Anyone Can Be An Expert Barrista!
Written: Jan 12 '03 (Updated Jan 12 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: So easy to use, Fast, Superb coffee drinks, Italian styling, Totally automatic
Cons: Takes up a lot of counter space, Instruction book leaves a lot to be desired
The Bottom Line: Highly recommended! Top quality espresso drinks at the touch of a button.
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| james_k's Full Review: Gaggia Syncrony Espresso Machine |
Until a couple of years ago, if you were one of the millions of people who (thanks to your local coffee bar) had become addicted to espresso based drinks, you had only a few choices for getting your morning fix. You could trudge down to your local coffee bar and stand in line, or you could brew your own using a variety of methods that required numerous steps and a fair amount of time; grind the beans, load the filter, tamp, then force hot water through the coffee -- all for a single cup. If you wanted another cup - you had to repeat the entire process. No wonder few people bothered doing this at home.
Super Automation
With the introduction of super automatic espresso machines -- this has all changed. You can now step into the kitchen in the morning, push a single button, and within seconds, be drinking a perfectly brewed cup of espresso -- and at just the temperature and strength you prefer, with a perfect head of golden crema.
For those of you who may be unsure of what super automatic means, let me explain. It's really quite simple. With a super automatic, you can simply walk up to the machine, press a button, and the machine will grind just the right amount of beans for your cup of coffee, load the filter, tamp, pre-moisten the grounds, brew your coffee, dispense it to your cup, then automatically dump the used grounds into the dregs container. All of this takes about 35 seconds, at which time it's ready for the next cup.
I have to admit, I was skeptical at first. How could something so easy deliver a product that would equal one prepared the old-fashioned way? Remember the "meals in minutes" promises when microwave ovens first came out? Not exactly haute cuisine! Well, much to my surprise, the Gaggia Syncrony delivers as promised! After tinkering with various grind and dose settings, I get consistently excellent results with every cup.
I did a fair amount of research when shopping for a super automatic machine. I compared features, appearance, dispensed beverage quality, and price. To my mind, the Gaggia Syncrony was superior to, or the equal of, any of the numerous other super automatics now on the market. It was also on sale, making it the lowest priced of the fully featured machines I was considering.
Feature Rich
The Gaggia Syncrony is fully digital, with a wealth of desirable features; digital display, programmability, a bypass doser (allowing you to brew with pre-ground coffee for one-off decafs, etc.), adjustable grind, dose and temperature settings, and a built-in cup warmer. It also comes with a hot water dispenser, and a steam generator that will continuously dispense copious amounts of steam for frothing milk -- for as long as the water supply holds out. Warm-up upon powering up is about 90 seconds. This includes a quick rinse which is automatic when the machine hasn't been used for several hours. This quick rinse warms up internal parts, and flushes out any residue from earlier use.
I'm mostly an espresso drinker, so I haven't done much frothing of milk, but I did try it out. The machine dispenses plenty of steam, allowing you to quickly produce a big pot of milk foam, and to quickly heat up a jug of milk. You can't operate the steam at the same time that you're brewing coffee, so you'll need to froth your milk first, then brew your coffee. This doesn't pose any problem, because the brewing process is so fast.
If you want to brew two cups of espresso at once, you simply place two cups under the two spouts on the dispensing unit, then press the brew button twice. The machine will then automatically grind beans for the first cup and begin brewing. While the first cup is brewing, it grinds beans for the second cup, then brews again. Half of each brew falls into each cup. The entire process takes about 45 seconds.
Sturdy & Well Designed
The machine itself is rather large, more or less cube-shaped and about 16 inches on each side. It's sturdily made of steel and high-impact plastic with an attractive matt silvery finish. Controls are well designed and fairly intuitive. There is an adjustable dispensing spout which can be raised or lowered, and an adjustable Pananarello wand which is very effective for frothing milk. The choice of hot water or steam through the wand is selected by pressing a button. Steam or water flow rates are controlled by turning a knob. The top of the machine has a heated cup warmer (which can be turned off) that easily holds six espresso cups without stacking.
There are six variously colored oval buttons used for programming, placing the machine in energy-saving standby mode, and for dispensing either small, medium, or large beverages. There are two further levers on the right side for adjusting grind and dosage. The main power switch is located on the lower left side.
Keeps You Informed
The programming features allow you to adjust the three preprogrammed dispensing volumes (for various cup sizes), alter water temperature, and to set self-cleaning features. An LCD display indicates what's going on at any particular moment, and will tell you when to add water, coffee beans, empty the dregs drawer, or other alerts. It also makes programming very simple displaying prompts in several languages.
Ample Capacity
The water reservoir holds 82 oz; enough for 40 cups of espresso between fillings. The bean container holds a little over 10 oz, also enough for about 40 cups of espresso. Both are extremely easy to fill. The entire machine will swivel on its base in either direction, allowing easy access to the water reservoir and bean container. The water reservoir can be lifted out for filling or washing at the sink, or you can simply pour water into it while it's in place. The bean container is not removable.
Easy Maintenance
As you might expect, beyond filling the water reservoir and bean container, some maintenance is required, but it isn't difficult. The dreg drawer and drip pan will need to be emptied on an ongoing basis. Beyond that, there is some periodic cleaning that takes about five minutes every week or so, depending on how heavily your machine is used. This entails removing the "brew group" (the mechanism in which brewing takes place), rinsing and drying it, removal and cleaning of the brew group screens, and wiping out the interior of the machine. The brew group comes out as a unit by pressing a trigger and pulling straight out. It's replaced by simply reinserting it into the machine. Once you've done it a time or two, the entire process can be accomplished in about five minutes.
About once a month, or every 250 cups, the automatic rinsing cycle should be run. This entails filling the reservoir, selecting "Rinsing Cycle" on the programming menu, placing a suitably sized container under the dispenser spout, then pressing the start button. The machine will heat up, then dispense about a litre of water through the entire system to thoroughly rinse the components of the machine which are inaccessible. The entire program takes about five minutes. Beyond that, Gaggia recommends descaling the machine every three to four months with a descaling solution. There is an automatic program for doing this, similar to the rinsing cycle.
Noise Isn't a Factor
The machine is noisier than a conventional coffee maker, but not greater than you would expect. The burr grinder sounds pretty much like any other burr grinder. Each grind lasts for 7 or 8 seconds. The brewing process employs a pump to force hot water through the grounds under pressure, and this makes some noise too, but not as loud as the grinder. Overall, I don't have any complaints about the twenty seconds or so that the machine is making some sounds, especially when it delivers such a perfectly brewed cup of espresso.
The Downside
Are there any things I don't like? Not really, but there are one or two things that might be improved.
The owner's manual is less than comprehensive, a bit confusing in a couple of places, and it contains one or two errors, at least in the English section. This is probably due to the instructions being translated from Italian. There are also one or two important omissions; for instance, the manual indicates that the dispensing unit is removable for cleaning, but provides no direction at all on how to go about this. I eventually figured it out, but then had trouble reinstalling it, which led to some frustration. On the other hand, and as I mentioned earlier, operation of the machine is fairly intuitive, so even without an instruction booklet, it wouldn't be all that difficult to figure things out.
I also had some trouble getting a cup of espresso as hot as I like it (which is very hot, indeed). I've finally figured out how to get a hotter cup. In reading some statistics on this machine, I noticed that when brewing several cups in quick succession, second and third cups were hotter than the first. After thinking about this for a while, I thought that perhaps if I ran the hot water dispenser for a few seconds to get the boiler fired up, a subsequently brewed coffee might be hotter. It worked. Now I routinely dispense some hot water into my cup, pour it out, then immediately brew an espresso, which emerges several degrees hotter, just the away I like it.
In Conclusion
Overall, I'm very pleased with the Gaggia Syncrony. It's easy to operate, produces excellent beverages, and is easy to maintain. I highly recommend it.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
james_k
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Location: Seattle, WA
Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
Ruthless financier by day, mild-mannered homebody by night. Household appliance geek and fervid gardener.
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