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I've just got myself a gaggia classic off a friend who prefers his tasimo machine. I drink quite a few fresh coffees a day but hoping having the machine will help cut down some costs on the take away coffees!
I don't have a tamper, a mat, a knock box, a blanking plate, a end on the milk frother or any clue on how to use it other than let it warm up, let some water go through it - tamp coffee and place it in and let it run for about 25 seconds... or in my case until it fills my shot glass!
Any advice or links appreciated... Anyone know the definitive answer to what tamper size I need as there appears to be a few variants on ebay.. also knock boxes that are practical to live with for home use would be good!
Thanks
Happy Donkey for all your Gaggia Classic needs...
https://www.happydonkey.co.uk/coffee-accessories/
https://www.happydonkey.co.uk/machine-cleaning/
Get some sachets of the descaler and the Puly Caff to clean and back flush. I'd recommend a bottomless filter too. I think it's a 57mm tamper for the portafilter that comes with the Classic.
Once you've got all the kit then have a read of this to learn to how use it properly...
http://www.home-barista.com/naked-extraction-dose-distribute-tamp.html
58mm tamper. Commercial size. I'm in the process of making a tamper, so in the spirt of measure twice, cut once, I've measured 201,567 times.
🙄
Bottomless filter on Happy Donkey great pour if you get your grind and tamping spot on, fine sprays everywhere if you don't, so a real incentive to get it right.
58mm tamper
Get yourself on coffeeforums.co.uk, introduce yourself and have a chat then get on the for sale forums for any bits and pieces.
Normal advice is:
Rancilio steam wand upgrade
OPV mod (people are passing around the required tools to do this in the post for free)
Just got a bottomless portafilter this week so working on improving my skills.
Good luck
I tried the Rancillo wand upgrade and went back - despite a weekend of practice and much milk wasted I couldn't get on with it and decided the ease of the standard wand was preferable.
And it's still a trillion miles better than our De Longhi bean to cup machine at work.