The Saeco Magic is a line of espresso machines put out by the Italian company Saeco. Don’t you just live the way I start off my articles with maximum redundancy? Mind you, not everyone knows that and I like to imagine that my reader is either new to coffee or has a beginning understanding of coffee, coffee products, coffee preparation and coffee machines in general.
Saeco as mentioned before is an Italian company focusing primarily on espresso machines and other kitchen appliances and they’re headquartered in Bologna. Not a particularly old company, they were only founded in 1981, but they came out swinging pretty strong. They were the first company to offer a fully automatic espresso machine for home use. This was back in 1985. They bought out the Gaggia brand in 1999 and they themselves were brought in the Philips fold in 2009.
Following in the tradition of building great automatic espresso machines is the Saeco magic line which is really what this post is all about. So without further ado, let’s take a look at some of these machines.
A short history of the Saeco Magic
The Saeco magic were first introduced in 1994. The Saeco magic cappuccino machine offers the features that you’d come to expect in an espresso machine at fairly reasonable prices. Depending on the model that you’re going to buy, you are probably looking at anywhere from $200 all the way up to $1000. Also depending on where you can find the best deal.
In the very entry level Saeco magic espresso machine, you don’t get the grinder. Now for me, that is not a big deal, but it depends what you’re looking for. Personally, I like to use a portafilter and a burr grinder so that I can control the coffee grind as well as the pressure of the coffee grinds in the portafilter for my own finesse. But if you are looking for ease of use and hassle free hands off ability then you’ll want to choose an automatic Saeco magic cappuccino maker. However, with the basic model, you get an easy to recognize light system that lets you know when the machine is ready to brew and ready to steam. Saeco’s Pannarello wand is good for both frothing and providing hot water for teas and such. The portafilter will also take both espresso pods of the ESE kind or ground coffee, and that is a nice feature.
Top of the line Saeco Magic
The Saeco magic de luxe is one of the fully automatic machines that does everything for you at the press of a button. One touch for perfect espresso or cappuccinos is very handy. In around 30 seconds, the Saeco magic deluxe will grind, tamp, brew and then dump the espresso pucks so that all you have to do is empty the grounds into your compost bin after a while. Also, and this isn’t the case with many of the espresso makers, but the Saeco magic deluxe is made in Italy. I’m sorry to say this, and it is a generalization, but in my experience, I have found that products that are made in Western Europe, North America or Australia/New Zealand seem to be of better quality. And Saeco backs this up with a 2 year overall warranty with an additional 3 years on the removable brew group.
The Saeco magic deluxe also has a variety of other cool features. The top tray will keep your espresso cups warm. You can adjust the fineness of the grind and you can also choose the amount of ground coffee you want from 6 grams to 9 grams and along with this you can choose the size of cup you want to use all the way up to 10 ounces or 300 milliliters. The bean hopper is also of a decent size, holding around 12 ounces or 340 grams. Though it would be great to see a 16 ounce hopper so you could dump a whole bag of beans in it. But that’s a small complaint. The water reservoir is also of a great size at 82 ounces or almost 2.5 liters. Frankly, with the Pannarello wand, you can do away with your kettle as it will provide on demand hot water.
This machine is easy to clean with the removable brew group and it sits on a swivel base so it is easier to get to. All in all, this is a great looking machine but is also fully featured at a great price. I’m tempted to get one for myself. I’d like to try it out on a more permanent basis, but from what I’ve seen and used and heard of my friends Saeco Magic, you shouldn’t be too disappointed if this is your choice.