# Hello from South Wales



## nyneve (Sep 7, 2016)

Hi all,

New member here, even though i've been lurking on and off these forums for years. So here goes my story so far...

I bought my first Gaggia Classic about 4 years ago with a krups GVX2, i believe it was called, with no research whatsoever and after my first few shots started looking for help on making a better coffee which was when i came across this board. As you can probably guess i almost instantly dropped the krups (how embarrassed was i) and bought myself the Mahlkonig Vario which at the time seemed to be the most talked about/recommended grinder, in my price range anyway. I added the silvia wand mod but didn't go any further with any mods as i was never convinced spending more money on the machine was a good idea as upgraditus had already hit after less than a year. Shortly after this 'disease' hit i found i was pregnant so had to give up on my coffee habit for a while so the classic was dutifully boxed up and put away to make room for all the extra baby equipment that would over run my kitchen. About a year later it all came back out again but to my annoyance i discovered i could no longer make a good coffee so had to go back into learning mode, which with a new baby was difficult so i lost my temper with it all and almost felt like giving it all away but the coffee drinker in me wouldn't allow so it sat on my counter unused staring at me everyday. Now about 6 months ago i decided i needed good coffee back in my life so back to the forums to find out exactly what i was doing wrong which was when i found out about this temp surfing business that i had never done before but seemed to do the trick. Now with my steaming skills back on track and decent espresso back in my cup i was happy again, until i remembered the shiny machine i'd longed for years before.

Now this machine was the R58 but after looking it up to buy and seeing the price tag i almost collapsed, how could a coffee machine for the house cost so much when i only paid ~£250 for my classic and at the time that seemed excessive, but it was no good upgraditius had well and truely set in and wasn't letting go this time. So after looking round trying to find alternatives a bit more in my price bracket i'd settled on an expobar leva dual but not completely convinced i called bella barista for some advice. After a long chat on the phone, as sadly the store is just too far away for a visit, i'd been advised that the leva was a good machine but if i was able to stretch to the R58 i'd be better off with that, i think he might've picked up that in the back of my mind i wouldn't be happy with anything but the R58. Now on to my grinder, he didn't seem convinced that the vario would pair well with either machine and so suggested that i may want to upgrade that too and suggested a mignon but the machine was already gonna bust my budget so sadly at this time is not an option. So later that evening after convincing my other half that a new machine was desperately needed, no easy task as he doesn't drink coffee, i placed my order for the R58 and am now patiently waiting for delivery.

Wow that was a much longer introduction than i thought it was going to be but that is my life history in terms of my coffee journey. Even though i've had the interest on and off for years i've never had the time/money to invest in a decent setup so i'm hoping now that my vario will be up to the task of the R58, if any of you out there have this pairing or have in the past and found it no good i'd be interested to hear your thoughts, but hopefully it will be acceptable for a while until i can save again if needed to replace.

Well if you've made it this far thank you very much for reading i look forward to participating more in these forums now i've finally joined and will probably need a lot more help to hone my technique with my new machine when it arrives.


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## GCGlasgow (Jul 27, 2014)

Nice machine to upgrade to, we always like shiny pics :-D


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