Any one seen, used, or own the Gaggia Achille?
That's the machine pictured above.
I like the 58 mm Group.

ciao

lino

What kind of collection are you starting. You've been poking around every strange machine that I look at.....or are you just doing research?

Don't really know what kind of collection you'd call it, maybe research is a good term...
Anyway, now I've got both a LaPeppina and a MicroCimbali on the way.

I was also very impressed with the pics of JonR10's Mini Gaggia, I'd like to find one of those too. Looking on the gaggia site is where I found the Achille, just before that pic was posted. Cant find much about it though. Spring or not, etc....
Found it on German review site at one point, but I haven't studied German for years and Ich habe es alle vergessen, so that didn't help much. Doubt I could find the site again anyway.

I plan to apply for an LMWDP membership number soon (waiting for my preferred #), even though I try to strictly adhere to the "Groucho Marx Principal"*

ciao

lino


* For those unfamiliar, Groucho Marx said he would never join a club that would have him as a member. On the other hand, regarding his "Principles", he also said: "Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others"

As near as I can tell the Achille is only available in Europe. I can only find it on European online stores. On the Gaggia website it is listed until you go to the after sales centre and America is not listed. To further support this it only comes in 220V (230-240V). When you go to the Gaggia worldwide page and select USA only one source, the master importer, is listed http://www.importika.com/products.htm and they do not list the Achille. This is unfortunate. I have been waiting patiently for quite some time for this machine to become available in the US. It retails in Europe for about 750 Euros or ~$900 US. This is a very good price for a machine with the features that the Achille sports. It just remains to be seen if it performs. I can't wait to get some information or a review or two on it. EsprossoCoffeeShop has it on sale for $767.10 with free shipping until Sept. 9. http://www.espressocoffeeshop.com...aggia_achille.html I guess you can work out the voltage issue after it arrives.

Lino, did you buy one of the 2 Micro Cimbalis that recently sold on Ebay item numbers 4401706453 and 4401224350?

P.S. If you go to the Gaggia Master Distributors website--importika--you will see a major error on the main page. They make a patently false statement about Gaggia history "Achille Gaggia patented the first electric pump driven system in 1938 to become the Father of the Modern Espresso Machine." About 1938 Gaggia purchase the rights to a patent for a screw piston group from Sr. Cremonesi that applied about 8-10 bar of pressure to the coffee producing the first modern crema espresso. In about 1946 he began producing lever piston machines, patented it in 1947, and introduced it in 1948. After Cremonesi's death Gaggia had to share the patent rights and pay royalties to the widow of Cremonesi because the two designs were similar and used a piston for extraction. A hair dryer manufacturing company called Valente produced the parts for his machines. Later Valente decided to go into the Espresso machine building business for themselves as Faema and Gaggia then set up a factory with Sr. Capsoni as engineer to make complete machines--The Gaggia Company. Faema introduced the first modern pump driven espresso machine in 1960. Giovanni Achille Gaggia died a year later in 1961.

Yeah, I got the ebay one that ended second, don't remember the #. It also *appeared* to be in the better condition of the two.

I think one could get ahold of the Gaggia with a little effort, and I'm not really worried about the voltage too much. Right now, I can't really justify the cost of it, even though you appear to get alot for your money.

ciao

lino

Guys, I struggled to see what you do get for the money with the Achille. I like the way it looks but perhaps due to its rarity it looks like it costs about £600 here in the UK. In comparison you can bring in a Europiccola for £300 or the Pro for a little more (all chromed) and an Elektra Micro Casa for just over £500. The Achille's 58mm filter basket caught my attention but the capacity seemed to be 0.8L as per a Europiccola and I couldn't see a lot beyond that other than unique styling.

By all means correct me and I can add it to my APDS (acquisition, provery and despair syndrome)!

I believe that was intended to be a direct replacement for the 'Factory' which was made by Pavoni for Gaggia and discontinued the first of this year. The 58mm PF would be nice, the Factory uses a 51mm. 0.8L, that is bit small, my Factory is around 1.5L.

hi everyone,

been a lurker around here for a while and finally figured I should join since I'm awaiting the arrival of my first lever machine - a mini Gaggia or miniG as I've already nicknamed.

Anyhow I just wanted to add that I believe the allure of the Achille is the HX and thermosyphon features. You can apparently use the machine without it overheating and it has the 58mm pf. You can actually download the instruction manual from the gaggia site. I'm certainly no expert on the machine (so I could be wrong on the features I just listed) but I posted a similar inquiry over on CG a few days ago and that was the general consensus.

Au revoir!

Nicci

I see a fantastic value in the Achille. In addition to the 58mm portafilter it has a removable .8 litre cold water tank that continually fills the boiler to keep better temperature stability which reduces or eliminates the overheating issue. In fact, Gaggia claims that the Achille is an "advanced lever-operated Espresso machine that makes one cup after another without pause." It also has a removable cup warming tray. I really miss the cup warming tray on my Pasquini Livia 90. Also, it has a 1250 Watt boiler--wow--that must heat up quickly. They do not state the boiler size, but it looks as big as the Elektra. The .8 litres in the cold water supply tank would effectively add to the shot pulling capacity of the machine as if it had a boiler .8 litres larger. To me this could be the machine to beat. For $900, the price of an Elektra or LaPavoni, you have a machine that competes with the Cremina at $2200 by reducing or eliminating the overheating issue. The Cremina may still be better built, but for those of us that cannot afford a new Cremina for $2200, we may be able to afford $900 for the Achille.

I had an early prototype back when I worked for Gaggia UK, about a year or more ago.

I never really got on with the La Pavoni machines for various reasons.

The Achille is a much easier machine that produced far better results. The 58mm pf is a good thing as was the lever action. I'm not sure how it works (not very technical myself I'm afraid) but the lever requires a certain pressure to depress it regardless of resistance. Using the same grind as my two group commercial, and the same dose, I got lovely espresso from it. The heat exchange system works pretty well, and brew water is constantly refillable. Obviously steam is pressurised and you have to cool and drain the machine before refilling.

It was the nicest domestic lever machine I've used, but still a little too expensive for my tastes. (Says the man with the La Spaziale S1 at home....)