Bean To Cup Coffee Machine

G. H. Fraser-sampson:

Rating

I had the fore-runner of this machine, which cost about GBP500 ten years ago. It was great for consistency, but very poor on quality. Even with all the settings cranked right up, it was incapable of producing a really strong cup of coffee – certainly nothing like you get in a coffee shop. On top of that, it went wrong regularly about every twelve months, requiring lengthy and costly servicing by hard-to-find Gaggia engineers. On one occasion the whole circuit board blew.

In order for it produce coffee of even moderately acceptable strength, it was necessary for the engineeer to adjust it so that it only produced a very small quantity, which meant that it was also expensive to operate, as you had to order a double espresso just to end up with the equivalent of a single.

A pity. I was looking for the ultimate coffee machine, and was told this was it. I now have a simple steel thing which cost me one hundredth of the price of my Gaggia, but which produces perfectly acceptable coffee.