Can't afford a Gaggia Classic...alternatives?

Mad old tory

Mad old tory

Mad old tory

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As above really, want to get the gf an espresso machine for her birthday. Can't afford the Gaggia Classic but I can afford a Gaggia Evolution which is £129. Would this be a good compromise? I've also been looking at Krups, are these in the same league as the cheaper Gaggia?
 
The Evolution would do fine, the Classic has a better chassis and a few more metal parts, but they share most of the innards. Not sure about the Krups thou, but they do well for the price, its no Gaggia thou.
 
Raymond Lin; said:
The Evolution would do fine, the Classic has a better chassis and a few more metal parts, but they share most of the innards. Not sure about the Krups thou, but they do well for the price, its no Gaggia thou.
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That's what I was thinking, there are some krups at comparable prices though so thought it might be of a similar quality to the gaggia. Also looking at a grinder, seen the dualit one at about £55, anything better at that price or close to it?
 
Mad old tory said:
That's what I was thinking, there are some krups at comparable prices though so thought it might be of a similar quality to the gaggia. Also looking at a grinder, seen the dualit one at about £55, anything better at that price or close to it?
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Most Burr grinder would be fine really.
 
Classics were available in Whitards for <£200 as long as you like the shiny SS ones (brushed SS were still pricey). What is your actual budget? I also got crap loads of coffee vouchers, and a grinder voucher.

The probelm with the Gaggia Classics though is that they LOVE a good grinder. The ground coffee I bought was rubbish compared to my own ground coffee.

www.HappyDonkey.co.uk have a good deal on Iberital MC2 grinders ATM, but still ~£120.
 
Probably looking at £200 for the machine and grinder unfortunately. Her birthday is in December so I want to be able to afford xmas pressies as well (on a student budget :eek:)
 
Typical of these forums I know, but if you can eke out yer cash a teeny bit get the Classic and then get a grinder from Whittards, using the £10 voucher- I think there are some for about £30 or £40, making the total maybe £220. They'll throw in some free beans too IIRC.

And then if you feel you need to get a better grinder next year.
 
I know what you mean. Will have a look in Whittards but can't really afford to buy it at the mo. Suppose splitting the two up over birthday and xmas mightn't be too bad an idea (she can put up with preground stuff for a couple of weeks :p)
 
I thought that but didn't post it- that's a pretty good, and fair, idea.

A £200 quid pressie is pretty generous in my eyes! My GF bought me a Creative Zen NX for Christmas one year for £200, I told her off (after thanking her profusely!).
 
The Evolution is fine.
Got one on my desk at work. :D

Classic at home.

Grinder wise, the Bodum Antigua is fine once the mod is done to it, same with the Starbucks Barista grinder. Both around £60.

The Iberital MC2 is the one of choice at the moment for me though.

However, with a Gaggia machine - order a good tamper with the machine. The one that comes with the Gaggia machines is crap. Plastic and not big enough. I use a Iberital 500 gram convex tamper. Cost £30ish iirc and I love it.

The grind of the coffee is TBH more important than the machine. I can get acceptable espressos out of my patents crapola inc. machine. Thats using my grinder though and a really heavy tamp. *probably in the region of 70lbs - normal is considered to be 30lbs*

Most coffee people recommend buying a good grinder, then getting a espresso machine with whats left. I agree with that to a point. No point having a £200 grinder and a pos espresso machine.

Simon/~Flibster
 
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Bossk128 said:
The probelm with the Gaggia Classics though is that they LOVE a good grinder. The ground coffee I bought was rubbish compared to my own ground coffee.
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Too true.

When I first got my classic I was using preground stuff and on average had a 9-12 second shot pull - which is terrible.

Bought a grinder *the bodum antigua as it happens* and on the finest setting it immediatly jumped to 22 seconds consistantly - and was much better.

Did the mod to get it to grind finer and more consistantly - with a heavy tamp can get up to a 50 second shot pull - which is VERY strong. :D

Now have a Iberital MC2 Auto that I picked up second hand for £50 - and it's superb. MC2 auto's are currently available for £99

I tend to go for a 35 second double ristretto shot now or a double shot americano. Will have to experiment more once I get around to ordering the Iberital Alto machine. :D

There's several people on here who like good coffe, so if you have any questions ask away.

Simon/~Flibster
 
ebay any good for secondhand grinder bargains? Also, any decent websites for getting to know a bit more about decent coffee. Tbh I can see that this might become more of a present for me and I'll get the gf something else :p
 
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