Not the lowest it's been but I've been keeping an eye on deals for the past 6 months and haven't had much luck seeing it go lower than $560. For anyone who's keen for a new coffee machine like me, this could be a good deal.
Payment must be via afterpay, which works out to be $137.90 x 4 payments.
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Depends on what you plan on doing with the machines. The Express is a wonderful all in one unit which will fit most people's use cases. The Gaggia Classic will be a different beast to tame as it may need modifications to become completely user friendly, you'll also need a separate grinder.
In general, if you're going for milk drinks (more then one at a time), go with the Express. If you're looking to deep dive into espresso and plan on getting a good grinder (they can start at $400 for a solid espresso grinder) then go with the Gaggia.
Alternatives to the Gaggia, that won't need any modifications to start using, are the Breville Impressions or the Bambino Plus.
Breville Barista Express impress u meant? Any big difference with the $200+ cheaper barista express? Thanks. Seems the difference is the tamping consistency n convenience +? Thanks
Depends on whether you care about consistent tamps or not. The built in tamp from the express impress is unproven when it comes to consistency since its just been released. The general rule of thumb is to do it yourself, either via a standard tamp or via a self levering tamp (costs more for spring loaded ones).
The breville impression is an express without a built in grinder.
Now, I found barista pro in the mix. So may be tossing between barista pro or impress atm? Thanks
Do I want this or the Breville dual boiler?
Dual boiler is a significantly better machine feature-wise, however some questions around reliability. If you have the money (and bench space) I’d spend extra and get the dual boiler 100%.
And if I can find one lol.
Thanks for your comment:)
That too! If you’re not in a rush I’d try and wait until some sort of sale + cashback deal to grab one under 1000. I’m still kicking myself for not grabbing one under the Mother’s Day deal earlier this year, but ended up getting a second hand Silvia instead.
Just made a coffee on my Gaggia, and drinking as I type…
Beautiful machine, ridiculously well priced if you're prepared to invest in learning the art of espresso (no bells and whistles).
And a mod or two (very cheap).
Do you mind if I ask which mods you did and how much it ended up costing? I'm currently weighing whether I should sell my Express and side grade to a GCP with a hand grinder.
Not at all - I have reduced the bar pressure from the standard (out of the box 12) to 9.
It cost like 20ish bucks? This guy here has a kit and good instructions:
https://www.shadesofcoffee.co.uk/gaggia-classic-opv-spring-m…
You can also install a PID to control brew/steam stemp, which I think is about $200 (same guy as above)
My colleague, with the psv and pid temp control, made an absolutely exceptional coffee on this. Vastly superior to most coffee shops, and honestly I couldn't fault it (but I'm just a 'coffee snob' tier drinker, rather than a proper coffee taster or anything).
I'm not sure what the machine is like without the mods, or which mods helped, but at least with both of them it's a beast.
@incipient: They all help, but I think the most valuable (and invasive) is the flow control mod. There's a great video on YouTube from a coffee guy who does the whole lot - the machine ends up looking like a bit of a monstrosity though..
I've done the Auber PID (which has pre-infususion with a timer), then the rest of the mods came from Shades of Coffee including the OPV spring (9bar), single hole steam tip, pressure gauge, and PID case. I bought spare o-rings too as I had a large order to make most of shipping.
Honestly bang for buck you can't go past the OPV and steam tip - huge difference!
PID is great but much more expensive investment, but a bit of fun if you like tinkering. The Shades PID is cheaper but without pre-infusion, but you can manually time that with the normal switch too. The pressure gauge kit is reasonably priced and a really neat install at the time of the PID but I don't look at it much unless I'm fault finding a bad shot.
The PID box by Shades needs a bit of work - at least when combined with the pressure gauge kit as the pressure tube limits movement when attaching the top box and funnel. I really like the 3D printed PID top box on Etsy, but the shipping kills it. (The url for Etsy is way too long, but a quick search will show it).
Local supplier link for Auber PID https://www.jetblackespresso.com.au/shop/p/PID-KIT-gaggia
What mods did you do first up?
Get this instead: https://www.kogan.com/au/buy/kogan-espresso-coffee-machine/
Take the money you save and buy (a) a good single-dose grinder (so you're always using fresh beans), can be electric or hand-powered and (b) buy top quality beans in small batches.
These two factors (grind and bean quality) are 95% of the cup quality. The machine itself simply pumps hot water through the grinds at pressure. Any machine can do that. I've owned a Silvia Rancilio, BDB, and the Kogan I linked to (only have espressos on weekends now, so didn't want to replace my BDB when it died after 10 years faithful service).
Guess what…no difference in any of the machines once you've dialled them in (modded the Kogan with a naked portafilter to help regulate the extraction).
Grind and beans…machine is irrelevant. It's science.
Bought Kogan TV years back, worst customer services and cheap for a reason.. Never again.
"simply pumps hot water"
Few words, massive complexity. Keeping a constant and accurate temperature is very difficult. Even this $550 machine doesn't do it well. But an $80 machine
Sure.
Pressure is also important. This thing kogan one probably won't hit pressure, and won't be consistent.
So no, any machine cannot do that. It's science.
As an aside you can debate how much of an impact temperature and pressure has, but general consensus is "a lot"
Been drinking coffee for 30plus years… everything from immersion, pour over, cold brew, percolation, and espresso. And I'm telling you there's no difference between these machines IF the grind and beans are on point. I'm not alone in this opinion. Theory is great, but it's taste that is the only endpoint that matters
Have this machine. Bought it from Costco when they had a special that brought it down to $499.
Solid machine to use but needs to be paired with a good grinder as has been mentioned by others. I splurged on grinder that cost more than my coffee machine, but was worth the money spent.
If you are not going to go down the home barista rabbit hole, don't bother getting this machine as it requires some steep learning curve (for the pod or auto machine crowds) when it comes to pulling the perfect espresso coffee.
I did mod my machine to lower the bar pressure from 15 down to 12, so the flow wasn't high. Ordered the spring from a company from England. Also ordered a lower water trap from the same company, so that I could fit a scale under the original portafilter. I think having a scale to measure the amount of water is the 2nd most important component, besides the grinder.
I also ordered an upgraded steam wand with a single hole in it, but I found this was a waste of my money because the original double holed steam wand was more effective for me, once I got the hang of using it.
Damn. Was hoping the next special would come a bit later — might still wait for Costco-esque price under $500?
Looking forward to modding it with: https://gaggiuino.github.io/#/?id=home
This is really cool! Thanks!
Reading all the comments… I think i ll stick with Barista Express for simplicity… :)
Great little machine, but it definitely has a learning curve.
Needs to be paired with a good grinder, I'm running a Sette 270.
Also, OPV springs mod is a must, Grab it from Shades of Coffee, makes a major difference, extremely easy to install.
Good price. I paid $588 recently and I don’t regret it. I do need to upgrade my crappy sunbeam grinder. Anyone paired this with a Eureka Mignon Specialita? Or could I cheap out and go the Smart Grinder Pro for $255…
I run a GCP with a Specialita which I upgraded from a smart grinder pro. The difference between these grinders was huge. I would definitely recommend not to cheap out here!
I use the Specialita with my Rancilio Silvia - no complaints here, especially given I only paid 500 for it from Espresso Coffee Shop. Would definitely recommend spending a little more vs SGP.
If you're on a budget, consider the Eureka Mignon Manuale.
You lose the slightly larger burrs 55mm vs 50mm, touch screen vs grind on demand, and silenced vs non.
The manuale is still a great grinder and has the same 260W motor.
Edit: I modded my Manuale for single dosing which is why I don't need the timer features.
I bought this to pair with my Specialita! It's a huge upgrade for me, I got it from that European website (it's one of the previous bargains from Espresso Coffee Shop, the discount code 3337 works even when not posted as active here), it came with an adaptor that lets you replace the EU end with an AU plug so you don't need your own clunky adaptor. It took a while to figure out the right settings (thank you Aldi coffee beans for being my test subject) but gaaaaaame changer!
It feels super solid (EXTREMELY heavy) so you know it's something that will last. I feel like if you cheap out now, you still end up buying a better grinder down the track, but that's totally up to you and your current budget!
Mignon is a good balance of price/performance. If I didn't have to worry about my other half, I probably would have splurged on the Niche.
Although she is getting good at measuring the amount of grinds now, so maybe it's time for an upgrade…?
I ended up buying a Smart Grinder Pro that I was going to pair with the Gaggia. Bout the SGP on sale, took it out of the box and its sat on a spare bench waiting for a sale on the Gaggia. I think I might sell the SGP and 'upgrade' to the Eureka Mignon Specialita
Question to those with knowledge about grinders, if I didn't want to splash out on a quality one, would it be sufficient to get the roaster to grind it for me, to my spec (assuming they would have a good grinder, and would comply).
1st: If you buy say 1kg beans and grind as you need at home will be rather fresh for say 1 month. If you buy 1kg ground coffee, it won't be fresh for the same duration.
2nd: If you have espresso machine and you asked the roaster to grind for you, they will just grind for espresso size, ie you can not fine tune to get the optimum extraction.
Having said that, when I first started my coffee adventure over 20 yrs ago, I used to buy ground coffee from supermarket in 250gm. As time goes by, you tend to ask / expect a bit more.
Is having your own grinder better so you can use freshly ground coffee? Yes. Does having it pre-ground mean it's more likely for them to go off earlier? Maybe. But honestly, it's fine, just get one down the track if you feel like leveling up your morning coffee game. I saved up for a few months for my grinder too.
We have a Breville one at present, it does a pretty good job but I've seen a few comments about the grinder being subpar. I think when we upgrade it might be time to invest in a proper grinder. That being said I tend to subsist on discounted Airjo beans so am probably a coffee pleb by default!
Hahaha me too! Those deals are too good.
I was using a crappy blade grinder so the upgrade to the Specialita was nice, although it took me a while to get it to deliver exactly what I needed for that perfect cup, there was a lot of trial and error. My friend made me watch the 'Understanding Espresso' series on youtube and I found it really helpful and were just nice videos in general! Yes I'm having much more consistent output now that I've upgraded but it wasn't as if I was having terrible coffee before..
![[Afterpay] Gaggia New Classic Pro Stainless Steel Coffee Machine $551.61 Delivered @ Alternative Brewing eBay](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/17/719517.jpg?h=fc03eb65)
This or https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/154139570100?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mk…