Classic Elegance

Some men buy themselves a flashy sports car for their 70th birthday. Others might splash out on a cruise or a fancy bit of jewellery for the wife, just to keep the peace. Me? I bought a 2002 Gaggia Classic for £210. Some might call that a midlife crisis in reverse. I call it a solid investment in decent coffee.

You see, back in the early 2000s, Gaggia still knew how to make a machine that would last longer than a politician’s promise. The pre-2009 models were proper bits of kit. Made in Italy, brass group head, a three-way solenoid valve, and none of that cost-cutting nonsense you see in later reissues. It’s a real machine for real coffee, not some flimsy, plasticky box designed to look good on an Instagram flat lay.

Of course, being two decades old, it needed a bit of fettling. The steam wand was the original pannarello – a fiddly, froth-spitting contraption that does its best to stop you making proper microfoam. Out it went. I ordered a Rancilio Silvia steam wand, because if you’re going to steam milk, you might as well do it properly. Then there’s the shower screen. The stock one does the job, but the IMS, Combat, Nanotech version gives better water dispersion and is easier to clean. That’s on the way as well.

And then there’s the PID. The Gaggia Classic, in all its brilliance, still relies on an old-school thermostat to regulate temperature, meaning it fluctuates more than a Tory minister’s principles. Enter Mr Shades, the go-to for a PID kit that stabilises the brew temperature and makes each shot consistent. I’m looking into it, because why not? If you’re going to go all in, you might as well go properly overboard.

All in, my Gaggia setup will still cost far less than a brand-new machine of questionable quality. More importantly, it will make coffee the way it should be made. No faff, no gimmicks, just solid engineering and a bit of hands-on know-how. Oh, and this model is eminently modifiable.

No.2 Son, Bruno, worked as a barista while studying for his degree at Winchester University and has turned me into a coffee nerd. Seventy years old and still learning. And, crucially, drinking good coffee.

The Illy Francis X7.1 I bought a few weeks ago in going to have to go back on e-Bay - it just doesn't compare. All retro bling and no substance.