Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Update Dec 2014. Fixed spelling errors (thank you) added a few comments here. Had this machine a while now. Initially was concerned of flimsy plastic parts. Happy to report the Brera is holding up well with daily use with no operational issues. A few new observations: a) The metal part of the steam wand under the rubber will become coated (plated) with baked-on milk. Nothing seems to prevent this, just a bit of a tedious cleaning required periodically. b) The "descaling cycle" is nothing more than running descaler through the machine, waiting and flushing. c) I have the settings dialed in to our liking, with the finest grind possible. The biggest variable is the coffee beans. Experiment and find something fresh and not too oily. d) Water container is indeed small. You'll fill it every day. Minor inconvenience, and is a tradeoff of small counter space. I'd buy this again and recommend to friends looking for inexpensive way to get an automatic espresso machine. -------------- Bought the Brera as an upgrade from a Saeco Vienna which I have used daily for about 5 years. Although, the Vienna is a "low end" super-auto-espresso machine with minimal extra features, it is a durable simple design and makes quite adequate espresso. I've made literally thousands of espresso's with the Vienna; it just works. I've worn out the grinder teeth again (easily repairable), but decided to try a different machine. The family_jewel of all these Saeco machines (Saeco makes Gaggia too), is the brew group mechanism. There are minor variations, but the brew group is the core of the design, and it's pretty obvious the Vienna brew group and the Gaggia Brera brew group are functionally identical. So, why pay_up for anything other than a Vienna? Simply, convenience features, styling. Examples of what the Brera does that the Vienna doesn't: 1. In the Brera, the current bean grind is the one you're brewing. The Vienna "stores" one or 2 grinds internally, so the current brew is 2-3 grinds old. Not a big deal if you're making lots of Espresso, but if you're a one latte in the morning person, you get yesterdays ground beans in the Vienna. Plus-1 for the Brera, and my biggest complaint about the Vienna. Still, you can work around this. 2. Bypass doser. Allows one time insertion of another grind instead of using beans in the hopper. Vienna just cant do this, and it's only been an issue at parties when someone wanted decaf. Semi-important to me. Brera has this, so another plus there 3. Steam/brew switchover. Vienna has one boiler, so there's a "procedure" to switch over from steaming mode to brew mode. Takes some time, but doesn't affect the final outcome. Brera has two boilers allowing switching from steam to brew quickly. Another Brera plus, but it's purely convenience. 4. Self rinsing. Brera trickles a bit of clean hot water through the brew system at startup and shutdown to flush out remains of your last brew. This is nice. Vienna doesn't do this, but I always rinse all pieces after every use anyhow. Minor plus for Brera for me. Can give consistent better taste if you don't clean often. 5. Better software. Huh? For example, the grind dosage on the Vienna is either preset, or you tune it carefully (manually) to match your beans. Lots of trial and error, but you can definitely "dial it in" if you're careful. The Brera attempts to set the grind dosage automatically by monitoring the grinder motor and other parameters in real time. This appears to work and is another Brera convenience. 6. Brera is pretty. Vienna is ugly. What's the bottom line? Brera makes good espresso with little user knowledge required, set the grind to fine and just push the brew button. Vienna can make good espresso if you take some time to learn espresso science a bit. Both can make equally good espresso, it's just much easier to get consistent good results with the Brera. Some downsides of the Brera: Cup height. I can't brew directly into my latte mugs on the Brera as the dispenser is lower. No big deal, but an inconvenience for me. Water tank. Yes, it's too small. I find myself checking/adding water often. Not a deal breaker, just another thing to do. Materials and build quality. This is my biggest issue with the Brera. Yes, it works. But the construction materials are flimsy. The brew group door doesn't fit well. The drip tray is flimsy (I know I'm going to break it). I'm quite skeptical this thing will hold up for 5 years of everyday use without something peeling/breaking. I hope to be proven wrong. Recommendation: If you're looking for the absolute least expensive way to make good espresso with a super automatic machine (grinder+steam+brew), get the Vienna and do a bit of research about how to set it up. It's built like a military tank. It's bullet proof. Kind of ugly, but it works, even with it's quirks. If you don't want to be bothered fine tuning the espresso process, then skip this. The Brera is among the next least expensive Saeco products and you don't have to think much to get good espresso. If $ isn't your driving issue, the Brera is nice, but I'd spend-up and hunt for a machine with better build quality. For me, spending $1000+ is too much (philosophically) to allocate for a "coffee machine", but that's what you may have to do. Be aware this a luxury category product, and you have to pay-up to get the good stuff. I gave the Brera 4 stars because of ease of use features and it's price point. Even though this isn't an inexpensive device, it's priced near the low end in this category. Other advice: If you are willing to learn about the science of the espresso process, and you demand the best espresso possible on earth, you may want to skip over all of the super automatic machines. Espresso aficionados will tell you to buy a stand alone grinder, stand alone frother, and a manual brewing machine. More effort, and not for everyone. Just be aware there's another reality of espresso excellence. Just my opinions, ...bill