Anyways, happy to answer any questions. I still wonder if the Oracle Touch would be the better machine for me, but I look forward to playing with the Accademia a bit more. I think in a perfect world I would have a full manual machine and a super automatic, but I only have so much counter space!

Here's a little fun fact for you re Crema. While this now is something largely revered by coffee lovers, that's down to clever marketing – and this beloved foam on the top of espresso we now know as crema was once referred to as “coffee scum” and thought of as potentially a downside to this higher pressure extraction. Crema on Espresso. Photo Credit: Di Bella Coffee A knob on the front of the coffee dispensing spout allows you to adjust the body and crema of the espresso. There are three levels to choose from and apart from the knob above the bean hopper to adjust the grind size, it’s the only adjustment you can make that’s not via the touch screen menu.

Brew at low, medium, or high temperatures depending on your beans’ roast level or personal preference. We recommend using higher temperatures for light roasts and lower for dark roasts. 7. Five Strength Settings It's fair to say that Gaggia purely make coffee machines and that they have a much longer history in coffee. While Gaggia invented modern espresso, DeLonghi started out as a manufacturer of portable heaters and air conditioners and then moved into a wide range of household appliances, coffee machines being just one of their areas of expertise, and their first coffee machine was released in 1990. It’s a big and imposing machine though at 11.1” by 15.2” by 16.5” (width x height x depth). So it’s going to dominate your countertop. You also need to be aware of any cabinets you have above the machine for ease of access to the bean hopper and water tank. Being able to decide on the strength of your coffee from the standard single shot of 7g, up to 11g I do think is a good feature, and it's very simple to toggle between these three by simply turning the dial to either 1 bean (7g), 2 bean (9g) or 3 bean (11g).

The new Accademia blows the Babila out of the water in our opinion and is absolutely worth the extra investment. Gaggia Accademia vs DeLonghi Eletta ExploreAnother fantastic feature of the Gaggia Academia is the possibility to tweak your beverage to fine details. You can adjust your cup either before brewing, or even during the brewing everything from milk quantity to brew length, temperature or strength for each drink individually. This is actually a really clever feature that Gaggia don't talk that much about in a lot of their blurb. The Gaggia bean to cup machines have an inbuilt mechanism that allows them to detect the pressure required to auto tamp the coffee prior to pulling the shot, and the machines learn from this and apply this to the next shot.