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I always shied away from investing in an espresso machine because, well, they just seemed so complicated – and any time I saw one outside a professional coffee bar it was usually either with someone swearing about how difficult to work out it was, or as the subject of a cheap comedy shot in a television program. Having recently started to get a bit more adventurous with my coffee though I thought I’d take the plunge, and after a bit of research went with the Gaggia 90951 Platinum which has been a great decision.
I really can’t emphasize enough how easy to use the Gaggia 90951 Espresso Machine is. The settings are pretty simple for deciding the strength you’d like to go for but basically break down into deciding if you’d like the classic espresso, a more general coffee or a long coffee – which is kind of like an even bitterer version of the espresso but with more water in it. Especially in that first “ooh, shiny” phase of owning it I was playing around to see what weird and wonderful concoctions I could come up with, but I soon settled on a good basic espresso that I could then flavor with syrups and then as much milk and water as I can froth up. The Gaggia Platinum Vision seems able to cope with pretty much anything that I’ve been able to throw at it.
I was a little worried about the cup sizes – was I going to have to constantly swap out the smaller cups and transfer their contents to bigger ones? I was pleasantly surprised to notice that the machine has a movable tray – just flick the switch to raise or lower it – so it can cope with larger cup sizes without needing to hook them awkwardly at an angle under the spouts. The water also comes out at a good pressure too, and the machine has a water purifier built in, which is handy as I live in a hard water area.
The frothing wand is nice and simple to use, and really flexible – I know that doesn’t sound like much to rave about, but when you’ve a narrow counter like I do, it makes all the difference. In addition the milk bar has so far been a great little addition. As long as you don’t overfill it (and its clearly marked) and you keep it fresh, then it saves on diving across the room for refills. One of the features I enjoy about this espresso machine is that along with it being pretty good at reminding you when you need to refill hoppers or run maintenance, it’s a good sturdy construction. There’s no give in the glass on the touch screen, no leaks and as an added bonus it’s also not particularly noisy – even when the grinder is working its magic.
The Gaggia 90951 Platinum Vision Automatic Espresso Machine with Milk Island really is that simple to use once it’s all set up. You’ll need to run it through a few times at first to burn off all the protective manufacturing oils but after that it runs sweet as anything. It’s a great little workhorse of a machine.
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