# Gaggia Classic and Eureka Mignon



## James87 (Sep 8, 2016)

The Eureka arrived earlier this afternoon so thought I'd share my humble first setup now that it's complete. All that's left to do is get a bottomless portafilter and fine tune the grinder a bit.


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## GCGlasgow (Jul 27, 2014)

Should get some nice shots from that set up.


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

James87 said:


> humble first setup


That sounds like upgraditis has set in already! No sooner is it on the bench than its the "first" setup; ergo you're saving for a dual boiler already  

Humble? Nah. It's better than my first setup.


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## Jumbo Ratty (Jan 12, 2015)

A decent set up and more than capable of producing some fantastic coffee,, but then I might be slightly biased as I have the identical match


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## James87 (Sep 8, 2016)

hotmetal said:


> That sounds like upgraditis has set in already! No sooner is it on the bench than its the "first" setup; ergo you're saving for a dual boiler already


Haha, caught red handed. Yep, already looking for ways to improve shot, but with the Eureka I've got a lot of experimenting to do first. When I say first set up I mean first foray into espresso beyond a dolce gusto. I thought it seemed fairly humble compared to some of the super-shiney super-expensive rigs on the forum.


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## James87 (Sep 8, 2016)

Jumbo Ratty said:


> A decent set up and more than capable of producing some fantastic coffee,, but then I might be slightly biased as I have the identical match


Pretty pleased with it so far. How are you finding the eureka? How much tweaking do you have to do from one coffee or roast type to the next?

I used up about 200g just to find a sweet spot for a bog-standard rich Italian bean, hoping not to have to dial it too far on a different bean or it could get expensive fairly quickly. Basically, if I switched from a dark to a medium roast at the same grind setting, would the shot at least be drinkable and serve as a reference for a tweak on the next shot, or would it be wildly different on the dial?


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## Jumbo Ratty (Jan 12, 2015)

James87 said:


> How are you finding the eureka? How much tweaking do you have to do from one coffee or roast type to the next?


I like it tremendously and cant see that i'll ever feel the need to get a different grinder.

I dont think I have to move the dial more than 1 whole section on the dial. There are 6 sections, so not much.

I try not to move it more than about 2-3mm at any one time.



James87 said:


> I used up about 200g just to find a sweet spot for a bog-standard rich Italian bean, hoping not to have to dial it too far on a different bean or it could get expensive fairly quickly. Basically, if I switched from a dark to a medium roast at the same grind setting, would the shot at least be drinkable and serve as a reference for a tweak on the next shot, or would it be wildly different on the dial?


I only ever buy beans in kilos, for two reasons.

1 : It keeps the cost down.

2 : The dialing in.

If, and lets take your example of 200gs to dial in to find the sweetspot, you only had 250gs of that type of bean it would be frustrating to then only enjoy the next 50gs, whereas with a kilo you then get 800gs of sweetspot coffee









I switch from medium to dark and dont think it takes me more than 6 coffees to feel ive got it right so about 90gs for me with each shot showing an improvement.

I nearly always have my coffee with milk in so maybe im not as finicky as someothers might be, but I do taste the coffee before i dump the milk in and also always do have at least a couple of straight espressos of each bean to see what its like as that.


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## James87 (Sep 8, 2016)

Jumbo Ratty said:


> I only ever buy beans in kilos, for two reasons.
> 
> 1 : It keeps the cost down.
> 
> ...


It's true what you say about not having much left to actually enjoy! At least on this current bag, because I used up so much getting it dialled in. As you say, the dial is pretty sensitive so hoping to only have to move it a few mm each way, and in any case the shots should still be usable even if they need adjusting. Think 1kg might be too much for my needs though without going stale (?). I'm only dosing18g per shot and brewing between 1 and 3 a day (this may be plenty more if I throw a decaf bean into the mix belive me!). Might start out with the 350g bags of blend that rave do and order on a fortnightly renewal with possibly the odd single origin as a treat once in a while.


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## Jumbo Ratty (Jan 12, 2015)

James87 said:


> Think 1kg might be too much for my needs though without going stale (?)


*Rave state on the side of the bag "for best results use within a month of roast date" and on the sticker on the bottom of the bag there is a best before date, this is 6 months after the roast date.

I have no qualms ordering 2 months worth in one go and just keep them in the larder and dont feel I can detect any degradation in taste over that length of time.

I must admit to always without exception ordering over £25 to get free delivery,, keeps the costs down even further on top of Kilos of one type, , this in turn allows me to buy more expensive beans than I would otherwise buy due to my self imposed budget



James87 said:


> Might start out with the 350g bags of blend that rave do and order on a fortnightly renewal with possibly the odd single origin as a treat once in a while.


I started out with their blends but found im a single origin type of guy. I dont see tham as a treat, most of the SO's i get come in at the same cost near enough as the blends. Columbian suarez, sumatra jagong village, india monsooned malaba AA to name a few. Not recomending them, but i think they shine above the blends

*i mention rave because you mention them as where you would order from


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## Rhys (Dec 21, 2014)

Nice, nothing wrong with that setup. Had a Classic for a while and loved it.


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## James87 (Sep 8, 2016)

Jumbo Ratty said:


> I started out with their blends but found im a single origin type of guy. I dont see tham as a treat, most of the SO's i get come in at the same cost near enough as the blends. Columbian suarez, sumatra jagong village, india monsooned malaba AA to name a few. Not recomending them, but i think they shine above the blends
> 
> *i mention rave because you mention them as where you would order from


Thanks, that's some useful info re use by dates. To be honest my palette isn't going to be refined enough to detect a difference after a few weeks of ageing if well stored. I've never ordered from rave, just seems like they've got quite a wide range and good reviews. I ordered from Pact before but found the roasts were a fair bit lighter than advertised. I'll try a few orders at the lower weight and see which one might become a regular buy and get a kg bag most likely.


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## thephinn (Nov 27, 2016)

Beaut set up indeed, nice to get an idea how they pair up visually side by side - Been scouring the SH market for a good deal on the same components myself


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## Boswell (Dec 27, 2016)

Nice set up


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