Gaggia Achille
Giovanni Achille Gaggia, a bar owner in Milan, born in 1895 in Milan, was experimenting with screw-type pistons to make coffee and that after the war he tried the lever piston and it worked. Another story goes that Gaggia actually possessed a model of the screw piston and could show it to people. Yet a third story says that Rosetta Scorza, the wife of an inventor, came to Gaggia with an idea for a new machine. The idea was a little primitive and when the inventor died, his wife sold it to Gaggia for a thousand Lira (a large sum of money in those days). Gaggia made some improvements and the true espresso machine as we know it was invented. The facts almost fit in with these stories. In reality, Achille Gaggia introduced the spring into the lever. The spring provided the pressure and it was the pressure that forced the water through the coffee in a short time- fifteen seconds for a short “ristretto” shot to be exact. TODAY the Gaggia company still makes this Achille model, after it’s namesake. The Achille is a hand lever operated steam espresso maker. It is a beautiful machine, perfect for your home or office as a centerpiece. With this machine you “pull” a shot on the lever just the way it was done in the beginning. You also get the added feature of bragging rights as owning one of the first type of espresso makers with plenty of history behind it. GAGGIA
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