Coffee Appreciation

not much in the way of mazzers at the mo - there was a pavoni grinder I was looking at [was going to ask your opinion about that]

There were two Mazzers that ended last week - one went for around £275 and the other for £150. In spite of the fact the £150 one was a bleeding bargain, I thought better of it - I'd rather spend that money on a better machine (those bloody Rancilio Silvias are taunting me) and just buy fresh beans as often as I can.

BMMF - those beans sound interesting. Shame I'm not in the area to collect. I think Bombcup's blog had something about Yirgacheffe on it recently and it got me intrigued on how coffee could taste fruity/lemony. What's it like?

hippy's reserved them - otherwise, seeing as the beans are predominantly spherical, I was going to load them up in an air rifle and shoot them at fixed hipsters from my living room overlooking Old St.

I'm afraid I'm no connoisseur, and mainly know that I like high roasted chocolatey Central/South American beans - and these are definitely not that. The acidity comes through strongly - very astringent feel in the mouth - and definitely has a citrusy (orange?) edge. Probably more like fruit liqueur than juice or zest. Much more in the taste than in the aroma. It also tastes 'bright' rather than 'round'.

And the caffeine content seems lower than the organic Bolivian I usually get.

Apologies for the naïve commentary.

I don't really want £500 worth of coffee tomfoolery in my kitchen. I'd rather pay a barista to make it.
What's the difference between the £60 Dualit grinder, the £150 KA and the £300+ whatever?
Also BMMF suggested a hand grinder - they are supposed to be gentle on the beans so is that better again (although more work)?

As for VB's dodgy unit.. I've stripped the mofo right down and think I've found a blockage.. the copper tube inside the boiler, that dumps into the head, doesn't let air through. I can't see any valving between the top of the tube and the head under the screen so methinks this is the blocked area. Now to smash fuck out of it for making me buy a replacement when, if I was a little more patient, I could've not bought another one.

Right.. this fucking machine is in about 400 pieces.. there weren't even that many in the Gaggia schematics. :S

Anyway, it's not the copper pipe->grouphead arrangement, no it's more complex. The blockage appears to be in some kind of blue electronic valve thing which controls the water FROM the boiler TO the head and from the boiler to the drain pipe. Is this the OVP? The Over Pressure Valve?
Any of you pulled one of these apart before know anything about this shit? bombcup help!

Looks like Part 27 in here:
http://www.partsguru.com/user/ER0182_Rev01.pdf
"DM1645/001 - solenoid valve"

Found spares here..
http://www.partsguru.com/GaggiaClassicCoffee.html
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Arial][FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000000]"DM1645/002 or 1152/002 Elektrovalve 120V[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/FONT]"

Right.. this fucking machine is in about 400 pieces.. there weren't even that many in the Gaggia schematics. :S

Anyway, it's not the copper pipe->grouphead arrangement, no it's more complex. The blockage appears to be in some kind of blue electronic valve thing which controls the water FROM the boiler TO the head and from the boiler to the drain pipe. Is this the OVP? The Over Pressure Valve?
Any of you pulled one of these apart before know anything about this shit? bombcup help!

Looks like Part 27 in here:
http://www.partsguru.com/user/ER0182_Rev01.pdf
"DM1645/001 - solenoid valve"

Found spares here..
http://www.partsguru.com/GaggiaClassicCoffee.html
[FONT=Arial][FONT=Arial][FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000000]"DM1645/002 or 1152/002 Elektrovalve 120V[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/FONT]"

Wow. Desperate stuff.

That's what I call determination. Either that or bloody-mindedness. It's impressive stuff to see though, I gave up as soon as it failed!

Right.. this fucking machine is in about 400 pieces.. there weren't even that many in the Gaggia schematics. :S

HA HA HA I am so fucking glad i passed that one by.

£10 says you have ~ 8 pieces left over when you assemble it and on the first use put Mel in A&E

Nah, it's quite cool.. I know how they work now, I know how to customise the Over Pressure Valves to produce better shots and I now know which part has failed. All I need to do now is fix/replace the solenoid valve and then I will have two working machines (or I'll ebay the fixed one to pay for a grinder :)).

Speaking of grinders, what about the Gaggia MDF? bombcup, where you at?
http://www.anothercoffee.co.uk/products/item150550.aspx

The Culprit

£10 says you have ~ 8 pieces left over when you assemble it and on the first use put Mel in A&E

You're on! :)

Or the Ascaso I-Mini?
http://www.xpresscoffeeuk.co.uk/product.php/321/ascaso-i-mini-grinder---polished-aluminium

Good work!
Keep them both and get a hand grinder. that way you can get two brands of coffee on the go and the additional work out grinding the beans will mean you always have thirst for another cup!

I might bring one to the office.. and charge a rental fee.. mwuahahahahahahaha

Grange Controls Ltd. http://www.grangecontrols.co.uk/index.htm

Grange Controls Ltd. are the sole UK importer for the Italian-made C.E.M.E solenoid valve (5316VN1) I need.

They don't stock it though. They do stock the coil but not the valve itself. If I can find a multimeter to test the coil then I might buy one from them but they have a minimium order of £20 (since they usual deal in bulk) + £2.50 post + VAT.

Anyone have a multimeter near Liverpool St at the moment?

My workmate wanted a multimeter so I went to Maplins and bought one and then used it to test the solenoid coil.

It has resistance, which, in my limited understanding of basic electronics, means that it's not completely fucked. Which, in turn, means the problem might be in the valve itself. So, citric acid bath for it tonight to see if that makes a difference.
Gaggia store on Oxford st. don't answer their phone so I called head office and I'm waiting for a call back from their service dept. Kev here suggested they are all on a coffee break ;)

I bought another machine today.. that's 3 now. It's not working well but well enough for the valve to do what I need to fix VB's machine.

I then bought the valve from Happy Donkey.. he'd left the office but had come back.

Next week this machine will be working..

ooooh think ill get a wee cup of charlie now. cheers!

This is attempt 1 from machine #3.. the machine that was "not working" and sold as "for spares". HA! There was no drip tray so lots of splashing. Shot was too fast. Not bad for £40

Attempt #2 from the same Gaggia Baby D, this time with more coffee, more tamp pressure and a drip tray.

Also swapped VB's steamer wand onto this and it steamed milk fine.

Great Success. :)

This is crazy. I remember a few months ago you were laughing at the coffee appreciation thread Hippy. Now you're its main attraction.

how fine ya grindin young hippola?

This is crazy. I remember a few months ago you were laughing at the coffee appreciation thread Hippy. Now you're its main attraction.

It's only coz the bike chat now bores the piss out of me.
Did I really laugh at this thread? My how times change. I thought I gave the tea drinkers way more shit.

how fine ya grindin young hippola?

I'm not grinding. I just bought a pack of Lavazza from Tesco on the way home.
Not fucking bad for an amateur with a broken machine :)

This is crazy. I remember a few months ago you were laughing at the coffee appreciation thread Hippy. Now you're its main attraction.

Right.. coz I'm me.. I searched this thread and I can't find any of my posts that appear to indicate I'm laughing at it.. show me where biiatch or face my froth!

I'm not grinding. I just bought a pack of Lavazza from Tesco on the way home.
Not fucking bad for an amateur with a broken machine :)

I find the 250g tubs of pre-ground Illy coffee to be quite good in my Gaggia. You might want to try that as your supermarket coffeee.

Right.. coz I'm me.. I searched this thread and I can't find any of my posts that appear to indicate I'm laughing at it.. show me where biiatch or face my froth!

Maybe not laughing. But pointing out that your, then current, coffee preference was for well brewed Nescafé and similar comments. It was a long time ago. I can't remember that well.