Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

Raymond Lin said:
After reading that i went into House of Friaser to take a look and asked the guy, apparently Gaggia have discontinued it and released a whole new range with an improved easy access water tank. But the down side is that it still have that plastic milk frother and worst still (IMO) is the new control design. It went from the solid switch it had on the Classic to the button like you get on a monitor. The whole thing (across the design) also look more fragile too.

The good news is that it pushed the Classic price down from £300 instore to £199 !!! I've reserved one and picking it up one day after work this week.
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The new ones are made of plastic as well. I appear to be allergic to plastic espresso machines, I come up in a rash when I go near them for some reason :D
 
Sorry, forgot about this thread temporarily. Update on the manual grinder for those that asked. I got the Kym Kym, slight wear on the grinding part but works excellently. However I then spied a Zassenhaus spelt as Fassenhaus on eBay so went under the radar of most. Picked that up for cheap so now have two German grinders!

Overall I use the Zassenhaus more as the 'door' is easier to get beans in to than the Kym, however the Kym Kym grinds far far quicker and seems to be to the same quality. Both are set to a similar grind and the Zass takes me about 3 minutes to grind a double shot whereas the Kym Kym it's all over in about 40 seconds. The Kym Kym is harder to turn but much quicker and the Zass is very easy but just takes aaaaages.

I would recommend the Kym Kym over the Zass overall but I'm not a coffee expert yet so perhaps the Zass does do a better grind since I've read online they're the best overall?

Give it a few months and I think i'll get bored of the manual grinding and end up looking at an Iberital MC2.

Both make for excellent coffee though :)
 
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Raymond Lin said:
I am going to get a Gaggia Classic today :D and now I need a proper grinder (only have a blade one at the moment). I am torn between a Gaggia MM which is £60 or this Zassenhaus one I found online for £45. I also just found out that Zassenhaus has gone bankrupt in Germany so these could be a collector's item !

How good is this Zassenhaus ?

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That's a very similar Zass to the one I bought from eBay, I believe they're one of the better hand grinders if not the best maybe?
 
I think they are or were the best until they went bankrupt, hence hard to get hold of a new one now. Not worried about spare parts as even the ones from 1900's still around and they work fine so they are built to last. I am quite looking forward to it actually, it looks like a work of art from the photo.
 
Got my Gaggia :D (pardon my finger smudge)






Question

What is the red light under the right button mean? is it ready for coffee when its on or its ready when its off?

Also, mine was REALLY loud when i first turned it on and start the water pump, is that normal? And it took ages before any water was coming out.

However, i did make my first espresso/latte, i only have a blade grinder and i think it was too fine, it was like 3/4 seconds and the espresso shot cups were full and i have zero creme. I guess i really need that burr grinder to arrive !

I also realise that i need a big milk frothing jug, using a mug is not big enough, i have no problem however getting it frothy, that bit is easy.
 
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Also, mine was REALLY loud when i first turned it on and start the water pump, is that normal? And it took ages before any water was coming out.
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You should open up the steaming wand, make sure there is plenty of water in the tank and then switch the machine on and also press the switch to make the water run through. When it starts to come out of the wand close that up but let the water come out from the shower head. Once that's done, switch off the water and now you know the boiler is full, leave it for 15 minutes to heat properly.

However, i did make my first espresso/latte, i only have a blade grinder and i think it was too fine, it was like 3/4 seconds and the espresso shot cups were full and i have zero creme. I guess i really need that burr grinder to arrive !
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Burr grinder will make a huge difference, with your blade grinder though, try grinding for about 20 seconds whilst shaking it a bit. That should make the coffee fine enough so that it doesn't run through fast. Ideally a basket should take about 25 seconds to run through, not 4! :) You also need to tamp at about 30lbs pressure, I figured out hom much that was by using bathroom scales with my tamp (don't tell anyone). :P

I'm still learning myself but have got much better today, managed to get my shots with tiger stripes and like honey.

Also, steaming milk is a bit of an art as well. You need a small pitcher for the Gaggia (preferably staright walled and a good pointed nozzle for latte art) as it struggles to steam milk for two cups. Use a thermometer to make sure it's getting to 155 degrees as well, also you dont want large bubbles, microfoam is where it's at!

Plus, take off the foam assister (the outer plastic sleeve) on the wand, this is there to help people get semi ok foam but if you want proper foam you need to surf the tip of the wand 1mm from the surface of the milk, you don't want bubbles the eye can see. Plenty of tutorials online, home barrista and coffee geek are good as is coffee101.
 
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YEah, i was shocked how fast it was filling up the shot glass, and the fact that it had no creme was disappointing too. I can't wait for my Zass to arrive now !

I do have a thermometer for the milk frother thing, and i did get it to 70 degree C, but i had really big bubbles ! I guess i need to practice that as well. I am going to try again tomorrow evening when i get home, a bit late to have another one now, otherwise i won't get to sleep. lol
 
Raymond Lin said:
YEah, i was shocked how fast it was filling up the shot glass, and the fact that it had no creme was disappointing too. I can't wait for my Zass to arrive now !

I do have a thermometer for the milk frother thing, and i did get it to 70 degree C, but i had really big bubbles ! I guess i need to practice that as well. I am going to try again tomorrow evening when i get home, a bit late to have another one now, otherwise i won't get to sleep. lol
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haha, I know. I had two in a row a few hours ago, still buzzing! Was deciding if I should make another and went against it. Need to get some sleep at some point. I won't stop until I can make a half decent leaf on top of my lattes!
 
Nice to see another new Gaggia owner on here :)
I too am only just starting to get the hang of my setup. This morning was my first semi decent double shot followed by a topping of well foamed milk (removed the steam wand extension, it really makes a big difference)
The main issue I had was getting the grid just right.....I have the Ascaso I-Mini grinder which must have the smallest grind setting increments known to man!
My double poured in 28 seconds with a decent crema, but I'm still not happy because I think the pour still started a bit too fast ~ 3 - 4 seconds

Heat up, Grind, Tamp, Tap, Tamp and extract followed by the frothing. Quite a process but well worth it!
 
Raymond Lin said:
What is the red light under the right button mean? is it ready for coffee when its on or its ready when its off?

Also, mine was REALLY loud when i first turned it on and start the water pump, is that normal? And it took ages before any water was coming out.
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temp wise when the light goes on it should be upto temp... although you can temprature surf them to get higher or lower temperatures & the fluctuations in temp calm down allot when you've had it turned on for 15-20 min.

"Maximum temperature is acheived when the machine is well and truly heated up (15-20 mins) and when the boiler has just finished its cycle - ie. when the light goes off, and just as it goes back on again it is up to max temperature. If you need it hotter, the recommendation is to flick the steam switch for 5-10 seconds just before you brew the shot.

On the other hand, if youre shots are too hot, flush an ounce or so of water thru the group moments before you pull the shot - or until you see the "water dance" and steam stop. Then really quickly lock the PF in and brew away."

Noise wise when the pump doesn't have any water in it is damn loud, theres something in the manual about priming it iirc.... you shouldn't really allow it to run out ever in the futur :)

Milk frothing wise i don't really do it personally as i'm dairy but this is a pretty good guide: http://www.anothercoffee.co.uk/coffeeinfo/frothing.aspx

Those are great photos btw!

edit: oh and warming wise you can always get a plug timer.... or just turn it on pre-shower :)
 
Raymond Lin said:
YEah, i was shocked how fast it was filling up the shot glass, and the fact that it had no creme was disappointing too. I can't wait for my Zass to arrive now !

I do have a thermometer for the milk frother thing, and i did get it to 70 degree C, but i had really big bubbles ! I guess i need to practice that as well. I am going to try again tomorrow evening when i get home, a bit late to have another one now, otherwise i won't get to sleep. lol
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Switch to degF ... 100-120 and 140 are the numbers to remember.

start - tip just beneath the milk.. as the milk rises so you should lift the nozzle to remain just under the surface.

at about 100 start to think about the next step.. at 120 dump the nozzle deep into the milk (not touching the bottom of the pitcher).

at 140 you should stop if you notice 'run-on' where the milk continues to heat up another 5-10 degF.

If you get large bubbles that's because the wand has risen above the milk and sucked a gulp of air in.


However folks - remember.. freshly roasted beans will make a difference between night and day.. and it will take a while to get in sync with your machine..

This is a very good guide: http://www.coffeegeek.com/guides/frothingguide
 
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I´m getting excellent results from my cheap Krupps ( 130 euros eheheh):)

after a cold start the machine is ready for the first shot after 1 or 2 minutes,but the best results (a really hot coffee) are after a period of warm-up around 20/30 minutes

then the coffee come very hot,and a good "crema" on it
the machine first do a shot of about 2 / 3 seconds ( when a bit of coffee comes out),then stops and after another 3 / 4 seconds start again ( remembers me that ASUS boards who do a double start ,sometimes)and then a single coffee (a "long" one ) is out in about 30 seconds

and I do not have the problem of grinding the coffee beans- to much hassle for me:)
I´m using the 7 grams sealed packets pre-filled - it´s the simplest way to do it
Krupps are smart to add a special filter for those packets:)






 
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Just made another cup when i got back, boy, it's as nice if not nicer than Starbucks

The down side is that there is quite a lot of work.

Turn on machine - wait 15 mins
Grind coffee
Tamper
Froth milk to 75 degrees
Make espresso
put espresso into frothed milk

Drink

Then cleaning involve
squirt some water into the underside of where the filter goes into
Run the machine through a cup of water
wipe down
clean overflow tray

Now i know what they call it "instant" lol
 
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