Gaggia Anima Super-Automatic Espresso Machine

Owning the Gaggia Anima

The Gaggia Anima is tall and thin, with extra-high adjustable spouts for those sleepy-eyed mornings when you need a cup with breakfast and a travel mug to go. This super-automatic brews espressos and longos to your exact specifications at the press of a button, while frothing for milk drinks is done manually using the steam wand. Gaggia made steaming simple, too, integrating their patented pannarello wand into the Anima, which automatically aerates the milk for you. Its intuitive programming menu is easy to navigate, and we love how much freedom there is to personalize drinks. You can select your preferred temperature across three settings, and the grind size is adjustable across five settings, coffee strength, too. An integrated bypass doser allows for pre-ground coffee brewing, perfect for guests who prefer their coffee decaffeinated. The Gaggia Adapting System is the brains behind the grinding operation; learning how fast to spin those ceramic burrs and how hard to tamp for the first fifteen or so brews, with revolutionary results in the cup. Given Gaggia’s legacy and rich history, we’re not surprised at the richness of the Anima’s brews, but we are impressed.

The Anima is as easy to maintain as it is to use, with its intuitive maintenance alerts, automated descaling cycle, and, of course, Gaggia’s removable brew group, which can be slid out of place and cleaned by hand. Additionally, you can install a Mavea Intenza water filter in the Anima’s 1.7 L water reservoir to preserve your coffee’s taste and the machine’s longevity. In all, we think the Anima is an aesthetically beautiful machine with a lot of the features we crave in a super-automatic. If you’re a big fan of milk-based drinks and want an auto-frothing version, not to worry! The Anima line features a Deluxe model with an integrated cappuccinatore, a Prestige model with a removable carafe, and even a dual hopper XL version perfect for an entertainer or espresso-loving office.