# Using a Gaggia with pre-ground coffee



## Quantumturbo

I got excited and placed an order for a Gaggia Classic. Then someone on Facebook said I should cancel and spend less on a espresso machine and more on a grinder.

Is he right to say if I'm not prepared to spend at least the same amount i.e. £400 on a grinder then I'm wasting my money?

I might spend £150 on a grinder. Or is there any pre-ground coffee I can get that would be acceptable? I'm not looking for perfection. I'm not in that league.

Why would you need to constantly change your grind settings as he suggested?

Shall I cancel the Classic and get a Bressa?

He's sort of put me off the whole idea... Maybe I'll stick with my aeropress and bought ground coffee. I was just looking for a bit of an upgrade and nice crema.


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## Deegee

Yes, you can make an espresso using a Gaggia Classic and pre-ground coffee - the machine comes pre fitted with a pressurised basket that is made just to use off the shelf pre-ground coffee, it won't be quite as good as it could be and that's what your friend on FB is saying, freshly ground coffee under 20mins old makes a much nicer espresso and Gaggia also supply the baskets for doing that with the new machine. However even using ready ground coffee will allow you to make coffee much better than Costa etc.

Be prepared to buy a Grinder if and when you've mastered the art using pre-ground, keep an eye out on the For Sale section here and you'll probably find a decent second hand grinder when you're ready. HTH.


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## Quantumturbo

Deegee said:


> Yes, you can make an espresso using a Gaggia Classic and pre-ground coffee - the machine comes pre fitted with a pressurised basket that is made just to use off the shelf pre-ground coffee, it won't be quite as good as it could be and that's what your friend on FB is saying, freshly ground coffee under 20mins old makes a much nicer espresso and Gaggia also supply the baskets for doing that with the new machine. However even using ready ground coffee will allow you to make coffee much better than Costa etc.
> 
> Be prepared to buy a Grinder if and when you've mastered the art using pre-ground, keep an eye out on the For Sale section here and you'll probably find a decent second hand grinder when you're ready. HTH.


 Thanks. I thought so. I am not yet into perfection but want to be able to make an espresso. I've used cheap £100 delonghi machine with supermarket pre-ground and was told basically the Gaggia won't make a better one unless I buy an expensive grinder to go with it. And further to that I should spend my money on the grinder and buy a cheapish espresso.

What I don't get is why you need to keep adjusting the grind. Surely one finds a bean and then grinds it to your liking and that's that?


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## Deegee

There are several variables that require you adjust the grind slightly,

1, Coffee beans are a seasonal crop, so one countries bean growers season is just finishing as another starts, and like wine, each bean and area is slightly different, plus different beans are roasted to greater or lesser amount to get the best out of them for either espresso or filter coffee, some coffee beans require a finer grind than others.

2, Coffee beans age after roasting, they release CO2 etc and absorb a little humidity, the grind size is adjusted slightly to get the best out of whatever beans you've got.

3, The grinder itself will produce slightly different results as a hopper full of beans goes down, think of the weight of the beans pushing the beans at the bottom into the grinding burrs (a bit like a turbo pushes air into an engine), and you find the grind size that was ideal with 350g of beans in the hopper 2 weeks ago isn't 100% right today, hence a lot of people "single dose" that is, only put the correct weight of beans into the grinder to make one cup of coffee.

Make no mistake, getting good at making espresso is a journey, it's a skill and requires you to learn, sometimes from your mistakes, preferably from other people's, but if you want to fiddle and faff and get great coffee it's worth it, if you do start using the Gaggia Classic, and get into it, it's not just a grinder you'll be buying, there's lots of toys to spend money on,, it'll be a milk jug, a tamper, a tamping mat, a funnel, scales, a knock box, a timer, descaler and Puly Caff cleaner, nicer cups and a lot of coffee beans. Have a look at people set in that section and see what I mean. HTH and you enjoy it if you take the plunge.

P.S. What's a Bressa?


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## Quantumturbo

Deegee said:


> There are several variables that require you adjust the grind slightly,
> 
> 1, Coffee beans are a seasonal crop, so one countries bean growers season is just finishing as another starts, and like wine, each bean and area is slightly different, plus different beans are roasted to greater or lesser amount to get the best out of them for either espresso or filter coffee, some coffee beans require a finer grind than others.
> 
> 2, Coffee beans age after roasting, they release CO2 etc and absorb a little humidity, the grind size is adjusted slightly to get the best out of whatever beans you've got.
> 
> 3, The grinder itself will produce slightly different results as a hopper full of beans goes down, think of the weight of the beans pushing the beans at the bottom into the grinding burrs (a bit like a turbo pushes air into an engine), and you find the grind size that was ideal with 350g of beans in the hopper 2 weeks ago isn't 100% right today, hence a lot of people "single dose" that is, only put the correct weight of beans into the grinder to make one cup of coffee.
> 
> Make no mistake, getting good at making espresso is a journey, it's a skill and requires you to learn, sometimes from your mistakes, preferably from other people's, but if you want to fiddle and faff and get great coffee it's worth it, if you do start using the Gaggia Classic, and get into it, it's not just a grinder you'll be buying, there's lots of toys to spend money on,, it'll be a milk jug, a tamper, a tamping mat, a funnel, scales, a knock box, a timer, descaler and Puly Caff cleaner, nicer cups and a lot of coffee beans. Have a look at people set in that section and see what I mean. HTH and you enjoy it if you take the plunge.
> 
> P.S. What's a Bressa?


 Sorry I meant brerra


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## Deegee

Ok, makes sense. Fwiw I'd stick with the GC Pro you've got ordered over the Brera, better resale value, less faff cleaning and it's very modifiable, I've already fitted mine out with a better OPV spring kit and a pid kit is next on the list. The Classic is a gateway drug. 😉


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## Quantumturbo

Deegee said:


> Ok, makes sense. Fwiw I'd stick with the GC Pro you've got ordered over the Brera, better resale value, less faff cleaning and it's very modifiable, I've already fitted mine out with a better OPV spring kit and a pid kit is next on the list. The Classic is a gateway drug. 😉


 I've no idea what you're talking about 😅. But hopefully I can just make an acceptable coffee...


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## Deegee

OPV = over pressure valve, it's set at 15bar on a normal GC Pro, great for the pressurised basket, too high for the normal baskets, a 10min mod bought from @MrShades that makes nicer coffee if you're using a regular basket, don't mess about with yours until you feel the need.

PID, Another mod from MrShades, but it allows you to accurately set the machine to a given temp and it'll work to that setting, rather than the +/-5°C it works to straight from the factory, the PID mod allows user adjustment of the temperature, which isn't possible as standard (some coffees like a specific temperature to give up their best taste).

As per the previous comment, if you've gone as far as the machine will let you using pre ground coffee and the pressurised basket and you want more, the modifications allow you get a better performance from your standard Gaggia Classic or Classic Pro. HTH.


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## Quantumturbo

Deegee said:


> OPV = over pressure valve, it's set at 15bar on a normal GC Pro, great for the pressurised basket, too high for the normal baskets, a 10min mod bought from @MrShades that makes nicer coffee if you're using a regular basket, don't mess about with yours until you feel the need.
> 
> PID, Another mod from MrShades, but it allows you to accurately set the machine to a given temp and it'll work to that setting, rather than the +/-5°C it works to straight from the factory, the PID mod allows user adjustment of the temperature, which isn't possible as standard (some coffees like a specific temperature to give up their best taste).
> 
> As per the previous comment, if you've gone as far as the machine will let you using pre ground coffee and the pressurised basket and you want more, the modifications allow you get a better performance from your standard Gaggia Classic or Classic Pro. HTH.


 Ok. As I've not received the Classic yet I think I'll be ok for some time to come.

I heard good reports on classic pro but could only find classic on Gaggia website...?


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## Deegee

If you've bought a brand new Classic from www.gaggiadirect.com it'll be a Pro, it's known as either the Classic, the Classic Pro or the Classic '19, they're all the same machine, just different names. 
There have been 3 versions of the Classic in the UK, V1 that ran for the early 90's iirc to 2015, the not so popular stopgap model V2 that ran from 2015 to 2018 and the V3 (Classic Pro) that is current production, the latest model can be told apart by the fact that it has 3 separate switches on the front rather than a cluster of 3 grouped together with no steel showing between the switches.

Fwiw Gaggia started calling it the 'Pro simply because of the better steam arm, no other reason, previous owners of the V1used to replace the steam arm with the one from Gaggia competitor Rancilio Silvia, the new steam arm is at least as good imho as the Rancilio arm, but that's the reason for the name. HTH


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## Quantumturbo

Deegee said:


> If you've bought a brand new Classic from www.gaggiadirect.com it'll be a Pro, it's known as either the Classic, the Classic Pro or the Classic '19, they're all the same machine, just different names.
> There have been 3 versions of the Classic in the UK, V1 that ran for the early 90's iirc to 2015, the not so popular stopgap model V2 that ran from 2015 to 2018 and the V3 (Classic Pro) that is current production, the latest model can be told apart by the fact that it has 3 separate switches on the front rather than a cluster of 3 grouped together with no steel showing between the switches.
> 
> Fwiw Gaggia started calling it the 'Pro simply because of the better steam arm, no other reason, previous owners of the V1used to replace the steam arm with the one from Gaggia competitor Rancilio Silvia, the new steam arm is at least as good imho as the Rancilio arm, but that's the reason for the name. HTH


 Ah. Thanks I thought it was something like that.


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## HDAV

Quantumturbo said:


> I've used cheap £100 delonghi machine with supermarket pre-ground and was told basically the Gaggia won't make a better one unless I buy an expensive grinder to go with it. And further to that I should spend my money on the grinder and buy a cheapish espresso.


 Ok so he sort of has a point, however you reach the limit of performance of the delonghi very quickly, the classic will take you further, depends how far you want to go, lots of people are happy with the classic and pre ground, lots of people are happy with a mondeo you don't have to rebuild a classic Porsche to enjoy driving....... fresh ground beans are the corner stone of good espresso, you don't need to worry about PIDs and Baskets and OPV mods with pre ground


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## Quantumturbo

Deegee said:


> If you've bought a brand new Classic from www.gaggiadirect.com it'll be a Pro, it's known as either the Classic, the Classic Pro or the Classic '19, they're all the same machine, just different names.
> There have been 3 versions of the Classic in the UK, V1 that ran for the early 90's iirc to 2015, the not so popular stopgap model V2 that ran from 2015 to 2018 and the V3 (Classic Pro) that is current production, the latest model can be told apart by the fact that it has 3 separate switches on the front rather than a cluster of 3 grouped together with no steel showing between the switches.
> 
> Fwiw Gaggia started calling it the 'Pro simply because of the better steam arm, no other reason, previous owners of the V1used to replace the steam arm with the one from Gaggia competitor Rancilio Silvia, the new steam arm is at least as good imho as the Rancilio arm, but that's the reason for the name. HTH


 Ah. Thanks I thought it was something like that.



HDAV said:


> Ok so he sort of has a point, however you reach the limit of performance of the delonghi very quickly, the classic will take you further, depends how far you want to go, lots of people are happy with the classic and pre ground, lots of people are happy with a mondeo you don't have to rebuild a classic Porsche to enjoy driving....... fresh ground beans are the corner stone of good espresso, you don't need to worry about PIDs and Baskets and OPV mods with pre ground


 What's the actual difference in the pressurised basket for pre-ground? How does it make a difference?


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## HDAV

There are loads of videos on the subject


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