# Gaggia Coffee Deluxe... stick or twist?



## bob_summers (Nov 12, 2012)

Hi all, little conundrum here.

My current setup is a Coffee Deluxe, which has been great for the 8 years or so I've had it. I'm also running a Mahlkonig Vario.

I make 4 or so espressos a day, only use the steam wand for warming cups but wouldn't mind getting into lattes if the steam wand was actually useful. The only real gripes with the Gaggia are the wild temperature control, and the lack of a 3 way valve.

So I was considering either spending a bit on the old girl, maybe a boiler and valve from a Classic (which I guess would work), and a PID.

That, or upgrading to something like a Silvia. I'm kind of loathe to do that, as I've got a stash of Gaggia spares, naked pf, etc.

What would you do? Is there a third way I've not thought of?

Cheers.


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## RisingPower (Dec 27, 2009)

If you only drink espresso, I think the biggest thing i'd miss is either the rotary pump (therefore no opv) or an opv in its place.

I wonder how much you could get a pid'd classic for on the bay, or just a classic and add the pid, wonder whether you could swap out the opv but even the one in the classic wasn't exactly perfect, but then I may be remembering wrong, been years since I had a classic.

Since you don't drink lattes or large numbers of espresso, I'd have thought just buying a used gaggia classic would be the best bet. If you however like lattes, i'm not sure how well even the silvia copes, it's still not a massively large boiler.

More interestingly http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?4507-Old-School-Gaggia-Coffee-to-Gaggia-Coffee-Classic-Conversion


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## AndyL (Apr 10, 2011)

STICK!

I have a Gaggia Coffee Deluxe which I've converted bar the boiler and 3 way. I changed the steam valve and fitted a Classic OPV which all works beautifully.

I will at some point be fiteting a PID and changing the boiler but for now I'm happy and love my machine.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2


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## bob_summers (Nov 12, 2012)

Thanks for the tips guys, I hadn't even heard of the OPV, nor considered a rotary pump so I've learnt something already!

Looking on fleabay for used Classics, seems like that would be the way forward. Well, cheaper than buying the parts seperately to upgrade the deluxe.

So, for a non-latte drinker, the Silvia wouldn't offer an appreciable increase in espresso quality (all other things being equal) than the Classic?


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## RisingPower (Dec 27, 2009)

bob_summers said:


> Thanks for the tips guys, I hadn't even heard of the OPV, nor considered a rotary pump so I've learnt something already!
> 
> Looking on fleabay for used Classics, seems like that would be the way forward. Well, cheaper than buying the parts seperately to upgrade the deluxe.
> 
> So, for a non-latte drinker, the Silvia wouldn't offer an appreciable increase in espresso quality (all other things being equal) than the Classic?


I think it's marginal between the silvia and classic for espresso.

It's a bigger boiler, brass iirc and not aluminium so stability would be better.

Have a gander at coffeegeek and homebarista if they're still around.


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