Spec me a coffee maker

GSXRMovistar said:
So far everything I’ve read recommends the Gaggia machines, particular the Classic. Now whilst in House of Frasier at the weekend I spotted a Gaggia Selecta Deluxe which seems to be the same as the classic with just a different name but half the price, anyone know anything about this?
QUOTE]
Now that does look tempting, especially at £135 - I've been after a decent coffee maker for ages, but cant really justify spending a whole heap of money on it. But at that price point, that machine looks quite handy - if anyone has used one of these, do let us know if it's ok!
Cheers :)
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I'm asking around atm - will be back with an answer in a bit, from what i can tell its an older model, but should be a goodun from the origenal price :D

and the boiler makes a big difference as the temperature will vary wildly with a smaller one - really not worth the saveing for a smaller one. The valve thing is useful but not essential :)
 
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Just picked up a Gaggia Classic for my desk at work. *better than mellow birds or some such other crap...*

House of Fraser @ £180 for a chrome one. *ooooh...shiny...*

Not as good as the one in my playroom but very nice for work.

Simon/~Flibster
 
Flibster said:
Just picked up a Gaggia Classic for my desk at work. *better than mellow birds or some such other crap...*

House of Fraser @ £180 for a chrome one. *ooooh...shiny...*

Not as good as the one in my playroom but very nice for work.

Simon/~Flibster
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Which HoF was this, also is it the full Classic and not what I posted above?
 
Whilst we are at it, I want a coffee machine mainly for capuchinos (sp?).
Is it worth going for a seperate gaggia classic and the iberital grinder or would the following do nicely.

here
 
Flibster said:
Just picked up a Gaggia Classic for my desk at work. *better than mellow birds or some such other crap...*

House of Fraser @ £180 for a chrome one. *ooooh...shiny...*

Not as good as the one in my playroom but very nice for work.

Simon/~Flibster
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That's a good £50 off even online prices !!!!! nice one ! :)
 
oneilldo said:
Whilst we are at it, I want a coffee machine mainly for capuchinos (sp?).
Is it worth going for a seperate gaggia classic and the iberital grinder or would the following do nicely.

here
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the gaggia mdf grinder is a pretty decent one, although its not as good as the iberital it will still do you a decent grind :)

thats a good price flibster - same as i got mine for about 6 months ago :)
 
newbie question but what is the difference between the manual and the automatic iberital grinder? Does one just automatically grind when you put the thingy there for the coffee?

Thanks
 
oneilldo said:
newbie question but what is the difference between the manual and the automatic iberital grinder? Does one just automatically grind when you put the thingy there for the coffee?

Thanks
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the autonmatic has a thing called a doser - if you go into any coffee shop they tend to have them, its a plastic bit you initially gind the coffee into which holds it ready to be placed into the portafilter.

You then pull a little lever and it despenses ~7g of coffee into the portafilter (as you know you need ~14g for a good espresso ;))

the manual just has a shoot the coffee comes out of you hold the portafilter under. The doser is allot cleaner but arguably worse for the coffee's freshness - however you can easily take it off and make a doserless version so i'd go with that. The blokey from HD is a really nice chap so give him a yell if you have any questions :)
 
Cheers for the answer. I'm currently not too keen on expresso on its own but love Cappuccinos, I take it the gaggia classic produces nice frothy milk to compliment the expresso shot?
 
oneilldo said:
Cheers for the answer. I'm currently not too keen on expresso on its own but love Cappuccinos, I take it the gaggia classic produces nice frothy milk to compliment the expresso shot?
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i'm not actually a milk person myself - allergic to the stuff, but the milk frother seems to be alright on it as long as you keep it just below the surface as suggested and don't let the milk boil (stops it forming micro foam apparently)

My Dad swears by some cheap plastic thing thats basically a plunger but from all i've read thats just cause hes not using his machine frother properly (and may be cause he has a naff machine :))
 
Just to drag this back up i've finally found some information about the Selecta Deluxe. It appears its a gaggia coffee in the classic shell so doesn't have the threeway solinoid valve but does have the larger boiler and a decent portafilter

and as an extra bonus apparently theres an extra 10% off it today only so if your missing a decent coffee machine get your ass to House of Fraiser and buy one, tis a bargain!
 
Just to let people know that debenhams has reduced the Gaggia classic(they have it under the magimix brand name by mistake if your looking for it) by £30 from £295 to £265 and with this code PZGP you get a further 20% off taking it down to £212. The code is on a generic voucher valid from 18th Nov to the 7th Dec. Glad I waited a week now to order it:).

Where do you guys buy your ground coffee from?
 
Dandle said:
Where do you guys buy your ground coffee from?
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Siliconslave said:
Try and find a local coffee supplyer that knows what they are talking about and don't keep their stock for more than a week - i'm really lucky that company called coffee charisma visit Guildford every weekend and sell very good coffee at the market, otherwise you can buy online at somewhere like hasbean - keep the beans in the freezer to extend the life slightly.
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its worth investing in a grinder really, but if you can find a decent local place you can go with that as long as you don't keep the coffee too long :)
 
Oops missed that post :D

May get a grinder after xmas then, will try hasbean for now. Am i right in thinking ground coffee can be kept in the freezer too.
 
Dandle said:
Oops missed that post :D

May get a grinder after xmas then, will try hasbean for now. Am i right in thinking ground coffee can be kept in the freezer too.
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can do yer, although it will only slightly delay it going off - unfortunaly it does deteriate noticeably as soon as its ground, but if your coming from generic supermarket sold stuff i wouldn't worry for now, keep it in an air tight container in the fridge/freezer for now :)
 
OK thanks. If I buy beans then and keep them in the freezer before grinding them how long would they last roughly compared to say pre-ground coffee(which i take only last a couple of weeks at the most then).
 
its not exactly a hard and fast rule, and domestic freezers don't get cold enough to totally stop it going stale.

I notice ground coffee really loseing its flavor after about 2 days when kept frozen, beans won't get to that sort of stage for atleast 2 weeks to a month i'd say at a guess. Although apparently they taste so much more amazing fresh from a roaster - tis very tempting :D
 
madmaxx said:
GSXRMovistar said:
So far everything I’ve read recommends the Gaggia machines, particular the Classic. Now whilst in House of Frasier at the weekend I spotted a Gaggia Selecta Deluxe which seems to be the same as the classic with just a different name but half the price, anyone know anything about this?
QUOTE]
Now that does look tempting, especially at £135 - I've been after a decent coffee maker for ages, but cant really justify spending a whole heap of money on it. But at that price point, that machine looks quite handy - if anyone has used one of these, do let us know if it's ok!
Cheers :)
Click to expand...

Just bought one:
Price : £121.49

Was £269.99

Save £148.50

Not a bad price at all.
Bought one for GF
Will report back after Christmas!
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