Gloria Jeans G-79 Duo

Avoid the G79 from GJ's!!! – Often you only find out how good something is when it goes bad. Sad to say it started leaking water from inside the top and could not be used ( for fear of electricity short). Returned weeks ago after chasing GJ's service line ony to be left hanging for weeks with no machine and no response.( we are not the only ones). If they could get on top of this issue the machine would suit someone who likes a full manual machine. It worked once you learnt its traits - coffee grind, tamp pressure. Quick to reach temp/pressure. Easy to clean routine. Leaked water where the power goes! Now poor service/back up reveals lack of committment to customer.

Ideal for home - needs some finess – I purchased one of these after hunting and hunting for a reasonably priced commercial sized manual machine, not a fan of pods, I enjoy the manual side of espresso. The price is unbeatable in terms of value for money, the commercial size head and components make the small faults worth tolerating. It did take some time to get the grind right, I scored a GAGGIA bur grinder from TARGET for under $50, and it's a very good (but loud) grinder, with advice from my very helpful GJ owner I got the blend right pretty quick and was producing good coffee - the friend who suggested the machine runs a cafe and is very finicky about his coffee, he absolutely loves it.

I'm yet to trial other baskets, but being a commercial sized unit, quality filters might be worth investing in. The tamp supplied is a small light plastic unit that doesn't really fit the basket properly, and it makes all the difference as well, if you're going to purchase a G79, buy a tamp with it straight away, it will make getting your grind right even easier.

In terms of the physical machine, it's footprint is small and is not obtrusive in my very small kitchen, if anything it's a bit light which can make locking in the head a bit difficult.

The only other thing I can really fault is the tank size, 3 good coffees and a clean and you're re-filling the machine again.

For the home enthusiast who is keen to get their good coffee of a morning it's unbeatable value for money. Go in and feel the weight of the Group head, and then head out and see what you can find for similar value. Great Value for money, Quality Group head, Commercial sizes Water tank too small, Tamp too flimsy.

Not a step up - a step across maybe more accurate – Firstly I would like to say my motivation for writing this review is that I could not find a review of any dependable kind for this machine prior to purchase - and I wish I did ! My wife and I saw this machine in all its bright red shiny glory and like moths to a light we were sucked in. The staff even made us a test coffee and after alot of buggerising about it actually tasted OK so we bought one with a few added goodies thrown in (fathers day special) for $450 from Gloria Jeans, including their pods which proved to be the deal maker (below)

This machine looks good and makes pretty nice pod coffee (very nice, actually, if you like the Mocha Java) but I have had no end of trouble doing a manual shot because the machine is hyper sensitive to grind fineness. In trialling the right coffee grind, I have found that a grind number at any Gloria Jeans shop for example will produce a marginally different particle size which makes a world of difference in this machine. I believe it is because the filter basket is so porous that the coffee will just drop through the compacted grain bed without the necessary resistance to produce a proper espresso if you use anything higher than a setting of about 2.0 (GJ number) and not 4 as is recommended. Alternatively, you could do this: cover the filter floor with 1/2 shot of coarser material (4 say) then overlay with a shot of 1.5 - 2 and compact, just like making a soil drain. You will have plenty of different ground coffees around for this experiment if you play around as much as I have.

I did a side by side test with my old Sunbeam Cafe Espresso ($179) and the Sunbeam is definitely a more forgiving machine and able to handle a wider range of coffee grinds. The three people who took part in my blind test were either way but one was a bogan so he was disqualified.

Anyway, if you buy this machine, expect to do alot of experimentation, get your own grinder perhaps (I did), buy some GJ pods (so you know what to aim for, but a bit stronger). I love good home coffee and wont be beaten so I will play around with it till I get it right (2 months and counting...) looks good, makes great pod coffee, steam wand pretty good, really good service from GJ's hyper sensitive to grind fineness, small reservoir, silly temperature gauge