I’ve bought one of these machines and I personally think they are great. Looks premium, great coffee and easy to use. Plus Gaggia customer service is top notch.
Hi. Have you discovered the source of the random leaks? I bought a manual machine and didn’t like the prep and cleanup. Brera seems much more hands free.
am looking for a good coffee machine that makes delicious coffee and is also reliable. Should I choose this or something else? This is the maximum price I will pay for it. Or philips saeco, or krups, delonghit are they worse?
Hi Kev, Lovely video! We have been looking at this, and also got recommended the DeLonghi Dinamica Plus - which is a total different machine, but got more possibilites. Do you believe that the Gaggia gives a similar or maybe even better espresso or Lungo? Cappuccino and Latte should then be better with this one I guess. What would you prefer? Best, Mikkel
I understand that the beans strength button is from 7-10.5 grams. Is this considered a single shot? I have experience with La Marzocco machine for commercial use which uses average 19 grams for a double or 1.5 oz espresso. Can you help clear this up?
The steam wand nozzles many automatics have are not like a wands on commercial machines. A barista is trained to use a steam wand to create smooth micro foam which is necessary for the artful lattes and flat whites you get in coffee houses. These home units are made so layman can get decent results with no training. The wands come with chunky nozzles with air intake holes so all you have to do is submerge it in the milk and turn it on to produce thick foam. A cappuccino traditionally has thick foam so these wands are prefect but lattes and flat whites need smoother more textuered milk. These home user styles wands do not let you swirl the milk and create smooth microfoam so your best is to remove the nozzle and attempt to use the bare wand in the same way you would use the wand on a commercial machine.
I have to say that the Brera is great, but there are loads of machines out there, please see my blog post on the best bean to cup machines: coffeeblog.co.uk/best-bean-to-cup-coffee-machines/ Ta Kev
Hi, what's the resulting drink temperature like with these processes? I had a similar machine but got rid of it due to luke warm drinks after all the time making. On a side note, and this is probably more about me, I can see the wand being on the left causing some swearing because of where I'd have to position it . Though if it's good strong hot coffee, I'll live with it!
Hi, The Anima has a bigger water tank and is easier t fill via the top rather than the side, You can also top up the tank whilst pouring a shot which is helpful if the water is about to run out. The Brera has 3 strength setting while the Anima has 5, and with the Anima you can also input the water hardness so it knows how many shots it will take until you need to descale your machine. Cheers Kev
I bought this machine and I think it's defective, but want to check with you and see if any of you have this experience. Basically, 2 things happen. 1. When I remove the side panel, there is ground coffee everywhere and the drip tray at the front seems to fill on its own (assuming a leak) without the machine operating. It's under warranty so I sent it back to the store for repairs but the technician said this is normal. Doesn't seem normal to me and it certainly doesn't say anything like that in the manual.
I like watching your reviews, they are always good with the odd one liner thrown in for good luck, but the last couple have been like watching in Dark mode, come on fella put some lights on.👍😎🇬🇧
Thank you for this review our Brera arrived yesterday and it’s fab but….. I have replaced my tassimo with the Brera because I thought it would be more cost effective and environmentally friendly to move away from plastic pods…. I love the costa coffee capsules so had assumed that using the costa coffee beans in the Brera would produce the same tasting cup of coffee (Americano) but alas, it tastes like dishwater!! The flavour is completely different! I don’t know why (I have it on the strongest setting etc) but the actual flavour is different. Does anyone know why or can recommend some beans to use which will give me the same flavour as the capsules? It’s going to be costly and wasteful to have to buy tonnes of different beans to find which ones are similar 😩 Thank you!
I'm no expert but from my experience, we're too used to drinking over-roasted coffee. Aka starbucks style coffee. Where the beans are roasted until it is almost burnt and you end up with really strong and bitter coffee. That's the taste of coffee we've got used to, for better or for worse. Moving from that to a milder roast is a huge leap and is something our taste buds have to get used to. Where the coffee is not very bitter and has more subtle aroma and taste of coffee and chocolate and berries. So in short, I am not surprised. I will say that you should try using a few different roasts - try a dark roast and a medium or blonde roast. Make sure the beans were roasted a couple of weeks ago and not older. Most roasteries including the big name ones like Starbucks choose to NOT disclose when they roasted the beans and instead will only have a "best by" date.
@@arunramachandran5012 thank you very much for your reply that is very informative! You were right too! I tried a few different beans and found a flavour I didn’t mind and even though milder to taste compared to the previous costa pods my tastebuds have adapted and now I really like it!
After watching several videos, I also bought this coffee maker mainly for its small size. After a year of use i have to say. The water container is small and needs to add water very often. The coffee is ground coarsely no matter how fine adjust the grinder. The ground coffee is coarse as sand. So the coffee comes out watery. If you use pre-ground coffee the result is perfect thick creamy coffee. There is a constant leak of water from the bottom tray even if is empty. It spills ground coffee out of the brew unit so need cleaning very often. I am disappointed so i am definitely not recommend it.
Hi Nick, In my opinion the Brera is one of the best Entry Level machines because: Build quality. Dose settings, make it very simple to determine the dose of coffee in grams. Double shot is a true double shot made with double the volume of ground coffee. Cheers Kev
Audios really good on this video. Videos a little dark still and I'd maybe widen the shot slightly, some of the cards covered your face. :) But it's all looking very professional bud!!!
This thing is a leaky disaster. It leaked from day 1 and still leaks to this day. I even brought it in to have it "fixed" under warranty where it stopped leaking for about a week. I'm done with it. I'm moving on to something from Breville or DeLonghi.
@@Coffee_Kev I've also contacted Gaggia north America and they weren't helpful at all. So now instead of repair, I'll put those funds towards some other brand like Breville or DeLonghi.
I would not recommend this machine. I had the older generation of this and it operated flawlessly. Gaggia needs to update the firmware on the grinder sensor as this is a know problem. There are magnets and a sensor located in the grinder which monitors the RPM’s. When you run out of beans, you hear the grinder speed up and get the warning to fill the beans, if it slow down ever so slightly, it will reject the coffee puck and will not brew. I done everything that they recommend including recalibrated the grinder, cleaning it, changing grind settings, having the coffee maker relearn the algorithm by brewing over 25 cups of coffee, using the recommended beans, and the problem still exist in which 30% of the time it will reject the coffee grinds which is wasteful. The solutions provided by the coffee shop that I bought it from and the manufacturer are not fixing the issues. I have three other friends with the same maker after I recommended it (when I owned the previous generation) experiencing the same issue. Hopefully you have better luck that I have.
Annoying machine. Keeps running the clean-up cycle every time. And since the water tank is quite small you’ll have to refill the tank very often. Coffee quality also lower than expected.
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Just got one and wow, what an incredible machine. The ☕from the Brera is simply awesome! Great review and love your perspectives!
Thanks for your very kind words!
May I ask your settings? And what coffee do you use, brand, roast etc
I’ve bought one of these machines and I personally think they are great. Looks premium, great coffee and easy to use. Plus Gaggia customer service is top notch.
They are great machines, and you are right about Gaggia customer service, it is fantastic!
Had this machine for about 5 years. It’s still in use multiple cups a day. Water tank is small and Prone to random leaks but overall a great machine.
It is a great machine :-)
Hi. Have you discovered the source of the random leaks? I bought a manual machine and didn’t like the prep and cleanup. Brera seems much more hands free.
Hi,
between gaggia accademia, cadorna and miele cm 5500 series, which one makes better coffee and espresso.
am looking for a good coffee machine that makes delicious coffee and is also reliable. Should I choose this or something else? This is the maximum price I will pay for it. Or philips saeco, or krups, delonghit are they worse?
Hi Kev, Lovely video! We have been looking at this, and also got recommended the DeLonghi Dinamica Plus - which is a total different machine, but got more possibilites. Do you believe that the Gaggia gives a similar or maybe even better espresso or Lungo? Cappuccino and Latte should then be better with this one I guess. What would you prefer?
Best,
Mikkel
Great review. Is this better than the Smeg espresso machine...
Such a great review! A video that shows making an americano as well instead of just an espresso & a cappuccino..
Thanks :-)
Do you use 1:2 ratio for the espresso? I have the same machine but I can't a decent coffee out of it
Was it an accessory that was used for frothing the milk when making the flat white or something you did with the original wand?
I understand that the beans strength button is from 7-10.5 grams. Is this considered a single shot? I have experience with La Marzocco machine for commercial use which uses average 19 grams for a double or 1.5 oz espresso. Can you help clear this up?
Is it a 15 bar machine like the gaggia classic ? If so, is the 9 bar upgrade possible
should I buy for £100 and 4 years old. Fully tested?
I bought the Berra yestaday Watchin your excellent awesome video the machine can’t get here soon enough!!!!,
How do you like your machine? I’m thinking about buying this one
Which other brands offers two real shots that are good up to 400 500 pounds? Thanks
Been offered one for about £180 do you think there worth that second hand thanks
Quick question why does the steam wand need taken off for the flat white and not the cappuccino?
The steam wand nozzles many automatics have are not like a wands on commercial machines. A barista is trained to use a steam wand to create smooth micro foam which is necessary for the artful lattes and flat whites you get in coffee houses.
These home units are made so layman can get decent results with no training. The wands come with chunky nozzles with air intake holes so all you have to do is submerge it in the milk and turn it on to produce thick foam.
A cappuccino traditionally has thick foam so these wands are prefect but lattes and flat whites need smoother more textuered milk. These home user styles wands do not let you swirl the milk and create smooth microfoam so your best is to remove the nozzle and attempt to use the bare wand in the same way you would use the wand on a commercial machine.
If you had to pick your favorite bean to cup under 500, which one would you pick?
I have to say that the Brera is great, but there are loads of machines out there, please see my blog post on the best bean to cup machines:
coffeeblog.co.uk/best-bean-to-cup-coffee-machines/
Ta
Kev
Hi, what's the resulting drink temperature like with these processes? I had a similar machine but got rid of it due to luke warm drinks after all the time making. On a side note, and this is probably more about me, I can see the wand being on the left causing some swearing because of where I'd have to position it . Though if it's good strong hot coffee, I'll live with it!
Would you compare the Brera with the Anima. Thank you.
Hi, The Anima has a bigger water tank and is easier t fill via the top rather than the side, You can also top up the tank whilst pouring a shot which is helpful if the water is about to run out.
The Brera has 3 strength setting while the Anima has 5, and with the Anima you can also input the water hardness so it knows how many shots it will take until you need to descale your machine.
Cheers
Kev
How hot is the hot water????
I bought this machine and I think it's defective, but want to check with you and see if any of you have this experience. Basically, 2 things happen. 1. When I remove the side panel, there is ground coffee everywhere and the drip tray at the front seems to fill on its own (assuming a leak) without the machine operating. It's under warranty so I sent it back to the store for repairs but the technician said this is normal. Doesn't seem normal to me and it certainly doesn't say anything like that in the manual.
Got my Maxine yesterday. The espresso is not thick enough. It is a bit watery and the machine use a lot of water. For cleansing.
I like watching your reviews, they are always good with the odd one liner thrown in for good luck, but the last couple have been like watching in Dark mode, come on fella put some lights on.👍😎🇬🇧
I forgot to put the 50p in the meter ;-)
Thank you for this review our Brera arrived yesterday and it’s fab but…..
I have replaced my tassimo with the Brera because I thought it would be more cost effective and environmentally friendly to move away from plastic pods…. I love the costa coffee capsules so had assumed that using the costa coffee beans in the Brera would produce the same tasting cup of coffee (Americano) but alas, it tastes like dishwater!! The flavour is completely different! I don’t know why (I have it on the strongest setting etc) but the actual flavour is different. Does anyone know why or can recommend some beans to use which will give me the same flavour as the capsules? It’s going to be costly and wasteful to have to buy tonnes of different beans to find which ones are similar 😩
Thank you!
I'm no expert but from my experience, we're too used to drinking over-roasted coffee. Aka starbucks style coffee. Where the beans are roasted until it is almost burnt and you end up with really strong and bitter coffee. That's the taste of coffee we've got used to, for better or for worse. Moving from that to a milder roast is a huge leap and is something our taste buds have to get used to. Where the coffee is not very bitter and has more subtle aroma and taste of coffee and chocolate and berries. So in short, I am not surprised. I will say that you should try using a few different roasts - try a dark roast and a medium or blonde roast. Make sure the beans were roasted a couple of weeks ago and not older. Most roasteries including the big name ones like Starbucks choose to NOT disclose when they roasted the beans and instead will only have a "best by" date.
@@arunramachandran5012 thank you very much for your reply that is very informative! You were right too! I tried a few different beans and found a flavour I didn’t mind and even though milder to taste compared to the previous costa pods my tastebuds have adapted and now I really like it!
Love the thumbnail 😂🤣
haha, ta
After watching several videos, I also bought this coffee maker mainly for its small size.
After a year of use i have to say.
The water container is small and needs to add water very often.
The coffee is ground coarsely no matter how fine adjust the grinder.
The ground coffee is coarse as sand.
So the coffee comes out watery.
If you use pre-ground coffee the result is perfect thick creamy coffee.
There is a constant leak of water from the bottom tray even if is empty.
It spills ground coffee out of the brew unit so need cleaning very often.
I am disappointed so i am definitely not recommend it.
Great vid!
Would you pick this over any other entry level bean to cup
Hi Nick,
In my opinion the Brera is one of the best Entry Level machines because:
Build quality.
Dose settings, make it very simple to determine the dose of coffee in grams.
Double shot is a true double shot made with double the volume of ground coffee.
Cheers
Kev
@@Coffee_Kev thanks Kev I'll have a look online see how much they are selling for
Audios really good on this video.
Videos a little dark still and I'd maybe widen the shot slightly, some of the cards covered your face. :)
But it's all looking very professional bud!!!
Thanks Dave, yeah we're still working on the lighting improvements.
Why is there a loud thumping sound when you use the frother?
Turn big light on 🫢
this machine is basically the same machine as Philips Seoco "Synthia" with different name and cosmetic finished .
Hi, Yes, this looks similar, as you probably know Philips owns Gaggia, I would assume this was based on the Brera but is now discontinued. Cheers
Kev
This thing is a leaky disaster. It leaked from day 1 and still leaks to this day. I even brought it in to have it "fixed" under warranty where it stopped leaking for about a week. I'm done with it. I'm moving on to something from Breville or DeLonghi.
That's really unusual for a Gaggia machine, have you spoke to Gaggia Direct, They are really helpful.
Cheers
Kev
@@Coffee_Kev It's actually not that unusual. Do a search for "gaggia brera leak" and see what comes up.
@@Coffee_Kev I've also contacted Gaggia north America and they weren't helpful at all. So now instead of repair, I'll put those funds towards some other brand like Breville or DeLonghi.
I would not recommend this machine. I had the older generation of this and it operated flawlessly. Gaggia needs to update the firmware on the grinder sensor as this is a know problem. There are magnets and a sensor located in the grinder which monitors the RPM’s. When you run out of beans, you hear the grinder speed up and get the warning to fill the beans, if it slow down ever so slightly, it will reject the coffee puck and will not brew. I done everything that they recommend including recalibrated the grinder, cleaning it, changing grind settings, having the coffee maker relearn the algorithm by brewing over 25 cups of coffee, using the recommended beans, and the problem still exist in which 30% of the time it will reject the coffee grinds which is wasteful. The solutions provided by the coffee shop that I bought it from and the manufacturer are not fixing the issues. I have three other friends with the same maker after I recommended it (when I owned the previous generation) experiencing the same issue. Hopefully you have better luck that I have.
You haven't shown where the milk is loaded.
Poor lighting for the video 😢
All the youtube reveiws are so positiv but this machine is getting 1 stars on reveiw sites. Multiple issues.
See my comments. The older generation of this machine was great, new one not so much
Annoying machine. Keeps running the clean-up cycle every time. And since the water tank is quite small you’ll have to refill the tank very often. Coffee quality also lower than expected.
Hi Bobby,
I would get hold of Gaggia, they may be able to help you with the cleaning cycle problems.
Cheers
Kev
Too dark