For a fully automatic espresso machine at home, there is something about the Gaggia Cadorna Prestige vs Saeco Picobaristo that will convince you to look nowhere else. Both Gaggia and Saeco are reputable brands for espresso machines. And their fully-automatic line-up for home brewers is great.
You have the ability to touch and brew multiple coffee drinks in seconds! And the added convenience of using a milk carafe to froth and store milk before and after use.
The Gaggia Cadorna Prestige is the lower-priced competitor but the Saeco Picobaristo has more followers! It is $300 more expensive than the Gaggia but it features a larger fan-following for its superior build quality.
Having said that, what you decide should not be based on the product’s popularity. Let’s look at the features, compare them, and finally find your ideal pick.
Gaggia Cadorna Prestige vs Saeco Picobaristo: Comparision Chart
Last update on 2023-03-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Gaggia Cadorna Prestige vs Saeco Picobaristo: Differences
Fortunately, it’s a tie between the Gaggia Cadorna Prestige vs Saeco Picobaristo. The reason is that both are great fully automatic espresso machines. The Gaggia is good for its feature-rich design while the Saeco is sturdier and has a stronger build quality. So you can’t go wrong with either one if you really want to know!
1. Espresso Flavor
The Winner: Gaggia Cadorna Prestige
Programmable Drinks
With a higher number of pre-programmed coffees, the Gaggia Cadorna Prestige wins against the Saeco Picobaristo. In fact, it also wins on another level in that you can save up to 4 personalized coffees.
The Saeco Picobaristo offers 11 coffee varieties with no pre-set profiling system that lets you save customized drinks the way you want to.
While both machines offer barista-quality results, having a few more extra drinks on the table is a good thing. The Prestige brings espresso and milk-based drinks to new heights. Each drink is customizable, quickly and effectively, to suit your personal, individual taste.
And speaking of programmability, both machines offer adjustable coffee strength, temperature, and volume settings. So you have nothing more to worry about even if you crave a bit more control over the important variables of brewing coffee.
2. Ergonomics
The Winner: It’s a Tie!
Material
The Gaggia Cadorna Prestige is made up of fewer stainless steel parts than the Saeco Picobaristo. So it has more ABS plastic which does strip away some of its durability and sturdiness.
The Saeco Picobaristo, on the other hand, features stainless steel accents, a stainless steel bean hopper lid, and sides. The drip tray feels solid with stainless steel accents which gives the whole machine a good weight. There’s even some stainless steel on the milk carafe.
In this manner, I found that the Saeco Picobaristo is more durably built with stable and convenient parts than the Prestige.
Capacity
The Gaggia Cadorna Prestige wins back its “prestige” with a slightly larger bean hopper. It can store up to 10.5 ounces of beans. The Saeco Picobaristo stores an ounce less, I know it’s not much of a difference, but it’s something! The bean hopper size of the Saeco Picobaristo is 9.3 ounces.
Both machines have the same water tank capacity – 60 ounces – with a coffee drawer that notifies you when it should be cleaned out. The Prestige stores up to 10 used coffee pucks. The size of the Saeco Picobaristo is not mentioned.
Maximum Cup Height
You can make exquisite tall drinks in both espresso makers. The spouts are sturdy, made up of high-quality materials, and height-adjustable to prevent splatter.
But there is a slight difference between the two espresso machines in that the maximum cup height of the Prestige is 6.1 inch and the Saeco Picobaristo is 6.5 inch. You get the luxury of using a glass/mug that is .4 inches taller on the Saeco.
You know what this means, don’t you? Travel mugs are Saeco’s best friend… even the extremely tall ones.
3. Cleaning
The Winner: Saeco Picobaristo
Water Filter
Things can do a lot smoother when you have the right type of water filter in your espresso machine.
The Gaggia Cadorna Prestige has the Intenza+ water filter which is great. It prevents clogging, eliminates any and all types of heavy metals or impurities from the water. And so, as a result of that, it keeps all the internal tubes of the machine clear and scale-free.
However, when you compare that to Saeco Picobaristo’s AquaClean filtration, it’s not as good. The AquaClean water filter promises you NO DESCALING ever, or until 5,000 cups of coffee have been brewed. Even after that, the machine alerts you when the machine needs descaling.
With the Prestige, descaling is and should be a weekly or bi-weekly thing. If you don’t do this, things can go south very quickly. But with the Saeco Picobaristo, you do not have to worry about that at all.
Cleaning Alerts
Both machines have specific cleaning alerts and error codes that you need to know about. You will be notified immediately when certain things need to be looked into. So you can address the notification immediately rather than do guesswork.
So for example, with the Gaggia Cadorna Prestige, you have the basic cleaning alerts that let you know when descaling is necessary.
Also, the Gaggia features a few error codes: for when the coffee grinder is clogged or the brew group is not properly inserted in its right place, or the machine is overheated and needs to cool down before brewing.
Then, you have the spectacular Saeco Picobaristo whose cleaning system is a bit more responsive and intuitive than the Gaggia. With it, you have the drip tray indicator – that lets you know when the drip tray needs to be emptied. If the water tank is at the maximum level and might overflow, the machine will alert you then. If the brew group is blocked or the bean hopper is empty or the grounds bin is too full, there are alerts for that as well.
Automatic Shut-Off
The Gaggia has an automatic shut-off to reduce energy consumption, prevent overheating or overloading. Also, having auto shut-off means that you have one less thing to worry about when you’re not hanging out in the kitchen.
Unfortunately, the Saeco Picobaristo does not have an auto shut-off. But it does come with a standby mode that goes into a low-energy mode after the set time is over. The time to be set can be done by you via the timer setting.
Gaggia Cadorna Prestige vs Saeco Picobaristo: Similarities
1. Coffee Grinder
Both the Gaggia Cadorna Prestige vs Saeco Picobaristo have the same flat ceramic burr grinder with 10 grind levels. Ceramic is a popular and efficient option for home brewers as it heats up less and lasts for a long time. You also have better control over the fineness of the coffee beans to make sure the espresso tastes just right and is not too watery.
2. Temperature Controls
Single stainless steel and aluminium boiler has quick and efficient heating controls. And the Gaggia and Saeco use the same QuickHeat Single Boiler system to get the espresso and milk temperature to their maximum (and optimal) ranges.
3. Milk System
Moving on, they also share the automatic milk frothing system and the carafe. The milk spout on both systems pours frothed milk, not steamed milk, directly into the cup. The density of the foam and the milk volume depends on the customizations you make via the display screen.
You also have the option to select a pre-set drink if you want a direct, one-touch coffee drink without any adjustments. Both are fully automatic machines and will deliver the espresso and milk quickly.
4. Programmability
This isn’t like your semi or manual espresso machine. On the Gaggia and Saeco, you can alter the drink size, brew strength, temperature, and volume from low to high easily. Both machines have programmable aroma settings starting from very mild, mild, regular, strong and very strong.
Quick Rundown Of Saeco Picobaristo HD8927/37
- The largest variety from a compact machine: Brews 11 coffee varieties
- Enjoy up to 5,000 cups of coffee without descaling
- Delicious hot cappuccino and latte macchiato at one touch
- Extract maximum flavor with the 100% ceramic grinders; Material boiler: Stainless steel
- Adjust and store your individual length, strength, and temperature with 5 aroma strengths and 10 grinder settings
Last update on 2023-03-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Quick Rundown Of Gaggia Cadorna Prestige RI9604/47
- 14 Pre-Programmed Beverages|Build your home barista menu with 14 pre-programmed beverages including a ristretto, espresso, espresso lungo, coffee, americano, cappuccino, cappuccino XL, café au lait, café cortado, latte macchiato, latte macchiato XL, flat white, frothed milk, and hot water for tea, hot cocoa, or infusions.
- Integrated Milk Carafe|An integrated milk carafe creates the perfect temperature and texture of milk foam to make a beautifully layered milk based beverage. It runs through an automatic rinse cycle to get rid of any residual milk so you won’t have to worry about a messy clean-up process.
- 4 User Profiles|Create up to 4 user profiles on the Cadorna Plus and save your favorite drinks for everyday consistency.
- Intuitive User Interface|A full color TFT display allows you to scroll through 14 specialty beverages with backlit buttons and experiment with a number of customizable settings to build your favorite barista-style beverage.
- 1 YEAR : Hassle free 1 year handled by Gaggia directly.
Last update on 2023-03-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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References
- Gaggia Cadorna Prestige RI9604/47 from Gaggia https://gaggia.com/automatic-machines/cadorna-prestige/
- Saeco Picobaristo HD8927/37 from Saeco https://www.usa.philips.com/c-p/HD8927_37/picobaristo-super-automatic-espresso-machine
I am a passionate coffee drinker. Since I left my job as a barista a few years back in 2012, I’ve been sharing my expertise on coffee and buying the best coffee equipment online. That’s how Wild Boar Coffee came to life.
I write about everything coffee-related under the sun. Where to buy the freshest coffee beans from? How to test coffee beans based on texture, aroma, and acidity?
I know all this from scratch – all thanks to my years and years of experience as a barista. So I’ve gotten real up-close-and-personal with coffee beans and different brewing techniques.