[Closed] One for the coffee buffs...

Gaggia Classic, Rancillo steam wand mod. Check coffeeforums.co.uk for second hand, or amazon for bargain prices (was v.low a couple weeks back). Use some of spare budget on a decent Tamper etc.

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+1 on the Gaggia, I've had a Gaggia for years totally reliable. In fact when my sister in law's coffee machine broke in her bakers shop we lent her it to use, I've still to get it back 🙁

Gaggia is great. Worth investing in a decent grinder too if you don't have one.

Coffee machine isn't the most important bit IMO, good burr grinder makes all the difference.

I still havnt bought a grinder yet, still buying ground coffee.
Keep getting told to spend as much as you can on one but what kind of money does it really take to get a resonable one. Are we talking £ 50 or £250?

Porlex Mini Handgrinder will get you going for £30.

If you only make 1 or 2 cups a day doing it by hand won't be a chore, much more coffee being drunk you're looking at a bit more cash on good electric burr grinder.

Again coffeeforums.co.uk is full of good info.

rhbrhb - Member

Gaggia Classic, Rancillo steam wand mod.

Ditto ...

Can someone point me to good Rancillo mid instructions pls - been meaning to do it for ages.

http://www.ravecoffee.co.uk/
These guys/\ and a Gaggia classic and you won't go car wrong

Cheers for that link, a decent choice of beans so i'll try them this week.

has anyone got any experience of the presso hand machine? Looks interesting, and less faff.

Hi chaps,

I've been using a Bialetti and an Aeropress for espresso for a while now, buying my coffee from Hasbean....

Thinking of getting an Aeropress for at work. Any good??

Ive got an aeropress at home, and at work. And it goes camping with me. It makes great coffee, but when one of them broke they didn't even bother to reply to my email.
I fancy trying one of these [url= http://www.presso.co.uk/ ]here[/url] but would be interested in any personal experience

I've used an Aeropress for years - they are great. I don't know how I could break it (friends used theirs in Afghanistan several times without breaking), but one of those presso machines is an expensive alternative with more moving parts.

Aeropress is great, bought ours so we could get good espresso whilst on holiday, instead of drinking the instant crap you normally find in hotel rooms.

Porlex Mini Handgrinder

and then dig out your cordless drill to save the elbow grease 🙂

It was the plunger that broke on mine, the rim where you push down broke off leaving a jagged edge. Ive fixed it with epoxy, and I think it was partly my fault as if you forget to clean the coffee out immediately it dries, then when you push it out it needs more force and the inner hits the outer when it does go.
But I still thought a reply to a customer service enquiry would have been good form.
I'm interested in the presso as you get 8-10 bar of pressure, which you don't get with the aeropress, so should be proper espresso without the heating and faff. Plus all the parts are available as spares.

To update this, I joined a coffee forum looking for an alternative to the aeropress. When I posted my tale of woe I was contacted by the owner/inventor and the general manager of aerobie. Apparently my email disappeared into the ether somewhere along the line, but a new plunger is on its way to me under guarantee. Top customer service.

To the OP, I have a little used 4 week old DeLonghi ECO310 in black that I was getting round to putting on eBay, unwanted gift. If you like the look of the model by all means PM me if you're interested. It's brand new and in original box. Ta