Earlier I posted about how I picked up a used Gaggia Classic for $150, with a Gaggia MM grinder.

I pulled it down for inspection, cleaned it up, and took it to work to brew for myself and a few people in my team. Here's my experiences so far.

Firstly, this thing can pull incredible shots. I still have my Sunbeam EM0480 grinder at work, which is doing a great job, although a little messy. Here's my process to brew three or four milk-drinks at work.

- Fill water tank, turn on machine, bleed steam wand to prime boiler, wait 5-10 min for warm up
- half-fill 600ml milk jug and put it in the fridge
- grind a double basket (on demand, directly in to basket), tamp
- 'temp surf' the classic. To do this I put a glass under the group and switch it on, half fill the cup, boiler turn's on. I wait 5 or 10 secs then lock in the PF. As soon as the boiler light comes back on (ready) I hit it for brew, ensuring I have max temp.
- I brew in to a small glass because none of our mugs fit under the classic's group with the PF in place then tip the shot in to the mug.
- After brewing two shots, I flush the group, then switch to steam and wait. After about 20 secs I start to steam the jug of milk, just before the ready light comes on, this seems to allow enough steaming power to easily finish off the jug. Pour in to two mugs
- flick steam off, hit brew switch to purge steam and prime the group, clean up the PF basket, grind again
- repeat above process for remaining one or two drinks

It takes a while, as it's only a small boiler machine, with the right waiting time between each part of the process, it's no trouble. I should mention I 'surf' the temp between each shot I pull (so I pull water from the boiler first to activate the boiler, then brew as soon as the boiler is ready again)

Modifications and Observations:

Rancilio Silvia steam wand replaced standard steam wand. It's longer (good), and seems a little more powerful. It also has a little rubber grip so you don't burn your hands. Downside, it's so long that you can't get a 600ml jug under the wand because it's too close to the benchtop. I solved this by raising the machine a little higher, on a phone book.

This machine is very simple, inside and out. It feels like a quality machine when I'm using it, which is nice, it's very simple, and very easy. I am really surprised at how great it pulls shots.

Future:

Future modifications might include a PID temp controller, and adjustments to the OPV to set brew pressure. Maybe also a bottomless PF. At this stage we are just enjoying really nice coffee from this machine!

Today I had a roasting failure.

I started the roast and about 3 min in, the bread maker stopped mixing, flicked over to 'rise' and then came up with an error "H". Probably meaning "hot". It shut down entirely. I stopped the heat gun and attempted to reset the machine without luck. Even un-plugging it didn't help, it still had "alert" on the screen, despite being unpluged! ghostly.

So I lost 250g of El Salvador, 100g of Bolivia Montanas Verde, and 250g of PNG Goroka. Unlucky. But that is what you get for not re-setting the gear between roasts.

Today I roasted 500gm of PNG Goroka. NO surprises, went well.

Also made some further changes to the roasting station, most important being the 'hood' on the LCD monitor so I can see the display better in the sun

Today I picked up a used Gaggia Classic Espresso Machine from a bloke that "has owned it for a few years and only used it 3 or 4 times because it's too hard / too much effort". I paid $150 au, and it also came with a Gaggia MM grinder.

The first thing I did was open it up and inspect it. This machine is super clean, only a little dust. A quick wipe down, and a wash of all the parts in some warm water, and it looks brand new. I soaked the PF handle, baskets and shower screen in some cafetto before rinsing and switching the machine on.

When I removed the shower screen, I expected some serious muck, nope, super duper clean. This guy wasn't kidding when he said it was hardly used.

I turned the machine on and immediately activated the brew & steam switches which primes the boiler with water by jetting water out of the steam wand (turning on steam knob too). Within a sec or two it was primed and water was gushing out, it was just a fraction murky (not perfectly clear, but no floaty bits, good). A whole tank of flushing and I was ready to back flush it with some cafetto. I back flushed it about four times, then it was clean.

Fired up the Gaggia MM grinder with some crappy supermarket beans (bought specifically to taint this machine after cleaning), what a terrible grinder, loud, crude, and struggling to grind, it eventually got there, funny, the setting I chose (backed off one notch from the burr's smashing each other) was perfect. I dosed the basket, tamped, locked in and brewed a shot. The machine fired up and the pour began. I was instantly shocked at how much slower, thicker, creamier the pour was compared to my Sunbeam EM6910. First shot and I get this really nice slow thick pour. The crema was quite brilliant (especially for my first shot!). I ran off four or five more shots to rid the machine of any cleaning agent and run it in a little. I took a sip of the last shot, it was -ok-. Not sour, or bitter, but creamy and full of body. The actual flavour wasn't brilliant, stale supermarket beans! I wasn't about to grind up and possibly waste any of my home-roasted good stuff!

Before cleaning up the machine and packing it up ready to take to work I had to give the steam a go. I flicked the steam switch on and waited 15 or so seconds for it to be ready. Turned the steam knob and..... damn, I've never jumped so high. The steam that came out almost knocked me over! I knew the sunbeam steam was poor, but now I know it's really quite awful! This thing smashes the sunbeam for steam, it's insane. (yeah I took off the stupid turbo frother). I can see this machine requiring a longer steam wand however (silvia).

I suppose it's ready to take in to work. To be honest, I'm thinking I'd rather keep it for home. I honestly believe this machine just kills the Sunbeam, not just in pour, but in steam (obviously).

Three of us at work will be brewing on this, all milk drinks, so we will see how it goes. Perhaps the Sunbeam would work better for the several milk drinks due to it's ability to brew and steam back to back (despite poor steam power). Time will tell and I will report back soon on my findings.

Now excuse me while I pack this bad boy up in a box ready for work, and print some sign's out that say "property of James, do not touch upon pain of death". heh