# These classics?



## willowkevin (Dec 2, 2012)

Did anyone upgrade to a classic from a stove top pot?(I've used mine for more than 20 years!) I'm having different taste issues and wondered about any thoughts on my musings! (long musings at that)

I bought a second hand Classic a couple of days back second hand, good condition etc, I expected a bit of learning time, (i've read a lot on their use) but am quite underwhelmed at what i'm exracting









I treated myself this Christmas to some bags of fresh coffee of different types from The coffee-bean and they were all gorgeous, both brewed in a stock cafeteire and the stove top. Having run out I've gone back to Lavazza Crema De Gusto, it's mainly Robusta and a good wake up coffee, standard procedure is two level scoops in the stove top basket and 10 fluid oz of boiling kettle water, that fills my mug 2/3 of the way so while i'm brewing it I warm up around 5 fl oz of milk and hand whisk a froth, pour coffee and drink with a







. Using the gaggia double basket and the same amount of coffee and taking the shelf out to get my mug under







but I'm getting a "thinner" taste, even if i extract less or use more coffee!

i suppose the question is- can one get so used to a brew type so a different brew method isn't going to measure up to the origional one?


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## shrink (Nov 12, 2012)

are you using pre-ground coffee? if you're saying lavazza then i'm inclined to say yes.

pre ground coffee wont work in an espresso machine particularly well. You can get pressurised baskets that help trick the situation. But its not a proper espresso. Pre ground is too coarse to work well, and just ends up pouring too fast and under extracting. Not to mention the fact that almost all pre-ground coffee is pretty stale from the outset.

I tried to work with pre-ground for months on my gaggia. I gave up and got a grinder. Now i get nice tasting coffee


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## willowkevin (Dec 2, 2012)

shrink said:


> are you using pre-ground coffee? if you're saying lavazza then i'm inclined to say yes.
> 
> pre ground coffee wont work in an espresso machine particularly well. You can get pressurised baskets that help trick the situation. But its not a proper espresso. Pre ground is too coarse to work well, and just ends up pouring too fast and under extracting. Not to mention the fact that almost all pre-ground coffee is pretty stale from the outset.
> 
> I tried to work with pre-ground for months on my gaggia. I gave up and got a grinder. Now i get nice tasting coffee


Pre ground for expresso and giving a decent crema, with the standard pressurised basket, I hear what you say about preground and stale, but it's the same stuff I've used for years in the stove top, and it tastes lovely out of the stove top.

I seem to get a better taste using the 1 shot basket and a small mug, I best go to the local roasters (york coffee Emporium and see if they've anything for sale so i can try that!

I think I'm a stick in the mud so I can see this Gaggia being unused....


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

willowkevin said:


> Did anyone upgrade to a classic from a stove top pot?(I've used mine for more than 20 years!) I'm having different taste issues and wondered about any thoughts on my musings! (long musings at that)
> 
> I bought a second hand Classic a couple of days back second hand, good condition etc, I expected a bit of learning time, (i've read a lot on their use) but am quite underwhelmed at what i'm exracting
> 
> ...


Am I reading this correctly i.e. that you are extracting 10 fluid oz into your mug? If so that is way too much and explains your taste issues, if you stick to the general Italian "rule of thumb" you should only be extracting 2 fluid oz from a double basket and 1 fluid oz from a single. this would then be made into a milk based drink by steaming the required amount of milk or you can make an americano by adding the shot to water in a mug.


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

I aree with Charliej - an espresso machine is designed to produce between 1 and 2 Fl. Oz. from a double basket typically using between 14 and 18g of ground coffee. It should take somewhere in the region of 25 to 30 seconds to pour.

To produce a longer drink from an espresso machine e.g. an Americano usual practice is to top up the espresso with hot water from your kettle. Producing a longer drink by running more water through the ground coffee will dissolve too much of the coffee and produce a bitter tasting drink.


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## willowkevin (Dec 2, 2012)

Charliej said:


> Am I reading this correctly i.e. that you are extracting 10 fluid oz into your mug? If so that is way too much and explains your taste issues, if you stick to the general Italian "rule of thumb" you should only be extracting 2 fluid oz from a double basket and 1 fluid oz from a single. this would then be made into a milk based drink by steaming the required amount of milk or you can make an americano by adding the shot to water in a mug.


Thank you for that! The rule of thumb explains it, and perhaps taking the tray off to get my mug under the portafilter should have been my clue where I was going wrong. Whoops! I've never bothered to learn the trendy names for coffee drinks (whoops again)!

Ive now compared the baskets (Gaggia & stove top) and the stove top pot is a third bigger. Shrink, fair point on the freshness, I popped by the York Coffee emporium on spec and managed to buy 500g of their 4 bean blend roasted on the 8th of Jan, and as a single shot is nicer! Jimbow, thanks for the point on the bitterness!


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## willowkevin (Dec 2, 2012)

So, a couple of weeks on and I'm mostly back on the mocha pot....

The Classic is great on a weekend when I have time for it to warm up, but being used to what adds up to four shots of espresso (ouch) when I get up find the pot faster and as equally nice to drink! That's not knocking the Gaggia at all as when I make a 1 or 2 shot get a lovely crema the like of which I've never had with the pot, I'm currently using some Brazil Santos beans fresh from York Coffee Emporium as I think I've moved on from supermarket coffees now (the Santos costs me 55p per week more than Lavazza Crema de Gusto).

I've had the odd espresso maker before without a pump and they were nye on useless, the classic I've got is well made, fairly easy to use and makes a good drink, but for one never having quite got the coffee shop culture over here find it quite wasted on me...


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## bronc (Dec 10, 2012)

You can get one of those timers which you can set to turn on your machine at a specific time. This way if you wake up at 7.30 you can set it to turn on at 7. This way the machine will have warmed up nicely and it won't need much time to recuperate between shots.


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