Coffee Appreciation

Or get used to it.

Cubika = Sporadic at best.

less tamper seems to do the trick.

@andy.w: how so? looking at the machines (cubica, classic, baby) next to eachother in store I couldnt quite gather what the difference would be between them apart from obvious build quality. Are the internals that much different? I can appreciate the cheaper model is much more plasticy and things like buttons and switches are likely to fail sooner.

general consensus on here and else where is that the Classic is the best (by along way) of the three.

I've had my Cubika for 3 years of trouble free ownership, and even keeping everything the same it is sporadic. My brothers classic is much much more consistent.

Bombcup will be along shortly to tell you why.

Search this thread for Gaggia classic. A wealth of info.

I know, I had working my way through the thread most of yesterday and could see the consensus was that the Classica was the way to go. However, the reduced Cubika at £90 fits my price range at the moment. It was easy enough to convince the missus with it being half price. Not so easy to convince her to spend 200 notes when im the only person in the house that drinks coffee :-)

You have to start somewhere. Scales and a really good grinder will go some of the way to getting the best of out of the machine. Have a look around on some of the coffee sites for ways of improving consistency of the home machines.

less tamper seems to do the trick.

@andy.w: how so? looking at the machines (cubica, classic, baby) next to eachother in store I couldnt quite gather what the difference would be between them apart from obvious build quality. Are the internals that much different? I can appreciate the cheaper model is much more plasticy and things like buttons and switches are likely to fail sooner.

the group head/portafilter is alloy not chromed brass.
eventually the bayonet mount of the portafilter will break. this happened to a friends machine but after a few years of constant use.

Does the cubika have the crema-enhancing gadget in the basket? That's there to make sure you get some semblance of crema whatever stale incorrectly ground coffee joe public puts in the machine. It will prevent you getting a thick dark crema and properly extracted shot if you're using good technique so the first job is to bin it and get a regular basket.

Classic is best because it has an adjustable over-pressure valve, a three-way solenoid and heavier brass grouphead and portafilter. Info about all that stuff is on google.

That's not to say you can't get decent results from the Cubika, it's just more difficult. Lots of practise, reading, and a good grinder are required. A Rancilio Silvia steam wand will make microfoam a possibility.

It'll be a lot of fun learning though, and when you master that machine you will have a better understanding of temperature management and extraction than someone learning on a commercial machine.

Ive just found my Gaggia Classic manual. Anyone want it?

Does the cubika have the crema-enhancing gadget in the basket? That's there to make sure you get some semblance of crema whatever stale incorrectly ground coffee joe public puts in the machine. It will prevent you getting a thick dark crema and properly extracted shot if you're using good technique so the first job is to bin it and get a regular basket.

Classic is best because it has an adjustable over-pressure valve, a three-way solenoid and heavier brass grouphead and portafilter. Info about all that stuff is on google.

That's not to say you can't get decent results from the Cubika, it's just more difficult. Lots of practise, reading, and a good grinder are required. A Rancilio Silvia steam wand will make microfoam a possibility.

It'll be a lot of fun learning though, and when you master that machine you will have a better understanding of temperature management and extraction than someone learning on a commercial machine.

see fig 1

fig 1

^Let's not oversimplify this.

Coffee =

http://111.67.15.28/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/fredorpro_test2.png

Ha, I failed at the first 'recumbent' hurdle.

Ive just found my Gaggia Classic manual. Anyone want it?

What about the lid?.....

Im just about to head downstairs to make myself a tasty greek coffee. see ya

I lived in Greece for a while, Nescafe appeared to have the entire nation sewn up.

Passed up a new boxed Gaggia Classic 2cup job at local auction house the other day, think it sold for about £26+ 20% was after something else, which then went for megabucks, fail :/

Finally got my grind fine'ness sorted after letting a mate play with it, RULE 1, never let mates play with anything, ever!

After playing about (and trying an insanely amount of coffee) I am wondering whether to return the Cubika and plod along with my cafetiere & bialetti for the time being until I can afford something better. General opinion seems to be a model like the Classica is the minimum to go for.. It seems, from what I read, that sub £200 machines just dont cut it. Maybe I was naive to thing that one would. Either that or I invest in a decent grinder to with the the cafetiere instead of spending money on an inferior machine. Thoughts?

what grinder are you using with the cubika?

None at the moment, I've been buying pre-ground. It's been one of those things where I know that a minimum investment needs to be made in order to get one thats worthwhile, so it still remains unpurchased.

you have answered the question yourself.
get a grinder. if no budget for one get a hand grinder or this special offer if you have the cash
http://www.happydonkey.co.uk/hd0866-iberital-mc2-auto.html

What about the lid?.....

For the water tank, up top? Don't think I ever had one of those. Just get in the way.

I had a spare water tank for the Classic, brand new one. Not sure where it is.

None at the moment, I've been buying pre-ground. It's been one of those things where I know that a minimum investment needs to be made in order to get one thats worthwhile, so it still remains unpurchased.

Pre-ground coffee is totally different from buying beans and grinding them. It's very stale and you'll get bugger all crema from most of them (I had best results with illy pre-ground but it was still rubbish compared to beans).

After playing about (and trying an insanely amount of coffee) I am wondering whether to return the Cubika and plod along with my cafetiere & bialetti for the time being until I can afford something better. General opinion seems to be a model like the Classica is the minimum to go for.. It seems, from what I read, that sub £200 machines just dont cut it. Maybe I was naive to thing that one would. Either that or I invest in a decent grinder to with the the cafetiere instead of spending money on an inferior machine. Thoughts?

I often say that espresso at home is a PITA. If you want great coffee with a minimum of hassle you need great beans, a good grinder and your choice of manual brewer. If you want espresso you're going to have to want a new hobby; loads of research, lots of spending, lots of wasted top quality coffee, a top quality grinder and, least importantly of all, an espresso machine. The machine is the least important factor because all it has to do is heat water and push it through coffee. Cheap ones do this less well than expensive ones but you can work around any quirks and shortcomings. It is not possible to work around the shortcomings in bad coffee or a cheap grinder. If it's crap, it's crap so these are your most important considerations.

just had something indonesian from monmouth, excellent for filter. beats whatever it was i had from climpsons hands down.