Gaggia Carezza Deluxe Espresso coffee Machine - RI8525/08

Product Information

You may see certain Gaggia models selling for a lower price than shown at Coffee-Direct, but it is important to note that these products are often imported from outside of the UK and are sold with no UK warranty. Something else I really like about it is the availability of the compatible proper, traditional portafilter, or bottomless portafilter if you prefer.

Some might find the water tank on the small side, I don't actually care about water tank size at all these days personally. I recommend just putting a third to half a tank of water in your machine, whatever amount you think you'll use that day, and then emptying and drying the water tank at the end of the day ready to fill in the morning.So if you're not bothered about looks, and you're purely focusing on performance, then it's just worth keeping in mind that what I said about the DeLonghi Dedica above when compared to the Carezza where performance is concerned, also goes for the Smeg espresso machine. Memorising the amount to dispense: You have atleasttwo button that can be pre-set to measure the length of coffee. The default measurement is for an espresso on one button and long coffee on the other button. Some models have a medium coffee size. All these buttons can be re-programmed by the user as many times as you want.You can also press the coffee button twice to do a double shot of coffee.

This also applies to the other very similar-looking espresso machines that look just like this but sell under a different brand, including the “ Cook Works Professional“, I've seen what appears to be this same model selling in various countries under various different brand names.It’s not worth attributing too much value to the temperature gauge, either. The Gaggia Carezza Deluxe offers no control over water temperature, and there are no markings to tell you what level it’s actually at – aside from ‘pretty hot’. Anyway, the tank is small, at 1.3L, and yes it uses 0.1L of this when doing the purge, but it is front accessed so it's very easy to fill. So given that I've been asked about the Gaggia Carezza a few times, a machine that I just thought looked really old-fashioned and was probably just in their range still because they're sentimental and don't like discontinuing stuff, I thought I'd better get hold of one and see if I was wrong about that too…

Yes, in my opinion. Unless I was really pushed for worktop space, I'd go for the Carezza over the Dedica myself. It's just a bit more substantial, I prefer the fact that you can choose to buy it with a standard basket portafilter instead of having to hunt around for one, and again I prefer the steam wand on the Carezza, and the steam is a bit more powerful too. When I first used it, I did what I'd usually do with a Panarello, I slid the Panarello sheath off and used the plastic piece as a steam wand, and it worked well actually. But then I read on Whole Latte Love that it also had a pro steam wand, and it looked like it was some kind of extension, so I looked in the box and couldn't find anything, so I determined this must be something specific to America.As standard, the Gaggia Carezza Deluxe performs a rinse cycle when turned on, too, which means you can’t simply jam in the portafilter first thing in the morning, but have to wait for it to do its thing first. The machine also occasionally seems to require a few presses of a button to actually respond: it’s a quirky little thing.