Customer Reviews

Gaggia 37002 The Coffee Espresso Machine, Grey

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There's a lesson in this review: make sure to check with the warranty provider how long it takes to fix a broken machine. With some providers, it may take up to three months where you'll be without your machine, and since these small espresso machines might break often, it's an important factor.

Initially it worked fine. I wouldn't compare it to industrial machine since an industrial machine can prepare shot after shot of espresso, and steam at the same time, whereas with the Gagia Coffee you can prepare an espresso, wait a minute or two, froth some milk, wait a minute, and repeat if needed (so it's tidious to make cappuccinos to a group of 4+ people. It can take 20 minutes for a group of 6-8, so when the last one is ready, the first ones are rather cold). But other than the pace, and for personal use (even two cups at a time), it produced excellent results: the espresso had lots or crema, and the steamer had lots of pressure. I was able to froth milk just like I wanted and was improving on my latte-art techniques.

After about a month of daily usage (about 2-3 times a day, on average) I noticed the steam pressure started to decrease. Within a few weeks it reached the point where I had to do stops when frothing milk, to allow the machine to generate more pressure. When making a latte or cappuccino, you have to prepare the espresso first and then froth the milk. If you have to stop a few times when frothing the milk, the espresso gets cold and loses its crema. It's also hard to be consistent with frothing in between stops. At this point using the machine has stopped being fun anymore and the quality of the drinks got worse and worse with time.

I don't know yet what went wrong with the machine and if it is just a statistical problem or that this is the nature of all small machines, to work well only in the first few weeks/months. I must say that I didn't get the machine from Amazon, but rather from WholeLatteLove.com, and their customer service is so bad that almost 3 months after sending them the machine, they admitted they still didn't look at it and I don't know when I will get it back. Worse than that, I don't know in what condition I will get it back, and if the problem arises again, I will think very seriously whether to send it for repair again.

After serving a tour with the USCG in southern Italy, I fell in love with the Italian style of espresso and cappuccino. As I left, I purchased several bags of their cafe', to take that taste with me. I bought a small, very inexpensive espresso maker and was very displeased with the whole thing. After about 5 years, I finally purchased a real machine. The Gaggia Coffee. I thought at first, I was kinda throwing my money out the window, but after receiving it, the ease of use, the perfection of the frothing is as easy as the cheaper models at a better job! The pump assures a perfect crema (the froth on the top of your cafe') and the taste is just as I walked in an espresso bar in Sellia Marina! Just the best! No extra grinders to go wrong, you dont need them. This is just simple works with the power of a cafe' style machine! It holds enough water for 25 or so demitasse size cups, so you dont have to fiddle with water! I'm so proud of my machine!

I've been using this machine for a good month now, and I'm very happy with it. While I'm no stranger to espresso, having spent many dollars at my local coffee houses, this is my first home espresso machine.

It only took me a few attempts to get decent espresso, and not much more to get the hang of steaming / frothing the milk (not sure about the frother attachment, it does ok, but I'm sure purists would tell me to replace the wand with a high end one).

If you want real espresso, you can't find a better starter machine. Most of the cheaper models are "steam" machines, resulting in strong coffee that reminds you of espresso, but not real espresso. This one is solidly built, has a brass grouphead and portafilter, and a strong pump. The boiler is aluminum, but this can be an advantage as it heats fairly quickly. I usually turn it on before I take a shower, and it is nicely heated up when I return. If you don't like waiting, after about 5 minutes you can pull a couple blank shots through, which should ensure everything is heated well enough to make an espresso.

One safety comment, be very careful with the metal drip tray when cleaning it. When unpacking my machine there was a lot of adhesive goo on the drip tray so I went to the sink to scrub it off. As it turns out, the edges on the tray are rather sharp and I cut my finger on it. Since then I've been a bit more careful with it and haven't had any issues, but normally all it takes is a quick rinse of the tray and plastic tub underneath it to get it fairly clean.

my husband and i bought this espresso machine to save money rather than going to a coffee shop every morning. we had never actually made our own espresso before. I have a latte every morning and my husband an americano. The Gaggia Coffee Espresso machine is easy to use. After a couple of tries, our drinks tastes just like our local coffee shop. Importantly we use the Capresso 560 Infinity Burr Grinder to grind our beans fresh (we also recommend buying this). The Gaggia heats up quickly, produces rich, dark espresso with ample crema, and we have no problem frothing milk. The drip tray is quite big which is more important than you might realize. We've even retired our tea pot and use the Gaggia to make hot water for tea. The only draw back i can think of is the height of the frothing arm (it's a little low and we need to have the machine near the edge of the counter in order to fit a 2 cup measuring cup underneath to steam milk in), but this seems to be a problem on every espresso machine. Overall we are extremely pleased.

I purchased two units--one for our home and one for our vacation home. Within a few days, the unit at home was no longer making good crema. The water pump at the one at our vacation home died within about 10 uses.

I'm sending both units back and buying another brand.

If they had worked properly, I'm not sure I would have like them even then. The design of this unit is "odd". I've had home espresso machines for 12 years and this one is just weird. If you remove the espresso coffee holder too soon after you brew, the grounds and steam explode all over. I also suspect that the thermostat is broken. It allows the water to boil--which does not make tasty coffee.

Overall, I hate this unit. I'm going back to shopping!