The Gaggia Brera Super-Automatic Espresso Machine is an embodiment of the saying “good things are delivered in small packages.” The compact and ergonomic design of the Brera along with its autonomous behavior produces a stellar coffee experience. Its appealing visual nature compliments your kitchen’s décor completely. Equipped with an integrated bean-grinder and a range of options to select the taste of your desired brew, the Gaggia Brera might not be the best-in-its-class coffee machine available in terms of functionality but it sure is more user-friendly than others.
Featuring a Panarello steam wand for efficient steam frothing makes the Gaggia Brera a top choice if you prefer your espresso with a dash of milk and sugar. Its innards are predominantly built of plastic but with a manufacturer’s warranty of 2-years and easy cleaning measures, you won’t be needing to go to the service center anytime soon after buying this product.
Key Features
- The Brera offers pretty straight forward user control settings, thus simplifying the entire brewing process. Its front panel sports different knobs and buttons to change grind settings and flavor.
- Its stand-by mode helps conserve energy whilst keeping the machine active for use.
- It comes with detachable plastic parts that can be removed easily for regular cleaning and maintenance.
- The Gaggia Brera flushes the inner system before each brew session. This eliminates any leftover shot in the pipeline to offer only fresh coffee.
- Features of the Gaggia Brera Super-Automatic Espresso Machine
- Benefits of having the Gaggia Brera Super-Automatic Espresso Machine
- Comparison between Gaggia Brera Super-Automatic and DeLonghi ESAM3300
- Why Gaggia Brera Espresso Machine is compatible for home use?
- User opinion about Gaggia Brera Automatic Espresso Machine
- My Experience with Gaggia Brera Espresso Machine
- Conclusion
Features of the Gaggia Brera Super-Automatic Espresso Machine
Pre-Infusion
The Gaggia Brera features a pre-infusion brew function that distributes water evenly through the beans causing them to expand before the process of brewing begins. This facilitates optimal flavor extraction when the 15-bar pressure pump is called into action.
Grind Quality
The Brera comes with an in-house bean hopper and ceramic grinder based on the top of the machine. A control dial enables you to select the grind size from coarse to extremely fine for your brew. This eliminates the struggle of grinding beans externally and then feeding them to the espresso maker.
Opti-Dose
The Brera’s Opti-Dose functionality helps you select the aroma of your coffee. It also provides you with a choice to select the strength of your espresso; light, medium or strong. This flexibility in manually controlling the aroma and taste of your beverage is made possible by an interactive and user-friendly control panel on the front of the machine.
The Gaggia Brera does so without any constraints on the degree of roast of the beans.
Mavea Filtration System
Brera’s 1.2 litre water tank is fitted with Gaggia’s trademark four-stage filter system that keeps impurities from entering the brewing machinery. It prevents the scaling of the internal boiler which in turn, does not let impurities affect the taste of the brew.
The Brera is nonetheless provided with plastic interiors that can be detached easily to clean the scaling and free the system from any impurities.
By-Pass
The Gaggia Brera comes with a doser that can be used to by-pass the beginning of the brewing process like grinding of fresh beans. It comes with an independent slot for using pre-ground coffee beans to brew flavored espressos or lattes.
Gaggia’s adaptation system regulates grinder RPM to yield best consistency to the ground puck.
Benefits of having the Gaggia Brera Super-Automatic Espresso Machine
Rapid Steam
The Gaggia Brera sports a metal-coated Pannarello wand governed by Gaggia’s patented Rapid Steam technological marvel. This feature enables you to steam milk and generate a rich, consistent foam in your milk. Its superior froth is perfect for making espressos with a dash of cream, lattes and even Americanos.
Energy Conservation
The Brera switches to a stand-by mode if left inactive for over an hour’s time. Besides being active for use at any moment, this feature also helps you cut out on your wasteful electricity expenses.
Effective Grinding
This machine’s ceramic grinder is powered by a 1400W motor that gives you efficient bean-grinding. Its adaptive control system governs the motor’s revolutions per minute to yield a grind of your stated choice; coarse or finely ground. This offers you with tremendous consistency in your ground for effective brewing.
Want to try decaf or a friend’s specialty? No problem. The Brera houses an individual slot for feeding pre-ground coffee without any compromise on the freshness of the brew.
Comparison between Gaggia Brera Super-Automatic and DeLonghi ESAM3300
The standout variance between the Brera and ESAM3300 is the bean grinder mechanism. While the former uses a ceramic grinder that controls its speed according to Gaggia’s signature adjustable system, the DeLonghi espresso machine makes use of a professional-grade conical burred grinder with manual control over grinding factors yielding an adjustable system for desired espresso consistency. Both machines possess a by-pass and ability to set programmed brew settings.
DeLonghi’s trademark ‘Cappuccino System’ produces a thicker and creamier froth. Though the Brera’s steam wand is rather sub-standard, its pre-brew infusion features extract more flavor from the coffee beans. Both machines sport a user-friendly control dashboard with knobs and dials to control the brew settings, but the Brera also offers an LCD display to indicate shot times, descaling cycle procedures and the quantity of espresso selected.
Why Gaggia Brera Espresso Machine is compatible for home use?
The Brera’s super-automatic nature gives you the power to choose amongst three strengths for your brew; mild, light and strong. It comes with a built-in bean grinder that ensures you get a fresh ground before a brew session and an independent slot for extracting coffee from an externally ground puck. This also gives the freedom to choose different variants like decaf, café lungo or macchiatos.
The Brera’s compact design occupies very little space on your kitchen counter. With an ergonomic approach, the Brera is easier to clean and maintain for a lasting life. Compared to most coffee makers, the Super-Automatic Brera consumes much less electricity and is energy efficient. When inactive, it switches to a standby mode to save power. Its easy user-interface gets you on board with a satisfying coffee experience even if you’re not a coffee geek.
User opinion about Gaggia Brera Automatic Espresso Machine
Most users online were initially sceptical of the plastic-make of this machine but after a year of usage were quite pleasantly surprised regarding the Brera’s durability. Complaints about the paint peeling off of the device’s Pannarello wand had some users fuming, but that did not affect the taste of the brew. Users found the descaling cycle deft in nature since it would just flush out the remains from the system without much of a mess. Many found the water tank capacity to be enough for a day’s coffee. Overall, users believe the Brera Gaggia espresso machine is super value for money and its compact design helps to save on kitchen counter space.
My Experience with Gaggia Brera Espresso Machine
Personally, I’m not someone adept with the science and art of barista-styled espresso-making. That being said, the Gaggia Brera Super-Automatic Machine provided me with enough options to satiate my longing for a fresh cuppa’ joe in the morning. Living up to its characteristics, its super-automatic features gave me the power to choose the strength of my drink irrespective of the quality of my coffee beans. I drink 3-4 cups every day and the Brera’s stand-by feature made sure I conserve on electric power while still keeping the machine active.
I’m not much of a sucker for good looks as I’m for good performance. The plastic innards won my favor since they’re easy to clean and maintain and also light in weight. All in all, with a modest price-tag I’m more than happy I chose the Brera for my daily domestic use.
Conclusion
With a positive price difference of around $100 against its closest competitor in the market, the Gaggia Brera Super-Automatic Espresso Machine offers stellar performance given its modest price-tag of $409. Like its name suggests, its super-automatic characteristics produce some exceptional coffee while giving you the freedom of choosing your own coffee beans or a puck of external ground. It gives you the option of preparing a list of beverages like espressos, macchiatos and lattes. Its sleek steam and froth generator extend a creamier touch to your milk for an enhanced coffee experience.
Though not the best in its class in the industry, it promises to deliver what you pay for and that is pretty much the best value-for-money performance there is. With its drawbacks in the form of a small water tank and plastic innards, its pocket-friendly price coupled with a compact, light and domestic design make up for all its limitations.