Gaggia RI8323/01 Gran Style Coffee Machine, 950 W, 15 Bar, Black

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If you use the cappuccinatore, it'll deliver exactly the same milk texture as the carafe system. If you want better milk texture than is possible via auto frothers, you can just slide the cappuccinatore off and use the pipe underneath as a steam wand. Yes, it's a little bit more expensive than some of the other more entry-level options, but just look at some of the features. It also has a “special drinks” button which features hot water (very special…) and what they refer to as “Baby Cappuccino”– which isn't Babyccino, by the way, this is an option simply for a smaller cappuccino. I'm not sure why, but if you occasionally want a smaller cappuccino, you may find this useful.

This is the new version of the Accademia, and they've basically given it a design overhaul along with a few upgrades, including a much bigger touch screen display, with the option of controlling it via the dial if you prefer, or a combination of the two. The carafe version is the most expensive version, usually called the “prestige” version, and these machines handle the milk via a carafe, funnily enough ;-). What they've made here is a range of coffee machines (I say a range, as they do fully automatic one-touch versions too which I'll discuss next) with shared use in mind. They've made a machine in which up to four people can set and fully customize their very own drinks. So if there are going to be up to four family members or flatmates, or whatever the case may be, using this machine – each can have their own separate user profile. 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.

Proper espressos without taking up your entire kitchen

This is a very low cost domestic espresso machine from Gaggia, and it's basically what I would expect for this kind of money.

Which kind of bean to cup coffee machine you go for would determine just how much of a one touch process it is, as bean to cup coffee machines are split into two categories too:

Best Gaggia Coffee Machines

Released just over thirty years ago, at the time of writing, the classic has been the first home barista espresso machine for huge numbers of home baristas all over the world. Again, thank you so much for the personal and quite excellent information on this knowledge journey!

While I do think it's a case of the more the merrier with grind adjustments, I have to be honest and say that it probably isn't going to make a huge difference re the 5 settings vs 10. For example, you might find that you prefer a flat white made with a double ristretto over one made with a double espresso – some baristas insist that it should be ristretto, but flat white is a hugely contentious drink, no one seems to be able to agree on exactly what it is and what its origins are ;-). I say it's whatever you want it to be, so if you go for this machine, try it with ristretto and with espresso, see which you prefer. Best Gaggia one touch bean to cup coffee machines It has a bigger water tank than most, and a bigger waste coffee drawer capacity than most of the others too – which means filling the water tank and emptying the waste coffee container less.The knob on the top is for filling the tank with water (open the know and pour the water). You should be able to open the top of the machine to remove the water filter and be able to clean and the machine tank. I have the Magenta Plus. I do really like it. Looks reasonable, smallish footprint, produces nice coffee, great steam power to make microfoam a cinch compared to my old DeLonghi, Americanos are done right, pretty decent amount of customisation on temp, volume and amount of coffee used. If you use the cappuccinatore, it’ll deliver exactly the same milk texture as the carafe system. If you want better milk texture than is possible via auto frothers, you can just slide the cappuccinatore off and use the pipe underneath as a steam wand. ” Know your stuff, and the pannarello wand is a great way to get up to scratch with latte art, but it takes some doing. After a few attempts, we were able to get the right air and steam going to create microfoam, but getting the milk to the right temperature was still hard (judging by eye alone!). If that’s something that would get to you too, we’d recommend buying a temperature gauge yourself. Standard bean to cup machines are also known as semi automatic, or “one touch coffee” machines, and these handle the coffee side of things at the touch of a button, and have a steam wand for the user to steam the milk.

There's not a great deal to say here, this is simply the carafe version of the Magenta. The features are the same as the slightly cheaper “milk” version, above, the only difference is that the milk goes in the carafe which slots onto the machine, and the frothing is handled in the carafe, so it looks a bit neater than with the cappuccinatore version, that's about it. One of the relatively new coffee machines from Gaggia, the Velasca series has double the grind settings compared to the other machines we've covered so far, 10 settings vs 5. There's not a great deal that I can really say negative about it, the only thing I would say is that there are a couple of compromises in making this such a compact machine, such as drip tray size, water tank size, and hopper size, although hopper size doesn't bother me as I'd never fill up a hopper, I'd always keep my beans in the bag or an airtight container and just weigh the beans I'm about to use. Home barista machines aren't coffee machines that the everyday “normal” coffee drinker can just take out of the box and start making great coffee at the touch of a button. You'd need a grinder too, one which is capable of grinding for espresso, which the cheapest grinders usually aren't. More importantly, you'd need home barista skills, and these take time and effort to hone. Being able to decide on the strength of your coffee from the standard single shot of 7g, up to 11g I do think is a good feature, and it's very simple to toggle between these three by simply turning the dial to either 1 bean (7g), 2 bean (9g) or 3 bean (11g).

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Very simple memory option – you're asked every time you make a change if you'd like to save the changes to that coffee