Gaggia Gran Prestige review

From the outside, the Gaggia Gran Prestige looks like the company’s old Baby machine, only a little bit smaller. On closer inspection you realise that it’s the same machine as the Saeco Poemia, a result of that company buying Gaggia.

While they may have the same components, the Gaggia Gran Prestige is the better coffee machine made of the two. While the Poemia is made of plastic, the Gran Prestige is encased in metal, while the plastic dial has been replaced with three simple push-buttons. It’s much nicer looking, although it’s a toss-up if the better build quality is worth almost £40 more.

Inside, you get the same neat features. Lift off the back section and you get access to the 1L water tank, which you can fill in place or simply remove using its handle. There’s also space for the measuring spoon and spare filter (the Gran Prestige comes with filters for ground coffee and ESE espresso pods).

Operation of the machine is easy. Just hit the power button on the front to turn it on and have it warm up to operating temperature. When it’s ready a light turns on. While the machine is warming up, you can use the warmer on top to heat your cups before you pour an espresso.

The manual doesn’t say to tamp the coffee, but we found we got the best results by tamping using the flat bottom of the measuring cup. The group handle has a pressurised diaphragm, which is designed to help produce better crema. The design is a little strange, as the handle is slightly sprung, so it moves to the left when you let go of it. That makes it hard to line up the spouts if you want to make two cups.

There’s just 75mm of clearance underneath the group handle, so we couldn’t fit our regular test mug under. You’ll need to buy some smaller mugs or espresso cups and decant the coffee into a large mug if you want to make longer drinks, such as an Americano.

There’s plenty of crema, but it’s a little on the foamy side

When you’re ready to pour, you just hit the hot water button to engage the pump. The crema device certainly does its jobs, creating a thick foamy layer on top of the espresso. On close inspection it’s a little bit too white and a bit too foamy, lacking the reddish-brown colour and smooth, oily top that espresso should have.

We measured the coffee at 55˚C, which means that it is drinkable immediately. Taste isn’t too bad, although we found that the coffee was very smooth, lacking some of the bitterness that a good shot of espresso should have. We can imagine that many people would prefer this flavour, but we like that hint of bitterness.

We also used the steamer wand to make a latte. There’s a button to heat the single boiler up to the right temperature, then you can use the tap to control the flow of steam. The wand is a good size, so you can reach to the bottom of most jugs and control how much foam you get.

Tightly packed foam is just want we want to see

We were pleased with our results, pouring a nice latte with a tightly-packed foam top. In terms of milk frothing this is about as good as it gets. As well as milk you can use the wand to dispense hot water, but turning the hot water pump on and using the tap. The machine doesn’t vent steam to cool it down between steam and water modes, so be careful to do this manually if you want to make another shot of espresso and avoid burnt coffee.

The coffee from this machine is pretty good and it looks great, but the Philips Saeco Poemia produces identical results for less. We’d rather save the money and buy that machine, but if you want a more attractive machine this is the one to buy out of the two. If you want the best results from a manual machine, go for the De’Longhi Scultura instead, which is only around £50 more.