Review on ☕️ Gaggia Anima Coffee and Espresso Machine with Programmable Options, includes Steam Wand for Manual Frothing of Lattes and Cappuccinos by Butros Allen

Just at the height of the pandemic, our two Nespresso coffee machines died. We have never upgraded to newer models and still use 2 D290s. We replaced one with a Creatista Uno machine, which we love. But we've been using Nespresso machines for over 10 years and have seen the cost of capsules go from 50 cents each to almost 80 cents each. Looking at how much we spent on Nespresso capsules in 2019, I decided it was time to start thinking about a super machine. The difference in the cost of coffee will pay for the car in about a year. After looking at many different machines, we settled on the Gaggia Anima. I was concerned that maintaining the super car would be cumbersome or slip through my fingers, which would result in the machine breaking down, but to be honest it's pretty easy to maintain (more on that later). Although expensive, Nespresso espresso is excellent, it would be difficult to match the quality. Luckily we made the right choice and we love this car! With the Anima, we set the grind to fine and the coffee quantity to 5, the highest. We are lucky that we know someone from the area who roasts coffee himself, we buy normal medium roast coffee from him. We use half the coffee by blending the coffee we buy locally with the decaffeinated Don Pablo coffee we buy from Revain. Between the two, my husband finds espresso even better than Nespresso, I think it's just as good. We have 2 portion cappuccino every morning. The crema is great and the Panerello milk stick makes micro-bubbles in the milk, the frothed milk consistency is better than the stick on our Nespresso D290. In general, our cappuccino from Anima is at least comparable to a cappuccino from a great café. The service is easy. Every day I clean the detachable milk hose and down tube. I take out the tray and wash it. Once or twice a week I take out the brew group, wash it in the sink and put it back in. None of these tasks take longer than 5 minutes. There is additional maintenance, including descaling the machine, but you tend to do it once or twice a year. There are videos on You Tube that walk you through the whole thing, so it's pretty easy. The only thing I would recommend is to use an available water tank filter and only use filtered water in the machine or in all honesty any good espresso machine. Both the quality of the espresso and the service life of the coffee machine depend largely on the quality of the water. For years we've had water filters on our kitchen sinks to wean ourselves off bottled water. Filters are changed infrequently, at most once every 1-5 years depending on the filtration system chosen. In any case, this is our story. We have had Anima for 4 months now and we love it! I will update this review should this change.