I am getting used to this new toy…and it’s been a couple of weeks since I drank an instant coffee.

I like an Americano. Do I use the steam wand to pour the hot water before pulling the double shot (or straight from the group head)? Water first or espresso first?

And for cappucino – should the steam wand heat the milk? We have got pretty good at frothing, but find we have to drink it straight away. Any way we can heat the milk up a bit?

Cheers

I use water from the kettle. Do you heat the milk enough? Get a thermometer thingy. Or just do the right thing and just drink espresso 🙂

When you press the middle button to activate the steam it gets the whole machine hotter. So much hotter that if you froth the milk you have to wait quite a bit for it to cool down before you can pull an espresso shot or it will taste burnt.

Do you heat the milk enough?

How do I heat the milk? before getting it near the gaggia?

Or just do the right thing and just drink espresso

It is my beautiful wife that drinks cappucino. I put coffee beans up my japs.

When you press the middle button to activate the steam…

Yep – made that mistake once. Never again 😀

Hot water = kettle

Wand for steaming milk

Pre-heat the milk in the microwave if you want to heat it up and concentrate on foaming it with the wand if you want. Oh – which wand / wand head do you have? Some are crap at their job.

If you just make espresso for one, then you can remove the double attachment from the portafilter. I would have a look at the pressure adjustment mod too. Worked well for me.

To answer your questions, I boil water for an americano and would pre-heat milk for a cappuccino.

Hot water will come out of the wand if you press the cup button and open the steam valve. Mrs BigJohn’s milk is plenty hot enough if steamed properly – pressing middle button and waiting for the light to go out. Make sure you pull the shots first though.

Cheers all..

I use the standard, out the box set up. Where should I look for mods?

Already, it has changed my life 😯

There was a thread on here by saladdodger regarding the pressure mod. You can buy a bottomless portafilter which is supposed to improve things. You can also fit a better steam wand from a Rancilio Silvia. Best improvement of all is likely to be fresh beans with a decent burr grinder.

I havn’t got a Gaggia, but I always pre-hat the cup with boiling water out of the kettle then draw the coffee shot, then I heat and froth the milk. Perfect every time. When frothing the milk I find it froths quicker than it heats up, so I block up the frothing breathing hole with my thumb, heat the milk upto about 140 degs F, then move my thumb and froth. But I never heat the milk more than 160 degs F as that is when milk starts to burn. Also keep the beans in a sealed container in the freezer or fridge.

Watched a video on youtube that said your supposed to use cold milk for frothing.

Nooooooooooooo….don’t pre-heat the milk!

The colder the better, you get more steaming time to froth the milk. If you want to get anal, chill your milk jug too. Also, get a milk thermometer; this isn’t anal, it’s essential.

As BigJohn says, pull the espresso first, then froth the milk.

Thanks again. It’s a bleeding minefield!

So, nope to heating milk then I guess.

I have a grinder, have the upgraded basket…and I haven’t slept for 6 days.

I always get best results with the freshest milk, so much so that its the dregs of a bottle that go on the breakfast, the “new” bottle goes in the milk jug.

I also find that cold milk from the fridge produces the best foam. Best with a cheap gaggia is to let the water heat a bit more before opening the steam up.

Also, from some experimentation, some would make you believe you need to tamp down the coffee like your Geoff Capes or something. I find I get better/consistent results with a light tamp, just one good press down, ensuring its even across the filter.

As Jujuuk68 said. Fresh beans newly ground, say 4 on my grinder, not too much pressure, just enough. I think the silvia mod is worth the effort.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0lgiff6ca5mtueq/2013-08-10%2019.10.09.jpg

I put coffee beans up my japs.

Do you not mean down your japs?
Or is your japs internal? Then you’d have to put them “up”.

Microwaving the milk will prevent it frothing properly. Should be steamed from cold.

OP should check the gaggia section of coffeeforums.co.uk for lots of useful advice. e.g learning to temp surf around the heating cycle

Otherwise to echo advice of decent grinder, fresh, decent beans, tamp firm but don’t go crazy.

Good luck.

I’m a latte man, I microwave the milk….. Dunt seem to make any difference and saves messing about with my single boiler machine (Rancillio Sylvia).

Hasbean for properly fresh coffee. You’ll get it the day after roasting and it won’t be at it’s best for 4-5 days because it’ll be de-gassing after the roast. No need to freeze or refrigerate…assuming you get through a bag in a week or two. A bag a week for me is just about bang on.

Hasbean do some lovely coffees, a nice treat, but I like lavazza red as my everyday coffee. Cheap and good availability. Hasbean ‘Blake’ is a favourite of mine.

Supermarket coffee (inc lavazza/illy) is stale and past it’s best by the time you get it, not that it was much good even when it was freshly roasted.
Good coffee comes with a roast date on the pack not a use by date a year away.

I bow to your superior snobbery.

Why is using a better quality product ‘snobbery’ ?
You are never far from a decent coffee roasters even in the sticks (not forgetting mail order either) beans take 4-5 days to de-gass once roasted then there is a sweet spot of about 3 weeks then they are going stale, if the coffee is ground then this process is accelerated.
Italian coffee is usually over-roasted which is fine if you want bitter and burnt tasting coffee (which is not to be confused with ‘strong’ )
Good coffee is not expensive when you consider what they charge for dishwater in the starnerosta chain cafes.

Consider me suitably scolded.

“Why is using a better quality product ‘snobbery’ ?”

This extends far beyond coffee in this country, unfortunately. Particularly when it comes to bread, beer, cheese, and bso’s.