Hi UK1 -

The Gaggia line of coffee machines are excellent.

For many years, this was my first choice for coffee making, and I even ground and mixed my own beans using Santa Clara coffee beans from Brasil with good Mokka beans.

The problem was the prep time (using a Gaggia burr grinder), clean-up, storage, and the increasing time cleaning and working on my Gaggia Carezza machines. I noticed that my coffee was not coming out consistently, sometimes being too acid, sometimes, not.

Nespresso being a long-time local product was available anywhere. I sampled a demo demitasse one day, then again that week, followed by another, and it started making sense. Consistency.

My Carezza started having gasket problems ( perhaps felling scorned at my Nespresso sampling ) and I decided to make the jump. My treasured coffee equipment was repaired, cleaned, packaged, and went to a rental property we have for guests. When it finally died, and they do, it was replaced with a Nespresso Citiz.

I get more good comments on those machines from guests than anything else. Other than the occasional descaling every 6 months, and the restocking of coffee capsules, they are virtually maintenance free.