Coffee Expresso Machine - hints and tips please

melb

Can I ask debbie42 where you got your Gaggia Classic from please? My OH wants a chrome one. thanks

WobblyGoblin

A good site for you www.coffeegeek.com

They have consumer reviews for machines and grinders. I would check any machine you are looking at getting on there before you buy - it could save a costly mistake. It's an American site but they have most European brands on there.

As Jenny points out - the grinder is important. To make a really good coffee you need fresh coffee and it's best to grind beans for each shot. You know when you open a bag of coffee and get that delicious aroma coming out? That's the flavour seeping away... A burr grinder is what you want. My initial mistake was to get a blade grinder. You end up with losts of coffee dust and large lumps of beans which makes for a bitter, over-extracted coffee.

If you are going to buy pre-ground coffee then go somewhere that they grind for you there and then and buy little amounts but often.

As for the machine - again Jenny's spot on about a pump machine. I have a Gaggia and this does the job well. Just to note, my machine recommends that you turn it on 30 mins beforehand. Having owned it for 3 years I can't see that it makes any difference. It speeds up the heating between shots but only marginally. I switch it on in the morning, run water through the system to pre-warm the cup and empty the reservoir of the old water, fill the portafilter and then pour. Takes about 10 mins.

Something to bear in mind though - making esspresso isn't easy. It takes practice to get really good shots. In my experience early efforts were akin to what you get in Cafe Nero/*$s. However, a couple of months of making coffee and they're far superior. You just can't be put off if you can't pull a perfect shot immediately. Oh, and machines need a clean out every now and then (I have hard water so I de-scale it once a month. Takes about 1/2 hour).

If you are looking for coffee with no fuss then a pod machine might be for you. The coffee is poorer quality but far superior to instant and less fuss than a fully manual machine.

Other than that, you can't go wrong with most Gaggia coffee machines and my Isomac coffee grinder does the business. Another recomendation for Hasbean for coffee as well.

chickmug

arealbasketcase wrote: »

The sad thing is....... sometimes I would pay the price! Do you think I need to start a "Quitting Caffeine" thread?

Same here and I am addicted to Costa Coffee. I am sure they put an 'extra' ingredient in to create 'cold turkey' if you don't get your fix every single day.

Anyone know of any Costa Free Coffee Vouchers. :j :j

debbie42

melb wrote: »

Can I ask debbie42 where you got your Gaggia Classic from please? My OH wants a chrome one. thanks

I got mine from House of Fraser. They must have it on sale every now and then cos it was when I got it, and I noticed it on sale a couple of months back. Mine is the brushed chrome version, and is wearing very well.

looking_to_save_money

I have had a couple and now have a great one, it a krups XP7240 it was a pricey about £450 new but got it new from ebay for £260 at the time I thought NO I don't want to spend that much......but glad I did we use it every day.

http://www.hannabrowne.com/krups-espresso-xp7240-automatic-bean-espresso-machine-p-200.html

http://www.anothercoffee.co.uk/products/item106203.aspx

http://www.krups.co.uk/All+Products/Coffee+Machines/Expressos/Products/XP7240/XP7240+Compact+Espresseria.htm



It takes about 30 secs to warm up, but if you can't wait that long it has a timer, you can set it up to turn on while you are in bed by the time you come downstaires its ready. Also you can set it up for your cup size..... you could get it to turn on (while in bed) come downstaires put your cup on it press a button (go to the loo) come back coffee ready no mess.

It's a bean to cup machine, you can't get fresher coffee than this, If you are like me I have an expresso and use Lavazza coffee.... It's Great!! :beer:

basill

WobblyGoblin wrote: »

A good site for you www.coffeegeek.com

Hmm too much time spent there can end up expensive!!

I tried a cheapo burr grinder a which made a lot of noise, dust and large lumps I took it back ( costco!) and ended up buying the coffeegeek favourite Rancilio Rocky grinder. It is a hefty beast and produces consistant, adjustable ground coffee and much practise plus the geek recommended measured dose, tamp and timed extraction method has worked wonders with my morning coffee.

I`m glad Hasbean has a few fans here, I`m certainly anong them, their super freshly roasted beans are a world away from vacuum packed or Whittards beans.

Has anyone tried their coffee for a year gift pack? Random 250gm bags sent monthly for a year seem pretty good value at less than £4 each inc. postage.

B

debbie42

basill wrote: »

WobblyGoblin wrote: »

Has anyone tried their coffee for a year gift pack? Random 250gm bags sent monthly for a year seem pretty good value at less than £4 each inc. postage.

No, but I might ask for it as a christmas prezzy. Their Australian Skyberry is my current fave at the moment.

mexicanwaver

janem2 wrote: »

The DeLonghi that I first looked at says it has to be heated up for 30 mins before each use. That is too long as it is for my early morning coffee!

Have you thought about putting it on a timing switch, so that it switches itself on 30mins before you get up in the morning?

fifth_ave

debbie42 wrote: »

basill wrote: »

No, but I might ask for it as a christmas prezzy. Their Australian Skyberry is my current fave at the moment.

Thanks for this great idea. Never heard of Hasbean before, like the idea of Gift pack another xmas pressie for hubby.

We got a DeLonghi Magnifica machine about 3 years ago, very happy with it.
http://delonghi-espresso.com/EAM3200.htm discontinued now, but looks like the newer machines have better features like no wait for boiler to heat up steam after using espresso. It doesn't have to heat up for 30 mins like some machines do, a couple of minutes tops.
I don't drink coffee myself but find it a very good machine to use & to make others coffee. Before that we had a Gaggia Classic machine with the old handle thingy that you put the coffee in and then attach to the machine, this was too fiddly, took up too much time cleaning & prep etc. The DeLonghi was at least 3 times the cost (£350 to be exact to give you an idea) but well worth it. Just push a button & it does it all for you. Hubby fills up his Starbucks flask before work so he has coffee on the go.

ginvzt

We got Gaggia Cube - it is small enough not to take too much space on our counter, and I am not sure we would have fitted to put Classic as the wall cupboards are not that high and have lights fitted under them.

It is warming up quickly, makes great coffee and I am having latte or cappuccino every morning!!!!! And I even liked coffee much before we got it. We got it from Debenhams when they had 10% of everything or similar offer in February.

Just a questions - do you descale your coffee machines regularly? I was thinking to run it through with vinegar, but I know you can get speccial descale packs from Gaggia (costly though!!!). We live in ver hard water area, and even though we use filtered water, we still get limescale deposits in the kettle.