Gaggia Classic Accessories and Mods

Alasdair McLeay
9 min readMar 30, 2020

A list of accessories and mods for a 2019 or pre-2015 Gaggia Classic.

Tamper

Flat or Convex?

You want the tamp to result in an even pressure across the grounds in the basket, so the choice of a flat vs. a convex tamper I think this depends on the shape of the basket you’re using. If you’re using a deep, flat basket then I think a flat tamper is best.

58mm, 58.4mm or 58.5mm?

All good, but if you go for 58.4mm or 58.5mm, make sure you’re careful with the vacuum it creates (e.g. twist then pull up slowly).

Traditional or precision?

Precision is good but only if you’re mainly using the same dose (weight, beans, grinder setting).

The pricey option:

Essentials

Milk Jug

A traditionally shaped, small (12oz), metal milk jug. The shape is important as you need to get a swirl going in the jug while steaming.

You may also want a second, larger jug for filling the tank with water or if you want to steam lots of milk at once.

I have the 12oz etched version of this, which I can’t find available anywhere at the moment:

Cloths

A few good quality, different sized microfiber cloths. Cheap, thin ones should be avoided for the steam want to avoid scalding. It’s good to have a small one dedicated to the steam wand and at least one other for other cleaning such as portafilter, coffee head and surfaces.

A good guide

Recommended

Milk Thermometer

I found this very useful when learning to steam milk properly, I turn the steam off at 120F-130F and let it rise to 140F-150F, though may be different for non dairy.

Around 5"/12.5cm length.

Timer

Careful sticking magnetic things on the Gaggia chassis though as it will scratch. Not much difference between the options here. I use a ‘Salter Big Button Timer’. Some scales have timers built in.

Scales

Used for weighing both dose and extraction.

  • slim (so that they still leave enough room for cup and portafilter)
  • accurate to 0.1g
  • at least 500g max so they can tare with portafilter
  • some water protection (e.g. usb rechargeable).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Phidlance-Rechargeable-Weighing-Accurate-Precision/dp/B07V788JJJ/

The pricey options:

Blanking disk

To be used with cleaner below.

Group head cleaner

Group head cleaner for backflushing every 1–2 months.

Hard plastic brush

For cleaning group head.

Tamping mat

Careful getting ones with recessed area for tamper as they can collect moisture.

Water filtration

Your main options are:

  1. Move to a soft water area.
  2. Use tap water and regularly descale.
  3. Use a water filter jug, but still regularly descale.
  4. Use bottled water, but make sure it’s soft/low bicorbonate (e.g. Volvic).
  5. Peak water jug.
  6. Plumb in a water filter tap.
  7. Fit a house wide water softener.

Bottomless portafilter

Optional

Tamper mat

Rubber mat with dimples to store tamper on and protect it from water. Buy 2–3 if you also want to put your distributor or funnel on one.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07H412G2G/

Brush

For cleaning grinder or surfaces

Straw/pipe cleaner

For cleaning the inside of the steam wand, but not sure how important this is if you wipe it every time you use it.

Descaler

Descaler for tank to use every 3–6 months. Apparently good to get one that’s made to use on the Gaggia Classic so it doesn’t erode the protective coating on the aluminium boiler.

Funnel

If you find your grinder is throwing coffee over your work surface and missing the portafilter then you can get a funnel:

Baskets

High quality baskets at a range of sizes — I mostly use 18g or 20g.

Distributor/levelling Tool

Evenly distribute the coffee before you tamp it.

The pricey option:

Portafilter holder

Mods

Ince you’re used to the basics and understand why the mod is good, ordered by priority.

PID

(Proportional–integral–derivative controller).

For a more consistent brew temperature than just turning the boiler on and off every 5–10 seconds or so (more important than it may sound).

I’d highly recommend getting one with steam control unless you never make milk drinks.

Using a PID with preinfusion has mixed results, but if you want to give it a try you may want to combine it with a dimmmer mod (see below).

Steam wand

Not needed on the 2019 model as it already comes with a good steam wand.

Pressure gauge

An internal one gives all the benefits of the portafilter attached gauge, plus is useful to confirm everything is operating as expected.

An external one is useful when adjusting the pressure on a pre 2019 model, or confirming the pressure on the 2019 model.

Change pressure

On a 2019 Gaggia Classic, use the MrShades kit:

On a pre 2019 model, use the pressure gauge above and follow this guide:

Group head

Better heat retention for a more consistent brew temperature.

Brass one can cause shower distribution issues due to having smaller holes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/espresso/comments/ba0err/if_you_upgraded_to_the_brass_grouphead_on_your/

Silicone seal

The stock rubber seal can degrade and impart a taste.

Shower screen

But don’t over tighten it — keep an eye on the dome of the shower screen as you screw in and stop before it compresses the dome.

And consider water distribution issues:
https://coffeeforums.co.uk/topic/41191-unequal-water-flow-over-ims-shower-screen-gaggia-classic/

https://coffeeforums.co.uk/topic/45554-ims-35-micron-or-200-micron-shower-screen/

Upgrade pump

I’ve not done this, but supposedly the Invensys CP3A is quieter pump and easy to swap out.

Probably not worth it unless your current pump is broken.

Dimmer preinfusion

I’ve not had much luck with preinfusion at 9–10 bar, but if you can dim the pressure during preinfusion it apparently works well.

Not sure if there’s a mod that works alongside Auber PID’s preinfusion…

Auto Timer

Most PIDs will have a timer so probably not needed.

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