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Gaggia RI8760/18 Anima Automatic Bean to Cup Coffee Machine – Black, Stainless Steel, 1850 W

£189.995£379.99Clearance
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It's quite unusual to have a one touch bean to cup coffee machine with a café au lait selection, although whether the café au lait this machine delivers will be what you are expecting, depends on what you're expecting, of course ;-). As with the flat white, if you ask a dozen baristas to describe exactly what this beverage is, you'll get a dozen different answers. As I said in my best bean to cup coffee machines post, if I were going to use a bean to cup coffee machine, it would probably be the Gaggia Magenta Plus, mainly due to the pro steam wand.

Instead, Gaggia’s goal is to take everything you expect to see on a super-automatic espresso machine and make it extremely user-friendly and intuitive. There's another difference with this machine which doesn't concern the milk, which is unusual actually as the difference between the versions in each range is usually just down to milk – the hopper lid on the prestige has a rubber seal around the hopper lid. I'm not sure why all machines don't have this, to be honest – not only for freshness (and as I've said, I wouldn't recommend leaving beans in the hopper anyway) but because a rubber seal on the hopper lid does tend to dampen some of the grinding noise. If you're looking for something a little more feature-rich than the Gaggia Anima, take a look at the Anima Prestige. The biggest upgrade? The Animal Prestige comes with an automatic frother and dedicated buttons for cappuccinos and latte macchiatos.You’ll also need to follow the instructions in the manual, using cleaning tablets to clean out the inside of the coffee machine. When prompted, run through the descaling programme (how hard your water is determines how often this has to be done). I recommend installing the optional Gaggia Mavea water filter in the 1.7-litre water reservoir to help prolong the life of the coffee machine.

Traditional espresso machines can actually be split into a few categories. Most espresso machines on the market these days are known as semi automatic traditional espresso machines, or “pump espresso machines”, and these kind of machines create the pressure via a pump, vs the fully manual espresso machines where a lever is pulled to activate a piston which creates the pressure. I think it looks great, it's nice and narrow which is great if you don't have much kitchen space (as we don't, it's full of coffee machines!), it looks smart with the LCD screen, there's nothing ugly about the Anima. Fast coffee: The downside is that you can't change the amount of coffee ground, which is 10 grams. So you could set the single shot button to a 1:2 ratio, 10 grams of ground coffee to 20ml of espresso, and set the other to a one to three, for example, to 30ml (via brew scales, or a measured glass). But if you wanted a double shot, for instance, 20 grams of ground coffee to 40 ml of espresso, you'd need to pull two shots. All of the Gaggia bean to cup coffee machines, plus the Gaggia Classic and both of the Gaggia Carezza coffee machines are manufactured in Bologna, Northern Italy. The Gaggia Viva range and Gran Gaggia range are made in China. Gaggia Vs DeLonghi, who make the best coffee machines?The Anima has ceramic burrs, as with all of the Gaggia bean to cup machines including the one touch Accademia & Babila. Most bean to cup machines have stainless steel burrs and Gaggia state that they go for Ceramic because they don’t lead to the coffee beans being heated when grinding.

The Prestige was one of the fastest machines in our timed cappuccino test, serving up a drink in just under three minutes. Not only does it make drinks fast, but it's a totally hands-off process, so you can butter your toast whilst your cappuccino is being made. This is in stark contrast to more manual machines that required nearly six minutes of undivided attention to make a milk and espresso drink. On top of all this, the Prestige has a large capacity 60-ounce water tank that is easy to refill but negates the need to refill too often. Ease of Cleaning Best is a subjective word, there is no “best” as such, only best for you – so the first thing to ascertain is what kind of machine should you be going for? Semi auto bean to cup with a milk frother, fully automatic one-touch bean to cup machine, home barista espresso machine or domestic espresso machine? Once you've decided on the type of coffee machine, that narrows your choice down in terms of which may be the best Gaggia coffee machine for you if you've decided Gaggia is the brand you want to invest in. Where to buy Gaggia coffee machines? Most of the Gaggia Anima Prestige is made of plastic, but the exterior does have stainless steel paneling. Aesthetics and appearance are highly subjective, but I think the Gaggia Anima Prestige is an attractive machine. Durability Its compact design makes it user-friendly in the kitchen, the built-in automatic frother makes steaming milk a cinch, the myriad combinations of extraction parameters gives you a fully customized shot, the self-cleaning cycle takes most of the worry out of routine maintenance, and the straightforward menu display diffuses any frustration you may have toggling between options. Quality of EspressoGaggia and DeLonghi are among the biggest names in coffee machines at the time of writing, and it's fair to say that both have become trusted brand names. It's incredibly difficult to make a sweeping statement about which company make the best coffee machines, both Gaggia and DeLonghi have a great reputation when it comes to their coffee machines. A top-notch machine that pulls great shots and offers the best mostly-automated milk-steaming we've found As with the Brera, there's really not a great deal I can say on the negative side, there are certainly no deal breakers. Seal or no seal When it comes to double shots of espresso, you press the espresso button twice, and it will grind the corresponding amount of coffee to whatever setting you have it on, for instance, if it's set to default, it'll grind 7g of espresso, then pour whatever volume of espresso you have it set to (default being 25g) – it will then grind another 7g, and then pour another 25g of espresso.

However, the Anima is capable of making consistent, good-quality coffee. The Espresso Lungo mode was our favourite, producing a tasty, balanced cup of coffee, whereas the plain espresso mode yielded a smaller 40ml shot with a slightly syrupy texture. Notably, the espresso tended towards under-extraction, missing some of the rich, deep flavours that are extracted at the very end of the shot. It is possible to tailor both modes to produce anywhere between 10ml and 230ml of coffee, however, so there is leeway for getting a balance between the two, depending on your own personal tastes. I've used it, and it's fine for the money. It does have some competition, machines like the Swan Retro (which is a machine that sells under various different brand names) are a bit cheaper, and do a similar job.Overall, the Gaggia Anima is easy to use and has some handy features (such as Temperature and Strength Control), and pulls a quality shot, especially compared to similarly-priced machines.

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