Which Gaggia machine?

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Is the classic worth the extra above the baby black or the deluxe silver?

Thanks,

Bowser.

Yup

But is a Baby Class as good as or better than a Classic?

The baby is better than the Classic. Better built, higher bar and looks nicer

The Classic has a steel body rather than the plastic of the Baby.

It’s more heavy duty.

Get the Titanium. You know you want to.

I’ve got the classic – it feels and looks extremely robust due to its metal construction, plus availability of spares is supposed to be good. More importantly it makes great espresso. I can’t imagine you’d be disappointed with it. Make sure you get a burr grinder too – a basic Dualit one is about £55 on Amazon.

The baby is better than the Classic. Better built, higher bar and looks nicer

Not really. Bar is the same. As is power. And the Baby is plastic bodied rather than steel.

Does it look nicer? Maybe.

Get the Titanium. You know you want to.

we want that one, just so much money though.

Actually think I meant the Baby Class which is all steel and looks much better than the Classic.

We had a Coffee Deluxe which was used (more than) daily for 7 years without fail. When it packed in we got another recon one.

I’ve no idea what the others are like but I can tell you that the Coffee Deluxe makes good coffee again and again….

The Baby Class is a metal body the other models are ABS.

Actually think I meant the Baby Class which is all steel and looks much better than the Classic.

Apologies I read the wrong one.

But all the small manual Gaggias have the same boiler and Bar.

According to the lady in the (excellent) kitchen shop I went into, the dose, the coloured ones and the classic all have exactly the same internals. So I went for the £180 Dose instead of the £350 Classic. I can live without metal sides for half the price and the same coffee.

My classic cost £200 brand new, so it pays to shop around.

Those prices (in the first posts link) are amazingly cheap.

I bought a re-con Gaggia “Coffee” machine from their website. Much cheaper and no issues with it in 4 years of use.

bought an ex-display polished metal classic for £130.00, its superb!!

the only downer about it was when the sales girl told us that she was going to really miss the little machine and almost started crying!!

I assured her that it was going to a good home and it would be much loved, I even bough a few extra descaler sachets to ease her sadness 😆

MrNutt – that sir is a result! Thought we’d done well getting ours ex-display for £150 at Whittards….
no tears from the assistant, just a free descaler sachet (how we yorkshire folk feel for you poor hard water suffering folk…) and selection of coffees to try!
Pretty sure it makes great coffee, just have not perfected it yet….

try some of that blue mountain stuff from this lass:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Jamaica-Blue-Mountain-Coffee-Beans-No-Reserve-N-R-250g_W0QQitemZ160309433853QQihZ006QQcategoryZ14309QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

she does 4 bags for £30.00 posted if you ask nicely 😉 tell her I sent you!

actually I’m buying another load soon if you would like one for whatever that works out at?

(my grandfather is a yorkshireman 😆 )

Nutt – I am tempted to take four bags as well, will she do a better deal for bulk?

So having chosen you Gaggia which grinder and tamper?

I’ve had a Classic for 7 years or so – makes great coffee. If you like cappuccino, getting the frothing right takes practice. Sainsburys espresso beans (gold packet) are amazingly good for the price. This is the tamper you want – and it’s almost as useful as a set of Bombers in an emergency.

I have one of these:

and one of these:

and then a MrsNutt who seems to make the best coffee I’ve ever tasted (and won’t show me what she does!)

Where is the tamper from?

MrsNutt who seems to make the best coffee I’ve ever tasted (and won’t show me what she does!)

It’s probably best not knowing…

^ lol

How often do you guys run a descaler through? I’ve never done mine. *hangs head*

hasbean.co.uk has a really nice espresso selection

I bought my Gaggia Classic on sale for £200 from Fenwick just before Xmas.

So far so good as I use it to practice my new found Barista hobby. Will do a minor modification to the steam wand later but so far it is great.

Not grinding my own coffee beans yet but will once the right grinder comes onto the market. Vario that is.

Got the same tamper as MrNutt, a deluxe Motta milk foaming jug and Been knockbox too.

There is a local coffee roaster here so will get fresh beans from them once I got my grinder.

Who knows I might end up a Barista.

Chewkw, out of nosiness, what are you doing to the steam wand, and why?.

I’ve had a (second hand) classic for about 4 years now. Great bit of kit.

Baby Class appears to have no cup warmer (space on top), a small water tank and a small drip tray. On the face of it, none of these are massively important features, but practically they make the whole thing a lot more user friendly.

Warm cups means your espresso tastes better for longer (dumping a shot of hot espresso into a cold cup = cold espresso)

The water tank on my Classic needs filling maybe twice a week (2 drinks/day) you get through a lot of water with cooling flushes, refilling the boiler post steaming etc, plus backflushing.

The drip tray will get 1/3 – 1/2 full from making a couple of drinks. You stand much less chance of slopping mucky water over your kitchen floor if it’s bigger rather than smaller. Backflushing also will fill it right up.

Tampers? Reg Barber.

Grinder? second hand Mazzer

Backflush once a week, descale once a month, hoover the grinder out once a month.

Nobeerinthefridge:”Chewkw, out of nosiness, what are you doing to the steam wand, and why?.”

The plastic “turbo” steam wand from the Gaggia Classic disturbs the milk badly rather than actually doing the forming properly. I get big bubbles all over no matter how I try and does not give smooth form. Other users suggested changing the steam wand to improve the form and the result was much better forming. So I will give it a go.

Secondly, the plastic steam wand needs more cleaning too as dry milk do get stuck in them. Yes, I clean the steam wand everytime.

Here are some information on how to do so.

First link on how to modify the steam wand.

2nd link on the how to.

Rather easy to do really.

🙂

try some of that blue mountain stuff from this lass:

Don’t use it in your Gaggia though, that’d be a crime. It’s a refined brew and should be infused nicely in a cafetiere to get all the nuances of flavour.

Btw Waitrose decaf is absolutely outstanding.

PS never have any problems frothing milk with my Dose. Although, it does take a little longer than my old machine to get it up to temperature.

If you’re interested in coffee you need to check out this site[/url] and this site[/url]. A blog and shop done by a former world barista champion that i know. His top piece advice is only buy freshly roasted beans and don’t expect them to last much more than 72hrs after roasting…

molgrips –

decaf

Go and sit on the naughty step and think about what you’ve just said.

Job done.

IanMunro:”Job done.”

Brew him!

😯

Is Mellow Bird’s coffee then? Really? Always wondered but never been so bothered I had to go and find out. Well, as I live and breathe.

(**** ‘orrible, non?)