# Which? magazine reviews espresso machines - why are we wasting money?



## vintagecigarman (Aug 10, 2009)

The latest issue of Which dropped through my door today, containing a review of espresso machines.

Despite being matched against bean-to-cup machines costing up to £800, top of the heap, scoring 82% (whatever that means) is the Gaggia New Baby at £250.

But a real dark horse sneaks into second place, the Argos Cookworks CM4629 Signature Espresso, which, with a price of £50 manages to score an amazing 79%, even though it "makes an annoying noise".

Some of us are obviously wasting our money on Gaggia Classics, which, despite costing 6 times the amount of the Argos machine, only scrapes a 71% rating - though we have to remember that "its drip tray is difficult to remove, and the water tank isn't easily accessible". However, it features "an excellent steam pipe" so we don't need to waste money putting on a Silvia steam wand!

So there we are then, just look at how much money we've all been wasting! My economy drive starts now, with a cancellation of my subscription to Which. Over the course of a year I'll save enough to buy an Argos Signature Espresso and lots of pre-ground Lavazza. (Perhaps, in retrospect, I should have cancelled over 10 years ago when they reported that the lens on a Kodak compact camera was better than one on a Leica!)

Chief expert for Which on espresso machines was Giles Hilton, Whittard's Head buyer, who at least should know all about selling stale ready-ground beans.


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## Osh (Jun 15, 2010)

As a Gaggia Classic owner, I can understand your frustration that as a coffee lover/expert(!) this data makes absolutely no sense.

In our minds, as long as the coffee is excellent, who cares if a drip tray gets caught on the water pipe?

Which? on the other hand are trying to give an impartial service to the public where they deem functionality as important as end product. For someone who is not so concerned about the pump pressure or how wet his puck is, a water tank that requires a kerfuffle to remove, as does the Classic, can be pretty annoying and will lose points against a more practical machine.

As I have noted in a different thread, the Classic is quite ugly as espresso machines go. Mine has slowly grown on me, and I love how solidly it is built and it's consistent results. However, for the life of me I cannot fathom why Gaggia cannot redesign their most popular model to be that little bit more aesthetic.

That being said, who needs Which? when there are so many great forums out there?


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## DonRJ (Apr 3, 2010)

That Argos machine is a joke, having bought one albeit briefly as an office machine. The portafilter leaked a round the grouphead seal like crazy when using proper espresso ground coffee. OK I spent £30 and took it back two days later as unfit for purpose and replaced it with a different and much better budget machine. Crikey, the lowest common denominator applied here as in the price and nothing else. Your Leica comment says it all really.

Once upon a long time ago, Which magazine was a very useful guide to product choice, now it is not, as there is a plethora of information out there (apart from about grinders that is)


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## KRW (Aug 5, 2010)

Which? is pretty unreliable, in my experience. I cancelled my sub after it reviewed the DVD player I happened to own. It's 'cons' list was just fibs - they'd clearly had a five minute look at the front of it, and not touched the manual, as the things they said it couldn't do, it did certainly do and did very well - EG they reckoned it wasnt multiregion when, in fact, it was advertised as multiregion out of the box. If you can't trust them with something as basic as a £50 DVD player, I certainly wouldnt trust them with anything else and never in a million years coffee makers.


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