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SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER . 2021 | VOL.21
Gaggia: Where did
it all begin?
...And what does the future hold?
Gaggia is renowned as one of the most historic
names in coffee, but how and where did it all Overseas Expansion
begin? How have we arrived where we are today? By the mid-1950s, coffee culture had
And even more importantly, where are we spread beyond Italy and in the UK, coffee
heading? was now fashionable. Gaggia became the
first Italian coffee machine to be imported
A Historic Name into the UK, and in 1953 Gina Lollobrigida,
About a century ago, the preparation of coffee the Italian actress, opened Moka in
was unreliable, often resulting in a bitter taste. London, which was the first coffee bar in
However, in 1938, Achille Gaggia filed a patent for the country to install a Gaggia machine.
his revolutionary “Lampo” system that passed hot
water under pressure through ground coffee. Despite the untimely death of Achille
Thus, the espresso with a natural crema was Gaggia in 1961, the 1960s saw further
born. expansion of the range, with the addition of
more advanced technology and the
The spirit of innovation continued throughout company starting to work with external
the 1940s, and in 1947 a large lever was added designers, to heighten the visual appeal of
to the mechanism. All of this resulted in the their machines.
launch of the first Gaggia coffee machine for
cafés and bars in 1948. The “Classica” was one of
the very first horizontal coffee machines, and not Acquisition and Looking to the Future
only was the design of the machine and the Throughout the 1980s, 1990s and into the
technology it incorporated different to what had 2000s, Gaggia continued to produce a wide
gone before, it allowed consumers to enjoy range of machines for the professional
coffee that was unlike anything they had drunk in market. In 2018, however, the brand was
the past. Now customers could experience a acquired by the Evoca Group.
drink with the full-bodied flavour and crema that
is typical of a cup of espresso.
By 1949, Gaggia’s Classica had been installed in
some of Milan’s most elegant and chic locations,
and as word spread, long queues formed with
people wanting to try the new standard of
espresso.
