Introduction
The gaggia cadorna prestige offers a full color screen display, with 14 pre-programmed drinks and options to create up to 4 user profiles for you and your friend’s personal drinks. An integrated milk frothing system with carafe is offered, which Gaggia states it delivers ideally textured milk every time. Gaggia is a renowned brand and has more than 80 years experience in the coffee world.
Let’s take a good look at the performance and features including the tech. I mention both positive and negative in this review. By the end you should know if the Cadorna prestige is really worth its price tag or not and essentially if it’s for you!
Specifications – gaggia cadorna prestige
| Brand | Gaggia |
| Dimensions | 10.2″D x 17.3″W x 15″H |
| Cup Clearance height | 6 inches |
| Color | Anthracite |
| User Interface | Full color TFT display + backlit buttons |
| Special Feature | Programmable (14 Pre-programmed beverages) |
| Grinder | Burr type (10 settings) |
| Boiler | Stainless Steel |
| Specific Uses For Product | Ristretto, espresso, espresso lungo, coffee, americano, cappuccino, cappuccino XL, cafe au lait, cafe cortado, latte macchiato, latte macchiato XL, flat white, frothed milk, hot water |
| Recommended Uses For Product | Home Coffee and Espresso Beverages |
| Coffee Maker Type | Espresso Machine |
| Operational Mode | Fully Automatic |
| Filter Type | Mavea Intenza |
| Capacity | 60.8 Fluid Ounces |
| Material | Plastic |
| Item Weight | 21 Pounds |
| Wattage | 1400 Watts |
| Integrated Milk Frothing system | Yes |
| Accessories included | Included components: Espresso Machine, Milk Carafe, Group Lubricant, Grinder Adjustment Key/Scoop, Water Filter, Water Hardness Test Strip |
| Place of manufacture | Made in Italy |
| Best Place to Buy | Buy on Amazon (US) |
Build Quality – gaggia cadorna prestige
The main component is the main brew unit which is robustly formed from aluminum and lined with steel. The body shell of the main machine unit is heavy duty plastic. The cadorna prestige is designed in Italy and is aesthetically pleasing to the eye and nicely formed. The backlit buttons and display are rather striking too.
Performance and Features – gaggia cadorna prestige
14 pre-programmed drinks
There are many drinks on tap with just one touch. In all there are 14 drinks programmed already in the cadorna prestige including Cappucino, macchiato, Amerciano, Lattes and much more. There’s good option for customization of those drinks too, with which you can adjust temperature, body volume of froth-milk and strength of coffee. Then you simply save those settings for future use.
User Profiles
If you have others that live with you, that drink, you can set up to 4 profiles. So you have yours stored and theirs stored separately. Plus you may wish that your preferences be protected and not lost every time someone else uses the machine! I believe the user profiles option is one of the main strengths of the cadorna prestige.
Integrated milk frother
Gaggia is known for its high standards of its frothing systems. The cadorna prestige is no exception and delivers wonderfully silky froth-milk. User feedback states this system is reliable and well performing.
What’s quite impressive is after each use of the milk-frother, the system cleans itself. This stresses the durability and so inspires confidence in your machine’s long lifespan.
Ceramic Grinder
The grinder is a burr type with a ceramic form. It’s tough and long lasting too. Part of the advantage using a ceramic grinder, is there’s less friction and heat build up. This can can result in some heating of beans which can impair flavor. There’s plenty of scope for experimentation, as the grinder has 10 settings of grinding. This offers enough control over your espresso.
TFT display
The color display is large and easy to read. It’s a button affair and not a touchscreen, which I personally prefer. That aside there are enough positive reaction to the button controls in the way users find more engaging an experience to use and more substantial. The screen positions at a slanted upward degree, so when machine is under your kitchen unit, you are looking down at the correct angle to controls.
The display itself does not have an overload of controls. It’s simplified and has backlit buttons. This illumination is a nice touch, as it’s handy in low-lighting and enhances readability of the controls.
Optiaroma
This option is really impressive. You get to choose from 5 settings of aroma strength and this coupled with water temperature and size of your grind, brings the brew quality close to some high end manual operating coffee machines(if using good fresh beans and filtered water)
Espresso Tray
The cadorna prestige comes with an espresso tray, which neatly slides out to hold your drink.
Pre-Brewing
The cadorna prestige offers pre-infusion, to aid extraction of aromas to reach full potential. This function is actually quite uncommon on this level machine. Normally this is standard on mainly top-end machines.
Coffee bean container
The coffee bean container is on the smaller side however, but suffices.
Detachable/washable main part
The main brew part that takes the brunt of the work, can be removed from the machine unit. Then you can clean or service it. What is great about this access to the main part, is that it’s very easy to wash. Same goes with the water container and drip tray.
Boiler
The boiler has a sound build with an aluminum form, which has a lining of stainless steel. The boiler is fast heating and boasts a ready-to-brew heat up time of just 60 seconds.
Maintenance
General maintenance is straight forward. As said above the elements of drip tray and water container need to be cleaned at end of week, which only takes you some minutes of your time. They must be dried off too. Clean the main brew part using cleaning tablets, specifically for coffee, once every month. If the machine tells you to de-scale, then don’t leave it for another day. Clean the burr grinder about once every 8 weeks.
Lastly change the water filter regularly and clean milk-froth carafe with ‘circuit cleaner’ for milk. Making these regular cleaning cycles should prolong the lifespan of your machine considerably. Then also coffee should consistently stay at the machine’s optimum quality. I wouldn’t suggest washing any parts in your dishwasher though.
Pros and Cons – gaggia cadorna prestige
Pros
- Integrated grinder and milk-froth system
- Superb tasting Espresso along with excellent Crema
- Simultaneous Brewing even at full strength
- Wonderful Cappuccino blending potential
- Easy to use button controls
- 14 Pre-programmable drinks
- 4-user profile creator
- Full color TFT screen
- 6″ max cup height allowance
- Easy to maintain
Cons
- Slightly small bean container
- Can be a little chore to change grind levels(but worth it after a few days of imminent cursing)
- The water container can be a little stubborn to get in or out(solution: food-safe lubricant, which comes supplied with the machine)
- No Steam-wand
- No touchscreen maybe an issue for some
Final Verdict – Is the gaggia cadorna prestige worth it?
Let’s start by saying the candorna prestige is not those who wish to do stuff manually.
If you wish for a machine that will make you 14 drinks you’ll find at a restaurant or cafe, you have that at one touch of a button. You get an easy to use friendly interface. Buttons are intuitive to use and are backlit. I really like the function which allows you to store your own coffee brew preferences. Everything is automated which kicks out the fuss of manual. If you want to quickly get your coffee brew and be done with it, whilst you set to your work or play, this is your machine. It’s also ideal for those who don’t want to turn a coffee machine into a time consuming hobby(which for many is indeed naturally satisfying and rewarding)so happy days for both parties.
The grinder settings will take a few days to sort out to your liking, as you need to experiment with different beans essentially. After-which you’ll find your brews are much more consistent, in terms of aroma potential. Plus you’ll be far less likely to get watery coffee!(we all know what it tastes like)
There’s also a surprising lack of noise from the cadorna prestige when in operation, namely the normal culprit; the grinder. It’s positively quieter than many of its rivals, so less chance of waking anyone up when first up in the morning!
Closing thoughts – gaggia cadorna prestige
The Gaggia Cadorna Prestige is a super-automatic espresso machine that matches its price with enough performance, really handy features, easiness of operation and maintenance. The styling of the machine is indicative and typical to Italian design prowess.
If you can excuse the smaller bean container, a bit of experimentation with the grinder, you or any coffee drinkers you invite around will be happy indeed.
Specifications – gaggia cadorna prestige
| Brand | Gaggia |
| Dimensions | 10.2″D x 17.3″W x 15″H |
| Cup Clearance height | 6 inches |
| Color | Anthracite |
| User Interface | Full color TFT display + backlit buttons |
| Special Feature | Programmable (14 Pre-programmed beverages) |
| Grinder | Burr type (10 settings) |
| Boiler | Stainless Steel |
| Specific Uses For Product | Ristretto, espresso, espresso lungo, coffee, americano, cappuccino, cappuccino XL, cafe au lait, cafe cortado, latte macchiato, latte macchiato XL, flat white, frothed milk, hot water |
| Recommended Uses For Product | Home Coffee and Espresso Beverages |
| Coffee Maker Type | Espresso Machine |
| Operational Mode | Fully Automatic |
| Filter Type | Mavea Intenza |
| Capacity | 60.8 Fluid Ounces |
| Material | Plastic |
| Item Weight | 21 Pounds |
| Wattage | 1400 Watts |
| Integrated Milk Frothing system | Yes |
| Accessories included | Included components: Espresso Machine, Milk Carafe, Group Lubricant, Grinder Adjustment Key/Scoop, Water Filter, Water Hardness Test Strip |
| Place of manufacture | Made in Italy |
| Best Place to Buy | Buy on Amazon (US) |
Thanks for Reading my gaggia cadorna prestige Review. I hope you found it helpful!
(All images courtesy of Gaggia)