Hey vettman,

There's a Gaggia group over at yahoo, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gaggia for any questions on the Gaggia machine. Good luck in your choice.

Thank you. I actually just joined the group yesterday. I have posted a couple of questions, but no response, yet. Thank you, I will re-post once I get the equipment. I'm down to a slightly used Rocky and a new Baby, or a Vario and a Used Baby or Coffee.

Hi Joe,
I've got a Gaggia Baby about a year ago from WLL, but didn't get a grinder at the time so I've been getting my beans from a local vendor. But I've been looking at the Vario, Macap M4 or a Cimbali Junior. But I read from one of the replies about temp. The boilers are small and if you pull for longer then 35 sec. then the button for the heat elements come on. If you are going to do milk drinks then it takes a few seconds for it to build up some steam to froth your milk. I usually make two double shots a day and use bottle water so I descale every three months. The Gaggia Baby has a 58mm PF and has the 3 way valve, also the Gaggia Baby is the same inside as the Gaggia Classic.

vettman wrote:Thank you. I actually just joined the group yesterday. I have posted a couple of questions, but no response, yet. Thank you, I will re-post once I get the equipment. I'm down to a slightly used Rocky and a new Baby, or a Vario and a Used Baby or Coffee.

Of these options, my vote is for the new Vario & used Baby or coffee.

Let us know how you make out.

Well, I finally purchased my equipment. I got a "New Baby" and a Bartza Vario. I got both items discounted as one was an open box, and one was a return. I got a quite a good deal on the baby and a decent price on the Vario. The Vario is hard to get at a reduced price considering its age. I am looking forward to finding the ever-elusive perfect shot, or at least as close as I can get. Does anyone have any experience with grind settings on the Vario?

Congratulations! That's a great find. I got my Vario a little cheaper too. It was the display model.

I have the exact same setup as you, so I'm sure we'll be able to compare notes a lot.

Depending on the coffee I'm using, my grinder is usually set all the way up on the Macro slider, and about half way up on the micro slider. Timer is set to 12 sec, for this particular blend. Different coffees will require different grind settings and doses.

I'm sure you'll enjoy your new setup, and hopefully it'll give you lots of room to grow!

Cheers!

Thanks very much for the information. I will use that as a starting point. I use a local coffee here in the Dayton area from a place called the Boston Stoker. Very good coffee, but I'm sure I will experiment with others. I'll keep you posted.

Make sure it's fresh (no more than 14 days post roast), and you'll be off to a great start.

Have you got a good tamper and frothing pitcher?

Sorry for the delay, I've been offline for a bit. I do have a good tamper and frothing pitcher. My wife got me the bigger frothing pitcher after watching me struggle for a long time with a jr pitcher. Much easier to do the foam. I should have my equipment tomorrow night. I'm thinking I may try hitting the steam button for a couple of seconds before brewing a shot. That seems to be a common practice among the Gaggia users.

I got my equipment today. I bought some good beans from the local coffee shop and started experimenting. I decided since I was in a learning phase with the Vario-Baby combo that I would get my shots nailed down for the single first. I was told 30 lbs of tamp is correct, so I used an analog scale to give myself the feel of tamping at 30lbs. I ended up bringing the Vario down to one notch below the top (espresso) setting on the macro and to three notches from the bottom on the micro. This got me one ounce in about 26 seconds. However, when I switched to the double basket, everything changed here. I'm guessing that is normal. Anyway, I'm about six notches from the top on the double basket and I still ended up with too fast a pull - maybe 18-20 seconds. I will keep bringing it up tomorrow and see what I can get. The shots were pretty good by the way. Not the best I've ever had, but much better than what I was getting out of the Saeco Aroma machine that I am selling. Also, like everyone else, I don't like the turbo frother on the Baby. I will be modding that one soon with the Silvia wand. The steam wand on the Aroma is really better than the Baby.