Brewing coffee and espresso at home is an attractive alternative to the daily trip to the drive-thru or the coffee shop. While the prospect of becoming a home barista might seem intimidating at first, taking the plunge opens up worlds of opportunities for exploration of new coffees, shopping local, and saving money. Best of all, while you may be new to the game, between Whole Latte Love and Gaggia, both companies have over 100 years of combined experience in providing home espresso equipment and education to thousands of customers.
Why Brew at Home?
When it comes to coffee, your taste preferences matter more than anything else, so selecting equipment that can brew your preferred beverages is the first step towards brewing at home. There are two major categories of machines to choose from, semi-automatic and super-automatic, and Gaggia makes both. Semi-automatic machines require a bit more user input but can produce authentic espresso on par with specialty coffee shops. Super-automatic machines can prepare specialty coffee drinks from espresso to lattes at the touch of a button, but are a bit more limited when it comes to making adjustments to brewing variables.
No matter which style of machine you choose, there are several undeniable advantages to brewing at home.
Time is on Your Side
When you brew at home, you save yourself a trip to the café or drive-through. That means more time for breakfast, time with your family, or maybe even a few more minutes of sleep.
The Savings Add Up
Between the increased costs of buying coffee from a shop and the cost of gas, you can save a lot of money making the switch to home brewing.
More Choices
When you start buying your own beans, you'll find that there are nearly endless options for different coffees to try and experiment with, and you can make any drink exactly the way you like.
Espresso Anytime
Best of all, when you own your own machine, you can make espressos, cappuccinos, or any other drinks for yourself, your family, and your friends at any time.
The Best of Gaggia Semis: The Gaggia Classic Pro
Our pick for Gaggia's best semi-automatic espresso machine is the Gaggia Classic Pro, and Whole Latte Love is the best place to shop for anyone looking to uniquely customize it to the machine with premium wood accents and portafilter configurations.
With a 30-year legacy, the Gaggia Classic has been a go-to for home baristas for decades. The Classic Pro is the latest in the series, featuring full stainless steel housing, a commercial steam wand, and a true commercial style chrome-plated brass portafilter and brew. In layman's terms, that means that the machine is built with many of the same components found on much more expensive professional machines.
For a home barista, the Gaggia Classic Pro is an incredible first choice that can last a decade or more with proper care. Included with each machine is a set of portafilter baskets, both a single and double in the traditional commercial style and what's referred to as a pressurized basket. That means that out of the box, you can brew with your choice of freshly ground coffee, or pre-ground coffee, or ESE pods if a grinder isn't in the budget.
Thanks to the commercial portafilter, the Classic Pro can produce hot, crema-rich shots of espresso, while the commercial steam wand can texture velvety milk foam for decadent milk drinks like lattes and cappuccinos.
Affordable and Versatile: The Gaggia Cadorna Series
Introduced shortly after Gaggia moved production of their super-automatic espresso machines back to Italy, the Cadorna series delivered several major features that modernized their super-automatic catalog. Available in three styles at Whole Latte Love, each version of the Cadorna features multi-user programmability, which allows up to 4 unique versions of a beverage to be programmed and saved, true one-touch Americanos, a delicious long coffee drink, and adjustable cup risers and extra tall spouts for both short espresso cups and tall travel mugs.
Premiering in the American market first, the Cadorna Barista Plus is the entry-level of the Cadorna series but with the unique distinction of having a fully commercial steam wand. This uncommon addition allows home baristas full control over milk frothing and, with a bit of practice, can be used to produce the full spectrum of textures for drinks ranging from lattes, cappuccinos, flat whites, and any other milk drinks. Outside of a handful of other Gaggia espresso machines like the Magenta Plus, few manufacturers are bold enough to offer this choice to customers.
The Cadorna Milk, by comparison, is a value-oriented machine that was the first from Gaggia to debut the Capp-in-Cup system, an auto frothing attachment that adds several one-touch milk favorites to the Cadorna Milk's menu. On the final tier above, the Cadorna Prestige is equipped with an auto-frothing carafe that can easily be installed and removed from the machine to store in the refrigerator between uses, it's also easier to clean, and the Cadorna prestige features several additional options for additional programmable milk drinks.
Whole Latte Love: The Best Place to Buy Gaggia
Whether you're shopping for a Gaggia Classic Pro or a Gaggia Cadorna espresso machine, Whole Latte Love offers uniquely customized versions of both machines. Partnering with artisans in the United States, Whole Latte Love offers the Classic Pro with five varieties of wood accents that replace the bakelite steam knob and portafilter handle with either sapele, tiger maple, walnut, wenge, or zebra wood.
These custom wood machines also allow you to choose your preferred configuration of the portafilter, and when taking into account the 6 color varieties of the Classic Pro and the limited edition 30th Anniversary variant, there are a total of 31 styles available to choose from.
Not to be outdone, the Cadorna Barista Plus and Cadorna Prestige machines are available with a variety of custom hydro-dipped side panels, allowing the option to choose from one of several wood grain patterns and an austere white marble.
In the end, brewing espresso at home is easier than you might think, and Gaggia and Whole Latte Love are the partners you want if you're looking to get off on the right foot.
