This is my review of the Gaggia Classic Pro, also known as the Classic 2019, and also a review of the latest 2023 iteration of the Classic Pro, known as the Gaggia Classic Pro 2023 model, or Gaggia Classic Evo Pro 2023.
As you’ll know if you read my original Gaggia classic review, or have watched any of my videos this machine, I’m really fond of the Gaggia Classic – as many people are. The original Gaggia classic has been one of the most popular home espresso machines, particularly among home baristas, since its release in 1991.
Things went a bit wonky for a while after the Philips takeover of Gaggia in 2009, they began to transform the classic into a more run of the mill consumer grade machine in the body of the Classic.
They moved the manufacturing out of Italy & made various other controversial changes. The 2015 version saw the removal of the 3 way solenoid valve, and it seems that Philips realised at this point that they were killing the machine that underpinned the reputation of the brand, and they appear to have made a decision to let Gaggia Milano look after the Classic without continuing to interfere. Phew!
They got back on track with the 2019 Gaggia Classic Pro, and they’ve continued to improve things since then. It was back to being manufactured in Italy, the 3 way solenoid was back, and they gave us a pro steam wand.
The latest 2023 Gaggia Classic Evo has come with some nice, relatively small updates, and I’ll review both of the models shortly, but firstly, let’s just get into why this little machine (most models except the 2015 version) is so special.
What’s So Special About The Gaggia Classic Anyway?
The Classic wasn’t such an amazing success by mistake. There’s a reason 20 old year old classics fetch more than their original RRP second hand (OK, maybe not once you take inflation into account, but still…) and this is that they’re capable of such good espresso, vs cheaper domestic espresso machines, and they’re built like tanks.
They’re mainly stainless steel, and they’re machine grade espresso machines, meaning that you can take them apart to maintain and repair them as you would a commercial machine, and the parts are mainly standard parts, easily accessible.
The fact they’re built more like commercial espresso machines than domestic espresso machines is also why they’re capable of such good espresso for a home machine, at such a relatively low price.
Cheaper domestic machines would usually have a few things in common:
- Spring valve (no 3 way solenoid)
- 15 bar pump with no OPV (or an OPV set to 13-14 bars)
- Pressurised portafilter or pressurised baskets
- Thermoblock heater
- Little or no temperature control
- Non-standard portafilter size
The Classic has a 3 way solenoid, so this means it doesn’t need a spring valve, for that reason the water gently enters the puck of coffee rather than hitting the ground coffee violently.
The presence of the solenoid also means drier pucks, and no potential portafilter sneeze from unlocking the portafilter too soon after pulling a shot if you choked it with too fine a grind.
The OPV is easily adjustable in the pre 2009 classics. With the 2019 and 2023 models it’s a very cheap and simple mod (just swapping out the spring for the 6 bar or 9 bar spring).
The Classic does come with both the pressurised (perfect crema baskets) baskets, and standard baskets, and it’s a standard 58mm group so you can easily switch to competition baskets, and you can easily switch out the shower screen to a competition screen too, if you wish.
The classic has a brew boiler, albeit a very small 80ml brew boiler. There are pros and cons to this vs thermoblocks or thermocoils, the presence of a brew boiler in and of itself I don’t think is the most important feature.
There’s no sophisticated temperature control out of the box, you need to get into a temperature surfing routine to get beyond its temperature instability, but one of the biggest attractions of the Classic is the ability to mod it.
With a relatively inexpensive PID and dimmer switch mod, you have a lot of machine for the money, and you can go just about as sophisticated as you like with modding, the Gagguino mod for example takes the humble Classic into Decent DE1 territory!
So that’s a very quick lesson on the Gaggia Classic, now let’s talk about the two currently available models in more detail.
For all Gaggia machines, see:
Gaggia Classic Pro 2019
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I’ll focus mainly on the 2023 version in this updated review, as the 2019 won’t be available at all soon once the current stocks run out, but I’ll just give you a quick rundown of the 2019 Classic Pro, so you can decide whether you think it’s worth going for this and saving yourself a few quid, while there are some still left.
The 2019 Classic pro I think was a master stroke from Gaggia.
Just when they were in real danger, in my opinion, of completely undoing all the work the Classic had done since the 90s, not just in establishing the Classic itself as a household name, but in strengthening the Gaggia brand itself (I wonder if Gaggia’s bean to cup machines would sell as well as they did, without the reputation and success of the classic?) they pressed Alt Control & Delete.
Not only did they re-boot back to the pre-2009 Classic, they gave us a pro steam wand, saving everyone the hassle of modding it with a Rancilio Silvia wand.
The 3 way solenoid is back, in this version. Bits of plastic they’d added to previous versions are gone, and the buttons are back to the traditional rockers.
The power button is still not the original standard rocker although it looks like it is, but it’s really not a big deal, it’s to do with energy rules concerning devices having to have an auto shut down. The shot button was the main issue where the buttons were concerned on the 2015 version, it had a tendency to stick.
The only thing that was slightly controversial about the 2019 model internally, was the change in the OPV, and the fact that it can’t be adjusted. This was soon fixed with the OPV mod kit from Shades of Coffee, it’s about a tenner, and it takes minutes to fit, to change the OPV to 9 or 6 bars.
The reason for this is that out of the box, the OPV is set to around 13-14 bars, and this is because they’re trying to serve two markets in one, with the Classic.
- The “normal” coffee drinker using normal beans (normal, as opposed to freshly roasted beans) or ESE pods, for whom the pressurised “perfect crema” baskets are intended.
- The home barista, dialing in using an espresso capable grinder and freshly roasted coffee beans, using standard baskets.
If they made it 9 bars out of the box, in theory it’s not going to work as well for that first category, and I suspect this probably represents as much as 80% of users.
They also released the 2019 in a range of colours, not just the original stainless steel version, which I think is a good thing, it’s certainly a good thing for me & anyone else trying to record videos of coffee machines using reflective stainless steel machines! 😉
If you’re in the first group, above, and you consider yourself to be a “normal” coffee drinker, the only thing that may throw a curve ball your way slightly about the 2019 classic, is the steam wand, and this is the only thing about this move that confused me slightly.
They kept the classic straddling these two markets, but then they added a pro steam wand – which you’ll love if you’re a home barista, but which you may find a bit daunting if you’re not. Honestly, there’s nothing to it, just a bit of practice, but I do wonder how many people are actually put off by the wand.
For me, they’d have been better releasing two versions, releasing one for the home barista market with the pro steam wand and either a 9 bar OPV or easily adjustable OPV, and releasing another for the “normal” user, with a panarello wand and the standard OPV aimed at pre-ground coffee and ESE pods.
Anyway, that’s the 2019 classic, and if there are still any available at the time of writing, it’ll save you £70 or so, even more with the discount code I currently have on the 2019 classic.
Now let’s talk about the latest version.
Gaggia Classic Evo Pro 2023
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The new 2023 version is basically the same as the 2019, but with these changes:
New Boiler Coating
It’s the same small, fast-heating Aluminium boiler, but while it used to be anodized, they’ve switched to a very durable non-stick coating.
It’s not a Teflon coating, by the way, it’s a coating called Exelia 3010-B242, a very dense and durable coating chosen for its ability to bond and remain bonded to the inside of the Aluminium boiler, its ability to stand up to extremely high temperatures and its anti-scale properties (meaning it’s very difficult for minerals to latch on to). This coating is commonly used in commercial cookware and bakeware, I’m told.
Why they’ve made this change? I think they’re generally trying to move away from manufacturing practices that aren’t friendly to their manufacturing team, or friendly to the environment, and from what I can tell, anodization and electroplating are processes that are seen as not particularly good in both of these areas, the electroplating refers to the chrome plating that I’m about to talk about.
By the way, unlike the old anodized version where you wouldn’t be able to actually see if anything had happened to the inside surface of the boiler, the new coating is dark grey, almost black, so in time we will be able to see if the coating has corroded or whatever, as we’ll see bits of silver instead of dark grey if that is the case.
Solid Brass Group
They’ve moved from a chrome-plated brass group to a solid brass (CW510L lead-free) group. The benefit of doing this, from the user’s perspective, is there’s no plating to potentially peel off and end up in your coffee. I’m not sure if this did actually happen with the previous group, but I know it was a concern to some people.
The reason they’ve done it, I think it’s because they want to move away from electroplating as one of the processes they’ve marked as being not great for their staff or the environment, but I think having a solid brass group is going to be something that most users would prefer, from the potentially flaky (in the long term) chrome plated groups.
The circular surround is stainless steel, and the group is now seated inside a metal plate, so when you look up from under the group, that’s why you see silver, not gold, as the group is sitting on top of this metal plate.
Solid Stainless Steel Dispersion Plate
Earlier classics used a lightweight Aluminium dispersion plate, and we’re talking here about the thick piece of metal that the shower screen screws into. The Classic Pro 2023 Evo version comes with a solid stainless steel dispersion plate, which most people would see as an upgrade from the Aluminium one, many people would upgrade this on previous models to either solid brass or solid stainless.
I’ve heard some people saying that the Classic pro-2019 came with this Aluminium plate, but I don’t believe that’s correct unless the first pro-2019 models did have that plate, maybe. I have the 2019 Pro, and mine has a solid stainless dispersion plate.
Solid Stainless Steel Portafilter
The previous portafilter was chromed brass, as with the previous group. This is something that some people weren’t a fan of, as it quite easily marks, and there was some concern about peeling of the plating in the long term. The new Classic 2023 version comes with a solid stainless steel portafilter, so this is likely to last just as long as the classic itself.
New Easier Assembly
They’ve made it less of a pain for their manufacturing team to assemble, and while this doesn’t directly benefit the user, there’s some chatter about this also making maintenance easier.
At first glance inside the machine, I can’t see why this would be the case, as it looks exactly the same, but when I get a minute I’ll do some experimenting and see if I can figure out if the new version is actually easier to maintain for some reason.
Is the New Gaggia Classic Evo 2023 Worth it?
If you can get hold of either the 2023 or the 2019 model, then this is a question worth asking, although the 2019 are selling out quickly I believe, so this won’t be a particularly relevant question fairly soon.
I don’t actually think that the price increase has a great deal to do with the new Evo 2023 classic, I think the price increase was coming anyway. Gaggia didn’t increase their prices last year when other brands did, and they’ve clearly had the same kind of price increases all other manufacturers have, so they’ve probably just waited until the new version came along to introduce the price increase, that would make quite a bit of sense I think.
So the way to look at it, I think, is that the price is increasing, but you have a chance to get them at the previous lower price if you’re happy with the chrome-plated portafilter & the chrome plated group.
If you’re not happy with that and you want the new all brass group and the new solid stainless portafilter, then I don’t think it’s actually quite right to think that you’re paying more for these, as this is the now the current model, it’s simply that the discontinued model is temporarily available at the lower price, but that model doesn’t have the changes that many would consider as an upgrade.
Whether you should save some money on the 2019 classic while it’s still available, I think is just personal preference, there’s a £70 saving (£499 vs £429) to be had by going for the classic 2019.
Personally, I don’t have any issue with Chrome plating, I’ve not seen any actual evidence of bits of the plating peeling off and ending up in coffee.
I think only time will tell if the new coating is going to be better or worse in the long run than the anodized boilers, so if it were me I’d possibly take the saving. Like I say though, it’s going to be an irrelevant point soon as the 2023 version is the current version and the 2019 classic will be unavailable fairly soon once they sell the current stock.
So, if you don’t want to pay more for the new version, hurry up and buy the current Classic Pro, is what I’m basically saying ;-).
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Gaggia Classic Acrobat – Limited Edition
One thing I’d say if you are thinking of going for the 2019 version, is you can save even more money, and potentially end up with a collectors item, if you go for the limited edition Acrobat version.
What coffee grinder?
If you’re using the Classic with “normal” coffee beans from the supermarket, and not freshly roasted coffee beans, then most grinders will be fine, including the Gaggia MD15, for example.
If you’re using normal beans, and pressurised baskets, you don’t need to worry too much about the grinder.
If you’re going to be using the traditional baskets and freshly roasted coffee beans, though, you’ll need an espresso capable grinder.
At the bare minimum, I’d recommend either the Sage Dose Control Pro or Smart Grinder Pro, or the Baratza Encore ESP. You can use the Gaggia MD15, if you shim it with the shims that come in the box (it’s very simple to do), but you only have 15 adjustments, and they’re quite big, so you won’t be able to precisely dial in.
Gaggia Direct have a great deal on, at the time of writing, for the limited edition Acrobat version and the Eureka Mignon La Specialista (a great pairing).
For more on grinders, see:
Best Coffee Grinders.Best Manual Coffee Grinders
Before concluding, I just want to mention the new Gaggia Espresso, as some people will be wondering if they’d be better off with this new machine from Sage, and actually, I think this may be true in some cases.
Gaggia Espresso Style / Deluxe
The new Espresso isn’t a version of the classic, and it’s not in the same league, so let me just get this in straight away. This is less than half the price of the Classic, and it really doesn’t compete with the Classic at all, for build quality, or espresso quality.
What it does compete with though, is every other machine within around a hundred quid of the price point!
So if you were looking at the Classic, but it’s really a bit outside of your price range, this is a lot of money for the price tag, in fact I believe it’s currently the best sub £200 espresso machine on the market.
Why? The main reason is it has a PID.
A PID (temperature controller) at this price, is unheard of, and this means that this very low cost machine doesn’t suffer with the same kind of temperature instability most similarly priced machines suffer with.
In fact, it’s better than the Classic in that regard, out of the box without modding.
It also has a standard portafilter, not a pressurised portafilter, which is very rare at this price. It does come with pressurised baskets, but all you need in order to use it as a standard basket machine, is the basket itself, you don’t need to buy a new portafilter.
This is a thermoblock machine, not a boiler machine, the benefit of this over the classic though, is that when it comes to steaming milk, you have constant steam power.
It has the best of both worlds where steaming milk is concerned, too, a panarello for the more normal coffee drinkers, but when removed it has what is essentially a single tip steam wand underneath.
It’s not quite got the shot quality potential of the classic, though, and this is mainly due to the lack of a 3 way solenoid (and it shares this with all of it’s competitors at this kind of cost).
Because it doesn’t have a solenoid valve, it has a spring valve, and this means that the water pounds the surface of the puck at full pressure, while machines like the classic and other more premium machines that have a 3 way solenoid, don’t need the spring loaded valve, so the water doesn’t end up spraying the coffee at the same velocity.
You can get around this with a piece of paper.
The unassuming looking little puck filters you’ll probably have seen, like little AeroPress filters, just slap one of these on top of the puck and it does a remarkable job of protecting the puck from the pressure of the water.
A metal puck screen would seem like a more obvious choice, and you can use them with a compatible portafilter, but they don’t work well with the stock portafilter.
If you’re concerned with sustainability or cost, you’ll be glad to know they’re very cheap, and you can re-use them multiple times before they rip.
Like the classic, the Espresso is made in Italy, which again is amazing considering the price.
If you can afford the Classic, I suspect it’ll turn out that the Espresso doesn’t quite have the same kind of longevity and durability.
If you want a cheaper option though, this is a great option in my opinion, and as I’ve said, it does actually have a few advantages vs the Classic, although there’s no doubt that the Classic is the better machine overall, especially with a bit of modding.
For the full review, see:
Gaggia Espresso Style/Deluxe/Evolution Review
To see various other options in the lower price range, and how I think the Gaggia Espresso stacks up against them, see:
Conclusion. Is The Gaggia Classic Still The Best?
As far as I’m concerned the Gaggia Classic Pro is currently among the best espresso machines on the market for this kind of price point, and particularly so for the home barista who is willing to do a bit of tweaking and modding.
There’s quite a lot of competition at the under £500 price point, and the biggest question I’m asked is Gaggia Classic Vs Sage Bambino Plus, and the answer to that very common question is, it depends on you.
If you’re someone who would get on better with an old school machine that you can learn to master, that you can mod and tweak to your heart’s desire, and that you can maintain yourself if you like or easily find someone to maintain for you, to potentially keep on going strong for decades, then the Gaggia Classic Pro is for you.
If you’re someone who wants as much convenience as possible, if the idea of taking a machine apart and modding it to get the best from it makes you pull a face like you’ve just stuck your tongue on a 9v battery, then you might find that the Sage Bambino Plus is the better option for you.
For more options, see:
