Gaggia Carezza Deluxe Manual Espresso Coffee Machine and Cappuccino Maker - Black/Grey

Choosing this was a bit of a leap of faith, as it's a new product (late 2012, early 2013 I believe) and there aren't many reviews out there yet. There's a not-very-complimentary 'first look' on Which, that I disagree with now I've had it for a while. Among the criticisms were that the temperature gauge is not much use, and it's 'messy' and 'slow' to use. I'll try to refute these points. A few negative points: The machine is operated by push buttons which respond a bit sluggishly - certainly compared to switch-operated models I have used before. You get used to holding the button long enough for it to register. The machine won't operate if it is flashing an error, and - this could be that it is out of water, has been refilled after running on empty, or been out of use for a few days and needs to be 'primed'. That means leaving it on the coffee setting and shooting a jet of water into a cup from the steam nozzle until the error light goes out. Sometimes you have to turn the steam nozzle right off and on again before you get a jet. This was covered in the manual, so was expected. I've found the rubber insert for the single shot makes it sit a little high, and I've found it hard to get a good seal making singles. Positives: I liked the idea of a descale warning - I never descaled my old machine, which probably killed it - if it reminds me I might do it. The doser works best when filled and only gently tamped, or not tamped much at all - when you attach the handle this presses about a centimeter into the doser, and somewhat tamps it. So it shouldn't be messy to use, because you don't fill right to the brim, as on some. The temp gauge means you know for sure the machine is ready to make coffee (cooler) or froth milk (hotter), but the buttons won't work until the machine feels it's ready, anyway. If you want to go back to 'coffee temperature' from 'milk temperature', this being a single boiler, you can shoot a jet of water (as above) till the temperature comes down. The handle is sprung to prevent you forcing it, or at least reduce your force. The drips fall neatly into holes in the drip tray - no splatter! Coffee so far has been good - lots of crema, though rather 'bubbly' crema - I may need to tamp just a little more. Milk frothing has occasionally been brilliant, but sometimes I get it wrong - this is a skill. You have to stop before you hear a low-pitched growl and the milk overheats. Looks good. Front loading water means little cause to move it around. Very pleased.

Great machine, delivers nice coffee, looks good, sturdy. The water tank is easy to fill being front loaded. Not as noisy as my previous gaggia cubika. The porta filter is easy to insert and load. The milk frother is very good. The drip tray is efficient. It is quick to heat up. It is easy to clean. All in all I am very pleased with the machine. Mine was shipped from Italy and only had a continental plug but my old cubika fitted as it is only a basic kettle lead. The downsides are it goes off after nine minutes, this is too short a time especially when you want two cups after fifteen minutes you have to go through the process again. The cups do need to be warmed with hot water really as the coffee is not as hot as I would have liked, it is ok if you drink it immediately but if you are making a third espresso, the first one will have lost some heat. I would have liked the machine to have had a cup warmer but you can't have everything.All in all I am very happy with it

Got this machine back in Dec 2013 having never had a coffee making machine before. Firstly just looks very stylish sitting on your kitchen work top doing nothing. Once you've used it a few times the operation is fairly straight forward so that it doesn't feel like a chore. It actually makes a very nice coffee although it would be nice if the temperature of the coffee was higher. I would describe the temp as very warm, when dispensed ,so we tend to heat the milk up a bit more than recommended to make the final product a bit hotter when going for a capuccino. If you just like a straight black then this machine is probably not for you if you like it really hot, cos it just doesn't do hot. You have been warned! The descaling process is a bit laborious when the descaling light comes on, but as i've just had a water softener system installed 3 weeks ago I should never have to do this thankless task again, it's really boring and seems to take forever, about 30 mins actually.( If you live in a hard water area like us really do think about installing a water softener, there great, no more limescale for ever, and the coffee, and tea from the kettle, still tastes great if not better than before, honestly,but I digress..) The milk frother wand does a very good job making lots of frothy milk but you can't get the jug off the wand without tipping the whole machine slightly !!! Very irritating !!!! That is until I discovered on a Gaggia course that the external sleeve on the wand is not actually needed to get the same amount of milk frothiness! So take it off..... and because it reduces the overall length of the wand means you no longer have to tip the whole machine to get the jug off. Added bonus is that it's also one less item to clean afterwards so dont even know why they even bother to have it on in the first place? One tip for the frother is to inntroduce the tip only of the forther to the milk to get the frothing started. Don't just plunge it into the bottom of your jug as doing this will heat the milk but not froth it very well, if at all!!!! So gradually introduce the tip further and further into the milk in stages for great results. Also the frothing knob seems to suggest there is some contol over power output from it to adjust the level of steam but I'm afraid as someelse said it's all or nothing as trying to reduce it just ends up stopping it all together, so just whack it right open from the start. All in all I like this machine now I know how to work it properly, and it does make a nice coffee as long as you don't want it very hot so I wouldn't put anyone off from buying it. The only thing thats a real waste of time with it is the heat plate on top which is supposed to keep your cups warm on top whilst frothing milk or whatever. This takes far to long to warm up form turning the machine on so in my opinion is a complete waste of time.

Dear Amazon Shoppers, Tekcompany wants your money, but they don't provide any service when things go wrong. They are slow to respond to inquiries, they will try to fob you off with the Philips Repair Center, and when they finally agree to "replace" your faulty item, you will have to pay an exorbitant courier fee, only to find the same defective coffee machine. Worst customer service ever. I bought the Gaggia Carezza Deluxe last year. I love the machine. When it works. I turn on the machine, but before I can brew a cup of coffee, I get a white light, advising me that I have to turn the nozzle to release steam. It should just go to 2 steady green lights. It never does. I wrote to Tekcompany explaining my issue. They promised that if I sent it to them, they would replace it. However, I had to pay the courier charges. When it arrived to them, they didn't confirm receipt. I had to message them constantly for updates. When that wasn't enough, I had to write to Amazon's Customer Service Department, who would ask them to resolve the issue. Amazon advised me Tekcompany has excellent feedback/ reviews, so wanted to give them a chance to maintain this. To this day, I don't know how Tekcompany is rated so highly. It's a lie and wholly undeserved. In total, it took me 3 months from the time I sent my faulty machine to receive the "replacement." Tekcompany allege it took so long because they were waiting on Philips Center to do the repair. I think it sat in Tekcompany's warehouse for 2.5 months. They never sent it to Philips Centre. If they did, then I don't know why. The initial fault is still there. I didn't get a replacement as promised. When I pulled out the handle, where the coffee goes, it had some minor coffee stains. Worst customer service ever. If you see the name Tekcompany as third party seller, rest assured you will have a slow, miserable experience, should you receive a faulty item. Further, for expensive items such as this, if you use Amazon, verify they are the seller. If you can't be sure of this, save yourself some time and shop at John Lewis or Argos.

Ordered this machine after my previous one (delongi) started to play up after 5 years. Extremely pleased with it. Not the simplest machine to use if you have no previous experience with this type of coffee maker but well worth getting to grips with. The espresso is great, and the milk frother is superb. Definitely a step up from my old one. I agree with other reviewers that the instruction booklet is next to useless, but it is not too difficult to work out what to do if you think it through. Only real surprise was that when you recieve the machine the rinse function is already activated, so you need to remember to put a cup under the coffee dispensing nozzles to catch the hot water that is ejected as it warms up. You can switch this function off but it is worth bearing in mind that the rinse function cleans the nozzles and makes sure the coffee holder is hot so dispenses coffee at a higher temperature than if you dont rinse. For those of you who enjoy a cappucino I would recommend you invest in a milk thermometer to ensure that you froth the milk to the correct temperature to get extra creamy froth! All in all I would thoroughly recommend this machine as it appears to be a scaled down commercial model rather that a domestic version which inevitably would be a poor imitation of the real thing!

This machine left a lot to be desired, though the style of it was great. For starters, it did not produce the crema that my £50 machine did. I tried the exact same coffee on both, and the crema was much weaker here than on my old £50 Jack Stonehouse machine. Also, the machine goes through a rinse cycle each and every time you turn it on, so you can't just stick in your coffee bleary eyed first thing in the morning and hit the button. The frother was great however, and is nice and long so there's no trouble reaching it. In terms of build- don't let the pictures fool you. Only the top of the drip tray and the face of the machine near the dials is metal- the rest is plastic. The dial on the front is next to useless, as it doesn't show any numeric value whatsoever so it tells you nothing the flashing buttons don't already tell you. Overall, save your money and buy a different machine.

The machine has a pleasant look. It comes with 2 cables 1 for Europe and 1 for UK but this last one sticks out a bit on the back. I tried the espresso following the not very clear instructions and the result was very disappointing. It was not a cream coffee but a coffee with a bit of foam on top. Then I went on youtube I was looking for someone who tested it and actually found a guy who dismounted the silly filter holder taking off an internal bit reassembled and showing how the result change completely (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEMRdtok4yI) However even after this change I didn't manage to have a nice cream espresso with the filter for 2. So it only works with the filter for 1 cup. The cappuccino is not impressive. I won't recommend this espresso machine, sorry.

The best coffee ever tasted is available in my very own kitchen! I'm so happy. The ESE pods I ordered aren't so easy though, the coffee machine can leak a little above the handle when I use them, so I don't. I just rip them open and use it like normal ground espresso in the standard basket... never a problem that way. When I get through the 100 shots I bought, assuming they would make life easier, I probably won't but any more of them and I'll just stick to Illy Dark Roast ground and the occasional Monsooned Malabaar! So my rating is 5 stars even with a shortcoming on the ESE pods, as I'm unsure whether that's down to the particular pods, the machine, or just me - in any case, I bought the machine to make coffee from ground espresso and on that front I am way more than satisfied. The espresso comes out thick and dark with an amazing foamy crema. The panarello heats milk up easily for white Americano or frothy Cappuccino. You just need to be aware that it takes a moment to switch from espresso mode to panarello mode and back again while it's heating up or cooling down to the perfect temperature, so do the espresso first and any milk after, that's my advice. Other reviewers have mentioned the lack of clear instructions and I'd tend to agree but I found my way so I'm sure you will too, and when you do, you'll love the results.