Coffee Appreciation

All the anti-tea ones are mine.. and you already know I iz weird.

aaahhh ..I didnt realize it was you ...explains it all now ;]

My Gaggia has stopped working. The pump sounds, but no water comes out. Either the pump is knackered or limescale (London is a hardwater area) has got the better of it.
Anyone had this problem? If so... how did you solve it?
I could probably swap the pump if I knew it was that... or limescale remover, but I guess coffee machines require something specific so that it's non-toxic and has some very specific way of rinsing it out afterwards.

VB, you can get descaler for your Gaggia from John Lewis, or if you can wait you can grab some from me on Thursday at westies

your pump produces more pressure than needed for brewing and the excess water is routed back to the tank. If there is no water coming back to the tank, my guess would be that you have a defect pump. If there is allot of water returned to the tank, my guess would be that your system is blocked.

So, I've got VB's machine now. I've taken it apart and cleaned it. Still no dice.

I explained to My Coffee Guy(tm) that I've primed the pump and the steamer outputs water but no matter what I do the actual brew head bit doesn't output any water. He said if it was limescale it would probably drip out a little bit but I get nothing at all. He said it's probably the pump. If you guys are of the same opinion I'll get another pump.

1) Where's the best place to find one?
2) Is it relatively easy to install myself
3) Do I need special tools?

I've found these instructions (ok?):
http://home.earthlink.net/~cm_harmon/images/replace%20Gaggia%20Espressso%20pump%2001.pdf

and this for the pump (ok?):
http://www.happydonkey.co.uk/hd0108-gaggia-classic-pump.html

Thanks!

Have you put water in?

No. I thought the thing on the back was where the instant coffee goes?

No no - that's where the hamster is supposed to go. And the king cobra.

The pump is what I thought it was :)

I know.. but I like shit in triplicate before I spend £25.. I work in the city man.. dark times ;)

OK, So my new machine turned up and it's impressive.

Took me a while to work out the setup and get it all together, but it's now all running fine.

I've made a couple of test espresso's and cappuccino's, and the thing that strikes me about the whole bean-to-cup thing is this: The coffee is consistently near-perfect.

And what I mean by that is that the crema is wonderful, and the strength and aroma exactly as I desire, and even with me just knocking out test cups each cup was as good as the last and none was far from perfect.

I used to work in a coffee shop years ago, a trained barista and with a couple of silly prizes to my name, and yet I wasn't consistent... not this consistent. I could make a perfect coffee, but 1 in 3 would be less than perfect and if I had to make tons of cappuccino's in quick succession they would inevitably start to tail off. This machine doesn't quite hit absolute perfection, but it comes damn close, and the really satisfying thing is that whereas I would falter 1 in 3 times and it wouldn't be as good as the other cups, this machine just makes the next cup as good as the prior.

I love the damn thing, even though I was a little hesitant to give up all control to one monolithic machine. This isn't the fixed-gear equivalent of coffee machine, but damn does it produce some impressive results.

Just got back from the States - and thought I'd share a few pic's with you.
Washington is such a fan of the bean - and in Seattle there is a stunning Cafe that serves some of the best coffee i have ever tasted. Smooth, Velvety shots with a nutty/mocha tinge... its very popular with the local messengers too, hence the "ornaments"
enjoy: (The last photo was taken from the revolving restaurant at the top of the Needle - which i just wanted to add, also produced their coffee via a manual press!!)

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Haven't seen anyone mention Pressos yet, so...

http://www.presso.co.uk/

Thoughts? Anyone used one? Everything I've been able to find has been more or less good (review wise), with the exception (so far) of one on amazon.

That Cafe Vivace is really influential in modern espresso making. David Schomer who set the place up wrote some technique books and did lots of shouting about how to improve espresso back when it was kind of forgotten about. No wonder you got a good coffee.

Those Presso things look great and the theory is all nice and sound but I spoke to somebody who had one and they really would not recommend it in practice. Temperatures all over the ockey.

can someone explain how you make the little leaf pattern in the foam? i've alwasy wondered...

YouTube - Latte Art Pour on a GS/3

I'm not to happy about latte art as it takes focus away from the shot. But It makes people talk!

YouTube - Latte art

but most of that is done with chocolate, no?

Nope

More like cheese than chocolate.

Right - time to take the plunge...

I'm in the market for a grinder. Must be burr, obviously, but I'm having trouble because reviews suggest the domestic burr grinders are either unreliable or don't grind fine enough.

There's a 'light commercial' grinder (Iberital MC2) for a penny short of a hundred on Happy Donkey - which is fine - but it's big and don't know I'll use it enough. Go any smaller though, and you're in the unreliable/coarse grind territory.

Will probably be grinding every other day for a few double doses at a time - any ideas?

Holy Fuck Bombcup.... as i've said before, you are some kind of oracle.
I didn't expect you to recognise Vivace - all i know is that i have possibly had my best espresso ever in there (which is maybe quite a statement), and they appear to be pretty good at what they do.
I know who to ask for opinions in the future... expect a PM off me soon, as i set myself up with a decent espresso maker... Nice one mate

You got it all right Mookio, The Iberital will give you pro quality espresso, anything cheaper will not and at less than £100 it's a bargain. Other options are Rancillio Rocky but that's quite a bit more expensive or the best bet; a used Mazzer Super Jolly for top quality grindage, bomb proof reliability and eternal spares availability.

I'll stick my neck out and say that it's worth holding out for a Mazzer because there is likely to be quite a number of coffee shops liquidating in the coming months. More Mazzers on ebay and less demand for them. All a bit schadenfreude I know but it's where my money would be.

If you can't wait then you will not be disappointed with the Iberital, it's just you will probably end up upgrading to a Mazzer anyway in a year or two.

No worries Pista, I'll be happy to help.

Those Presso things look great and the theory is all nice and sound but I spoke to somebody who had one and they really would not recommend it in practice. Temperatures all over the ockey.

This makes me sad...

Right - time to take the plunge...

I'm in the market for a grinder. Must be burr, obviously, but I'm having trouble because reviews suggest the domestic burr grinders are either unreliable or don't grind fine enough.

There's a 'light commercial' grinder (Iberital MC2) for a penny short of a hundred on Happy Donkey - which is fine - but it's big and don't know I'll use it enough. Go any smaller though, and you're in the unreliable/coarse grind territory.

Will probably be grinding every other day for a few double doses at a time - any ideas?

I've got the Iberital, had it for a couple of years alongside my Rancillio Silvia. Its great and really not that big, I doubt you would get a decent grinder with a smaller base area!

Pistaboy, I cannot believe you rate vivace over vita.

I've got the Iberital, had it for a couple of years alongside my Rancillio Silvia. Its great and really not that big, I doubt you would get a decent grinder with a smaller base area!

Sounds good - I had a look at the Mazzer and can't see it dropping that cheaply (since they go for £400 new anyway). My biggest worry was the size, since I have a tiny kitchen. I might just have to break out the readies...