At the heart of this machine are its two stainless steel lined boilers that allow you to go between brewing and steaming with the push the brew button or the turn of a steam knob. We call this the Rapid Steam feature. And like all of the other Gaggia super automatics it does have a bypass doser for pre-ground coffee if you don't want to use the beans that you already have in the hopper. There are three buttons that can be programmed to dispense any amount of coffee/espresso that you would like. If you want a double shot just push the brew button twice and it will brew two complete cycles. The LCD digital display gives a quick read on the functions on the machine. When you run out of beans or water you can read it on the display. If the brew group is loose, the dump box full or the front door is ajar, messages will appear on the display to alert you to this as well.