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

​Why Coffee Kev who runs the Coffee Blog says it’s ‘got to be a Gaggia’
 
Kev Lewis is one of the UK’s leading independent coffee reviewers and his first ever espresso coffee machine was a Gaggia.

He knows Gaggia UK well and will always suggest people get a machine from Gaggia due to its phenomenal customer service and the fact its experts are always on hand to help.

Kev says: “The reason I always recommend Gaggia Direct when I’m talking about Gaggia machines is that I genuinely believe these are the best people in the UK to buy the machines from. They stock the machines here in the UK, you can simply call them if you have a problem and they have engineers in-house to fix any problems.

“They are the guys who offer the Gaggia warranty in the UK too so if you buy any official Gaggia UK machine (not a grey import with a plug adapter) they will be the guys responsible for your warranty.

“I’ve spent time at their building in Elland near Halifax and I’ve seen and heard them interacting with new and existing customers. Even managing director Raj Beadle answers the calls and gives advice which is amazing - I’ve never heard of this happening anywhere else before.

“People don’t appreciate how rare yet how important that is to have a main dealer who offers such excellent sales support from a team with such an in-depth knowledge of the entire Gaggia range.

“I’ve also had a lot of feedback from fellow coffee botherers who are customers of theirs and, as a result, I’m always very comfortable to recommend them.”

Kev, 47, lives in Stockport and his YouTube channel studio is based at Alderley Edge in Cheshire near Manchester Airport, along with his coffee sales business The Coffee Works (https://www.cworks.co.uk) which supplies freshly roasted coffee beans.

It all began in 2015 when Kev was bought a cafetière for his birthday and wrote a review about it. When he realised he’d notched up 2,000 words he realised there may be a blog in it so he set up his own blog – simply called Coffee Blog (https://coffeeblog.co.uk), followed by his own  Coffee Kev YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@Coffee_Kev) where he has almost 68,000 subscribers. You can also catch him on Instagram at @ukcoffeeblog
Yes, you’ve probably guessed by now that Kev is a ‘details guy.’ When he reviews coffee machines it’s in-depth but not overly technical so anyone – whatever their knowledge of coffee machines – can follow it.

He says: “It’s not that simple buying a coffee machine any more as there are so many out there to choose from so my blogs are often designed to provide useful information to those looking for help. I try to give a lot of detail.”

Kev has a strict set of testing criteria – such as how hot the water is, how long it takes to reach that temperature and the loudness of each machine which he measures on his decibel meter.

Apart from his videos presentations, Kev also writes it down in the blog so coffee lovers can see what he’s saying at a glance and also remind themselves of specifications and machine dimensions later.

He’ll use a coffee machine he’s going to review for at least a couple of weeks before he writes a word so gets to know it really well.

“There’s certainly a lot of effort behind each piece of coffee content I do,” says Kev. “Doing a full review can easily take the best part of a couple of days.”

And the style certainly works supremely well with Kev now reaching 2 million users a year.

Kev, who went through the Speciality Coffee Association barista training to improve his general coffee knowledge, said: “The first espresso machine I bought was a 2003 Gaggia Classic which I purchased in 2016. It was built like a tank and absolutely spot on.”

He set up The Coffee Works when he had trouble sourcing unusual or speciality coffees and his biggest seller – coincidentally his own favourite which he drinks every day – is the chocolate brownie blend.

The business began with 4 coffees and now has 23 - they roast the beans every day and grind to order, if required, so every bag sent out is guaranteed fresh.

Kev adds: “I think our best coffee for bean to cup machines is the chocolate fondant which is more edgy and has something of a kick.”

His range veers from a classic Italian blend to a Millionaires Shortbread Honduras blend, a Marzipan Truffle and even an Apple Pie and Custard Half Caffeine.

When it comes to the Gaggia range Kev reckons people wanting a manual machine should always go for the Gaggia Classic and, for the bean to cup machine, opt for the Gaggia Brera.

So there you are … go get a Gaggia!

Kevin's Page on Gaggia
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