Gaggia Classic UP review: An outstanding home espresso bar

Where would we be without Mr Gaggia? Honestly, the man single-handedly invented the modern-day espresso bar back in 1938. Still, nearly 90 years later, the world of coffee and the science behind it has changed irrevocably.

Gaggia's Classic espresso machine (its staple home range, that's been around since the early 90s) has been a kitchen icon, but if I'm honest, it's starting to show its age. Enter the new and improved Gaggia Classic UP. This refinement of an already solid design takes what modders have been doing for years now and fully implements all of it at a factory level, all in an attempt to take the top spot as the best espresso machine of 2026.

Gaggia Classic UP review: price and availability

The Classic UP that I have on test here, launched in March 2026, and you can pick one up for around £849 in the UK from Amazon, $849 in the US from Whole Latte Love (likely coming to Amazon later in the year), €849 in the EU (baristadelight.de), and for AU, $1,899 (it is on offer currently for $1,599 but that's only until May 15th).

Interestingly, Gaggia has only launched a single model of the Classic UP, so if you don't like that matte black finish, you're out of luck, at least for the time being.

Gaggia Classic UP review: design and build

The good news is that straight out of the box, Gaggia's Classic UP looks utterly stunning. That matte black finish, combined with the iconic Classic styling, gives it the feel of a machine that costs twice as much. There's this modern flair to it. The old school buttons have been replaced with toggle switches; there are white LEDs sat behind illuminating them, the cup warming tray has a mirror finish, and the 2-inch TFT LCD display fits seamlessly into a crisp black panel that sits flush into the top of the machine, complete with a suite of capacitive touch buttons. It just oozes sophistication.

A quick dissection of the group-handle reveals an industry standard 58mm, 18g basket, complete with a dual-spout housed in a full-length metal body. There's no naked portafilter here, but to be honest, unless your puck prep is on point and your coffee close to dialled already, this design is nine times out of ten a tidier solution anyway.

The only downside is that the grip itself does feel a bit cheap. The entire machine has this svelte powder-coated stainless steel all over it that just exudes excellence, and yet the group-handle grip and the steam wand dial seem to have been kitted out with plastic recycled from a 1990s Jurassic Park T. rex toy.

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The UP comes with two assorted drip trays that you can choose from, depending on how high you want your cups to sit underneath the portafilter, and there's a telescopic drain port that runs along the left-hand side, which, although fiddly to install, helps to purge any excess moisture from the group-head during shot pours.

As for the steam wand, it's fully articulating and has a rubber grip on it, allowing you to touch it without necessarily burning your fingertips to a crisp. You might want to shuffle that up a bit on first setup, just to help manoeuvre your milk jug underneath, but more on that in a bit.

All in all, it's a well-rounded machine and surprisingly compact. Although that does lead to its own issues, particularly as it does like to shuffle a bit when you lock the group-handle in place, very similarly to the Sage Bambino Plus. But still, you're getting a lot for the money here, and the design is exceptional. Sure, there's no broad variety of colourways just yet, but that crisp black finish just looks outstanding, so I'm happy to let that slide.

Gaggia Classic UP review: performance

After spending close to a month with the Classic UP, I can tell you now, this machine pulls some seriously clean shots. I've been a head barista for close to two years, working in an independent speciality coffee shop, and I've roasted coffee commercially for about a year as well. In that time, I've worked on Contis, Faemas, La Marzoccos, Victoria Arduinos, the lot, crafting top-quality lattes, caps, and flat whites across the country. Basically, I've pulled and drank a lot of espresso, so when I say the Classic UP is an absolute king in that department, I really do mean it.

The most recent iteration, the E24, was a bit old-school in its internal workings. It didn't have a modern-day PID inside; rather, it relied on a bimetallic thermostat instead (think of the clicky thermostat inside your kettle). What that means is you were constantly waiting for the boiler to get to temp, but that temperature could swing, if you were unlucky, up or down by two to three degrees at a time, on a per-shot basis. You couldn't control exactly what temperature you wanted it to be.

The older Classic line, before that, was even worse and could shift by upwards of 10 - 15 degrees depending on the time of year, although that was before the introduction of the Evo Pro line's brass boiler in 2023.

With the introduction of that dual PID, it effectively allows the Classic UP to keep incredibly tight control over the temperature of the water being pushed into your coffee grounds. That means your shots are far more consistent from pull to pull, drink to drink.

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Not only that, but you can control and observe the temperature of the boiler with that TFT display, keeping it within a single degree. What that means is that you can get that light roasted Ethiopian natural running at 96 degrees, or your medium-roast Colombian at 91, and really get the most out of the flavour, with back-to-back shots being near identical.

Gaggia's included two other nice-to-haves with the UP as well. The first is pre-infusion. Now it's a bit of a controversial one, but effectively this setting pre-wets the coffee puck, applying just enough water to saturate the espresso grounds and get those flavour molecules flowing, before applying the pressurised water. It does generally lead to a better-tasting shot, although I'd be reluctant to say there's much difference between the three modes. Still, definitely keep it enabled.

And second, and perhaps far more important, is the pump timer. The Classic E24 had a manual control. You'd pull the shot, then decide when you wanted to stop it by hand. Ideally, you'd use a set of scales, pop 18g of ground coffee in your basket, pull it, wait until you hit 36-40g of espresso out, then stop the machine and hope it finished within the 28-32 second mark that you've diligently just timed yourself. All to get that perfectly balanced espresso.

The UP features a time-based pump with its own memory. On first use, you can effectively dial in your coffee and set it so you get that 36-40g out within 30 seconds. From there on, each time you pull a shot, the pump will run for the same length of time, but the weight will change, then it's just a case of adjusting the grind size to get the weight right using a decent set of coffee scales, and the shot time should stay remarkably consistent, along with that balanced flavour profile.

As for the steam wand, that too doesn't disappoint, as anyone who's used one of the more recent Evo Pro lines will know. Although it's a single-boiler design, heating up after a shot's been pulled is rapid, and with a quick purge, it's surprisingly potent. The only downside is that the dial is a bit underwhelming. Again, it has that same cheap plastic feel that the group handle grip does, and more frustratingly, it spins quite a lot going from off to on and back again.

Turning the steam off once your milk is up to temp and textured appropriately is a bit of a mission that can actually ruin both the temperature and the texture in the process if you're not fast enough. A lever design, or less rotation on the dial, would've been far more welcome.

Still, does the milk live up to café quality? Nearly. It doesn't quite have the edge over a dedicated dual-boiler, or a La Marzocco Linea PB S, but then those are £5-10,000 machines. It's not meant to be that good. If all you're after is the option to make one or two lattes or cappuccinos back to back, it's more than capable of delivering on that promise, with smooth, well-textured milk, as long as you can get past that wild dial.

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Gaggia Classic UP review: verdict

At this price point, this is, by far, the best Classic espresso machine Gaggia has ever made. It's not necessarily this huge revolutionary step up over its E24 sibling, but more of a refinement of an already solid build. It incorporates a lot of features that modders and home espresso tinkerers have been adding for years, but in a beautifully clean fashion, with a factory warranty attached.

The addition of dual PID control, pump timers, pre-infusion, and that display with its touch controls and a built-in shot timer takes what was great about the original Classic E24 and dials it right up all the way to 11, without breaking the bank.

As far as home machines go, yes there are still better options out there, bars with dual-boilers, and volumetric flow control, insulated steam wands, and every other bell and whistle under the sun, but you're typically going to be paying twice as much for a feature set that doesn't necessarily translate to a better drink.

The Classic UP is for the price-conscious in that regard. It's not perfect; that portafilter grip still needs some work, and the steam wand dial needs a real refinement pass, but if this is any indicator of where Gaggia is going with this series, I can't wait to see the next one. And if you buy the UP, you're not going to ever leave your kitchen disappointed.

Gaggia Classic UP review: alternatives to consider

There's no denying that the Classic UP is a purist's espresso machine. If you're looking for something a little more automated, then De'Longhi's La Specialista Opera is a fantastic solution that includes a built-in grinder, auto-milk steaming solution, and a similar touchscreen workflow.

Alternatively, and I've already mentioned it, but Sage's Bambino Plus is a remarkably well-built and similarly budget-friendly alternative that just gets the job done at a far lower price.