I am 100% in agreement with you. I have had Gaggia Classics for many many years (was on my 3rd). I got the Breville Bambino to save some money and was shocked at how great the shot I pulled was. I mean straight out of the box with very little trial and error - and even with the cheap portafilter. I was gob smacked.
I've had Gagia and Silvia but never liked them. Got rid of them both and now own a Bambino Plus. This (to me) is a far superior machine with way more consistency than I could ever get with those previous 2 mentioned machines.
The Bambino sure is an impressive little machine. As a beginner I just don't feel like tinkering around with the Gaggia with the OPV and PID since it will add to the cost and void the warranty. The 54mm also seems a more beginner friendly thing to have and I mostly wanna practice latte art and try pulling good shots. Was hesitating between the Bambino and Lelit Anna / Anita but I got mine on sale for 160$ and plan to use the savings in a Sette 270 or Eureka Mignon. Really excited for it to arrive, great vid ty 🙌
@@JoeyVaracalli Of course ! Thanks for the reminder. I think the EU version comes with non-pressurized baskets too. Proper tamper, WDT and bottomless portafilter :D all set. Ty again!
I have the sage bambino , it come with 4 baskets, single or double dose , but i bought IMS baskets ,a big improvement in espresso on this machine, less resistance so I can go more finer with grinder .
As soon as you did the back stepping in like jane lynch on role models i immediately smiled ear to ear and smashed that like button!! 5 seconds in and im hooked haha
Yeah the gaggia is more of a hobbiest machine for sure if your very into coffee and like tinkering it can be better then the bambino. If you just want reasonably consist shots without as much effort the bambino is probably better.
@@J2DuoMusic the Gaggia will last far longer than a Bambino and will have easier accessibility to replacement parts while being easier to repair at home as well.
Finally u need to sacrifice something to another in sub 500 machines. Either life span, or shot taste. Or.... Gaggia with mods and pain in bot to do mods are way over priced machine which at the end with unconsistancy causes bambino shot to win in this review. I think it's the time for ppl to revise their mindset on Gaggia!
Great comparison and many thanks. Calphalon temp iq with grinder is in your do not buy list, do you recommend one without grinder? I do have a good grinder. Love to hear your opinion on this.
Why use a portafilter upgrade, but use the stock tampers !? It would be interesting to do the tests either with the original equipments or with a quality portafilter and tamper!
Well the original portafilter on the the bambino only comes with a dual wall basket in the USA also I like to show people the extraction so bottomless is kinda nice way of doing it
I actually don’t recommend that any more since coffee will wear out the cheap aluminum they use for this my recommendation is to get a bottomless or buy the one that comes with the barista express or pro
Hi Joey, although I am not interested in either of these machines (I have the Rocket Mozzafiato Timer International R) but watched out of interest in your style of presentation. I think you do an awesome job of explaining the features and are very articulate in doing so. You are much better that Dylan (too dramatic for me and has a photo bomb wife as well) and even in my opinion better that Hoon. My all time favorite is James Kaufman so far. Good luck with your future videos and I will be watching whenever possible.
Wow roger that is super super kind of you. I’m actually personal friends with Dylan and hoon so I won’t tell them lol 😂 but I really appreciate the kind comments and will try to keep up the pace and keep getting better at quality and reviews
What are the odds you put this out 2 days before the day that I delve into espresso machines. Thank you for this - these are the exact two that I am considering. I think the Bambino - with its lower price and smaller footprint - wins for me. Could you tell me what replacement portafilter you bought for that one?
You should do dome more research. If you're new to espresso, you would do yourself a service picking up even a used classic over the bambino for the 58mm basket size alone.
hey, great video! I have the same portafilter for the bambino and I have an issue with it where it can turn it all the way to the right if I wanted to. Does this mean it's not locking in correctly? I don't have any leaks or anything but it just bugs me. Usually portafilters don't go past 90 degrees. Do you have the same issue?
The Breville is an appliance, something that would make an awesome wedding present. I had the Gaggia for almost 10 years ( was my first espresso machine), I'd like to see the Breville last half that long.
@@asjeot yeah I’m starting to hate the “well it’s not prosumer” discussion cause most of it is really hard to really say one thing is better then the other.
@@JoeyVaracalli Agreed. The conversation should be about getting the most out of whichever brew method, machine or whatever you're using. One can learn a lot from an 'appliance' and get some great tasting coffee out of it. The plan is to upgrade but only when my Breville dies but it has been years now and it's still going. I've just been learning and researching, in the meantime, still deciding on which 'machine' will best suit my needs.
Joe I know you said you don’t like hot espresso on plastic and I agree, so my question is what about the internals of the machine? Does hot water pump through plastic tubing on these machines? Thank you
I haven’t seen much plastic tubing I have seen the clear rubbery feeling tubing but I think that stuff is safer. If you need all metal u got get an e61
quite misleading info. Breville Bambino is heated by Thermojet and not Thermoblock. Bambino is stainless steel made, only the dip tray and water tanks are plastic.
i was surprised , you were able to remove plastic portafilter insert ! how ? please explain how ..... I made the mistake of buying the bambino . it has horribly, weak pump .
Hmmm i feel like the pump was set to high actually but I used a pair of need nose pliers and a knife to pull it out. If I’m being honest I would just buy after market
@@milovacc1195 no it pulled out by gripping it with pliers. Or you can put a metal object “stick through the holes a use a hammer to t as p it out as well
@@mr_knight4701 that’s a very good question. I think it’s probably easier to use but the bezzera if you learn it well can probably make better shots of espresso
@@JoeyVaracalli I am looking for the best choice under 1000 dollars. The best choice I saw were: gaggia classic pro Bezzera new hobby Breville Bambino Plus rancilio silvia Most of the people I asked said Bezzera or gaggia What is your final opinion?
I ended up returning the bambino back to Amazon and getting a Gaggia since that one can be repaired, unlike the Breville. Now I’m searching for a good grinder
Man it seems Gaggias need more repair than any. I didn't heard something the same about bambino. Which it means it needs less repair. Good luck with repair bro.
It’s not a commercialish style machine where it’s made with dense steel and more repairable but I think the bambino is reasonably well made and will probably last a decent amount of years for the price
@@oo5068 yeah if you want to do a 5 pound bag send me an email directly at j.a.varacalli@gmail.com and send me your address and if you PayPal send 52 bucks to that same address
Yeah open the steam valve while pulling a shot. You will have to put a cup under the steam wand as water comes out but it’s a good way of doing it. Down side is the boiler is small so u can my do much more then three seconds without sacrificing temperature loss
Yes right around 11:30 I mention that it’s considered I said that if this had all the things I put on it I’d give it an 8 instead of a seven. 100 or so bucks between espresso machines in my opinion are priced similar. percentages matter I agree but I also say it’s cheaper and come to the conclusion that the bambino is the better buy.
Pretty good comparison but the espresso taste test was really faulty. Your recipe needs to be the same for both e.g. 15g in, 30g out which is a standard 2:1 ratio. Your gaggia shot was 15g in, 43g out which is around 3:1 your breville shot was 15g in, 38g out which is 2.5:1 So of course the gaggia shot tasted overextracted (and the breville tasted better). Pull both of them at the same ratio to see if there's a difference - my hypothesis is that you won't find any difference between them.
Friendly WARNING..... Please do not recommend removal of the plastic from Bambino´s portafilter. The included portafilter is probably made of aluminium alloy. Coffee as a higher acidity liquid should not be poured over aluminium for healthy reasons ;) Its even worse then plastic :( The plastic is there not to direct the flow of coffee, but to avoid touching the aluminium material.....
Hmmmmm that’s a pretty good point. I think the most important thing is get rid of that crappy portafilter for a good one either a bottomless or a stainless steal
@@JoeyVaracalli Yes, exactly :) It should probably be the first step while buying these cheaper "appliances". That means lowering the price difference between these by $50-$70. As far as I know - portafilter on Gaggia is already a chrome platted brass out of the box - correct me if wrong..... :)
Okay Joe, you know there's really no comparison between these two. The Bambino, in out of the box condition, cannot make decent espresso. I have a new GCP and with a couple of low cost mods performs along with machines three times its price. The Bambino really can't be improved or easily repaired. It is aimed at the espresso curious and the Gaggia the aficionado.
You may have never heard of a dimmer mod but it’s not very hard to install and that gives you flow profiling. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8s8_amfne40.html
