Customer Reviews

Gaggia 11400 Achille Lever-Operated Espresso Machine

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

 

 

I received this beautiful espresso machine in June. It is a stunning work of functional art. Out of the box it had two problems: a leak in the boiler water level gauge and the steam valve would not turn off completely. I called the number given for service and reached Importika, the importer of the machine. The people I dealt with were not timely in responses to phone calls and e-mails. I had to be persistent beyond reasonableness to receive the necessary approval to send it in for service. I was told repeatedly that they would notify me when the part arrived from Italy. They never did that. I had to contact them. Then I had to pay $50 for shipping. The only service center that had the part was on the east coast, I live on the west coast. The west coast service center did not have the part. That repair took 3 1/2 weeks from the time it left my door until it returned. In early December the machine started dripping uncontrollably from the showerhead. Again, I had to deal with the same people at Importika. Again, I had to be the one to continually contact them even though I was told several times that they would contact me. They never did. Finally, they told me it had to be sent in for repairs. Since this was the second time it was being sent in for repair in 6 months, I made two requests of them. First, I asked that they send to me a prepaid shipping label, and secondly, that they replace the machine with a new one. These requests, in my experience, are not unreasonable, especially given the over $1,000 price tag. That was at the end of December. It is now Feb. 7 and they have not responded. For the cost of this machine, I expect exceptional service if it is needed. I have NOT received exceptional service. I would not even call it acceptable. The machine has stopped dripping in the mean time and I'm hoping that it has miraculously cured itself.
The machine makes wonderful espresso. I've made espresso for years with other Gaggia machines and it took weeks of experimenting to get the correct combination of grind fineness and tamping pressure. Once I had it figured out, it makes the best espresso I've had from a home brew machine. I use Illy Caffe beans. Using it will build your biceps.
In summary, it's a fantastic machine with a couple of realiability issues and absolutely awful customer service for after the purchase repairs. Cross your fingers that you won't need to do so.

I bought this lever machine when my semi-automatic heat exchanger (A Livia 90) had to be sent back for repairs (the plastic water basin had cracked over time and needed replacing) -- I couldn't bear to be without espresso and always have been fascinated with lever machines. The Achille had gotten a good review on an espresso review website for the quality of its shots, but at the same time, some owners were complaining about leaks. I felt I could trust to purchase the machine through Amazon, since Amazon has excellent customer service.

The Achille produces wonderful espresso -- superior in some ways to my Livia. The shots have a pleasant sweetness to them, and the temperature profile of the machine is quite stable -- no sour or bitter shots here, assuming I let it warm up for about a half hour before use.

I did notice that shot quality degraded considerably if I did not tamp the grinds well. But within two weeks of ownership the Achille began leaking over my countertop when not in use. In addition, the knob to the steam wand broke soon thereafter. When I took it off to examine it, it was a plastic knob that did not have a metal sleeve inside -- when closing the steam wand firmly, the plastic inside the knob deformed, causing the knob to no longer function.

Now, there is a certain charm to the vision of making a latte with a pair of pliers while keeping the espresso machine inside a plastic bucket, but I realized that while the Achille produced wonderful shots of espresso, there are several engineering problems with the design of the machine and feared what else might go wrong. Also, reviews here mentioned that the company's customer service for repairs was difficult to nagivate.

My guess is that Gaggia under-engineered certain parts to save money and still be able to afford to manufacture the wonderful aesthetic design. It remains one of the most interesting looking espresso machines I have seen.

I am glad I purchased it from Amazon, as I am now in the process of returning it. I think I will look for a machine that is more reliable. To have it leak dramatically within two weeks of use, at about 6-12 shots per day, seems unreasonable.

It may be the case that by tamping firmly the machine was attempting to pull too much pressure into the shot, and thus eventually leaked, but if that is the case, and one is supposed to only tamp very lightly, I would say this machine produces quite poor quality espresso and is not worth its price. It seems a manufacturer should include some kind of over pressure valve to handle use cases like that. The user manual did not include guidance on the proper tamping pressure (e.g. 30lbs or such).

My older Breville heat exchanger machine, which I have since given to a friend, produced better shots than the lightly tamped shots from the Achille.

I had high hopes for this machine but was disappointed because the first machine that was sent had major water leaks and the replacement machine had a broken glass gauge on arrival.
Fortunately Amazon has such a good return policy.
I switched to the La Pavoni and am very happy with it!

I read quite a few reviews about how these machines leaked and had to be returned. No such problems with mine. It works perfectly. Maybe there were a few machines that were defective, but in some cases it could be due to the users inexperience. I highly recomend the Gaggia 1140 Espresso machine. This is a really awesome machine!

This is my second time around with the Gaggia Achille...

The first one that I bought worked perfectly with no leaks for a month and then slowly started leaking more and more from the steam wand. It got to the point where I had a hard time keeping the boiler full so I returned it. Amazon was brilliant and sent me the replacement giving me a month to return the leaking machine so I just packed up the leaker in the replacements packaging and had no interruption in coffee... Well done Amazon.

The second machine developed the same leaking problem after a month and a bit but the leak is more manageable. I fill the boiler once every day or two and keep a steaming jug under the wand to catch the drips. Not ideal but I can pull great shots and texture milk...

The steam wand is pitiful but works after I taped up the air hole on the casing. The wand as designed produces overly fluffy steam suitable for a dry cappuccino. At some point I'll find a replacement wand and that will fix this problem.

Summary: IF there was a better alternative for a lever operated machine I'd buy it...if it didn't leak. The other lever machines I've seen just operate a steam powered piston. The Gaggia has direct compression so the harder you push, the more pressure on the basket. Worth buying if you're a coffee geek and want to experiment with lever machines, which I have loved doing.

I own this machine since several years, but also another manual lever machine in a similar price range from Elektra (considering the orignal MRSP for the Achille, which was $1300). The Achille is far less solid in build and interior design. Too many problems with it, too:

1st, all interior material is made of plastic, so this machine is not not built to last. For instance, people reported cracked pressure chambers within 1 year of use.

2ndly, the combination of plastic and metal generates more gaps etc so that this machine constantly leaks. I had to open it several times to re-position rubber seals that slipped out of place. A rather unintelligent design. Once the machine is worn in and has heated up to the 'daily levels', all fits into place, but do not change your routine!

3rd, ALL steam valves of this machine are defective/leaky, so the boiler needs to be refilled very other shot, although the water levels in the boiler tank should not really drop. This makes a constant operation of the machine not really possible.

4th, the milk frother is a joke. Milk is sucked inside to artificially create air bubbles. After several uses, it has to be taken apart to remove milk residues that bake up in it. Again, plastic parts are used in the interior, and I had to reorder a complete frothing wand after less than 1 year since a plastic part just cracked from heat fatigue. I eventually replaced the wand with a stainless steel tubing from another brand machine. What a difference...

5th, steel screws that attach the brass brew head to the boiler are welded to the boiler wall with some copper-containing material. Together with moisture from leaks, this metal combination generates massive electrolytic corrision (I am very knowledgable in chemistry...), so the screws 'melt away' extremely fast (think of corrosive effects of leaky batteries found in your alarm clock). When I took the machine apart to reset seals after 6 months of use, the screws were 1/2 eaten. The brew head will fall off soon! What a pity and how thoughtless of Gaggia!! Unless you know how to weld, the machine converts into garbage within a few years - regardless of your handling and care.

The goods:
The espresso is really good, but cannot touch the ones from the Elektra.

It also looks very nice...

Very good machine, very good espresso, you need a lot of practice and patience, otherwise I don't have any complaint.