Gaggia Espresso Machine – Gaggia 90500 Titanium Super Automatic

Digital technology, stainless steel details and an exclusive design by Gaggia.

The latest automatic coffee machine made in Gaggia grinds, measures and dispenses the Espresso directly into the cup and discharge the grounds into the tank by the simple touch of a button.

Gaggia Titanium Super Automatic Features:

• Automatic espresso machine
• A stainless steel lined brewing boiler and additional steaming boiler; 15 bar pump
• 60-ounce water reservoir; built-in conical burr grinder; 18 adjustable grind settings
• Frothing wand; rapid steam for froth with no wait time; 8-1/2-ounce bean hopper; cup warmer
• Measures 11 by 15-3/8 by 15-1/6 inches

HUGE recommendation!!! January 11, 2006
JB Kelly (Philadelphia, PA)
19 out of 19 found this review helpful

This machine replaces a semiautomatic Delonghi, which, I thought, was decent. Well…after using this for 3 weeks, I can honestly say that my old machine was barely competent. The Titanium is a wonderful machine. Not only is the espresso excellent but the panerella wand makes awesome froth and the thing looks great. It’s fully programable and, once set, it’s just a matter of pushing a button to brew a delicious espresso – every time! It warms up in UNDER A MINUTE, has a large bean hopper, large water resevior, very cool blue lcd display…i can’t rave enough. I’ve had no problems at all with this machine and I recommend it heartily.

Best coffee I’ve ever had April 11, 2007
Kurt D. Fenstermacher (Westport, CT United States)
19 out of 20 found this review helpful

Believe me, I thought long and hard for paying over a $1,000 for a coffee maker. The very idea struck me as a bit outrageous, since I’ve never paid more than $50 for a coffee maker before, but now I’m glad I did. I looked at several espresso makers, ranging from the simplest (and cheapest) to the mid-range machines on up to this beast, the Gaggia Titanium. I finally decided to take the coffee plunge and figured that I could always return it if my wife (“the decider”, as I like to call her) vetoed the purchase.

I ordered the Titanium during my Amazon Prime trial, so it was shipped overnight for just a few dollars and arrived on a Monday. We had house guests at the time and while one didn’t drink coffee, the other considered himself a hard-core coffee purist (he even has a roaster at home and buys his beans green). I noticed right away that the machine was packed well, which is always a good sign. I had the machine out of the box, read through the directions, and started brewing coffee in about 15 minutes. Wow. This was easily the best coffee I had ever tasted, with none of the bitterness I usually associate with espresso (at least with espresso I’ve made).

The machine produces four different beverages: espresso, “regular” coffee, caffe lungo, and hot water. (Caffe lungo, as it turns out, is literally “coffee long” and is similar to espresso, but with more water passed through for a longer brew time. While I’d never heard of it, it’s now my wife’s new morning beverage.) There’s also the frothing wand and the cappuccinatore, which is an attachment that replaces the frothing wand specifically for cappuccino. While others have mentioned never using the cappuccinatore, it’s all I’ve used so far and I’ve converted at least two strict coffee drinkers to cappuccino lovers.

My second (after the cost) biggest concern was that I’d been told that super automatics are a pain to clean and that it would be more hassle than it’s worth. As it turns out, the Titanium’s not the hard to clean. The dregdrawer (which holds the “hockey pucks” as my friend calls them) sits inside the drip tray, which easily slides out after you unlatch the door. The Titanium’s blue display will let you know when it’s time to empty the drip drawer. (It’s not clever enough to know if you empty the dregdrawer in between these warnings, but if you empty it on your own schedule, you simply pull out the drawer for 5 seconds and slide it back in.) For the drip tray, there’s a red plastic float that rises up as the tray fills to let you know that it’s time to empty the tray.

The most difficult part to clean, which isn’t all that hard, is the brewunit, which processes the coffee as it comes out of the grinder (or from the ground coffee slot, if you choose to use your own ground coffee). You have to unscrew a couple stainless steel plates and brush the unit (with an included brush). In short, cleaning a super automatic is no more of a chore than cleaning the separate appliances (coffee grinder and drip/espresso maker). One minor annoyance is mentioned on an orange sheet packed in the box that says that “oily” beans can clog the grinder and there’s an 800 number to call for suggestions.

The only problem that I’ve had is that the beans (Starbuck’s Caffe Verona) don’t fall into the grinder properly and so every few cups the Titanium reports that the beans are empty even when there are beans in the hopper. Reaching into the hopper and pushing the beans around fixes that problem, but the rep at the 800 number reports that the oily beans will cause a buildup in the grinder and offered to send instructions on how to clean the grinder, should that become a problem. (It hasn’t been for me yet, but I’ve only had the Titanium for a week and a half.) The suggestion I got from the 800 number was to let the beans sit on a baking sheet for an hour or so before adding them to the hopper and while this hasn’t eliminated the problem of the non-empty hopper, it has reduced it.

One more tip: if you don’t have a grinder, consider buying one (I bought the KitchenAid KPCG100NP Pro Line Burr Coffee Grinder, Nickel Pearl from Amazon and have been very happy with it). Sometimes (especially in the evenings, I’ve had requests for decaf and I’d rather not try to empty the bean hopper and grinder. Instead, you can add a scoop of ground coffee and press the “pre-ground coffee” button to tell the Titanium to use your ground coffee rather than grinding it fresh. (I suppose you could also buy already ground coffee, but if you’re already spending over $1,000 on a coffee maker, what’s a grinder?)

The bottom line: if you spend more than a few bucks a day on coffee, you can justify the cost and you’ll wind up with great coffee. I suppose it’s some measure of how much we enjoy the coffee that with three coffee drinkers, we’ve brewed just over 120 “coffees” (an espresso shot-sized measure of all three coffee products) in ten days. There’s no question that this is a 5-star product.

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