# Tips & Tricks to a newbie



## cu19x (Nov 19, 2012)

Hello to all,

Please excuse me for my poor English, the lack of proper expressions and for double posting something that has already been discussed.

I own a Gaggia Baby Dose for about 3 years but I cannot say that I have spend much time to learn the "proper" way of making a fine espresso. So I have listed some questions that came to my mind and I want to share them with you for any suggestions.

1) Which is the perfect coffee grind size that I should buy from the coffee shop. They are keep asking me the size that I want to cut the coffee beans (1.2, 1.3, 1.4 etc), but I don't know which is better for my machine.

2) Which is the right amount of coffee grind and the proper way of placing it inside the handle.

3) I have the plastic tamper that came with the machine. Should I tamp with power or what is the proper way?

4) Should I prefer any special kind of milk for a good froth or every milk works?

5) When I make milk froth, is it proper to open the steam valve all the way open or what?

I know that my questions are at base level, but any advise would be helpful.


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## ronsil (Mar 8, 2012)

Hi & welcome.

Most of the questions you ask are already on the forum in detail. however here is a brief answer to your 5 questions.

1 - If you have to buy it ready ground then a fine espresso grind is needed but it will depend on the bean & degree of roasting as well. The biggest difference you will experience would be if you could manage to buy a reasonable grinder for yourself. The best results come using beans direct from the grinder for each espresso you make.

2 - 18 grams gives a good result. Try weighing this amount into the basket.

3 - Again, if you can, throw out the plastic tamper (they are not good) & buy a heavy metal one to the same measurement as the basket.

4 - I use semi-skimmed milk & it gives a good result.

5 - Put the tip into the milk just touching the surface, turn on the steam gently & hold the jug steady. Do not move the jug around. This will expand the milk & then plunge the steam wand keeping the milk rolling. Again keep the jug still & heat only until it becomes very hot to your hand.

As I said all these things are discussed in great detail around this Forum.

Keep at it & good luck - The results are well worth the effort


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## cu19x (Nov 19, 2012)

Thank you Ronsil for your support. It was very helpful.

Some more details please to make clear some of my previous questions.

1) Can you point a good value for money grinder. I don't want to spent much money, but fair enough to do my business.

3) I don't want to buy a heavy metal tamper at the moment. Could you please tell me if I should press the grind a lot with this plastic one?


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## ronsil (Mar 8, 2012)

cu19x said:


> 1) Can you point a good value for money grinder. I don't want to spent much money, but fair enough to do my business.
> 
> 3) I don't want to buy a heavy metal tamper at the moment. Could you please tell me if I should press the grind a lot with this plastic one?


On item 1 I will leave it to someone else with perhaps better experience for a good value grinder or maybe start with a hand grinder.

If you do not buy a heavy tamper try using the plastic 'thgingy' by pressing north-south-east-west so as to cover the whole surface of the grinds. 30 lbs pressure used to be the norm but mostly nowadays people press rather lighter


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

You really wont get a good coffee with that plastic tamper, even a cheap metal one will make a significant improvement to your espresso.


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## Wando64 (Feb 28, 2011)

It is not clear from your post if you have the pressurized basket (which I believe comes as standard with all domestic Gaggias) or whether you have purchased a non-pressurised one. This will make a massive difference to everything else.

For example, you don't need a very fine grind with the pressurised basket, but you do with a normal basket.

Likewise, the tamper and tamping are pretty much irrelevant with the pressurised basket but quite important with the normal basket, though if the grind is correct (in my opinion) you are fine with the plastic tamper to start with.

I apologise if I repeat something you already know, but the way to distinguish the pressurised basket from a normal one is to look through it in front of a window. The pressurised basket has a single tiny hole, whereas the base the normal one is full of holes.


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## cu19x (Nov 19, 2012)

Thank you guys for your tips.

Do you think that I can get a good hand grinder for this machine just to save some money (can you suggest one?), or the only way is with a budget over 200€.

Also, can someone please tell me which is the proper diameter (for my baskets) and proper weight of a good heavy tamper. I am thinking of making one my self and if I have these information I could make something really good.

ronsil

Thank you for the technique. But as I mentioned and above I think that I finally would go for a heavy tamper one

aaronb

Everybody says that. I guess you are right

Wando64

I am not familiar and sure about how the baskets are called, but 3 baskets came with my machine. One for a single espresso, one for a double espresso which I think its the normal/non-pressurized basket and an ESE pod filter which is almost the same with the single basket but with a bit smaller diameter hole area at the bottom.


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## shrink (Nov 12, 2012)

the very cheapest grinder that can actually pull off espresso, is likely to be along the lines of the Iberital MC2, which in the UK goes for about £114-150 depending on where you get it. Spending less than this, will not improve your coffee, as the grinder will not be able to produce a fine enough grind for your machine. Leading to too short an extraction, with likely very little flavour and a sour edge.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

cu19x said:


> Thank you guys for your tips.
> 
> Do you think that I can get a good hand grinder for this machine just to save some money (can you suggest one?), or the only way is with a budget over 200€.


A Porlex or Hario hand grinder can grind fine enough, though you may be limited to a few grind size choices. An expensive hand grinder is unlikely to cost you much more than 100Euros...for about half as much again you should be able to get the Iberital MC2.


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## cu19x (Nov 19, 2012)

So do you think that Iberital MC2 is a fair option that will last, or it will get loosen on not working properly in time? Because if I have to spent that much money, I want to be sure that I will get something an "never" look back.


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