Gaggia


Gaggia is an Italian company that makes coffee machines, especially espresso and cappuccino machines, in addition to small kitchen appliances. The company is owned by Saeco International Group.

History

The founder, Giovanni Achille Gaggia, applied for a patent for the first modern steamless coffee machine on September 5, 1938, to be used commercially in his coffee bar. The machine forced water to flow over the coffee grounds at a high pressure, producing the 'crema' that is unique to espresso.
The Gaggia company was founded in 1947 and formally incorporated in 1948. It first produced machines for commercial use, but shortly thereafter released the Gilda, its first home machine.
Gaggia has four product lines. They market automatic espresso machines, manual espresso machines, accessories and coffee beans under the Gaggia brand name. The company continues to produce espresso machines from classic manual machines to the innovative semi-automatic and super-automatic models recently added to the line.
As of 2010, all Gaggia espresso and coffee machines are still manufactured in Milan at the Robecco sul Naviglio factory. The 2015 Gaggia Classic was built in Romania instead. The New Gaggia Classic is made in Italy again and uses an aluminum boiler.
The Gaggia S.p. A company was purchased in 1999 by fellow Italian competitor Saeco International Group, which in turn was purchased by Dutch manufacturer Philips in 2009. Gaggia still operates a separate line but now is using Saeco designs in some of its domestic espresso machines.
Before the takeover by Philips most domestic espresso machines from Gaggia had aluminium boilers. Now they have stainless steel boilers.
In 2017 Philips sold the division to N&W Global Vending SpA, an Italian Bergamo based company leader in vending machines for drinks and snacks, born in 2000 from the integration of Necta and Wittenberg and controlled by a US fund, Lone Star. The domestic coffee machine division remains in the Philips group. In November 2017 N&W changes its name to Evoca Group.