Hi All - I'm newbie-ish. Bought a Gaggia Carezza in early 2004 based on the coffeegeek review, loved it for a while and used it as my main coffee machine (one or two double espresso a day, cappuccinos on the weekend), but now it sits unused on my kitchen counter because it seems to have lost its magic. I've toyed with upgrading to something more expensive (maybe an Anita), but I really want to give the Gaggia a chance to do what it's capable of (or at least make as good espresso as it used). Then I could keep it at home, or make it my office machine if I upgrade. So . . . here's my story:

1. I do have a Rocky grinder en route to me right now (which I will use for other kinds of coffee even if I give up on espresso), but thus far I've only used the Gaggia with Illy pre-ground espresso (the red container). I had a manual from Wholelattelove and followed it's instructions for making Espresso. I know that's not ideal, but the point is that I was very happy with my espressos at first. I'm not an expert, but they had some crema and didn't seem bitter.

2. Oh, and I also have a Reg Barber tamper.

3. I generally followed the instructions wholelattelove sent me for cleaning the machine. Sometimes a few months would go by in between cleans, but I did what seemed a thorough job. This involved running a descaling solution through the machine, and soaking metal pieces in a solution, some of which I pulled out of the machine after unscrewing stuff. I would also run a special brush through the grouphead, and that would clear out gunk, but it never seemed to get all the gunk out.

4. At first, these cleaning procedures would seem to instantly improve the coffee, removing any bitterness that had drifted in, but after a while the coffee seemed to just get bitter or just plain off no matter what I did, and I drank fewer and fewer espressos and more and more cappuccinos in order to mask the yucky taste. Perhaps I didn't clean often enough - not sure, but then I kind of stopped using the machine. Every 3 months maybe, I'd have a fit of inspiration, clean the whole thing, and make an espresso but still yucky. It's now been maybe 18 months since I've used the thing.

5. I'm willing to accept that my shot pulling technique may suck, but I tried my best to follow the wholelattelove instructions and the fact is that quality seems to have gotten dramatically worse over time using the same instructions.

5. Here are some specific things I remember:

- no matter how much I soaked and rinsed the baskets, some of the holes would remain clogged

- the little plastic spout-like piece that attaches to the bottom of portafilter seemed to develop a permanent vaguely rancid coffee smell. I never knew how to clean it properly because the instructions said not to soak plastic in the solution. (I notice btw, that some photos online now show a metal piece - should I/can I buy that instead?)

- when drawing shots, the machine always favored one side over the other - if I drew two shots into two cups, one would have to overflow almost before the other was the right amount. Can't remember which side was which, but it was always the same

- it seemed that after a while, I could barely use my tamper, because if I did (and I didn't really press that hard) the water would get clogged, and I'd get a tiny, super-bitter cup of espresso. Sometimes the espresso would be stuck to the grouphead when I pulled the portafilter out. So I would always use the tamper very gingerly. My memory is that at the beginning, I could give the coffee a rather firm tamp.

- perhaps related to the above, the grouphead would drip a ton, but I gather that's normal. One effect of this is that the baskets would already be wet when I put the coffee in. And I think this made things a bit stick when I would use the tamper.

- several times I was careless and left the thing on all day

6. So . . .

I'm willing to give the machine another shot. And I'm also willing to follow all the best advice by using my new Rocky grinder with freshly roasted beans, trying to use best temperature surfing practices etc.

But I'm hesitant to do that right now because I lack the fundamental confidence that all is well with my equipment in the first instance. Is there some way I can give the machine a reboot - some super thorough cleaning or something that will let me know that future problems are my fault and not the equipment's? Or is there a place I can take the contraption to have it checkout out? (I live in NYC). Keep in mind of course that the machine only costs $200 or so brand new.

Many thanks if you've made it this far, and I'd love some expert advice!

Hello Sasha while I'm not an expert I hope I can help. I'm just going to offer my thoughts in bullet points albeit random:

- Good call on the Rocky. Its a great grinder and will really improve your espresso. Don't forget the fresh beans, in NYC you have many good local options. Seek them out.

- The dripping may be a minor problem. I had a Gaggia Coffee (similar to the Carezza as far as I know). What I would do with my Gaggia is:

1.) Take the shower screen off via the screw.

2.) Then using an allen key I would remove the aluminum block (the two allen {hexagon} bolts under the screen) then you should see (if I recall correctly) a nut.

3.) Now you should be able to remove that nut with a ratchet wrench and socket. Behind this nut should be a spring with a ball on it. This spring pushed the ball up against a valve body to shut off flow of the water when the pump is not running.

4.) You may just have some scale up there so I would run a brush, pipe cleaner or tooth pick up there and try to clean it out. While you are at it soak the parts you remove in some cleaning detergent (I liked Cleancaf its a descaler and detergent). Then reassemble and see what you get. Hopefully that will fix the drip. If not you may need a new spring.

- Learn the WDT if you haven't, this should help the flow to one side issue. Another helpful tool may be a bottomless portafilter, this way you can be sure of the flow. You could send your current portafilter out to be modified as well.

- I'd ditch that plastic spout if you don't go bottomless. Here a good alternative. This one is my personal favorite but more expensive.

Best of luck and hang in there. Remember we are always here to help!

An off taste could be from rancid coffee oils in the group area but also in that spout like you mentioned. I bought something called a Steamy Wanda (haha, love that name) from Pallo and it works great for cleaning out small round "tunnels" in portafilters and spouts. You could check your countertop for level to see if that's contributing to the uneven pour, but as Tim said, a bottomless is great for diagnosing issues with the pour. To clean the group really well, there are stiff brushes available for this purpose that will get into the crevices but I don't know what brush you use already. Another good way is to fold up a piece of a damp green scrubbing pad and scrub around the inner perimeter of the group area. Some nasty stuff can build up there.

Wow - thanks so much. This is really helpful! Just a couple followups:

1. Is it normal if, after proper cleaning, there still are a few stray clogged holes in the baskets and shower screen? Or does that mean I have to either scrub harder or replace those pieces?

2. If I go for the bottomless portafilter handle, will that still work if I decide to upgrade to an HX machine? I thought Gaggia used a standard sized portafilter, but it seems like the webpage you linked sells different bottomless models for different machines. Perhaps I'll replace the spout first and then buy the bottomless if, after following all other steps, it seems I'm on the right track.

3. Thanks on the coffee tips. There seem to be some good speciality websites that ship fresh, but I gather it's a bit more environmentally friendly to buy coffee that's been roasted locally and perhaps that makes it even fresher. It's funny that all the top NYC baristas seem to be in somewhat out of the way nabes, but I'm going to check out Grumpy which is supposed to be fantastic. I think they sell beans, and it will be fun to drink a top-end espresso for the first time at their cafe.

All the best,
Sasha

TimEggers wrote:Hello Sasha while I'm not an expert I hope I can help. I'm just going to offer my thoughts in bullet points albeit random:

- Good call on the Rocky. Its a great grinder and will really improve your espresso. Don't forget the fresh beans, in NYC you have many good local options. Seek them out.

- The dripping may be a minor problem. I had a Gaggia Coffee (similar to the Carezza as far as I know). What I would do with my Gaggia is:

1.) Take the shower screen off via the screw.

2.) Then using an allen key I would remove the aluminum block (the two allen {hexagon} bolts under the screen) then you should see (if I recall correctly) a nut.

3.) Now you should be able to remove that nut with a ratchet wrench and socket. Behind this nut should be a spring with a ball on it. This spring pushed the ball up against a valve body to shut off flow of the water when the pump is not running.

4.) You may just have some scale up there so I would run a brush, pipe cleaner or tooth pick up there and try to clean it out. While you are at it soak the parts you remove in some cleaning detergent (I liked Cleancaf its a descaler and detergent). Then reassemble and see what you get. Hopefully that will fix the drip. If not you may need a new spring.

- Learn the WDT if you haven't, this should help the flow to one side issue. Another helpful tool may be a bottomless portafilter, this way you can be sure of the flow. You could send your current portafilter out to be modified as well.

- I'd ditch that plastic spout if you don't go bottomless. Here a good alternative. This one is my personal favorite but more expensive.

Best of luck and hang in there. Remember we are always here to help!

Thanks to you too! I do have a brush like the Steamy Wanda, albeit somewhat less professional looking. I also have a group brush like this one (which I think is what you're talking about): http://www.wholelattelove.com/Who...ve/group_brush.cfm

I do get a lot of junk out with the group brush, but it seems that there is always a little left in there, but maybe that's inevitable.

Spresso_Bean wrote:An off taste could be from rancid coffee oils in the group area but also in that spout like you mentioned. I bought something called a Steamy Wanda (haha, love that name) from Pallo and it works great for cleaning out small round "tunnels" in portafilters and spouts. You could check your countertop for level to see if that's contributing to the uneven pour, but as Tim said, a bottomless is great for diagnosing issues with the pour. To clean the group really well, there are stiff brushes available for this purpose that will get into the crevices but I don't know what brush you use already. Another good way is to fold up a piece of a damp green scrubbing pad and scrub around the inner perimeter of the group area. Some nasty stuff can build up there.

Hi Sasha,

You can try to scrub the basket to remove the clogs. If nothing else you can take a needle and carefully try to clean the holes. But be careful its easy to enlarge the holes this way (the larger holes may let fines pass through to the espresso cup).

The Gaggia portafilters will not fit most e61 groups as far as I know. If you do upgrade just keep you Gaggia gear together (you can sell them together as well).

I agree with all of the above advice. One great thing about the naked portafilter is the extra clearance you will get, as the Carezza has very little to begin with.

Thanks again all. On the bottomless portafilter:

- I assume I can't use to make two different single espressos at the same, right? Everything goes into the same cup.

- I noticed the website also asks me to identify which Gaggia basket I use - single or double. Does that mean it won't work with both at the same time? Probably not a big deal since I mainly use the double anyways.