Gaggia Classic Evo Pro Review: Good, Easy Espresso at Home

I once worked in a fancy startup office (think nap pods, Ping-Pong tables, and a snack room stuffed with plant-based protein snacks).

The kitchen counter was dominated by a gleaming chrome espresso machine, which, if you took the required class to use it, was the best place to rub elbows with the CEO come the 9 a.m. coffee rush. For me, as a young journalist, working my way up to using that machine felt like self-actualization. I would write my first big story, take the class, and finally sidle up to that counter to talk to the CEO while we made flat whites.

However, as I’ve learned over and over again, when you put that kind of pressure on yourself, the thing never gets done. As you may have guessed, I never did befriend the CEO. And flash forward to 2025, I still hadn’t learned to make a cup of espresso. But I’ve grown more comfortable with the idea that I’ll never be perfect. Instead of arriving at that counter, maybe I could be an imperfect person making imperfect espresso in my own kitchen.

So I ordered a Gaggia Classic Evo Pro.

Budget pick

This affordable machine can yield surprisingly complex shots, though you need to buy a separate tamper to get there. Frothing milk can be a bit tricky, but microfoam is manageable.

Espresso is an easy obsession to fall into. It’s art. It’s science. It’s religion. Wirecutter founder Brian Lam once penned an article titled “Making Espresso at Home Is Kind of a Nightmare” because it can cost thousands of dollars — and your sanity — to chase the quality you can find at a café.

The Gaggia Classic Evo Pro, the budget pick in our guide to the best home espresso machines, appeared to be a middle-ground option, a relatively affordable machine poised to grow with me. It has been a Wirecutter favorite for years because for the price it brews excellent espresso — that is, if you know how to use it, which I soon discovered is easier said than done.

While the Gaggia machine’s three buttons and single knob look simple, learning how to operate them takes time and understanding.

Unlike more expensive machines, this Gaggia model doesn’t have a PID (proportional integral derivative) controller to keep it at a consistent temperature, so making café-worthy espresso requires what’s known as “temperature surfing,” a complicated technique of pushing buttons and waiting just the right amount of time to ensure that the machine is always at the same temperature when you’re pulling a shot of espresso. I watched hours of videos of barista tips on using the machine, and eventually I synthesized it all into my own instruction manual consisting of 50 steps.

Then there are the accessories. I ordered an espresso scale and a spring-loaded tamper (one of Wirecutter’s recommendations, of course). But the r/gaggiaclassic subreddit soon had me believing that I needed a bottomless portafilter, a distribution tool, a tamping station, and even custom parts for the Gaggia machine to work its best. I took a deep breath, channeling my imperfect side, and decided to wait and see what else I truly needed.

When the machine arrived, it was smaller and more understated than the gleaming behemoth at the startup office. But it was mine.

After I set it up, I started going through my carefully crafted 50 steps and held my breath as the espresso began to trickle out of the portafilter. Except it didn’t trickle — it poured. Something was very wrong, and I was left with a dark, bitter cup. So I tuned my OXO grinder, a Wirecutter budget pick, to its finest setting and tried again. Once again, bad espresso poured out. Next round, I packed the portafilter with so many grounds that I had to wrench it onto the machine. Finally: imperfect but delicious espresso.

I spent the next six months getting to know the machine.

I learned a much simpler way to temperature-surf and cut the number of steps in my instructions in half. I found that Dogwood Bear Hug espresso beans roasted within the past two weeks worked best with the OXO grinder, and I got comfortable with adjusting the amount of grounds to control for how long the water took to run through the portafilter. I also got good at frothing milk, though my latte art could use some finesse. I bought a thinner, longer drip tray that lets me fit both the scale and a teacup under the portafilter.

While the Gaggia machine was growing with me, the OXO grinder was not. I wanted a device that could grind any type of bean into a finer powder and reduce the number of steps it takes to make espresso. So I bought a Eureka Mignon Libra grind-by-weight machine, which can deposit grounds right into the portafilter without my needing to weigh them beforehand.

The Libra grinder is expensive — even the refurbished one I found on sale cost more than the Gaggia machine. It’s not the espresso grinder I would have chosen six months ago, but when I bought it recently, I knew it was exactly what I needed. I’m confident that I’ll continue making espresso, and the Libra is an investment that will pay off over time. (While Wirecutter does have several entry-level espresso grinder recommendations, we have not tested grind-by-weight machines.)

I don’t plan on brewing espresso with any CEOs soon; most mornings, it’s just my cat and me in the kitchen. Between the Gaggia Classic Evo Pro and the Eureka Mignon Libra, I’ve reached a happy plateau where I can make just about anything I want and ignore the imperfections.

This morning, I made a cup that was just imperfect enough for me to throw a dollop of pumpkin-spice whipped cream on top. Delicious.

This article was edited by Megan Beauchamp and Annemarie Conte.