![\"\"](\"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/51113378904_27e89e7fae_k-1-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nWhy they\u2019ve called it the \u201cEspresso\u201d, I\u2019m not 100% sure if I\u2019m honest, maybe it\u2019s just because it\u2019s a name they\u2019ve used in the past that they don\u2019t currently have a corresponding machine for. I don\u2019t think it was the wisest choice, being honest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why? Anyone trying to find information on the \u201cGaggia Espresso\u201d is going to have to wade through pages & pages of information on other Gaggia Espresso machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If they\u2019d have given it a slightly more abstract name, it would have been far easier from that perspective. Anyway, this is just the name, what about the espresso machine itself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Features:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n- 1900W Stainless steel thermoblock heater<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- 40.5 oz Water tank (side accessed)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Pannarello steam wand + standard, pro steam wand<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- PID (temperature controller)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Preinfusion (of sorts)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Standard portafilter with pressurised basket<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- 30 Minute auto off<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Reprogrammable shot button<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- 25 second warm up time<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Dimensions in Inches: 8 w x 10 d x 12 h.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
One Review \u2013 Three Models<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The reason I\u2019m creating one review of the three models, is that it\u2019s basically one model with slightly different aesthetic options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Style:<\/strong> All ABS plastic. Colors available: Stone black & lava red.
Deluxe: <\/strong>ABS plastic with Metal drip tray cover, metal cup warmer & rails. Colors available: Riverway Green & Storm Grey.
Evolution:<\/strong> ABS plastic with Metal drip tray cover, metal cup warmer & rails & some slightly different colour accents. Colors available: Stone black & lava red.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMy Observations:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
I have to be honest and say that I didn\u2019t think a great deal of the cheaper espresso machines from Gaggia in the past, other than the Gaggia name, I\u2019ve never seen them as being any different to many of the other similar priced cheap espresso machines on the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve really been waiting for Gaggia to come out with a more premium, more prosumer machine grade espresso machine, something like a pre-modded, pre-pidded classic, I\u2019ve not been all that excited about the potential of new lower priced machines from Gaggia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I was very, very pleasantly surprised by the Espresso!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first thing to say about it, is it\u2019s designed and manufactured in Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, it\u2019s a cheap machine, and it\u2019s mainly plastic, but the Italian design and build is obvious, it doesn\u2019t have the same \u201cthrown together\u201d and slightly rough around the edges feel of a lot of cheaper espresso machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It Has A PID!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
As I\u2019ve said, I wasn\u2019t really expecting a great deal from the new Gaggia espresso machine, knowing that it\u2019s a cheaper espresso machine, but one thing I definitely wasn\u2019t expecting, as a PID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This will lead to some frustration among Gaggia Classic owners (myself included), along the lines of: \u201cYou haven\u2019t put a PID in the latest Gaggia Classic Pro, but you\u2019ve put one in your new cheapo machine, what are you doing??\u201d and I can appreciate that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, it is what it is, the Gaggia Classic Pro doesn\u2019t have a PID, the new Espresso at roughly half the price, does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is a PID?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nPID stands for Proportional Integral Derivative. It\u2019s simply a long, fancy name for a controller, in this case a temperature controller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Temperature stability is very important when it comes to espresso, and the main problem with cheaper machines is usually temperature swings. The job of a PID is to hugely reduce the temperature swings, by learning when to turn off or turn on the heater to keep the temperature as close to the pre-set temperature as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is one of the things Breville have got right, as all their espresso machines regardless of price pint, have PIDs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Until now, all of the low cost espresso machines at this kind of price have tended to suffer from temperature instability, as they don\u2019t have a PID or any other effective way of keeping the temperature stable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a very cheap machine, so the PID isn\u2019t going to be amazing, but I don\u2019t care. A machine with a PID, at this kind of price point is going to be way better for temperature stability than a machine without a PID, and my experience with the Gaggia Espresso so far, backs this up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s not only the PID that has me raving about this little machine though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Traditional Portafilter<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The other quite surprising thing about this machine, is the portafilter. While most of the cheaper espresso machines on the market tend to have pressurized portafilters, the portafilter on the Espresso, is a standard portafilter, with a pressurised, \u201cperfect crema\u201d basket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what this means it that if you want to use freshly roasted coffee beans, which involved using an espresso capable grinder and dialing in, you can just put a 53mm standard basket in the portafilter, instead of having to mod up upgrade the portafilter itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s actually quite a nice portafilter, too. The weight in the hand is quite nice, it\u2019s not as light weight as most of the machines in cheaper espresso machines, although I do wish they\u2019d have used a proper metal splitter, instead of the little stubby spouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What Baskets Should You Use?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nIf you\u2019re not familiar with espresso baskets, the basket is where the ground coffee goes, inside the portafilter (filter holder), and traditional portafilters have a mesh bottom, meaning the entire bottom of the basket is full of holes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With traditional baskets you have to get the grind size right, which means you can\u2019t really use pre-ground coffee, or a grinder that isn\u2019t capable of grinding finely enough or of being able to fine tune the grind size sufficiently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With pressurised baskets, what Gaggia call perfect crema baskets, and Breville call \u201cdual walled baskets\u201d there\u2019s just one hole on the outer wall of the basket, and the basket pressure is built up & then the espresso forced through the one hole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In pressurized portafilters, the pressurization is done in a device in the portafilter instead of the basket, but it achieves the same end, which you may be surprised has nothing to do with taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The goal of pressurized baskets, or portafilters, is to make the espresso look the part, by mimicking the crema you\u2019d expect to see on a well extracted shot of espresso.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re using store bought, commodity coffee beans, and not freshly roasted coffee beans, these kinds of baskets or portafilters are fine, they\u2019ll result in a nicer looking espresso, and it won\u2019t make any difference to the taste, you can\u2019t really do much to change the taste of this kind of coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re using freshly roasted coffee beans, though, this kind of coffee is different. Freshly roasted beans are far more vibrant, they have more flavour to offer, and you need to dial them in, which means (mainly) adjusting the grind size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With freshly roasted beans, you need to be able to dial in, so you need traditional baskets. With commodity coffee, \u201cnormal\u201d big brand or generic brand coffee, you can\u2019t really dial in anyway, so pressurized baskets or portafilters are the best for these kinds of beans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gaggia had an espresso machine back in the 80s & 90s known as the Gaggia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coffee-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10,"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions\/10"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
One Review \u2013 Three Models<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The reason I\u2019m creating one review of the three models, is that it\u2019s basically one model with slightly different aesthetic options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Style:<\/strong> All ABS plastic. Colors available: Stone black & lava red. I have to be honest and say that I didn\u2019t think a great deal of the cheaper espresso machines from Gaggia in the past, other than the Gaggia name, I\u2019ve never seen them as being any different to many of the other similar priced cheap espresso machines on the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve really been waiting for Gaggia to come out with a more premium, more prosumer machine grade espresso machine, something like a pre-modded, pre-pidded classic, I\u2019ve not been all that excited about the potential of new lower priced machines from Gaggia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But I was very, very pleasantly surprised by the Espresso!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first thing to say about it, is it\u2019s designed and manufactured in Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, it\u2019s a cheap machine, and it\u2019s mainly plastic, but the Italian design and build is obvious, it doesn\u2019t have the same \u201cthrown together\u201d and slightly rough around the edges feel of a lot of cheaper espresso machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I\u2019ve said, I wasn\u2019t really expecting a great deal from the new Gaggia espresso machine, knowing that it\u2019s a cheaper espresso machine, but one thing I definitely wasn\u2019t expecting, as a PID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This will lead to some frustration among Gaggia Classic owners (myself included), along the lines of: \u201cYou haven\u2019t put a PID in the latest Gaggia Classic Pro, but you\u2019ve put one in your new cheapo machine, what are you doing??\u201d and I can appreciate that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But, it is what it is, the Gaggia Classic Pro doesn\u2019t have a PID, the new Espresso at roughly half the price, does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is a PID?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n PID stands for Proportional Integral Derivative. It\u2019s simply a long, fancy name for a controller, in this case a temperature controller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Temperature stability is very important when it comes to espresso, and the main problem with cheaper machines is usually temperature swings. The job of a PID is to hugely reduce the temperature swings, by learning when to turn off or turn on the heater to keep the temperature as close to the pre-set temperature as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is one of the things Breville have got right, as all their espresso machines regardless of price pint, have PIDs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Until now, all of the low cost espresso machines at this kind of price have tended to suffer from temperature instability, as they don\u2019t have a PID or any other effective way of keeping the temperature stable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a very cheap machine, so the PID isn\u2019t going to be amazing, but I don\u2019t care. A machine with a PID, at this kind of price point is going to be way better for temperature stability than a machine without a PID, and my experience with the Gaggia Espresso so far, backs this up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not only the PID that has me raving about this little machine though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The other quite surprising thing about this machine, is the portafilter. While most of the cheaper espresso machines on the market tend to have pressurized portafilters, the portafilter on the Espresso, is a standard portafilter, with a pressurised, \u201cperfect crema\u201d basket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what this means it that if you want to use freshly roasted coffee beans, which involved using an espresso capable grinder and dialing in, you can just put a 53mm standard basket in the portafilter, instead of having to mod up upgrade the portafilter itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s actually quite a nice portafilter, too. The weight in the hand is quite nice, it\u2019s not as light weight as most of the machines in cheaper espresso machines, although I do wish they\u2019d have used a proper metal splitter, instead of the little stubby spouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What Baskets Should You Use?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re not familiar with espresso baskets, the basket is where the ground coffee goes, inside the portafilter (filter holder), and traditional portafilters have a mesh bottom, meaning the entire bottom of the basket is full of holes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With traditional baskets you have to get the grind size right, which means you can\u2019t really use pre-ground coffee, or a grinder that isn\u2019t capable of grinding finely enough or of being able to fine tune the grind size sufficiently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With pressurised baskets, what Gaggia call perfect crema baskets, and Breville call \u201cdual walled baskets\u201d there\u2019s just one hole on the outer wall of the basket, and the basket pressure is built up & then the espresso forced through the one hole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In pressurized portafilters, the pressurization is done in a device in the portafilter instead of the basket, but it achieves the same end, which you may be surprised has nothing to do with taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The goal of pressurized baskets, or portafilters, is to make the espresso look the part, by mimicking the crema you\u2019d expect to see on a well extracted shot of espresso.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re using store bought, commodity coffee beans, and not freshly roasted coffee beans, these kinds of baskets or portafilters are fine, they\u2019ll result in a nicer looking espresso, and it won\u2019t make any difference to the taste, you can\u2019t really do much to change the taste of this kind of coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re using freshly roasted coffee beans, though, this kind of coffee is different. Freshly roasted beans are far more vibrant, they have more flavour to offer, and you need to dial them in, which means (mainly) adjusting the grind size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With freshly roasted beans, you need to be able to dial in, so you need traditional baskets. With commodity coffee, \u201cnormal\u201d big brand or generic brand coffee, you can\u2019t really dial in anyway, so pressurized baskets or portafilters are the best for these kinds of beans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gaggia had an espresso machine back in the 80s & 90s known as the Gaggia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coffee-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10,"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions\/10"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeetexture.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Deluxe: <\/strong>ABS plastic with Metal drip tray cover, metal cup warmer & rails. Colors available: Riverway Green & Storm Grey.
Evolution:<\/strong> ABS plastic with Metal drip tray cover, metal cup warmer & rails & some slightly different colour accents. Colors available: Stone black & lava red.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMy Observations:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
It Has A PID!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Traditional Portafilter<\/h3>\n\n\n\n