If you're looking for great coffee from an affordable bean-to-cup machine, Gaggia's Naviglio Black is the one to beat

 

Manual espresso machines generally give the best results, but they also require the most effort. At the other end of the scale, fully-automatic bean-to-cup machines do everything for you, but completely remove you from the coffee making process. A good alternative is a bean-to-cup machine, such as the Gaggia Naviglio, which automatically grinds the coffee beans and delivers a cup of espresso, but has a manual milk frother so you can still exercise your inner Barista - and you can even dabble with a bit of latte art, if that takes your fancy.

Build quality

Although the Naviglio is Gaggia's entry-level bean-to-cup coffee machine, it's still very well made and feels robust. Admittedly, it is plasticky and it's not the most exciting looking machine, but it's not offensive and it's small enough to sit unobtrusively tucked out of the way. Everything important is accessible from the front of the coffee machine, including the used coffee grinds drawer and the pull-out water tank. You can fit a filter to the water tank

Gaggia Naviglio review: Ease of use

This is one of the easiest machines you can use to make a proper coffee. First you pour the beans into the hopper on top, which can take up to a regular bag of coffee (around 250g) at a time. From here, you simply have to choose between a shot of espresso or a longer coffee - and if you want two drinks you can hit the two cup button. Press the relevant button and the machine whirs into action, grinds the beans and starts pouring the drinks. Naviglio does have some adjustments available, which allow you adjust the grind size and manually select your preferred coffee strength.

Grind size is always the first place to start when it comes to fine-tuning flavour. There's also a coffee strength dial on the front that lets you manually set how strong you want your coffee. I found that option two worked best for the Expert Reviews test beans and my own personal preference.

Gaggia Naviglio review: Milk drinks

If you want to froth milk and make different styles of drink, you need to use the manual steamer wand. As this machine has a single boiler, it takes the Naviglio a little while to get up to steam temperature. There's also no dial or tap to control it, so steam is dispensed at a single, constant speed. It took a little bit of practice with this system to get milk the way I wanted it, but with a milk thermometer in a jug, I soon had the rich and fluffy milk that I wanted. The quality of the resultant latte was very good indeed.

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Pros 

Affordable, Good quality espresso, Easy to use

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Cons 

Lacks subtlety of much pricier machines, Grind size adjustment tool is easy to lose

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Technical Specifications:

Dimensions (HxWxD): 340x440x256mm

Maximum mug height: 110mm

Water capacity: 1.5L

Pump Pressure: 15 bar

Cup warmer: Yes

Milk Frothing: Yes

Coffee Grinding: Yes

Grind setting: 3

Number of Boiler: 1