Get started with Gaggia espresso.
Your first shot on a Gaggia machine: what to switch on, what to weigh, and when. Filtru guides the shot, and with a Bluetooth scale it measures it live.
Available for iPhone and iPad.
A quick word about Gaggia.
Gaggia is where modern espresso begins. In September 1938 Milanese barista Achille Gaggia filed the patent for a brewing mechanism that pushed hot water through coffee under pressure instead of scalding it with steam, and out came something no one had seen before: a soft layer of crema naturale. The lever machines that followed defined the golden age of the espresso bar, and the company still builds its home machines in Italy.
For home baristas the heart of the range is the Classic, a small stainless steel single boiler machine that has been in production since 1991 and is now sold as the Classic Evo Pro (Classic E24 in some markets). It is famously simple, famously moddable, and hands you a genuine 58 mm commercial portafilter at an entry-level price. Around it sit the newer Classic UP with PID temperature control, the dual boiler Classic GT, and the compact Espresso Evolution and Carezza Deluxe.
The honest trade-off with Gaggia is that the simpler machines ask a little more of you. There is no built-in grinder and, on the standard Classic, no shot timer or temperature display. In exchange you get straightforward, serviceable hardware with roots in the origins of espresso itself, and a machine that grows with your skills rather than capping them.
Popular Gaggia home machines
- Classic Evo Pro (Classic E24) — single boiler, lead-free brass, 58mm portafilter. The current evolution of the 1991 Classic, with a solid brass boiler and group head, a commercial style steam wand, and simple rocker-switch controls.
- Classic UP — single brass boiler with dual PID temperature control, 58mm portafilter. Keeps the small lead-free brass boiler but adds a color display with a shot timer, adjustable brew temperature, a 9 bar factory pressure setting, and automatic pre-infusion with three intensity levels.
- Classic GT — dual boiler (brass brew boiler plus stainless steel steam boiler), 58mm portafilter. Gaggia's first dual boiler home machine, with dual PID controllers, low-flow pre-infusion, volumetric shot programming, and a quoted heat-up of about 5 minutes.
- Espresso Evolution — PID-controlled stainless steel thermoblock, 53mm portafilter. A compact, made-in-Italy machine with automatic pre-infusion and PID temperature control at a friendly price.
- Carezza Deluxe — single boiler, stainless steel. A retro-styled compact machine with a pressurized crema perfetta filter holder and a gentle pre-brewing cycle, forgiving for beginners and ESE pod friendly.
What you need.
- Your Gaggia machine
- Cup or a mug
- Kitchen scale
- Coffee tamper
Any kitchen scale gets you going. A supported Bluetooth scale takes it further: Filtru reads the weight live under your cup, so dose and yield are measured as they happen, not eyeballed after.
Grind setting for espresso: extra fine.
Your first shot, step by step.
Gaggia's home machines heat quickly on paper: the Classics use very small brass boilers, the Espresso Evolution uses a PID thermoblock, and Gaggia quotes about 5 minutes of heat-up for the dual boiler Classic GT. On the brass boiler Classics it is still worth giving the group head and portafilter extra time to heat through, since the metal that touches your coffee warms more slowly than the boiler itself.
- Switch on the machine Let the boiler inside heat up the water while you grind the coffee.
- Weigh out the coffee and grind it 1tbsp ~ 12g. Make sure you adjust the grinder first to get the right grind size.
- Remove the portafilter and rinse the machine A short water cycle should remove any residual grounds from before.
- Place the coffee in the portafilter Make sure the coffee is evenly distributed
- Tamp the coffee with little pressure Make sure the tamper sits evenly in the portafilter
- Attach the portafilter
- Place the scale and the cup The scale will help Filtru record the espresso shot.
- Turn on the scale, ensuring it reads `0g` Some scales will require to switch to "Grams" mode. Filtru-supported scales will need to be tare'd manually.
Lock in the empty portafilter while the machine warms up, then run a blank shot of hot water through it into your cup. It preheats the group head, portafilter, and cup in one go, which matters a lot on a machine with a small boiler.
Dial it in with a scale in the loop.
The fastest way to better shots on your Gaggia is measuring them.
Pair a supported Bluetooth scale with Filtru and every shot gets recorded as it pours: live weight, real yield, shot time, and a graph you can compare against yesterday's. When the numbers are honest, dialling in stops being guesswork. Adjust one thing, pull again, and watch the extraction even out.
No scale yet? Filtru still guides the shot, times it, and keeps your log of dose, yield, and taste, so you always know what to change next.
The answer is YES
Pulling shots on a Gaggia? These all have the same answer:
- Can I use Filtru with my Gaggia machine? Yes
- Can Filtru time my espresso shots? Yes
- Can I log dose, yield, and taste for every shot? Yes
- Can I see live shot weight with a Bluetooth scale? Yes
- Will Filtru help me dial in my grinder? Yes
- Is Filtru free to download? Yes
Getting started on another machine?
Espresso basics · Breville · De'Longhi · La Marzocco · Lelit · Rancilio · Sage
Gaggia is a trademark of its respective owner; Filtru isn't affiliated with or endorsed by it. Machine details come from public manufacturer information as of July 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell me and I'll fix it.
