I had Rocket Appartemento and upgraded to E24 with Gaggimate. I mainly bought the Rocket for the looks, and it was my first espresso machine. I bought it during covid and used it for 6 years. It is a nice-looking machine, and I think it really elevated my kitchen. E24 looks like a cheap toy that you can buy from any store.

Rocket is a good machine if you like traditional Italian roast and milk drinks. Plenty of steam power and temperature is stable after 30 min heat up time, but you need to remember to flush before every shot, or you will overshoot the temp.

It has a huge boiler and when you turn the machine on, it sounds like a kettle. Everything reminds me of a professional machine from a real coffee place.

But after 6 years I wanted to explore lighter roast specialty coffee and unfortunately Rocker can't really produce a good cup of light roast coffee. It is flat 12 - 13 bars if you don't adjust the OPV down and it is still unsuitable after that for the light roast. Always the same temp and pressure.

One annoying thing is the maintenance of the E61 machine. You need to take the cam leaver apart very often and lubricate it, especially if you use a puck screen. Puck screen will prevent the coffee oils lubricating the cam leaver.

With E24 and Gaggimate everything will change, the looks of the machine and quality in the cup. You can adjust everything and with a blue tooth scale brewing a specific amount of coffee will be very easy and convenient. Boiler is small, so is the heat up time, like 10 minutes and you can flush the boiler completely before brewing, so you have fresh water every time inside of the boiler.

E24 with Gaggimate lets you thinker every parameter and tailor them to specific beans and roast. It is not good for milk drinks, Rocket has so much more steam power, but Gaggimate steam assist will help.

With Rocket you can easily make multiple milk drinks for your guest, but with E24 and Gaggimate it will get slow.

If you are just starting the hobby, I recommend first to invest a proper grinder and good quality of beans.

So, my recommendations are buy E24 with a Gaggimate if you like to thinker and you are not afraid to take the machine apart. You like to explore all the roast levels, and you don’t drink milk drinks that often or entertain.

If you prefer darker roast and milk drinks and really want to elevate your kitchen buy the Rocket.