proud father of a New Baby

[ELGUAPO]

received our Gaggia a few days ago, what an awesome machine.I feel sorry for the old Breville Cafe Roma, it served me well for years and made a decent espresso, I intend to use it as a backup.This Baby has quite a learning curve, I have not made a stellar espresso yet.I attribute this to not having the right coffee, all I have on hand is some home roasted Uganda Bugisu which may not be the best for espresso.Went down and bought some Java Delight french roast whole bean coffee, tried that and it seems I am getting closer to espresso nirvana.I look forward to ordering some single origin espresso friendly beans from SM and would like to try some of their espresso blends.It seems my Baratza Maestro does a good enough job to be worthy of the New Baby.The only issue is I am worried about my wife letting the pump run dry and ruining the machine , priming the pump is essential if that happens

[spro745]

The Gaggias are good solid machines with alot to offer for the price point. Like anything, take care of it and you should get years of use out of it.

The Maestro will probably be OK, at least for now. You may not get super fine tuning, but should be close enough.

I recommend topping off the water reservoir before each use and show her how to use the machine to eliminate any issues such as that. It won't hurt vibratory pumps to run dry for a bit (seconds), but it's not something you want to do on a regular basis.

[ELGUAPO]

Thanks for th reply, the problem I am having now is that the portafilter is difficult to seat into the head.or whatever that thing is even with no porta filter I engage the basket and it does not rotate very far counter clockwise, no way will it rotate to a 90' angle.Seems like the gasket in the head is too thick? I carefully cleaned out the gasket area of debris.This is a problem for my wife, no way is that going to be eaasy for her.Guess I should contact the seller.Good news is my espresso results are improving been roasting my Ugandan coffee a bit darker and fine tuning the grind and tamp.

[ELGUAPO]

http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.ph ... -to-handle

[spro745]

Actually the less you need to rotate the portafilter the better off you are provided it stays put during extractions and you have no leaking. As the gasket wears/compresses under normal use the further it (portafilter) will need to be rotated to properly engage. Don't worry about it being lined up at a certain angle or mark on the machine. Kind of like numbers on a grinder... they are good for nothing except reference.

Is this an issue if you lock it in with no coffee in the basket? How much are you dosing? Is the puck left with an impression after extraction? Also be sure you do clean the group area/gasket after daily use.

[ELGUAPO]

Your advice is spot on did you have a look at the link I provided on my last post? that forum is a great resource for Gaggia owners, apparently the Queens subjects are quite fond of Gaggia Babies.The puck does have an impression of the shower head, I guess I need to back off on the dosing...I am overdosed what a great machine.

[spro745]

No, but I'm quite familiar with that forum and read through the Gaggia section often in an attempt to help others.

I find Gaggias to do well with an average of 16 grams in the double basket. Invest in a decent digital scale if you don't already have one. I find my 1 gram resolution scale to work great as I won't nitpick dosing to .1/gram as some geeks think is necessary. Same with water temperature, tamping, etc. IMHO there should be somewhat of an art to espresso by eye-balling things/going by feel, not just robot-like accuracy.

[ELGUAPO]

Thank you kind sir I am approaching espresso heaven with your help..thank you.