Gaggia New Classic
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I purchased a Gaggia New Classic in August 2023 for about $710. For a premium home espresso machine at this price point, I expected a product that would be durable and free from premature corrosion, consistent with Australian Consumer Law expectations of acceptable quality. In 2025, I noticed rust forming above and around the water tank area.… Read more
Over time, the rust worsened instead of remaining cosmetic or superficial. Eventually, I decided to have the outer shell professionally powder coated to protect the machine and extend its life.
During that process, it became clear that corrosion was not limited to the external surface. There was also rust inside the casing, in areas that are not normally visible to a user. In my view, this raises concerns about the design and materials used in parts of the machine that are exposed to moisture during normal use, such as around the water tank and nearby internal surfaces.
From a usability point of view, the Gaggia New Classic can make good coffee and has a strong following, but my personal experience with premature rust and internal corrosion means I am not confident about its long‑term durability. Based on my experience, I would encourage potential buyers to carefully consider whether the build and finish meet their expectations for a machine at this price and to check how well the product’s durability is supported under consumer guarantees in practice.
This review is based on my personal experience and honest opinion of the product over time.
Great coffee machine not so great – 18/1/25I am changing my review, My gaggia has completely broken down after only 2yrs and 5months. I took it in as not pumping water properly and sprung a leak from back . Was told the boiler completely coroded and seal between steam wand and boiler broken and it would cost me upwards of $500 to get fixed and they would only guarantee for three… Read more
mths as likely to happen again. I descaled machine regularly and used daily i would expect an $800 coffee machine to last longer than this. I am so disappointed in the waste of $$$ that i would not recommend this machine to anyone. They tryed to tell me that it must be water where i live, i religiously used filtered water even when descaling. I was also told this version of machine has been known for this boiler problem and the new version has been changed and "shouldn't " suffer the same issues. Would I like to buy the new version at $900. I politely declined . 4/2/25 I also wrote to Gaggia and explained what had happened and as of this date have had no reply from them. I went back and read others reviews and this seems to have happened to other owners as well, and people seem to know the boiler was a problem, then why was it still being sold as a faulty product?
After owning at least 6 different coffee machines and constantly having to return them as would breakdown down just before or more often just after warranty ran out. I did lots of research and foundit all very confusing about what is a good coffee machine for me. So went to fantastic shop in leichhardt to talk to an expert. I came home with a Gaggia classic , Took some getting used to it but i love it now, i use it 4-5 times a day and get good coffee most of the time. Was really worried about cost and chance it would breakdown repeatedly, but its been 18 month so far so good. Have had problem with steam leaking from spout, took it back to shop they gave me tips on how to stop this happening and if you remember to do it does stop the steam and water leaking.
Great machine – Have had this Gaggia now for about 3 years and use it daily - if not multiple times per day. Great machine, and probably the best value for money entry prosumer / light commercial machine in the market. Quality is really good and makes a great coffee. Other than basic servicing - new seal - hasn't missed a bit. Yes compared to your Nespresso… Read more · 1
machines and automatic machines, more work and cleaning, however it depends on what you are really after. If you want proper espresso grade coffee at the home, tough to beat. There is a big community out there for this machine also meaning lots of suggestions, tricks / tips and hacks.
I pair my machine with a Breville Smart Grinder Pro - probably as a combo, one of the lowest cost ways to enter this space, and I generally pretty happy with the grinder also (though I will be upgrading the grinder before I do the machine).
I made some upgrades to my unit via a precision basket and upgrade shower screen - these help, the precision basket was a game changer.
Likes: - Value for money - Very good build quality - 58mm group head - Slimline / compact - Quick heat up - Italian design / heritage
Dislikes - No PID - however hard at this price point - Milk steaming is average - No flow control - near impossible at this price point
Best machine I had for years – After having a number of other Coffee machines that barely survive beyond their warranty period I decided to have a look at what else I can buy and I decided to buy this machine. We wanted to have a machine that is strong and obviously makes good quality coffee, and at a reasonable price not too expensive for our use. This machine ticks all the… Read more
boxes. Obviously maintaining the machine with regular cleaning cycles is also important. So far we had this machine for over a year and it is excellent. One advantage of this machine is that even if in the long term there will be issues but you can easily open it to change parts and also to run more intense cleaning of the boiler. You can find all this information on how to do it, online. Highly recommended machine.
Good machine. Steep learning curve – I have had my Gaggia for 6 months now. The home espresso community is a large one and it's easy to go down a real rabbit hole of information with yeild, weights of water and mods etc. I just wanted to make a decent coffee at home consistently. The Classic does this well, however it takes a lot of practice. I went through about 500 grams of coffee… Read more · 1
before I could get something drinkable and was beginning to wonder if I had made a terrible mistake in buying it. I stuck with it and now I can make a good coffee about 7 out of 8 times and the occasional average one. Don't be sucked in by YouTube clips of shots of hands making nice looking lattes with rosettas and nespresso ads of amazing cappuccinos - that simply isn't going to happen at first. They look great but it isn't that easy. That said you can make great coffee with good beans and a little practice. The machine itself is solid, well made and a good kitchen size. It is larger than the average nespresso machine. The distance between spouts and tray isn't large and a mug won't fit in there. I bought some quality cups from a coffee supply shop and they fit well. Overall a great machine at a reasonable price for those looking to lift their coffee game with an Italian machine.
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Not disappointed at all – I upgraded to this coffee machine from an Breville 870 and although it's old-school looking, stubborn and even a bit ugly, it does make excellent coffee. With a few tricks, especially using it before the steam light comes on, I was surprised by the results I got. But the double-hole steam head I really dislike because it makes the milk swirl at… Read more · 1
just the opposite angle to completely cancel out the processing, and one has to use a special angle to get the milk to swirl, yet the angle of the steam wand cannot be adjusted. So in the end I plugged the hole near the water tank with a toothpick and now I'm back to being a milk frothing master. With repeated practice, the quality of the coffee I make is now almost identical to that of a coffee shop, but for me it is such a blessing to have great coffee at home whenever I want.
Makes espresso equal to machines 2x-6x the price – We've owned this machine (in black) for some months and it makes outstanding coffee. This machine needs a high-quality grinder and you have to dial in the grind/tamp settings. Once that is done, the quality of the espresso is cafe level. The quality of the espresso is identical to what you can get from machines 5-6x the price. The small boiler… Read more · 1
/ high wattage heating element is ideal for a home environment. It makes it fast to heat up from cold (10 mins) and fast to go from espresso (brew) to steaming temperature (35s). You can make two milk drinks at go while steaming, but you need to refill the boiler and steam again to steam more milk than that. We've found starting steaming at the 35s mark (45s when the light comes on) results in excellent microfoam.
The water reservoir is large and the drip tray has an excellent capacity. The downside of this design is the small gap between the portafilter and the tray. You can only fit little cups under there.
The build quality is outstanding. The case is either stainless, or painted, metal-coated steel. These machines have a long history of no rust. The portafilter is commercial size and style. You can feel the mass in it, designed to maintain temp stability. The rocker switches are awesome. The solenoid valve means dry pucks that easily knock out. The only imperfection here is the steam knob, which looks great, but has a plastic feel and a valve that could have been designed to be of heavier duty.
The machine is well styled, well proportioned and oozes understated class. My wife adores the matte black colour in our kitchen.
We use it every day to make espresso, latte's, ristretto, affogato and the occasional long black. All are outstanding. Highly recommended if you are willing to spend a similar amount on a high-quality grinder and you want to learn how to make great espresso.
Temperature surfing is focused on a lot on Youtube, Reddit and online tutorials. This process (or installiong a PID) are lots of work for a small improvement in consistency and not worth the investment in my humble opinion. The bean quality, roast date, grind settings, distribution, tamping, dosing mass and brew ratio all seem to have a much larger impact on taste than the temperature surfing routines do.
Overall a great design that gets the balance spot on in terms of size, price, high quality, fast warm up, ease of use and capacity for a home espresso machine.
Excellent for home user who doesn't need computerized, digital, or touch screen coffee machine – At this stage I am giving 5 stars for many things that this machine has to offer, only one thing that concerns me is the reliability of this machine as I only owned this one for only over 2 weeks ( i heard some previous style Gaggia classic last up to 13 years). I have used 2 other brand median price coffee machine since 6 years ago the infuser… Read more · 1
last for 4 years until it started leak and power button played up and other Barista max only last for 10 months after 2 other replacement, I hope with Gaggia Classic NEW or PRO will outlast those machine that I previously owned so my investment will be paid off. me and my wife make 3-4 cups of coffee everyday in total
Coffee extracted quality and dosing: Coffee extraction result is excellent if you get the right grinder setting and amount of ground coffee in porta filter, I wasted 500gr coffee beans to get the perfect ground by trial and error. to me 1 shot porta filter (come with it) is to weak coffee result, double shot is to much so I used old porta filter from old machine that can hold 12gr ground coffee and the result is what i like, just perfect. if you don't mind about auto dosing for single or double shoot, this machine is the way to go as I said its not computerised machine, you will get used to about coffee dosing to your preference taste. note: you need SEPARATE grinder if you like freshly ground coffee every time or buy pre-ground coffee and may not have good coffee extraction and may not compatible with this machine, every coffee has different characteristic like how fine(ground) will it be for specific machine.
The look and size: not too big, nice and neat sit perfectly on the kitchen bench ( mine is stainless steel version).
steam is powerful but enough only to heat milk for 2 cups flat white and after that the steam will lose the pressure and in this case you need to refill/pump water to the boiler and wait until the steam ready again. if only the pump inject the water slightly in to boiler while steaming i am sure it will has endless steaming, never mind its not computerised and for home user. keep it as CLASSIC I love it.
drip tray and water tank are big enough for home user.
Watch the porta filter/ group handle rubber sealer in the group handle holder, some time porta filter can really hard to get in to group handle holder when the machine is hot, it is because the water is trapped behind the rubber seal and produce steam pressure when the machine hot and make the seal slightly pop out and the result even empty porta filter will not get in to group handle holder. If this happen what i do slide little knife to the side (outer side) of the rubber seal to release the pressure (be careful don't ruin the seal and watch out the steam pressure will burst from the side of the knife). overall it is excellent coffee machine, if you don't care about computerised coffee machine, this is the one! little work to get the right coffee result and you'll be amazed.
I bought this online with 12 month(monthly) coffee supply and get free Grinder Cunill Tranquillo electric.
I cannot recommend enough – This is a BRILLIANT machine. Love everything about it. With a good grinder the coffee has a perfect crema. Also the wand is great which makes perfect cappuccini and latte with perfect foam. Made in Italy and very simple design with not much electronic as it is built to last. Doesn't take much to be ready for brewing. Small, and compact, great design. The stainless steel finish is just great. Show details · 1
Gaggia finally nails the brief, from good to great, though a bit late – Before I begin, I should state that this is my second Gaggia, I previously owned a Gaggia Coffee (discontinued) that lasted for 14 years. Though very similar to the classic, this new machine is better in almost every way. Domestically Gaggia had kind of fallen of the map over the past decade after stagnating and trying to cut corners (at least… Read more
according to reports/forums).
When my machine finally died a month ago I was going to buy a Breville like most of my office colleagues.
But then saw a report that there was a “new” classic machine which is made in Italy once again with some design improvements to boot. So bought one since longevity is important to me.
This new classic much quieter than my previous model. It has a selanoid valve which the Gaggia Coffee did not and makes clean up easier. Have yet to burn the coffee.
The single aluminium boiler while technically lower spec compared to steel, is by design as it is much faster to heat up. It heats up quickly from off/brewing and brewing/steam. About a minute to heat up and 40 seconds from brew to steam.
At work we have a Verona express, a dual boiler, midsize Italian commercial machine. That is a better machine overall but it is comparatively expensive, large, slow to heat and somewhat impractical for home use. The results are very similar though for a few coffees.
Pressure and heat on the Gaggia is good and consistent. Have managed good creama every time so far. It also comes with a “creama perfecto” device which works ok. But I prefer the standard baskets if you’ve got the right grind. It comes with three baskets so you’ve got options.
The steam wand is much better on this model than previous. Easier to clean and very performs well.
Note unfortunately Australia doesn’t get the European auto off safety function, so remember to turn it off when done.
When paired with a good grinder, the Classic is capable of making excellent coffee ... once you’ve mastered it which doesn’t take long. It is a bit more art than science with this one.
Overall these improved workhorse machines are relatively simple to maintain and operate. Cared for properly they last. But they are fairly pricey for a single boiler (in Australia anyway with fewer resellers these days). Hopefully Gaggia claims back some of it’s lost market share with this one. It deserves to.
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