
Maintenance
EssentialDescaler
Limescale is what most machines die of, and vinegar attacks the seals. A liquid descaler declared suitable for espresso machines does the same job as the maker’s own branded fluid, usually for less.
€19.95
Go to bol
Gaggia
The machine people are still tinkering with years later
€449.00
Too few measurements yetWe have only recently started tracking this price. Once we have measured enough days, this will say whether now is a good moment.
The Classic has been on shelves in more or less this shape since 1991, and that is not inertia but the reason to buy one. It takes a 58 mm portafilter — the size a café uses — where almost everything else under five hundred euro uses a narrower size of its own. Third-party baskets, tampers and distribution tools simply fit.
The trade is that it does very little for you. No grinder, no automation, a steam wand you work yourself. Anyone who wants to press a button is better served by a [Philips 3300](machine:philips-3300-series-lattego); anyone who wants to learn why a shot failed gets the machine that shows them, rather than quietly fixing it.
Who for: Anyone who treats espresso as a hobby and wants the controls.
Price alert
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bol
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€449.00
According to bol this was €627.48
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Price checked on 30 September 2026
No price history yet — we have only just started measuring.
The specifications below are what we know for certain. Dimensions and capacity follow once we have checked them against the manual.
Picked on what this machine does and does not do itself

Maintenance
EssentialLimescale is what most machines die of, and vinegar attacks the seals. A liquid descaler declared suitable for espresso machines does the same job as the maker’s own branded fluid, usually for less.
€19.95
Go to bol
Milk
EssentialA stainless jug of around 600 ml is the difference between milk that froths and milk that boils. The shape of the spout decides whether you can pour anything with it.
€12.95
Go to bol
Grinding
EssentialWithout a grinder in the machine this is not an accessory but a second purchase. Budget something close to the machine itself — on pre-ground coffee no portafilter machine gives you what it can do.
€192.00
Go to Coolblue
Brewing
RecommendedThe puck has to go somewhere, and the bin clogs with wet coffee within a week. A box with a rubber bar is quieter than it sounds.
€21.95
Go to bol
Brewing
Can waitDosing by eye is why the same machine tastes better on one day than the next. A scale accurate to a tenth of a gram, with a timer, turns pulling espresso into something repeatable.
€44.95
Go to bolEvery bean fits every machine. What differs is the order: on a bean-to-cup the 100% arabica beans come first, because dark-roasted blends carrying robusta give off more oil and that clogs a built-in grinder sooner.

The classic Italian bar blend: arabica with a good deal of robusta, which is where the thick crema espresso is known for comes from. Usually the cheapest kilo on this list.

Single origin and roasted lighter than the Italian blends. Lighter-roasted beans are harder and want a finer grind — see the article on beans.

A dark-roasted blend with robusta, made for the Italian bar. Full and bittersweet, and the kind of bean a bean-to-cup grinder gets through without complaint.

All arabica as well, but roasted darker than the Oro. The middle path between the soft arabica blends and the firm bar blends.