Think back for a moment to the last time you visited your favorite coffee shop. Close your eyes, and remember the sounds, the scents – and then think about whether you could see the coffee machine the barista was using. The chances are pretty high that the coffee machine was a Gaggia.
Gaggia 1003380 Accademia Review
Modem Gaggia machines offer you that barista experience in the comfort of your own home (or workplace, or even your own small business). This beautifully designed, aesthetically pleasing, versatile and robust coffee machine doesn’t come cheap, but as with all Gaggia coffee makers, you get a lot of machine for your money.
No products found. is a domestic machine, and not intended for heavy use in a commercial setting. It might also work well in a small café or coffee bar, as long as you were happy to keep refilling the water tank and run regular cleaning cycles.
No products found.
No products found.
Gaggia: Espresso As We Know It
Coffee lovers owe Achille Gaggia a lot. In 1938, he filed a patent for the first modern steamless coffee maker: 365726, for those of you who like a little history with your cup of joe. The Gaggia company was formed in 1947 and initially concentrated on coffee machines for commercial purposes.
Gaggia moved into the domestic market a little later with its Gilda machine. So whenever you purchase a Gaggia, you know you’re getting an authentic machine, with decades of history behind it.
Design Features Of The Gaggia Accademia
Although you can pre-program this machine for between 7 and 10 cups of coffee, you can, of course, brew just one cup at a time if you prefer. The coffee dispenser is telescopic and adjustable, to accommodate a wide range of cups, with a maximum height of just over 6.5 inches.
There’s an integrated coffee grounds container, which you can remove easily from the front of the machine for emptying, maintenance, and cleaning. There’s also a 17 fluid ounces milk carafe (about half a liter) to allow you to brew specialty beverages at the touch of a button.
The burr grinder is ceramic, with an integrated bean hopper and two lids to retain as much of the aroma as possible. While we’re on the subject of flavor, the pre-brewing system extracts the maximum flavor possible.
Aesthetically Pleasing
No products found. looks lovely, although, for its complexity, it’s still surprisingly compact, at just 11 inches wide by 15 inches deep, by 14.5 inches high. You also need enough clearance above the coffeemaker to fill up the water tank.The front of the machine is made from stainless steel. The remaining panels are robust plastic-based materials, manufactured to blend in with the steel.
Care, Cleaning And Maintenance
The manufacturers suggest running a cleaning cycle around every 200 cups, with a full descale every 500 cups or so. If you are in a hard water area, you will need to pay extra attention to the descaling process, even with the water filter, as limescale builds up pretty quickly. (This is not an issue limited to this particular machine, as those in hard water areas will know.)
We wouldn’t suggest putting the components in a dishwasher as they are not guaranteed dishwasher-safe: a little rinsing should keep them clean and clear. The machine has a self-cleaning rinse setting, which you can choose to set to run when the machine switches off, when it switches on, or both. The tubes to the milk cleaner are self-cleaning.
Tips And Tricks
As with all coffee machines, filtered or bottled water gave the best-tasting coffee, overcoming any tap water issues if you live in a hard water area. The dregs drawer has a sensor to alert you that it needs to be emptied, and you usually have around 15 pucks of coffee before the alert appears.
We also occasionally had issues with the milk spitting a little. We found, however, this could be minimized by using the “clean” function after we’d inserted the carafe.
What Coffee?
We found that using oily coffee beans didn’t work well, and for good espresso, we avoided light roasts. For best results, use a drier, less oily coffee bean. The largest drink you can brew is the lungo, which is around 8 ounces, so for a large travel mug of, say, 16 ounces, you’ll need to brew two lungos in succession.
Pros & Cons Of The Gaggia 1003380 Accademia Espresso Machine
✔ Both the frother and the steamer work extremely well
✔ You can choose to have the display in English or Italian
✔ It copes well with both coffee beans and pre-ground coffee
✔ The pre-program options are very versatile
✔ It looks great
✗ The milk carafe can be a little sporadic, with some spitting
✗ If you like scalding hot coffee you might find the temperature a little low
✗ It cannot be connected directly to a water-line; you need to keep refilling the tank
While we’re very taken with this machine, we always like to get a second opinion or even a third. So we checked out what other owners thought.
Typically, at least three-quarters of those who’ve purchased this machine speak of it in glowing terms. Many more owners express general approval, especially when it comes to the quality of the coffee it produces.
Alternative Options
No products found.
If you’d like to check out some of the competition, our first suggestion is No products found.. Typically, this is priced very slightly higher than the Gaggia Academia.
This stainless steel coffee machine features one-touch brewing and frothing, while the milk carafe allows you to create froth automatically for an authentic cappuccino. The manual steam wand can dispense hot water only if you so choose. It typically ships with a bottle of descaler, an Aquaclean water filter, a water hardness test strip, a tube of brew group lubricant, a coffee scoop and grinder key, and a brew group brush.
No products found.
There are eight brewing options which you can program for different kinds of coffee: cappuccino, espresso, espresso lungo, flat white, latte, macchiato, and ristretto. The water reservoir has a 50.7 ounce capacity while the drip tray holds up to 31.5 ounces of liquid. The water tank is easy to access and fill and the removable brew group is removable to make cleaning and maintenance straightforward. There is a two-year warranty with this item.
Larger cups and travel mugs can easily be used with this machine: the brew spouts are removable to give 6.5 inches of clearance. The ceramic burr grinder makes this an effective bean-to-cup machine but the bypass doser makes using pre-ground coffee an option. You can select a strong espresso or a lighter coffee drink via the flow knob.
It measures 9.64 inches wide by 16.53 inches deep, stands at 14.17 inches tall, and weighs 28.66 pounds without shipping. Gaggia machines are generally well-packaged: with packaging, this item weighs 42.6 pounds.
Gaggia Anima Prestige
Our second alternative is another programmable machine, which offers automatic milk frothing for macchiatos, lattes, and cappuccinos in a jiffy. The coffee bean container has a capacity of around 8.8 ounces. The Gaggia Anima Prestige gives you a choice of three different temperature settings: 177.5 degrees Fahrenheit, 182.9, or 184.5 degrees maximum. The pump pressure is 15 bars.
The reservoir holds a generous 60 ounces of water and is accessed from the top right-hand side of the machine. The drip tray has a capacity of up to 24 fluid ounces, while the internal dreg bin can hold up to 15 pucks of used coffee grounds. While the ceramic burr grinder makes bean-to-cup operations unfussy and simple, the bypass doser means you can easily use pre-ground coffee. There are five choices of grind.
- Note: 1)Too coarse a grind, too little coffee, or insufficiently tamping the grounds before brewing can all lead to inadequate pressure for a proper brew. 2)It is important to note that the amount of...
- ONE TOUCH BREWING AND FROTHING: Bean-to-cup feature with automatic milk frothing for cappuccinos, macchiatos and lattes
- PROGRAMMABLE: Programmable brewing options for lattes, cappuccinos, macchiatos and espresso
- TEMPERATURE CONTROL: 3 different temperature settings. Min/177.5 °F, Med/182.9 °F, Max/184.5 °F
- EASY ACCESS TO WATER RESERVOIR AND BEAN HOPPER: Features a removable 60 oz water reservoir that can be accessed on the top left of the machine, and an 8.8 ounce capacity bean hopper with access from...
It’s extremely simple to program and use, with six dedicated buttons and an LCD screen. The cleaning and maintenance cycles are straightforward if on the lengthy side, with the brew group easily removable for regular maintenance and easy rinsing. This coffee maker also incorporates a low energy standby mode once the machine has been idle for an hour.
This coffee maker measures 8.7 inches wide by 16.93 inches deep by 13.38 inches high. The maximum cup height it can accommodate is 5.9 inches. It weighs around 16 pounds (23.5 pounds with shipping). This machine is the fully one-touch coffee maker in the Anima series. This coffee maker has a two-year warranty.
Gaggia RI8263/47 Velasca Prestige
Our third and final alternative is the Gaggia RI8263/47 Velasca Prestige Espresso Machine , which also offers one-touch brewing. The automatic milk frothing feature allows you to whisk up milk froth, cappuccinos and baby cappuccinos in a trice. You can program this machine for cappuccino, espresso and espresso lungos, with a choice of 3 different temperature settings.
The ceramic burr grinder offers 10 fineness settings and 5 strength settings for your beverage. The bean hopper has a capacity of 10.5 ounces, while the water tank can store 54 ounces of liquid. The internal dreg bin has a capacity of 10 spent pucks.
- Note: 1)Too coarse a grind, too little coffee, or insufficiently tamping the grounds before brewing can all lead to inadequate pressure for a proper brew. 2)It is important to note that the amount of...
- One touch brewing and frothing: bean-to-cup feature with automatic milk frothing for cappuccinos, baby cappuccinos, and milk froth
- Programmable: programmable brewing options for Espresso and Espresso Lungo, cappuccino, and milk froth, with 3 different temperature settings
- Ceramic burr grinder and brew unit: ceramic burr grinder with 10 fineness settings, 5 brew strength settings, and bean hopper with 10.5oz capacity
- Front loaded water reservoir: features a 54oz capacity and pulls out from the front of the machine, ideal for low hanging cabinets
The front-loading tank makes this an excellent choice for kitchen spaces with low-hanging cupboards and cabinets. The reservoir and dreg drawer are also front-loading and the brew group is easily removable for maintenance. The energy standby mode means the power consumption of the Velasca Prestige falls to less than 1 watt after an hour of standing idle.
The machine is under 14 inches tall, with a width of 10.2 inches and a depth of 17 inches. It weighs 19.62 pounds without shipping or 29.1 pounds with packaging materials.
This coffee maker is extremely straightforward to use: the LED screen allows you to create your own customized drinks easily, whether you want a classic espresso or a super-frothy cappuccino. The bypass doser allows you to use pre-ground coffee. The machine has a two-year warranty.
Would We Recommend The Gaggia 1003380 Accademia?
Yes, we would recommend No products found.. Overall, we’d give the Gaggia a very solid and respectable 4.3-star rating. We love the design; we love its flexibility, and we especially love the way it takes all the stress out of making coffee just as you like it.
No products found.
No products found.
Hi my name is Larry, a coffee aficionado from the US. I have already visited Colombia, Sumatra, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Ethiopia and Jamaica in my pursuit of finding the best-tasting coffee beans. I currently write from Bali and enjoy the relaxed life that you can only find in Canggu. Welcome to my coffee world!
Last update on 2023-03-30 / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API.
