Brera

We had a Gaggia coffee machine bought in 1999, it served us well till 2019, good 20 years. We tried other machines but went back to this brand, as their quality is still superb.

Gaggia the good productThanks

ماكينه رائعه سهله الاستخدام اسبريسو افضل من الكوفي شوب اكثر من رائعه

The Brera is Gaggia's entry level bean to cup machine. Despite fewer selection controls than the  Gaggia Platinum , it has the same brewing unit and frothing design, and produces superb coffee and excellent frothed milk. The system has gone through many refinements since the original  Gaggia Titanium  bean-to-cup, making this an excellent choice for coffee lovers.This is our third Gaggia. We still have our non-automatic Gaggia espresso in the loft, and this one replaces our Gaggia Titanium which, after six years good service, would have cost almost have the price of this machine to repair. Over the same period, we have seen friends buy and replace two or even three espresso machines from other manufacturers.CoffeeThere are three settings for coffee strength and two for size of coffee. You can set your own length for each of these, though you can't change the strength settings. 'One bean' strength is a good, decent strength for people who like coffee. 'Two beans' is strongish coffee, and we usually use this as the basis for cappuccino, or for a good espresso. 'Three beans' is very strong coffee, as strong as you would ever get double-espresso in a restaurant. There's also a setting to allow you to put ground coffee in, and the strength will be determined by how much you put in. By comparison, we generally found it hard to get strong enough coffee from the Titanium, which led us to roasting coffee longer which gives a slightly bitter taste. We now roast coffee milder.The crema is always excellent, whether into an espresso cup or a lungo cup. We used to think the crema on the Titanium was good, but this one is so rich and creamy that you can't tell whether you've put milk in or not until after you've started drinking.By default the espresso length gives you a single shot of espresso, though if you use 'two bean' it will be as strong as a double shot in Starbucks when used as the basis for cappuccino. The longer length is about a small mug's worth.The taste is very good -- very good indeed if you fit the  Gaggia Brita Intenza Water Filter , which, annoyingly, we had to order separately. We tend to roast about 12 different types of origin coffee, and even the coffees that did not stand up so well with the Titanium now come out as full bodied with their own very distinctive taste.Because everything but the 'one bean' strength is so strong, it's easy to overdose on coffee with this machine. We now drink fewer cups, which have more effect.Frothing and hot waterGaggia has refined the design of the frothing arm since the Titanium, which was itself a significant advance on the  Gaggia Baby . As long as you keep it clean, and, crucially, don't allow the tiny hole at the top to become blocked, it quickly froths milk every time with no difficulties. Spooling through some more steam after finishing the milk is enough to clean it on a daily basis, though a weekly wash will be essential because deposits of milk otherwise build up.Turning the knob the other way produces hot water for Americano. The water doesn't appear to be especially hot (or maybe I don't wait long enough), and this, to me, is the least successful part of the machine. As a rule we prefer to make long coffees rather than using the hot water.Bean GrindingThere's a limited amount of control on the coarseness of the grind, but the regular setting should generally be fine. The hopper looks quite small, but actually holds 250g of coffee beans.Cleaning and maintenanceYou need to clean the brew unit every week, and grease it with the supplied grease very occasionally. The brew unit is identical to the one in the Titanium, and we can vouch for the importance of cleaning and also of putting it back correctly -- it's quite a complicated mechanism, a bit like the inside of a photocopier, and you must make sure that it is in the correct position before refitting. All in all a weekly clean is a lot easier than the per-coffee cleaning you have to do with a regular espresso machine or even with a filter machine.The console lights up when you have to replace the water, which is a relatively small reservoir and our only real niggle. Likewise, another button lights up when you need to throw away the residues. Both of these tasks are ridiculously easy, though.The water dregs holder has a little orange button which floats up as it fills up. If you don't empty the bottom, then it will flood your work surface. Since it holds quite a lot of water, this is the one part of using the machine that can get messy if you leave it to the last moment.If you use the Intenza filter, this has to be changed every month, irrespective of the amount of coffee you drink. It's a 60 second job, though.You need to descale every month. You can carry on using the machine once the descale light has come on, but failure to descale will shorten the life of the machine and harm the taste of the coffee, even if you use the Intenza filter which tries to get rid of all of the hardness of the water.The frothing unit unmounts easily and keeping it clean is quite simple. This is a huge advantage over the fixed arms on budget machines.ControlsThe main difference between this and the Platinum is the controls. You can make one or two cups of three strengths of coffee in two lengths, you can froth, you can do hot water, and you can descale. That's it. With the more advanced machines you have three options of length and other refinements. We do miss the three lengths from the Titanium, but decided that, for its main purpose, this one had all the refinements we needed and we could live without the extra option.Look and feelAt about 2/3 the size of the Titanium, this is a welcome fit in a crowded kitchen, though much bigger than a pod machine or regular espresso. The front is metal, the sides are plastic. We think it looks fine, though it isn't a work of art like the original pump-action Gaggia espressos were.OverallWe are intensely pleased with this machine, though it's easy to overdo the coffee intake. Gaggia has refined the experience considerably, requiring less cleaning and maintenance, easier access to the water and dregs compartments, a better frothed, a much purer and stronger coffee taste, and a significantly better self-cleaning routine which means that warm-up time is less. It takes less than 3 minutes to get a barista-quality cup of double-shot cappuccino, and virtually none of the frustrating practising that used to be needed. We've only had this machine for a few months, but our experience of the Titanium which used the same brew unit is that there should be at least 5 years life in this machine before you need the first service or repair. That in itself can be pricey -- £200 is typical -- so assiduously descaling when required is an absolute must.If you're only an occasional coffee drinker, a pod machine might work out cheaper. However, if you drink a reasonable amount of coffee (2-4 cups per day for all users of the machine combined), then this will work out cheaper after a couple of years.We like it, and are very happy with it. Gaggia PlatinumGaggia TitaniumGaggia Brita Intenza Water FilterGaggia Baby

I was torn between this and a slightly cheaper Siemens machine. After using my sister's Gaggia Brera I was swayed by this machine's ease of use. It makes almost perfect coffee - but has some drawbacks which prevents me from giving it 5 stars:- It turns to standby and rinses after about an hour of non-use. When you turn it back on to make coffee it rinses again. Which means during the day it uses a lot of (hot) water just to rinse itself. This depletes the machine's very limited water reservoir. (It does mean, however, that the machine is kept, internally, fairly clean automatically.)- The water reservoir is very small. This means that it needs two or three (or more) refills a day which is quite fiddly. You also have to be careful that you don't spill too much water whilst refilling it. However it is a domestic appliance so needs to be relatively small and the compromise that makes this possible, I assume, is the small tank.- The metal drip tray cover is very easily scratched. Because of the numerous rinsing cycles (see above) the fairly large drip tray would fill up quickly if you don't put something under the water nozzle. Initially I had a small metal jug to catch the rinse water (to save emptying the drip tray too often) but this has scratched the tray cover spoiling the look of the machine slightly - at this price you want it to look good! A small ceramic cup is better.I have found, however, that the weekly cleaning of the machine's internal mechanism is much easier than other reviewers have suggested, as long as you follow the instructions. (I haven't descaled yet - and am not looking forward to this bearing in mind other reviews!)I think that the problems with the machine are minor and are due largely to its small, domestic, size.Using it is sometimes a bit fiddly - but on the whole the results are brilliant! And it really is quite amazing how quickly and with minimal effort you can get a 5 star cup of coffee.NB: Have now descaled. Fiddly. Time consuming (one hour+). But not particularly difficult. Again follow the instructions!

Both the units I had developed the same fault after one month. Shame as they make really good coffee when they work!

Beware if buying this appliance on Amazon from a third party retailer as I did. My coffee machine, which I was relatively happy with for the five months it was serviceable, broke. The brewing cassette failed to return to its housing after cleaning. I contacted Amazon to effect a repair, Amazon explained that as I purchased this from Coffee Matters they would deal with my problem. They did NOT. I was advised that their warranty covered me for a very limited 30 days and simply told me to contact Gaggia warranty direct. I am singularly unimpressed as had I been aware of this at the time I would have spent the extra money and bought the appliance from high street retailer and enjoyed the security and service of a point of contact guarantee. I am sure that the "small print" I failed to read is available somewhere on the Amazon website but it needs to be much more visible. Sharp practice or silly purchaser? you decide but for the record I will not be making any further significant purchases in the way again. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

This is a very very nice machine, don't get me wrong, but I got a bargain and wouldn't be very pleased if I had paid full price for it.We have already had to send one back as, when it came to it's in built de-scaling alarm time I was unable tore-set the alarm as described in the manual. Even after following the De-scaling procedure and the reset procedure still the indicator remained on.After discussing this with a repair engineer it turned out that this was a fault.So far the replacement has not reached the required amount of coffees to require de scaling so I'll wait and see. If this one refuses to reset I shall be pursuing a refund or exchange to a different model.Does it make good coffee? yes it does. Once you get the perfect bean for your taste and requirements. Espresso making is a very personal thing and you have to dedicate some time and effort to it.I've tried the steamer and it frothed the milk up well but, we don't use it as we both take black coffee.It's quiet and fairly quick to heat the water when compared to our previous Cuisnart which tended to be a bit slow to heat although it too was reasonably quiet.The controls are fairly easy to understand but I do feel that the long and short coffee buttons would have been better just left as two programmable buttons which is, in effect, what they are. The only difference between them is that the long one was pre set to deliver more water :)Easy to clean and, as long as you keep an eye on things, the drip tray shouldn't overflow although I agree that it is small. the indicator helps.A lot has been said here about the small water container and coffee hopper but, we lioke the small water container as it ensures that you have a good turn around of water. The Cuisinart machine had quite a big water tank and it had a tendency to go stale if you didn't take care. It also was a very narrow tank and impossible to clean. The Gaggia tank is small, and wide and easy to clean, easy to fill and so much better. The coffee hopper is quite big enough for home use which is what this machine is aimed at. Again, any bigger and the beans would be lying about exposed to the air for too long.Only gripe (apart from the problem with the de-scale indicator) is the Gaggias habit of huffing and spitting out the coffee grounds if you put jsut slightly too much pre ground coffee into the little trap door for that purpose. OR if you put the right amount of coffee in and accidentally don't set the controls for the "external" coffee scoop. Instead of just dropping the coffee into the used grounds binm this little darling spits it out into the guts of the machine, all around the Brew Group and base of the machine. It's a real B****@**@ to clean up afterwards :)Other than this. we like it and, based on what happens at the next de-scale point, will probably be keeping it for years to come