I’ve taken delivery of a pre-Philips Gaggia Classic. An hour giving it a bloody good scrub and now I’m left slightly disappointed by my first few goes at making proper espresso. I fully understand that it’s the beans and grind that makes the coffee, but these are the same as I used early in my Aeropress, and that was spot on.

Even with the supposedly poor standard steam wand I’ve made quite reasonable foamy, frothy, milk. But milk has as much place in my coffee as a bishop in a brothel. The milk experiments were for The Wife’s latte.

So, oh wise ones of STW, tips and tricks please. How firm should the tamp be? Does running some hot water through the empty Portafilter to pre-warm improve matters?

Guide me knowledgeable ones.

Are you grinding fine enough?
Espresso machine needs a very fine grind.
If you’re buying pre ground supermarket coffee. Get the stuff designed for espresso. Lavazza and Illy. Are the first the spring to mind.

Should get enough for an espresso cup in 25 – 30 seconds.

We’ve moved on it’s all about bean to cup now.

Yes. Espresso grind.

Portafilter in the machine warming up on its own. Boiling water into the cup and leave that to warm too. Grind the coffee to a fine sandy consistency, and use enough so that the tamped coffee (which doesn’t need a very heavy tamp- just firm) sits at the same level as the indent in the filter basket.

Turn the portafilter as far right as you can with hand pressure…don’t wrench it, and switch on.

This is the trial and error bit which will take a good few goes to get right. It should take a few seconds (up to ten) for the coffee to flow, and up to 25 seconds from flicking the switch to filling the cup. It starts off as a dark dribble, but then turns into a crema coloured stream as it gets going. The last few seconds will be pale yellow. Switch it off and enjoy.

You need to experiment with grinds and tamps to get the coffee the right strength and flavour. If the brew remains just a dribble then you’ve got it too fine and or too firmly tamped. If it rushes through with no crema, it’s too coarse or not enough grounds. You’ll tell a lot from the finished puck. As you knock it out it should be more or less dry, and come out in one go. If it’s sludgy then you haven’t put enough coffee in the basket.

The grind for an Aeropress is far too coarse for proper espresso from a Gaggia.

It needs to be ground/tamped fine/firm enough to almost choke the Gaggia. If it’s coming out at much more than a dribble, it’s not fine enough.

We’ve moved on it’s all about bean to cup now.

I’m way ahead of you all – a decent filter coffee machine 🙂

LINK!

EDIT: I’m getting narked off with this!

It’s broken.

Sell it to me for half the price you paid for …

I’m way ahead of you all – a decent filter coffee machine

That’s so 2001.

“Given it a good scrub”
What? Had the shower screen off, then the block inside the group head, gave them a good soak in pulicaff then done a descale?
Most second hand classics have been little used and left which means scale. I have just taken delivery of little used early model (so early it’s chromed steel not stainless but still has OPV and solenoid) and that needed a full strip down/descale and clean plus new group head gasket.

Once you have done this buy some tesco Ashbrook spring water and use that, it has the correct PH and TDS levels for espresso making and will greatly extend the life of your machine, you still need to back flush though.

I’m way ahead of you all – a decent filter coffee machine

With a hot plate to stew the coffee, the good ones have an insulated jug that you warm first, much better coffee as a result.

I find with my Gaggia I have to do a very hard tamp to avoid it just gushing through. Got an Iberital grind and I set it to what seems very fine, though I don’t want to go too far as they warn about no warranty if the grinding blades touch.

Triple shot bottomless portafilter. Don’t know if that affects it but I make sure it’s filled up to the line.

I also find it varies so much with the beans. All decent quality fresh roast (non supermarket) beans. It’s just I vary the beans a lot with each order and I find different ones are not just a different flavour but the grind required seems entirely different.

Anyway – bean to cup. Office got one recently and was sent back after a day as it’s way too much maintenance. It demanded cleaning just about after every cup and there’s too much to faff with. The resultant coffee was poor. £500 cost I think too.

Get a bottomless portafilter, some decent beans, a good grinder, and go practice…

http://www.home-barista.com/naked-extraction-dose-distribute-tamp.html

Bigblackshed – I’ve been using a Gaggia Classic for over 10 yrs (by the way, anyone know how to remove a stuck showerhead screw?). I had the same experience as you when I first got it due to using cafetière grind coffee first (numpty) and then grinding my own to such an extent that each particle of coffee was about the size of an electron and the water couldn’t pass through it even with the pump labouring for several minutes at “I’m getting a hernia” levels of pressure. It was solved by getting some preground Lavazza and tamping firmly but not overly hard. Ever since, the coffee’s been as good as any coffee shop (to my uncultured taste buds), although I’ve never tried any of that exotic coffee that’s been through a civet’s backside before arriving in Tescos, so maybe coffee nirvana awaits. I’ve just fitted the Rancillo silva wand and underwhelmed with that. May go back to the plastic Gaggia one.

then grinding my own to such an extent that each particle of coffee was about the size of an electron and the water couldn’t pass through it even with the pump labouring for several minutes at “I’m getting a hernia” levels of pressure. It was solved by getting some preground Lavazza and tamping firmly but not overly hard

a lot easier to just back the grind off until it almost chokes then gives you a 25 second pour before blonding.

Experiment with your grind, prepare to be off your face for a couple of days.

my experience, Burr grinder not on finest setting, but not far off, firm but not excessive tamp, using a proper tamp, not the plastic one. 16grms or ground coffee for a double shot. 30 seconds. experiment with grind and tamp to get the time right.

if you want you can dismantle, buy a portifilter pressure gauge and adjust pressure to 9 bar. the Gaggias tend to kick out a lot more than that, 13 or so to account for that crappy crema portifilter widget, which should be in the bin by now?

My rule of thumb is if it starts producing liquid before about the five second mark, grind a bit finer, tamp a bit harder or both. Normally starting about seven seconds in, and producing a shot in about 35-40 seconds seems to work best for me.

RIGHT OHHHHHHH……… 😯

FURTHER EXPERIMENTS THIS MORNING.

SORRY!

Further experiments this morning. It seems I have a double basket. So putting approx 15g of espresso grind coffee in, good solid tamp (crap plastic tamper), pre-heating everything, watching carefully, I’ve got an OK espresso. A bit of crema, nice and smooth. Still room for improvement.

DID I MENTION I’M IN THE MIDDLE OF A CAFFEINE BUZZ?

I don’t have a grinder ATM, so using what coffee I have, it’s espresso grind, which I use in the Aeropress with great results. The shopping list so far is a solid, weighty tamper, single basket, small shot glasses, and some small cups.

Oh, and some more coffee. I’ve run out.

I want to go home and make a sugary-sweet espresso right now.

LOL @ “blonding”.

LOL @ “blonding”.

Well that is what it’s called 😕

grind coffee in, good solid tamp

Don’t forget to distribute it evenly. Critical bit before the tamp IMO. Get your thumb in there and press it down making sure it’s evenly distributed and there’s no soft spots. If you don’t get this right you can get loads of channeling and crap espresso. A lot more obvious with a bottomless portafilter.

single basket

singles are a bit tricky with a gaggia, best stick to a double and pull a ristretto. a £10 pair of scales is a good investment so you can check your dosage, you may get better results with 18-20g
if you want some good but cheap beans to get the hang of things with then some sainsburys sell Modern Standard beans which are way better than anything else you will find in a supermarket. roaster is an ex Mercanta (speciality coffee importers)taster/cupper/grader who has set up her own business. smart move to be based in tilbury right next to the green bean warehouse so only paying freight costs after roasting. £4.50 a bag and almost as good as what i pay £7-£10 for.

You do know you can go home, drop a Yorkshire Tea bag into a mug of boiling water and make something that tastes far better than a tiny cup of thick brown sludge?

you can dunk your chips in it too while you watch flat capped old duffers roll down a hill in barrel as an ugly woman in pinnie washes her steps.

you can dunk your chips in it too while you watch flat capped old duffers roll down a hill in barrel as an ugly woman in pinnie washes her steps.

😆

I always use the double basket and full fat milk. The red top skimmed stuff doesn’t seem to froth very well at all.
By the way, “In Wales, one is said to be “tamping” when one is livid, annoyed or angry” – Debretts 43rd edition, published 1987. (Every day a school day/as you were etc)

For a good expresso, you should use dolce gusto, or millicano.

Leave doing it yourself to the experts at Starbucks.

Obvious troll is obvious. 🙄

The shopping list so far is a solid, weighty tamper

WFT difference could that possibly make, out of interest? Does pressing something in an artisan way make it taste better?

By the way, “In Wales, one is said to be “tamping” when one is livid, annoyed or angry”

Ditto Lancashire.

WFT difference could that possibly make, out of interest? Does pressing something in an artisan way make it taste better?

It is actually easier to consistently tamp with a reasonably weighty tamper and consistency is everything. Plus baristas tamp many hundred times a day so repetitive tasks should be made easier. A bit like using a well weighted knife or a tool that sits in the hand easily.
Gaggias used to come with a plastic tamper that was too small for the portafilter, they belong in the bin

The plastic tamper flexes like a Lynskey frame and I’m just waiting for it to snap, unlike a Lynskey 😉 , and I end up with plastic shards buried in my hand.

Just buy a good grinder that you can afford.

Then grind accordingly in order to hit the 25-30 seconds flow without blonding (too diluted).

Once it starts to blonde it becomes bitter etc …

Tamping pressure depends on your grind the finer the grind the less pressure require vice versa.

I doubt I tamp to the 20 lbs pressure but as long as the “cake” turn out dry-ish after the brew and it does not blonde or become bitter then you are on the right track.

That’s for coffee … easy.

Now let’s talk about tea coz that is hell more difficult than brewing coffee … 😛

edit: Ya, buy yourself a proper tamper. Mine is custom made adjustable wood tamper. i.e. the stem can be interchanged to suit palm.

(by the way, anyone know how to remove a stuck showerhead screw?)

In the past I’ve resorted to an impact driver and a big hammer – something like this

Thanks mrsmith, popped into sains and got some of that coffee, looking forward to trying it.

Thanks, Onewheelgood. I’ll have to get one of those. Access looks difficult from below, so presumably you remove the boiler unit and do it “outside” of the chassis. Thanks for the tip.

My machine (about 15 years old) has OK access from below, so I just removed the drip tray and the reservoir and turned it upside down.

This here espresso making is coming along: