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Though I like to pull my own shots, my husband does not have the patience to do so. We bought this as a compromise. He LOVES it & thinks the coffee is great. The only problem we have had is that the machine's little computer mind occasionally gets confused. Sometimes it grinds the beans then dumps the puck without bothering to brew in between. And, yes there is plenty of water in the tank, before you ask. I prefer the Livia 90, but for someone who does not want to work at perfecting barista skills, this is a great machine. The bypass is good for the occasional cup of a different type of coffee than your usual bean. The cleaning is pretty straight forward.
We bought it to make cappuccino and not for the espresso. When we tried the espresso we love that also, of coarse with a little Italian sugar ( Sambvca ). This machine is very easy to use and makes coffee very quickly without any mess. I would recommend using Lavazza coffee. It was recommended by the Gaggia service center. I bought Starbucks coffee, but it was too oily and is not good for a fully automatic high end machine like this. If you want to buy some at the best price I found go to www.wholelattelove.com. You will love it.
DEC 06 Initially, we are VERY happy with our purchase and are excited to try out the other variations of coffee which are possible with this machine. If you are considering the purchase of a Super Automatic Espresso maker I would STRONGLY recommend you consider this Gaggia machine. 26 DEC 06 UPDATE: Over the holiday weekend our machine was "stuck" in the rinse cycle and seemingly unusable. We tried everything (pressing buttons, unplugging the machine, trying to reset it etc) the easy solution though was just to continue refilling the water reservoir until the machine completed the cycle. The Gaggia USA Customer Service representative (888-389-4123 ext 5141) was very helpful and friendly and said it may take UP TO four containers of water to complete the cycle. Our machine returned to normal after running through about 1/4 of the second container. Our machine is now working again just like new... 14 MONTH UPDATE: 20 FEB 08 It's been just a little over a year since we purchased our Gaggia (Christmas 2006). We LOVE it and use it every morning and lots on the weekends when we have friends over (they enjoy it a lot too). We've had no major problems at all and just a couple VERY minor problems. One minor problem which occurs once in awhile is the internal grinder will get stuck while trying to grind the coffee beans. If you're at all mechanically inclined...it just takes the removal of a few screws to take off the top. Then I reach in and grab a hold of the grinding mechanism with a pair of vice grips (placed over an old towel to prevent damage to the metal) and just slightly reverse the grinder. That's done the trick 3-4 times. Another minor problem...sometimes the main button (to the far right on the face plate) looses it's "click" and gets a mushy feel (still works but just doesn't feel the same). To fix this I've just removed the front face plate and then unscrewed the button assembly from the front plate. This seems to "unstick" the button from inside and once put back together functions again normally with the usual "click"...like the rest of the buttons. My wife and I are VERY PLEASED with the Gaggia Titanium model we purchased and would buy it again without hesitation!Read full review
In New York I have a Gaggia Classic Espresso Machine. It makes great espresso but it is totally manual - you have to grind, taper and dump the used coffee. So for my recently purchased 1698 Stone Farmhouse I decided to go totally modern and automatic. I was prepared for less quality but more convenience. After finding the perfect grind setting at #3 I was blown away on how great the espresso was, rich creme and all. The machine is beautiful and the convenience is amazing if it wasn't so large I would replace my Classic in New York with another Titanium. If you have the room and the money - buy it!
A DREAM MACHINE!!!! EASY TO USE & CAN SERVE UP MULTIPLE ESPRESSO'S/COFFEE/CAPPUCCINO IN NO TIME FLAT. WE BOUGHT THIS UNIT AS WE ENJOYED OUR SINGLE SERVE GRAND GAGGIA FOR 20+ YEARS. STILL AUTHENTIC (MADE IN MILAN, ITALY) . OUR ONLY REGRET IS THAT WE DIDN'T OPT FOR THE GAGGIA OFFICE WHICH IS THE SAME BASIC DESIGN ONLY SERVES ON A GRANDER SCALE! PERFECT CUPS OF COFFEE, IT DOES THE THINKING AND COUNTING OF SERVINGS FOR YOU. LET'S YOU KNOW WHAT IT NEEDS AND WHEN. INCLUDES HELPFUL DVD FOR GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE FEATURES. WE COULD NOT BE HAPPIER WITH THIS QUALITY ITEM!!!
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