The Gaggia Anima Prestige super-automatic espresso maker delivers the much-loved bean-to-cup feature with automated milk frothing for cappuccinos, macchiatos and lattes.
Out of all the automated espresso machines available, the Gaggia Anima Prestige is among the ones that have the finest balance between cost and performance. It is robustly constructed and sturdy, yet it is still small and refined. You won’t locate a lower-priced espresso machine with so much stainless steel.
Overall, the machine appears very nicely constructed. It’s good and compact. Its milk system, which has the milk carafe installed directly onto the machine, makes it among the most space-saving countertop espresso machines that we’ve researched.
It has a big display, and it’s very easy to use. We particularly liked preparing espressos with this machine. It let us select the precise quantities of coffee and water we wished to use. It is additionally fast and effortless to clean by hand. The only thing that you need to routinely take apart is the milk carafe, which is slightly more complicated than other automated latte machines.
The Gaggia Anima Prestige has a detachable brewing unit, which is a benefit when it comes to cleaning or replacing the part.
The quality of the milk froth is decent, and you can effortlessly prepare a latte macchiato, an espresso macchiato, a caffe latte, or a cappuccino. On the basis of its general performance, we conclude that the Gaggia Anima Prestige is among the finest super-automatic espresso machines in its price category.
Below you will see our complete critique of the Gaggia Anima Prestige. You can additionally verify its actual price on Amazon here.
Pros
- Very beautiful stainless-steel exterior
- Narrow and space-saving, particularly the milk system
- Robust and good-quality build
- Well-made hot water feature
- Very simple to prepare an espresso
- Very quiet
Cons
Some effort is required to clean the milk system
How To Set Up the Gaggia Anima Prestige
The Anima Prestige has a lovely, big display, which makes it uncomplicated to use. You can use the display to easily set the quantity of espresso you need to use and prepare, and it will even let you know if the brewing unit or the drip trays are not properly positioned.
The first thing you should do is completely wash out the water tank and the milk carafe. After you have screwed in the water filter, the machine will first need to run some water through the filter. We will discuss more about that later.
You also must program the water hardness into the machine. Later, we will also examine how to identify the hardness of your water.
Overall, the Gaggia Anima Prestige is very user-friendly.
What’s in the Box
- The Gaggia Anima Prestige home espresso machine
- Milk carafe
- Hot water spout
- Panel to cover the side of the machine
- Saeco AquaClean water filter for filtration of the water
- Lubricating oil for the brewing component
- Cleaning brush
Creating Milk Froth with the Gaggia Anima Prestige
This super-automatic latte machine utilizes a milk carafe that saves space by fastening directly to the machine’s front. When you are finished brewing your espresso, you can effortlessly detach the milk carafe to store it in the refrigerator.
Then just affix the carafe to the left front side of the espresso machine.
When the milk carafe clicks, it is correctly in position. Next, slide the milk spout to the right. That way, the milk will pour straight into the cup below. This is very helpful because it indicates that you can just leave your cup in one position for a cappuccino or a latte macchiato, and you don’t need to move it.
For approximately the first second or so, just a handful of droplets of water will be released, but then good milk froth begins to flow. The milk froth emerges at a great temperature, which is essential because your beverage’s flavor will always greatly be determined by the milk’s temperature.
What we particularly like about this milk frothing principle is that it is very space-saving. The machine is already narrow, and placing the milk container doesn’t occupy any additional space. With numerous automated espresso machines, you need to place the milk container alongside the machine, which certainly occupies more space.
The froth quality produced by the Gaggia Anima is solid. There are generally a handful of bigger froth bubbles on the top, but otherwise it’s fine and creamy.
With the Anima Prestige, you can use the machine’s memory to program the quantity of espresso you need. To do this, press the button with the espresso cup symbol on it. That will place you in the “MEMO,” or memory, setting. The machine will now start brewing and dripping the espresso. Once the required quantity of espresso flows, push the “OK” button to store the quantity in the machine’s memory. You can either use a shot glass to measure slightly less than 1 ounce (between 20 and 25 milliliters), or you can additionally weigh it on a kitchen scale to check the amount.
The espresso has a nice, uniform crema, and even had some shiny dark spots. That’s not always the case with all automatic espresso machines. The espresso had a strong flavor. When comparing different super-automatic espresso machines that I’ve reviewed, the espresso I got from the Gaggia Anima Prestige was above average.
Best Type of Beans to Use with the Gaggia Anima Prestige
Freshly roasted coffee beans, or beans that have been stored in an airtight container are preferred, in order to brew espresso that has optimal flavor.
The Gaggia Anima Prestige’s Brewing Features
Like other Gaggia home espresso machines,, the Anima Prestige RI8762 brews exceptional espresso.
This machine is a bean-to-cup espresso machine (meaning you can pour whole unground beans into a bean hopper/container within the machine, and then the machine grinds the beans).
The Anima additionally boasts automated frothing of milk, which allows you to make cappuccinos, macchiatos and lattes.
The Anima Prestige is a huge improvement from prior Gaggia machines. It has a total of six buttons on the exterior of the machine, which incorporates one-touch presets devoted to espresso, espresso lungo, cappuccino and latte macchiato.
Its user profiles can recall each individual’s choice. Beverages are customizable with 5 different espresso strengths and dosing ranges from 6.5 to 11.5 grams of ground coffee per batch. This is a great range for espresso strength. You can modify it utilizing one of the physical buttons on the front of the machine.
Most higher-end espresso machines have more espresso heat adjustments. This is not just for your beverage choice. Each variety of espresso beverage and coffee bean type can have a distinct optimum temperature. The 3 various heat settings in the Anima Prestige are 177.5 F, 182.9 F and 184.5.
Gaggia Anima Prestige Grinding
The Anima Prestige RI8762 has a flat ceramic burr grinder with five settings. This is impressive and these five grind settings are sufficient to please virtually any espresso enthusiast.
Microfoam Review – Anima
Like all Gaggias, the Anima Prestige handles milk seriously superbly. The milk carafe is beautifully engineered. The RI8762 creates amazing microfoam. This is one area where you do not want to skimp. Believe me, you will discover the difference.
Maintenance and Cleaning
The Gaggia Anima Prestige has excellent capabilities and was engineered to be very effortless to clean and maintain. The RI8762 has excellent prompts for its automated milk container cleansing cycle, also.
The Prestige has a detachable 60 oz water tank, which is good. The water tank is accessed from top-left of the machine, making it able to be very easily detached from the side of the machine.
This machine has very effortless upkeep. The brew component is readily available from the side for weekly rinsing. Gaggia developed it for easy access to the water tank and bean hopper.
Summary
Overall, the Gaggia Anima Prestige will provide you with an exceptional bang for your buck. It works very superbly, particularly considering its cost. What’s more, you will not locate another automated espresso machine with so much stainless steel in this price range.
The things we particularly liked about this machine included the compact size of it as compared to many other super-auto machines, the stainless steel this machine is constructed of, and the space-saving milk frothing system.
When compared to its bulky rivals, the Anima Prestige looks really great. The drink settings functioned perfectly.
We were also very impressed with the espressos it crafted, and how the quantity of espresso was adjustable. The minimal amount with other machines is typically 30 milliliters (slightly over an ounce), but here I could dial that down to 25 milliliters.
The grinder settings functioned nicely, although modifying the coarseness took slightly more work than with other super-automatic espresso machines. To make up for it, however, the Gaggia Anima Prestige is good and quiet!