Good Coffee but Drippy, Noisy and Reservoir Design Problem
Written: Oct 20 '04 (Updated Nov 20 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good coffee. Same internals as more expensive Gaggia's.
Cons: Too loud and too messy.
The Bottom Line: If you need to spend the bottom dollar on a well performing machine - this is a good choice - otherwise spend a little more to avoid the annoyances.
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| djsepinions's Full Review: Gaggia Carezza Espresso Machine |
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When I make a purchase, epinions is one of my most valuable resources for non-biased experiences and information. When I come here to research a product I read all of the reviews and the product specifications and details on other sites as well. You will find that my reviews try to focus on my personal experiences and research discoveries that I think are not easy to discover through pre-purchase research. This means that my review will not spend a lot of time on basic specifications, procedures or stock commentary that you can read in other places.
Update: 11/9/04 I have returned this model and have purchased the Rancilio Silvia instead. You can read my review here: http://www.epinions.com/content_162140098180 Warning: the Rancilio Silvia is a whole different class of machine in the $500 range - and it shows in the excellent expresso it makes!
Links for this Item
You can find excellent technical details, a comparison utility and a review at http://www.wholelattelove.com/reviews.cfm?ItemID=57
This little machine makes a good cup of coffee but I find it messy (drippy) and noisy. It is very noisy when it starts pumping for the expresso and makes quite a loud noise when simply heating for steam. Since I like to make a cup before the kids wake, this is a liability.
There are, believe it or not, three places for this machine to drip from. It continues to drip when you make a cup of coffee, but the steam nozzle also drips just shortly after taking it out from under the milk - it seems to wait just long enough until you have totally removed the milk container. Finally, it has an unusual water reservoir that pulls out sideways. It has two rubber hoses that extend into the reservoir - this of course leads to dripping when adding water. It also makes it difficult to completely fill the reservoir because you have to tip it and manipulate the rubber hoses to get it into place. In addition, the top fill funnel is very small and very high if you have this unit under kitchen cabinets.
One final personal thing is that on my old Krupps machine I stored all the parts on top of the machine on the cup warmer - since this unit does not have a cup warmer I have to find somewhere else.
Recommended:
No
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djsepinions
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Reviews written: 36
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