Gaggia Accademia

I got this on Christmas day so I can't complain about the price. Funny though, to justify it, I ran some numbers like: I still come out 100's of dollars ahead were I to buy 2 coffees at Starbucks every day for a year vs. making them myself on the Gaggia Accademia. I'll give you those numbers if you ask. I now am taking my coffee to work in my newly purchased Zojirushi SJ-SHE10 Stainless Steel Tuff Sports Bottle, 32-Ounce also purchased here on Amazon.com As for how hot the coffee and the latte (milk) are: All those who complain about temperature are not drinking their milk coffee after making them but holding off for what reason I certainly do not know other than to delay drinking. When I make a coffee it is because I want to drink coffee, not make it only to let it sit for a time then say "Oh I forgot I made that coffee, guess I'll drink it finally". Want a coffee that is tooooo hot to drink when you want to drink it? For heavens sake I'm sure there is a McDonalds close to you right? And you must be related to that woman that sued them for her spilling her own coffee in her lap and it burning her legs because it was toooo hot to drink. I guess she didn't have a cup holder in her car. Who's fault is that? I don't make a coffee to let it sit around for 20 minutes, I make a coffee to enjoy NOW! and not later. The Accademia allows you to set the temperature as well as the amount of water for each and every drink type. Same as for the milk. And believe me, it is hot, no...it is the perfect temperature for drinking coffee or tea, with or without milk. So unless you have insulated cups and cup covers, do not make your coffee ahead of time. Why would you do that? Or if you do, use a thermos to contain it. I bought my Gaggia Accademia for it's reputation and because I wanted a super automatic machine (no intention of being a barista) for my home to enjoy a real, quality cup of coffee or coffee with hot milk (latte). As for those few who think they are empty-ing the spent coffee grounds too often. What? You live in a dump? You like to use oxidized coffee pucks to season your pot luck end-of-the-week meal? You only empty as much as you make in a coffee making run. If you only make a coffee or two a day, you'll empty that at least by the following day. Or you'll empty it after making six to eight coffees. And doing so only takes a moment of time. It is all about keeping your machine clean so that you'll have fresh coffee and a clean working environment day in and day out. If you don't want a machine that needs cleaning, go to Starbucks each day for your fix. Otherwise you'll appreciate a machine that helps you keep it in top notch working order. One that will provide many years of enjoyment. The Gaggia Accademia super automatic looks great on my counter and there are those who will beg to come over your place for a "real coffee" like coffee is meant to be rather than our Americanized version of watered down dirt (as some would call it). The machine extracts the true essence of the bean so don't buy one of these unless you've tried and like what real coffee tastes like. Use quality beans and if you don't want to buy those little filters that this and most others need, use a ZeroWater filter to provide your water as it will give you the cleanest, freshest tasting counter-top filtered water available. Don't believe me? See http://labs.naturalnews.com/Water-Filter-Test-Results.html and the ZeroWater filter can be purchased...you guessed it...on Amazon.com Lastly don't forget to descale the unit when it tells you. Not doing so will shorten the life of the boiler unit. This is true of any machine over time. Use Durgol Universal Express Multipurpose Decalcifier, 16.9 Fluid Ounce Bottle which can be purchased here on Amazon.com Update & Tips: Dec 12, 2015 Just cleaned my brew group which I have decided to do once per week to keep things freshest. Long since ran out of the tablets that came with the machine but am now using Cafiza E16 tablets qty: 100 1.2g which is the best bang for the buck. But I do recommend running the brew group cleaning cycle w/o tablet another 2 - 3 times to make sure the unit is totally rinsed with clean water, or you can take the brew group out and carefully rinse with cold water around all affected parts where your grounds would come in contact. I am so happy to have purchased this machine and being able to clean it where it counts is a big plus. Other machines must be sent back in for yearly maintenance but you can maintain the Accademia on a weekly (brew-group using Cafiza tablets) monthly (de-calcification using Durgol Universal) and have great tasting coffee through and through using ZeroWater filter (to save over replacement Mavia filters) for the best filtered water including removing most fluoride and all totally dissolved solids. The machined continues to produce pleasantly hot drinks, I believe due to proper programming and maintenance of the heating units with Durgol decalcifier on a monthly basis or as called for by the machine's display screen. Want hotter? Pre-warm your cup with hot tap water so it doesn't zap down the temperature on already hot water so quickly (use your head people!). I will also confirm that when using fresh beans, you get that real coffee "Crema" cup after cup if you drink it black. And when having any of the latte' drinks, it is better to use whole milk (not reduced fat) for creamy/frothy latte'. If you haven't already read by now, whole milk has more nutrients (in the milk fat) than the reduced fat milks sold today which benefits the producers more than you or your body. As noted in my first comment above, I got this machine at a great price on Christmas day and am so glad I got it. Sorry if now you want my figures about the savings over going to the coffee shop. I've since lost that paper but it was my justification for spending my hard earned money even while receiving a great price on Christmas, but I'm sure you could do the same yourself. If you don't get yours at such a great savings, it just means that your purchase will take a few more months before positive return than I had at the get-go. And the funny thing is that they just built a Starbucks drive-through just outside my building! For a holiday treat I purchased from New York Coffee, 1lb of ground Candy Cane flavored coffee to use in the pre-ground front hopper. I'm still psyched over my purchase nearly a year later and this great quality unit. The Gaggia Accademia is like a member of the family!

First of all, I must say I was VERY skeptical about paying this high of an amount of money for a machine. Secondly, I spent a week reading reviews and going back and forth between this Academia and the Delonghi Gran Dama ESAM6600. I won't go into details of the Delonghi, but I will say that a friend of mine has it and I spent nearly 2 weeks drinking coffee with her here and there and I have to say that I am glad I bought the Gaggia, it makes a way better cup of coffee and has a WAY better milk frothing system than the Delonghi. I can't comment on the maintenance comparissons since I dont own the Delonghi... The Gaggia Academia The Pros; Very simple and straightforward to use. Comes pre-programmed (to MEDIUM everything) so all you do is hit a button. You can easily change each coffee type settings in the nice lcd screen and adjust temperature, density, water amount, etc.. Milk container for frothing is super convenient, easy to use and stays sealed in the fridge to prevent spoiling. It also is far beyond the Gran Adamas, my friend actually doesnt use the Delonghi container because it sucks :) I have used starbucks and whole foods premium organic beans and I have no problems with either. My favorite so far is Starbucks Italian Dark Roast. The coffee this beauty makes is amazing, the cappuccinos are very good and the brewing process is not too loud. Machine turns on, rinses, primes and warms up FASTER than the Gran Adama and even my other friends Miele Built in cabinet(+$5000 machine) unit. Very flexible brewing options, once you understand what it does, it becomes your new best friend for coffee lovers like me! Maintenance elements are VERY basic. You have to empty the drip tray, grounds bin, prebrew tray and ocassionally shake off the brew-group (plastic mechanism inside) Machine is very well built, on the heavy side, sexy stainless and looks like the money it's worth The Cons; There isn't many cons but here a few VERY minor things I personally would like different: Coffee cup size = I am an IT guy and I have learned to drink coffee in GIGANTIC cups. This machine does have a "LONG COFFEE" button, but it will make an almost full regular cup of coffee (less than the 11oz size) and the regular coffee setting makes about half that. So if you plan on making TONS of LARGE coffee mugs, this machine is probably not going to work for you. Temperature = I did see some people complain about this. First, the machine is shipped with all the temps set to medium, so you have to set it to high. If you're like my dad and you like scalding hot coffee, this machine can do it fine for as long as you dont add creamer or make capuccinos. I personally like warm/hot coffee and sometimes i will feel that it is not as hot as I would like it to be after adding a generous amount of cold creamer. The cappuccinos come out just fine but cool quickly so dont expect it to be super hot after a little while. Maintenance = Eventhough it is very simple to maintain the machine, the fluids containers are somewhat small. I make about 10 coffees per day and I have to empty the thing on a daily basis. It doesn't bother me personally, but I do consider it a con for those who lack the will to do this frequently because the machine will stop you from making coffee if it gets full so I can see some impatient people get cranky. Bypass Chute = This is where you would put already ground coffee in example like when you need to brew a cup of decaf for someone and dont want to empty your beans. The bypass is VERY sensitive to the AMOUNT of ground coffee you dump in there. If you get it wrong, it will simply dump out the grounds into the bin and not brew anything and tell you something about pressure problems... Depending on the grind density, i suggest LESS than the scoop provided with the machine ========================== Overall, this thing is worth every penny. Make sure to not use tap water, set all the drink temps to HIGH/MAX and play around with each coffee button until you dial in the right amount of water, coffee and temperature. For espresso, I truly recommend Starbucks Dark Espresso Roast. For espresso and frequent regular coffee (my choice) I recommend Starbucks Dark Italian Roast. Don't be afraid, buy this over the Delonghi, I promise it is better. You will enjoy every cup and since only coffee nuts like me will pay nearly $3000 grand for a coffee maker, I bet you will run to the machine every moring when you wake up, just for another great cup of coffee... Also, if you hate manuals like me, I suggest you go on youtube and find videos, it was the best 10 minute crash course I took and it enabled me to handle the machine from the first time. Do keep the manual since it will occassionally display icons you won't understand and you can reference them in the manual. For me, almost 1 month so far and over 100 brews made (machine has a built in counter) and i am truly happy...

Loved the ease of use and quality of brew the Accademia provides for eight months. Then, it stopped working, The brew group became jammed inside the unit. A call to the customer support number provided yielded a link to a video on how to resolve this rather common issue. After reset involving a folded business card, it worked for another two days, again jamming. This time, the video provided reset procedure did not work. Another call to customer support yielded a request to send the almost 50 pound unit to the service center at my expense and include an additional $39 to defray costs for return shipping to me once the unit was repaired under warranty. The only difference between working and not working was the coffee bought from Amazon. I had been using coffee sent in a 2.2 pound bag. The 2.2 pouund bag was not available do to QC issues so I opted for the three 12oz bags of the same coffee. This is probably coincidental to my problem since bag size should make no difference. Anyway, Gaggia's warranty service is greatly lacking. I am not getting the unit fixed only to have it fail again out of warranty. Buyer beware of "hidden" costs.

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Best coffee machine I’ve ever bought.

Programming was not complicated and knowing all super auto coffee machines cannot heat milk beyond 120F, I just don't use as much milk in my cappuccino. Add an extra shot of espresso to the cappuccino make a perfect cup for me. Good to have the hot water and steam wand as an option too. I don't mind the frequent reminder to empty the water tray and the bin. I am used to do that with my previous semi-auto every time I made a cup.

great machine