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newbie joins the path to enlightenment with a Gaggia Classic

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  • newbie joins the path to enlightenment with a Gaggia Classic

    Hi Folks,

    In the interests of doing my homework before purchasing a "proper" coffee machine, i stumbled upon this site. WOW! Now Im not sure which of my addictions is the greatest, but i know which one is taking more if my time! ;D

    Anyway, the Gaggia is secondhand (for $285 at 1 yr old i thought quite good) and now i have to figure out a whole host of stuff when it arrives, but Im very excited and anticipatory about practicing.

    SO (the point, finally :-[), two things: firstly, will the sunbeam 0480 be up to the grinding job for this unit, and, secondly, do i need anything else that the gaggia lacks like a non-pressurised PF or proper tamper? I would hate to have to wait the 5 - 8 days (which will feel like years!) only to fine i need something else.

    THanks guys - i LOVE this site

  • #2
    Re: newbie joins the path to enlightenment with a Gaggia Classic

    Congratulations. Your setup is almost complete. The EM480 is a very good grinder (exceptional at its price). The Gaggia PF is non-pressurised and if you have the crema disc insert (used to pressurise it if using preground) then you can use this as a tamper stand.

    The only things you need are:
    1. a blind filter for cleaning/backwashing
    2. a semi decent tamper (the cheapish 57mm SS ones are fine). Or you can go whole hog and splash out on a Pullman or similar but this isnt strictly necessary (just nice).

    A couple of starter tips:
    Take off the outer sleeve of the steam frother so that you are steaming with the plastic stub.
    Before pulling a shot, pump water out of the group until the boiler light turns off, then lock in the PF and start the shot as soon as the light comes back on. This will ensure that you are brewing at a consistent temp which IMHO is optimal for this machine.

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    • #3
      Re: newbie joins the path to enlightenment with a Gaggia Classic

      Hi,

      and thanks so much for taking to time to offer some great advice - it is much appreciated.

      I have been covetting the pullman wooden handled tampers for a while now so i think i will invest in one - theyre just so sexy :-*

      the advice on pulling a coffee is also much appreciated and noted.

      BTW i just got eamiled by the owner of the machine to say he cannot find the instruction booket. Im a bit peeved, but seem to recall you can download it from the net. ANyone done this?

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      • #4
        Re: newbie joins the path to enlightenment with a Gaggia Classic

        Its not worth worrying about.
        In 2 days of use (max), you will know more than what the manual tells you (and some of it is misleading anyway).

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        • #5
          Re: newbie joins the path to enlightenment with a Gaggia Classic

          With the steam tip, I went to my one and only coffee machine seller, who happens to be a Faema dealer/fixer. I enquired about buying a new paranello wand from them, as it fits perfectly over the steam-tip of the Gaggia. You can then remove the outer sleave of the Paranello wand and you have a great steam-tip for not much money. Anyway, I asked at the counter and they actually had a number of broken Faema ones in the spare parts bin. Apparently they have a bad habit of cracking the outside sleave! They gave it to me for nix...

          You might not be so lucky, but I definately recomend it as a mod, cheap and easy to do, and the micro-foam is that much easier to achieve!

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          • #6
            Re: newbie joins the path to enlightenment with a Gaggia Classic

            Also, I forgot to add - I used the Sunbeam for a year or so, and loved it. However I found it very messy, and after a while up-graditis crept in, so I up-graded to a Rocky, and love it even more! I have kept the Sunbeam for Plunger coffees, so I dont have to mess around with the grinder settings.

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            • #7
              Re: newbie joins the path to enlightenment with a Gaggia Classic

              [split] [link=http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?num=1233569894][splithere][/link][splithere_end]

              Mal.

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