Gaggia RI8141 Viva Espresso

The Gaggia RI8141 Viva espresso coffee machine is an excellent bargain buy. It has the capacity to make two cups of delicious coffee simultaneously, so if you’re entertaining or have two favourite mugs and hate to decide between them in the morning, this machine will suit your needs. This is a good option if you don’t want to get too extravagant with your appliance purchase but demand a well-rounded machine.

I must admit I was taken aback by such good specs at such a low price, for around the £100 mark you get a bean grinder, milk steamer and cup warmer. If you look around, this machine is almost half the price of its nearest competitor.

The Gaggia RI8141 Viva has an industry standard 15 bar precision engineered pump, perfect for those intense espressos, with the built in bean grinder you’ll get the freshest tasting coffee ground to perfection for a truly outstanding cup of coffee. The Gaggia RI8141’s steam wand is a real added bonus; with a bit of practice this coffee maker can produce some outstanding cappuccinos. The design is very simple: it’ll blend in nicely in most kitchens and it has a standard Gaggia layout, so if you’ve ever used any of their machines before we’re certain you can pick it up quickly.

There are a couple of minor issues with the Gagga RI8141 Viva, but once you bear in mind the competetive pricing, these tend to take a backseat. A lot of people look for a firm coffee machine, with the expectation of buying a lesser cousin of the mammoths you find in chain coffee stores. Unfortunately this machine leans towards flimsiness in its feel. A strong breeze isn’t likely to send it flying off the shelf, but a coffee machine should be your rock, but this one isn’t quite as solid as you might expect. To top up the water reservoir you need to remove it from the back which is quite a flaw in design because you have to turn it around to fill it up.