Recommend a Coffee Maker - max £200

[markoc]

I'm in the market for a coffee maker, with a max budget of £200. Have been looking at ones that take grounds with a built in steamer nozzle - but getting quite tempted by the nespresso ones, which look quite good.

Have seen a mini Gaggia in my budget but not sure how much I'll be paying for the name...

Anyone got any recommendations, or points of view on capsules v ground coffee?

[missdiane]

I'd go for Gaggia

Had mine 2 years now, no problems whatsoever, until recently used several times daily.
You can get the pods to go in them if you don't want the mess that goes with it, Tescos Finest pods cost 18p each and produce a fairly good coffee

Edited by missdiane on Sunday 12th April 11:45

[threesixty]

we had a conventional dualit coffee machine for a few years, mainly it gathered dust, getting used about once a week if it was lucky.

Brought one of these http://www.johnlewis.com/230563578/Product.aspx about a month ago and its already seen more usage than the dualit ever did.

Its pretty much idiot proof, makes no mess and anything that does get messy can be chucked in the dishwasher. The coffees pretty good, plenty of types to choose from. The milk frother works and will make an acceptable latte but its nothing special, pretty sure you can get nespresso type machines with a steam pipe though.

Nespresso pods average out about 25p, my only complaint with the whole thing is that if nespresso didn't go quite so over board with stupid display cases, poncey daft literature to accompany everything etc then the coffee would probably be a fair bit cheaper!

[Brown and Boris]

missdiane said:

I'd go for Gaggia

Had mine 2 years now, no problems whatsoever, until recently used several times daily.
You can get the pods to go in them if you don't want the mess that goes with it, Tescos Finest pods cost 18p each and produce a fairly good coffee

Edited by missdiane on Sunday 12th April 11:45

Another Gaggia vote. Frienmds had the baby gagia about 14 years before it gave up the gohost. I have had mine about 3 years. I bought it from the Gaggia web site where they sell ex-demo and reconsitioned machines. You get a 12 month rather than a 24 month warranty as i recall.

House of Fraser do some excelent ex-demo prices too (sometimes 50% off). I have a syncrony compact bean to cup machine and although it isn't as pretty as the stainless steel versions it certainly knocks out a good cup of coffee without the need to grind or tamp yourself.

Editted to add that the Gagia site have some recon machines on there at a good discount at the moment, many under £200. Google to get to the site then chose Shopping and then Recon.

Edited by Brown and Boris on Monday 13th April 21:24

[mechsympathy]

or



IMO. And one of these if you really need froth:

[sleep envy]

used a Bialetti for years until mrs envy bought me a baby gaggia - the difference is immense

getting the grind right is a black art though

[jamiebae]

I have a Gaggia, and a Nespresso machine, the Gaggia lives in France and the Nespresso is in my kitchen in Oxford. I had the Gaggia here to start with but it's such a pain to fill with water, clean etc etc that I eventually bought a Nespresso for the ease of use factor - it's much quicker and easier to make an early morning cup of coffee. The Gaggia makes better coffee as long as the stuff you're using is fresh, but with Nespresso the coffee is 90% as good but requires far less effort, plus the capsules last ages, but ground coffee is off within a week or 2.

You pays your money really, I wouldn't swap mine over, when I'm here time and ease of use are paramount, but in France I have the time to make proper coffee and if it takes me 10 minutes to make my morning cup of coffee so be it.