The Coffee Bill gives some great tips on the Gaggia Classic coffee machine

Billy Matthews loves nothing better than taking his Gaggia Classic coffee machine apart and then cleaning or modifying it.

The 28-year-old NHS health professional from Bournemouth didn’t even have a ‘proper’ cup of coffee until 3 years ago, but it gave him that ‘eureka’ moment that’s led to a fascination with coffee, especially Gaggia machines.

Now he’s known across social media as The Coffee Bill, making his own videos using Gaggia coffee machines.

His forte is also showing people how to modify and maintain their Gaggia machines to be sure of the very best performance at all times. 

He even got his hands on one Gaggia machine that hadn’t be cleaned since it was bought back in 2007 and shows just how mucked up a coffee shower screen and boiler can get - causing the water to dribble all over the place - yet how easy it can be to clean. It takes just one bolt and a few minutes.

Billy – who has worked in cancer care in his ‘day job’ and will soon start a new role with stroke patients - said: “My deep love of coffee all started when I was staying with a friend in London in 2022 and he asked if I wanted a cup of coffee so I said a cup of instant would be great.

“But he had an espresso machine and made me a flat white which was by far the greatest cup of coffee I’d ever had. It was the best flavour, the best texture, everything about it was brilliant and I thought about that coffee all day.”

The coffee had not just sparked an interest, it sparked an obsession and a quest for Billy to learn all he could about coffee.

After a year experimenting with a second-hand coffee machine, Billy felt he was ready to take it to another level and his local coffee shop – the Seventh Seal in Dorchester – highly recommended the Gaggia Classic.

Billy has never looked back since getting his Classic.

“The coffee from a Gaggia Classic can be exquisite and it took me on a great learning curve, accelerating my knowledge,” said Billy. “I now have a deep passion for brewing and learning while sharing everything I’ve discovered along the way.

“The Gaggia Classic strikes the perfect balance of great performance out of the box yet is highly customisable for those who want to take things further. The huge community around it and its strong reputation make it the ideal machine to start - and grow - with.”
Billy does his own videos which he publishes mainly on Instagram and YouTube, showing people how to properly clean and descale their Gaggia – including how often to do it and the best products to use – as well as how to modify or upgrade your Gaggia yourself.

One shows the installation of the wonderfully named Proportional Integral Derivative - thankfully PID for short - to give complete control over the water temperature.

Billy, who has 6,554 followers on Instagram, adds: “I’m never happier than when I’m stripping down a Gaggia coffee machine to see how it all works. I think people have a fear of fear itself when it comes to anything technical but I take them through it step by step and it really isn’t as daunting as they think.

“Everyone needs to learn how to clean and descale their Gaggia coffee machine regularly and then take the short time needed to make it happen.”

One follower, Lucas Hutton, said: “I went through this exact process two years ago and fixed my parents’ machine that had been sat around for like a decade.”

That’s the problem. Many coffee machines lying around unused often only need a good clean to get them going again.

Billy also loves to inject humour into his videos.

In one he places his Gaggia Classic coffee machine in front of  world coffee expert James Hoffman doing a presentation on the TV, imploring it to learn how to make great coffee.

“That one did well, better than expected,” said Billy.

He’s just been filming a review of the new Gaggia GT coffee machine which will be out soon on his YouTube channel.

And one of Billy’s videos goes into the joys of decaf coffee.

“Decaffeinated coffee can get a bad reputation but I can’t understand why,” says Billy. “Decaf beans have a lot of flavour to give but I talk about why it’s so easy to over extract from them in the video.”

In short, Billy’s coffee philosophy is simple.
“Coffee can be a great way to destress if you have a stressful life,” he says. “It certainly helps me.”
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To see Billy in action go to
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/the.coffee.bill
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@TheCoffeeBill
Tik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@thecoffeebill