The Breville Barista Express is the most convenient Espresso machine to use on the market, period. But the thing that separates the Gaggia from this Breville is its ease of use and convenience The Gaggia Classic is a machine with a 58-millimeter portafilter, a machine with commercial-grade parts. I think this is a great machine to compare against something like the G What Other Machines Would This Compare Against? All in all, this is a great machine for the price level. It’s got a removable water tank, which I find very handy as a pressure gauge to let you know if your coffee is dialed in. It can do other things like steam milk it can do things like brew grade Espresso, it’s got volumetric buttons that you can program it comes with the portafilter it’s got both pressurized non-pressurized baskets and a drip tray that lets you know when it’s full. So I think if you’re in the market to buy an entry-level Espresso machine, this might be the best option for you. It was the machine that got me into Espresso. It’s not the most heavy-duty machine ever built, but this is a great option if you’re getting into Espresso. It uses cheap plastics coated with stainless steel externals. Of course, at $700, it’s still a lot of money, but it still is an entry-level appliance machine.Ģ. That was one of the biggest reasons I left this machine and upgraded to a commercial machine. It’s just unfortunate that that wasn’t a bigger portal filter. Now that being said, since I have purchased my Breville Barista Express, some awesome companies have been building some great accessories. Not many other Espresso machines use this size of the portafilter, and that’s unfortunate because what that means is accessories tampers and, quite honestly, brew recipes don’t work the same with this machine. The portafilter is a 54 millimeter portafilter. If this had a commercial size portafilter, more people would be satisfied with purchasing this machine and not upgrading. And this is the most unfortunate part for me because I’ve been talking to friends who still use this machine, people who are very into coffee, and this portafilter is what separates this machine from being good to great. What I don’t love about this machine is that it has a 54-millimeter portafilter. So if you want to gift somebody an Espresso machine, or you want to receive an Espresso machine and don’t want to have to invest too much into a grinder and a machine, this machine is awesome for that. That being said, this is a great package.
Ultimately what that means for you is this machine can heat up in a matter of seconds and brew Espresso on-demand, and for the average consumer, that’s desirable. Instead, it has a block that water runs through that heats up on the fly. What does that mean? Simply, this machine doesn’t have a kettle, a boiler to heat up the water.