Gaggia Classic UP Review

In the past few years, Gaggia have been making big moves with their espresso machines. From adding a brass boiler to the Classic, to the debut of their prosumer dual boiler, the GT, it truly feels like we’re living in the age of a new Gaggia Renaissance. In ages past, multiple variations of the Classic existed, if not by name, then by build. Machines like the Baby Twin or Espresso Dose showed us some of the possibilities that the Classic platform could support. Beyond what Gaggia was able to dream up, the Classic has also been a popular canvas for modders and home enthusiasts; many of these ideas have been implemented in Gaggia’s newest espresso machine, the Classic UP.

Design

If you’ve seen a Gaggia Classic before, the UP’s design will be very familiar. Made-in-Italy, the UP houses all of its components in a one-piece steel frame, and at launch, the machine is available in black, with brushed stainless coming soon.

In keeping with the new red motif featured on multiple modern Gaggia machines, the UP has a red accented drip tray and features a new Gaggia branded pressure gauge in the center of the front panel. The UP uses a suite of three toggle switches like the Classic GT and a color TFT with capacitive touch buttons for additional control on top of the machine.

Leveling UP the Classic

From first glance, the Classic UP looks fairly similar to the Classic E24, but when you start digging into nuances of the updates made by Gaggia, the UP begins to distinguish itself in a number of ways.

The Boiler

Starting with the boiler, the Classic UP uses a similar 3.35oz lead-free brass boiler as the Classic E24 with several minor modifications in order to install the brew pressure gauge and the PID controller. Because the brew boiler is mounted directly to the brew group, the pressure readout is very accurate. The Classic UP ships from the factory with a 9 bar OPV so there’s no need to make any modifications to the brewing pressure.

Controls

Display

Similar to the Classic GT, the Classic UP uses a color TFT display with capacitive touch buttons. This design is inspired by the screen and controls used in their Magenta series machines and is significantly more robust than a typical PID controller.

Boiler temperature can be adjusted without needing to access any additional menus, and the four button layout is much easier to navigate than the traditional two buttons used on many other machines. The programming is also impressive with the ability to set varying levels of pre-infusion, enabling a brewing preset, eco mode, automatic wakeup time, and button sound.

Toggle Switches

The UP’s toggle switches were first introduced on the Classic GT and offer additional functionality with ability to recognize long presses. Currently this feature is used for the programming of timed shots to allow the machine to brew automatically. Each switch has a dedicated LED ring that functions in the same way as the red LEDs on the Classic E24. On the power switch, the LED illuminates when the machine is powered on.

On the brew switch, it flashes when the boiler is heating and is solid when the boiler has reached your desired temperature. The steam LED will not illuminate until you have switched the machine into steam mode, after which it will flash while heating stay steadily illuminated once the boiler has reached steam temperature.

Brewing

Brewing on the Classic UP makes use of a vibration pump and the machine’s brass boiler. In our testing, after pulling a shot, the boiler takes approximately 25 seconds to return to a programmed temperature of 200° after brewing. Gaggia themselves advertise the PID as being accurate to the set temp within +/- 2° C, though our testing found that number to be close to 1-2° F, with the greatest deviation being roughly 3° after repeated tests. Given the rapid heating and recovery time, we were very impressed with these results:

Pre-Infusion

Pre-infusion is a feature introduced in the Classic GT and is implemented in two phases before the shot. There is an active low-flow wetting phase that dispenses water at 3g/sec, followed by a soak phase where the solenoid valve is left open before the pump activates. On the American version of the Classic UP, the pre-infusion times are different from EU and international versions of the machine.

Pre-infusion is optional and needs to be enabled in the menu. The three cycles are:

• Min: 2sec Active, 1sec Soak
• Med: 8sec Active, 3sec Soak
• Max: 12sec Active, 3sec Soak

Timed Shots

The Classic UP can also be programmed to brew shots automatically by time. This is done by first enabling the “Preset” option in the main menu.

Once that’s done the word “Preset” will appear on the display. After that, programming is as simple as pressing and holding the brew switch until the word “Preset” starts flashing. At that point you simply allow the machine to brew for as long as you like and then press the brew switch again. Programming is saved by time, so you may need to reprogram the switch as you change coffees, your beans age, etc.

Steaming

The boiler takes approximately 40 seconds to heat fully to steam temperature. Like the Classic E24, you can start steaming before the boiler is fully heated in order to keep the heating element engaged while you froth milk.

The steam wand on the UP is attached with an updated valve with a ball joint, allowing for full articulation of the wand.

Thanks to its single hole tip, the UP is able to create a strong roll and on average is able to heat 5oz of fridge temp milk to 140° in 30-35 seconds. On average, the percentage of added water floated around 16% which can be interpreted as slightly wetter than you’d see on a larger prosumer machine. Just like the Classic E24, you can also dispense hot water by pressing the brew and steam switches simultaneously and opening the valve. This is also how you cool down and refill the boiler after steaming.

I do want to mention that the Classic UP is also compatible with the original 2-hole steam tip from the Classic E24 so we wanted to test that as well when evaluating the UP. In general the 2 hole tip reached our 140° target temperature five seconds faster than the included single hole tip. My main takeaway from this is that the stock tip will give you more time to work the milk than the two hole.

Accessories

Tamper

One of the more subtle, but highly impactful improvements to the UP are the high quality accessories Gaggia includes with it. We’ll start with the tamper which is easily the most improved of the bunch. The UP’s tamper has a 58mm flat steel base, with the Gaggia Milano logo. The handle is a narrow, textured plastic and it reminds me heavily of the tampers included with most ECM and Profitec espresso machines.

Width wise, the base [get measurement with calipers] is a very tight fit in 58mm baskets and leaves little room for play. If you’re brewing on a budget, this is a perfectly serviceable tamper that you can rely on to get the job done.

Baskets

The Classic UP includes the same portafilter baskets as the Classic GT, with a commercial 11g single and 18g double basket and a backflush disc. Compared to the E24, the commercial baskets are higher capacity, allowing you to use common specialty doses compared to the 6.5g single and 14g double baskets included with the E24.

The UP also comes with the same portafilter as the GT which has a more ergonomic handle and balanced design. Because the brew group is unchanged from the E24 and GT, the UP is compatible with existing Gaggia wood accented and bottomless portafilters.

Drip Tray

A point of contention among some users has been the height of the Classic’s drip tray. To address this issue, the UP comes with two drip trays, a traditional 16oz tray which provides a clearance of roughly 2.75” and a lower 8oz tray which is an inch shorter for 3.75” of clearance. Like the Classic GT, the UP has a telescopic decompression duct that can be extended downward when using the lower tray.

The Classics Compared

With three models of Gaggia Classic to choose from, I put together a little table comparing each model to give you a better idea of the features and design of each one.

Final Thoughts

It’s exciting to see firsthand the rapid innovation Gaggia has brought to the platform. The Classic UP’s features and design have been largely informed by years of opinion and speculation from enthusiasts. It delivers meaningful improvement on multiple fronts, with stable brew temperatures, a real tamper, multiple drip trays and now a fully articulated steam wand for even more precise milk frothing.

Photography and Graphics by Grace Walker and Elley Ellison

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