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Anyone looking to nerd out on Aeropress Barista Hustle did a white paper on what makes a 'cloudy' brew.
https://www.baristahustle.com/white-papers/coffee-turnidity/
tl/dr: use two filters, screw cap on tight, plunge real slow
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Yeah, couldn't agree more! Recipes like 21g in, 54g out are just not gonna happen haha.
I've had to get philosophical and just look at it as an excuse to have more cups throughout the day. Can easily justify three espresso throughout the daywhen its the same as two on a pump machine. Also means I don't feel as bad if I end up with a sink shot (luckily rare now!) Does make for dinky americanos though.
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You jest, but I think the biggest criticism I have of my Classic is the basket size because, essentially, to pull a decent shot you’re pulling a triple traditional espresso. Which is quite a lot of caffeine. That means the ‘single’ basket is a completely compromised shape to force the flow through a dose of coffee that just won’t fit well in a diameter that big. So you can’t do good smaller portions of coffee with it. I think this is why I’ve been so impressed with the DeLonghi machine at work. It’s a consumer machine, but it pulls a pretty good espresso out of very average coffee and in sensible shot sizes. I can see why it’s a popular domestic machine.
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Not that buying a Mini Gaggia would be a remotely good idea but food for thought...
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Cool aren’t they. There’s a Pierre Cardin badged version.
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Most of them don’t have the steam wand so they’re unpressurised boilers which helps with temp management, also the group head is saturated in the boiler water which is also good. Chances are now though that even if you restored one it would be better as an ornament, it’s bound to be temperamental.
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Aldo agree with Mick's comment about spending more time cleaning a Classic than actually using it...
To be fair, I would say that's not specifically a Gaggia Classic issue, just something you'll have to deal with with a pump driven home espresso machine in general. Probably wouldn't be enough of a downside for me to suggest a lever machine to a complete beginner, but it is something to consider.
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I remember you posting a similar cool looking 60s/70s lever machine that was also ultimately not all that useful for daily use. What was that one again? As far as I recall it was almost hourglass shape, with the lever almost looking like one from a one-armed bandit.
Edit: Found it, a La Peppina:
Also found a 1950s Cafelat Robot during my search, the Faema Baby:
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Yeah can only find this pic in the background of a picture of a shoe. Forums eh? The best domestic lever coffee-wise I ever used was this Gaggia Achille which used a heat exchanger but every one of them succumbed to unfixable leaks into the electrics. Shots were thick and soft like yogurt.
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Agreed, I think part of it's success was that he built the robot on a proven principle while addressing some of the flaws of the original.
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I just bought a 1kg bag of beans from Dark Arts. I then went on instagram and saw they 're doing a free 250g with every purchase today. It feels a bit shitty to cancel it and reorder with the free one.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CKQwVSKDKyU/
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Coffee Appreciation
Posted by
@justMouse
Looks great! One of the trickier aspects of working with lever machines (IMO) is that all the modern advice seems to be centred around your larger doses/portafilters. When I first got my La Pavoni I was somehow cramming in around 16-17g despite it only being a 51mm basket.
Getting much better results now with 14-15g but I must say I do miss having a larger espresso to drink! Though if you were to pop a 58mm group/basket in there, you'd need around 30% more force going through the lever. So I can see why they stick with the smaller portafilters.