Gaggia Brera Review – Bean to Cup Coffee Machine
Bean to Cup Coffee Machines
If you are a coffee lover and want to have great coffee at home that’s convenient and easy to use, you’d look at either single serve coffee pod machines or bean to cup coffee machines. This article is a Gaggia Brera review. The Gaggia Brera is a coffee machines that’s in the middle of the price range of the Gaggia Bean to Cup Coffee machines.
Gaggia – The creator of modern espresso coffees
Gaggia is an Italian company with a long history that goes to the Second World War. It is the first coffee machine to create crema on top of coffees heralding the modern espresso coffees. Today, Gaggia is owned by Philips.
Milk Frother
It has an integrated milk frother which is a must on a good bean to cup machine. While the Gaggia Brera has a dual boiler, it still needs a few seconds between the coffee and the steam option mode. But it’s easy to create the micro bubbles to create velvety milk foam for the lovers of macchiatos or lattes.
One machine = many coffees of different intensities
It has two coffee sizes and three coffee strengths. This machine can therefore create mild to strong coffees that can be a long black or short espresso. The machine also has the ability to store two individual users personal preference of coffee settings.
Mandatory burr grinder
The hopper can hold about 250g of coffee beans despite the small looking size.With a ceramic burr grinder, it creates good espressos. While the espresso is better than what you may get served in many cafés, the espresso is not quite on par with the prosumer barista models available.
Self cleaning
The Gaggia Brera automatically rinses itself by sending a small amount of hot water through its brew unit when it powers up and powers down. This is a useful way of keeping the brew unit clean and increasing the life of the machine.
The flip side is because of this rinsing, the water reservoir feels too small and seems to feel like it needs constant refilling.
Durable
The Gaggia Brera was first introduced in 2010, this has a durability that is loved by its customers. This machine tends to last for 5-6 years of regular use making several cups of coffee a day. Experience has shown that this is about twice the duration of some of its competitors.
The build quality is decent with metal in front and plastic on the sides which allows you to wipe down and clean easily. It is also reasonably compact in size for a bean to cup machine and works for the smaller kitchen which may be cluttered with kitchen gadgets.
Mid range price
The Gaggia Brera at the time of review was priced just above the £400 mark. It’s not the cheapest of the bean to cup machines, but is one of the easiest to use, consistent and durable ones on the market.