design, multitudes of modes of operation, and elimination of cleaning chores often associated with fully automatic home machines.Unboxing the product is your first clue to the level of detail the manufacturer paid to the product experience. As is custom with Gaggia products, this machine was designed and built at the Milan factory -- something that will not escape you from the early moments of opening the box. Once the shipping box is opened, you simply remove the outer box to reveal the inside box, which has two convenient long handles to make it easy for you to lift the machine out of the shipping box. Inside, the sealed inner box contains your unit, with prominent serial number markings on the inner box and the "Made in Milan, Italy" (naturally in Italian) stamped proudly.You'll be surprised with the highly durable construction, in particular, the stainless steel finish which seems to be impervious to finger prints in my usage so far -- and the high quality hinges that reveal the inner workings of the machine: the brew group, drip tray, and grounds drawer. One unique feature of this machine is that the brew group is fully removable for easy maintenance and cleaning. Given that o-rings over time will break down and are a common service issue on home machines from other manufacturers, the ability to self maintain in your kitchen without needing to pull the machine out or remove it to another location is a plus. Maintenance kits for the o-rings can be found for as little as $9.99.The manuals are well written and the menu system is intuitive and easy to use. Brew strength can be varied with a simple dial on the front of the machine, and individual settings for each beverage, including coffee quantity, volume, temperature, and milk froth settings, if applicable, can be specified. There's also a coffee chute for pre-ground coffee should you chose to use some for a particular beverage instead of the beans. This gets to the main strength of this machine: it's completely configurable. Many people gravitate to manual machines due to the lack of control over the Espresso pull; this machine not only lets you program it, you can change it easily before every cup without needing to descend into tons of on-screen menus.The milk carafe is a fabulous feature -- and it's zero mess. You simply pop it in, move the arm over the cup, and select the beverage you want. When you're done making milk beverages, you return the arm to the middle position which activates a steam rinse feature that flushes the milk circuit with steam for cleanliness. Simply remove the carafe to the fridge for safe keeping until your next cleaning!Another feature of the adjustable brew center is that it can be removed for exceptionally tall cups. Nice for those tall cups in the morning on the way to work!Since energy consumption is on everybody's mind these days, the unit features a double boiler (one for the brew group, and one for the milk circuit.) There's an optional ECO mode which will automatically power down the milk circuit when not in use -- simply call-up the machine's settings to activate the feature. Furthermore, the unit features an adjustable auto-standby feature which will put the unit into standby mode drawing less than a watt of power.I couldn't be happier with my unit. The coffee taste, strength, and temperature are perfect. The adjustments are virtually unlimited and you can achieve precisely the results you want consistently. A great appliance for any coffee lover's kitchen!
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent and yummy!!!
By theDuke
First of all, I must say I was VERY skeptical about paying this high of an amount of money for a machine. Secondly, I spent a week reading reviews and going back and forth between this Academia and the Delonghi Gran Dama ESAM6600. I won't go into details of the Delonghi, but I will say that a friend of mine has it and I spent nearly 2 weeks drinking coffee with her here and there and I have to say that I am glad I bought the Gaggia, it makes a way better cup of coffee and has a WAY better milk frothing system than the Delonghi. I can't comment on the maintenance comparissons since I dont own the Delonghi...The Gaggia AcademiaThe Pros;Very simple and straightforward to use. Comes pre-programmed (to MEDIUM everything) so all you do is hit a button. You can easily change each coffee type settings in the nice lcd screen and adjust temperature, density, water amount, etc..Milk container for frothing is super convenient, easy to use and stays sealed in the fridge to prevent spoiling. It also is far beyond the Gran Adamas, my friend actually doesnt use the Delonghi container because it sucks :)I have used starbucks and whole foods premium organic beans and I have no problems with either. My favorite so far is Starbucks Italian Dark Roast. The coffee this beauty makes is amazing, the cappuccinos are very good and the brewing process is not too loud.Machine turns on, rinses, primes and warms up FASTER than the Gran Adama and even my other friends Miele Built in cabinet(+$5000 machine) unit.Very flexible brewing options, once you understand what it does, it becomes your new best friend for coffee lovers like me!Maintenance elements are VERY basic. You have to empty the drip tray, grounds bin, prebrew tray and ocassionally shake off the brew-group (plastic mechanism inside)Machine is very well built, on the heavy side, sexy stainless and looks like the money it's worthThe Cons;There isn't many cons but here a few VERY minor things I personally would like different:Coffee cup size = I am an IT guy and I have learned to drink coffee in GIGANTIC cups. This machine does have a "LONG COFFEE" button, but it will make an almost full regular cup of coffee (less than the 11oz size) and the regular coffee setting makes about half that. So if you plan on making TONS of LARGE coffee mugs, this machine is probably not going to work for you.Temperature = I did see some people complain about this. First, the machine is shipped with all the temps set to medium, so you have to set it to high. If you're like my dad and you like scalding hot coffee, this machine can do it fine for as long as you dont add creamer or make capuccinos. I personally like warm/hot coffee and sometimes i will feel that it is not as hot as I would like it to be after adding a generous amount of cold creamer. The cappuccinos come out just fine but cool quickly so dont expect it to be super hot after a little while.Maintenance = Eventhough it is very simple to maintain the machine, the fluids containers are somewhat small. I make about 10 coffees per day and I have to empty the thing on a daily basis. It doesn't bother me personally, but I do consider it a con for those who lack the will to do this frequently because the machine will stop you from making coffee if it gets full so I can see some impatient people get cranky.Bypass Chute = This is where you would put already ground coffee in example like when you need to brew a cup of decaf for someone and dont want to empty your beans. The bypass is VERY sensitive to the AMOUNT of ground coffee you dump in there. If you get it wrong, it will simply dump out the grounds into the bin and not brew anything and tell you something about pressure problems... Depending on the grind density, i suggest LESS than the scoop provided with the machine==========================Overall, this thing is worth every penny. Make sure to not use tap water, set all the drink temps to HIGH/MAX and play around with each coffee button until you dial in the right amount of water, coffee and temperature. For espresso, I truly recommend Starbucks Dark Espresso Roast. For espresso and frequent regular coffee (my choice) I recommend Starbucks Dark Italian Roast. Don't be afraid, buy this over the Delonghi, I promise it is better. You will enjoy every cup and since only coffee nuts like me will pay nearly $3000 grand for a coffee maker, I bet you will run to the machine every moring when you wake up, just for another great cup of coffee... Also, if you hate manuals like me, I suggest you go on youtube and find videos, it was the best 10 minute crash course I took and it enabled me to handle the machine from the first time. Do keep the manual since it will occassionally display icons you won't understand and you can reference them in the manual. For me, almost 1 month so far and over 100 brews made (machine has a built in counter) and i am truly happy...
See all 20 customer reviews...
Don't bother with this machine
Not a bargain
coffee convenience
